Can't Believe it's December!

Wow! I can't believe it is already December. Where has the year gone? I have been a total slacker in regards to Christmas shopping. I hate the whole process! My husband loves Christmas and always wants to spend more on gifts that I think we should. He got a little upset with me after I told him that my family and his family decided to do the White Elephant Christmas game instead of buying for everyone. We also set a price limit as to how much we can spend on each gift. He was mad because I didn't discuss it with him before we decide to do this. Sometimes he does not understand that we have to think about everyone else as well. With the economy in dire straights everyone is feeling to effects of reducing their expenses. I for one think all the gift buying is crazy! I would love to be able to spend as much as I would like and buy everyone big expensive gifts....but I just can't do that. I have to sit down and have a talk with him. He think I a cheap.......which I don't think I am cheap just reasonable with regards to spending too much money on things that are not necessary. After all, is gift giving really where our focus should be on Christmas?

As for shopping, I am going to try to stretch my dollars by shopping the sales. I have a good idea of what all I am going to buy. Next year I really want to try to have most my shopping done early. I am also going to set up a detailed budget and focus on saving for all those presents and that way I will have money set aside for gifts and if I see something on sales I can purchase it early.

Happy Shopping!!

DLD

Frugal With The Laundry

I stumbled upon a website yesterday explaining how much you can save by making your own laundry detergent. I am having a very hard time each time I go to the grocery store to purchase supplies to clean and run our house hold. I have a family of 4, two daughter, my husband and me. I do probably around 15 loads of laundry a week. Both of my daughters play sports and even though we are in the fall of the year our temperatures are still in the mid to high 80's. They usually come home totally wet from sweating. Just wanted to give you an idea of our situation in regards to the large amount of laundry. So, with that being said, I starting researching making my own laundry detergent. Based on my research you can save around 0.14 cents per load of laundry. I would be saving around $8.96 per bottle of bought laundry detergent verses making my own laundry detergent. I am going to give it a try and see if I can really see the savings. I will keep you posted and let you know how I am doing. If you are interest in making your own laundry detergent you can check out this website here for more information.

Update on the change jar. I work for a financial institution which has a coin machine. I noticed that my husband has been dropping other items in the change jar besides money. So, before I run my change through the machine I need to sort through the change so I don't break the machine. Those machine get a lot a wear and I don't want to be the one to break it. This will be on my list of things to do this weekend.

DLD

Yes, I'm really here...

I am sorry I have not updated sooner. Things have really been crazy since Hurricane Ike. I am glad to say things are starting to calm down a bit and get back to normal. I have been working on getting our finances caught back up since the hurricane. I have decide that I am going to start saving all our change in a change jar. I will be giving you an update as I add to the jar. All this money will go toward pay down my debt. Tomorrow I will post how much money I actually have already in a jar. I have had a change jar but I never really made a conscious effort of adding all my change to it. I know a person that actually saves over $1000.00 a year in change. I should have done this a long time ago but never took the time to actively take advantage of this cost savings. With tough times and the economy growing worse I feel I need to do everything in my power to save and reduce my spending. Hence the Change Jar!

I had to take my daughter to the doctor this week which cost me a $20.00 co-pay plus the medicine was $193.00. I almost had a heart attack!!! These pharmaceutical companies know they have you backed into a corner. What is a parent going to do......not buy the medicine for there child? Although ,I am sure some parents would have to go with that as they really don't have any extra money to spend on things like medicine. Not that I have extra money, I just will have to cut spending elsewhere or do without a few things to allow our money to stretch. It is amazing what a person can do when it involves their children.

I sent a check off for $895.00 to pay for the generator we had to buy during the hurricane. It was so hard to part with that money. But at least I had the money to pay for the generator. I just hope I don't have to use that thing for a long time.

I still have not had that garage sale like I planned. I have just had too much going on with the hurricane to even focus on a garage sale. I am going to buckle down and plan on doing it soon. I am trying to decide on a date to schedule it. If I can get it scheduled then that will force me to follow through with my plans.

Tomorrow plan on seeing my Change Jar update.

DLD

New Credit Cards

We received two new credit cards in the mail today. They were renewal cards for ones that were due to expire this month. I took those two card and put them straight into the shredder! I did not even allow myself to think twice about it. I know myself pretty well.....if I allowed myself to think about it I could have talked myself into putting the cards away in a "safe" place in case of an emergency. That is exactly the thought process that has gotten us into this debt mess. This just proves that I have to get that emergency fund done so we will have it for a "real" emergency.

Hurricane Ike has done one thing for me........It proved that I have to have a emergency fund!!!! I will never be caught in the same situation as I was during Hurricane Ike. I did not have nearly enough emergency money put aside. I have read Dave Ramsey's advice that you need to have $1000.00 in an emergency fund. That is not nearly enough if a real disaster occurs. I know......we lived it. For Example........if you had to leave your home for a disaster, here is what you would be looking at.

Gas to leave $500.00 (these are estimates)
Hotel for 4 nights $400.00 (that is if you can find a cheap one)
Food for 4 days for a family of 4 $320.00 (if you have to eat out every meal) plan for the worst
Grand Total $1220.00

Once you return home you don't know what you are going home to, so I will use our situation as an example. We had some major clean up but no structural damage to the house. We had to buy a generator and 100 foot extension cords. Gas for the generator for 13 days, gas to run the chain saws, ice because we could not drink the water, bottled water, charcoal and lighter fluid because I have electric cook top, sandwich meat and bread, chips, groceries to cook on the BBQ pit caused we lost everything in the freezers. We will have a generator for future use which we should have had already.

All that totaled around $1050.00 dollars. Due to the electricity being off in most places it was very difficult to find gas, so when you found a store that had electricity with fuel you waited in line for 1 to 2 hours. We bought our lunch meat and frozen item at the location we were staying at before we came home. Most of the store were not selling any produce or meats due to everything they had in stock ruined. They had to sanitize the coolers and have them inspected before they were allowed to sell any cold items. That was around two weeks after the storm. My total out of pocket expenses was around $2300.00 which does not include the generator. The generator was $895.00. We were very lucky cause most people had it so much worse than we did. My goal for our emergency fund will be $3000.00.

I think when you are planning how much you need for your emergency fund, it is important to consider what type of disaster are you pron to in your area. Plan your emergency fund amount according to those type situations. It is very scary when you are facing an emergency crisis and you are not financially prepared. I have never be so scared in all my life. My mind kept going back to the thought "What if we go back home and have NOTHING left?" Ask yourself that question and really think about it.....What would you do? Most people would say we will survive. That is very true, you will survive but the stress it causes can be very overwhelming. So, for our future I will try to have a plan in place so that we can relieve ourselves of the undue stress. Those situations are stressful enough without adding financial stress when you don't have to.

CVS.......Saving Big Time!!!

I have been researching how so many people are saving at CVS. So, I decided that I can do this too. I started clipping coupons and watching the weekly CVS circular. Last night I decided to make my first try at the coupon/extra bucks thing. I only bought three items but the savings was awesome. Here is a recount of what I purchased.

1 Shampoo (was on sale)
1 Conditioner (was on sale)
1 Toothpaste

Total Regular Price $11.87
Total Sale Discount $2.22
Total Coupon Discount $3.00
Total Extra Bucks Used $5.00
MY GRAND TOTAL OUT OF POCKET WAS $1.65
Total Savings $10.22

I am a believer now. I will continue to work at saving at CVS but now I have to start working on the grocery store items. I have to admit that I am terible at using coupons at the grocery store. With the prices of everything going up so much and with our large debt I have no choice but to start working to save as much as possible in every area I can.

Please feel free to share the areas you are able to save in your household. I would love to learn from you.

DLD

Last Nights Debate....Are You Lost?

Was it just me or did you feel that the debate between McCain and Obama went no where? The most I really got out of the whole thing is that they both recognize that our country is in dire need of change. I felt they both kept repeating the same thing over and over. I really wanted to hear more on how they plan to change our current situation. I work for a financial institution which allows me to see how others are viewing our financial situation in this country. We need change and quick. The ones that I really feel sorry for in this financial crisis is the retirees, the ones that are close to retirement and low income families. If you are planning on retiring in the next couple of years I don't see how that is possible. Most people have lost so much in their retirement funds that they can't sell any stock or cash out without losing substantial amounts of their portfolio. I do know of a couple retirees that have actually taken the loss and put their money in CD's. I really can't say that I blame them. We are in uncertain times and people are panicking. I am just praying that we are at the bottom and things don't get worse. We need someone in office that is going help our country restore our financial situation. However, I really can't say that I am confident in either of these two candidates. So who is the best solution??????

Hurricane Ike

Sorry I have not posted sooner. Unfortunately, I am in the area that was affected by Hurricane Ike. We had to evacuate for the hurricane, then once we returned home we did not have electricity for 13 days. My job was also without electricity for most of that time as well. I have to say that even though I was affected, I am very blessed.....I have a job and home to go to every day. There were so many people in our area that lost everything they had including their home. I don't live in Galveston but very close to the area. The residents of Galveston are really having it rough. Most of them lost everything they had. It is amazing how the community steps up to help everyone in need. In times like this you learn that you do have neighbors that care.

On the financial side of things......September was extremely expensive. It cost so much to evacuate and once we returned home we had a generator that we had to fill with gasoline. I will be dealing with getting our finances caught up this next month. Due to the Hurricane I was not able to have the garage sale as planned. I will be working on getting ready to do that in the next couple of weeks.

I did make one positive decision in regards to our finances. I discontinued our pool service and decided to do it myself. We decided a few years back to hire a pool service because we could not get the chemicals regulated. The pool service straightened us out and we continued using them since they provided all the chemicals. The cost was $155.00 per month. I decided that I needed to quite being lazy and make my mind up that I can do this. And I can.....when we returned home after the hurricane our pool was green.......really, really green. But there was not much we could do until our power was restored. Once it was restored I was able to get it clean and sparkling. That is proof that I can do this......I think before I was just allowing myself to be lazy. No more lazy!!!

DLD

Depressed....

August was the worst month. I really didn't get the plans laid out like I was wanting to do. We had so many things happening that it was difficult to stay focused. September I have no choice. I have got to get things in order. I let a couple of bills slip last month so this month I am playing catch up. I could just kick myself. Hubby had to reallocate some of his 401k to help free up some much needed funds. He is a hugh advocate of saving for our retirement. I had to have a heart to heart with him the other night. With gas prices so high and food prices alone we are really struggling. However, if I didn't have all this credit card debt then we would be just fine. What really scares me is that next fall my daughter will be going to college. Why did I let this happen? Anyway, I can't change the past but I can diffently do something about the future. Here are a few of my ideas.....let me know what you think.

1. Have a garage sale.
2. Cancel pool service. ($155.00 per month savings)
3. Pawn a ring.
4. Sell some items on eBay.
5. Sell wooden swing set on Craigs List.

I am also wondering about becoming an affiliate for Amazon. Any information would help greatly.

Pressing On...
DLD

Making a Plan

I have been scouring my brain trying to find ways to earn extra money to begin paying off my debt. Today I called a Plasma donor location. I checked online for a location close to me. I did locate one but the website did disclose how much you can get paid to do this. I am going to make a phone call to them to find out more details.

I am also going to list some things on eBay. I did try to do that Sunday but I must have done something wrong because on Monday when I tried to check my eBay selling status there was nothing listed. That totally confuses me because I even received the confirmation phone from eBay once I listed the item. I am going to work on this tonight.

If any one else have any suggestion of ways I can generate some quick income please let me know. I am open to any suggestions.

Thanks,
DLD

Opening the Wound....

I am opening the wound.....I am $35,000.00 in credit card debt! I could just kick myself in the behind. I knew better than to allow this to happen. I really don't know what has allowed me to even let this happen. Other than just being plain stupid! My interest rates are in the 20% and I have so many cards it is hard to kept track of them all. I am working on trying to consolidate them into one or two lower interest resources. Once I can get them consolidated I will start a payroll deduction account at my credit union so the amount I pay each month can be directly deposited into an account to strictly pay only my credit card debt. I am going to divide the amount I will be paying by 4 and have that amount direct deposited to the credit card debt account I am opening at the credit union. I will then set up an reoccurring bill payment for those bills to be automatically paid each month. The biggest hurtle I have right now is to get the bills consolidated. If you have any suggestions please comment as I can use all the suggestions possible.

Laying It All Out...

OK, I have made a decision to lay all my debt out there for all to see. I have been having a hard time at doing this. I think in the back of my mind I keep thinking that if I don't post it then it's not really there. I know.....this is a bad way to think. I realize that in order if me to become debtless I have to take this steps. I have been reading a blog by Twigger. She has really inspired me to jump in with both feet. In the coming days expect to see a post with all my debt listed.

I will also be working on purging all my stuff at home and listing it on eBay. Everything I sell on eBay will be put on my debt.

Later,
DLD

My Journey....

Came along with me on my journey of paying off a large amount of debt. I have said so many times....Why did you let this happen. You know better than to use credit cards. So my first step is in taking responsibility of my actions. The second step is to vow not to use any more credit cards.

I am going to be looking for ways to produce income while still working my full time job. I am exploring ways of producing income via the Internet. The first thing I am going to do is go through all my stuff. Isn't it amazing the amount of stuff we collect and don't really need? Then start listing it on eBay. I have never sold anything on eBay so this will be a learning experience. I am chronicling my journey by keeping this blog which will help keep me accountable. I am not really ready to disclose the amount of debt I am in at this time. I am very ashamed!! Just starting to keep this blog and admit as much as I have is a huge step for me. I come from a family that has always kept their finances private. So, with that said, I am taking baby step in this confession process. I do feel a little over exposed and naked. However, I have a strong belief that this is the right step, admitting my own short comings. This is a journey of healing.