This month has been pretty brutal. Was in pretty dire need of a new car. Bought used (2012), but still spent a pretty good chunk of money (more than $20k). Decided to leave the cash equivalent fund (invested in GNMA Fund) alone and take on a car payment because of the 0.99% interest rate. Plunked $5k down. Then we go the bad news about our dog -- lymphoma. But treatable in the short-term, so we went that route. @$4k. Additional insurance to cover the new car, $317 for the year. Then we bailed on our vacation to Mexico because of the dog; I had bought the travel insurance when I booked months ago, an uncharacteristic move for me, based on the wife's insistence largely because of her parents' age and infirmities, so didn't directly lose money out of pocket, but wound up with vouchers for the airfare that we have to use before March 2017. For the first time in a long, long time, I tallied up my credit card bills for the past two weeks, and the total exceeded my bi-weekly paycheck. Not a good feeling. And even though we have plenty of money available, living beyond what's left of my paycheck after savings, taxes and other deductions still leaves me with a feeling that I'm back on the living paycheck to paycheck train of my 20's.