Thursday, July 22, 2010

Cha-ching

...wow, it's been a long time...

I've been thinking about budgets a lot lately.  One advantage to co-habitation is the reduction in expenses and subsequent increase in extra cash.  The catch with me is that the extra cash needs to be applied to my various debts.

Blargh, debts. 

When I shacked up with the beau back in March, I had a credit card and line of credit to pay down, as well as student loans still looming over me.  After diligently budgeting and making lump sum payments, last month I was finally able to join that previously-elusive group of people: Those who pay their credit card balance in full every month.

It was a little bit exciting. 

Next I'm tackling my line of credit.  I'm not quite brave enough to disclose the full amounts I owe, but it's enough that it will take me until next February to pay off in full - that is, if I stick to my budget.  And I'm not going to lie to you - that is trickier for me than it really should be, although I'm not really sure why because I'm very much a homebody who likes to read and do crossword puzzles and pet the kitty.

Before cohabitation (heh, B.C.), I was diligent about bringing my lunch to work; every Sunday night I would make enough of something to pack my lunch for the week.  Since I'm also pretty lazy in the morning, I would also make breakfast for the week, something that I could easily bring to work.  Now that I live with the beau, I'm pretty terrible about bringing lunch or breakfast and this is definitely taking a chunk out of my disposable income.  I'm not going to stop buying coffee every morning but I can certainly bring bagels and cream cheese to work for breakfast (even though they will never taste as good as the ones I get at Tim Horton's).

I really just need to work on getting back into my old habits and the only thing that's stopping me from doing that is laziness (let's be honest, here).  Of course, the advantage of doing that would be more money in my pocket which means more money to put towards my debt which means debt paid off sooner.  And I really like the thought of that.  

2 comments:

Tammy said...

It is SO worth it to suffer a little now and reap the rewards later, TRUST ME! Every time I brought my lunch and every time I turned down the opportunity to meet a friend for dinner, it stung, but now that I'm free and clear and actually have SAVINGS, it feels so much better than those panicked evenings of worry over money.

You can do it!

Paronomaniac said...

Thanks for the words of encouragement! You know, every time I get down about my finances, I think about reading your blog and your openness about your money situation and it inspires me! So, THANKS!