December dread

I love Christmas.  I love the lights, the music, the gatherings and the food.  There is something magical about the Christmas tree and the joy of Christmas morning.  This year; however, I am stuck in a thought pattern of fear due to our lack of income and abundance of expenses.

December 3rd will be a day of much trepidation.  I will open up our mint account and be adding several extra categories of expenses.  Normally our bare bones budget equals $2556.  Our current expected income for December is $3327.  For those of you keeping track, that is an overage of $771.  We have to fit all of our additional expenses into this amount. 

Here is the breakdown of estimated expenses:

• Hair cuts - $17
• Vet visit - $70
• Yankee gift swap - $15
• Slows Barbeque - $15
• 2 oil changes - $55
• Tickets to see the Hobbit - $22
• Wedding gift - $50
• New Years Eve - $75
• Bridesmaid dress - $100
• Birthday gift - $25
• Christmas presents - $200

Grand total = $644

Of course these are just estimates.  Some of these items will likely be more, some less, Lord willing.  It gives us $127 of wiggle room.  My hope of going into January with $10,000 in our emergency fund has gone out of the window.  Maybe I'll have a little more Christmas cheer with tomorrow's post...  For now I'm pretty much feeling Bah Humbug!