Sometimes I get too ahead of myself

So, yesterday was Dan's payday. I was curious to find out how much his check would be, since mine had increased by about $30 thanks to Obama's plan to give Americans a bit of a tax break (thank you, Mr. President). Since Dan makes more than I do, I was thinking that his would be slightly bigger; maybe a $50 increase or so. Imagine my surprise when I logged on to our bank account (I knew he was depositing his check at lunch) and it was a whopping $160 more than it normally was! Holy cow! I was practically doing cartwheels in my office. I have a spreadsheet where I budget each paycheck so I can see where we are in terms of paying off debt, etc. (yes, I am a numbers nerd), so I altered my calculations to include this extra $320/month. I was so excited; it seemed like we were going to be able to pay off our debt in no time at all!

So, later that evening, Dan and I were watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart after dinner, and Jon mentioned something about President Obama. That triggered my memory, and I said to Dan, "Can you believe how much bigger your check is due to that tax break from Obama? It's amazing!" He said, "Yeah, but I also got that reimbursement check for mileage from when I had to go to Milwaukee, and I deposited that too."

Oh.

Crap, that's probably where all that extra $$ came from. Did I dare ask how much that mileage reimbursement check was? It turns out it was $125, which means that his check has only increased by about $35. Don't get me wrong; I'm still grateful, but I am just kicking myself for getting so ahead of myself and thinking that his take-home pay could actually increase by that much. It certainly got my hopes up, that's for sure!

So this morning I will spend time re-doing my budget spreadsheet back to its normal level. :( I certainly learned my lesson; if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.