I’m waiting until the last possible second to mail my tax returns because I owe money and that always makes me a tad bitter. I actually got money back from one state already, but I owe the Feds and my state of residence. Sigh.
The good news on the financial front is that I’ve consolidated our credit cards and one other small loan into a home equity loan with a way lower interest rate than I was paying for any of them separately. We’ve closed our credit card accounts and from now on we’re pursuing the radical philosophy of Living Within Our Means. Sounds un-American, I know, but what can you do?
A side effect of this plan is that my husband and I now have debit cards for the first time ever. I’m a little worried about my ability to effectively keep track of my debit card spending. It might make me have to do something crazy…something I haven’t done in many years: balance my checkbook. That’s a last resort, though. For now I’ll just hang onto my receipts, log them, and try to keep the total within my typical cash spending range for a given week.
We received our debit cards in the mail on Saturday and I still can’t get used to not having cash in my purse. I know I don’t really need it, but I feel as though I can’t afford to eat lunch without at least $5 in paper money. It’s been 15 years since I even had an ATM card, so I’m clearly in for some major readjustments in thinking now that I can spend money from my account without driving to the credit union or cashing a check at the grocery store.
The one thing that’s going to give the new budget a fighting chance is my hybrid car. With gas prices rising steadily, I’m still paying about $50 to fuel the Honda Insight every month. Yes, I said month. You can’t fully grasp how much you spend on gasoline until that cost suddenly plummets. Seriously, it’s almost covering its own payments in savings.
That’s all for today. Wish me luck in my new budget plan and kindly stage an intervention if I start talking about churning my own butter!
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