Gift Cards

Gift cards are something that I had to learn to love. Hard to imagine, right? The problem was that I would receive them and forget to use them. Well, I managed to get over that, especially in this expensive economy! My birthday was in February and I received many gift cards from my great friends and family. It gave me all kinds of excuses to go shopping and get things that I wouldn't normally buy. If you use a gift card then you're suppose to get something you want, and not necessarily something you need, right? Well, that theory worked until today. A few days ago I found a gift card to Wal-Mart that I had gotten in February and not used. Now, Wal-Mart has all kinds of fun things I could get with this card and I had all kinds of ideas about what to buy. Then I realized last week that I needed an oil change, but I hate to do that so I put it off until today. Now, isn't it just my luck that I have tried to start a budget this week and really watch my "fun" spending. So, what did I do? I ended up using my precious gift card to pay for part of my oil change. I know it was the smart, practical thing to do, but it sure wasn't fun. I would have much rather had a new book or movie. So what lesson have I learned? Make sure you have used up all your gift cards before you start a budget!