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.