Money management question

**chatterweb** · 12-28-2006, 11:36 PM

I am kind of wondering about others who do not live paycheck to pay check.
We are a week shy of payday.
Our main account has $1150.00 in it.
I have paid all the bills and done all the shopping. Hence for DH and us both eating out at work...
I usually try to keep the most money in the account that I can, since I need to pay one more mortgage the first of the month of $1100.00.
Payday will net us around $2000.00, after all taxes and etc.
My question is should I move some of this money into the MMA or to pay a debt?
I wanted to add a principal payment to our mortgage for January too...

I am freaky about having a low balannce in this account, but I always seem to have a surplus of at least $800.00. I never bounce checks, it seems to be a psycological thing.

Any help/ideas/advice/insight is appreciated!

**oklahomapoet** · 12-29-2006, 12:43 AM

I sometimes live paycheck to paycheck, but when I don't, I take everything I have left on the 10th from the previous month and pay some debt.

**Jenna** · 12-29-2006, 02:28 AM

How long will your c/c debt be at 0%? I assume the car loan is for life (at 0%?)

**my4littlebuffaloes** · 12-29-2006, 04:24 PM

I do our budget to the penny. I shouldn't have any extra at the end of the month. When I do our budget i figure in everything I need to and put the rest into savings. sometimes I have maybe $20-30 in a misc part, in case something totally unexpected comes up, I know that is against what Dave Ramsey says, but I don't always know what will crop up. and if I need to go over in clothing or food, I have those few dollars in misc to help with that.

If I were you I would make sure you have everything covered and then put at least $500 towards your first debt on the debt snowball. Good luck! And great job not living paycheck to paycheck.

Jennifer

**danni** · 12-29-2006, 06:06 PM

I do my budget to the penny too. I total all money that will come in in that month and then subtract all the bills and grocery money except the one I'm snowballing. Everything left goes to the snowball debt.

**Michelle68** · 12-29-2006, 06:06 PM

We always have a surplus of $250 in our checking account which I act like is not even there. I understand what you're saying about keepnig a certain amount in there at all times --- I tend to feel more secure knowing we have more than what we show on paper and never bouncing checks because of it.

--Michelle

**Michelle68** · 12-29-2006, 06:08 PM

(Continued from last post...) Personally, I would pay a debt with that surplus money, if I were you. It always made me feel better psychologically when we had more debt to pay even a little extra on it.

--Michelle

**dcompton** · 12-29-2006, 10:31 PM

I have only a few bills, that never vary by more than a few dollars. I budget a lump sum for all day to day expenses that go on a credit card (paid off monthly) and show that amount as a pending transfer out of the account. I rarely use checks, so overdrafts aren't a problem. After I account for all the bills and CC payment coming out, I leave about $100 for a cushion, and chuck all the rest at debt or into savings. This works best for me.

**chatterweb** · 12-29-2006, 11:13 PM

Well, our car loan is 0% for life of loan, 1 more year!

The cards seem to be ongoing, I keep getting offers and open a new line of credit just in case. Not every month, maybe every 3- 6 months. My credit score is still unchanged at 733.
I have one card due in Feb 07, and I owe 3940.00
I will bt it to the one due in November 07...
The one I opened before the last one was perfect timing for the fridge and oven replacement, 1500.00 due in November 2007.
The last one I opened is due in Jan 08, I owe 445 on tht one.
I can do but only until 2/07.
I am hoping to pay 1/2 the cards when we get our tax refund, and save some and maybe pay 1/2 the auto loan. We may get 5-8K back this year...
I suppose I could pay off a debt with the money in the bank, but I also thought of putting it into our ef fund to boost the interest paid every 15th of the month...I think my Libra Hubby is rubbing off on me- Indecisiveness!!!

**Jenna** · 12-30-2006, 02:57 PM

I'd apply about $500 to the credit cards, and keep the remainder in the checking account.

**Telephus44** · 12-30-2006, 04:17 PM

We generally keep a $500 buffer in our checking, and the rest goes into savings when we have extra. We haven't lived paycheck to paycheck in over a year. When we had CC debt, we would put all of the extra towards that.