July

We are one more down!!!

I'm not sure how I really feel about this month. We managed to pay off the Chase card, which feels awesome, and we are down another $1,500, but I feel like we should have made more progress. I have been watching extra kids and for LONG hours (7:30-5:30) and have made about $775. This is also one of the 4 months in the year where we have an extra $1150 paycheck from Dan.

We talked before the month even started and decided we needed to take care of a few things this month and not put as much towards bills. We agreed to this and we did get a ton of other random things paid for, but I still feel somewhat disappointed.

Here is a list of everything extra we paid for in June.

Dan's contacts - $100
Year book Christmas gift (last years's) for Dan's sister - $60
A much needed slab of cement behind our porch - $250
Over due Culligan bill for our rental - $125
Quarterly water bill - $140
Isaiah's Birthday - $100
Maternity clothes - $150
Camping trips and supplies - $480
License plates renewal - $85
Gas (Dan was not able to give enough plasma to cover it this month) - $150
Rummages Sales - $100
Dan's expense check (instead of Dan using the check book to cover meals (he does get reimbursed) when he is out of town, we planned to just take $100 out and he would keep reusing that instead. Then I don't have to worry about things unexpectedly coming out of the check book. - $100

We managed to pay for a lot of those things with cash, but not everything. A few things ended up going on a CC. That's the part that I am disappointed about. We have not used the CCs for 7 months, until now. I have that pit in my stomach again.

I guess this just means we need to budget better and keep within our means. I will take this as a reminder to STAY ON TRACK!!!!

Next month will get a bit tougher because I had to cut back on daycare hours. The extra money was great, but I don't want a nervous breakdown to get it. This is turning into a tough pregnancy and with 3 1/2 months to go yet, I need to be careful. I should still average about $240 a month, but that is much less then I had been making.

Next month will be a good challenge to see if I can report better numbers.
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