I spent all last evening paying bills. Most people think that sounds terrible, however it was really nice to be able to see exactly where money is going and actually see some difference.

What kind of difference can it make to pay a bill? Well it's definitely reduced the number of calls to my phone!

I had reached the point where I was so tired of answering questions about when I could pay the bill. Really, it seems as if they think I [U]want[/U] to be debt. Who in their right mind [U]wants[/U] to be in debt?

I think we need to have an overhaul of how bill collectors are allowed to contact us consumers and what they are allowed to say. I read recently that a collection company is being sued for using bullying tactics. I know that in my own experience I have received phone calls as late as 11pm my time and even on Saturday and Sunday. It is easy to understand how some people can become overwhelmed with the pressure of it all and take drastic measures.

I have us nearly caught up on all of our past due payments and for the first time ever I was able to pay the water bill [U]before[/U] it came due. I was astounded and it felt so good.

I am positive that with the plan that I have put into place, we are going to be able to start paying off balances next month. I have also determined that if I continue this path, pay off the balances of the credit cards and loans (which will be fully complete by about June of 2010), I can apply all of those funds towards our mortgage and we will have it paid off in 23 months. 23 months!! I am in awe and now instead of dreading our paydays I look forward to each and every one.

I have used Google Calenders to list all of the due dates, then I put on all of our pay days and other incoming money and I assign each pay day specific bills to pay and set aside the budgeted amount of money for household items and groceries.

Last week we finished with almost $100 in the bank. I can't remember the last time that happened to us. It was amazing.

Nikki Valentine

Man, being responsible can really wear you out mentally. I spent the day discussing my "plan" with those I owe money to. Of course they don't really care that I'm trying, they just want their money. Now, Now, Now.

I'm tired of telling people "none of your concern" when they all ask me "well what caused you to get behind?"

I mean really, what will it change? If I tell them I didn't feel like paying it or that I lost my job is it going to change the amount due? Does it change my due date? I find it rude and obtrusive.

Of course, I've had battles going on with my youngest son's school.

Oh, guess I didn't mention that I have kids. I do, three of them. Well.. four if you count my husband. I also love animals so we own two dogs, three ferrets, and five cats (three of them are off spring of the first two). We talked a lot about getting rid of some of the animals but it breaks my heart just to think about and I figured that three of them will be leaving when my kids move out anyway so I'll be down six total! Of course, that will be a while yet, my daughter is sixteen, my oldest son is thirteen, and my baby is nine.

I'll probably write a lot about them here. I am a very open person and I'm a person who lives with her emotions on her sleeve so please be prepared.

I'm on about four hours of sleep so I think I should go to bed. I just wanted to be here and make a post in keeping with my "New Years Resolution" theme of new positive habits.

Nikki Valentine

Well I sat down and utilized the greatness that is Google Calendar. I placed all of our paydays on there, all of our bills on the date due, then I assigned the bills to the payday just before they are due. This is going to save us a ton of money in late fees. I managed to pay 5 of our bills out of my paycheck alone. One of our balances is below $300 now and I think that by the end of the month I might have enough left over to pay it off. That means that I will be able to apply all the extra money plus the minimum balance I've been spending on that one onto another bill.

We did some reviewing of our menu and have put together a fantastic menu that will keep us at about $150 a month. I had a conversation with my parents and my husband with his grandmother and we each addressed the fact that while we love to include them in our dinners and will continue to do so every so often we can no longer do it on a daily basis. I expected a bit of push back and temper flaring (they live right down the hill from us so we often make extra and send it down to them) I was surprised because after we explained it to them, my parents apologized for not thinking of us enough to understand the impact and they offered to have the kids down for meals once a week to help us stretch our money and Grandma has offered to give us some money to help us cover her portions (Grandma does not cook at all).

I also dragged out my lunch containers so that I can start taking my lunches to work. This is going to save me between $5-$10 a day. I work right around about a dozen fast food places so I am paying for the convenience of having to not get up early and get things prepared. Some of the girls that I work with are going to start bringing theirs too so I will have someone to sit with. I really hate eating alone.

I feel so good about the start of our new endeavor and I'm very excited to see where we are at the start of next month.

Nikki Valentine

I sat tonight with my husband, talking about our particular situation. You know the one, kids, parents, grandparents, economy, debt and the like. It's probably the same one that someone reading this is going through too.

Not enough to keep up with the bills, not enough quality time with the kids, not enough energy to do more then the day to day requirements of life. It is disparaging and sometimes just outright depressing.

So as we sat down to try to sort out what was going to be paid when and how, we had to take a really hard look at where our money is going and what we could do to eliminate the waste and apply that to our bills. We found that we are currently spending almost $800 a month on groceries!!

I honestly think that a lot of the issue is that my husband and I both grew up in poverty and ate pitifully. We have really pushed to give our kids only the best, this includes the food we give them.

So as we thought more and more about it and how we were going to reduce our spending, we realized we had to go back to basics, eating meals that wouldn't be served in a five star restaurant. We figured if we could save $300 a month on groceries, then we could apply it to the smallest bill we have and pay off the balance, then we would have the additional $300 a month plus the monthly payment we were giving to that debt and apply it to the next smallest balance and so on and so forth.

To be debt free (outside our mortgage and monthly living costs) by the end of 2010 was our goal and we decided we would start on New Years and this would be our Resolution, then I asked him "Why wait? That's three months worth of waste for no reason" and we talked it out and agreed that now would be a great time to start. Being the beginning of the month it is a great chance to start tracking our money, make some menus that are more cost effective and maybe we can get to our goal a whole lot sooner than we thought.

Here is to a new beginning and a new journey. I can't say how often I will be able to post but I am making a commitment to do so in order to track my progress. I will list what works and what doesn't work and I will get my family back where we want to be. I am so glad to have a place to share my thoughts and trials and find others like myself.

Nikki Valentine