I joined Krystal's April Budget Challenge!

I'm going to try to put half my income towards the credit card debt this month, which is about $1200, a couple hundred more than usual.

I'm a little bit sad about the state of my debt reduction. I really wanted to be free of the Credit Card monster by the end of Summer. As it stands right now, I owe $8220, so I'd have to put $1644 a month towards it, and that just isn't realistic. Trying for $1200 is a stretch next month is even a stretch, so I'm worried. Plus I'm still paying off $1500 of the $2K in unexpected expenses, and my sister is getting married this summer, which I know is going to cost me over a thousand dollars.

Bottom line: no vacation for me for a very long time. Also, I need to call the second job and start signing up for some extra hours.

Payday!

Today is payday! I transferred $750 over to Credit Card #4, so I'm on track to pay it off next month! I've worked 12 hours at the second job this week and I think I'll put in another 4 tonight. If I keep up the hours at the second job, I should be able to use my regular paychecks just for fixed expenses and debt reduction.

I also cancelled a little weekend trip on the basis that I don't feel well, my house is a mess, and I have a ton of people coming in from out of town soon. Visitors = eating out, shopping, entertainment, drinking, and having to stock my fridge with real food and beverages (not just ramen and rice milk).

Taking care of business...

I'm doing a bit of organizing this weekend, and it's been very good for my bottom line. I started by doing my taxes, and between state and federal, I'll be getting a little over $500 bucks. Hopefully filing will also put me on the tax relief list and I'll get that check as well. I've heard it's going to be $600 for us single folks, but haven't been able to find anything concrete about it.

Next I went through my pantry and found a whole lot of breakfast food! I'm notorious for buying cereal but not making the time to actually eat it. I think I'll save some money by having a few breakfast-for-dinners.

I worked about 10 extra hours at the second job this week, and I think I'll work around 18 next weekend.

I'm so proud of myself!

I got my new cable bill, and my promotional rate had run out so I called and cancelled it! I gave the box and remote back today. I'm sure most of you know that the cable company often neglects to block the basic channels. So I checked to see if I still get basic from the coaxial cable. I DO! I still have most of the channels I watch including Bravo (hurray for project runway and millionaire matchmaker!)but I won't be paying a dime! There's no telling when they might shut it off, but for right now, I'm very happy with my decision! I'm saving around $100 a month (I rationalized alot of PayPerView movies because I cancelled my Netflix). I hope that between this and the no-alcohol policy, I'll be back on track with the debt reduction soon!