It’s always a struggle living paycheck-to-paycheck. If you do the same, you know what I’m talking about. If you don’t, well, I’m happy for you. :)
You pay cash/debit for what you can afford, and poke through your wallet to find a credit card with the lowest rate or largest available credit or whatever criteria you have for the rest.
We’re a single-earner household, with one weekly paycheck. I handle all the money – this has been our division of labor nearly our entire married life. I use Quicken on a daily basis to manage all my finances and a Google spreadsheet for bill-payment tracking. I have over 25+ years of financial data in my file. I could be called a micro-manager of our money – I keep track of everything, down to the pennies in my coin purse. The 15 cents I spend at the bowling lanes on a cup of water adds up over time, you know. LOL.
We’ve been trying to save this year, putting back $25-50 from the weekly paycheck into our emergency/property tax/home repair fund, on top of the income tax refund. So far, we’ve had to dip in for repairs to the septic system and the well. That’s okay, that’s what the fund is for.
We’re looking at our health insurance’s $1500 individual/$4500 family deductible with trepidation this year. At least doctor visits are covered with a co-pay. It could be worse – our previous insurance had a higher deductible with zero coverage for doctor visits until the deductible was paid.
Between my sinus & female issues and the kids’ upcoming cardiograms and xrays (oh, yes, Sionna is getting the same tests done as Connor – both have a pectus excavatum), and the impending genetics clinic visit, I’m pretty sure we’ll be paying the full deductible – which means on a credit card, hopefully one with low interest.
Adding to the bill pile, tonight we found out that John’s mom had not finished paying for her prepaid funeral home plan before she passed away. She apparently still owed about half. So tomorrow I’m waiting for a call from the funeral home, so we can pay half of that half, or about $700. John’s sister is supposed to pay the rest. We may get reimbursed for it when the insurance benefits are settled, we’ll wait and see. Again, credit card.
There’s not actually a funeral or memorial service – Shirley didn’t want one. This expense is simply for cremation.
On top of that, I still needed to make hotel reservations for next weekend, when my kids are bowling in the Texas state bowling championship tournament in Fort Worth. I got a better rate prepaying for the room, rather than waiting for check-in. 3 nights after taxes = $300. We did actually budget for this expense. John inherited some money from his Aunt Elsie, who passed away earlier this year, and we earmarked it for our annual “vacation” to the state tournament – lodging, gas and food. This event is the only time John is able to go with us on a trip. For other trips we take, my mom usually goes and we split expenses.
On the bright side, we’re down to about $60K in debt, from a staggering $100K of 2011. Debt snowballing works, people! Every week I see progress – about 3 more years until we are debt free. I can’t wait!