Yup, I had a Homer Simpson moment. You know the ones: where you slap your hand on your head (or feel like you should) and wonder "Where was my head?!?".
I was updating my check register with the last round of automated payments, and couldn't figure out why my register and the bank's website were different. Granted, I round all my checks up to the next dollar which means my register is always going to show a little less than the bank, but not almost $200 worth! Kept looking and looking and looking...
Turns out I had decreased the $$$ amount on 2 of my automated payments on the bank website, but hadn't decreased them in my budgeting software. DOH! For those that are wondering, I had been paying double/triple/quadruple the minimum payment on a lot of my debt until last month, when I changed the strategy to saving as much as possible until the end of the year to create an EF and pay for Christmas/property taxes on the house.
Hey, I only bought the house in July, so it's not like this was a budgetary line item I had been ignoring... Christmas, however, is a different story. I choose to stick my fingers in my ears and and sing LALALALALALALA while everyone asks why I've not been saving for Christmas all year long. I've got two letters for you: DH!!!
At any rate, the mystery was solved, I felt much less stupid, and all was well with the world.
On the brighter side: my lunch out and coffee this afternoon cost a lot less than expected. The burrito lady rang up my order, punched my card, says "Now you have enough punches for a free entree!" credited part of my bill, then got out another card and punched it too!! WooHOO! PLUS I had filled up my punch card for the Local-Hero Coffee Shop, and got my coffee for free. Monster Heavy D Taco, chips, cheese dip, drink, and coffee for $2.55 instead of $7.64.
Frugality, thy name is Loyalty Cards!
DOH! (Subtitle: I Hate Homer Moments)
November 13th, 2006 at 09:43 pm
November 13th, 2006 at 10:05 pm 1163455547
November 13th, 2006 at 10:20 pm 1163456444
November 14th, 2006 at 12:38 am 1163464714
showed I had a certain amount to put away in my dental/eye fund and some to put in my birthday fund. Stuff like that. My bank account, even after adjustment for those things not showing up yet, seemed too low. I should have had that much money over what I had last month. According to my budget. Well, after Hubby and I perused it over and over, I found that I had the wrong number from last month in my head. I went back to last month online and found my mistake. Sheesh. Would have saved me a lot of frustration that my budget wasn't working right if I had just figured it out sooner!
November 14th, 2006 at 02:28 am 1163471286
About your property taxes: why don't you escrow them?
November 14th, 2006 at 12:17 pm 1163506650
lau, my mortgage company doesn't require us to escrow property taxes or our homeowners insurance, so i can stash that money away and earn 5.25% myself, instead of them earning it and keeping it! when i refinance with my credit union they'll require escrow, so i might wait until the beginning of 2008 (dunno yet). it'll be worth it, since the interest rate will be dramatically lower!
November 14th, 2006 at 02:06 pm 1163513181
November 15th, 2006 at 05:32 pm 1163611968