When You Overspend

Unfortunately, this weeks grocery shopping trip didn't go as I had planned.  When I go over budget, I always feel like I failed.  My goal is to shop within my $75 a week model, and since I meal plan so carefully and I know how much most of the items on my list cost, this isn't usually hard to do.  In this case, there were outside reasons why I went over budget.  

1.) My husband and all of my children went with me on this trip.  It is not unusual for all of my kids to accompany me on a shopping trip.  Usually they are really good about listening and staying close to the cart.  They even help me out by looking for items on my list or keeping Adam, my three year old, occupied.  But this shopping trip was different.  They were loud, running all over the place, touching things, and overall not acting appropriately in the store.  When my kids are acting this way, it can be really difficult for me to focus on the job at hand, plus my husband was there so when the kids asked for a watermelon (that wasn't on the list) or when he decided that he wanted to make a relatively expensive breakfast the following day, items were added to the cart that I had not included in my budget dollars for the week.  

2.) I was shopping for my father as he just bought a new house.  I was getting a few things for him that I thought he would like to have in his new house, a box of cereal, some tuna fish, mayonnaise and other little items.  These were not in my budgeted dollars but I subtracted them from my total since I had them budgeted from a different source.  

Overall we went $60.00 over budget...which for me is really hard to swallow.  I know that there will be times when I go over budget, and I have to work at reminding myself that every now and then, it's okay, as long as I resolve to keep a tighter budget going forward.  I am happy that my husband was able to enjoy his yummy breakfast on Sunday and since he works so hard for our family, I can't be mad at him.  I am looking forward to the challenge of next week keeping the budget to $65.00 in an effort to make up for some of the money already spent.  For now, I just have to remember not to be so hard on myself, these times are sure to pop-up now and then!