Sounds like a great start! The forums on here will help on other ideas that will work for you and your daughter.  

 Hi dmc!  WELCOME to the friendliest neighborhood on the net.   IT REALLY IS!   You will find TONS of great advice and info here.  

Also, be sure to check out the related site:  www.stretcher.com

Thanks Rolo!

 It is so great to come here and not feel judged.  I do enough of that myself! 

I cannot believe the wealth (love that term) of information at Stretcher.com.  Wow, I have been reading and learning so much.

Tomorrow is our community garage sale.  I am not going near any of the other sales.  I am just putting my stuff out and also, since it is so hot here, I am going to put out some bottles of water and charge a buck!

Hopefully, make a little stripend!  ;-)  It all adds up! 

As long as you have a plan (and it sounds like you do) and you stick to it (and it sounds like you're doing that, too) then you're on the right track.  There will be ups and downs, as in anything else, but you're going the right direction. 

Thanks KarenTeacher for the words of encouragement.

I wonder if I am the only one here with so much credit debt?  90K is a ton.

I have something else I am excited about.

Like I said in an earlier post, I have been tracking my spending and really tightening it up since March.  Anyway... a guy at my office is debt free and I asked him how, he showed me a budget he has been using since 80s!  Anyway.. he said he would put my finances in the same kind of spreadsheet and today, at lunch we started.

We are not done, but what he does, is break it down by payperiod and he figures out what you should pay in what pay period.  I think he was very shocked when he saw what I had actually done to my self! 

He has reserved any comment and judgement and next monday or tuesday we are going to get back together and see what his thoughts are.  This is a huge step for me, I have never shared that personal stuff with anyone.

So wish me luck! 

no we don't have 90k but we have managed to rack up about 65k besides the mortgage due to life changes etc. We are rolling most of it into our remortage. at least the mortage principle  went down over the last 5 yrs by 30,000.

Thanks MarthaMFI,

Part of my debt is a 55K second I took out on my condo.  I am not upside Down yet.  I am just hoping the economy doesn't slip more.  I mean, if I sold my condo, I would probably still be a little in the hole, but still not upside down.

But then the other 40K is student loan and more credit card.  So we have a second 55K, student loans and unsecured at around 40 - 45K. 

I am concentrating on the highest interest, lowest balance first.  BUT it is that 55K second that is really costing me alot in interest.

Ugh..

I am with you- I have a second mortgage of credit card, student loan and medical bills at 55K and about $31K in credit card- plus 7 kids, one dd age 9 like yours and six others, 1 boy and 5 girls.  We have college costs for one, Lutheran school for 2, and dh is currently looking for employment.  Every day without using credit is good.  The sooner the better, but a lot of the time it is just not adding to the problem that is winning the battle.   Slowly balances will come down with diligence and not contributing further to it.

Let's keep on keepin' on...... 

"...but a lot of the time it is just not adding to the problem that is winning the battle.   Slowly balances will come down with diligence and not contributing further to it..."

Latenightleader,

You said so much. It is so funny.. I got a CC bill yesterday and I was shocked to see some charges on it.  I thought I hadn't made any charges since March. Well, come to find out that I had bought some stuff on QVC and I took the easy payment plan and was still paying.  I called QVC and it was the last, except one more payment next month for 12.00.  My heart sank, but at least I knew it was almost over and that I wouldn't charge any more.

I'm up for the challenge one minute and the next doubting myself, wondering what if something happens, like I get sick, then where will I be.  Should I just chuck it all?  Then I get determned again.  It feels like an emotional roller coaster to be sure!

I won't add to the debt, of that I am sure!!!!  I am so done being a complete idiot!  I know if I had to, that can't be helped, but I won't be watching QVC that is for darn sure!

dmc 

Welcome to the community, DMC. If you peek around in the finance forum, I think you will find that you are not alone with your debt.