Stop wasting money

I screwed up on my budgeting and thought some checks had gone through but hadn’t, and when they did I didn’t have the funds to cover them because I had gone CRAZY buying stupid stuff I didn’t need and my bank charged me an overdraft fee for eight different transactions. So now I have all this stupid stuff I don’t really need, AND $216 in bank fees on top of it!

The other day I was on a plane and thought “Gee, I really want one of those neck pillows.” So during the layover I bought one for $10. Then I left it on the plane. The next time I’m in an airport, I’ll probably buy another one.

I’m going to start by looking at my health insurance. I’m on a ridiculous plan. I need to change to something cheaper.

Last month I was freelancing and wasn’t sure when the checks would come in. The day before I got paid, three or four automatic withdrawals for bills went through. They put me in overdraft and each one garnered a $27 fee. The overdraft and fees ate up most of that check so the same thing happened the next week. I think I wasted almost $300 in fees by the end of the month.

There are the obvious little things: cafe stops during the day, eating out instead of planning meals, and then there are the clothes I buy that I think I need and end up never wearing… but the worst is the hundreds of dollars each month in credit card interest, and, lately, several checking account overdraft fees. Aargh!