Freak Out! Il n'est pas chic.

This particular freak out, il n'est pas chic. Or whatever. It's not chic. It's pedestrian and common...oh SO common, especially for this bride. It's a financial freak out.

I was already stressed earlier this week about finances...my bank account was sitting low, and I was worrying about paying for a recent big wedding purchase (more about that later), unexpected expenses for an impromptu work trip to Ireland, home owner expenses (new water heater needed! also, the barren wasteland we refer to as "our yard" needs some work), as well as my trip to Paris in July.

Let's take an aside here to acknowledge the reality of the situation. Yes, I am going to Ireland AND Paris. Granted, in Ireland I likely won't have much fun since it's for work and they are pretty much slave drivers, but in France I will. And yes, I'm getting married. And aren't we lucky that we can afford to buy a new water heater instead of just, you know, filling up barrels with rain water? I mean, what's the worst thing that can realistically happen? I bounce a couple of checks. No biggie in the real scheme of life.

Yes indeedy. I was rolling with that really optimistic train of thought until I got a letter from the IRS. This is how that went down:

Me: OOOHHHH! A letter from the IRS! I bet it's the $450 I overpaid this year on accident.
Mr. PB: Um, maybe you should let me open that.
Me: Why?
Mr. PB: What if it's something bad? You're about to go to dinner and it might ruin your whole night.
Me: No, it's my check. [Open letter. Read how I owe $2500 from 2008. Cry. Cuss.] [I may have stamped my foot too.]

Mr. PB encouraged me to go to dinner, have some drinks, forget about it until Monday and then I can call and find out WTF is going on. He was very calm and comforting, and even gave me a rose from our monstrous rosebush.

I wanted to get into bed, sleep for six hours, wake up and eat a box of Velveeta shells and cheese, and then sleep for twelve more hours. But instead, I've cried about it three times but I have NOT exploded about it (previous unacceptable behavior that I am working to eradicate) and I am just relaxing and working on a plan to get in a comfortable financial place. This is always a struggle but at least not as tough now as it is in the past. Hopefully no more unexpected expenses will arise in the next few months.

How do you stay calm when dealing with finances? Do you hate the IRS as much as I do? :-)