Struggling to be debt free

$170 utilities $100 groceries $100 gas $1,327 emergency fund $200 pet expenses $200 spending $33 alarm $250 house/furniture $150 mom. The utilities were low this month!  It's probably the last month for the low bill though.  It's already starting to get hot in Florida.  It might be in the 90s this week. I pulled $3,900 from my emergency savings to put into my Roth IRA for my 2015 contributions. (Had to beat that April 18, 2016 deadline.) So now I am in the process of paying that money back to my emergency fund before I start making contributions for 2016. Slowly, but surely I am making progress. I'm impatient and would like everything done right now, but slow and steady wins the race. Right?

Now that I have paid off that nasty, hairy student loan I have been more willing to purchase the little things that are needed around the house.  I used to put off the little things so that I could save more money to put towards the student loans.  For example, I purchased a new litter mat for my cats. In store the mat costs $40 (petsmart).  I found it on Amazon for $26 (taxes included).  I needed a new mat because my cats like to claw the mat and rip it to shreds.  Until they began ripping it, it worked like a charm to cut down on the litter that they would spread across the room. I also finally ordered a new filter for the refrigerator.  Of course, now that I ordered it, it's been back ordered.  Sigh.  The last thing I ordered was a new set of checks.  I moved into this house 2.5 years ago and never had new checks printed.  I found some inexpensive checks online for a total of $15.93 (checks, taxes and shipping).  Bank of Amer...