Since joining, I have...

[Kris10Leigh]

I am coming clean! My husband and I make a decent living but we are terribly in debt! I watched the Oprah debt diet with the people who are $100,000 + in debt. We are not THAT bad! But we are $23,000 in debt and I want it gone! We have been that much in debt for about 6 years! It doesn't go up...it doesn't go down! And yet we throw money at it all the time! This tells me that we are not living above or below our means, but at it!! So, I joined this sight and I'm hoping our achievements inspire someone else. Furthermore, we are not big shoppers or even little shoppers. We don't like to shop. We suffer from "leaky wallet syndrome". Of course life got in the way too: 2 house payments for 11 months (never again!!!!!) and DH lost his job for 9 months. Both incidents racked up the debt.

1. We stopped using the cards! The balances are not going to be paid in full each month so I'm going to stop telling myself they are!

2. DH took on a second part time job which will bring in $700/mo. Yay! It's a "church gig" so $100 will go back to the church, $500 goes directly to the cards and I told DH the remaining $100 should be mad money for him. My dear husband decided to invest it. He's a good guy!

3. The biggest step I have taken is looking at our electric bill, which I just did yesterday, after being motivated by some posts here. I decided it was ok to turn the A/C up to 74. That's much better than 68! We both still really like cooler sleeping conditions, so I turn it back down to 68 at night, but I figure it is easier on the unit to cool it that much in the evening hours anyway! Small steps, right? I also went around and unplugged unused appliances. I wasn't going to do that, but as I did it I was surprised I had as many as I did. I've started turning off the computer at night. In so doing I realized how much the computer heats up the room it is in! Upstairs, in the computer room, I also closed the curtains which keeps the blazing sun out. Even with turning the air up (or down, depending on how you look at it...I made it warmer ), I think the computer room is cooler than it was!

4. I've taken on the challenge to spend no money in a week's time, and I think I will keep it up in intervals.

5. We have cut our dining out spending from a rediculous $500/mo to probably $50/mo or so. It's hard to say because we just took two vacations nearly back to back and eating out naturally goes up on vacation. I'm looking forward to tracking that savings.

6. I'm back to shopping at Aldi's. I'm not sure why I stopped! I save at least 60% there without sacrificing anything, in my opinion. The only thing I personally dislike about Aldi's is the rush to unload the items on the cart, the rush to load them back into the cart and then the bagging them myself. It's hard with kids. Shoot, it's hard without kis! But I think for my next trip I'm just going to take a rectangular laundry basket with me. I will still have to unload onto the cart, but then I can just throw it all back into the cart and go.

7. I took a hard look at my regular bills. I'm not exactly willing to give anything up, so I am trying to see if I can get better deals. Everything is about as cheap as it gets except for our phones. I think we can do better there. I checked online with our phone carrier. We are paying $50/mo for landline with caller ID and 100 free long distance minutes, which we never go over, but do use. I thought that was the cheapest plan, but online they advertise for $26.95. I don't think taxes and fees can be that much, but maybe I'm wrong. Also, my cell phone is $39.95 and I'm wondering if a prepaid phone wouldn't be a better option for me. I'm not on the phone all that much and my cell phone literally stays in my car. I mostly use it to talk mobile to mobile to DH which is apparently free minutes even with a prepaid from Verizon. I'm looking into that.

We're going to get that debt down, penny by penny. It will happen!

[jodi]

Yeah, great start! I love the laundry basket idea. It's good to have you on board.

[Bookie]

You're in the right place. A lot of us started out with scarey debt loads and a vision that it could be diffent. It doesn't happen overnight, but there's a real thrill in watching those balances sink. Plus, success feeds on itself. The more you save, the more you're inspired to find other thrifty options. At least, that's been my experience.

It sounds like you have a realistic grasp of the problem and a sound plan of attack. That's a genuine accomplishment and the sort of beginning you can build on. I kidded myself for a long time about using credit cards, so you're already ahead of where I started, which is a great start. Congratulations.

And I like the laundry basket idea as well. Creative thinking, that.

[DivaJen]

You sound like you have a great attitude and some good ideas in place. Good luck.

[Bluezy]

Congratulations! No doubt you will get that debt eliminated and organize yourlife to avoid debt in the future. The majority of us on this forum has been through a debt pay down, so we feel your pain now as well as the joy you will feel when you become debt free.

Keep us posted!

[PrincessPerky]

You are off to a great start! Keep up the good work.

[boefixepa]

Happy dance, doing the happy dance!! You get it....the light bulb it on....happy dance...happy dance.... Now it's fight fight fight!! Divide and conqure! Little by little you will get there. Little by little you will find ways (like the laundry basket). Soon the attitudes will come too. You'll find what you once thought was a neccessity is something you can do without. It's a process, it doesn't happen at once....but YOUR GETTING THERE!!! The mental change (and that's really what it is) is happening!! CONGRATS!! KEEP IT UP!! We will be there to help and support you all the way.

[Ima saver]

You have some really good ideas. You will save a lot pushing your thermostat up 6 degrees. I used to keep mine on about 70, now it is on 76, 80 upstiars. Do you turn off your hot water heater when not in use. (which is most of the time) Join our $20 challenge and use that money as extra to pay off your debt!!

[Kris10Leigh]

I've been contemplating the hot water heater, but it's in the basement. If I get crazy enough, I just might, but poor DH is already calling this "one of my phases". I need to bring him in slowly. As for the $20 challenge, from my understanding of that, I can't do that either. Our gas/electric is level billing so I will only see differences on paper until the next cycle. My goal is to get my monthly payment either down or at least to remain the same. It's been going up yearly with the gas prices. As for other ways of saving money to throw at debt, I can't do it in a challenge sort of way. So I walk 3 miles...where does the $3 I "earn" for going to debt come from? The walking gods don't hand out much cash these days. . But, every spare penny is indeed going toward debt...literally. I rolled two rolls of pennies last night. $1.00. Ooooooh.

I'm all for a good challenge though! If I am misunderstanding the point, please clue me in!

[Ima saver]

I guess you have to have the cash to take the challenge. When I go to the store and buy something with a coupon or my advantage card, and it saves me money, I take the money I saved and put it into my challenge cash box. I save coins and turn them in. Any spare money or checks coming in, go to the challenge.
What I learned since coming here, was to look at all the sales in the local paper. I learned what bogo was! I am reading my meter.

[getforfree]

Whenever I get any coins, I deposit it with my paychecks to the bank, usually less than $5. I usually use my cc with cashback, but there are some stores that don't take cc's, only cash or debit, so I have to use cash, but I prefer my cc, because I know I will get at least a few pennies back.

[Ima saver]

I have learned a lot since coming to this site. I am checking the kwh for all my appliances, turning off lights when I leave the room, signing up for the freebies that I will use. The 3 free bags of dog food have been great! I never was a coupon user, but I am trying to do better. I have been stocking up on things we use a lot, buying them when they are on sale.

[neatdesign]

Kris10Leigh, I can totally relate to your situation. My husband and I are about $25k in debt, partially due to a period of unemployment and disability last year. I'm trying to think of ways to whittle it down without feeling like we have to live in a cave with no water or electricity. It's hard but doable. I have found the people on this site to be very supportive and encouraging.

~ Jenney

[Ima saver]

Kris, and jenney, I have no doubt that you will both do just fine!!

[veronak]

Good start and good luck, just being on this site i think I have paid off about $3000.00 in debt thus far with a nother $3000 to go

[baselle]

Fantastic Job. I think you've put your finger on the big leaks. Since you have "spending leaks" it will really be useful to you both to keep track of your expenses. If nothing else it will give surprise you and give you clues on the next steps.

[tgavin71]

I wish you well with your debt payments. I recommend that you write down everything you spend money on to see exactly where your money leaks are. We have gone from having a cc debt of $4500 to as of Friday having $5343 in the bank with a cc balance of $0. Our income didn't change just our attitude to spending. It feels great to be debt free.

[Tree0164]

You can do it! My husband and I were in 20k of debt and have been now credit card debt free for 2 years now! It takes a lot of hard work to accomplish and a mind set. You can do it!

[Ima saver]

I made a new year's resolution to pay off my cc debt about 3 years ago and I did it. Now I never charge more than I can pay the following month! So, no cc debt for me!

[Broken Arrow]

Since joining, I have... tried to learn to cook!