oh, money...

After checking my bank account balance and not being pleased at all, I finally typed up a tentative spending plan: a way to budget my money. It's also not very pleasing, though I suppose I'll be glad in the long run. Ugh. I really hate dealing with money. The way I see it, I have about $200 extra every pay period, after taking out rent and utilities and gas and food and all that. That does not leave me with enough for a car, by the way, unless I skimp in other categories and never buy anything new ever again.

Which I really can't live with. I need spending money. Either that, or I need to figure out how to be content here at home. For some reason, I just really like eating lunch at Provence (for example), and getting coffee at Cafe Coco.

And what about new clothes? Maybe Matt doesn't care how he looks, but I sorta do, and I certainly care about how I look. Most of the time.

I'm fighting responsibility here. Don't want it. I want to go on living in financial oblivion; obviously that isn't really an option. Getting older means that you have to start acting like an adult.

I guess I can clean and do laundry all day. That doesn't sound unappealing, actually: I've been enjoying cleaning lately. Which is strange, I know. Sometimes I think that I'm stranger than I'd ever originally noticed. Hmm.

Actually, I need to go to the DMV to renew my tags. They expire in two days. I can write a check for that, right? Because I sure as hell shouldn't use my debit card....

Kicking and screaming, man. At least I have Matt, who is much more inclined toward financial responsibility than am I. He makes a lot less than I do, too. He's toying with the idea of working at TSU (Tennessee State University) which would be a pay cut...but he'd get free tuition or something. I think it's a bad idea, personally. We'll see.

being home

I woke up at 8am and was not sleepy (I slept/dozed most of the day yesterday, and went to bed early), so I put in some laundry and went to Provence to read. The weather today is so much better than yesterday -- in the 80's and not nearly as humid as it's been lately. After Provence, I decided to buy a pair of shoes and headed for Target, where, having decided that I couldn't possibly allow myself to splurge on a new pair of shoes, I bought cat litter and catnip and a new pillow instead. Incidentally, Seamus loves the catnip. Hobbes might like it as much if Seamus would quit hogging it all.

So now I'm at home and needing to go to work in about 90 minutes. I cleaned the kitchen and suppose that I could clean the bedroom, too...but...I don't feel like it.... I think the constant mess in the bedroom aggravates Matt, maybe. He probably wants to nag me about it more than he does. I'm very lazy, I know; the terrible thing about it is that I feel SO MUCH BETTER about myself when I'm not lazy! I feel accomplished. Hm. Maybe I should clean, just as a gesture to Matt.

Speaking of, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with him when Mom and Anna Laura come up this weekend. I don't think they know that we're living together -- unless they read this blog (please speak up if you do...) or were able to figure it out when they came to see Sarah. And it shouldn't really matter, but it might. I don't know. I mean, the chances are pretty good that we'll stay together for quite a long time/get married anyway, but you know.

I'll figure it out. The other part is that Matt doesn't like being around people very much, unless he already knows them. He doesn't even like spending time with his family, let alone mine. He'd probably rather be off somewhere reading or playing chess or poker or something useful like that. Which isn't really cool, but I can deal. I'll make him spend some time with them, anyway. Maybe they'll hang out places other than my apartment, so he can just stay here.

So...clean the bedroom. Stop being lazy. Right.