I thought I was a month behind on my communications bill. Turns out I over paid. That put an extra $50 cushion in the budget this month (considering I didn't get Labor Day holiday pay as planned). I just went to pay the natural gas bill, which I budgeted $60 for and turns out I overpaid on that last month. Instead of a bill this month I have a $3 credit.
So, there's a possibility I'm losing my mind. But it looks like I'm $100 closer to the additional $500 in the emergency fund goal for this month (If my husband doesn't spend it first... believe me I'm not going to inform him of my horrible calculating, but he can spend $100 without me knowing in the blink of an eye).
Wohoo! That's always nice to get a surprise like that. Maybe, they did some sort of a summer adjustment? It happened to us before.
ReplyDeleteFinally getting a reward for the hard work. Makes it easier to get to where you want to be.
ReplyDeleteHere we just pat a monthly fee and get a bill or cashback once a year. U'm trying to avarage out our usage, do I don't get a bill in march. Last year I got a large cashback, bit this year is gonna include our New baby.
See sometimes when you are working hard to pay debt you over pay! Howrah what a blessing!
ReplyDeleteYay for happy accidents!
ReplyDeleteI keep my emergency money in a bank that is far from my house. The money is in a money market account so I couldn't withdraw most of it on a whim; I would need to wait a few days for them to cut me a check. And the money is direct deposited there, so it comes off my paycheck and I never have a chance to touch it. Set up the account so you can access it if you absolutely need to do so (like in an emergency), but that there are enough obstacles for you to get to it that you would only do so for a true emergency. Another thing I've been doing is keeping money in a Roth IRA. I am not sure what Dave Ramsey's thoughts are on the Roth, but Suze Orman raves about it because unlike taking a 401k loan with interest that needs to be repaid when you leave your job, and unlike withdrawing from a 401k where you're hit with a huge tax impact, you can withdraw contributions to your Roth IRA with no penalties -- you just can't touch the money that was earned from the account's investments. It's probably the most liquid option you can get for a retirement vehicle, but still not liquid enough to touch it in non-emergency situations. So that's been helping me get back on track with stuff (I swear I got so off budget this summer!) Congrats on the over-payments and thus not owing a bunch of money this billing cycle! Now just put it someplace safe where you won't be tempted to touch it! :)
ReplyDelete