February Buddy
Mar. 5th, 2010 07:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sleepymaggiedebt stuff
February was kindof a trying month -- for different reasons than January. I've been trying to organize my thoughts on it, which is why this entry is so far into March rather than in February.
The best point was the tax rebate. A large portion of it went towards paying off a debt. I came up with a plan to balance transfer the rest of that debt to a card with 0% interest. So that's working out.
On the other side, though, there were a number of struggles. Etrade decided to sell my savings account to Discover and that doesn't sit well with me. So my automatic movement of money from paycheck to savings is gone for the moment. I need to setup a new savings account at PNC, where my checking lives, but I haven't had the capital yet.
--
Part of the problem with months and money is that months go on forever. There's a lot of bills and a finite amount of time to pay them. In February my paycheck cycle was set to the exact worst points. My first paycheck happened very early and went entirely to bills and debt. My second paycheck was early in the month and needed to be saved for rent two weeks later. It's hard to just sit on that money for so long, buying nothing. I love the months where a paycheck comes right before rent is due, because it's in and gone, without any sitting time.
March is worked out a little differently. All of my debt payments and bills are due two days before a paycheck. Somehow they all got weirdly clustered around a particular wednesday. So they all have to be paid now, at the beginning of the month. It's fine, it just means no money for a while.
--
Another problem was with me. I did a lot of thinking about it. I can control the urge to buy pretty much anything, and I can cutoff all the old services we had down to gone or nothing. Netflix is down to one disc + instant, GameFly is gone, no cable, Microsoft Live paid for in one lump sum so it's cheaper.
My one weakness is food. When I'm stressed and anxious, I just want to eat comforting food, something to make me feel better. With a limited selection in the house, sometimes this means breaking down and buying something out in the world. Sometimes its just a soda at work to keep me awake and get me through the day.
A big part of the problem with food is planning. The food that we have in is usually difficult to bring from its pantry state to its edible state. We have lots of non-perishables: dried beans, lentils, rice, pasta, etc. The problem is the perishable part. Its hard to buy fruit and veg because of the expense and the perishing part.
I would really like to better plan the food we buy, build meals and then make purchases based on them. It's hard to do that at the moment.
--
Yeah, ok. This is a very disjointed post, sorry about that. I want to say something, but a lot of February was disheartening, so it's hard to figure out what to say.
It will hopefully help me do better in march.
February was kindof a trying month -- for different reasons than January. I've been trying to organize my thoughts on it, which is why this entry is so far into March rather than in February.
The best point was the tax rebate. A large portion of it went towards paying off a debt. I came up with a plan to balance transfer the rest of that debt to a card with 0% interest. So that's working out.
On the other side, though, there were a number of struggles. Etrade decided to sell my savings account to Discover and that doesn't sit well with me. So my automatic movement of money from paycheck to savings is gone for the moment. I need to setup a new savings account at PNC, where my checking lives, but I haven't had the capital yet.
--
Part of the problem with months and money is that months go on forever. There's a lot of bills and a finite amount of time to pay them. In February my paycheck cycle was set to the exact worst points. My first paycheck happened very early and went entirely to bills and debt. My second paycheck was early in the month and needed to be saved for rent two weeks later. It's hard to just sit on that money for so long, buying nothing. I love the months where a paycheck comes right before rent is due, because it's in and gone, without any sitting time.
March is worked out a little differently. All of my debt payments and bills are due two days before a paycheck. Somehow they all got weirdly clustered around a particular wednesday. So they all have to be paid now, at the beginning of the month. It's fine, it just means no money for a while.
--
Another problem was with me. I did a lot of thinking about it. I can control the urge to buy pretty much anything, and I can cutoff all the old services we had down to gone or nothing. Netflix is down to one disc + instant, GameFly is gone, no cable, Microsoft Live paid for in one lump sum so it's cheaper.
My one weakness is food. When I'm stressed and anxious, I just want to eat comforting food, something to make me feel better. With a limited selection in the house, sometimes this means breaking down and buying something out in the world. Sometimes its just a soda at work to keep me awake and get me through the day.
A big part of the problem with food is planning. The food that we have in is usually difficult to bring from its pantry state to its edible state. We have lots of non-perishables: dried beans, lentils, rice, pasta, etc. The problem is the perishable part. Its hard to buy fruit and veg because of the expense and the perishing part.
I would really like to better plan the food we buy, build meals and then make purchases based on them. It's hard to do that at the moment.
--
Yeah, ok. This is a very disjointed post, sorry about that. I want to say something, but a lot of February was disheartening, so it's hard to figure out what to say.
It will hopefully help me do better in march.
