I can do the adulting now?
So, we've been working through a complete budget overhaul, trying to figure out why the account was still being overdrawn, and forming a plan to pay down our (considerable) consumer debt. We finally figured out why the budget wasn't working, and I can't believe it took us so long. Long story short, My Sweetie's truck payments were logged in the monthly expenses column, when in fact that is how much we pay biweekly, and given that there are 26 two-weekses in a year, not 24, this means that we're actually paying more than double what we thought we were. Seriously, though, how did we not notice that???
We've been watching a lot of Til Debt Do Us Part, which we find entertaining, and there's also the schadenfreude aspect, because our finances are nowhere near as screwed up as most of the people who go on that show! Anyway, inspired by TDDUP and it's host, Gail Vaz Oxlade, I've decided to start a budget binder. I reclaimed a binder that was going to be recycled, because I didn't have a use for it (and didn't want to store it until I found a use for it!) and bought a pack of plain lined paper, and I'm going to be reckoning certain parts of our budget long-hand. I'm hoping this will help me feel in control, and I enjoy the process of writing lists, and doing simple math on paper.
We are also (finally!) doing what should be the second-last piece of home renovation that's been planned since before I moved in seven years ago. We've completely emptied one of the rooms that had been a stuff-dump for years, excavated the laminate flooring that has been piled in our basement for... the whole time, and My Sweetie has been laying it since Wednesday. That's right, the 1970s linoleum is finally being covered up! When that's done, we will shunt all of the stuff in the computer room into that other bedroom, paint the walls (because mustard yellow. ew) and do the flooring in there too. I consider that all the same project. After that is done and both rooms are set up properly, then all that will remain is to install a different laminate in the front entryway, and we're done!
FINALLY!
We've been watching a lot of Til Debt Do Us Part, which we find entertaining, and there's also the schadenfreude aspect, because our finances are nowhere near as screwed up as most of the people who go on that show! Anyway, inspired by TDDUP and it's host, Gail Vaz Oxlade, I've decided to start a budget binder. I reclaimed a binder that was going to be recycled, because I didn't have a use for it (and didn't want to store it until I found a use for it!) and bought a pack of plain lined paper, and I'm going to be reckoning certain parts of our budget long-hand. I'm hoping this will help me feel in control, and I enjoy the process of writing lists, and doing simple math on paper.
We are also (finally!) doing what should be the second-last piece of home renovation that's been planned since before I moved in seven years ago. We've completely emptied one of the rooms that had been a stuff-dump for years, excavated the laminate flooring that has been piled in our basement for... the whole time, and My Sweetie has been laying it since Wednesday. That's right, the 1970s linoleum is finally being covered up! When that's done, we will shunt all of the stuff in the computer room into that other bedroom, paint the walls (because mustard yellow. ew) and do the flooring in there too. I consider that all the same project. After that is done and both rooms are set up properly, then all that will remain is to install a different laminate in the front entryway, and we're done!
FINALLY!