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More Snow, and Money Woes

January 23rd, 2020 at 05:04 pm

It snowed last night, so this morning I had to clean off the car to go to the gym. It's still snowing lightly, very prettily. It was not too bad -- I count it as extra exercise.

Even though I am doing well on keeping low on my variables, I have to cut off spending entirely now because my bills next month are so big. I have to pay my property tax, and a credit card bill that includes my semi-annual car insurance. In fact, I had to adjust my car payment down to $200 from $300 so I wouldn't be in the red. I would rather do that than pull from savings, because my savings are only a little over $1000, which is uncomfortably low for me.

Add to that, the big CC bill aforementioned is due a few days before pay day, so I will have to pull the money from savings and then put it back. This is all so frustrating. I thought I would be doing so much better.

But I have plenty of food on hand, and I can begin spending again on the 12th, when my Discover bill closes. Just have to hunker down till then.

And who knows -- maybe someday -- I will finally get the money that is owed me from insurance and warranty cancellation? Another big frustration.

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments »

8 Responses to “More Snow, and Money Woes”

  1. LifeBalance Says:
    January 23rd, 2020 at 06:32 pm 1579804365
    1579804365

    Aw CB, we've all been there. At least you can shuffle to make it work. And some of the stress is because you don't consider carrying a balance on the CCs, which would cause more stress in the long run. Don't beat yourself up!

    I sometimes feel that every month has some 'once in a long while' expense! This month it was a passport renewal. [every 10 years, but of course it hit now, the same month tuition is due and (increased) car insurance is due.] Now I see that my driver's license expires later this year too.

  2. crazyliblady Says:
    January 23rd, 2020 at 07:49 pm 1579808997
    1579808997

    My way of dealing with these once in awhile expenses is to save up throughout the whole year for them. This saves me the panic and worry of how I am going to pay for this. I have 9 savings accounts: regular (emergency) savings, car, house, professional, appliances, medical, tax preparation, escrow, and tax/AAA membership. For example, I am having my taxes done on Saturday and already have most of the money needed to pay for that. When I paid for car registration and taxes in the fall, I had the money in account so I did not have to go into debt to pay for it. This approach has saved me a lot of money and worry, but sometimes other things come up that are not in this list.

  3. LifeBalance Says:
    January 23rd, 2020 at 09:18 pm 1579814303
    1579814303

    CLL, when I read your comment I thought "NINE accounts!" and then after counting, I realized that including the HSA account I have six... One of mine is a buffer account for unexpected things. I think I should increase it though because it seems like I have unexpected things too often.

  4. crazyliblady Says:
    January 23rd, 2020 at 10:17 pm 1579817867
    1579817867

    I agree that nine seems like a lot of sinking funds, but it did not start out that way. Originally, I only had a regular savings account and a car account to save up for car replacement. Then, I bought a house, which changes everything, so I had to add the others.

  5. creditcardfree Says:
    January 23rd, 2020 at 11:47 pm 1579823244
    1579823244

    I love having sinking funds to handle bigger expenses. I feel like auto and rental insurance are one of the big ones we save for right now, in addition to having a plan for tuition each semester.

    CB, next month would be a great time to start one for property tax next year (or six months, if you pay twice per year). I'm sorry you feel you aren't doing well, but you really are, hang in there it should get better as you build up that emergency fund, too.

  6. My English Castle Says:
    January 24th, 2020 at 02:59 am 1579834744
    1579834744

    Oof, I hate months like that. Hang in there.

  7. Lucky Robin Says:
    January 24th, 2020 at 03:39 am 1579837196
    1579837196

    Sometimes life just throws it all at you at once. You'll get back on top of it in time.

  8. CB in the City Says:
    January 24th, 2020 at 02:33 pm 1579876425
    1579876425

    I consider my savings account one big sinking fund. It is there for big bills, for emergencies, and goals (like refinishing my table). I don't really want to have a number of savings accounts, but I have thought I could divide it up virtually and keep a spreadsheet. Right now it is so small it doesn't matter. It's all EF now.

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