Friday, May 13, 2011
Wow! Last week was a lot worse than I realized, now that I’ve had a chance to look back over the finances. I had thought we would have a few hundred dollars left after paying bills from this week’s paycheck, but not only did we spend it all, we actually spent more and the overdraft protection kicked in to cover it. What’s more---we will be lucky to make it to our next payday without borrowing again, or having to transfer money from savings. I’m not sure how it all happened except that obviously, we weren’t paying enough attention. I’ll plead busyness, and a house full of company. Well, that and my pride.....
You will remember that I had written a check to Miss S2 for part of her graduation present. Little did I dream she would deliver said check to the bank the very next morning. I could have asked her to hold it until payday, but she announced her intent in front of her boyfriend and my mother and due to my pride and potential embarrassment, I decided to let her go. I thought at the time there was money in the account, not realizing how much we had spent on special occasion extras during the week.
Here’s the breakdown for this payday:
Carryover balance: $52.67
Income: $100.00 from overdraft protection
1885.74 full-time pay
127.15 part-time pay
Bills paid: $1087.25 mortgage
200.00 home equity line payment
50.00 oven payment
397.93 auto insurance (bi-monthly)
11.42 cable TV
Other expenses: $66.22 gasoline
93.10 earrings for 2 daughters (graduation gifts)
103.70 groceries
40.93 summer clothing (Struggle Jr. and Mr. S.)
33.64 summer annuals for yard
6.45 fast food
Current Balance: $74.92
We will have to really watch the pennies to make it through the week on that balance. I know one of the cars has a half-tank of gas, but I’m not sure about the other. We just bought groceries, but will definitely need more milk and bread before the week is out.
We booked a hotel room online last night, for our upcoming trip to see our other daughter graduate. I mentioned before that Miss S1 lives in a boarding house, with just a single bedroom, so we really didn’t have the option of staying with her. I have enough money in savings to pay off the charge card when this bill comes, and a little extra for some sight-seeing. We’re hoping to hear something from Struggle Jr.’s university before we depart, so we’ll know how much tuition we owe for next fall. Then we can adjust our travel budget accordingly. I think the tuition bill will be due in mid-July, so we won’t have much time to save after we return from our trip. We haven’t had to charge tuition yet, (although the kids do have student loans) and I sure don’t want to start that with the last child.
Mr. Struggle has heard back from his job interview. Unfortunately, he was rejected. We are trying to console ourselves with the idea that at least we don’t have to move. When we return from our trip, we’ll both resume our job searches.
I’d love to hear your version of pride going before a fall. What kind of money mistakes have you made just to save face?
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