Cindy at Oh My Aching Debts (don’t you just love that name?) tagged me to reveal my top 5 budget busters. I thought about taking the easy way out and listing “Pizza”, “Pop”, “Chocolate”, “Ice Cream”, and “Eating Out That Doesn’t Fit Into the Previous Categories”, but that wouldn’t make much of a post. Here are my real top 5 Budget Busters.

Eating Out

You knew this one already. I tell myself that I’m too tired to cook, it’s too hot to cook, my kitchen is too small for me to cook, and the list goes on. They’re all excuses though. The truth is, if I prepared for nights that I don’t feel like cooking, I wouldn’t eat out so much.

Gas for the Car

Now that soccer season has started again, we have to take the kids into the neighboring town 4 times a week. Add to that another day for church and another evening for worship team practice/AWANA, we drive into the next town 6 times a week.

There’s not really a lot we can do about that though. The town we live in is so small, there aren’t as many programs for the kids. I’ll just be glad when soccer is over and we can get back to only driving into the neighboring town twice a week.

Satellite TV

When we drastically slashed the budget last year, the one thing we kept was satellite TV. It used to be that we were satisfied with the 4 TV stations we got with an antenna. Then when my husband was making good money, we ventured into the world of satellite television.

Though we don’t watch a lot of TV, I am a news addict, and I like the news stations. I also like HGTV a lot. House Hunters is my favorite. And my husband and son could watch the Speed channel all day (but we don’t have the TV on all day).

My Weight

Yes, you got that right. I’m not obese by any means, but if I keep gaining weight like I’ve been gaining it, I’ll be there before I know it. My weight itself hasn’t caused anything like health problems yet, but every summer I pull out my clothes, and they don’t fit.

I just pulled out my shorts yesterday, and they were a little snug. I bought a bunch of new clothes last year, because my clothes from the year before didn’t fit. It looks like I need to seriously start losing weight, or I’ll need new clothes again.

Stupid Tax

No, not the taxes I just mailed off to the IRS (though they definitely busted my budget). I’m talking stupid mistakes that cost me money. A library book returned late. A collect phone call that needs to be made, because keys were locked in the wrong place. Buying extra food, because I forgot I already had what I needed. Buying food from the expensive local grocery store because I forgot to pick something up at Winco.

These all cause us to spend money we shouldn’t have to spend. It comes from a lack of organization. Actually, eating out and my weight gain could probably be attributed to a lack of organization, too. I guess I know what I need to work on.

So, now that you know my top budget busters, what are yours?

And to spread the budget busting love, I’m going to tag Paidtwice, Madison, and Pinyo to share their top 5 budget busters!