I'm officially joining the $20 challenge with the change I found in my purse.

Actually, I only found $15.58 of loose change in there. I added the $7 in ones I also had in my wallet.

No telling how much change I'll find under my car seat!

This is just an example of how little time I've spent contemplating the almighty dollar.

Logic dictates that if you save it, it will eventually increase to a "medium" or "large" amount; however, I never gave that notion the respect it deserves.

I got lost in the blog entries about the $20 Challenge and all the creative ways everyone uses to increase their savings. And the incredible amounts some of you have saved. It was like comprehending a foreign language for the first time even though you've spent years in that foreign country!

I realized there is absolutely no reason why I can't grow my savings just like everyone else!

I started with the change and deposited it into a new MM account.

I also dug out the Starbucks card I earned months ago from MyPoints.com and used all but 28 cents to pay for my morning coffee. I'm a Seattle Drip kind of girl, but I can change for a "free" cup of coffee.

While I was in my wallet, I noticed I have 2 coupons for a free drink at Starbucks so I used one of those this morning and I'll use the other tomorrow.

Add $4.20 for Friday and $4.20 for today.

That gets my savings up to $30.98!

I had enough points on MyPoints to order 2 more $10.00 cards to Starbucks and a $25 Wal-mart card. I'll use the coffee cards as I work on my caffeine addiction and I'll credit my challenge savings $4.20 each day I skip the coffee shop for the rest of this month.

I'll use the Wal-Mart card for the little stuff that creeps up every now and then. I'll add those dollars to my challenge savings as I use the card.

Look out new MM account... we should hit $100 before February 1st with all the tricks I'm learning to use to save money!

One of my goals this year is to pay the necessary attention to my dollars to make them work for me instead of against me. It seems like a budget is an excellent place to start and I'm so glad I found a reference to www.youneedabudget.com in another blog entry on this site. I've spent the last 2 days inputting our information and really looking at our spending habits. I see lots of room for improvement.

My DH and I have been married for 18 years and we have 2 daughters, 22 & 15. In all that time, neither one of us developed superior financial skills. Heck, we haven't even developed mediocre financial skills.

We always manage to squeak by to cover our expenses and we've pretty much done whatever we wanted to do. No regular vacations or brand-new cars but we always find a way to do whatever fun activity we or our children want.

Of course, not paying proper attention to our money all these years has led to credit card debt of $14K.

Money, budgets, financial info have always been an abstract concept for me. In my mind money is liquid and not solid. Amounts of money are classified as small (under $50), medium (up to $1000), and large (over $1000). Everything falls into one of those catagories depending on how fat or lean the checking account is at the time. Sometimes the well seems to be running dry, so we save and scrimp a little. Other times the well seems to be full, so we spend and pay little attention to the bottom line. What a scary way to live!

So with $14K in credit card debt and little savings, I'm cranking up the new budgeting software and hitting the road to debt contol!

... a new year with the desire to be in complete control of the debt. It will take patience and a persistent will to gain, and keep, that control. Here's to learning, saving, and taking the first step on the Debt Control journey.