Well, I got paid again Friday. I decided to start building up my emergency fund to $1000 again and then start hitting the debt really hard. So, my savings is up to $838.43. Yippee. My cc is down about $20.00. I also saved an astounding $22.42 doing my shopping this weekend. I am planning on directing it to the cc. I think that may be a record for me. I have already paid the rent, internet bill, bought groceries and household stuff, put more money in savings, and set aside $165.00 for dh to take a CPR trainor course. My husband says he is supportive of getting out of debt, but does not seem to want to do the work and always wants to buy what I like to call "shinies." In other words, he would rather buy some useless crap we don't need rather than buy financial security. Hmm... I haven't really decided how to feel about that, but I have figured out a way to circumvent the buying of the shinies. Instead of waiting until payday arrives to write checks for bills, I write them on Wednesday, two days before. That makes sure that household bills and debts get paid. If I don't have any money left after that, I just don't have it. I have decided that that's exactly what I will tell him if it happens.

I had a couple of things going on last week that necessitated eating out two days, so I have leftover frugal lunches for this week.

I have:
2 bowls chicken/vegetable soup with rice
1 chicken salad with crackers packet
2 refrigerated chicken strips packages
2 bowls chinese noodles
frozen vegetables
2 applies
5 banannas
pretzels
trail mix
6 bottles water

Lunch 1:
1 bowl chinese noodles
1/2 cup frozen vegetables
1/2 pkg refrigerated chicken strips
1 apple
handful of pretzels and trail mix
bottled water

Lunch 2:
1 chicken salad with crackers packet
1 apple
1 bananna (more fruit here because chicken salad packet kind of skimpy)
handful of pretzels and trail mix
bottled water

Lunch 3:
1 bowl chicken and veg soup with rice
1 bananna
handful of pretzels and trail mix
bottled water

Lunch 4:
1 bowl chinese noodles
1/2 cup frozen vegetables
1/2 pkg refrigerated chicken strips
1 bananna
handful of pretzels and trail mix
bottled water

Lunch 5:
1 bowl chicken and veg soup with rice
1 bananna
handful of pretzels and trail mix
bottled water

Well, I got paid again Friday. I have already paid the bills for gas, electric, cell phone, trash, water/sewer, and hospital bills #1 and #2. I have bought groceries, some of which was on sale. The meat and frozen veggies I bought should last well into next week. My retirement account is way up and my debts are down. I am pleased about that.

My finances have yo-yoed a little bit lately. I feel like I made significant progress and then something happens that makes me feel like I am back at step one again. I had $1000 in my savings and then I had to take out $140 to get the starter on my car replaced. Something else happened, too, but I can't remember what. Anyway, I am getting savings slowly built back up and debt paid down. I am also slowly getting my car replacement account and house account built up. Hospital Bills #1 and #2 are also down some. I will be paying more on #2 on Friday. Also, I will be leaving on Thursday for a conference and will be back on Friday. About 10-15 days later, I will get a reimbursement of about $120, which will immediately be directed to the credit card. It will not be spent on shinies, dinner out, etc., as those things don't contribute to my financial freedom. I got a copy of Dave Ramsey's book at the library and copied the budget forms from the back. I adapted them for my situation and made a spreadsheet based on them. I am not sure if they envelope thing will work for me, as predicting how much groceries will cost is impossible. I am going to try it for awhile without envelopes.

Well, I got paid again on Friday. I have paid the utility bills and the credit card bill, and bought groceries and other items we needed. I am putting as much extra money on the credit card as I can. If it is halfway between paydays and I see that still have $400 in my checking, I send some more to the cc. I am also putting all found money, such as survey money, rebates, etc., towards the cc. I just got a $10 survey check on Friday and it is now on its way to the cc. It is an approach that seems to be working.

Well, the dear hubby bought new reader glasses the other day and absentmindedly paid with the credit card instead of the debit card. Well, he did own up to his mistake and is paying for the bill of $95.00. Also, I just got a survey check in the mail today for $7.60. So, tomorrow after I verify the $102.60 deposit has cleared, I will zip it off to the credit card straight away. No, this money will not stay long in my wallet or it may risk getting spent on shinies. I will post an update of the credit card balance then.

Howdy, everyone. Wow, I really feel like I have hit a milestone. My emergency savings is FINALLY over $1000 and I just made a $100 payment to the credit card without even blinking. The payment did not feeling have a tooth pulled. It was more like paying a phone bill, which is not on my Top 10 List of Things I Love to Do, but it is not all that bad. I don't know exactly what is occurring, except that I am slowly crawling out from the debt hole I was in. In addition to that $100 regular credit card payment, I also took the $16.00 that was left in checking before I got paid and sent it to the credit card, too. I sent $75.00 to hospital debt #2, bring down the balance to less than $1500. My retirement account actually went down a tiny amount, but that's okay. I feel like I am on a roll!

Well, today I had to pay my rent and I also logged into my bank account to reconcile my account and made the discovery that I had $361.94. And that was after paying the rent. This is kind of unusual, as halfway between my paydays I usually get down to about $100.00. Things seem to looking up. I'm not sure what I am doing different, except that I acknowledge that if I have a surplus in my account, I am sending some to the credit card company, even if it is only $5.00. So I logged into the cc website and sent an extra $20 payment, bringing my cc balance to $1652. Wow. I think I have paid off about $300 just in the last month. Some of that was leftover travel money I set aside for going to my conference. So my checking balance is now $341.94 and my savings balance is close to $1000.00. By next payday, it will be $1000.00. Woo-hoo!

Well, I feel much more relaxed and at ease with my financial situation. I don't know why, but it seems like things have eased up a little bit lately. I did not get the amount of reimbursement for my work trip that I was hoping for, but I did not let that stop me from making huge progress. I had to replace my portable dishwasher (we have to have a portable because we don't own our house), which took $461.38. I took $400.00 and put it into savings, bringing my balance to $975.89. Almost $1000. Wow. I am using the rest to get some work done on my car. With all the "extra" money I had been pumping into the Conference Challenge, I am going to use to pay off the credit card and medical debt. I don't know exactly how long it will take me, but if apply the same intensity I did with the Conference Challenge, I would say 1.5 years.

Well, I went shopping today for groceries and a few other things. I also made a deposit into my savings account. I just recently got two survey checks for $5.00 and $8.80. I also had $2.00 leftover from this week's spending money. I have also been saving my spare change in a small purse. I cashed that all in and added in $100 to make a deposit of $115.80 to my savings account. Woo-hoo! I want to get my savings up to $1000 and then start slamming the debt real hard.

As you can see on the left side of the screen, I have a new profile photo. It was taken at a resort called Crest Mountain outside Asheville, N.C. I had a great time and it wasn't as expensive as what I thought it would be. I am still trying to figure out the specifics, but when I get figured out exactly how much I have left, I will immediately pay it to the credit card.

So, that's the end of the Conference Challenge and the beginning of the Debt Payoff Challenge. I am going to use survey money, coupon savings, as well as half of my work reimbursement, etc. to increase the amount I have in savings. I already have a survey check coming from Opinion Outpost and another from Lightspeed Panel. Then, I will start hitting my debt really hard.