I did my part over the holiday weekend. I spent nothing on Friday and Saturday. Sunday, I bought the local newspapers and, when a valve under the kitchen sink broke, I spent $6 on a new valve that I installed myself, using borrowed tools. (That's the first time I ever attempted this type of plumbing job, so I saved about $100 minimum doing it myself.) I spent $10 to top off my gas tank yesterday morning. I plan on spending nothing today.

This is NOT the same as bringing in more money, but it is the second best thing.

[for some reason I couldn't edit this post the usual way, so . . .]

Well, I haven't moved an inch in resolving any of my money situations since I started this blog six weeks ago. I haven't even kept up with a committment to continue posting here . . . or to start tracking what I spend.

This year, like all Thanksgivings, I got paid on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Made the week before go by effortlessly -- woo-hoo! I get paid early. "Splurged" and got shoes for all three of my kids. Bought unbudgeted tickets for a holiday performance my daughter is performing in. Made good on a couple of unpaid bills. Paid some current bills.

Thanksgiving morning, I realized I had spent all my paycheck, except maybe enough to but gas for the car for two weeks.

And, of course, the next paycheck, coming on the usual Friday, is two days LATER than this one.

My wife (we're estranged but still living in the same place) is a proponent of the Laws of Abundance, that mystical (though some might say self-evident) approach to money. I've read the books she has pushed on me and I've made faint-hearted attempts to greet each day with an acknowledgement that the world is an abundant place, that every dollar I need is already there in the universe.

But it doesn't last.

What gets me through the weekend is knowing that I have only one unpaid bill that is likely to generate a phone call, and that I may get through the weekend without having to spend any more money.

But mentally and psychically, I feel bankrupt. Which, of course, is the opposite of feeling abundant.

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An important addendum -- the Friday before Thanksgiving my wife was in a serious car accident. She's fine -- she walked away from a crash scene in which four cars were totalled. Insurance will take care of any lingering health issues, as well as the car replacement. There is the mental trauma she has to overcome, plus the inevitable hassles of dealing with insurance companies and car dealers.

So, the basic thanksgiving this year, especially for our three kids, was that she survived. Material goods and needs pale in comparison.

Are there people on this site who write about the Laws of Attraction -- the notion that thinking and acting positively about money and abundance and thinking and worrying about money and lack of abundance will keep you poor?

I'll admit that I'm very skeptical of the concept. I am by nature an optimist, except when it comes to money, where I see six months down the line and can see what I will be bringing in and what will be going out.

Although I don't look six months down the line -- I usually look two weeks down the line, to the next paycheck, and now, I'm looking two days down the line, when I have to buy gas again and I don'y have the money to do so.

So, what do you usually do when you you are 10 days away from payday and you have 20 dollars in your bank account, not even enough to keep your gas tank full until the next paycheck rolls around?

Aside from the initial negative body reaction when you realize you've underestimated what was in your account by $150, how do YOU react when you are faced with this situation?

This isn't a short-term situation, by the way. The next paycheck, in 10 days, is already almost all accounted for. and I'm already late on paying bills. so, i'm in a hole that's getting deeper.

So what brings me to this semi-anonymous blogging site?

I have a good-paying job (above the median), a house, three kids, a hefty mortgage, too much consumer credit, and less than $100 in my checking account.

My wife works -- self-employed -- but our marriage is dissolving, so we have spent the last couple of years trying to keep our finances separate.

Neither one of us can afford to buy the other out of his/her share of the yhouse's equity, so we live together in terse, slightly tense companionship.

I am perputally short of money at the end of a pay period.

I have a 401(k) -- underfunded, but it's there. (I also have two loans from it that I am paying back, so I can't depend on it for any short-term help at the moment).

I pay for the family's health insurance through work. I have life insurance so the family is protected financially if something happens to me.

I have no savings (I have a savings account, but there's 32 cents in it) and a checking account that it down to zero every two weeks.

I have about $7,000 in consumer credit (three cards) and a brand new car payment (I just replaced a 12-year-old car that had 180,000 miles on it).

I have a fair amount of deferred maintenance around the house. The basics are OK -- the roof is solid, the furnace is just a couple of years old.

But I can't do simple things like contemplate the $300 it will take to buy a new garbage disposal and get it installed. Or fix up the basement so the kids have a space away from the main floor to hang out with friends. My eldest will start college next fall and we have zero dollars saved for this.

So, that's where I've living now. It's a beautiful long fall weekend and I couldn't even contemplate a day trip out of town because I don't have the money for gas and wouldn't have any money to spend on things like food once we got out of town.