BK, Have It Your Way!

As you know, our budget for January is tapped out!  Meaning, we cannot spend anymore miscellaneous or grocery money until February rolls around.  Unfortunately, I had to get gas this morning so that doesn't count or else I wouldn't be able to go to work to make that money!

Anyway, towards the end of the work day yesterday, my wife and I are texting back and forth about what we should eat for dinner.  I throw out some options out there but they're all denied.  These were some of the options that were denied:

• Pizza rolls
• Brinner (breakfast for dinner)
• Pasta

So then I start rummaging through the fridge in my mind thinking about what else we could eat and it turns out that we have plenty of choices!

• Skirt steak
• Ground beef
• Chicken breast
• Pork chops
• Mandoo (Korean dumplings)
• Pork loin
• Ramyun (Sapporo or Shin)

But the issue wasn't about all the choices we had.  The real issue was what my wife was craving.  For those that don't know, my wife and I are expecting baby #2.  So maybe it's not really what my wife was craving but what baby #2 was craving.  So it turns out baby #2 was craving BK, have it your way, or have it her way or have it baby #2's way!  So at that point, I'm torn.  Do I disregard our budget and satisfy the cravings of my family or is there a way where we can honor our budget and get some BK at the same time.  And to be specific, she wanted the original chicken sandwich with onion rings.  So at that point, I'm calculating in my head how much I would need.

Well, in my office, I have a bottle filled with a whole bunch of change.  I've always had this bottle and filled it with spare change from any/all of my pockets accumulated for who knows how long.  So I start to trek upstairs with Eli (14 month toddler) leading the way and I close the baby gate at the top of the stairs so he doesn't go tumbling down.  I try to keep him preoccupied in the hallway with a long gift wrapping cardboard tube as I proceed into my office and close the door to extract $10.00 worth of quarters from the bottle.  As I'm sticking my hand in the bottle to retrieve quarters, I'm trying to get those quarters as fast as I can while not scraping my hands on the cut opening all while Eli is banging on the door whining to let him in.  Alas, 40 quarters in my pocket.  As I leave my office, I stop by our bedroom because there was a dollar bill on my wife's nightstand.  So now, I have a total of $11.00 to go buy dinner from Burger King.

So as I jingle downstairs, hop into my car and proceed to drive to Burger King I'm thinking of what I would want.  I know it wouldn't be possible to order a value meal for myself so I've decided that I would order from the dollar value meal.  As I pull up to the drive thru, I see they have a rodeo burger and rodeo chicken sandwich for a buck.  So I pull up to place my order:

• 1 original chicken sandwich
• 1 large onion rings
• 2 rodeo burgers
• 1 rodeo chicken sandwich
• 1 value satisfries

To keep costs down, I didn't order a drink since we have drinks at home. As I finish placing my order, I was hoping he would tell me my total but he told me to drive around to the window.  So I pull up to the window and I anxiously wait hoping the total would come out to less than $11.00.  He comes to the window and says, "the total is $12.76."  I panic.  And then trying not to be ashamed, I ask him if he can cancel the order of fries.  Maybe it's a good thing I cancelled them fries because I haven't been to the gym since Thanksgiving if you know what I mean.  So then with the cancellation of the fries, the new total was $10.74 or so.  With that, I warn him that I have $10.00 dollars worth of quarters, and again, trying not to be ashamed, I proceed to hand him 40 quarters and a dollar bill clutching both hands hoping the transfer of money is smooth or else I would have to pull up my car, get out, and try to pick up 40 quarters in 10 degree weather in the dark.  Success!

So as I proceed home, I definitely feel good about honoring our budget all while satisfying the cravings of my family.

What crazy things have you done to honor your budget AND give your loved ones what they wanted?