Week four was easy. I got sick yet again, so spent a few bucks on cold medication, which was a waste of money - it made me feel worse than the cold. Another few bucks spent on eggs, and a few on a coffee date with a long lost friend, and that was it. I had over $40 left at the end of the week. I gave $20 of it to Paul to spend on weekend treats and the rest got banked in the slush fund. Yay! Of course having lots of leftover beer and wine in the house meant we didn't have to spend anything on booze this week at all, and that really helped. I'm not sure its all going to last as long as I had initially hoped, but the point is we're not spending money.
All in all I think month one of the money diet has been a success. I think the impact is really going to be felt more in month two. I still had the December credit card bill to contend with in January, but now that my credit card use has been drastically reduced change will be felt. My mid month paycheque did not normally cover my entire credit card bill. I would have to make sure I had some reserve or that I taught a course that would add extra income or dip into the line of credit or my overdraft in order to pay it off in full. I just got my statement for the bill due Feb 15th, and it is less than half of what it used to be. After I've paid all of my bills this month I should have a nice chunk of excess just from my regular paycheque, which never ever happened before. Feels pretty good.
In January I paid off $300 of my line of credit, and added $200 to my tax free savings account. That was all from the extra courses I taught on the side. In Feb I should be able to pay off more than that BEFORE taking into account extra courses. If only I could be this diligent when it comes to studying chemistry.
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i've read that it's important to add up the amount of interest you owe on debt per month and weigh that against the interest you are making on the savings account. they say that if the debt interest outweighs the savings interest, that it is better to hold off on the savings account until the debt is lowered or paid off and to put the savings money towards the debt. i had a savings account and stopped it because of this. i don't know what your situation is, but i figured if we were talking money here that i might as well regurgitate that idea for the masses. :) It's from the Susie Orman books. it's hard because it feels good to be saving, but in my case it was defeating the purpose, especially considering our debt was almost 30,000 (now about 15,000).
Yep, I'm well aware that it's costing me money in intrest to be saving. However, I've got some big expenses coming up (wedding, tuition, . . .) and if I don't have savings I'll end up dipping into the line of credit to pay for some of those things. It might be costing me $5/month in fees, but in my mind its worth it to save in order to not increase debt. Maybe a financial expert would disagree with me, I dunno.
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