this wasn't in the plan |but life is still pretty good

In January, The Tall One got a raise. Hooray! More money to put into savings! More money to help us reach our financial goals!

Or not.

We didn't even adjust the budget, but I still feel like we're not saving as much as we could be. Before the raise, we had enough for our needs and some wants too, and now there's enough for the needs, some wants, and even more wants. I don't want to up our standard of living, but it feels like we're sliding upward without even thinking about it.


We always promised ourselves that when we got raises, we'd not absorb the extra. But easier said than done, I guess.

The way our budget worked pre-raise wast that every dollar went somewhere, with nothing budgeted for savings. But, we didn't always spend $100 a month on car repairs, so more often than not that would go into savings. And each month had some amount budgeted to clothes, but I didn't buy clothes every month, so more money for the bank. In the spring and fall, our utility bill was usually quite under budget, again more money to save for later. But now sometimes I find myself tempted to spend more. I mean, since all our numbers reflect a lower income, I can max out every category and still have extra money. But sometimes I don't. Sometimes I think that extra money should go far far away in a savings account and we should pretend it doesn't exist. Sadly, it's usually the former when it's something I want and the later when it's something that TTO wants.

We should probably allow ourselves a bit more wiggle room (yes, TTO, I know you're reading this and that's your cue to jump up and down in a happy manner), but oh it would be so cool to be that much closer to our goals.

Wiggle room, here we come. But that's a subject for another day.