Today was my birthday and we tried to celebrate as cheap as possible! DH gave me breakfast in bed, some face wash (wouldn’t buy it for myself!) and some candy, oh and lottery tickets!
I had a great time a work. They did it up nice with lunch, gifts and a cake.
When I got home, I had left a roast in the crock pot, so we had that with mashed potatoes and corn. Then we had the leftover cake from the office.
The entertainment highlight was free tickets to the local community colleges production of Once Upon a Mattress. My neighbor is the director and gave us comp tickets, and my daughters’ piano teacher was the lead. She did great and it was so entertaining.
Then I fell off the wagon and picked up White Castle after the show for the whole family. I did have a coupon, so the splurge cost $16.00. Hopefully tomorrow will be a no spend day!

There is a neat website that has special blog giveaways a couple times a year. It helps the bloggers get new traffic to their sites and the commenters get a chance to win all kinds of goodies. Being that we are of a frugal mindset, simply commenting to win a gift card is easy and cheap! Go check it out and don't forget to sign up for www.cutupthecards.org's giveaway!

www.bloggygiveaways.com

Well my friends, I have a new baby!! Yep, its a ..... blog!! A few months ago I entered a contest to win a blog of all things. My very own, really own it (hence the .org) blog given to me by Heather at Desperately Seeking Sanity! Did you know you can make money with these things? And it was FREE, so why not?? I will still be here at "home" visiting and writing, but hopefully you will come see the "baby" and tickle it under the chin, and hopefully it won't spit up on you (I am VERY new at this!!) Feel free to subscribe, so the latest entries can be emailed to you! And all suggestions will be appreicated, except from the cranky people who hate it when other people move out into bloggy land!! (I know you are out there!)

Most of the things I have blogged about so far have been my story up to this point, so most of you know it, but I hope to include sooo much more about my life, new ideas, contest, receipes, etc!!

So please come visit

http://www.cutupthecards.org/
Thanks my friends!!

There you go, all the cards are cut up! Seems like such a tiny pile compared to the HUGE amount of debt on them!!

DH and I went round and round tonight. I guess we made peace with this weeks paycheck. I have BEGGED him to go grocery shopping, but to no avail. But he did say he will take DD3 to get her glasses this weekend. That will help greatly and I won't have to justify the cost.

I'm still working, working, working! Hope it will help us make a dent! Things at home sure get messy and crazy when I am gone, and dinners sure can be a challenge. I told DH tomorrow HE has to make dinner!

So, DH is talking again. That is nice. We still are at an impasse on money and etc. I will cut up the cards, and we will pay them off. This should be fun! He says he will put me on a $50 a week allowance for gas and food. I told him once I filled the tank in the van, he would starve. He said okay. I don't think we are seeing financial harmony here.

On a better note, we are using the Six Flags passes again tomorrow. And DD3 is going back to school on Thursday. I picked up an extra day at work starting next month too! That will help with the bills! This week etc I will be working 1/2 day Friday for someone, then Sat, Sun and Mon and Tues. Gotta figure out what to feed the family for dinners, cause obviously we won't have much money for this.

One store has a sale on Hamburger Helper and DH HATES it!! But by golly my friends, it is CHEAP and stretches for a family of 5. I think this is something I will definately invest in. Throw in some salad and viola! Let you know how it goes!

So the husband is still not talking unless it is to yell about something. I can understand his anger and I am waiting for him to calm down.

I guess I didn't fully disclose everything. DH always had access to see what we owe, and to whom, he CHOSE not to look at it. He did'nt want to know and I forced him to know. That makes him not happy. (Well, that and the amount we owe.)

We are in $55,000 of CC debt, plus we owe around $8800 for the paperweight (DH's car) in the garage. I pay our bills on time every month, we still have credit left (unbelieveably) on the cards, our home is safe, and our credit ratings are very good. That said, the dangers of having $55,000 in unsecured debt is daunting.

Some ideas I have had for the "plan" he wants me to make to get us out of debt are>
1) I have asked for more hours at work. I don't think it will happen, so I am still on the hunt for a FT job somewhere and I have tweaked my resume in hopes I will get more calls!
2) If I get a m-f job, then I can apply for a PT job for eves and weekends.
3) I like the fact that one person on the blogs talked about how she "settled" her debts with the CC companies, offering them 30% less than she owed to settle and close the card. I think this is awesome, I just don't have the money to offer this. But this might be a good thing to save up for to help close maybe one of the cards.
4) Let go... and just cut up all the cards.

Obviously, if things continue exactly the way they are now, we just have to tighten our belts, find more things to sell, and do the snowball effect of paying off the smallest and hammering on the larger ones as we go along.

Any other thoughts for "the plan"???

This is off Yahoo's home page. Very good info from a website called Divine Caroline. Check it out! Good common sense!

http://www.divinecaroline.com/article/22145/52070-20-healthi....

Stay tuned. He told me I "owed" him $30 for something. I just turned and looked at him and said "We are in debt $55,000, I don't have the money". Well, yes, I blindsided him I guess. I had'nt planned on saying it this way, but it is how it came out. He asked how I (hello, yes, I) got us into so much debt. (No WE here). Then he asked how I plan on getting us out of debt. I should have a full time job (yes, but no one will hire me!! I AM trying!!) And he guesses HE will have to take over paying the bills and I said NO, WE should handle this together, like it should have been long ago. Anyway, initial conversation. He left, probably to go buy beer, cause this is how he deals with things. At least no "D" word so far.

I have been carrying the responsibility of this debt myself. I am going make my husband listen to how much we owe. He chooses not to know, but I am tired of doing it alone. This could mean divorce for him. Seriously. So lets see if I can do it before the end of the week.

I have been making my list for our 4th of July celebration. I already have beans, and eggs for the deviling. The list is still long. I am going to try a new pasta salad. I was quite unimpressed with the prices though. 2 packs of OM hot dogs for $3.00, tomatoes .99 a pound. No one really has hamburger on sale! Whats up with that? One store in town has a $10 off a $50 order, so I will probably go there. It is always a crazy madhouse on special days before a holiday though!

Here is the link to the Ziploc freebie. It is from Clean Home Journal. They want you to sign up for their free newsletter too. http://www.cleanhomejournal.com/offers/July2008/?hs225=chj&h...