Morons are contagious!!!

 This week’s Monday’s Moron would be ME.

This has always been the hardest time of the year for us when it comes to money.  September through January really hits us hard.  With Hubby not able to work like he used to, it’s made it doubly difficult.  It didn’t help matters much, either, when we found out that Hubby wouldn’t be getting his usual Spring/Summer bonus.  Given the boss’s latest trend, we doubt we can depend on a Christmas bonus this year, too.

When I had asked dear Hubby if we had managed to set any money aside for Christmas this year, he told me he hadn’t been able to save up more than $80., which he ended up having to borrow from so we had enough gas in the truck for the week, which now made the grand total $60.00.  

A couple of days later, I gathered up my courage and sat down with the children to explain to them that we didn’t have enough money for Christmas.  The girls were absolute gems about it.  They understand the situation and hadn’t even asked for anything this year.  Their way of thinking was, "Well, it’s not like we won’t be getting anything at all.  Our grandparents always give us something."  Wesley, on the other hand, was disappointed.  Not only is it Christmas, but two days before Christmas, it’s also his Birthday.  Hubby said we’ll spend the $60. on Wesley, then.  Everyone agreed and was satisfied with the plan.  

A week later, Hubby comes home from work to tell me that his parents (loud gasp) gave him $300. for Christmas.  My first thought was "Thank you God!", my next thought was "Wow, they DO have a heart !"  (you’d have to know my in-laws)

So then we told the girls, they’d be getting something after all and asked them to give us a list of three things we could choose from to get them for Christmas.  They’d get maybe two of the three things they ask for if it’s within reason.

Two days after that, while Hubby and I are up stairs having a few minutes of quiet time together, he asks me, "Do you know what dumb Greg did?"  (for some reason everyone has given Greg, a co-worker of theirs, the nick name "Dumb Greg."  Probably because of all the really ridiculous and silly things he’s done in the past.)  I looked at my husband and asked, "Oh no, what’s he done now?"  Hubby pulls out his wallet and hands me a $25. gift card for Red Lobster and $200.00 cash.

I cried.

I told Hubby he’s never allowed, from this day forward, to call Greg, "Dumb Greg" anymore.  He agreed.  

We now had $500. to buy Wesley a Birthday gift, buy all four children a couple of Christmas gifts, and have enough gas in the truck to get us through the next two weeks.

But then I screwed up.

We had run out of Food Stamps a few days ago.  We were eating whatever we had managed to dig out of the freezer and cabinets to make dinner and it wasn’t much of a problem.  But, being diabetic and taking into consideration that I now have three kids at home all day, every day, AND that I pack my husband’s lunch every day since he can’t walk around the corner to his parent’s home anymore (and it’s too "inconvenient for them to pick their own son up), I have to buy more food and the food stamps don’t last as long as they used to.  

Monday came and there was no food in the house for dinner.  Given that it’s the last week of the month, the only week of the month that Hubby usually has no bills to pay, I felt we were safe for me to run to the store and buy what I needed for dinner that night and some toilet paper.  I spent $42.00.

On the way to work Tuesday morning, Hubby asks, "Do we have any cash left?"  I said, "No.  It went into the gas tank, your cold medicine, your deoderant, some Pull-ups for Wesley, tissues, cat food and laundry detergent."  He then asks, "So how many times did you have to use the debit card, then?"  I said, "Twice.  Once on Sunday to pay the five dollars difference I didn’t have enough cash for, and yesterday when I bought dinner and bread for your lunches."  

He slammed his hand down on the steering wheel, let out an expletive I won’t mention here and then said, "Well, I hope you didn’t spend more than $30. because we’re still expecting an automatic deduction from "blah-blah" place!"  All I could do was look at him with a sick feeling in my stomach.  I dropped him off at work.  He was mad and I felt like crawling under a rock.

At 11:30 he called me from work and said, "I need you to run to the bank and deposit the $200. that Greg gave us so that automatic deduction doesn’t have us overdrawn."  

I immediately ran out to the bank and deposited the money.  When I got the receipt back, it said there was only $154. in there.

I was too late.

By the time Hubby got back from work and checked our account, we only had $65. left in the account.  Not only did the "blah-blah" place try to withdraw, but the Gas company didn’t draw the money out until AFTER I had bought groceries.  So both bounced and we were charged an additional $64. in insufficient fund penalties.

And to make things worse, I had no food in the house for dinner.  I ended up having to spend $30. of the $300. that his parents gave us for Christmas on food and I still have nothing for dinner tonight.  TOMORROW we get our food stamps.

I learned an important lesson through it all.  You can’t go by what your online account says you have in your current balance because some places will hold the withdrawl a day or two before submitting it.  When they do that, it makes it look like you have money that you don’t actually have.   I had to call the bank to have the guy explain to me how the online account works and how I have to view the "available funds" and ignore the "current balance."  If I had only known to do that before-hand, I could have saved us a whole lot of money and grief and my children wouldn’t have to be disappointed.

So, yeah, this makes me this week’s Moron.

Until next time, Be well, be safe, and manage your money wisely.  God Bless!