I feel like I am just bleeding money lately
I hate when I feel like this. It is getting towards the end of the month, and although we’re doing fine within our income (not spending more than we earned this month) I feel like we are just bleeding money the past few days. The diapers I again needed to buy that I didn’t plan for. My husband had a (planned) medical procedure done today, that when he called originally to schedule in the beginning of August I thought wouldn’t happen until September at least, so I hadn’t budgeted for the copay for it, and a prescription on top of that. Then we stopped for pizza on the way home because we were all tired and cranky and irritable (or at least, I was) and didn’t have the oomph to cook. Poor planning on my part, but it is what it is.
I did snowflake an amount equal to the pizza money to debt, but that’s not fooling my psyche any more. That was a great tool when I wasn’t so stringent and nitpicky with the budget. But now I know that the money I just snowflaked would have gone to debt anyway, just a few weeks later when it was a budget surplus. Well, I guess it is good to have the money paid there faster. And the money we spent on pizza won’t get to go to debt now. Ugh. It was cheap pizza, but still.
7 more days in August. PearBudget says I have about $555 left of our earnings. Once I subtract out money that will get carried over to next month for annual expenses and irregular expenses, it leaves about $340. Let’s see how much of that makes it to a debt payment. Hopefully at least $200. Maybe $250 if I can keep groceries and gasoline to a minimum for the remainder of the month.
I *hate* this bleeding money feeling. Staunch the wounds! Stay in the house! Heh.
~J
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August 24th, 2007 at 11:50 pm
Don’t get discouraged! You’re doing great. How far are you away from having the “bad debt” paid off (i.e. credit cards, car loans, etc)?
Just keep your eye on the money and you will be out of debt before you know it!
August 25th, 2007 at 12:31 am
A long long time lol.
I think I am just in a mood.
Credit card - august (maybe) 2008
car loan um… March 2009? It is the lowest interest debt so i don’t think a lot about it. I was a shrewd negotiator on that one lol.
just as long as the car does not break down or something
August 25th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
Stay the course, one step at a time. You will get there.
For unexpected expenses, use your emergency fund. But sounds like you are over budget, but not overspending (i.e. spending more than you make).
I have similar months, sometimes I have more than I planned, but often have less. Each dollar is one step closer to freedom!
August 25th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
I have the blessing and curse of having an irregular income (my part at least, not my spouse’s). So it has kind of a built in buffer that way. The budget is based on my average monthly income from last year, and this month my check was a little more than that. Hence the buffer.
Next month looks to be a bit less than average (I get paid monthly for work completed the previous month) so… we’ll see how that shakes out lol.
Thanks for the encouragement