On track

Amazingly, we have not gone over budget for the bathroom remodel. My sister and her SO have done the majority of the work, and we were hoping we'd be able to pay him something, but that doesn't look like it will happen. We didn't tell him we were going to pay him, he was just doing it because he loves my sister and enjoys fixing things, but we felt better knowing we'd be able to give him a little money.

I was really being pushed on the money part, and I realized that I really resented it. We knew we wouldn't get the summer school check (which was paying for the remodel) until July 27, but we were pushed to buy things with our paycheck so they could get started earlier. I knew in my heart that it was a mistake, but I went along with it anyway. I guess it just shows that you should listen to that little voice inside your head.

I wanted to get that summer school check and cash it, then pay cash for everything we needed so we'd keep track better of what we spent. Instead, half came from payday, about another 1/3 was paid for by my sister on her zero interest cc (we'd pay her back) and the rest came out of the summer school check once it came. They started two weeks earlier than we had originally planned, and then couldn't come last week because of other commitments. So, hopefully this weekend it will be almost complete.

But...we overspent. We're still okay, we'll make it through the month, we paid my sister back, but...we spent more than we should have. We ate out a lot while it was hot and they were working on the room. We bought a couple things that we didn't plan for. It all adds up, doesn't it?

We do have about $60 worth of stuff to return, so that will help. But...no extra to the cc's this month. We have about $200 (a little less) to pay off on Best Buy before they WHAP! us with extra fees for the fridge (it was 18 months no interest, and our 18 months is up in November). And the cc's are just...well, they suck.

Do you realize that if we didn't have cc's to pay, we'd have $500 extra every month? EVERY MONTH. And that's just paying a little over minimums, too. If we didn't have cc's or student loans, we'd have $750 extra a month. And if we didn't have any payments - no cc's, no student loans, no mortgage - we'd have $1600 EVERY SINGLE MONTH that we could use to build up an emergency fund, save up for stuff, build wealth...


At least I can dream with Dave Ramsey. What would life be like with no payments?

Beautiful.