Yesterday I resisted the urge to pull out my Visa card and use it at the grocery store to buy some much needed food in our house.  See I have been attempting to make due with what we have on hand (not doing too bad of a job mind you) but I have almost depleted our supply and had to go to the store.  The problem being that after I paid the bills for this pay there wasn't much leftover.  Not unusual really but frustrating none the less.

So as I was making out my list for the store I debated with myself about pulling out the dreaded Visa and stocking our bare shelves.  In the end I decided against it.  And for that I am proud of myself.  I spent money that was earmarked for gathering groceries for the holiday feast that will be in a few days...however I will be getting my Christmas bonus tomorrow so I can use that money towards the feast.  I had intended to put that money on a credit card to pay one off and pay another down but I stopped myself thinking that it would be better to not put more money on my Visa and just make a smaller payment on both those other cards and use the money I am getting tomorrow for what we need.

I feel good about no having used my Visa.  It was a small victory for me in my quest to get us out of debt.

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I have been searching the internet for a few months now looking for idea on budgeting, frugal living and eliminating debt.  I have come across many many things most of them costing more than I was willing to spend for ideas I wasn't even sure would work for me. 

So when I happened on this site Budget Stretcher - www.homemoneyhelp.com and the owner of the site was offering his e-book Living Within Your Means - The Easy Way for $5.00 along with access to other e-books and helpful tips I decided to take the plunge and order it.  I am glad that I did.  For the first time I actually feel like I have a real person in my corner.  I have had several e-mail conversations about my finances with Terry J. Rigg (aka Grandpa Terry) and I feel that he's there to help me make sense out of what has turned into very bad habits for me and my family.

I sent him a list of my bills with the payoffs and interest rates and in turn he sent back to me a debt elimination plan that if I follow it will have my husband and I out of debt by July 2014 -- a mere 7  years and 7 months and mind you this includes our current mortgage payment.  That amazed me and excited me as well.  While I know we still have a long way to go in getting all of our finances in order to the point where I feel comfortable I feel like we have made a good start and I know that Grandpa Terry will be there to help me when I stumble and I am sure to do that.

So while this might not be the right avenue for the masses I do suggest giving his site the once over and maybe he can help you as well.

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First off let me wish you all a belated Happy Thanksgiving.  I hope that your holiday was filled with good food, friends and family.

After collecting all of my Christmas presents (I am completely finished shopping) I had $225.00 left from my Christmas Club money so I put it to good use.  This morning I deposited it my checking account and paid off the balances on my Children's Place & JCPenney's Card (40.44 & 85.39) and then put the last 100.00 on the balance of my Lowe's card.  Those paid off cards had minimum payments of $10.00 & 15.00 so I will most definitely be adding the extra $25.00 to the minimum payment to my Lowe's card for the balance still owed.  Then I will be moving on to my Kohl's card and do my best to get it paid off as well.

I did take all of my credit cards out of my purse finally and they will not be making their way back into my wallet any time soon.  I had to do that since I wasn't very good at not whipping out the VISA way too often.

I know these are just baby steps but baby steps are better than none at all.  For the month of December my husband and I are going to keep a a written record of all the money we spend down to the penny so that by the time Jan 2007 rolls around I will have a better idea of how to do my spending plan (aka budget).

Wish me luck - okay?

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First I want to say thank you to those that left comments to my first post here.  It was encouraging to hear that I'm not alone in this boat I have been paddling up stream for some time now.

Okay here's my dilemma though.  I want to do a budget.  I have looked online at several different options and even went as far as to purchase one called My Budget Planner.  And I have been attempting to use it for about a month and a half now and honestly I don't believe that it's really doing me any good at all.  At the moment I am actually only using it to track our monthly spending sort of as to see where all of our money actually goes.  I thought perhaps that was a good place to start but seriously I have started to feel like it's a daunting task and this particular program I don't feel like it's going to give me much in the way of reporting information.  Maybe I am trying too hard to find a magic program that's going to help me make my mess of finances into something managable.  Deep down I am wondering if I just should bring out the good old pencil and paper and just start marking everything down that way.  Does any one have any suggestions or perhaps a program that might have worked well for them or even maybe your own personal approach done in excel or something.

I really want to get a handle on things especially with the new year fast approaching.  That's really my goal is to try get back on track in the year 2007.  I don't expect to be financially sound quickly but I need to see some progress even if it's just a little.

So I am hoping that someone reading this might have some thoughts on the subject for me.  Thanks in advance.

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Hello all :o)

I wanted to start by saying that it's my greatest hope that by coming and blogging here that I will find help in getting my life -- especially my family's finances under control.  About 7 1/2 years ago we declared bankruptcy as both my husband and I lost our jobs and our son was just a toddler.  I know that bankruptcy for a great many people is something of a big no no.  And honestly we (hubby and I) thought long and hard before going that route.  We honestly had no other option and that was after I cleaned out my 401K just so we could try to make ends meet.  I am now very sorry I did that since it didn't make much of a difference since we ended up declaring any how.

Well since that time we have purchased our home (lived there for 6 years now).  Gotten a car loan and as upset as I am to say this several credit cards again.  I feel as though we are drowning in debt all over again and this time I refuse to go bankruptcy.  I need to take responsibility for how we got into this mess.  Some of it was frivilous spending on our part, some not being able to tell hubby no seeing as how he's working essentially 2 jobs, and sometimes there just not being enough money for groceries at the end of the month so out the plastic comes.

I am hoping that some of you here can offer some ways for me to get my bills under control.  I am stressed about it all and not sure if I can see my way clear to getting a handle on it.  Your thoughts and help would be greatly appreciated.

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