The clouds parted!

And the angels sang! I just came to a fabulous realization. Something I had completely forgotten about. So, I have been sweating the $325 vet bill as, obviously, it was totally unexpected and I have no money for it. I have been trying to figure out what I need to balance and how I'm going to do that. I had to dip into the money I has sent aside for the week to pay my February mortage and that is a scary thing to do. I knew I would have to put nearly my whole paycheck toward making up the difference.

The good part about my current situation is that all of my monthly bills are paid save my credit cards bills. But, that totals $250. I could scale back if I had to but that just makes me ill. I need to get that Discover bill paid down big time. It's an ugly little card. The only other expenses I have for the rest of the month are gas and groceries. It will require a little bit more cutting back. How I have no idea, but I'll let you know what I come up with.

My realization today was that my salary review is on the 22nd! How could I have forgotten about this? I mean, I knew it was coming. I just had a conversation with a Board member, who was my old boss, and she said she is doing a salary study for me and did I have room in my budget for a raise. I told her I did. This conversation makes me hopeful. I had planned on 2% but I am thinking she might be able to get me 5%. At 5% it would mean a weekly increase of $77, which would be about $55 after taxes. The great news is that I get paid retroactively from the 1st when the raise would go into effect at the end of the month!

This means, if I get the 5% raise, I will get an extra $220 in my last paycheck of the month. How perfect is that? And, if I got the raise, I would see an extra $220 a month consistently. Oh this idea makes me feel very happy and less stressed. I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch, but I don't think I'm way off. Even if I get the expected 2% raise, it's $100. It's good knowing that some kind of increase is on its way. So, be thinking of me on the 22nd!