day 1

i have 7 open major credit cards (visa and mastercard only, but this counts 2 debit cards, one of each). that is a lot. this does not include any store cards i have, but never use (ie kohls, gap, victoria's secret). i do not currently plan to close the cards i do have, but just pay down the balance. i’m taking the ‘smallest first’ approach, rather than pay off the highest interest rate method because it is simply more encouraging to me to get one or two out of the way and then work on the bigger ones.

what are your interest rates on your card?

here is an article with suggestions on grocery shopping:

eating on $100/week

i also plan to pre-publish my monthly/daily plans to make sure that i pay my bills on time. getting a paycheck once a month, on the first, makes it difficult in many ways to budget, but it can also be a good thing because you know at the beginning of the month just how much money you will have to make it through those 30-31 days.