I'm baaaaaaaack

Well, folks, I took a little hiatus, but I'm back now.  My commitment to my budget sadly ebbs and flows.  Today I had one of those moments that makes you realize how great budgets can be, and how much I really need to control mine.  See, my poor puppy has an ear infection.  He had to go to the vet today to have it looked at and get medicine and all of those expensive things.  Well, I have been dutifully adding money to the "pets" envelope every paycheck and wondering why the hell I was accumulating so much "pet" money when I could actively be using it elsewhere (like, say, on new clothes or some name brand shoes)... and today that question was answered as I handed over half my cash to the receptionist at the vet's office.  It felt so liberating!  Oftentimes in the past, when an emergency comes up it's been necessary to hand over the credit card and figure out how to pay for it later, or deplete the entire (very small) savings account.  Today I was able to walk in, take care of my dog, and walk out, all without having to sweat about where the money was coming from.  I think this was just the boost I needed to get me back in the swing of things.  Because, unfortunately, my budgeting skills have kind of dulled in the past few months.

It wasn't so long ago that I balanced my budget in beautiful ways.  We tithed our ten percent and still had enough money for all of our expenses.  I lived and breathed my cash envelope system.  But lately, I haven't been so good.  I might sometimes put meals out on the debit card instead of using the "grocery" cash.  Sometimes maybe I put my "wants" above my "needs" and use my credit card to fund things I shouldn't.  Which then leads to using my "pay down the student loan" money to pay off the damn credit card-- AGAIN.  Life happens, and expenses just keep coming.  I feel like we are back in a place of living paycheck to paycheck, and that's not a really fun place to be.  SO, I have officially set aside my latest Gossip Girl novel in order to read a "get your shit together and pay your bills in 25 days" book, and my goal is to share every one of those 25 with you.  Here's the thing:  I might consolidate a little bit if I can.  The book is broken down into these 25 chapters so you can read and accomplish one a day.  I'm not big on only reading one chapter a day, so we'll see if I can actually stick with it.  Sometimes I might do multiple days in one, if it's possible.  As I promised from the beginning, it's going to get personal and probably pretty ugly.  But that's the joy of the internet: as ugly as it gets, I don't really know you so it's all good.  I'll be back later today with my Day One report.  I should warn you (and myself): I have not looked ahead so I have no clue what the daily "assignments" will really consist of.