Hey Reader,
I'm up two hours before my normal wake-up time. There's a tiny poof ball of a puppy next to me oscillating between chewing on the kitchen table legs and whining at me for not letting him chew on the kitchen table legs.
Usually I am annoyed when I wake up before I should. My kids know not to wake me up in the middle of the night. But this puppy? He doesn't know anything yet.
So I'm dutifully waking up with him when he whines. Taking him outside in the middle of the night. And starting my day much earlier than I would prefer.
The thought keeps popping into my head, "we paid way too much money for me to pick up poop and be tired, and right at the holidays too".
Don't worry- I'm not having buyers remorse. I think our new cavapoo, Comet, hung the moon and was worth every penny, especially since he is hypoallergenic!
Even so, this whole experience has me thinking of our personal finances and how to pivot after blowing a budget.
How to pivot when you go over budget
There are a lot of things that I'm going to have to do in order to fit Comet's expenses into our finances. On top of the initial cost, I'll have to account for monthly medications and vet bills.
Lucky for you, most overspending experiences don't come with a monthly reoccurring fee. Most of the time you can get out of the red with these helpful tips:
- Be kind to yourself- don't shame spiral. Everyone goes over budget from time to time! Accept what has happened and don't give yourself an excuse to "keep spending because the damage is already done".
- Assess the damage. Figure out how much you went over budget and why. Knowing why will help you solve a budgeting problem for the future. It's also important to know exactly how much you went over budget.
- Revise your budget if needed. Depending on your lifestyle, you might find that you're going over budget because you need to go over budget. Maybe you have growing kids who are eating more. Look at your finances and see if you are naturally spending less on something else. If so, that will make room for you to revise your budget to spend more on another area.
Still don't have a budget? This zero-based budgeting system is my all time favorite way to budget my own personal finances.
Want to find a budget that aligns with your values? Check out this post too!
Updated Holiday Blog Posts
I've slowly and surely been updating old holiday content. Here are some of my most popular ones:
My Current Favorite Affiliate Deals
As a blogger I'm always getting information on the best deals and steals. These are the ones I love the most right now:
As always, don't shop just for the sake of shopping.
Keep spending smartly for a richer life!
Hannah
