Well a mini raise or something. I just noticed that we got paid and my check was 83 cents higher than before. Before you laugh, remember that I am a graduate student right now and we get paid a measly sum every month. You may wonder why I said that I just noticed we got paid, and that is because I do not anxiously await payday like some other graduate students.

The reason I do not focus on the day we actually get paid is that I have my budget well set up. Instead of living in January on January’s salary, I live off December’s salary. I have my budget set up so that the income for one month pays for the living expenses of the following month. That way, if we get paid a few days later than normal, like we did this January, I will not be in a panic. The ideal situation would be to have two months set up in advance…but I really cannot afford that right now on what I make!

I am sure this 83 cents is less than the cost of inflation right now and it won’t affect my monthly budget but I did think it was worth the note! Usually when I get an income increase or have a decrease in one expense I will shift budgetary levels around to accommodate the change.

There is really nothing significant I can do with 83 cents so I will not be adjusting the budget at all. This will simply be absorbed into one of the existing categories I am sure, or it will go into the savings for the month.