Day 4 - Loose Change and Heartburn

I don't know why I ever think it is a good idea to eat a cheeseburger. They always make me sick these days, between the gross feeling I get and the heartburn that lingers for hours. (I feel the same way about hot dogs, but the siren song seems too strong.) Add to that the fact that cheeseburgers seem to be getting more expensive and today created the perfect budget/stomach storm for me.

Tony and I had to attend a memorial service this morning for a very dear friend of ours. He passed away earlier this week and I guess mentioning him in the blog is fitting because he was certainly one of the most money-savvy men I've ever known. John was always researching ways to save money and giving advice to us on how to invest and save our own money so we'd be prepared for retirement. I know Tony found his advice invaluable on many occasions. We will certainly miss him, for that and so many other reasons.

After we left the service, I was starving. Crying always makes me hungry, and it was lunchtime anyhow, so we decided to go through a drive-thru on the way back to the office so we wouldn't waste any time eating once we got back. (Fridays are busy and we need to focus hard on making money, not on eating. As Tony always says, lunch is a crutch.)

The Golden Arches beckoned and we gave in. I got a cheeseburger meal and Tony got a nuggets meal and we spent $10.40 of our hard-earned money on food that made me want to give up eating forever about 45 minutes after I ate. I had heartburn so bad the inside of my ears hurt, a phenomenon I was not familiar with before I got pregnant. Now, sadly, it is a near-constant state for me. Knowing that we had just spent 1/5 of what we had budgeted for "fun" for the whole month made it that much harder to swallow.

The moral of the story? Don't eat cheeseburgers when you are pregnant. And pack a sack lunch if you are going to be out around noontime.

Oh, we also filled up the car, but we had so many fuel points, we actually came in UNDER budget on that line-item. The tally so far:

Groceries - $64.60 of $400 spent, leaving $335.40
Fun - $10.40 of $49 spent, leaving $38.60
Gas - $33.90 of $45 spent, leaving $11.11

And it's only the 4th. Twenty-four lean more days to go. And NO MORE CHEESEBURGERS.