A Satisfactory Step!

I took a big step tonight- I told GI Joe "no" for the first time in 2013, and I meant it!
No! Not like that, silly!
GI Joe has a tendency to be impulsive. He also has an extreme addiction to tattoos. Throughout the years, we've spent thousands and yes, I said thousands, of dollars on his tattoos. Granted, he has about 2 dozen and they pretty much cover his entire body, but still. I don't have any, so I don't get the fascination. I never had a problem with GI Joe spending money on his tattoos. It is something he loves and is passionate about, and to be honest, it's his hard-earned money to spend. Either way, today, GI Joe got a call from his artist that he'd be in the area at a convention and wanted to do a tattoo for him at a discounted price for the competition. Now anyone with ink knows that tattoos can typically cost anywhere between $50-$1000, depending on the size, color, the artist, etc. His artist wanted $200 for a $400 tattoo. Good deal, right?
Wrong answer.
$200 is a chunk of money that I could very well use in quite a few of my 2013 goals. It could go into savings, or towards a portion of debt. Either way, something extraneous like a tattoo, is not in the plan.
So I said "no".
And you know what? I don't feel guilty. I don't feel like I'm in the wrong. I feel like I am doing what I need to do to make sure my family stays on track and is more successful in the future. I made a promise to myself and to my family that we would not flounder in debt. We will flourish as long as we have the self-discipline and motivation to get out of the hole that we're in. It will only guarantee a better future for all of us.
Someday, I want to be able to send our children to dance class, or soccer camp, or piano lessons. I want to be able to give them the things that I had and more. I know that in order to do that, we need to get out of the financial place that we're in, and move on to higher grounds. I know the only way to do that is to keep practicing "no". "No" to things we don't need, "no" to impulsive spending, "no" to GI Joe, and most importantly, "no" to myself. I know it takes a lot to get to where I want to be, but I'm willing to put in the effort to get there! Cheers to 2013!