Happy May Day. It is the first day of the rest of my life...

The first day of the rest of my life. Funny. Isn't every day the first day of the rest of our lives?

Rent is paid. That feels good. Next week I will put money in my savings and pay on the cell phone bill and budget the following weeks check. My checks are typically around the same amount every week. I need to get my envelopes set up this weekend so I can cash the check and put the required amount into each envelope so I can deposit it into the bank when the bill is due.

I must admit I am not so sure this envelope system will work for me. I am leary about having money just hanging around the house instead of in the bank. Not to mention I will know the cash is there and that it would be so easy to just grab a 10.00 to go do this or that or get this or that. Granted I have my debit card which can be used just as easily but I prefer to spend cash. I hate using credit cards. I have 2 small ones (about 300.00 each for the limit) that I am trying to pay off as quickly as I possibly can.

I had gone credit card free for over a year. If I didn't have the cash - I didn't buy whatever it was I wanted. Unless I was able to get it at work. Buying things through work is a big bad habit for me. I work for a consumer electronics store. I can get all my TV's, Blu-ray's, etc at COST. Needless to say - my house is pretty well decked out with the newest and greatest. I like to get new items so I can take them home and test drive them if you will. Hard to sell these things if you don't have one. Having these things has allowed me to know the features inside and out and be able to tell customers how to access them and utilize them to their advantage. Playing with them in the store is not the same as having them in your house.

Pretty piss poor excuses I know. I admit I like to shop. I am a bit of a compulsive shopper. I will be the first to tell anyone that. It does help me to sell the products better and provide after the sale service help though.

I have 2 last things that I want to buy for my apt. 2 small 5000 btu air conditioners. We live on the third floor of a 6 unit apartment building. It gets HOT in there. Stifling hot. So I see those as a necessity. I tried fans during a rare hot weather spell in early April. Yeah - didn't work so well.

Once those 2 things are bought (one for each bedroom - I already have a 8000btu for the kitchen and livingroom areas) I will need nothing for my apartment. NOTHING. We have a TV in the livingroom, my bedroom, and a nice small one in my daughters bedroom. I have the Blu-ray players in the livingroom and my bedroom and a basic older dvd/vcr in my daughters room. We have the desktop and laptop computers, the WII video game etc. We do not need anything else. And once the Air Conditioners are purchased there won't be any "home" purchases needed or bought. I don't have any room for anything else.

The a/c's I am getting are on clearance through our distributor for around 67.00 each. I don't have to pay for them all upfront. I get to do payroll deductions (not the best thing probably as I know I wouldn't have 75% of the stuff I have if I wasn't able to do this) for the payment of the products. That helps but kind of reminds me of the rent to own scams. ONLY so many payments of this amount every week (for 54 weeks of course!). I try to do minimum payments of 50.00 per week out of my check so I don't have payment terms like the RTO scams but there are weeks when I have to lower the payment. And there are weeks when I increase.

I will be glad when everything is paid off and I have that extra money in MY hand instead of the companies. I love the place I work at but I deserve that money more right now. I need it I should say.

I am going today to find out the value of the rings I brought to the consignment store. If they can offer me enough for them I will sell them to them outright so I can put the money into my ING savings account. I have just over 100.00 in there now and need 900.00 more to completely fund my emergency savings fund. Then the debt snowball starts. I am very excited for that baby step to happen. I can not wait to say I am DEBT FREE. It will feel so good to know I don't owe anyone any money anymore. There will be the normal monthly expenses (rent, utilities etc) but no more student loan, no more payments for stuff at work, no more medical bills past due, etc.

I live for that day. My goal is to have that done in a year and a half. Sooner if I can swing it. Then when that is done, the savings get kicked into over drive (6 months worth of monthly living expenses if not more) then I can save for a newer car and eventually - another house. I wouldn't mind have a double wide trailer again. I loved the one I had. Never should have sold it but life happens.

This time - I will be prepared for life.