Anatomy of a Poorly Planned Shopping Trip
My brother called my tonight at work to ask if I could pick a few items up and drop them off at his house for him. It was on my way home so it was no big deal so I jotted down what he wanted, no big deal right?
So I get to the grocery, mind you all I had is a list of his items and a vague notion of some stuff I wanted to get for myself. I grab my cart and start wandering the aisles, picking up his items based on his list and my stuff based on “well I could use that”, “hmmm..that sounds good” or “that’s a good price, maybe I should grab one for stock”. I end up with a nice little cart of stuff.
I get done and head for the self-checkout and starting scanning my items. I was more than a little suprised when I saw the total. It was a good $20 more than I had vaguely budgeted (which was towards the high end of what I really wanted to spent in the first place) in my head for what was supposed to be a quick grab a few items for my brother trip.
Where did I go wrong? I didn’t make a plan. I went through the store aimlessly without a goal (a shopping list) nor I did not have a good predefined outline (budget). I should have made a list and had a solid idea of what I wanted to spend in mind before I even step foot in the store.
What about your career or personal finances? Do you have any goals clearly outlined? Do you keep an eye of them and how you are progressing towards your goals? Without a budget, it gets pretty easy to spend a few bucks here and there and quickly have it blow past your theory spending limits. Sometimes life can be just broken down into parts just like a shopping trip. Plan well and you will have a great trip! Skip all that planning and just wing it? You might just end up walking out of the store of life with a cart full of stuff you don’t need and a empty wallet.