Still Waiting for that Lotto

Its Sept 1 and I have just about 11K in credit card debt. Not a ton of progress this summer. That ER fund i talked about in previous post was gone in a flash on car repairs.  That bank of america card is not paid off but it should be on Sept 14th. That will leave about 10K on one credit card. It will be a huge relief.  But it hasn't happened yet. And I don't have an emergency fund.

This month I got a lot better at being frugal. I am paying in cash and cut out some gifts I would have normally done.

We are annoyed with our ratty clothes. Summer was pretty fun but it sucks to feel like every penny is budgeted away for the necessities and debt.

I'm tired of thiniking about money all the time. You would think with all the thinking about money, budgeting, and (mostly) frugal living we would be in a better place.

Of course the debt is MUCH less then it was a year ago. But it wasn't alot of fun and we are still 10K away.

So it is 9 months later and I thought I would check into my old blog and compare.

The numbers are way down, yay.

Currently, I owe $12,941 to credit card companies. This means I have paid off about $15,000 since August. It was really hard. I still think of things on the 12 step model and I will be honest that I have had many many slips along the way. I don't have selfless stories about how I have only eaten Ramen for 9 months or counted every penny. I did not cut back on some things. But I cut back on A LOT of things.

It was funny to see about how I was working on my Emergency Fund in September, as if there actually was one. I didn't have one until TODAY.   Basically, my ER Fund was me budgeting money that we actually used for other things each pay period. There has never been an Emergency Fund. It has been zero basically forever.

I got a surprise bonus and the first thing I did was put 1000 into the Emergency Fund.  The pay structure at my job is influenced by bonuses, and I have never done this before. So this is new.
I was always skeptical about the 1K Emergency Fund mentality, because I wanted to put that money towards debt.  When I had an expensive car repair and unplanned travel expense (for a funeral) I had to pull out the old credit card. And I felt what a slippery slope it was. I need to have an ER Fund. I have to change what I am doing with regards to this.

I budgeted the rest of the bonus towards speific things, and am going to stick with our regular weekly budget. I don't want this bonus to get "lost."

It feels a little like cheating, that I got the bonus and put it in the ER Fund instead of creating the fun  saving little by little. But I have to do something different because slow saving was not working for me.

I was hoping I would pay off my BankofA card this July, but due to the funeral trip it is looking like August. Then I will just have one credit card and I will snowball the hell out of it. If things go close to as plan, I will be out of credit card debt by February or sooner, depending on the size of my holiday bonus and tax refund.

The slow

I'm not impressed with our progress on debt or with the penny-pinching lifestyle.

It seems like we are living pretty dramatically different, but my debt is not dramatically smaller. It doesn't seem like it will dramatically smaller anytime soon.

I guess on the positive side we are not adding more debt. Um, that doesn't feel like much to celebrate.

I've got 11 dollars in spending money for the next week. I don't have any savings. It feels bleak.

Right, the "sucks" part

I'm feeling annoyed about our budget and debt and lack of spending money.

The other night partner was in a terrible mood and she said "I hate the budget, I want a haircut, I want some clothes." Our wardrobes are pretty sad, even by low budget standards.

Yesterday was payday and somehow I spend too much of spending money already. (10.00 extra on the babysitter's going away present, $5.00 so the babysitter could take kid out, $7.00 for lunch for me)

We ran out of groceries, so that created a problem for lunches.

Anyway, its annoying. I personally would also like a frozen yogurt right now, but I've got 13 days to go on $25.00.

We also used to get awesome amazing sushi on Friday nights. Today, pasta with a can of diced tomatoes.

We are paying for some bad spending choices earlier in the month also. Hi, smartphone.

Anyhow, normally we would fill up the cars with gas, buy the babysitter an awesome gift, and have a sensational dinner. Sometimes it just feels disapointing.

I guess in the big picture I will be happier if we can pay off this debt but it seems like a long way away.

Emptying the Tin

I haven't written, maybe because I have been spending money. I haven't BORROWED any more money, but we used up the Wedding Fund (for October out of town wedding), so that is not great. We went under budget on gas, so that helped.

We spontaneously spent our whole gift fund (plus some) when there was a tragedy in our community and we felt compelled to respond. I'm okay with that. It was actually a weird feeling because for unforeseen expenses, we paid cash. I still can't believe that.

So payday is Thursday and I think we can stretch until then. We don't have our savings funds but at least no borrowing!

Hey Big Spender

Tonight I get to spend some money. I am taking my sister out to dinner to celebrate my raise. It was planned and budgeted for. You know what, it DOES feel better that way.

We also got good news that the daycare center can accept our daughter for 5 days a week. This is cheaper but also alot easier to manage because it is all payroll deductions. No more scrambling for cash or waiting for checks to clear from the babysitter.

All in all, good week so far. We are still within our budget. I haven't spend ANY of my spending allowance since Saturday. If these tanks of gas last, we might just make it!

It's for me

I feel like I should apologize for such a boring blog. I am writing here every day as a way of accounting for my spending. It is just not very exciting stuff.

I can't believe we haven't spent any money today either.

Lots of conversations last night about how we are not doing the jobs we care the most about (activism) because of our debt. Really really wanting to be free from this. I know it is a long haul.

It just is. If we can get through one whole pay period without borrowing money (including from ourselves) that would be really awesome. It may never have happened before. Seriously.