Pay day!

This was an exciting day for me, because I decided to take another detour from “the saving secret” that I’ve been following for the past 3 months. The idea of the saving secret is to put all your money in savings and then only transfer to checking what you need for the month – once a month.

But since I use my credit card to pay for everything anyway (keeping my budget as though I was using my checking account) I’ve decided to keep all money in savings until I’m ready to pay my credit card bill each month, then transfer what I owe to my checking account. (I’ll keep money in there for the bills I can’t pay with my credit card, plus a bit extra as a safeguard.)

Since I’ve already budgeted for the entire month of January, today’s paycheck allowed me to start budgeting for February! That puts me two weeks ahead, and with the money I’ve already saved for my job loss fund, I’m well beyond one month ahead! My goal is a fully funded 6 month job loss fund by the end of the year, so I’m on my way!

Plus, I get to keep all the money – even what I’ve budgeted to spend this month – in savings for the entire month, which will mean a slightly bigger dividend payment! We’re talking pennies here, but who cares? Pennies add up to dollars, so bring them on!

Oh! And here’s my virtual change jar report – $186.87 so far this month! Where did it come from? We cancelled our Amazon Prime membership, which was due for renewal in May, but was already budgeted for ($129). The rest is from coming in under budget on groceries and dining out money two weeks in a row!

So we’re that much closer to a new couch! I can’t wait – our broken one has got to go! But as much as I want a new couch, I’m happy to wait until we can pay cash. And I’m really enjoying the game of finding virtual change whenever and wherever I can!

Where have you found virtual change this month? Let me know! bobbi@centsablechat.com