Refocusing on finances, already

 Not that long ago, I talked about needing to focus better on my finances. Mostly on paying down (and ideally paying off) debt. And for a little while, I was doing pretty good not spending where I didn't need to spend. I even managed to avoid the FOMO for the new Magic set. At least for a little while. This past weekend, I caved.

I didn't buy as much as I was originally planning, but still spent more than I should. How did I justify it to myself? I didn't even bother. I knew as I was buying it that I was being foolish with my money. That the cards, and most of the product, would be there later when I was in a better financial position. And even if I ended up missing out on a "one time thing," there'll be more one time things to come. Yet some foolish part of my brain was telling me I needed to get some of these cards now. And I went with it.

I also bought other little things throughout the week last week (mostly snacks) that were completely pointless and a waste of money. Snacks being doubly so as I'm trying to lose some weight and while I've been jogging and hiking a decent amount, I've let my diet continue to be rather poor. Granted, it's not the worst that it's been and I know I don't have it in me to make it the best it could be, but I'm still leaning more toward the bad stuff than the good. 

Now I'm not here just to beat myself up, there were some small wins. Most notably yesterday when I went to a game store intended to buy a decent amount more of Hobbit product and then  when I got there I stopped myself. And today after getting some groceries I stopped myself from running back out "just to go look if something was still in stock" which is personal code for "if I see this thing, I'm gonna buy it and if they don't have it, I'll buy something else." 

The small irony being had I focused on paying off (and not adding back) my debt when I was in a better position to do so (like my last deployment), I'd right now be in a good position not only for buying more gaming stuff, but I could also start working on turning some of my Magic hobby into a side hustle. Though ideally instead of worrying about gaming or side hustles right now, I'd be planning some epic hiking trips, both in and out of state.

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