Debt, Debt, Debt

I don't like being in debt. I like to spend. A way of coping with depression (for me) is spending and eating.

Well, I'm trying to follow this Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover Plan -- it will work, but oh my goodness, you have to be disciplined and you have to know how to tell yourself and others' NO.

Here's what I WANT to buy - nothing expensive:

1) Bunk beds for Ms. F****'s room - I saw a set on Ebay for $99.00 - pick up.
2) Entertainment center -- nice one at Wal-Mart on rollback for $78.00
3) DVD Recorder -- a friend told me she just bought one at Wal-Mart for $79.00
4) I NEED a new living room suite -- not brand new, just new to me - I'm watching craigslist for this.

If we stick with the plan we can be completely out of arrears and finished with DR's Emergency Fund by the end of this month. But boy oh boy -- I'd like to partially fund the Emergency Fund and buy some of these things.

The bunk beds are a must -- the boy is in bed with J**** and I and well he needs to move, but he'll need to move to one of the girl's rooms -- the other bedroom is downstairs. I'm not ready to be downstairs and them all upstairs -- not until they are older. None of them are ready to be alone downstairs -- they are still big chickens. So -- I thought hey, buy bunkbeds with futon on bottom and D**** can sleep on bottom futon and F**** can use it for quite a while. Okay, I talked myself into that one, I think. J**** agrees with the purchase. There is extra blow money this month -- so this will work with the budget.

If all goes well - I should be completely debt free by the end of 2009 except for my mortgage.

It is a liberating feeling/idea.

I guess what got me going was how stupidly I have spent money on automobiles...

Watch this videoI mean it is all just common sense, but instead of using my head, I was too worried about "keeping up with the Joneses."

I'm going to try to do better. People will read this plan and think as I did -- how can I deny myself so much and start living in a manner where I don't use credit? Well, I think that many of us, myself included, are living that way anyway. Paycheck to paycheck because we have used all the credit that we can afford and there is nothing left after paying the minimums on the bills.

I hate to say it but, I should have listened to my Daddy. I remembered - I was about 12 -- we went to see a friend of his "Sonny." Sonny worked the same job as Daddy. Sonny had two new cars, a boat, a trampoline, an AKA registered dog, a motorcycle, a nice big house in town. We had an old farmhouse, a rusty pickup, a jon boat with a trolling motor, an old car, and five acres. I said, "Wow, Daddy, look at all the stuff." Daddy said "yep and ain't none of it his. It all belongs to the bank. He lives paycheck to paycheck and if something happens to him then all this is gone."

I had a bill collector call me and I nosily asked what is your opinion about credit -- he said, "If it ain't dirt, I don't finance it."

Well, we're tightening our belts and hoping to be debt free so we can "live like no one else, later you can live like no one else."