[niki_the_tiger]

I personally believe that both ways can work for different people... building an emergency fund first, then paying off debt, or paying off debt before building up an emergency fund.

I like having a savings account, because I know that if we're not careful, my husband and I can easily reuse the credit cards (though now we're determined, so we will be good).

I think I will continue to put any "extras" in the emergency fund (and starting January, my hubby said we'll probably put the extra money we were getting taken out for taxes - thanx for the idea - after reminding him about the interest free loan to the government versus getting 3% interest (or more) from ING Direct, he liked the idea of us keeping the money instead), but mostly focus on paying off credit card debt.

Thanks to being really good with money for the past couple of weeks and my hubby getting payment for one of his jobs he did, we were able to bring down debt by just over $1000 yesterday. Woohoo! That is the first time in a YEAR that debt has gone down.

I will be starting to use Quicken this week to keep track of everything we spend and to make a budget. And Tuesday we want to call and ask about that loan, and also maybe get rid of a few newer credit cards (like Old Navy).