Bills, bills, bills

This summer has been a bit hard on my wallet. With all of the vacations and eating out and extra groceries (When it is just me, I barely spend $50 on groceries per week. Lately we've been spending almost $200 a week!!) and random other expenditures like car repairs and future travel arrangements and shopping, it has been tight these last few months. Happily, today was PAYDAY!!! Not only payday but raise day!!! My new pay increase went into effect this pay period which is a joyful thing. I also got paid for some summer camp work this month, so there was a little extra. All these were very good things given that I have bills, bills, bills to pay. So pay is what I did.

First thing this morning I got up and paid all of my bills. Well, all except for two. One I haven't received yet and the other I owe The Boy for because it is a joint bill. But nothing major. Not only did I pay my bills , I also wrote out all my collection checks for the next four Sundays. Now I will have no excuse not to make a regular contribution to the church each week. I am usually really good at this at the start of the month, but I get really bad at the end of the month when my account is getting low. But it is supposed to be an important expenditure, so I'm happy to take it out of my account at the start of the month rather than each week. It's always such a good feeling to get all of your bills paid at once. There's nothing looming over me, and I know what I can and can't spend for the rest of the month. I'm trying to save money, so I am going to attempt to be very frugal this month and in coming months. Why?

Well, I've been thinking about buying a ... gulp ... house. Or condo. Or townhouse. But buying. I'm a bit tired of the renting game, and I guess I would rather pay a mortgage than rent. I've spoken to a realtor, and I'm calling a mortgage broker on Monday to see exactly what I can afford. I have a good idea, but it is always smart to have a more solid understanding. Especially when considering such a huge investment. I'm not seeing anything happen in the very near future but maybe by the end of my lease in May.

But I'll try to take one thing at a time, one month at a time ...