Monday Night Money

Check-In: $3985.96

I'm okay with this balance. Not thrilled, as I know there is a $1000+ check still floating around out there and I still need to take $1000 out to fund the ER fund. Still, that leaves a bank balance of almost $2000 plus a $1000 ER fund, which sure beats the heck out of the financial picture that I was looking at when I started this blog! I know that we have been eating out too much lately and that there was a little (okay... a lot) of extra spending when we got our tax refund, including a virtual weekend away with DH while the kids were at my sister's. But, the amputation is complete. The bank card and checkbook have not been with me in sometime. They now live at my house and only come out when there is a specific need to spend money (like buying Easter shoes or materials to build a leprechaun trap!). It seems to be going well that way, so we'll keep it like that for a while. Now that things are getting better, I need to work on menu planning and assigning a day for grocery shopping. I think that will be my spring break project.
For now, my goals are:
1. To continue the practice of using cash. Any checks that need to be written can be done so on Monday nights when I do money. The debit card can only come with on trips when absolutely necessary (like the gas station, so I can pay at the pump and get a reciept to use for the Illinois Green Fleets E-85 Fuel Rebate at the end of the year).
2. Assign the "leftovers" in our budget. I've got a pretty good handle on our monthly fixed expenses, but I haven't delved into the scary world of variable expenses yet and that is where the leaks are... where our money disappears because I don't have a good spending plan developed for this part of our budget. So, it's time to study our variable spending, attack and conquer!
Onward and upward!