This blog post is like half budgeting ideas and half December Income Report (hahaha! Like those highly paid bloggers you see? This is the poor people's version! LOL)
Phew! Today is our payday (our real payday, as the other check is our rent check--nothing gets paid but rent, car gas and groceries) and I have a LOT to pay. More than normal even. I owe people money, I have to double up on certain payments. And I still have to buy Christmas presents, because tomorrow?? Is effing Christmas Eve.
*sigh*
Yeah, I think we're having Christmas another day....even another month, because there's no way we can afford to buy practically anything at all.
So, I am going to start my day by making my chart (that we talked about in the last post about paydays).
The columns are as follows:
Have2 (the have-to buy list)
CPO (can put off list)
LIKE2 (like to buy list)
So let's work this all out:
Starting finances: $1075.09 (first year in 11 years he didn't get a Christmas bonus! Bah humbug to his stingy boss!!)
HAVE2 List
・Loan 1: $184.00 (two months worth because we're overdue) ☑・Loan 2: $346.50 (we'll get the $300 back in a week by getting another payday loan) ☑
・Geico: $36.84 ☑
・Phones: $96.29 (this includes a $40 payment from last month) ☑
・Netflix: $8.94 (It's $9.99, but I had a little money left in Paypal) ☑
・Xfinity: $186.20 (I downgraded my package, turned off my cable & phone so starting next month it will be only $99.00) ☑
・Overdraft Fees: $68.95 ☑
Now we have $146 to last us for the week until Friday, when we get the $300 back from the payday loan.
CPO List
・Electric: (holy crap, I don't owe anything! Um, MERRY CHRISTMAS TO US! For real, I don't know why, but I have a $0 bill.....who paid it???? AAAHHHHH! I am happy!!)
・Gas: (Um, yeah, I have a $0 bill here, too...um, I am one grateful lady right now!! Oh hell yeah!! Whoo hoooooo! I am putting some "Old Crow Medicine Show" on the surround sound and turning it way up to dance in celebration!! C'mon, dance with me!!)
・Hulu: $7.99
・Credit card 1: $25
・Credit card 2: $25
・Money owed to kid one: $60
・Money owed to kid two: $40
These can I put off until Friday or after (some I can pay on Friday, like some money to the two kids and the credit card payments--Hulu can be put on suspension for another month! The two utilities can be put off until next month as well.) It is important when you make this list, you write how much you owe to each one!
LIKE2 List
・Christmas Presents(We'll get the kids a couple of gifts from the Goodwill or somewhere else cheap, they are 15 and 18 and don't expect much--we already bought them their big gift last month..and we'd already bought my inlaws some small gifts, and my mother, so we're left with the kids getting their dad and stepmother something)
Necessities List
(I am adding this one in because everyone needs necessities. These should be bought on a different day, as I don't desperately need them right now, if I did, I would buy them immediately and they would not be on this list, they'd be on the HAVE2 list.)・Enough toilet paper for two weeks.
・Paper towels for two weeks.
・Dog food from Meyer ($20 for their brand of Purina Dog Chow)
・Dishsoap
・Groceries (luckily I don't have to go get any today)
・And probably stuff I am not remembering at the moment 😃
So, we're left with a grand total right now of $146. That will need to stretch to cover a week's worth of groceries, including Christmas eve dinner that I am making tomorrow for five people (lasagna, garlic bread, and salad). And it will need to cover a full tank of gas for the car I drive and $20 for my husband's car. Plus any Christmas gifts we need to get. Plus the things on my necessities list (though some I can push back until Friday).
*sigh* We'll make it work, we always do!
So, that's how to do it! Pay your HAVE2's first, and then go from there. Put off what you can put off and sparingly spend the rest. Living paycheck to paycheck teaches us to be resourceful and find things at cheaper prices that you may not know if you weren't forced to have to. Like, I found that DEAL$ has $1 bag of frozen peppers and onions! And it's pretty big! And it's good. I would never had known that unless I was forced to shop there for food sometimes. What a great deal!! (hence the name of the store...)
Now, have a great holiday and try not to go crazy next payday!!
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