A quiet New Years Evening

I am home relaxing and quite content. It is New Years Eve and I have no desire to be anywhere other than here. I am burning candles and my Christmas tree is lit. My cat is sleeping at the foot of my bed. I am fed and I had just enough wine left for a glass.

I just finished creating a budget for 2016. I am tired of wondering where all of my money goes at the end of the month. When I got robbed I started using more cash than swipes and it has helped me be more aware of how much I am spending because I have to plan ahead and anticipate how much money I will need to last me that week or two weeks. I used to be really good at budgeting. I think I got careless when I was in a comfortable place. I don't have money in my budget for everything so I will have to sacrifice for some of the things that I am used to having. For example instead of treating myself to cocktails I will use that money for a massage or instead of a bottle of wine I can get my eyebrows done. It will all fall under the entertainment portion of the budget.

You know what I realized when I created the budget was that even I don't spend money in a particular category it still needs to be budgeted for. For example my car insurance is due next month so that has be budgeted in. Next month I won't need that money going into the auto bucket so I will have to move it into another category like savings.  Sadly my budget doesn't stretch enough to cover all of my monthly expenses (student loans) so I will have to try to figure out how to make it work. I was working extra one day a week but it was taking a physical and mental toll on me and the money wasn't adding up enough. I had been staying on top of the payments until they decided to increase the payment 3 fold. If only my old boss wasn't so vindictive I could be a bit more financially sound. So I will have to move to a less expensive place when my lease is up and try to save money.

Fortunately January will be cool. Unfortunately I will be using that money to pay back my friend who lent me rent money when my account was compromised so I will be back to square one. I was a bit disappointed with my Christmas stash this year. It always make a difference when someone shows that you were important enough to think about it.

I am relatively in a good place as I close out the old year and bring in the new year. Mostly everything is up to date and I paid off my cell phone after close to two years so hopefully that will reduce my phone bill a bit. I'm trying...really I am.

In any event, happy new year. In one sleep it will be a fresh year.