At least I'm not still driving off a cliff.
So, an update on the personal finances front...
It turns out that if I cut out all restaurants, stop buying yoga classes, cancel the massage subscription, stop going to the chiropractor every month, and stop doing random fun stuff with friends... I will probably make it.
Last month I had to dip into long-term savings to cover the credit card bill. That was terrifying. This month (January), I finally cleared out my paypal account, and have been covering random fun stuff with friends with a small stash of cash that I've had for a while and never needed to use before. I'm also going to start spending my Amazon points like water on non-food necessities (shampoo, soap, etc.). Christmas was entirely covered with those (airfare, present for the kids; my sister covered everything else).
Fortunately, the "balance out" parts of what I said in September are finally starting to take effect, and I can cover everything (even a massive electric bill because it's been really cold) out of my regular income-outgo account without having to do that again - even without the paypal money (though that would've taken it down to about $3 to spare). February is looking like it'll have more of a cushion, especially since I've cut back how much I contribute to retirement and haven't accounted for that yet. Assuming I stay super-frugal, hopefully it'll get better from there.
It's like I'm trying to make a super tight turn with a large vehicle, and I'll only just make it by inches.
It turns out that if I cut out all restaurants, stop buying yoga classes, cancel the massage subscription, stop going to the chiropractor every month, and stop doing random fun stuff with friends... I will probably make it.
Last month I had to dip into long-term savings to cover the credit card bill. That was terrifying. This month (January), I finally cleared out my paypal account, and have been covering random fun stuff with friends with a small stash of cash that I've had for a while and never needed to use before. I'm also going to start spending my Amazon points like water on non-food necessities (shampoo, soap, etc.). Christmas was entirely covered with those (airfare, present for the kids; my sister covered everything else).
Fortunately, the "balance out" parts of what I said in September are finally starting to take effect, and I can cover everything (even a massive electric bill because it's been really cold) out of my regular income-outgo account without having to do that again - even without the paypal money (though that would've taken it down to about $3 to spare). February is looking like it'll have more of a cushion, especially since I've cut back how much I contribute to retirement and haven't accounted for that yet. Assuming I stay super-frugal, hopefully it'll get better from there.
It's like I'm trying to make a super tight turn with a large vehicle, and I'll only just make it by inches.