August 1, 2006 by Amy

Where’s the line in the budget for Starbucks?

Tired today…stayed up too late doing pretty much nothing at all. Don’t you hate it when you do that? When you’re looking at the clock going, “It’s almost midnight, I should turn in,” and then you keep reading the magazine? Stupid stupid.

Really wishing I had stopped and gotten a mocha on the way in. Hell, it’s early enough I could run back out. Oooo, I could visit my new Starbucks just up Brentwood! Traffic was hideous, though, and it’s a bit too far to walk. Especially as it’s already 108 degrees and it’s not even 8 yet. Still…a mocha might be worth it. Damn. No cash in the ol’ wallet. That means I’d have to charge it, which means I would ultimately end up accountable to my Budget Overlord, also known as my loving husband. We have this running joke, he and I, about our budget. He is the Budget Overlord (so christened by me) and I am the Budget Maven (so christened by him). I’m pretty glad he’s the Budget Overlord, because we wouldn’t be living where we live and I wouldn’t have near the photography gear I have if it weren’t for him being so good with personal finances. Not that I’d ever tell him that. I prefer to whine about increasing our monthly charge bill allowance and drive him batty.

Budgets are important, and the rational part of me sees that, understands that, and even supports it. But the emotional part of me, the part that thinks no day is complete without a decaf grande non-fat no-whip mocha, looks around at all the people spending money they don’t have and wonders, “hey, can’t I do that?!” Sure, I could do that, and then we’d end up living in a cardboard box in a Starbucks parking lot. Maybe I could build a little dome out of their grande cups. Those cup sleeves provide pretty good insulation.

No, no. Today I’ll stick with my decaf green tea, which I tell myself is better than a mocha any day because it provides antioxidants that fight free radicals (and therefore cancer and aging and all that other icky stuff that free radicals do) and that is enhanced with my wonderful honey purchased for me at the Ann Arbor Farmer’s Market by Steffi-poo and so it’s made with a little bit of love and doesn’t that make it better? Maybe if it had some chocolate in it…