One of my new debt blog finds is debtconsolidationcare.com . This site is definitely interesting. It is a getting out of debt community. There a lot of useful tools at this site. There are some finance calculators including a debt to credit ratio one. (don’t ask about my obsession with calculators, i am a little quirky). Debtconsolidationcare.com even has a nice chat room. I think that could be handy if you have a quick question or thought and need some immediate feedback. I like the way it is set up because even if no one else is on, you can run it in the background and get a nice little ding when someone enters the room. You can even do a little private chat.  I am glad I came across it. There are some really good tips on there.

Everyday I learn something new and that is one of things I love about the internet. It really makes everything available to you. You are able to feel a sense of community which I absolutely love. I discovered a new blog that I really fell in love with right away, Dimple’s Divine Domain.  Today one of the posts asked a very good question, when dealing with debt do you put all your money towards paying down your debt or do you build up your emergency fund. Right off I thought, “Well you pay off debt, you are getting charged interest everyday so that makes sense”. After reading some comments I read an interesting point. If you put all your money towards debt and an emergency comes up most likely you will have to put it on credit and that defeats the purpose. I never thought about that.  The best answer to that question for me would be to divide my money between both the debt and emergency fund.

I remember, as recently as October, how excited I would get when I got a credit card offer in the mail. I would get excited because it meant I would be able to go shopping. Even last summer I was applying for every preapproved card offer that was sent my way.I noticed today when I was going through all the mail, that I have been putting the credit card offers in the shred pile. Without even a second thought I am doing this. I am so proud of myself! I am really changing the way I think about money and credit.It may be a small step but it definitely is a step towards getting out of debt.

Ok, I am ready to do this now. It took some thought but I think I got it. This is from Day 2 of fixing my finances from The Simple Dollar.  My one year goals are:

• to have $1000 in emergency fund
• to have at least $800 in Xmas fund
• no longer have a car payment
• refinance mortgage
• start an IRA for myself
• start bringing in some type of income
• not have a single NSF(non sufficient funds) fee for the entire year

Ok, so here is day 1. Today’s assignment is to figure out what my values are. I am thinking, that is easy. I want to pay off my house, I do not want to rely on credit cards anymore, I want to be completely out of debt, I want to be able to go on vacations. I honestly could go on and on. Well good thing I didn’t go on because I was wrong. Those are not values those are goals! Values are what’s important to me. So, I got comfortable and made my list.

• money
• cleanliness
• knowledge
• family 
• love
• free will
• fun
• creativity
• stability
• accomplishment
• perfection
• happiness
• safety
• respect
• compassion
• fairness

That was a little harder than I thought but I listened to what Simple Dollar said and I was honest and put my values not what someone else may expect my values to be. I think I listed too many. I will trim the list down if needed later.

Trying to get out of  debt is really hard. It is hard because you have to change your money habits as well as your thoughts regarding money. Last month I did ok, but I was kind of all over the place. I get distracted very easily and I like to multi-task. Like I have mentioned before there is so much information out and a lot of it is good but it can be overwhelming. So I decided I needed some type of plan, a little direction. I decided to go with the “31 days to fix your finances” over at my favorite site, the Simple Dollar.  I definitely want to give it a try and I want to stick with it. I am one of those people who needs to be told what to do step by step sometimes. At least until I catch on

Yesterday I did not post anything and I felt bad. Well I really was feeling bad after my post on gaming. I’m not sure why. I do know why, I felt bad about my video game obsession and purchases. I guess I need to backtrack some.

December 31, 2007  I decided to get serious about my family’s financial future. But the one thing about me is I tend to get very passionate about my project of the moment. I go full speed ahead and usually burn out and ditch that “project”. I have done  this with sewing, scrap-booking, going back to school, redecorating, running a daycare and remodeling  to name a few. And yesterday I was having a real bad case of writer’s block. Every post I started I ended up deleting. I just could not get my thoughts together. I decided it was time to take a break from my computer. I was getting sidetracked way too easily.

 I am just sooo excited about working towards getting out of debt. And I really want to follow through and prove that I am serious.  It is just so much great information and support on the internet I am not sure how to process it all. I am absorbing everything and I find it a little difficult to find my place in the debt community. On one hand I want to become super frugal and sacrifice to get out of debt like so many bloggers before me. On the other hand I do not want to become a cheapskate and deny my family any and everything that is not considered “frugal”. It is really hard to find balance and somewhat overwhelming.

Then mommy things had to get done,  you know laundry, baths, washing and braiding 3 heads of hair, homework and the list goes on and on. Before I knew it I had a list of things I didn’t do. I didn’t post my dinners, update my other blogs and website, go through literally thousands of email, pick my make ahead and crockpot recipes, sort my coupons and you get the idea.

I started feeling bad because January is almost over and I did not complete all of my goals. Why am I so hard on myself? Why would I only focus on what I didn’t do instead of what I did do? I honestly could not think. I needed to do some good old fashioned brainstorming with a pen and paper. That was such a great idea! I just put everything on my mind on the paper and I feel a whole lot better.

I almost fell off the horse, but I caught myself. And I am glad I did because I honestly feel re-energized. I need to take baby steps and not be so hard on myself. Sometimes I am truly my worst enemy. I am in a much better place(mentally) than I was a year ago. I am a work in progress and I accept that.

That is why I felt guilty

Writing this debt blog is like a journal for me. I have been researching the net on the best way to set up my blog as far as keeping track of debt, what steps I should be taking, and so forth. Unfortunately some days after reading so many blogs they all seem to blend together.

I got a really good comment today from Katie at  http://financiallybroke.blogspot.com/  and I think it is only good manners to visit the site of anyone who visits mine. I am glad I did. First off, I like the questions she asked and the advice she gave me. I am definitely going to use it. I really like her blog and the method she is using to have accountability. After reading a little more I decided to go to her first blog to see how she got started. I read http://financiallybroke.blogspot.com/2007/09/back-story.html and it turns out she thinks a lot like me as far as debt goes. She started off good, she at least has an emergency fund. I am still working on mine.

It is so refreshing to me to see others who are also taking that journey to get out of debt. Honestly, I like to see others be honest about their debt. I think we can all learn from each other.