One of Those Days (or Months)....

Ever have one of those days (or in my case months) where nothing seems to go right? I have had been having that month for the past three.

Here is why the past few months have been less than stellar:

1. I am staffed on this uber-stressful client where I am being constantly ridden by my two main bosses. This situation is seriously making me want to quit my job and get an internal audit gig for a year or so. Public Accounting is not for me.
   
2. Cash flow is super tight. Now that I am living on my own, cash flow is tight because I am responsible for footing the bill for the whole rent, electric, etc. While I knew this was coming for a while there wasn't much I could do about it with respect to raising my money coming in. As part of my employment agreement, I cannot seek other employment outside of "The Firm". Since this job seems to occupy almost every waking hour of my day, I don't think I would have the time to pursue other employment.
3. Expenses are not regular. I was being lazy and this really landed me in a hole because I was eating out all the time right after my move. I kept putting off going to the grocery store because of the exhaustion from the job (see above). Also I am have planned to travel to NYC three times in the month of August. First was to meet my Boo's parents, next is to see my Boo graduate from Graduate School (this weekend) and then to go up to help her move down to DC with me (more on that later). Tolls, Gas, and misc expenses for all those trips tend to add up and don't fit really well into a tight budget.
4. It seems like every piece of mail that I get is some sort of bill. Today was AMEX, COX Cable and Fairfax County Personal Property Tax.
5. I have almost no idea where I am financially. Since the MS Money Meltdown I have not been able to measure where I stand financially. Being a person of metrics - this kills me.
   

So now you know why this month has been trying to say the least. Now you are thinking to your self, "That's great TMac, get off your ass and do something about it!" Well I am and here is what I am thinking as a turn-around plan:

1. Scale back my credit card payments to the minimum until boo gets a job and begin contributing.
   
2. Along the same lines, do not contribute to the 401K until the cash flow reaches the point of the "pre-move" days.
   
3. Pre-order Quicken 2008. This will help in helping me figure out where I am.
   
4. Begin looking for a new job. I am looking for something where the company won't consume my life. I don't see myself in auditing for a long time or in the DC Metro area for more than two more years so something that may allow me more control over my lift would be good.
   
5. Try to cut down on extraneous bills and expenses as much as possible.
   
6. Help my Boo find a job of her own!

What do you think? Questions/Comments?

Photo Credit - I remember when I was little my mom used to sit me in on the couch every night and read to me. This was one of my favorite books.