Some of my regular morning blog reads have prompted me to share a little bit of our financial struggles. Like most Americans, I know very few who aren't, we are in debt. Now I know that if I did an average of how much debt most people have, ours would probably be on a very low scale. But it is still our debt, and in our little world, it is quite a bit. Most of it we can claim as our fault, we are both HUGE impulse shoppers. Its a scary thing when we go shopping sometimes! We are suckers for FREE GIFTS! It is a little joke between us, that no matter what it was, if there was a free gift, we would buy it!
We have had some very hard times these past 6 months. Thankfully God provided a way out everytime we could begin to see the avalanche bearing down on us. We are in no way caught up, but slowly we have begun paying off credit cards. We have sacraficed to get to where we are now. Cut corners where we can, and according to my husband I am the Electricity and Water Gestapo. I know what I can control, and I do. Every penny I make with my business goes towards bills, or anything unexpected that comes up. I didn't want to cut up our Credit Cards. We want to get our Credit Score back up, and if you stop using them altogether than your score goes down. Instead we chose to fill a bottle with water and freeze them. So there they are in the freezer! Until they are all paid off, we won't use them.
The minute my husband W-2 was available online, I did our taxes. Our refund was just deposited today. I would love to just go shopping, or put it towards visiting family, or even nursery items for the new baby coming in August. However, I know what I have to do with it and as much as it pains me, I will. Plus it felt good to pay one off this morning. Most of it will go towards our entertainment center, but I have to wait on that since they screwed up our interest rate and have yet to fix it!
I know I have said this before, but my goal this year, especially in these first 6 months, I want to learn to budget better, and shop more frugally.
There is really only two good things I can say about hubby being gone so much this year, we won't spend nearly as much on gas as we do, since he won't be driving back and forth to the base every day, and when he is gone sometimes we get a little extra money. If they do enough flight ops he gets paid extra, and if he is gone longer than 30 days we get family seperation pay. Thank God for blessings in disguise!
On a lighter note, I had a Dr. appt yesterday and the baby and I are healthy, everything is on schedule, and I only gained 4 lbs! I am going to try and eat healthier this time around. Anyone want to help keep me on track?
Oh, and I am making Saucy Slow Cooker Meatballs, and I PROMISE not to lift the lid this time.... even though they already smell amazing!
1 comment:
Good for you with all your finances! Your situation sounds very similar to ours...I will be using our refund to pay off our credit card. It's difficult and requires a lot of diligence to stay on budget and so on, but it's worth it and can be done (said to myself as much as you. *wink*)
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