Pay day has come and gone once more.  Like the cycle of the seasons each spinning of the wheel brings birth and renewal.. of course in this instance it would be my financial standing that sprouts once again.

I’ve been somewhat bummed out lately about my flagging monetary footing as anyone who has been around me more than a couple of seconds should be able to attest to.  After paying for dinner last night at the excellent Red Robin my remaining funds stood right around two dollars.. and not even of my own money.  I’ve been relying on my credit cards to see me through far too often this past month and pretty much maxed both of them out.  This month, due to it being an extra paycheck month and my overage next week (if all goes as planned), I should move on ahead financially.  The only big purchases that I’ll be making are my books, of course, and any supplies that my art class will require, I’m planning to completely pay off my love seat that I bought back in .. March I think, and then I’m going to buy a PS3.  Gotta give some love to myself.  I’d rephrase that but ..eh.  It’ll suffice.

I rarely make nice purchases for myself.  This year the only other thing I’ve bought has been my DS Lite.  I’ve racked up a robust DS game collection of 7 games so far.. or was it 8.. but other than that I’ve just purchased the odd book here and there.  I know what my main problem is: eating out.  The once a week thing with the guys is fine for the most part .. so long as I avoid Outback on most occasions; damn good food, damn big bill.. but at work it basically destroys my budget.  Spending an average of seven dollars a meal for five days a week comes to an average of .. carry the one.. or load calc, more like.. around one hundred fifty two dollars a month for just eating at work.  And that’s without counting the same amount regularly spent on picking up food on the way to work as well.  So.. over three hundred dollars a month was going just to feed my feeding habit.  That’s pretty patently unacceptable.  So, I’m trying to fix that up.

I saw this spifftastic little Excel sheet that was scripted on Lifehacker sometime earlier in the year (or last): PearBudget.  It’s pretty simplistic and actually looks like something I should have been using for years.  Let’s see if I can stick with it for more than a couple weeks!  It’s a process.  If I can limit my food budget to something that doesn’t run me broke on a monthly basis I think I can easily get on top of my debt woes.

Today I paid my Citi Financial bill as part of this whole debt reducing policy.  Not that it’s really a new part; I’ve been paying extra on it every month since I started it back in November of ‘05.  Last month I paid my usual two hundred but, as I was already aware, my next bill wasn’t due until this month.  Regardless, like always, I wrote on my check to put the extra against the principle.  Kinda covering my anterior region in that respect.  So last month my pay off was around fifty five hundred remaining.  This month (not counting my current payment) my pay off amount is now around fifty three hundred.  So.. I’m making a dent.  Last month was a large dent.  I can only assume that at this point I’ve essentially crested the whole interest and will now start eating chunks out of my loan debt each month.  If I can pay even more than the little extra I have been paying (only around twenty dollars extra to be honest) then I can only assume that I’d be tearing down that wall even faster.  With trying to spend less on food, say around a hundred or so less, each month I could put that money against the loan and really destroy it with even handed shredding.  Who knows?  By this time next year I may have no more debt.  ..That’s pretty unlikely, but I may have gotten rid of a good portion of it.  I can’t expect anyone to keep me motivated in the right direction, I see people only a couple of times a week, so this is gonna be something I have to push along myself.  Kinda prove to myself that I have it in me.  Or find out that I don’t.  Negative thinking.. yeah, probably something I need to avoid.

On a positive spin I did some minor cleaning recently: I cleaned off my computer desk.. ya know, mostly.  It’s not a finished job, of course, I still have some papers and cords on it.  And Flonne is there cheering me on, that’s nice.  I moved some of the things to my nearby manga shelf that need to be moved right back off to more appropriate places.  I still need to get better at my habit of actually folding my laundry when I’m done with it.. free up more floor space and the like.  And I have to get things situated to get rid of my dressers and, eventually, the entertainment center.. unless Tuten wants to take it, we did both go in on it, the television, and the DVD player.  When I get the PS3 the DVD player (and my PS2, for that matter) will be kind of moot.  And next spring when I get my next overage check and my tax return I’m going to jump headfirst into a HD LCD TV.  Acronyms ahoy!  The one I’m tentatively looking at is a forty inch Samsung beast that would suit me just fine.. but it won’t so much fit into the entertainment center according to Martin.  I can see he’s right, though.  So, away it will have to go.

The way I see it this will free up more of my apartment to actual living space.  I’ll get that gone and the bookshelf behind it will be transferred to the wall on the other side of my bed where one of the dressers currently lives.  And with the other one no longer taking up space in my closet I’ll have extra closet for my things.  I need to trim down my ‘things’ collection too, though.  Don’t think I really need an ancient keyboard these days.. and my double bass is somewhat of a dusty space hog.  I still have a PS1 sitting in my Q-Bit (also no longer required) that I should divest myself of as well.  It, like my budget, is a process.  I’ll finish eventually.

My parents bought me a little microwave that fits perfectly beside my rice cooker and toaster.  I have the best parents evar.