It's been a rough few months. I've gone from having no income (for one month) to having more than I needed (for 6 weeks) to having just barely enough to pay the bills (now) to looking at possibly having no income again. This time, I'll have student loans to pay the bills with, but I'm looking at going months between checks, so it is now essential that I learn to budget.
I have a new checking account--my first checking account in over 3 years! I've been operating on a cash basis for so long that I'm really nervous about the account. In fact, I'm so used to living on the cash at hand, that I have about $60 in my purse and about $70 in the checking account and I keep thinking "I'm down to my last $60". But that can't be bad. The money in the bank will be there if I really need it, but I'm not using the checkbook or the bank card at all at this point. I've paid a few bills online with the bank account but that's it so far. Once my loan arrives, I'll open a savings account as well and then things will get really complicated...I'm pretty nervous over these new money issues.
I know this all seems pretty elementary to most anyone reading this. And a 43 year old woman who is nervous about having a checking account and scared of the checkbook is pretty rare, I imagine. But I've never had to do any of this. I went from a daddy who took care of everything to a husband who took care of everything. When that all changed four years ago, I just floundered. But now that I'm getting my feet under me, I guess it's time to grow up--finally!
I did discover a wonderful website that is really helping me keep everything straight. It's ClearCheckbook.com and is basically an online checkbook register. I haven't paid for the premium service yet, but probably will at some point. They also have an iPhone app, which I could see would make this an extremely valuable resource as you would be able to enter a transaction at the time you did it rather than having to wait until you're at the computer. I can see myself breaking down and getting an iPhone at some point down the road as well, but at this point I'm just happy to have my $1.95 home phone service.
I decided when I received an unexpected check from Chelsea's father and the bills were all paid that I would take just a tiny bit of it and have my rings resized so that I could wear them again. I've lost a tremendous amount of weight since I purchased these rings and none of them fit any longer. Driving down the road, I ran across a pawn shop that did ring sizing and jewelry repair so stopped in. I happened upon a Yamaha keyboard, full-size keys, for only $50. I'd really like my daughter Bethany to have an opportunity to learn piano and I've sincerely missed owning one myself. (I've played for 37 years now, but haven't had my own piano for the past 4 years.) So, the rings are still too big. But I'm so glad I bought the keyboard! That's been a goal of mine for quite some time now and we are all really enjoying having a keyboard and making music!
No comments:
Post a Comment