Yesterday I managed to get 3 out of 5 things checked off my to-do list for the week. Not bad! I also faced my arch nemesis head on and won a battle but the war waged on. I’m referring, of course, to snail 🐌 mail ✉️.

It’s a never-ending pile of papers that need to be opened, sorted, and tossed or shredded or filed. Or, “gasp”, require some follow up action. 😱 As of right now, it’s all open and sorted and I have a handful of action items.. including a check that needs deposited. That’s one action item I’ll be doing right away. Especially considering the fact that one other piece of mail revealed my house payment went up 150 bucks a month this month due to refiguring escrow account fund deposits and distributions. I question how they could be so off about it. Seriously. The fact that it requires that much of a correction means something like property tax or insurance went up. I need to look into the details of that more. Oh the joys of home ownership.

Now that I’m living paycheck to paycheck, every ounce more equates to more hours I have to work to stay positive. I worked out a budget at the end of last year and my goal, as it should be, is maintaining my lifestyle and seeing more money come in than go out. I had a target to get my savings/safety net back to a certain point by the end of June.

In May I took a few hits to my visa, some of which is work related which I will be reimbursed for. New tires were about 400 bucks and that’s on me. Watching my spending on food and groceries and other random things at Target (like new summer clothes and swim suits for the kids), things need reined back in a bit. Averaging that out across the last 6 months I’ve gone over budget by several hundred dollars each month.

However, I sort of set an unrealistic goal considering my spending history. I was basically targeting cutting things by more than half. That’s a challenge. So all things considered, I’m doing ok. The bottom line is clearer than it ever has been before. I need to re-crunch numbers with recent changes and see where that puts me.

I’m really hoping I can hit my goal with finances this month. It’s only the 5th but so far so good.

Today I’m back in dev mode working with AWS Quicksight and building shiny new dashboards for the customer. I can spend all day looking at my finances but at the end of the day, the hours I put in actually working are the ones that really count. The good news is that this stuff is really cool and I’m getting paid to acquire new mad skillz. Another goal would be to get certified in some capacity by the end of the year. So many goals!!!! Time to stop writing and start positioning myself to score!! 🥅

Working for the Weekend and Beyond,

~Miss SugarCookie