Slowing Down

I have found that even the best of intentions, without enough forethought can fall through.
That may sound a little harsh, but here is where I am coming from.

I have recently had quite a few hiccups in my plans. In part because I have bought a few things, but largely due to some unexpected expenses that I wrote about previously. I had my credit card debt down to about $1300. I then had about $300 in car repairs, $300 in new tires, and bought a fishing rod. Now my credit card debt is right back up to $2000.

I also have to pay off two parking tickets, and a failure to display my registration ticket still. Don't know where the money will come from for those.

I do have plans now that would have paid for these expenses if they had occurred next year, and nothing between now and then had happened.

When you first start saving and making plans for expected expenses down the road (like car repairs), it’s really hard to meet your savings goals if you have some expected/unexpected expenses before you get there…

So I had a great chat with my mom last night, and I realized that it’s okay to take a step back and work on my goals slowly. That way, when something happens I don’t have to rush out to use my credit card.

I’ve topped up my emergency fund to $1000 and put contributions on hold. I will resume them in a few months once I feel like I am in more control of things. I have also changed my visa debt repayment from $300 plus every two weeks to $250/bi weekly.

I think that I may also have to look at my budget AGAIN. Because I handle all of the bills in a household with four roommates I have very large influxes in my bank account. So my $400/variables a month, may be more $100/first half of the month and $300/second half of the month. I’ll have to look more into when bills are paid, but I’ll write on that more later.

All of that said. I have about $50 to my name, AFTER I get paid on Friday and I still have to buy groceries. It’s going to be a tight month this May.