month 4

welp-here ya have it.

total debt paid: $495.30.

yes, those are my minimums. minimum payments?!? i mean, come on. i have a blog about paying down debt and here i am paying minimums.

at first, i felt like a total fraud, but then i realized....life happens. we all have stuff come up, things we weren't expecting to pay for. pricey items that end up being mandatory. hail happens, doctors appointments happen, unexpected flights happen. we make mistakes. we buy that sweater because it's beautiful, we go out for a drink and end up having 4, we let the guilt of not buying a gift be bigger than our desire to get out of debt.

at least i hope this happens to other people too, or else i'm up shit creek.

yes, i wish i wouldn't have spent as much money on clothes this month, i wish i wouldn't have had to buy a new camera (even though i shopped around and found one for $114), i wish my car wouldn't have gotten destroyed by hail. but, it happens.

i feel, ending this month, a little out of control. i'm not sure my balances, i owe on a couple of credit cards, and i'm throwing a bachelorette party over the weekend (which i am super excited about) that will cost me a bit more money and throw me a bit more out of whack. however, i think i did a great job planning an AMAZING weekend-on a budget. i'll tell ya'll about it next week! :)

by the end of september i will be back on track. i will have all of the cards paid off again and get back to my budget.

here's the thing. i'm being honest with you. just because you have one bad month with money doesn't mean you should give up. i'm feeling overwhelmed, but i refuse to give up. nothing would be more obnoxious than starting this over because i went on a spending bender.

one bad month doesn't mean you should quit.
next month, i'll aim for more than this month, and so on and so forth until i'm right back where i need to be.

but if you want to send good juju my way-i'm not turning any away right now.
xoxo ashleycolean