It's what I want

Money. Lots of money.

Actually, I'm not concerned about getting lots of money, but I am concerned about saving money, paying off my car loan and getting through the winter. This is another subject that has occupied my mind when I'm not thinking "WILL I OR WON'T I? WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LET ME KNOW NOW AND PUT ME OUT OF THIS AWFUL MISERY????? poop." But back to the money topics....

The saving money part was surprisingly easy if not also slow and steady. This goal was met at the beginning of November -- the goal being to save enough money for weekly expenses during the winter and a deposit for the expensive business school that is smart enough to accept me. Done. SO ACCEPT ME ALREADY! HAVE I MENTIONED I'M IMPATIENT? AND I HAVE (some) MONEY!

So getting through the winter comes to that part of the last sentence in which I said "save enough money for weekly expenses during the winter." Getting through the winter may also mean surviving the oppressive cold and darkness that we must endure for one more season before we move onto the warmer climates where the business schools to which I have applied are strategically located, but I digress.

My husband and I have come up with a brilliant-and-probably-only-works-for-us budgeting system. My paychecks are deposited into two checking accounts. Roughly half of each paycheck goes to an account from which we pay our mortgage and utilities. The other half goes into another checking account for which we use to pay our fixed expenses: car loan, student loans (yep, still have these and willing to take on more for that MBA!), Roth IRA, cell phone, internet, Blockbuster by mail, union dues and savings/debt-buster flavor of the moment. This happens twice a month. Wash, rinse, repeat. Relatively simple.

Husband's paychecks are where things get interesting. He drives a concrete mixer for a company that, rather archaically IMO, pays him weekly. To make it more interesting, he is paid by the hour with overtime and his schedule varies radically from week to week. Like 30 hours one week and 80 the next, radically. We can never be quite sure how much he'll bring home, but have roughly estimated that if he works 20 hours a week we can meet the weekly variable expenses that we have broken into the following categories: food (dining out and groceries), gas, miscellaneous (entertainment, movies, etc.) and adult allowance. We also have savings categories for: beer making supplies, ski trips, new flooring and vacation. Once we meet these weekly obligations, everything else is gravy for helping us meet some major savings goals and debt-busting.

It can be noted that I didn't mention everything that we spend money on. Car insurance, dog food, charitable donations, gifts, clothes -- it all fits in there somewhere with other methods (like a "slush" fund buffer that we also fund), but we've devoted our attention to those categories that we feel we need to monitor. And I've found that if we set goals for ourselves, it makes it easier to meet those first and let everything else wash out in the end.

And that brings me to the last money topic/goal: Paying off my car loan. The goal is to make the last payment at the end of February and it's on track to happen. It's so close I can taste it. Sweet, delicious Suzuki SX4 paid off three years early.