DH and I have been doing this debt reduction thing for about 10 months now and the light at the end of the tunnel is right there. We have only $3750 left of that credit card! Woo hoo!! What a relief that will be to have paid off! We are a bit off-target with our goal date, but that's okay. We've had to do quite a bit of adjusting as we went.

We are SO close to being done with our Christmas shopping. We wrapped almost everything the other night and discovered a few things that we need to get. But a stop at a store or two will get it all done. Except for the pj pants...those will take some time. I really need to get started on those! I'm no seamstress so they take me a while to sew. It's super fun though...and the kids love them so that's all that really matters.

We only paid 2X the minimum on the card this month because we helped out our family member more with their Christmas. It felt so good to help out and I feel like that is the true Spirit of Christmas...serving. I had a blast shopping for gifts for the kids and I hope that they love what they get...I'm sure they will especially since they are expecting basically nothing. We've asked that our help is not mentioned again and I think they'll honor that. It sure was fun and I still feel so good about it.

Anyway...plugging along with our debt seems to remain my story. I'm so happy though at each baby step along the way. Each one is taking us that much closer to being debt free. I love the idea of living debt free....talk about freedom! What a great feeling.

Happy Holidays!

Finances and Marriage...

We did more Christmas shopping this weekend. Now we are down to cousin gifts, stockings and the sweat outfits. Piece of cake. We are going to open another dedicated savings account after the beginning of the year. We'll save some money every paycheck and then by next October or so, take out the money and go Christmas shopping. I'm totally hooked on getting the shopping done early. What a relief!!

Let's see...the debt? Well, the payments are coming along. We are under $4,000 now....that is the LAST TIME we will have cc debt at that amount. It feels good to be under that marker. It's been SO long since we were under that amount. Let's see....it's probably been a good 10 years or so. Wow - that's just crazy. That's most of our married years. Never again!!

I can't describe how good it feels to have DH doing the finances right along with me. We are on the same page and actually communicate about where the money should go. Gasp!! Communicate? To each other?? It's been a foreign concept....up until February anyway. It's so nice to have a partner in this. And I think he enjoys seeing where the money goes as opposed to feeling like we had so much and wondering where it was all going! He's so awesome.

Anyway...off to do some laundry. I gotta look at the envelopes to see how big of a box of soap I can buy. It's got to last me another 1 1/2 weeks at least!

Christmas Shopping

We finished almost all of the Christmas shopping for our date last Saturday. It was FUN! Usually, we all go to the toy store as a family, the kids will show us some things they think are cool, then DH will take them to the car while I make the final decisions and purchases. Not to say that DH doesn't have any say....there are usually MANY phone calls back and forth. Anyway....we got a babysitter for our date night and went shopping together. It was fabulous. I loved it. As of today, we have to get three small cousin gifts, three books, three sweat outfits, and some miscellaneous stocking stuffers. THAT'S IT!! Woo hoo!! I'm SO happy to be done with the shopping. I'd so much rather bake some cookies with the kids than go face the holiday traffic and shoppers.

DH and I decided this weekend that we are going to figure out our budget and collect some money to help out a family member and spouse. They are unsure if they will be able to do Christmas at all this year because of some pretty crappy circumstances. So - we are still in the planning stage but I'm excited to be able to help them out. They are awesome and would give the shirts off their backs to anyone who needed it.

Budget is going well....I'm pretty sure we'll be putting off the serious commitment to paying down debt for the next month or two. It's just not as important right now with the holidays and other things that we want to do. Come January though, we'll be right on track. And maybe, just maybe, if DH gets a bonus, we'll be able to put another chunk on the debt. But we aren't counting on anything and that way if we get something, it will be extra fun. Usually, we wait til he gets his bonus and we hope it's big enough to cover Christmas gifts. I like doing it the way we are this year. It's a total relief and joy to be done. No matter the size of the bonus (if there is one at all), we have Christmas done. YIPEE!!

Dating again...

I don't think I mentioned that DH and I are trying to date more. We went on TWO dates last weekend and we have another this weekend. We spent all our money for this weeks date on our costumes for one of last week's date, so we had to figure out something to do that's free. Solution? Finish the Christmas shopping! I'm so clever sometimes, I surprise myself! HAHA.

Anyway - DH and I have not put our marriage first for a long time so we need to do that. I know I have a lot of improving to do in my role as wife. I'm glad he's so darn patient with me. He's a good guy.

So, anyway - I've added a "Date" row and "Babysitting" row to our budget spreadsheet. I'm excited to spend some time alone with my BFF! Wish us luck.....!

It's a boring week....

Nothing much to report this week. The interest on our Visa was added today...only $33 or so! Not bad considering it used to be over $100 a month. It did bring our balance to just barely over $4,000 but one more small payment and we'll be below that mark permanently.

DH and I are going Christmas shopping this Saturday. We have the main gifts for 2/3 of the boys. We've got my parents done and basically DH's parents done. We just have to donate some money for the group gift for my M-I-L. We are going in on a gift for her with the Golden Child and his family, so she'll basically love it no matter what they decide to buy for her. Some call that being lazy...we call it being smart! We get automatic bonus points for doing anything with the Favorite! See what I mean? Smart!!

So, it seems like these random but necessary things keep coming up that cost money. Like the fridge filter, the vacuum filter, furnace filters, light bulbs, and a whole slew of other household items. They add up so dang quickly! I'm so glad though that we put money aside for those. What a relief to know that I can go get those things and still be able to buy groceries for the family. As difficult as it is to do, the envelope system is the only way to go. And it is getting much easier as I figure out the best way to do things. I've been using a coupon organizer in addition to the envelopes and that has proven to be a bit easier than carrying around a ton of envelopes.

This week, I've got a smaller grocery budget because of Halloween and parties, but we'll just eat a bunch of noodles this week! We are going to have F-I-L and his wife over on Sunday so we'll 'splurge' for that meal. I've also got to come up with some great appetizer for DHs game night tonight. I better get cracking on that one!!

Things I'm grateful for today: awesome husband, awesome husband who works his butt off at a great job, incredible kids who make me laugh and love me even though I get so ornery with them sometimes, warm home.

Goals for today: LAUNDRY, clean house for awesome DH, work on church duties for an appropriate amount of time.