That's a bummer...

So I have touched briefly in the past about finances and budgeting and maybe it's too touchy of a subject to broach but I am gonna just go for it. It seems that at least 2 times a month (not so coincidentally around payday) I do a quick run thru, a bit of a status check, pay bills etc. etc. I also get incredibly pissed off. At first I am mad at myself, then at Robert, then back to me...but then I look around and try to blame something, someone, anyone else. And guess what I can, I really can AND I have a justifiable argument. I on a daily basis get loads of emails letting me know this store, that store, or this restaurant is having a "once in a lifetime sale!" that I would just be stupid to pass up...I continue to go thru and opt to stop receiving these emails yet they continue to come. I rarely look at them, but then I turn on the TV and I hear the same thing over and over. I flip on the radio, I open a magazine, I read a blog, I go to facebook...marketing is EVERYWHERE. And 90% of the time I ignore it and go on, but the buy, buy, buy is the "new" craze. It's crazy, the cost of things...the amount of things we "have to have". And I am saying this knowing we make a decent living with what we have, it's not just the bitterness because I can't buy everything I want. Because I can't sign my kid up for soccer this week, because I can't eat out whenever I want, because I have to buy my dogs the cheap crappy dog food-yes I know stupid example but whatever...it's because it really is a problem. I try to turn the other cheek but that is so incredibly hard...so hard. I will be the first to admit I like to buy things but I am also the first to admit that we have a broken bed that Robert just patched up, that we don't have a fancy TV...not even close, I don't have a fancy cell phone (and honestly can't stomach dropping that much money on a phone...have you SEEN the condition my cell phones end up in), Gavin has hand me down furniture, our coffee table is chewed up on the corner courtesy of not one but two different dogs, I absolutely do not do fancy purses or expensive shoes. And honestly I don't get the obsession with the last 2 but I digress. But the kids have nice clothes--and lots of em. That's my buying weakness. Needless to say I did bills today and I am bummed, I am bummed we are going to have to put a halt to any and all spending and I am bummed, that when I opened my email I had 7 emails about various sales going on, when I opened my mailbox I have various coupons and magazines stating the same. And people are pretty hush hush about finances, but you know what? I am ok to admit that it's not all peaches and cream over here...at least not this month, and probably the next. I also know I am not the only one. I know that while I sit hear wishing we could buy a nicer TV or have wood floors put down, there is someone across town trying to figure out how in the world they are going to feed their kids this week, or put a roof over their head tonight. It does make me step back and be grateful but am then still sad at what our society has turned most of us into--myself included.