I’m only in the month of May as I write this. May 9, 2025. We’re about a third of the way through the year and I have to get my budget under control. I think I’ve bought a lot of stuff this year. Nothing super big that I’d have to take out a loan for but more than usual.
First off I bought two big art supply hauls. Around $300 for each order. Usually I make a big order every six months or so but this time they were only a couple of months apart. I’m not even sure why. It was probably because I had a little bit of extra money and I’m used to stocking up when I have the means. So I did. I even spent another $40 on pens at jetpens.com.
Let’s not forget it was car insurance time. That’s a big chunk of change. But it can’t be helped.
I also bought two other big ticket (relatively) items this year. I bought an Apple watch and a set of Apple AirPods Pros. I bought them both refurbished on eBay so they were cheaper than if I bought them new. The watch was $135 and the AirPods were $160. I wanted the watch because my current not-Apple smart watch wasn’t cutting it. I wanted an upgrade. I spent an extra $15 on a different band.
The AirPods I wanted because, according to the iPhone hearing test, I have moderate hearing loss. I haven’t really noticed much hearing loss but the AirPods were just cleared by some medical board to be used as hearing aids. I wanted to try them out to hear what I have been missing. So far I haven’t gotten much use out of them as such but someday I might. We’ll see.
I also had one of my main hard drives fail. My drive that I keep all my photos on. I had to drop $100 on a new one and since that new one was bigger than my old one (the old one was almost full) I also had to drop another $100 on a new backup hard drive. That was an unexpected purchase.
The problem I have when I buy so many big ticket items is that then the smaller ticket items don’t seem like much. What’s another $20? But it adds up. I spent $20, $25, $37, and another $25 on some plastic storage boxes. Three different orders over a few days. I also spent $75 on some storage portfolios and then another $25 on some more. That’s $207 on boxes to organize art and art supplies in. I like organizing things but that’s enough for now.
I also spent $30 on a tape dispenser. It’s one that holds three rolls of 3 inch core tape. I’ve been meaning to buy a tape dispenser since about 1992 but I never have. There were always more interesting art supplies to buy so it never made it to the top of the list. Thirty years later I finally bought one.
I spent about $40 on art supplies to carry with me in my commuting bag for when I teach. Tape, a ruler, a cutting mat, and other small stuff just to have on me.
I bought about $65 of new watercolor paints.
Back in about 1993 I bought an electric pencil sharpener. It cost about $40 and it was a top of the line one. I was probably making about a $90 a day in those days so that was a lot of money for me to drop on an electric sharpener. It broke after about six months and I was crushed. I went back to sharpening my pencils by hand and never bought another one. Until back in January. I spent about $20 on a new one. What’s another $20?
The lens cover on my everyday carry camera broke so I had to spend $15 on a silicone cover for it.
My phone battery is getting old so I spent $26 on a battery pack for it. I can now charge it on the go.
I spent $10 on a six pack of small sketchbooks.
I spent $50 of a variety of black markers.
I spent $30 on random negatives on eBay. Literally a set of 250 random negatives. I have, many times, bought old negatives off eBay, scanned them in, and made my own art out of them. But I usually choose each negative individually. These were sight unseen. So far I’ve only scanned about 50 of them in but I do see one that I might use.
I spent $45 on some production negatives. Little Lotta #121 that I wrote about earlier in the year. Little Lotta 121 Blog.
I’m noting all this stuff just to show how things went. There were a few big things that I bought and that made it easier to just spend even more. What’s $20 compared to the $300 art supply order I just made? But those $20s add up.
There is no real worry. I had the money and paid off my bill in full. I’ve been a lot broker in my life than I am now but I can’t just keep buying stuff online for $20 a pop. I have to put a stop to that. Especially since it’s all on a credit card.
One expense I haven’t mentioned is my comic book spending. Each week at the comic shop I can spend anywhere from $25 to $50. But that’s in cash. I find it a lot easier to control. I can’t just add on another $20 if I don’t have it with me. Even though I usually do have that extra $20 it’s a little more real than a number on a credit card.
So this week I instituted a ten dollar policy. Something has to be under ten dollars for me to buy it online. No more dropping twenty dollars on stuff willy nilly. No more big orders for the time being.
Just a few days ago I was shopping online for some small rolls of Scotch magic tape. I wanted to replace the crappy tape I carried in my commuting bag with good tape. A box of three was $10 and a box of six was $15. Normally I’d go for the better value at six for $15 but I didn’t need six rolls and it was above my $10 limit. So I went for the three rolls.
Last Friday I was looking for a comic on eBay. It mostly ran from $15 to $30. It was a whimsical purchase and it was above my $10 limit so I passed and didn’t get it. Then the next day a $9 copy appeared. I bought that one.
So that’s it. Nothing particularly brilliant or insightful but the mundane thoughts of spending money and budgeting. The ten dollar limit is going to force me to get more creative on whimsical and impulse purchases but it’s no big deal. Especially since I have all those art supplies stockpiled.