Progress update

$200 is a lot to shave off of a monthly budget.

I have been doing really well - I'm being very thrifty on groceries, limiting my mileage on my car, and making zero fun splurges (sigh... I really need some new clothes).  But I'm still flying through my money!  I only have $35 left to spend for the rest of the month if I want to stay within my limit... and tomorrow is exactly halfway through the month.

I am not sure I can do it!  Ugh!

Part of the problem is just that I already live extremely frugally.  I have things set up so that I automatically get in my primary checking account every month only what I've budgeted to be able to spend per month - savings and bills are all whisked away into other accounts before I can think about spending that money.  Another part of the problem, though, was unexpected health-related costs for what seems to be an ongoing allergic reaction I'm having to something unknown - yuck!  Plus my brother's birthday was this month, I still wanted to give to charity, and I had about $50 on my credit card from last month (also interest free - I pay off in full every month) that I had tried to factor in.  So I was automatically down a lot.

I have enough food stockpiled in the fridge, I think, to live on $35 (well... $15 minus next week's allergist appointment, but I might put that on the credit card to delay that cost just so I have a better chance of meeting my goal!) for two weeks.  I could also dip into my emergency fund for the medical expenses, since that is, after all, what an emergency fund is for.  But that really was not the point!  Eek.  And I could cut my goal down a little, but next month includes two trips to Central PA and for one, gas will not be cheap, and for two, visiting people always means spending money!  Perhaps AK could chip in for some things when he's visiting me next weekend, since he will inherit my old mixer at least temporarily once I upgrade?  :-)

In the meantime, I have a picture of this bad boy taped my door to inspire me:

from here