3 weeks have flown by. We survived the holidays. I did pretty good on money, but under estimated how much gas I would need while I had family in town!

I got paid today. I already paid everything that I had to pay. And after I put in gas and allow for my $20 for dinner out I think I have about a $1.00 left.

We had an unexpected check come in the mail....from our escrow account. A pretty large check for us. But instead of spending it or doing even doing anything with it....we decided to put the majority of it back into the escrow account with our mortgage payment. The reason for this is that I know our taxes are going to go up. We got to carry over the previous owner's exemption and since we are not veterans, we will lose that. So we are just going to stick it back in there to cover the increase. I do have over $1000 to put into savings though. So that will be nice.

I also sat down and looked at my credit card debt. There is absolutely no reason why I should not have all of my debt paid off this year. I just have to pay $38.00 more than what I have budgeted. So I have an amount for each card I have to pay each month to wipe it out. And I want to pay as much over that amount as I can. Even if its only a couple of dollars.

I am sticking with my budget...no bending...so I have 0.00 for spending right now. But its really hard to not go to Target and buy Christmas gifts, or cleaning supplies, or decorations, or candles.... And I don't want to go because I am bored. I just want to go. But I'm going to stick to it. We had lunch out today for a girl's birthday, so I didn't have to pay. And Wednesday is my work's Christmas Lunch, so I won't have to do anything for lunch or dinner that day. But having no money to spend all week is going to be really hard!! I do have to pick up some stuff for work (on the company credit card) so maybe that will get rid of my feeling!

I am pretty nervous about making myself stick to the budget hardcore. I usually have my budget but I let myself bend. After bills I will still have:

$15.00 - Remaining for Gas (I will put $35.00 in)
$60.00 - Groceries
$20.00 - Out to Eat
$40.00 - RX
$30.00 - Toward Loan pmt
$10.00 - Cash

I was really hoping to keep my $10.00 in cash, but there is a back massager I want to get my husband. It is on sale for $19.99. I have a $5.00 off coupon. And I have $7.02 in Kohl's cash...So I think I will just have enough with my cash to get it.


On another note...I have decided to leave my 2nd job. The restaurant is not busy so the majority of my night is spent cleaning. So for a small amount of money, I will be doing some extra work for our business. I do not take a salary for the work I do already. But for this extra work, my husband and I agreed that I could take about $50.00 a week and apply that to debt and savings. I hope it works out. I don't want to not be able to fulfill my goals.