So not having had much preparation for my unpaid time off, I have fared not badly so far. I feel comfortable with how I’m managing, have not needed to dip into my tax return/savings and have not added to my line of credit. I have instead chosen to carry a manageable balance on my Visa rather than paying it off in full as I normally do. A usual-sized paycheque arrives Friday and I would prefer to make a couple of payments to my Visa as opposed to depleting the sum I’ve managed to set aside so far. Psychologically it’s more comfortable to have some savings and pay off the Visa in a couple of payments, than to have no Visa balance and no savings.

When I read Jack’s blog about planning forward for the big expenses in advance, I became aware that I know what I can do each month with my 2 paycheques and how much discretionary income I have to do things with, so thinking ahead in terms of expenses for an entire year knowing where things currently stand, feels both constricting and unrealistic to me. I’m now paid twice monthly but formerly was paid every 2 weeks, and unlike Jack I never found that “third paycheque” in a month to make any practical difference when all was said and done. I still had bills to pay, usually it made the timelines on everything a little more comfortable, more breathing space. So I’m mystified at how that “third paycheque” really can be “extra” in a month! Jack…we need to talk!

Thanks to writing these on these planning topics, I’ve obviously been prompted to consider upcoming events: a vacation in August, school in October and January. I generally avoid this because it usually causes me to feel, “how am I going to manage to afford these expenses (knowing how much I already need to pay out each month)?”. Regardless, I’m going to try some of Jack’s strategies to plan for those events and see how that works for me. One thing is to my benefit - I LOVE watching the numbers in my savings account grow - it’s unbelievably satisfying! Much moreso than watching debt balances decrease…at least for me. So my project will be to add up the total expenses, figure out the number of pays until I reach each event and how much will need to be set aside each pay. At least this way I can deposit that amount into savings, enjoying watching it grow while knowing it’s purposeful, “not just for a rainy day”. I can tell you that already I feel fear that I won’t be able to manage that monthly number (then I’ll feel “a failure”), but I will do the math anyway and see what transpires…