Bill Creep & Bargain Shopping

February 2, 2011

PAYDAY!

I don’t know why I put that in all caps like I’m excited or something; this check was gone before it got here. It’s always that way at the first of the month lately.  Have you noticed “bill creep” affecting your monthly budget?  Because the payment cycles are often less than 30 days, the due dates come earlier and earlier in the month, until suddenly most of them are due in the first half of the month.  I try to counteract this by paying one or two early, from the month’s second paycheck, but it’s not always possible when the bill hasn’t arrived.  Feast or famine, I guess.

Income:         $ 1883.12  (biweekly)

Expenditures:$ 1087.25 mortgage

                               85.55 water bill

                             233.00 power bill    

                             100.00 Visa

                               68.16 house phone

                             174.00 car payment

                               50.00 Gecaf (oven)

                               53.28 life insurance (me)

We also spent $28.65 at a bakery thrift store stocking the freezer with bread and rolls, and $25.85 for three deeply-discounted pairs of jeans (Rugged Wearhouse) for Mr. S and Struggle, Jr. to wear to work.  These expenses would have put us into negative territory, except I had scheduled several of  the bills to be paid two days later, after the part-time paycheck hit the bank.

Where do you find your best bargains?