Mar 28, 2011

Facebook to the rescue

Ever since Grayson started paying the bills last year, he's been keeping track of our expenses in the most obnoxious detailed way.

He assigns every charge on our credit card to a category, the goal being to keep us within our budgeted amount for each category every month. So once a month, he brings his laptop in and he asks me about all of the "unexplained" charges on the card so that he can assign them to the right category. I always enjoy this special time we spend together as a couple.

NOT.

Over the weekend, as he came to me with his laptop and I did not roll my eyes even a little bit, he had about 12 charges he wanted to discuss constructively.

I was able to parlay all of them into legitimate charges with the exception of one: $37 in March to a woman named Anne Marie Hamilton (last name modified slightly even though this has absolutely no bearing on her whatsoever). I wracked my brain for several minutes to no avail.

Grayson made the point, "You also paid her $37 in August." So in my head, I'm thinking, What's a seasonal expense? What would I buy for the same exact price twice a year? Is is a subscription to something? And why don't I remember her name?

So I Googled her. Nothing. Grayson decided to report the charge as fraudulent, see if anything came of that. Desperate, I went to Facebook. I found a woman with that name, but we had no mutual friends.

BUT. There was a picture.

I said, "She looks REALLY familiar. Hold on. Hold on. Let me think. WAIT! THAT'S MY HAIRDRESSER!"

See, she's only cut my hair twice (seven months apart, obviously), and in any case I would have expected the charges to come across under the salon name (which I DO know). So this totally threw me for a loop.

Internet, I am SO glad we didn't report my hairdresser for fraud.

5 comments:

Rachel said...

Oh my word! How do you do this? Even your everyday 'boring' stuff is funny. Yea for budgets! We try to stay on top of it too.

Martha said...

This post was too funny! I had to stop myself from guffawing too loudly!

Amy said...

I have the hubby that categorizes as well, and I, too, am forced to sit through the "unexplained charges" interrogation. Christmas time is the worst for that--all the sellers from etsy, ebay, paypal, etc. I can never remember what every charge is for, so then I need to go and do exactly what you did--search the internet :)

Sewconsult said...

Dear Hubby was even worse. His mother had a notebook of every single penny that they ever spent. On our honeymoon, DH pulled out a similar notebook and said that we would do the same. Nope. We may be poor, but I don't want to be reminded about it everyday. We've been frugal, but always saving. It has paid off. We paid off our house 5 yrs ago and hubby took early retirement.

Thankfully, after our girls were out of the house, I allowed myself a "spa" day, every 4-5 weeks. I get a manicure and hand massage (which feels so good for the arthritis) haircut/colored and eyebrows waxed. The bill is anywhere from $65 to well over $100, depending on if the color is done. It took me a good year to get past the guilt. No more.

Tanya Ott said...

omg ... too funny! sounds like your husband and mine are cut from the same clothe ;-)

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