Playing Catch-up, Part Deux

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  If you haven't taken a peek already, check out my "Special Announcement" here. 

As I mentioned in this post, we've gotten behind on several bills.  With the exception of one that isn't due until the 25th of this month and a medical bill, we are caught up on all of them!  Here's the breakdown:

Before this month, the last payment I had made for our Internet was in June, and that was to avoid shut-off (and I only paid what I had to, meaning there was still a balance leftover).  This month, I've paid $220, and that bill is paid in full (until October, that is).  Normally, this bill is around $45 per month which is much more manageable than $220! 

Our utility bill (sewer, water, electricity), is due at the end of each month.  I didn't pay that until the day of shut-off, so now I have to pay two utility bills in September.  During the summer, our electric bill is higher because we run two air conditioners upstairs since we don't have central air up there.  Now that it's getting cooler at night, I look forward to that bill amount coming down!  This month, I will pay $358 to utilities.

I'm paying on two student loans for Pen.  One comes out automatically, and the other we pay online.  I was one month behind on the second one, but not anymore!!  I paid $185 this month, when our normal amount should have been $125.  Paid in full!

At some point during August, I got one week behind on our daycare payment.  This is an area that I try really hard not to get behind on, and with the exception of a week or two here and there, I haven't gotten behind so far in 2012.  The check is supposed to be turned in Monday for the week and deposited on Friday.  The checks don't always get deposited every week, and that often created an issue with how much money we actually had.  Sure, our checking account has $600 in it (let's go shopping and to the movies!), but daycare was also holding three weeks worth of my checks.  I pay $100 per week for Piglet 2 to go full time, and $3 per day for Piglet 1 for after school care.  Once my younger brother is done with cross country he will be getting off the bus at my house with Piglet 1, saving me $15 per week!  It doesn't seem like much, but that's $780 a year!  Also, once Piglet 2 is potty trained, her tuition will be $85 per week.  Anyway, because I got behind one week, an August daycare check was cashed during September.  Since I've been maintaining my check book register (or is it registry?), I know how much money we actually have, taking into account daycare checks that haven't been cashed.

Our gas bill essentially goes down to nothing during the summer months.  In fact, the majority of what we pay monthly is some sort of distribution charge.  Our usage charge is normally around $3, and distribution is around $12.  Weird, huh?  I haven't paid our gas bill since June I think.  And it's such a small amount!  Crazy, no?  We're due for shut-off on September 25, and I plan on paying that bill off on Friday when Pen and I both get paid.

Getting caught up on all the above bills has cost us an additional $632 this month.  The good news is, even with all that extra money being spent, we're still at a positive number for the month so far.  I have $178 to last us until Thursday when Pen gets paid, and then I get paid on Friday.  That's amazing for us!  I am so excited to see such positive results.  It encourages me to keep going!  We're doing something right!