Breaking the bill date shuffle

I am sick and tired of living paycheck to paycheck and constantly having to think ahead of my expenses, which is why I’m on this journey. This month was yet another month I did the bill date shuffle. What’s the bill date shuffle you may ask?

The bill date shuffle is when you have a payment due that will drain your bank account so you can’t pay another bill in full. We’ve all done it, I just gave it a fun name. But it’s time to break this vicious cycle of living paycheck to paycheck and doing the last dance of the bill date shuffle.

Easier said than done. This isn’t the first blog post I talk about this, and probably won’t be the last. But writing these blog posts is a good reminder for me to THINK about what I am buying before I buy it.

Now, we did have some off chance medical visits that required a $30 copay here and there, which isn’t totally our fault. Anything that is out of my control I’m not going to stress about. But buying breakfast at work or buying an unnecessary item, that can stop.

In the span of 20 days, we spent around $120 on eating breakfast at work and lazy dinners. It didn’t seem like we were spending a lot because it was two dollars here, fifteen dollars there. But as you can see, it adds up!

If we stayed on a budget or allowed a budget for these things, then maybe we wouldn’t have spent over $100. Next month, and the rest of this month, we’re going to try and be more aware of the money we spend outside the budget.

Are you on the struggle bus for budgeting as well? Let me know and tweet me @DitchinDebt and if you like my blog posts, make sure to subscribe to the email list above, it’s free!

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