'Till Debt Do Us Part

A year ago at this time, every time this show came on, I would quickly flip the channel. I would get all panicky and anxious, my heart would start to pound and my breathing would quicken. I'm not sure as to WHY this would happen- but it was probably a combination of the fact that,
1. we had very little money and I knew we weren't spending most of it in a smart way... and
2. it was easier to just not think about it.
To be honest, I still rarely watch the show, just because it reminds me of 'that time' but on the rare occasion I do...it's not to bad. It actually makes me feel better (ok, I'm a horrible person) but it's a nice reminder that even when I think it is bad, it really isn't. We aren't swimming in thousands of dollars of credit card debt (the BAD kind) and neither of us has a serious spending problem. Our cards (credit and debit) stay on our wall and we live off Lawrence's tips and my cleaning money. We have more money coming in then we do going out, which makes me feel confident. The only debt we do have, is student loans- which I am ok with. (On a side: we just got a letter saying that we were being exempted from $6000 on Lawrence's AB student loans...that is super awesome. Yey us!)

So anyways. I've lectured (haha) about the importance of a budget, and one thing I really admire about Gail (from 'Till Debt Do Us Part) is that she hardcore about budgets.

Seriously, this is awesome!

It's like an interactive budget that does most of the math/work for you. You just type in the numbers and print it off- WABAM! I also HIGHLY recommend her jar system. That is what we do- and since we started, we've found that it cuts down on unnecessary spending a lot.
Cash = Better then Plastic.
It is also easier to follow. When you use your plastic, you cannot see how much money you are spending/wasting. When you have a limited amount of cash in a jar that you can see...you know exactly how much you are spending and you know exactly where you are spending it.

Well, it's time for me to go lay down and nurse this killer hangover...few things in life are better then ice cold homemade (by an Italian no less) Lemoncello...which I'm totally going to make btw...stay tuned for that...

Frugally Yours,
Erin B.