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Riffed by Dr. Geek
from an idea by Vitriol


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a little bit can make a big difference

As I have mentioned previously (here and here), this hasn't been a banner financial year for Mrs. Geek and myself. Tax witholding was miscalculated. There were some unexpected educational expenses during the Spring and Summer. My car needed some major work. Plus, we did take a couple short trips this summer. It all puts a hole in the budget.

All this caused some nervous wringing of hands on my part when it came time to do the bills every month. I tried to resist the temptation to say "Honey? You spent $85 on WHAT???" I really did. I think Mrs. Geek would tell you that I wasn't always successful.

Part of it had to do with the fact that there seemed to be no end in sight. My aim was to practice fiscal austerity through the summer and get all our debts except for student loans retired by the Fall. The dwindling balances in our bank accounts coupled with some needed changes to my 401k contributions pretty much forced me to scale back those expectations fast. Expenses just kept rolling in and the dates for financial milestones seemed to get farther and farther away.

I am happy to report that there is finally some light at the end of the financial tunnel after about eight months of struggle. In addition to the bonus I got a month ago, I find that I am now going to get a five percent raise. This combined with a small annual increase in Mrs. Geek's salary and a suspension of Mrs. Geek's student loan payments because of the classes she was taking means that the bank balances are looking a little healthier at the end of the month. Plus, we're not credit card-debt free yet, but we did manage to get all our pre-wedding debt retired this summer.

I have to say... this feels good. I don't feel like Sisyphus rolling the rock up the hill every day. Looking back, I can see all the progress we made... even though it didn't feel like it at the time. Now I can just hope that the progress continues, and we will finally reach the original goal of being credit card debt-free by the Spring of 2006.

said drgeek on 2005-09-14 at 3:21 p.m.

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The Wayback Machine - To Infinity And Beyond

those first two estates - 2009-02-04 12:58 p.m.
nativity - 2009-02-03 9:28 p.m.
I am with Brahman - 2009-01-28 9:43 p.m.
angry - 2009-01-25 2:58 p.m.
i am - 2009-01-23 8:33 p.m.