Two steps forward & one step back

So I fell off of the face of the earth for a bit preparing for my two crazy sisters, Dana & Katy to arrive for their visit for 2 weeks & we had such fun !  I did, however, before their arrival, manage to stir up some real excitment (if you could hear me you could hear the sarcasm dripping in my voice) of landing myself in the hospital.  Note :  I do this just slightly over the year mark since our car accident last summer that landed me in the hospital with a broken arm requiring my first ever surgery (hopefully the last, too) !

Long story short I had a boil (never had one before) that got way outta control & was seriously infected & they couldn't deal with at insta care so they sent me to the ER where they admitted me around 1am the Thursday before my sisters were to arrive.  Thankfully it turned out to be a regular old staph infection & I was released from the hospital about the same time my sisters landed here. 

A few weeks later now I have the bills all in from my hospital stay & insta care visit & we are up to about $8,000 in medical bills & no medical insurance (the one thing I truly do miss from Army life).  Thankfully - there is things such as financial aid & generous doctors offices who won't charge interest while I make measly monthly payments till the day I die.

This experience has made me decide that while right now the options are pay for medical insurance but don't eat or do without; somehow we HAVE to find a way to get something in place for suprises like this - preferably medical insurance but even just a rainy day fund just for this medical stuff.

Still, I consider us to be making progress.

What I Have Accomplished in 2011...

it's not much but the only thing I can track that is worth sharing is that since the end of February - I have paid off $450 on one credit card.  The balance itself is still overwheming but just seeing a nice dent being made sure is helping me sleep a little easier.

Gotta start somewhere

So today - for my Mother's Day gift to myself - I worked on organizing our finances.  It seems every few months I do this because I have let statements from this & that bills pile up until they take over my home.  I also started really tallying up our debt - I mean, I have a general idea of everything, and I know it's BAD, but I don't have any way to chart my progress at paying it down so - like the title of the post says - ya gotta start somewhere.

Book Review - The Money Answer Book by Dave Ramsey

I love Dave Ramsey !  I love his straight-talk style !  I love his Baby Steps!  I have read several of his books, but this one is a Q & A book & easy to scan though & look for answers to a particular area of personal finance.  I love how he looks at personal finance as not just a money problem, but talks about the whole problem.  Money problems are  more than just that and he talks about how they affect the other areas of your life.

Anything Dave Ramsey is a fun, inspiring,  & educational read !

Getting MAD !

Since I am MAD - Motivated About Debt ... I wondered just how many options I had overlooked to make our debt more managable and yet start getting SERIOUS about being free !

Here are some things I came up with :

* Selling our gas guzzling Chevy
* Selling our Mazda - which currently I am working on learning how to drive but still not comfortable with it on my own
*Selling hope chest
*Hubby getting a part-time job
*Me getting part-time job (just applied for a summer job & have a interview on Monday)
*Selling baby swing and portable crib

I got here...now what

I  hate debt !  I wish that personal finance was a required course in high school and college.  I never learned much about personal finance at home and while I may have not taken full advantage of the knowledge being offered to me in a high school course - I may have gleaned something from it that would have saved me. 

This all being said, I had a heck of a time when I got out on my own and all I knew how to do was spend.  I got married and already had debt.  We were doing okay though money was tight but a car accident made us think we needed to go out and get a newer vehicle so we did and then proceeded to go on a trip we couldn't afford and our trip was financed by a credit card.  So began our slow decent to the chains of debt.

We then continued to use the credit card just making minimum payment and continued accepting new credit cards and using them...

Fast forward 10 years later and we are ... drowing in credit card debt, a car loan, medical debt, student loans, threats of legal action, phone calls constantly from creditors, continual stress, and trying to dig ourselves out.