In a Moment of Weakness...

So we have officially moved into the house, and have managed to get most everything unpacked and put away already. We still need to invest in a few more bookshelves and that sort of stuff for organizational purposes, but at least we aren't living out of boxes.

At any rate, I had forgotten to mention that I had made an extra $100 payment on our credit card last month, because my final paycheck was a bit more than expected. So from the $300 limit I had managed to bring the balance down to just the $100 mark. I was super excited.

But then one day I came home from work and looked at our front yard. *Insert dramatic music here* We hadn't done much with the yard since we moved in since we don't have a lot of the tools necessary. With the little bit of extra money from my paycheck on the 29th of June I decided to go ahead and invest in a weed whacker. The thing is, there were big prickly weeds that were as tall as the hand rail going up the front steps. There were weeds devouring our mailbox, and taking over our sidewalk and driveway. I just could not bare looking at it anymore.

Meanwhile, the little bit of lawn in the front of the house was becoming more and more brown as the days went by. I thought to myself that if I could salvage the grass before it was completely dead it would save us a huge headache for next year. So I began watering the lawn. Yet again, I felt horrible about watering the lawn when there were so many weeds that were already out of control and also soaking up this water. So we went to work. With the weed whacker we trimmed pretty much everything in the front lawn, and edged. The yard itself looks a thousand times better.

But I couldn't stop there! Oh no! Then I had to go back to the store to buy a little hand rake (cultivator) because the garden in the front of the house was full of dead weeds and trash and other odd plants that hadn't survived. So I tore all of that out. Then we went back and bought a regular yard rake for all the dead leaves and whatnot that were still in the grass. Plus, we needed weed killer, and a small bottle of turf builder/weed control. And by the way, our shovel was broken so we needed one of those too. And while I'm at it, the garden now looks completely barren, so why not pick up a few baby bushes to fill it in, and soil/potting mix to go with it.

To be fair, all trees and bushes were 75% off at the hardware store the other day so we did get a really good deal. It was mostly the tools that cost us. And we still aren't done yet. We have to go back and pick up mulch still, but that is only $10 for 4 bags, which will be plenty for our little garden, and then some, and won't break our bank any more than I already have.

In my moment of weakness I spent about $150 over the course of the day and multiple trips to the hardware store. All of it went onto the card because my paycheck had already been spent making up the difference from my June savings goal and buying the weed whacker, as well as a GPS for my car.  Again, I don't make all that much money, my paychecks are only a few hundred dollars, which is sufficient to cover my savings goal and the bonus payment on our loans plus daycare, so it's not terribly shocking that my paycheck was gone.

I do feel guilty about putting so much on the card again now that we are on this budget and working toward paying things off. However, after a day of work and 2 days of watering, we are certainly not the worst yard on the block anymore. I don't have to hang my head in shame every time one of my neighbors drives past. And I promise that I will make up for it...eventually...

Unfortunately, my timing for this interferes with another detail that I had forgotten about. It is time for us to renew our car insurance. I thought that we had to renew by the end of August for a September 1st deadline. It is actually August 1st that our current cards expire, which threw a huge wrench into my plans for the month. We do usually pay 6 months at a time because it ends up saving us about $115 over the course of that 6 month period. But my timing is off and now I am trying to figure out how to make it happen this month without touching our savings. Ooops.


On another note, since this week is a holiday I am only working 3 days, which is going to be a pretty big hit to my paycheck. Likewise, our paycheck tomorrow is going to be a bit light because Jason hasn't had very much work these last 2 weeks. I am estimating Jason's paycheck at almost exactly $1200. It isn't the lowest check we've ever seen, but it does hurt, considering the fact that he should be in "busy season" at work, and his normal paychecks during the summer are closer to $1500-1600. We'll just have to juggle things a little bit to make it work.