When I sat down to do the budget for October I about cried. I usually cry because I have to figure out how to pay bills from the previous month, along with the current bills. I didn't have to do that this month.
I sat down with my calendar, my bills binder, the expense log, my computer and calculator. One thing was different, I also sat down with my husband. He had the day off of work, so I thought I would walk him through the process.
Clearing off last month's information from the dry erase calendar, I put down this months information. I looked up the bill balances from all bills. I didn't even have the amount for cable yet, because the new statement hadn't come out yet. The balance was zero still. With that, I had tears come to my eyes. We have always been behind on cable. Even if it was just a week or two, it never ever had a zero balance. This month it did. Every bill was completely current. Rent was paid. I even had money in savings.
All of this left me with a feeling of not knowing where to start. I have been current on bills before, but never from my own doing. Someone always bailed us out. This was the result of a lot of hard work. Not stressing about paying the bills was a new feeling for me.
So I took a deep breath and went ahead with this months budget. Things are still really tight this month, but everything is getting paid. The tiny bit extra is being moved into savings. We are even going to be able to have a little fun by going to the State Fair, something hubby and I have never been able to do.
I am able to breath now. I know that I am living my life with integrity. I am fulfilling my obligations as an adult. Do I still have some debt? Yes. Do we still have a long way to go? Yes. But we have finally gotten to a point where our budget is balanced. We see a future where we can be happy and not live in fear.
More happy news to come in a week or so. It will go a long way to helping us reach our goals of home ownership.
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