until a couple of years ago we had a single joint account and occasionally had to put the food shopping off a day or so ar the end of the pay month to ensure the last direct debit or two got paid.
I set up a second current account for immediate spending and left the original with the automated payments. Enough of our 2 salaries goes into that to keep everything that needs paying paid and we survive in the rest. Overdraft and Debt free should be doable on our salaries, would be lovely and was in sight but one of our childrens serious illness & living almost a year in hotels in a different city near his hospital & commuting to and from work when we were in damn near bankrupted up on the back of being the victims of criminality that cost us over 20k to pay off & now up to both of us having had sub/at inflation pay rises for many years up to 2010 & nothing since allied to pay cuts.
sometimes you can be smug about living within your means and life will find a way of ripping the rug out from under your feet without a thing you can do to change it.
I think we all appreciate the difference between an unexpected rainy day, and the people who spend what they haven't got on luxuries - luxuries that they convince themselves they must have...
I've been fortunate over the years, in that often when an expense pops up, a little windfall has popped up to cover it. On the flip side, there have been plenty of time when the windfall comes first, but the expense follows shortly after... Result - bumbling along, just afloat.
