If It Works, Why Not?

The hardest part of this, is the waiting. Paying off debt does not happen with the snap of a finger (unless you win the lotto but you have a better chance of getting struck by lightning) and so you wait and watch as this slow process takes place, not only waiting for those debts to slowly disappear but waiting on other things too, like to go on vacation or to buy something or even have dental work done... Everything gets put on hold because you cannot afford to do it or have it and as you wait life is still taking place around you which makes the wait seem longer and longer.... Today I am sick of waiting. I was completely worn out by Saturday morning. Not only have I started babysitting in the evenings on a regular basis - which is not bad at all because its only one little boy - but since my husband had surgery I am also having to pick up on his chores too until he gets better. So I was exhausted and decided to take a quick morning nap; I ended up sleeping until almost noon and woke u...

I went shopping earlier this week and I saved 59% off of my bill. I did spend a little more than I had hoped but I was also picking up items for my babysitter's house, like milk, bread, fresh fruits, etc... I spent just over $80 but that is after I saved over $112 off of the total. The closest thing to junk food I bought was frozen pizza and some cereal too (for all of you non-coupon believers who think you can only buy junk with coupons) and I only paid $0.48 each for the pizza as they were on sale for $0.68 each (Fry's mix-in-match 10 items sale) and I had a coupon for $1.00 off five & $0.99 for the cereal (General Mills) as it was on sale too + my coupons. I even got a couple of seedless watermelons for $2.99 each after my coupons for $1.00 off each. But I am not going to list everything and bore you- but coupons are awesome! As long as I stick with my grocery budget, that is one thing I can keep costs down on, it will help. I started my babysitting job in t...

I am back on track with my grocery budget. I went to Fry's Saturday evening and I only spent $60 on a cart full of groceries. I did not need too many things but they had a sale I could not pass up. They had many items on sale for only$1.00 and they were increasing manufacturer coupons up to a dollar- so I stocked up on some nonperishable items and things that last for months. I bought 12 boxes of Post cereals, for $0.50 a box after my coupons, I bought 4 half gallons of milk at $1.00 each (it was cheaper to buy the half gallons than a gallon). Stocked up on my produce, 3 hearts of romaine lettuce, couple of pounds of pears at $0.88 lb, bananas $0.49 lb and 3 tubs of black berries for $1.00 each (which is an awesome deal if you live in AZ) and green seedless grapes for $0.88 a lb. I stocked up on shredded cheese- 6 bags of different types for $1.99 a bag, a bar of Philadelphia cream cheese for $1.77, 4 packs of Angel Soft toilet paper for a dollar each- all free after each of my cou...

I had an interview for a somewhat part time babysitting job that would be on a regular basis for when I get off in the evenings/weekends. I felt that it went really well but I started to worry as I had not heard anything back. But I just got a message that the mother would like to go ahead and felt I was a good fit to watch her son!! Yay ! I love kids, don't want any more of my own unless I adopt- pregnancy doesn't do well for me- and doing this will just mean I have one more kid in the house to care for with my own which is fine with me. I would rather babysit than have to work at a grocery store or something because this way I won't loose anymore time with my own children. And of course, the pay will be helpful on me getting things paid off. So here is my first " YAY !" moment- I hope its not the only.... We had a new fridge delivered today. Our freezer was not freezing- it was the weirdest thing as it would make ice but otter-pops and ice cream would not f...

So my husband and I just finished reading a really neat article in my Family Circle magazine. Its called "8 Money Saving Tips from Finance Bloggers " and one of the sections, "Snowball Your Debt", talks about this guy, J.D. Roth who is at the website www.getrichslowly.org and how he got himself out of credit card debt. What he did was picked one of his cards at a time, the one with the biggest debt and highest interest rate, and he paid off as much of it he could a month and only paid the minimum payments on his other cards. Once he paid off that card he took that difference in payments and started applying it to another card the same way. This way he didn't feel too overwhelmed and had a sense of accomplishment when each became paid off. And it makes it easier to pay off the remaining cards faster because that difference you were spending on multiple cards is now being applied to a smaller amount of cards, so it does like the title says and "snowbal...

Father's Day is this coming Sunday and I am depressed as I cannot afford to get my husband or my father anything nice. I know my husband would really love a garage door opener but that is going to have to wait as we need to pay things off first. And for my dad, I just have no idea of what to get him. I think I am going to have the kids make each of them cards and I can put pictures of them in the cards - I know that would mean a lot to both my dad and husband. Its not something flashy but it is sentimental. Last night I wanted to scream. I was emailing back in forth in regards to a part-time, regular basis babysitting job I can do after work and filling out an online application for a part-time position at the grocery store so I can earn some extra money. I have yet to hear back from Domino's Pizza. And while I am doing this my husband is sitting at the table mapping out on sketch paper and with an ikea catalog our garage and the shelving units and parts he wants to install in ...

Obviously I have a problem with more money currently going out than coming in. I need to get this fixed ASAP. Currently both me and my husband work full time jobs, so we are needing to find some ways to bring in more cash. I have been babysitting in the evenings and on weekends but those opportunities only come a couple of times every couple of weeks, which is not consistant enough to rely on. I can barely afford my sitter as it is, so I am going to have to be creative and come up with something that I can do to earn money with my kids in tow or that I can work around my work hours and my husband's work hours. I am currently cleaning out closets and thinning out the overflow of toys my children have and adding them to the pile of things we no longer need or use for a garage sale. If anyone has anything they would like to donate- let me know! We have cut back on so much already. No cable or satelite but we do pay about $9 a month for Netflix but that is literally our only means of e...

I find myself recently completely overwhelmed and long for the times before I had kids. Please do not get me wrong as I wouldn't trade my life with my children for anything but before we had kids, my financial life was secure. Time line wise though, things have just gotten worse and its been coincidentally since the kiddos arrived -that's all I mean. Before, I could go grab a coffee with my friends at the coffee shop whenever the urge arose or buy that really cute shirt without a second thought. My bills were paid and I had money left over to go out and do things, go on little trips and buy things with out second guessing my account balance and I made less money then than I do now! Now we are scraping by to pay the bills. The cheap coffee at Circle-K is a luxury that I can sneak in only every couple of months. We pay our bills and we make all of our meals at home. Lunches for work are always brought from home. If I don't remember my lunch I better pray I ...