Lacking a Nail

Reactionary spending. My biggest budget buster is reactionary spending. It’s close cousins to emotional spending and can usually e tied to a specific trigger event. This weekend is an excellent example of me blowing my budget to smithereens due to reactionary spending.

My windshield washer fluid hasn’t been spraying for a few days. I first thought we were out of fluid. That’s a simple fix. I bought a huge jug of windshield washer fluid from discount store. My other half topped off the fluid in both our cars.

The fluid still won’t spray. I complain to my spouse. Some googling ensues. Google informs us it’s either the pump or the tubes. That’s frustrating but fixable. Some more googling follows. It’s really easy to replace the pump, getting to it is the hard part. Okay, neither of us are used to playing around in car guts. It’s decided we’ll take it to a local mechanic. We get the new pump. We’re informed that the power steering fluid is in need of a flush. Apparently it’s looking more like sludge then fluid. We agree.

So we went to the mechanic knowing we would spend money. Even an estimate thanks to Google. January is a three check month. Yes, we planned on using that money towards other goals. I’ve squared spending that money. I’m fine. Really. I’m fine with it.

Reactionary spending number one. We go to grab lunch while we wait. Why? Not because we’re there and it was planned. That is what I said the reason was. No, the real reason. “Why not spend money on food that we don’t have in the budget. We’re already spending a bunch of money on the car. It’s not like it matters. We have a bonus check this week.” If that had been as far as we went it would have been fine. An extra $24 would have been okay. We didn’t stop there.

Reactionary spending number two. On the way home we went to a big-box discount store. I spent more money at the store then we spent at the mechanic.

I took us from halving our savings money for the month, out of necessity, to eliminating it. In one fell swoop. This is my biggest budget buster that I need to work on.

Comment with any tricks you use to keep spontaneous splurges in check.

P.S. If this was useful my one-page Sinking Funds Tracker is in the shop, or you can tip on Ko-fi or PayPal. One tiny move is progress.

This post reflects my personal experience and opinions. I share our real-life money – rounded numbers, personal choices, (tiny) next steps. It is not financial advice. I’m not a financial advisor. Budgeting and money topics are shared for education and entertainment only. Your situation is unique; verify details before acting. Small steps count.

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