Honesty

I put this video here so you could appreciate the chorus of this song and we could all reflect on the level of HONESTY we do, or do not, indulge in.  I'm about ready to confess a few things, so I just wanted to prepare you.

 

 

I made it to December 15th with $20 left of our $300 budget that was meant to last until the 20th.  The boys' birthday dinners were planned and I thought we were going to be fine.  One wanted buffalo wings, the other asked for chicken cordon bleu.  Then, we all split up on a Saturday to do some shopping and I sent half the troop to Costco.  I did NOT say, "By the way, you only have $20 or you'll go out of bounds on our experiment."  I just let them go, and $70 later the deed was done.  Here's how the money went:

 

12/10 - With 10 days, and 2 birthday dinners to go..........................................$46
12/13 - Bountiful Baskets................................................................................$16
12/15 - Breads................................................................................................$10
12/16 - Birthday dinner purchases....................................................................$70
12/19 - Last day of Experiment Period 2..........................................................-$50

Then, the Christmas Holidays hit.  I'm ashamed to admit that I let the whole experiment fly right out the window.  No tracking, no budgeting, no care for how much we'd spent. Looking back it was about about $100 on extra food and specialty items spent between Dec. 24 and Dec. 31.  I will say that we gave our treat jar away, and all the kids added extra money to it before we sealed it up. It was exciting and almost made up for the reckless abandon of birthday dinners and holiday purchases.   Still, even though technically we lived on what we gave, by the letter of the law, we went over budget.

So, it's over and I'm sorry.  I hope to not do it again.  Failure is not defeat, unless I abandon the whole experiment.  But I'm not sure what to do now.  Should I -

1. Pick up where I left off and say, "We spent a $100 of our grocery budget in 5 days, now we only have $200 for the rest of the month,"  or,
2. Reset and say the Holidays were a freebie, we'll be better in the future and get back on track. 

 Let me know what you think.  I really need some direction.