Update Thursday: 3rd Week of May

Well, this week went better, but still not good enough to reach the goals.  To further complicate issues, vehicular malfunctions created a mess.

Start of the Month:	$4,280
Start of the Week:	4,096
Now:	4,012
Total Paid Off This Week:	84
Total Paid Off:	268
Goal:	428
Left to Pay Off for Goal:	160

I thought I was going to have some extra money through selling a ticket that I wasn’t going to use…  Sold it for $40, got back to the truck, and it wouldn’t start.  Fortunately, my insurance covered the towing, but it was well after midnight before we got to bed.  The next morning, the dealership ran diagnostics and discovered it was a short in the battery.  They sold me an 8-year battery – diagnostics and battery cost me $135 with a $20 mail-in rebate.  Our Fusion was in the shop as well for an air conditioning problem, but they called and told us that there was very little tread left on our tires, so those needed replacing as well.  After the service and tires, the total soared to nearly $600, so we’ve overspent our budget by about $700, and only gotten an extra $40 in.  This is killing our budget this month, but perhaps we’ll figure a way out of that.

I’m beginning to get burned out on attacking the debt so heavily – truth be told, last year I was running out of steam, even after seeing the incredible progress we’ve made.  I’m just getting tired of the little rewards, and then spending all our discretionary income on things we need vs. having enough left over after debt reduction and paying the bills to do something fun.  And I shouldn’t say that – we’ve bought a house, gotten some extras – a 24” monitor dipped to $200, so I got it…  but by and large, there has been too little to really do something enjoyable with the money.

I’m sure the price we pay today will be worthwhile tomorrow – and I know we’ve come over halfway in less than two and a half years…  but I still wish I could treat my wife to a trip to Mexico for a few days – or even just spend some time away from finances and worry…

On another note, my asthma is back, so I’m sure that will play into the finances before long…