I got my Equifax one in the mail last night, and as expected, all was well. Although I did notice that they’re still showing a really old employer as my current employer, so I’ll be filing a Dispute Report to get that fixed. Especially since I make significantly more than what I did at that job, I want to make sure everything’s up to date in case I need to apply for credit, you know? But everything else was good and as expected.

I’m still waiting for the TransUnion one, however since I mailed them both off on the same day, I anticipate getting that one this week as well.

And how about you, do you check your credit score regularly?

That one’s an interesting purchase because I’m going to use it for Skype calls. I don’t have a landline anymore because I wanted to save money, and besides, I don’t really use my phone all that much anyways. So my cell phone is my primary phone. But if I’m working from home and I have a conference call, listening in on my cell phone is a tad awkward and annoying. So I purchased a headset that I’ll be able to use with Skype. I’m going to purchase some Skype credit and use that for a few outbound calls. The beauty of Skype is that it will only cost me $2.95 a month on the monthly plan, and I get unlimited calls to mobiles & landlines in the US and Canada! That’s an amazing deal. I might just pay by month for a bit, and then if I like the service, I’ll pay quarterly, which let’s me save even more.

But getting back to the Money Jars. I’m finding it’s helping me reign in my spending, so I’m able to put more towards my debts. And honestly, I don’t find it that much of a change, you know? But this way things are more tangible to me, and I’ll feel better about the progress that I am making.

Now that I’ve got four weeks of data to look at, I’ll be tweeking my budget allotments so that I can get a better handle on my spending. I’m consistently overspending on the Food and Clothing/Gifts category, so I’ll be rejigging the numbers a bit so that I’m not going over. I’ve actually slashed my food budget quite a bit, and have been good at not getting bored of “poor” meals, but what’s been doing me in is going out for lunch. I’m usually pretty good at only going out once, however I have been spending more time with friends on the weekends lately, and that time has been, more often than not, over some food in a restaurant. I’ve been good at not ordering lots of food when I do go out, however even just going out once a weekend has really made a difference in my budgeting. So if I can get a handle on that, I’ll be fine.

So while I’m making progress in the overall picture, I’m still overspending on my budget. That’s something I’ll have to get a handle on.

One of the categories where I’ve been spending more is in food. Most of you know that with the strange economic times we’re having right now, the prices of things have gone up. So my food is costing me more money every week. I’ve actually tightened my belt quite a bit on the food, so that while I’m not eating mac & cheese every night, I’m eating much, much more simply (but still healthy), which has helped cut down on my food bill. I’m using coupons and specials, and trying to finish off what’s in my cupboard before buying more food. It’s actually going quite well, and surprisingly, I’m not sick of the food I’m eating.

For once I’m actually spending less on transportation costs, because the price of gas has been going down over the last few days. I actually broke my one “rule” by filling up when the price went down over the last week. I ended up filling up three times when only at about half a tank, but since it’s been a while since the price was below $1 a Litre in quite some time, I thought I’d take advantage. It’s not like I won’t use the gas!

I’m pretty pleased at how things have been going so far. I haven’t felt like I’ve been depriving myself of anything, and have a bit more money to throw at my debt. I’ll be posting new debt numbers next week (at the end of the month), so let’s see if it made a difference at all.