Last Thursday was the official 1 month milestone of our debt diet. We are doing great so far. In fact I give us an A++.
We got our tax return and were able to put the entire $6000 towards paying off one of our cards. Which then enabled us to transfer $7500 of a high interest card to the other card we just paid off for 0% interest for six months. Then with all of the money we saved in April we were able to pay another $1500 towards that high interest card to pay it off completely. You have no idea how much weight this takes off my shoulders. We are making half mile strides in being credit card debt free instead of just teeny tiny steps paying a little bit each month and feeling like it will never end.
I am really proud that we have been able to follow through with this. Each day is a struggle and each day is a triumph. There have been many many times where it would have been easier to go out to dinner or when we just felt like taking Eva somewhere for the day that would have ended up costing us $100 after everything. Instead we have to get creative and learn how to keep ourselves occupied without spending money and without feeling like we are depriving our child during her most formidable years.
Not having cable was a huge adjustment. I swear Chris went through withdrawals that first day. I couldn’t get him to leave the TV alone, he kept adjusting the antenna trying to get more channels. I’m sure it didn’t help that it was the same day he quit smoking. Yep, you heard right. My 34 year old husband who has been smoking since he was in the womb has not had a cigarette for 16 days! I am more proud of him than if he had become an astronaut and flew to the moon.
What keeps me going is knowing that this August we will have paid off two of our biggest cards and that in November we will have a third one paid off. That will leave us with one final card with a balance of $2000 that we will have paid off in February. We are taking a break from our debt diet for December and part of January as a reward for all the money we have been saving by doing without. This Christmas is gonna be like Biggest Loser contestant big!
After the new year it is back to business. Once we get that last card paid off in February we are on to our next goal of building our savings up to 8 months worth of pay. This debt diet has really opened up our eyes to just how much money we are wasting on things that we don’t need and how much we really can do without.
To read about how this all started click here:
http://www.modernmommyblog.com/index.php/2009/03/25/my-debt-diet/
and here:
http://www.modernmommyblog.com/index.php/2009/03/26/entertainment-on-a-tight-budget/
*photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chmurka/3053828420/
Last Sunday Chris woke up and had a bug up his butt to go to church. We hadn’t been since before Christmas because of issues with putting Eva in the daycare and just general laziness. I was surprised by his new-found motivation to do something on a Sunday morning but was also kinda glad because I have been wanting to go. All in all we had a great day, church was great, music was great, and Eva actually did not cry a tear the whole time in the daycare. Success!
This Sunday we had every intention of going back and I was excited we would be making this a regular thing and that Eva would get used to going and feel even more comfortable there. Chris made breakfast, I took a shower, we were right on track until Eva decided to be the little heathen toddler that she is and not let me get her dressed. Me, being in no mood to run after a 2 year old for the tenth time that morning threatened her that we would not go anywhere if she didn’t come get dressed RIGHT NOW. Of course she still didn’t listen and I was determined to follow through with my threat.
About an hour goes by and I suggest to Chris that we try to make the 12 o’ clock service. I won’t get into all the details but that attempt ended with another confrontation involving bean burritos.
I hate a wasted Sunday and am having a hard time getting over all the free stuff that was going on today that we could have done and instead have been holed up in this houes on such a beautfiul day. I love just sitting aorund and relaxing on Sunday’s but this Sunday has been full of confrontation and anything but calm and relaxing. Instead of sipping coffee and reading the paper I have been vacuuming up those annoying little spiders that hide in the corner of my walls, vegging out on the computer, and crying in my daughters bedroom while she wipes my tears with me feeling like the saddest excuse for a mother there ever was.
I couldn’t post this yesterday because I was practicing electricity conservation in honor of Earth Day. I actually wrote this post with a good old fashioned pen and paper. How about that?
April 22nd, 2:00 p.m.
I decided for my contribution to Earth Day I would use as little electricity as possible for one day. (I would have tried using no electricity but it was 100 degrees yesterday so I did have to turn the ceiling fans on and set the A/C to 83 degrees, although it really didn’t come on that much.) That means no TV, lights, cooking, dishwasher, washing machine, dryer, computer, etc.
For food today I am just making things that don’t need to be cooked like cheese, crackers, and tuna sandwiches tonight. I don’t know what we’re gonna do about lights when the sun goes down, I haven’t thought that far in advanced. I guess we will just have to light some candles. That should be kinda fun actually. Tonight instead of watching TV after Eva goes to bed we will actually have to spend time together talking or maybe play a game
The reason I’m doing this is to give the Earth, and me, a little break from electricity pollution. Imagine if as a country we had one day a week or a month where everybody used as little electricity as possible (you still need a/c and heat) and didn’t drive their cars anywhere. How much pollution could we reduce? Besides the pollution I believe our lives as a whole would benefit. It would be like a mini camping trip once a week. Only with beds and indoor plumbing.
Do you think our ultra-commercialized nation could function without commerce for one day a week? I’m not advocating a law be passed or anything like that but maybe a tax credit for everyone who participates. Maybe you could turn in your electricity meter reading at tax time showing that you refrained from using electricity a certain number of days? I don’t know how you would prove that you didn’t drive your car though. Any ideas?
Don’t think I’m saying that technology and modern convenience are bad because trust me I enjoy them just as much as everybody else does. As a stay at home mom I know I would feel even more isolated if I didn’t have e-mail or facebook or my blog to make me feel connected to the outside world. So yes, I am grateful that I live in the 21st century and not the 18th. But maybe there are a few things we can gain by saying goodbye to those things for just 1 out of 7 days a week.
The more and more I learn about our country’s history and our present circumstances compared to the rest of the world the more I am convinced we have some major changing to do. In education, health care, pollution, crime, and poverty. These are all areas that have been sorely neglected and need some major time and effort spent on each of them to improve. Maybe this is one thing we can do to combat the sad fact that we contribute entirely too much pollution to this earth. President Obama if you are reading…I’d be thrilled to head the committee!
For those of you that have read my “about me” page you know that I am a social worker at heart. That’s why issues like health care or the lack thereof really get to me. I get regular e-mail updates from a website called “Stand up for Health Care“. They are an organization that fights for health care reform so that everyone can enjoy this right.
Here are a few facts from their website.
- Four out of five uninsured Americans are in working families. One out of five uninsured Americans is a child.
- More than three out of five adults who report having problems paying their medical bills had insurance at the time they incurred their debt
- Between 2000 and 2007 along, the average premium for job-based family coverage increased by more than 90 percent, rising from $6,351 to $12,106
- As unemployment continues to rise and fewer families can afford health coverage, more children are likely to need coverage. For every one percent increase in the unemployment rate, an additional 600,000 children become eligible for Medicaid and CHIP.
- When children get the health care they need, they are better equipped to do well in school because they can do things like attend school regularly, see the chalkboard, hear the teacher, and participate in classroom and recess activities-all essential parts of succeeding in school.
My belief is that healthcare is a right not a privilege just like being protected by the police or the firestation. Looking at some of these statistics I also think that it is an equality issue.
If you would like to get involved in some way you can also check out Families USA.
