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Archive for August, 2014

The Good (Payday), the Bad, and the Ugly

August 1st, 2014 at 03:08 pm

Hi, everyone. It is payday once again. I had an adventurous month of July, which required a lot of patience, gritting of teeth, and some money. I also have some good stuff to report. First, the good stuff:

1) I have opened two new savings accounts, one for escrow on my house, and one for self improvement. I created the escrow one when we received the notice of shortage on our escrow account (mentioned below) and I thought if I could save up over the entire year for this expense, then it would not be such a hardship when I do have to make a payment. The self improvement is not work related, but personal.

2) Today is payday, so more money went towards debt, savings, and retirement. Specifically, I have added $40.00 to regular savings, $40.00 to car savings, $40.00 to house savings, $5.00 to AAA/car tax savings, $3.00 to Escrow, and $1.00 to self improvement.

Now the bad news. The following stuff all happened to my husband and I in the last month:

1)June 23rd - The battery in our car went dead and we had to have it replaced. I put the cost on cc #2 so I could get points, but then paid off the charge, partially with a transfer from regular savings and other funds I had. amount ca. $171.94.

2)July 24th - our house air conditioner was not keeping up with the demand so we had it serviced. I absorbed this cost into the checking account. $96.00.

3) Also sometime in July, our house computer needed a new hard drive. This amount was charged to cc #1. amount ca. $113.00

4) Also sometime in July, we received a notice from our mortgage provider that our escrow account for the mortgage had a shortage and we could either pay the shortage now or have a higher normal payment. We used primarily cash we had on hand to handle this payment. I did not want a higher payment, so I paid the charge. $173.84.

5) July 26th - the starter on our car died and we had to have it replaced. I personally thought the cost was a little outrageous. I was also outraged that on the day I had the battery replaced, they said the starter and alternator were both "fine." My dh said that it is possible for the starter to be "fine" one day and just dead the next. I even used a coupon which got me $40.00 off of what the charge would have been. Arrgh. ca. $336.00

After #5 above, I felt just exhausted and ready to quit. Because August has 3 paydays for me, I am using this current paycheck to try to put things back in order and then get back to normal bills next payday. It will take several paydays to get the credit card #2 paid back down, though. How do you all deal with situations like this when they all happen around the same time?