freefall

Before I left my job, I was fanatical about saving money and about staying on budget. I had sort of a game with myself to see how much "extra" I could have at the end of a week, before the next time one of us got paid (and this is extra after bills, after putting money aside in savings, after play money, everything). Whatever was extra went into the extra account (which very nicely funded our christmas, minus plane tix).

When I left my job, I cancelled our automatic savings plans (one for ING and one for our savings account), because I knew it would be at least a month, maybe longer before I got my next paycheck, and I figured it made sense to have the extra money available in checking for bills, for our trip, whatever.

I'm still trying to hold on to the "extra money," but lately I feel like I've been in a money freefall -- haven't been going grocery shopping on time, so we've been eating out more, some unexpected stuff came up that I hadn't budgeted for, we needed new clothes, etc. I just wanted more extra until either I got my check or to last until tim's next paycheck (in case mine comes late). I just like knowing that until my check comes, we would have money hanging around if we needed it. And of course, Tim keeps reminding we don't need all that extra, because I've so carefully budgeted for bills, groceries, all of that.

I know it's not bad, and I know I will get back on track when I get my check and can throw a lot into savings. I just feel like I need to get back on track with budgeting, with saving, with eating right (I've been eating fine, I just don't like eating out as much as we have done lately), with cooking and grocery shopping (meal planning for the week, so we aren't going over budget on groceries by shopping for last minute stuff). Apparently, I'm anal-retentive about money. lol.