This week, I exceeded my $50 budget. This small failure is a price I paid willingly, and I have no regrets whatsoever.
Let me explain myself.
Things were going fine. I was right on budget last Tuesday night and enjoying a coffee with one of my friends after a long day of internship interviews when something intriguing popped up on my Facebook news feed. It was a deal for concert tickets to see Andrew Bird the next day. Buy-one-get-one-free concert tickets to the show at the House of Blues in Orlando. The deal was a special Live Nation one-day-only thing.
The possibility of being able to go seemed slim; but, when I asked my friend if she was interested, she said yes. Each ticket ended up costing only $20 with the deal, and Orlando really isn’t too far away.
I purchased the tickets that night with the rest of my weekly budget. Yes, to spend the last of your allotted money for the week on concerts tickets seems irresponsible, but when else would I have the chance to see Andrew Bird? He rarely tours in Florida.
Needless to say, the show was spectacular. He performed for two hours, and it was one of the best concert I’d ever been to. Since I’m such a sucker for a bargain, I think I enjoyed it because it was such a good deal. But Bird is one of the great talents of the Indie-music world, and he whistles like an angel. That could have something to do with it.
The moral of the story here is that budgets are great and important to have, especially when money is tight. But, sometimes, they can be broken. Budgets shouldn’t stop you from doing things; instead, they should allow you to manage your money in a way that you aren’t gushing cash every week. This way when opportunities like a midweek concert present themselves, you can take them.