My Goal is to have in between $3000 and $4000 in the bank on 7/1/08 so I want to ask

[jIM_Ohio]

I'm close to clearing up my outstanding amounts, right now

Emergency funds are now $200 lower than my outstanding bill balance

By June my EF should be $200 higher or more and I plan to always make it stay higher

I am highly disappointed in the posters here thus far. Before talking about solving any problem ($200 cable bill) we should see what the whole budget is.

Please list all expenses for each month:
rent/mortgage
cars?
insurance?
utilities?
groceries?
gas?
clothes?
dates?
retirement accounts?
student loans?
other debts?
cc payments?
other expenses?

Then list your take home pay. List if you get paid each week, bi weekly, bi monthly or something else.

Then compare total monthly expenses to total monthly income.

The need for a Emergency fund is not immediate. I lived for close to 5 years without cash in the bank while I solved other problems (paid off student loans, got a house).

The immediate need is to understand the whole financial picture (it is third page of posts, so I think that is a reasonable request).

[jIM_Ohio]

$160 but with the Sports package it was $205 the last 3 months

If you have direct TV with one receiver it costs $40. Add sports package for $12.99/month (20 more channels). Add NFL ticket for 4 months of $40. Add a DVR for $5. Add another receiver for $5.


You could probably lower the $160 cable bill by
a) removing movie channels (use pay per view or netflix)
b) removing receivers (do you need a DVR in each room?)
c) changing to direct TV (satellite is cheaper, IMO).

We have 3 receivers with NFL ticket, 1 DVR and our bill is around $85/month, $125 during football season. Some months we do pay per view movies and that adds another $15 or so.

[AccountAnalyzer]

If you have direct TV with one receiver it costs $40. Add sports package for $12.99/month (20 more channels). Add NFL ticket for 4 months of $40. Add a DVR for $5. Add another receiver for $5.


You could probably lower the $160 cable bill by
a) removing movie channels (use pay per view or netflix)
b) removing receivers (do you need a DVR in each room?)
c) changing to direct TV (satellite is cheaper, IMO).

We have 3 receivers with NFL ticket, 1 DVR and our bill is around $85/month, $125 during football season. Some months we do pay per view movies and that adds another $15 or so.

I paid the cable bill off so my bill each month will be $61.00

[jIM_Ohio]

That $200 had a late payment or two built in, huh?

You still should be budgeting better and stop worrying about paying bills paycheck to paycheck. I would post the budget you use to control spending.