Yikes.

I was fully intending to get back to this sooner... why is it that life always gets in the way? Or maybe it's just me being lazy???

Anyway...

Part of what brought me back to blogging was that I have a confession to make-- I did one of the things I hate the most in my very own checkbook. I used the dreaded ESP. What is ESP? Well, it's a lovely little abreviation for "error some place." Not a good thing. For the past few weeks, my checkbook has been off by about $3. The dollar amount doesn't change. It's always the dreaded $3 and some odd cents. SO FRUSTRATING!

Which, to go off on a little tangent, I fully blame Redbox. While those little machines may be one of the best inventions ever, they're also awful, terrible creations. I despise the way they show up on my checking account statement. For instance, say Saturday night we rented a move (we didn't, but just saying!). In theory, it should show up with the $1.26 or whatever it is for that night, and then if I don't return it until Monday morning, it should show up $1.26 for the next night. Does it do that?! NOOOO!!! First off, it takes them FOREVER to process. AND if I happen to get more than one movie, do you think the whole total shows up right away? Of course not! And then if I keep it for more than just one additional night they just bulk it all together. I HATE IT! And granted, I should do better at keeping track of it on my own so I wouldn't have that problem, but somedays I forget, or I enter it twice, or just get thrown off on what $1.26 Redbox charge is what. They need better labels. Or something.

Okay, enough of that.

I made the mistake. I used ESP. My time-saving, stop worrying about everything side says it's no biggie. It's three bucks. Chill. My accounting, where the heck did that money go side is going nuts. WHAT HAPPENED?!

I tried to go through and analyze. It didn't work. One day it balanced, the next it didn't. I for the life of me cannot figure it out. And, it doesn't help that I spend my days at work making things balance and get PAID to do it. I don't get paid to do my own.

So what's my advice here? Well, a couple of things:

1) DON'T use ESP. First, it really is a bad habit. You should know where the money went. Trust me, I TOTALLY get being fed up with it and just giving up. And I think if it happens like ONCE a year it's not going to result in epic disaster. Just keep in mind that it's not the best option!

2) Don't short-change yourself. The whole time I was trying to get it to balance and failing, I kept thinking, if I was at work I'd get paid to do this for the company. I really shouldn't have thought like that. Isn't it WAY more important that I do it for myself? It's MY money, not the companies. By knowing where my money goes, it IS like paying myself!

3) Advice to myself: write more. It feels good. And it's a great confession tool! :)