4 Dec
Sticking to the Plan – Straying from the Budget Meant Seven Overdrafts Today
Oh. My. God.
After ten months (TEN MONTHS!) of financial responsibility… no, financial PERFECTION, today I screwed the pooch.
Actually, I screwed the pooch more than a week ago when I ignored our budget and decided things were going even better than I thought they were… and gave away the farm.
October was a rollercoaster of events and by the time November rolled around I was really ready for a calm month and a nice fat snowball payment. No little extras popped up and The Wife even brought home a fatter check that we had budgeted for.
So when the end of the month rolled around and I prepared to make our snowball payment, I found more than expected in our checking account.
“Well, of course, it was a pretty good month, wasn’t it!”
So I sent nearly the whole thing off to our debt. Um. Enthusiastic, yes. Smart? Well, I left no buffer in our account and today we paid dearly for that.
Seven, count ‘em seven, items posted to our account before today’s paycheck went through. Seven overdrafts. Seven overdraft fees.
Overdraft fees.
We haven’t seen those in nearly a year. Had I stuck to our original snowball amount we would have been fine. What does Dave Ramsey say? “Children do what feels good. Adults devise a plan and stick to it.”
I went with my emotion, my excitement in paying off debt, instead of analyzing a situation that had obviously changed. For that we are paying dearly. Overdrafts at Wells Fargo go for $35 each.
The Wife was brave enough to go to the bank, apologize for her idiot husband and get them to reverse some of the overdraft fees, but not all. What a trooper.
There are some fundamental questions this debacle raises. Where was the communication between The Wife and the Dad? Why had the extra money not been addressed together in a budget committee meeting? Were the seven items this morning expected and if not, why not?
We will sit down together this weekend, hold hands and answer those questions, shore up our financial defenses and I will keep my debt-paying in-check. Seeing a negative balance, a negative balance, in our checking account today triggers a visceral response that nearly brings me to tears.
Today, I stand before you a humbled man. There is always tomorrow. Another month. Another budget. Another chance to get it right.
the Dad
Posted by Long Distance Buddy on 12/04/09 at 7:14 pm
Oh Man…
I have no advise that you don’t already know. You were trying, it happens, I would put 10 to 1 odds it won’t happen again though.
Oh and YAY wife!
I hate Banks.
LDB
Posted by Jeffrey Johnson on 12/05/09 at 1:18 am
Bet next time you have a super good month you put the extra to increasing the cushion in your checking account not paying off more debt. Only time I ever had an overdraft was because of stupid paypal making it super hard to pay with a prepaid credit card not your checking account. I learned from that one and not had one in 5 years since.
Posted by jpkittie on 12/05/09 at 4:49 am
oh no!!!! thank goodness the wife was able to get some reversed!!!!
Cheers to a better swing happening in December — it can only go up right?!?!
Posted by Tutu on 12/05/09 at 10:35 am
WOW – talk about a big piece of “humble pie”. Thanks for sharing it – we all learn from each other.
Definitely a lesson you won’t forget and “Yay, Wife!” I’m also impressed by the “lessons learned” from this. And, of course, as you and little orphan Annie put it, there’s always “Tomorrow” – my goodness, there’s even a hit song about that!
Posted by Maggie on 12/05/09 at 12:00 pm
I’ve always had a hard time with the budgeting concept. Hated it! But with the DR program I’ve realized that a chunk of my financial problem comes from looking at my checking account balance when making decisions. Really bad move for me. Much as I’d like to believe that I remember every single thing going in and out….I don’t. Now, by looking only at the budget, I may not know the exact balance in my account but I know exactly where my money is. Totally different concept.
I feel for you guys, I know the pain of those charges personally. At least the upside is, you snowballed down some more debt.
Posted by Sharon on 12/05/09 at 1:10 pm
I’ve misstepped many times after becoming debt free. Some worse than others. But, you pick up the pieces, and move on. It sounds like you and your wife will be able to work out the kinks..good for you for wanting so badly to be out of debt…you will get there!!!
Keep the faith!
Posted by Music Man on 12/05/09 at 6:03 pm
I read this to my wife and she said what I was thinking: OUCH! We actually had a similar situation arise a couple months back when I found more money than expected. I almost did what you did until my wife stopped me in my tracks and reminded me that I had not done the math right!
Keep your head up. My wife and I will keep you in our thoughts. You and The Wife are inspirations. Love you guyz!
Music Man
Posted by Money Funk on 12/06/09 at 7:48 pm
Oh wow. I am really sorry to hear that. Over zealous in our budget has got us into trouble at times, too. But we learn from those times and hope not to repeat again.
I have to say, “thank you” for sharing this part of your journey. We write about becoming debt free and we know the journey doesn’t always go uphill. And there are many people that wouldn’t post such mishaps. But, its a journey and thoughtful to hear.
Chin up! Happy Holidays!
Posted by dustinc109 on 12/07/09 at 1:41 pm
Ouch….
Are you using the cashflow sheet the budget I made… that should prevent those from happening?
Posted by tam on 12/18/09 at 10:46 am
Crap. We have an end of month or two like that as well….I tend to err more on the side of caution when it comes to cushion than my husband does. Either way, thank goodness overdraft protection attached to a savings account (i.e. the emergency fund).
Accidents happen. But you have made such amazing strides. Go wife! I am not above turning on the tears to get fees reversed….
Posted by Kerri on 12/20/09 at 3:53 pm
Ouch. Totally feel your pain. This also reminds me of the old days of “balancing the checkbook.” Check-writing is almost a thing of the past, but people (including me) used to be fairly diligent about keeping that little paper register up to date and balancing it with the bank statement at end of month. Seems a modern-day version of “balancing the checkbook” could keep this from happening again. There are lots of simple ways to do it, i.e. an easy Excel spreadsheet that gets updated each night — takes just a few minutes and makes a world of difference. As you know, the balance in your bank account is rarely the same as what you have available to spend. Hang in there and remember the big picture… even with a misstep here and there, you are doing great!
Posted by Andi on 12/20/09 at 8:58 pm
We’ve had that happen here a couple times…when things are going so well, we forget that there might be emergencies….and those tend to cost money. Go buffers. And go Wife!