I need to make more money

Its not enough. I don't make enough money to support the type of lifestyle that I want. This pay period was the first since I have been working as a full time MLS in the Blood Bank where my bank account did not dwindle down to $300 the Monday after I was paid. This is because I was very careful in monitoring the money that went out this time. I set up auto-pay on everything to avoid late payments, but those have been sneaking up on me too. Today is Saturday, a week before I get paid again, and I have a little more than $500 in my account, not including my $200 emergency fund. I went to Target today and spent about $40 on my TDebit card (5% off with no interest!) so I may be under $500 by the time that processes on Monday. I have cut back on eating out and even buying coffee. If I can keep this up I can fare pretty well with making this little paycheck work.

However, next month my student loan consolidation payments are due. A whopping $351. That doesn't seem like much for close to $90K in loans, and after 120 payments (10 years), I'm done with that. But consider this- after making a considerable effort to keep my account in the black, I have $500 to live off for a week before I get paid again. If that student loan payment was due this week, that would have left me with $149 to live off for a week. Just to keep the bare minimum of food in the house, I spend about $80 a week and gas in my car is about $40 a week. That brings me down to $20 until I get paid again.

Something has got to give. I deserve to be living more comfortably than I am right now. I'm not saying that i need every modern luxury, and I don't think I am above having a budget, but I don't want to worry about overdrawing my account when bills are auto-payed out just because I bought a pair of boots. I work to live, so I want to be able to enjoy life.

Let me put things into perspective: I bring home a net pay of approximately $1300 every two weeks- more or less depending on holidays and unpaid tardies (very rare). Here is how money is shifted around for each pay period:

Cameron's 529 Plan- $50
Fund TSP Loan Account- $50
Fund Car Payment Acct- $180
Savings/Emergency fund- $50 (savings goal: $130+)

That's $330 gone before the Monday after payday!

I also have a few monthly bills that I pay. Some are pretty consistent in cost, some vary- i.e. credit cards. I'm trying to get those credit card costs down to zero until I can get a better grip on my financial situation. Here is how those break down:

Consistent Payments-
Cell phone: $62
House phone-$12.71 (Who has a house phone?! I do.)
Life insurance for myself and offspring- $34.82
Gym- $10.00
Netflix and Hulu- $16.00
NPR- $20 (the pledge drive got me)
Total- 155.53

Variable Payments:
Capital One Credit Card: Balance- $126.54; Interest- 0%; Minimum Payment- $25
    I want to see some results, so for my last payment 2/9, I paid the statement balance of $356.37. For the next payment on 3/8 I plan to pay the statement balance as well. This will leave me with a zero balance on this card, a since of accomplishment, and more money to pay my high interest Target Credit

Target Credit Card: Balance- $913.76; Interest- 22.9%; Minimum Payment- $28
  I used to pay more than the minimum on this account ($75 a month), but I decided to switch to paying the minimum so I could focus on paying pack my smaller cards. So my last two payments to Target were only minimum payments.

Keep in mind, using this strategy, I also achieved a zero balance on my Victoria Secret CC, my TJX CC, and my JCPenny CC. Now I need to put those puppies on ICE!

I got married in December and opened a line of credit for our Wedding rings at KAY Jewelers. That's no interest for 12 months, $120 a month, and done. That one is tricky because sometimes I pay, sometimes my husband pays.

So with fixed payments every month totaling $155.53 and the bi-weekly withdrawals totaling $660 a month ($990 in a month with 3 paydays), I should be bringing home $1784.47. But i think we all know that isn't happening.

Once I pay off these few cards, my next goal will be to figure out how I can bring home more of this supposed $1700.00 extra a month. I should be living like a queen!