I Need to Quit Borrowing from Myself
Lately, I’ve shared a lot of good news about my finances. I’ve paid off my credit cards, gotten a raise, increased my credit score and learned to bargain shop like a drugstore diva. But like the latest Batman movie, perhaps I’m the Dark Knight.
Take a look in my Quicken account, and you’ll see lines of red. I’m not actually in the negative, but I’m constantly flirting with disaster (is it really bad that I can’t say “flirting with disaster” without hearing a Rock Band song in my head?).
It’s not that I don’t have the money to cover my deficiencies, but I am constantly “borrowing” money from our emergency savings and paying it back with the next paycheck. I’m not really sure what the problem is, but I’m guessing it’s a combination of things. Like our mortgage and other major bills all coming due at during the same pay period. Or the child support being paid out on the 27th and reimbursed right before it’s due again. Or me seeing lots of “extra” money that only exists if things go *perfectly* for the next two months.
Well, I guess it’s been getting a little out of hand, because this paycheck I was set to have a $1,000 deficiency! Needless to say, my husband was not too happy (I had been doing the bills by myself for the past few months because he’s been so busy). Where did this particular hiccup come from? I don’t know, maybe a combination of “forgotten” expenses (football sign-up fees, license plate renewals, forgotten birthdays, etc.) and recent major expenses that we stretched to make happen (staycation, new mattress, house painting).
Whatever the reason, the point is we had to skip our $800+ extra payment to the student loan this paycheck to get back in black (yes, another song is playing in my head), and I’m NOT happy about it.
Any ideas for how to prevent this in the future? Is this a common problem?
Photo Credit: Payday Loan Place Window Graphics by taberandrew, used under Creative Commons licensing.
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