Okay, so I goofed in my budget "fix". I thought I'd have $40 for gas, food, laundry, bills...for the next 10 days. Wrong. I had to get gas *today*. I'm sitting on about $3 for the next three weeks. My entire paycheck on 10/2 is gone to rent. Well, actually, all of it and some that doesn't exist. My check will be about $100 light of rent due to the previously discussed disaster.
I'm stressed out, I'm off my anxiety meds, and I can't take this any more. The cats know something is wrong but they'll really figure it out in about three days when they are out of food entirely.
Can I just press a magic reset button? Something that starts this stuff over? I'm holding on to the fact that my budget works...if I can ever get to the top of the hill.
I'm starting to feel like someone I know...and I don't like that feeling of being a total mooch who weighs down on people. That's definately not helping my anxiety..which is feeding my insomnia...and so on.
23 October 2006
22 October 2006
Catching up...
The last week hasn't seen an update because until Wednesday, there really wasn't any news.
Last weekend was okay, didn't do much. I woke up Monday with a migraine which lasted right through Wednesday. Wednesday was the "bad day" of the week. I took some much stronger painkillers and slept most of the day (after calling into work and going to the doctor) and when I woke up and went to check the mail, I had a note in my door from the management company that my rent check had been returned.
I checked my bank on line...and sure enough, they'd ran it electronically before my payroll had gone in. They'd presented my rent check sometime between 8pm and 12mid on the 3rd...and my payroll hit on the early AM of the 5th. So I had racked up $185 in late fees and NSF fees just from the management company. I worked Thursday and pulled a 12 hours shift on Friday just to make up for some of the missed time on Wednesday.
I'm now sitting with $40 to get food, gas, and do laundry for the next 10 days. Yeah, that nearly $200 in late fees screwed up my budget something bad. I should be sitting on about $240 right now in my budget and I had $150 set to carry over for rent as my next paycheck alone won't be quite enough (about $75-$100 short) but the remaining part would be enough to let me squeeze by until the paycheck on the 16th. I only need to set aside $425 of it and I'll still have enough for groceries, food, and gas. It's just going to be a three and a half weeks to get there.
I'm just glad that aside from my mistake with paying rent and the timing of the direct deposit, that my budget is working and that I *can* do it. I'm mad at myself for failing but I am taking some consolation that I can look at my budget with the $185 back in it and see that my budget would actually have been just fine.
I know now why people say put a little bit aside for emergencies now. Once I hit the 16th, I'm going to be doing just that. I'm going to see if I can have my paycheck "split" and do dual direct deposits. I want to have $50/check go into a savings account and the rest go into checking. I can just let the savings roll up until I need to touch it for something like a truck repair or an unexpected medication...otherwise, my budget will work and I can still pay rent and have food and get to/from work.
I'm stressing out some about it all, but at the same time, I also see that this should be the last major glitch in my budget (aside from the emergencies we all have) and that I can keep my TCF above $0 and still make all my bills. I don't see the point in having a full fledged anxiety attack over it and beating myself up over it...because it won't change anything in hindsight, the best I can do is take consolation that it will resolve itself and it also showed that my budget is sound.
A frustrating week but yet it wasn't an entirely bad week.
I'll post more this coming week, I usually don't post when it's just the same old "work, eat, sleep" kind of day.
Last weekend was okay, didn't do much. I woke up Monday with a migraine which lasted right through Wednesday. Wednesday was the "bad day" of the week. I took some much stronger painkillers and slept most of the day (after calling into work and going to the doctor) and when I woke up and went to check the mail, I had a note in my door from the management company that my rent check had been returned.
I checked my bank on line...and sure enough, they'd ran it electronically before my payroll had gone in. They'd presented my rent check sometime between 8pm and 12mid on the 3rd...and my payroll hit on the early AM of the 5th. So I had racked up $185 in late fees and NSF fees just from the management company. I worked Thursday and pulled a 12 hours shift on Friday just to make up for some of the missed time on Wednesday.
I'm now sitting with $40 to get food, gas, and do laundry for the next 10 days. Yeah, that nearly $200 in late fees screwed up my budget something bad. I should be sitting on about $240 right now in my budget and I had $150 set to carry over for rent as my next paycheck alone won't be quite enough (about $75-$100 short) but the remaining part would be enough to let me squeeze by until the paycheck on the 16th. I only need to set aside $425 of it and I'll still have enough for groceries, food, and gas. It's just going to be a three and a half weeks to get there.
I'm just glad that aside from my mistake with paying rent and the timing of the direct deposit, that my budget is working and that I *can* do it. I'm mad at myself for failing but I am taking some consolation that I can look at my budget with the $185 back in it and see that my budget would actually have been just fine.
I know now why people say put a little bit aside for emergencies now. Once I hit the 16th, I'm going to be doing just that. I'm going to see if I can have my paycheck "split" and do dual direct deposits. I want to have $50/check go into a savings account and the rest go into checking. I can just let the savings roll up until I need to touch it for something like a truck repair or an unexpected medication...otherwise, my budget will work and I can still pay rent and have food and get to/from work.
I'm stressing out some about it all, but at the same time, I also see that this should be the last major glitch in my budget (aside from the emergencies we all have) and that I can keep my TCF above $0 and still make all my bills. I don't see the point in having a full fledged anxiety attack over it and beating myself up over it...because it won't change anything in hindsight, the best I can do is take consolation that it will resolve itself and it also showed that my budget is sound.
A frustrating week but yet it wasn't an entirely bad week.
I'll post more this coming week, I usually don't post when it's just the same old "work, eat, sleep" kind of day.
15 October 2006
Skype
Hi gang...
I've got Skype up and running. It works great under Linux and Windows (shocker!)
My Skype name is BigBearJT but the number is 612-246-4691.
I have voicemail on it, so you can leave a message.
I've got Skype up and running. It works great under Linux and Windows (shocker!)
My Skype name is BigBearJT but the number is 612-246-4691.
I have voicemail on it, so you can leave a message.
Spring cleaning...the hard way
For the last few days, I've been having quirky problems with my KDE desktop. Things would randomly reset, menu entries would appear/disappear. Nothing major, but enough to annoy the daylights out of me.
I decided I was going to reinstall the entire system, switch filesystems from reiserfs to ext3, and hopefully clean up these problems. I was going to totally delete my KDE configuration and start from scratch.
What I had forgotten...is that all my files (/home) wasn't on it's own partition anymore. I did my re-install and discovered (actually, I remembered) that I'd copied all of /home to / (the partition I'd just wiped clean and installed).
I lost all my mail from the past three years, quite a few handy desktop shortcuts, all my chat logs, and a few other odd things I'm sure I'll think of in a while.
I also lost the few music videos I had...but all my music and all the episodes of Full Metal Alchemist were safe.
I've got my desktop restored to semi-normal, but it's just not the same without all the clutter of crap in /home/john
*laugh* I did say I wanted to start fresh...I just didn't want to be this fresh.
I decided I was going to reinstall the entire system, switch filesystems from reiserfs to ext3, and hopefully clean up these problems. I was going to totally delete my KDE configuration and start from scratch.
What I had forgotten...is that all my files (/home) wasn't on it's own partition anymore. I did my re-install and discovered (actually, I remembered) that I'd copied all of /home to / (the partition I'd just wiped clean and installed).
I lost all my mail from the past three years, quite a few handy desktop shortcuts, all my chat logs, and a few other odd things I'm sure I'll think of in a while.
I also lost the few music videos I had...but all my music and all the episodes of Full Metal Alchemist were safe.
I've got my desktop restored to semi-normal, but it's just not the same without all the clutter of crap in /home/john
*laugh* I did say I wanted to start fresh...I just didn't want to be this fresh.
05 October 2006
Long time, no type...
Hi gang,
I've been very quietly lately. I'm busy at work and I've been trying to right the financial ship at home.
Work has actually been something I look forward to, as I don't really have time to think about the SS Titanic that is my budget.
Rent is paid for October as is Comcast. Electric is still unpaid, gas isn't gonna be gotten, and food is gonna have to stretch for two weeks.
I paid bills and my check was gone before I even had a chance to see how much it was. *sigh*
Two more weeks of absolute austerity. I'm going to go to one of the local food shelves and see if I can get some extra groceries to keep going. I still have just under a half tank of gas, so I can get to and from work until Monday or Tuesday.
I'm physically sick from the stress and insomnia is becoming a daily (nightly) occurrence. I need to get away from it all. I was hoping to get my anti-anxiety meds refilled, but that's not happening either.
Providing nothing else goes wrong...(*PLEASE*)... I can set aside the 1st half of rent for November and pay off the very past due electric bill, get a lil bit of groceries, and have gas for that two weeks. I won't be doing anywhere or doing anything for at least a month...so my computer and I are going to be getting very very cozy. *cries* Every single time I think I've gotten ahead, something else happens.
I'm about ready to just give up on it all. I need to $1 balance my TCF and live on cash for a couple of months. I can handle cash much better than I can a debit cards. Cash I can see and I know exactly how much I have at any time. I keep climbing the hill, I get just short of the crest and I slide back down a bit. It's never totally down the hill, but yet, it's so damn demoralizing.
I've been very quietly lately. I'm busy at work and I've been trying to right the financial ship at home.
Work has actually been something I look forward to, as I don't really have time to think about the SS Titanic that is my budget.
Rent is paid for October as is Comcast. Electric is still unpaid, gas isn't gonna be gotten, and food is gonna have to stretch for two weeks.
I paid bills and my check was gone before I even had a chance to see how much it was. *sigh*
Two more weeks of absolute austerity. I'm going to go to one of the local food shelves and see if I can get some extra groceries to keep going. I still have just under a half tank of gas, so I can get to and from work until Monday or Tuesday.
I'm physically sick from the stress and insomnia is becoming a daily (nightly) occurrence. I need to get away from it all. I was hoping to get my anti-anxiety meds refilled, but that's not happening either.
Providing nothing else goes wrong...(*PLEASE*)... I can set aside the 1st half of rent for November and pay off the very past due electric bill, get a lil bit of groceries, and have gas for that two weeks. I won't be doing anywhere or doing anything for at least a month...so my computer and I are going to be getting very very cozy. *cries* Every single time I think I've gotten ahead, something else happens.
I'm about ready to just give up on it all. I need to $1 balance my TCF and live on cash for a couple of months. I can handle cash much better than I can a debit cards. Cash I can see and I know exactly how much I have at any time. I keep climbing the hill, I get just short of the crest and I slide back down a bit. It's never totally down the hill, but yet, it's so damn demoralizing.
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