Still trucking along with our budgeting and paying off debt, etc. I ran into a little snafu that I completely drove myself into....regarding the HUSBAND and now I am really questioning just how serious he is on getting out of debt.

Here's what happen: Over this past summer we got to a point where we paid off everything but the cars which included my husband's dream truck that was LEASED, my car & my oldest daughter's car - both at 0% interest. Anyway, the truck was a real drag on the bank account due to the payment and the gas consumption ON TOP of being a lease deal. I had broached the topic of selling off cars and he wasn't wanting to do it -- said we needed good cars b/c we had went through hell trying to keep older cars running and stuff before (true story). I told him we didn't have to have old clunker cars but we could get nicer used cars for less money. But he still wanted to just keep what we have, pay them off, drive them forever, etc. Still wasn't good enough for me...I just couldn't rationalize why we would spend 2 more years paying off all those cars when we could get rid of them and be done much sooner. So while all of this is happening, he is also talking about wanting a nicer guitar. He is a musician (not professional) who has been playing a guitar since his teen years -- he is very good and loves music, etc. It is a reasonable request but it was just not in the budget. One day he had started in on the guitar again and I just threw it out there, "we'll get the guitar if you sell your truck!" Suprisingly, he agreed and then we sold his truck. Now he is wanting the guitar and I am still wanting to pay off debt...I'm not backing out of my end of the deal but I was hoping we could hold off for a bit. He is temporarily appeased but his expectation is to get the guitar before we are out of debt. His truck had to be replaced with another car that we owe on so it is not like that payment is gone -- it is just replaced with something much more cost effecient overall (gas, payment, longevity, etc.). Anyway, I made a random comment the other day to his ongoing guitar discussions about "if we got a guitar now, it would have to come out of the emergency fund" -- just trying to see what his response would be. I'm thinking he would say, "no, we don't need to do that -- it is our EF" but all I heard was crickets. He seems to be ok with using the EF for his guitar!! I didn't say anything b/c I know I am the one who got myself into this situation but I was very concerned. I thought we were on the same page...but that is not the case. I am a little saddened but not suprised to be honest. Not sure what to do!!

I wrote a blog entry yesterday but somehow managed to wipe out my entire screen before I could post it...so I was very annoyed & decided to put it off, wasn't gonna write it again. So this is my 2nd attempt -- hopefully I don't blow this thing up.

My motivation has been struggling lately...making me feel depressed. We are 11 months into our debt snowball and have paid off over half of our debt and will be on track to have reduced our overall debt by at least $70K by the end of the year. While it is an exicting milestone, it is also somewhat nauseating b/c this has been a big ole whippin!! it is hard to squeeze every penny out of your budget week after week...pushing the limit every month and really restricting our spend. I am also the enforcer - my husband is onboard with the plan but sometimes I feel like I am the one having to keep us on track. I have thought of 'quitting' once or twice but then I think to myself, quit for what?? so I can be broke forever instead of just these few miserable months? So quitting would make me ultra stupid -- just doesn't make sense to quit and go back to what we were doing. So having resolve that internal conflict, I have no fear that I will quit but I can still complain that this plain sucks!! It will be something that will stay with me forever -- will not be repeating this again.

On a brighter note, I did some 'dave ramsey' negotiating today and it worked! One of the things I've been putting off buying are new tennis shoes for me...mine still look good/clean but they are at least 3 years old and they are broken down internally/structurally so they hurt my feet after a while. Anyway, I had a fairly large medical bill budgeted to pay this pay period (about $698) and that is pretty much all that is stitting in my bank account right now. I found some shoes today that are what I wanted and they were on sale for $20 off so I took a gamble that I could call the dr. office and offer them LESS to settle my account in full today. So I went ahead & bought the shoes and made the call to my dr office when I got home. Not suprisingly she said she would have to ask the doctor and call me back when I asked if I could setting in full for $600 today....she called back in about 10 mins and said YES! I was very pleased that it worked out b/c I do feel guilty about buying new shoes right now which is why I kept putting it off, etc. BUT I am tired of my feet hurtingn all the time so I don't think this was a wasteful expenses. I have 2 other larger dr bills I have budgeted to pay in the next pay period...I'm gonna try it again! See if I can knock off about $100 if I offer to 'pay it off today' :-)

I'm back to the grindstone for now -- squeezing dimes out of pennies and quarters out of nickels...wish me luck.