The Rainbow Bridge

The Rainbow Bridge
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Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Number Crunching Gets Smashed

February 21, 2012

When my stress and anxiety levels go into high speed my ability to do math almost evaporates. I struggle to even add and subtract. Now I have to add another $100 or more into my budget that does not break even. It is difficult to make a budget when your income changes weekly. I really haven't gotten a chance to celebrate getting my garage studio rented to a young couple, after five months of it being vacant. Now it felt like I was not going to recover and get caught up on other bills and repairs. I felt like the rug was slipping from under me with a large looming hole under the rug. Over the last six months I have seen all my hard work to rebuild a credit rating after having gone through bankruptcy slipping through my fingers.

When this level of crisis comes into my life, I first cry and feel sorry for myself. Next I get angry. Then I go to work. I do my homework to find out what are my resources. I have felt for a long time that putting my budget on a spread sheet might reduce my anxiety about money or make it worse. I just never seemed to find the time or energy. It has been a long time since I used a spread sheet. I certainly don't have funds to purchase home budget software.

I found a template in Microsoft Works under "Home & Money": Financial Worksheets-monthly "Home Budget" which is a simple, easy to use spreadsheet. It can also be edited to my personal budget lines. I was proud of myself for getting it set up. Plus there is research that learning new and challenging things may help to prevent Alzheimer. The spread sheet will defiantly help during times of stress by just crunching the numbers. It was no surprise to me to see how I'm always coming up short. Are there any lines that can be eliminated? Heat is not one of them.

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