Not Being Able to Catch Up!

I can't seem to get ahead. Every month a new unexpected expense or two creeps up on me and catches me off guard. It started in April with the H & R tax preparation service fee ($349), prom costs (tux rental, flowers, post party tickets - $200), the van needing to be repaired ($400) and if that weren't enough, car insurance was also due ($200). That is over $1,000! The only way I managed the month of April was to re-juggle all that was due, paying the car insurance and repair in installments.

I still wasn't caught up in May. And then I was hit with the $166 needed for my youngest son's driver's ed fee. He'd been on a waiting list and I was figuring the payment wouldn't be due until mid-summer. There went the payment I was supposed to make for the van repair. Then the school wanted me to pay my son's school fees of $99 which I'd planned on paying in June in order to process his driver's ed fee - he couldn't be overdue on any prior fees or they'd drop his spot in the class. So, again I had to juggle payments and write postdated checks. It gets confusing and tiring to come up with alternatives and work out arrangements. And I still owed for a past due month on the electric bill so came up with payment arrangements for that too.

Now June comes. And my fingers were crossed that I could catch up a little and breathe a sigh of relief. But I owed $179 in school fees that needed to be paid by the end of the school year. And now my oldest has a summer club volleyball fee of $289. And he needs new volleyball shoes, baseball spikes and football spikes! My youngest is going to wear his old soccer shoes for football camp over the summer. And he can also wear his brother's old baseball spikes. Then there is the nominal fee ($50 reduced for each boy for football camp). In the past, the nice lady in the school's athletic office has been kind and allowed me to postdate checks, which is becoming the story of my life. My oldest told me he has a friend who offered to sell him a pair of football spikes he didn't use for $30. I told my son to try them on and see if they fit because that would be a huge help to us, as spikes cost anywhere from $70 - $100.

This volleyball season, my son wore shoes that he crazy glued. As tough as it is to scrape together that $289, college scouts do view the boys playing with the club and there is some hope that my son may receive a college scholarship for volleyball. so I guess I am saying it is an expense that needs to be sacrificed for. My son has already been named as a team captain for the volleyball team next year.

Hopefully, I'll only have to figure out how to afford the baseball and volleyball shoes. In the meantime, I am still juggling postdated checks for the volleyball camp and I'll have to make another payment for the van repair with my next check. I can't hold out any longer. It'll be a very tight month for us - and it'll be a stretch to get through the final two weeks with groceries and gas.

I just want a little breathing room. To know that bills aren't weighing so heavily on me.