What a steal!

I used to be one of those that would constantly check my bank account, credit card balances, and checkbook.  I loved knowing how much money I had and when my bills were due.  I relished writing checks to pay off my debts knowing that I was in complete control.  I like to call that period of time "fantasy."  I now live in reality.  Reality looks much different than fantasy mainly because I am now an adult with real responsibilities and really empty bank accounts.  Needless to say, I DO NOT check my bank account, credit cards, and checkbook?  What's that?

Joel and I have been on a strict budget this semester as we realized early on that one person's student loans were not meant to cover two people's living expenses.  Some how we're making it work but we definitely live a leaner life style.  It had been a few weeks since I had monitored our accounts so I thought it about time.  I signed on to Discover expecting a moderately low balance (definitely under $1000) only to find a balance of $2500.  Ok.  Maybe our payment from last month had not gone through (last month was unfortunate.  Vanessa decided to act up and in her rebellion caused us $700 worth of new brakes).  But, alas, it had.  So I checked our recent activity and began to get suspicious when I noticed that I had spent $300 at Macy's in Houston, $300 at Chevron in some other God-forsaken town in Texas and $40 at Fiesta Mart.  But, I knew for certain these were not our charges when I saw the next several charges - Walmart.  What a steal!

In all the hubbub with Discover I failed to act upon the fact that several of our (crucial) monthly  bills were charged to our now closed Discover account.  One of those, internet, would literally cripple us if it were to disappear.  True to form, within a few days I had a friendly reminder email telling me to pay up or chance losing our lifeblood.  I promptly called Verizon to pay our bill vis a vis Mastercard.  While on the phone with the lovely operator from Washington, she mentioned a special deal that I might be interested in (yea right, lady).  I politely informed her that we were already stretched thin and could not afford a more expensive service.  That's when she politely informed me that I'm an idiot and would I just shut up and listen to what she had to offer.  I did.  And, as it turns out what she offered was faster internet at a cheaper price than what we pay now!  What a steal!