Recap Yesterday’s Promise: Promise to self. Thursday I get out of an all day conference at 3:30….get home about 4. First thing update the financial planning worksheet, calculate July bills, schedule them and shred what isn’t necessary.
Success! In fact it went a lot better then I had expected. I caught up the last 3 months on one account and the last 2 on another. I went through and made sure all the bills were going to be paid a correct amount, updated the state of the credit, and shredded everything I had in the bin from May and June. I clarify that because I know that I have a whole pile of receipts in the my purse but as the shredder and I have just about had enough of each other I think it is enough for tonight.
In the beginning of the year I had the thought that I was going to be aggressive on making credit card payments and I was going to have all sorts of things paid off by the end of the year. That is great except for 3 big things. I didn’t cut down on my credit card use to basically I spun my wheels for the past 6 months, I didn’t reduce my spending so I caused myself further problems, and I didn’t have much in the way of savings so when bad things happened I wasn’t prepared. Things like car work so that it can pass inspection to the tune of $700 and the business trip to Orland at a hotel that cost almost $200 a night and I was staying for 5 nights. Live and learn.
The past two months I have worked hard to reduce spending such that I do not need to pull from my credit union line of credit. Thus I have over $200 in that. I know it doesn’t sound like much but I don’t know that I have had that much available since I opened it. I also only spent 2 times on the credit card. One time was to purchase my dad’s father’s day gift because I was doing it online and earlier this week to pay $1 for registering at the grocerygame.com. Hopefully with their coupons I will be able to more then recoup that cost. I also paid only the minimum balance on the credit cards or maybe a smidgen more. That said I am looking at what I expect to have at the end of the month in my credit union account that I use to pay bill and I could pay my rent without worry. I am also getting paid on the first of the month which is also good. If things continue the way they are and I don’t do something stupid this month I should be able to pay off my amazon card next month. I do have to figure out what I am going to do about the patio I want to build.
I would like to sit outside more often in my back yard. I decided last year that I was going to build a brick patio. I have about a third of it done. I have calculated (and I do need to review the calculations) that it will cost me $300 in bricks to finish it (including home depot delivery) and then I would need to buy sand. I have been stuck in this infinite loop in that I would like to finish it and use it before the year is out but that is probably a $400 investment. I can think of a lot of things that I could do with that money that would probably be better for me.
I think/hope that the good experience I had tonight getting things caught up, the regular discipline of writing on this blog, and the feeling that I have made some progress will help me really truly accomplish the financial goals I have for this year and maybe just maybe some good habits so that I can get out of this hole I am in. I need to avoid the trap of looking at how long I am currently calculating to pay things off. Maybe I make the long term goal that I graduate from grad school with no debt. hmmmm….something to think about.
mental note: add page of expected expenditures, should/need to spend, want to spend
