eking by

I just did my budget for July, and let's just say that I'm SO thankful that it's a 3 paycheck month! I'm exactly on budget for all of my regular expenses, my new dental bill (which still makes me angry every time I think about it!), my car registration, paying my credit card off in full (before any finance charges have accrued, thank you!) and then I'm out. No savings this month :-( I was really looking forward to putting that extra check right in savings. Then I was going to put it against my dental bill. Now, I'm just happy that I can pay everything I need to! And I would be in trouble without the extra check. Sadly, I have to pay only the minimum on the dental bill in July. However, I'm working with my budgets after that to get it at least doubled. That thing is seriously the bane of my existence at the moment. I also have to figure out when I'm going to go back east for the rest of the work, and how exactly I'm going to pay for it. I really hope I can find uber cheap plane tickets… easier said, than done.

I'm paying all my bills that are due before July (or in the first week) this weekend, with todays paycheck. Then I'm putting my credit cards in a drawer, and far away from my wallet! I find that I need to do this every six months or so. But it works. In terms of spending on things like food, I'm quite hopeful that I can just use cash. I know I will be a little bit more limited in terms of buying lots of food at once, or just a few things here and there, but it will work out, because I can't afford for it NOT to.