Bi-monthly budget update (10/1-10/14)

I got paid today, so as promised, here is a recap of how my bi-monthly budget is going so far...
On October 1st, I paid bills...
                                      
Bill                      Budget                   Actual              Overage
Rent                     $418                       $418
Student Loan #1   $50                         $50
Credit Card #2     $100                       $100
Student Loan #2   $130.11                  $130.11
Water                   $35                         $38.09              $3.09
Carpool                $100                       $101.76            $1.76
Natural Gas          $20                         $11.83
Credit Card #1     $150                       $207.68            $57.68
Phone                   $78                         $77.42
Groceries             $100                        $143.59            $143.59           
Discretionary        $80                          $178.92            $98.92
Savings                 $10                         $110                  $100
Vet Bill                 $0                            $71.93              $71.93

While overages on budgets aren't a good thing, the overages on my credit card and savings is awesome!  It's due to my BF paying his share of purchases that I put on my credit card before I started this journey. Also, I sold an item on Craigslist that netted me an extra $100.

 Unfortunately, the overage on my discretionary spending also cut into this money as it could've been extra I sent to the card instead.  Blast it.  I must be more diligent about this in the future.  That way I can be assured that I'm sending every penny extra to my credit cards.  However, a lot of the overage on discretionary spending was making improvements to our house, and making it more of a home.  So it wasn't completely wasted money.

Also, the vet bill was not planned, so that came out of any extra that could have gone to the credit card.  This amount was just my portion, so really, it was in the $145 range, but included all of our boy's shots, a checkup, some tests, flea and tick treatment for next month, and heartworm prevention.  Having the new expense of a dog requires me to revamp my budget a bit for next month to include dog food and his monthly prevention meds.  When we moved into our new place, it was infested with fleas from the previous tenants.  There weren't a ton of fleas so maybe "infestation" is the wrong word but still, any fleas is too many.  Our landlord was very helpful in paying for an exterminator multiple times, but it was a pain for us trying to get rid those disgusting creatures.  So that being said, I was adamant that any dog we got would not step foot in the house without a flea prevention treatment.  I was concerned that bringing a dog into our home would stir up any dormant fleas that weren't yet dead.  But anyway, we've had our boy for a few weeks now and so far, I haven't seen any fleas in the house and he doesn't scratch a lot.  (He is a dog though and scratches occasionally, so I have to remember not to freak out when he does!!)

As I said in a previous post, I've also decided (for the time being) that any money from my very small side job will go towards a Christmas fund so that I don't have to put any gifts on my card. 

So that's it...some good points and some bad points.  I'm trying not to be too hard on myself and know that I will make progress as I get better at budgeting and overspending.  This debt payoff journey is a marathon...not a sprint.  :)