I saw a commercial yesterday for a Ditech loan...the woman says something about refinancing 2 times before but this time she chose Ditech because of the low closing costs, or something like that. I was floored that she'd refinanced twice and was preparing to do it again! The next woman spoke about refinancing and paying off her bills then taking a vacation! WHAT?!

No wonder the nation's average household is consumed by debt. I hope she enjoyed herself on that vacation because she'll be paying for it for the next 30 years!

Even the commercials on my DDs favorite channel, Nickelodeon are dripping with consumerism. I have seen numerous commercials for consumer debt relief on this kid’s channel. So basically we're teaching our kids at a very young age that it's okay to get into debt, because there's always an easy way out.

I've decided to take a closer look at commercials. Perhaps this will help me to overcome the urge to buy everything. And maybe this practice will rub off on my kids. We already talk with our kids about how cool some toys are on TV, but then when we get them home they are junk. I don't want them to grow into pessimistic women, rather I want them to see through to the half-truths and deceit that advertisers present us with.

We went grocery shopping for February and came out with a LOT of food (I love Aldi Foods).

We spent $108.45 for 108 items! I think that is a great deal. I have all the menu's planned so now all that's left is the cooking. And even though we save lots of money we're always sure that we have lots of good meals to cook.

Now it's time to review the rest of the budget to be sure all the bases are covered for Feb...I really want to come out ahead and try to avoid any suprises...

At 8:46 pm two years ago I smoked my last cigarette. It was very addicting habit that I'm glad I have quit. I got online today and checked in with the website that I had used to help quit smoking. I was floored by my statistics.

My Stats:
Time Smoke-Free: 730 days 12 hours
Cigarettes NOT smoked: 21915
Lifetime Saved: 5 months, 17 days, 9 hours
Money Saved: $4,057.05

WOW. I'd love to have that money in a savings account. But really I saved more than that because I was ALWAYS charging my cigarettes. It seemed I never had the cash so I'd justify it in some pathetic way and charge, charge, charge. So, if I were still smoking, I would have spent more than the amount shown because of intrest rates.

I feel good not smoking and finally being at a healthy weight. I was soooo skinny when I quit. Everyone thought I was anorexic. But it was just that cigarettes killed my appetite.

Knowing how much money I saved almost makes me want to go out and buy something for myself. LOL, I said ALMOST...I will have to supress those urges as well.

As for my spending urges, I have found a new helpful tip. When I get home from taking the kids to school in the AM...I immediately put on my slippers and pajamas. This keeps me from going anywhere until school's out.

I've also found that being here alot off and on during the day helps me not surf the shops online. After I get my housework done, I usually check emails and browse the "sales" online. Now I just come here and read blogs or the forums looking for new tips and ideas!

Well that's all for now...here's to 2 years SMOKE FREE!! HOORAY

Heading to the store on Friday to pick up February groceries...I'll report back later as to how much money we spend. Here is the list of the food I plan to prepare for February dinners, they're not listed in any particular order. I try to send some left overs to lunch with DH and DD. (Dinner Rolls/Bread offered every meal & some days will be reserved for left overs)
----------------
Smoked Sausage
Fried Potatoes
Corn
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Beef & Noodles
Mashed Potatoes & Gravy
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Hot Wings
Baked Beans
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Pork Tenderloin
Stuffing
Corn on the cob
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Italian Beef Au Jus Sandwiches
Chips
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Fajitas
Spanish Rice
Refried Beans
----------------
Frozen Pizza
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Baked Chicken
Alfredo Pasta
Green Beans
----------------
Fried Pork Chops
Mac-n-Cheese
Mashed Potatoes & Gravy
----------------
Crock Pot Roast
Potatoes & Carrots
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Homemade Beef Stew
Homemade Biscuits
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BBQ Beef Sandwiches
Baked Beans
Potato Skins
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Pepper Steak
Twice Baked Potatoes
Salad
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Bacon Cheesburgers
Onion Rings
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Beef & Peppers
Rice
Peas
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DESSERTS:
(I make these as needed)
Peanut Butter Cookies
Brownies
Strawberry Pie
S'mores Bars
Black Forest Dessert
Apple Pie
Blueberry Muffins
Raisin Bread
Heart-Shaped Cake W/Red Icing(Valentines Day)
Cinnamon Swirl Bread
Peach Cobbler
Apple Crisp
Cherry Pie
Jello
Pudding
----------------

Well with January almost over I'm anxious to look back and see if progress was made.

Bills paid off in Jan:
*Hospital (from DD 02/05)
*Pediatrician
*Ob/Gyn

Sears Mastercard, (bal $3,793.40) will be paid off around Feb 2 when tax refund gets here. We're currently paying 31% intrest...I'll be glad to be done with those guys!

Had 1 new bill added, which was from buying DH a computer. :-(

Smaller bills remaining...
*Pathology $51.40
*Hospital $132.82 (from me in 11/04)
*ER/Hospital $172.27 (from DD in 03/05)


I wish we were making better progress. But I am glad to see a few bills have been paid off. Granted, they aren't huge bills but that will give us an extra $160.00/month to put on the remaining medical bills. I will sit down and create a payment schedule for the remaining medical bills. This way I will be able to watch the balance decrease.

I am one for instant gratification (hense the cc debt) so I'm hoping to be able to stick with my buget & get out from under this debt.

It's funny the things that I will spend money on. For instance, DD broke the turntable in the microwave a few months ago. I found a replacement on eBay for $26 but I won't get it. I have rigged it up rather than purchase a new one.

Yet, I don't have a problem justifying the new computer that I bought DH for Christmas. There wasn't anything wrong with his old one! He and I don't even exchange gifts at Christmas. I just thought he would like it. And to make matters worse, I got it on credit, from Dell. Bad choice.

It doesn't make any sense to me why I can spend hundreds or thousands of dollars yet be frugal with $5.00! I feel bad no matter how much I spend.

I'm also trying to learn that just because it's on sale/clearance does NOT mean I HAVE to buy it. I was in the habit of buying the kids clothes out of season from sales/clearance racks. But then I realized I overshop this way. My 6 year old DD has around 15 pairs of jeans!!

I'm ashamed of my spending habits. I find myself hiding purchases from DH out of guilt. Since I don't work, I really feel bad after buying things I know we don't need.

I hope I don't battle this for life. I hope that I am able to create new spending habits to model for both our young DD. Perhaps when they are adults they will not fall into this trap.

Well I found out about our tax refund. We will be getting $3784 back from federal and state combined. So, we have decided to take the total amount and pay off the Sears Mastercard. The intrest is unbelievable!!

Paying that card off will give us an extra $100/mo. Instead of snowballing that onto our other credit cards, we're going to save it for property taxes which will be due in July. That amount is usually around $1500.00 and I just don't want it to sneak up on us.

Well atleast we'll be starting off the year paying off one credit card. That should help light a fire under us.

Now I just need to be sure to call and cancel the card after paying it off lest any "emergencies" (read: sales) creep up on us.


an afterthought:
Why can't this debt be eliminated new ways to save money. I wquicker? I search and search and search again every day for ait impatiently for Fridays, when DH gets paid. I stare blankly at my budget hoping to discover some extra cash hiding away, waiting to be paid on one of the high intrest cards. But it doesn't happen.

I hate this situation that we have created. I am determined to be debt free. I just hate that it will take so long. But I will not give up hope...even though I'm sure it sounds like I am :-)

I like saving money and sticking to the budget. I really want out of debt. But then there are those days when I "think" I must have a new pair of jeans...or a computer chair...or whatever else...For the most part I'm good at supressing these shopping urges.

Sometimes though, I just need someone to say, "No, you can wait. Let's get out of debt first." That sounds like something my DH should be saying to me. Afterall, that's what I've been saying to him. And we both want out of debt right? But if I mention to him that I want something, his reply is to go ahead and get it.

This is part of the reason we're in debt so much! I mean it's not all his fault. I am the one who's wanting so much. I guess he just wants to take good care of me and both our DD and he wants us to have it all. But those "things" don't really make us happy. And most of those purchases are things we could live without.

I'm tired of having guilty feelings haunt me after a purchase. I'm tired of not being strong enough to say no. I just wish I had my mom here to tell me no...she was always good at that LOL!!

I am determined to get out of debt as quickly and painlessly as possible. But why is it everytime we start this venture it feels like we are doomed from the beginning? Here's what I mean. Last week I spent a couple of days diligently working on our budget. I had it finally! There in front of me was everything we were going to spend Friday's check on. I was so excited and proud. It felt good to have a plan.

So, Friday DH got paid. I sat down and wrote out the checks, directing the money as the budget instructed. Everything was going great and it felt like we were going to conqur the debt demon once and for all. Then things began happening. Those unexpected, unplanned kinds of things.

I had forgotten that DD had a cheerleading event during a basketball game. While I didn't forget about the event, I forgot to plan for paying to get in. So, before the game I ran to the gas station and wrote a check for $15.00. We only ended up needing $8.00 to get in. After the game, I went BACK to the gas station and wrote ANOTHER check for $3.50 for a 12 pack of soda. Expensive, I know...that's why we're going to quit drinking pop. Okay well just after I had ripped the check out and the cashier put it in her drawer, DH called from the van on the cell wanting cigarettes. I groaned! Well I noticed they had a buy 2 get 1 free offer. I bought that for $9.20, which didn't feel like anything "free" to me. So in about 2 hours I wrote 3 checks at the same station totaling $27.70, all of which were not in the budget. That isn't terrible, I mean I could have delt with that easily if that was all that happened. But...

After we got home and were settled in, hubby decides he wants to rent a movie. Fine. He will use the cash left over from the basketball game, $8.00. I tell him I don't want a movie, trying to stress that I'd rather save the money. Well he insists that he'll call me from the store to see if there is anything I've thought of that I may want to see. Which is fine because we have free mobile to mobile calls. Then he can't find his cell phone. So I began calling and calling and CALLING it. We're not hearing it anywhere. He heads outside to see if maybe he left the phone in the van. And then he finds it...on the ground. It had been outside in the front yard for about 20 minutes. Oh, and did I mention we were getting a rain/ice mixture at that time? So yea, his cell phone, the cell phone that we've only had for 2 months is fried! I know he was upset so I chose to keep my mouth shut. I just wanted to scream about how it figures he'd be reckless and loose it.

Remember when he called me from the van when I was inside the gas station? Well when he got off the phone he laid it in his lap. It was dark and the phones are so light anymore that when he got out he didn't even notice it drop to the ground. I refused the insurance when we got the phones because I didn't think it was right paying $5.95 per month PER phone. Now I'm kicking myself while I search the net for a resonably priced phone, which by the way is nearly impossible to find. It seems this phone will cost around $100-$150.

So, even though most of my budget was disrupted. I'm not quitting. I'm taking the $27.70 from Friday nights adventure, from the gas money. I had budgeted $50 for the remaining of the week. And since it was my first week with this budget, I thought I'd leave us a little extra just in case I had forgotten a bill or something. As for the cell phone, I will continue looking online at auctions and such.

On the bright side of this weeks budget, I paid off 3 smaller bills from doctors, etc. So now we're 3 bills closer to a debt free life. And rather than charge the cell phone, we're going to take the money from our ING account. I really hate to do that, but it's cheaper than paying intrest if I charge it.

I'm still going to stay positive and not stop our budget. We're going to dig our way out of this debt!