56%

It's the beginning of the month, which means it's budget time!!! I know to most people, that would not be very exciting, in fact I think most people dread doing their budgets. But I love it! I love working the numbers and as Dave Ramsey says, "telling my money where to go." So tonight I sat down and I made my budget.


Unfortunately, I was not as excited as I normally am... and that's because my savings for Chile are not looking too hot. Now I want to start by saying everything is okay and will be okay, yet the savings are not quite where I want them to be. I'm at 56% of where I need to be by the beginning of August (not including money for a plane ticket). That means I have four months to raise the rest of that. And it's totally possible and doable, I just wish that by this point I was a little more ahead in this area of savings.


And do you want to know the main reason why I'm bummed that I'm only at 56%? It's really a silly, petty reason. When I first started keeping track of my Chile savings in October, I made this big chart that I hang on my living room wall. The chart is titled "Tamarandrés" (our two names combined) and this visual is a great way I stay motivated. Unfortunately for the past two or three months I have not been able to add anything to the chart because my income has been pretty stagnant and also I had some car troubles that actually took money from the Chile savings. So this month I thought I was going to be able to chart some progress but alas, I was not able to. 


But I'm not going to stay bummed about this. I'm going to keep trusting in God that He will provide the funds and I'm going to be contenta with what I have been given. AND I am going to work hard this month and be proactive to get some extra income. I already have two dog-sitting jobs for the end of the month lined up, so that will help, and tomorrow I'm going to contact my manager from the golf course last year and ask him to hire me back on for this year's golf season. It SNOWED a lot today (when will winter end?!) so the golf course is not open yet, but it definitely should be by the end of the month.


Here comes the big bucks!