That's All

This short month often leaves me feeling monetarily anxious. Never you mind that it's only short by a couple of days, those days represent money and dates when things could be due but aren't because those days aren't there. So, everything comes at once instead of spread out. March 1st looming on the horizon with nothing but change in the pocket has often left me with a case of the "how can I's", as in "how can I possibly pay this"?

My refunds from both state and federal taxes have gone a ways to make me feel a bit more secure. There are still bills that have to be wrangled and negotiated every month and I've added medical expenses to the list, but I am calmer about squeezing every last dime out of the paycheck and shoving it where it needs to go.

Sometimes, when I get a month behind and don't have a current bill in front of me, I'll estimate what the next charges will be and send that amount. It can be a crap shoot, a game of guessing. I've found that calling the company and asking for current charges often gets me an amount that shows a payment hasn't been applied, yet. So, it was taken out of my account on the 22nd and it's the 30th and it's still not applied? Huh? "Well, ma'am, billing has probably applied it, but it's not showing up on your account here in customer service." Whatever. I'm usually very close when estimating so I'm not that worried.

I had a bill this month that comes usually on or around the 8th. I'd been a bit behind with this account but they understood the need to pay the medical bill first. I would get caught up over time. This month's bill should be small and then we would be back to normal in March. I couldn't have predicted this.

That's what I owed them. Fifty cents.

I thought about sending a check. I thought about not paying it this month and letting it roll over into next month, but there would be finance charges, however small, on that fifty cents. I figured a check would cost more than fifty cents to process so, let's just send them the cash. I taped the quarters to the front of the bill and off it went.

As I look through the finances and contemplate another high gas bill to heat the house, sending off fifty cents to be current makes me feel really good. Wish all my bills were like that.

Beverage:  Rooibos tea

Deb