Being Human

I've decided that being human is incredibly annoying. Having to maintain your body can get wonderfully expensive.
I've been joyfully blessed with an eye infection that required a $125 trip to the eye doctor, which will be followed by another $200 odd next week when I go in for a follow up and pay for new contact lenses. These are those necessary random expenses that drive me crazy because they put me even further behind.
Because this is a short month and October 1st is a Friday, I've not made out as well I was hoping for this month.
The flip side of this is that I'm due five paychecks in October, which is theoretically an extra $600 just from my current gig. This is good and promising and should help. I'm feeling though my dream of breaking even by the end of the year might not come to fruition though.
I might be able to do more extra project work in October once I shift to evening work, but I don't feel as though I should be banking on it. I'm also yet to find out how well I'll make out on my part time admin job and whether I will be paid before or after the last of the month.
I'm very strict about that dividing line. If the calendar flips, then I shift to that months budget regardless.

I just really really hope that I can do a little better before my next round of medical and icky expenses in November. Hate being human.

Domino Effect

One thing tends to lead to another it seems. July was a rough financial month with me only earning about $322. That wiped out my savings and adding in several other bills has cascaded and put me back in debt.
Next month it'll be a year since I started working full time as a freelancer. I was hoping to end my first year in the black, and I'm sad I didn't, but with the work I have booked I'm not running back to corporate America. I seem to be making this work.
I am, however, on a total spending freeze. We will be eating from our limited pantry. I have purchased Christmas knitting supplies, and I have no other upcoming major bills until November. It's time to recover. I'm even considering taking my credit cards out of my purse.
Sometimes it is just so darn easy to swipe a card. I'm mad at myself for that.
I think I'm going to be able to knock about $400 off my debt this month, but as I owe $2300 that's not going to feel like much of am improvement.
On the plus side, I'm working on a really cool show and I've been slogging through my reading goal for the year. The plan was 60 books. I doubt that I'll hit that but I feel like I've been doing pretty well.
I've really got to get back on the whole making extra money thing. I'm working full time during the day right now though which makes it harder. Just gotta keep trucking.