A debt diet that is I was reading "O Magazine" last month and they had a really good article regarding that debt diet they did on her show. I decided I try to see if we could save a few bucks and just got around assessing our (MY) spending the other day and BOY WAS I SURPRISED!!!! I spend almost $800 above necessities and that does not even include the money I get for babysitting my niece (I am saying it's me b/c it really is just me. All DH ever spends is money to put gas in the car, no kidding :angel: ) And this is CASH I am spending! We do have credit card debt that needs to be paid off which has been slow going b/c I thought we didn't have any "extra" money to pay lump sums so I was only paying maybe $5 to $10 more than the minimum due. So that is it. I have cracked the whip on myself and as of 2 days ago am going to be a lot more strict about my spending. If anyone cares I plan to post updates on how it's going DH is going to support me and hold me accountable to this. I have gone through a range a emotions with this realization from shame to frustration and back again. Please PRAY FOR ME! :love: Has anyone else done this?
That's a great idea! Good luck to you! We are in a very bad place, right now, financially. But one thing that has helped is to change our perspective. By this, I mean that we think of each penny as a "Game Point" or credit. And when I think of them as "Points" I tend to value them more. I do not know why, but I do. SO, When I go to the store and think that, "These chips will cost me 2 hundred and 50 points!" For me And yes I know I may be strange, this tends o help me put the value back on the cost of extras. Because for some reason (Maybe I played too many board games as a kid) for some reason, this just seems to bring out the inner miser in me. I seem to want to hoard all my "Points" but on the same trip to the store I would over look the penny on the ground... geeesh! Now, If I could only "trick" myself in to Always thinking this way, maybe I would be better off someday. Good luck! jen
I don't have any credit cards any more not even a bank account so we don't have a debit card either. We use cash for everything and we have really had to spend wisely.
We do not have any credit cards anymore, but I do have my visa debit from my bank. This allows us to be able to pay for things on-line, like my electric bill, insurance and everythnig else, and I can save tons on stamps. But again, it is not a credit card. It is just like an electronic check; if the money is not there, there is no credit.
Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover is a very good book for a plan to get on track. There are also some great websites that offer support on becoming frugal.
Sometimes when I'm debating a purchase, I think about how long dh had to work to pay for it. It usually convinces me that I don't need it! I second the Dave Ramsey advice, it's just common sense but it is a good plan. Good luck! Oh, and I always pick up pennies off the ground, so whoever is throwing them, keep it up!
Another book I recommend (although it isnt a money management book) is The complete tightwad gazette written by Amy Dacyczyn. This book will teach you to pinch your pennies till they scream LOL. Anyway I thought I would mention it because anyway to save money helps repay debt faster.
I have read his book and I really latched on to his idea to "Create a Personal Line of Credit to yourself." Like, take $100 a month to save for 10 months and build up $1000. Then put it away. If you need money, use that as your personal line of credit to yourself at 0% interest. ha!
