Learning my way away from Interest Payments

I woke up this morning after a pretty awful day yesterday and all I could think was, "I've $4 in my wallet and I'm going to Starbucks!" I quickly corrected that idea and at 5:30am I got dressed, drove to the grocery store and spent that $4 on coffee creamer (for the beans I already had at home) and pancake mix. I made myself some hazelnut coffee and blueberry pancakes for breakfast for the same as it'd have cost for one really high calorie starbuck and I've got mix, creamer, and beans left for several more breakfasts. Horray for ONE wise move!

I haven't done the greatest at addressing comments even though it's something I would like to do more often.

theemptykitchen said...
i totally admire your desire and dedication to living on $12 per day. it's a hard thing to do! but it seems like you're spending a lot on indulgences rather than necessities, which is fine but it's also causing you to go over budget week after week. would it be beneficial to have a separate category for those indulgences? like, set aside $24 for the week (in addition to the $12/day) for things like tcby or starbucks. that way, you don't have to beat yourself up every day. debt reduction and learning to live on a budget is hard. you do not need to add depression and guilt to the mix!

Fortunately the interest payments on the credit cards are going down as I pay down balances and have received a few 0% transfer opportunities. Unfortunately I've paid $1151 in credit card interest in just 4 months this year. The interest on our car adds up to $280 so far this year. The interest we've paid on the equity line is $341. (I'm not going to calculate the mortgage interest) We've paid $1772 in interest payments in just 4 months (that's $443 a month) because of the debt we've so cleverly acquired. That's $1772 that's just gone, wasted, blown; money we worked hard for that we'll never get back.

I can't afford indulgences. I can't afford the luxury of taking it slow. This $12 a day budget is VERY difficult for me but I know that it's do-able. It is going to take work and discipline and blowing my budget several times before I'm able to hard core stick to a $12 a day spending cap but I know it's possible. I know I can do it and as much as I want Starbucks and TCBY and chocolate covered pretzels I cannot afford them.

Right now I'm LEARNING to live like no one else so that later I really can "Live like no one else!"