Hi
My husband and I have been in a similar situation. I have found that whatever the situation, the more control on money, the better. Watching and being aware of every dime spent makes a difference. We were able to revert our situation by getting our finances on Quicken and slowly, but surely making use of that program. We were losing money because of being disorganized at times and wasting nickles and dimes here and there. Stopping that made a huge difference, despite issues with income. The other thing that helps is to make a game out of the situation so it's not so gloom and doom. We reward ouselves for our achievements even if it's just a little thing - like renting a movie, or getting ice cream, etc. We have found that confronting the situation, working our plan and seeing progress is a very good feeling. Much better than having luxuries.
The other thing we've done which is making a huge impact - is finding a channel of income and refusing to deposit it into our checking account. It goes into savings and we don't touch it. We make do on what we earn, somehow. This channel is starting to grow and recently we had car problems that were easily handledbecause we had money in reserves. Besides creating a nest egg (which is starting to build up), it keeps us from having to hit the credit cards in times of emergency.
