The Dunce Strikes Thrice

You know, I’m not a bright person. I’m really not. With all the bills I’ve had to pay since September, one would think that I wouldn’t do stupid stuff that would cost me money. Right? Well, I guess ol’ Roger Dodger just can’t stop doing dumb shit.

The IRS payback due date is the 10th of each month for $150. It was supposed to be an automatic draft out of my account, but I wasn’t sure if my payment plan had kicked in. So I called the IRS and, while I was on hold, I went to an online site that does tax payments. They had me on hold for a good 15 minutes and I was growing impatient, so I decided to pay online. I figured that they were gonna tell me that the payment plan hadn’t gone through yet and I’d still have to send a check. Because I was calling on the 9th, the check would be late getting there and I didn’t want to risk the plan being cancelled. About 30 seconds after I paid online, some IRS lady got on the phone and told me that my payment plan went through, with the first payment being taken out on the 10th. When I told her that I had just paid it, she said that the payment will still be taken out and there’s no way to postpone it. So I basically did a double pay for no reason, with the second payment going towards the principal of the debt. $150 wasted.

Yesterday I had to get my tires done. I had to inflate the rear left tire EVERY DAY and I had enough of it. I was supposed to go to Pep Boys to get all four tires done for about $360. For some reason, however, I decided to go to Dunn Tires which was more expensive. They said I only needed to replace 2 of the 4 tires and the total cost with alignment and labor was $280. For 2 tires?!! What the hell did I go there for?! Sha even told me that he had a guy that sold used tires, 4 for $100 and installs it for $40. Ugh! To make matters worse, I went in for an oil change at Valvoline, where I usually go. All I wanted was an oil change and my wipers replaced, yet they somehow convinced me that I had to do a transmission fluid flush, which cost $109. Then they talked me into getting my differentials taken care of with an explanation that I still can’t remember, and that was another $20. By the time I left Valvoline, I had spent $234 dollars.

I have got to stop making dumb decisions. It’s bad enough that I’ve been drowning in bills since September—I don’t need to fight my own stupidity as well. Once I get property Charlie, I think I’m gonna create a “Dumbass Decisions Budget”. It’ll be maybe $50 a month that I’ll set aside to cover for all the stupid things I do every year. But will that even be enough?