Light Bulb On!

So, I have never blogged before, but I feel like this journey needs to be documented. For readers and most importantly for me, when I get that shopping itch and I just "need" a new pair of shoes, I can look back and remember all of the sacrifices my family has and will be making to reach our goal of debt free.
So let me start by saying this. I used to be obsessed (seriously) with paying bills the moment I got them. I had notepads, spreadsheets, I even had a bag that was attached to me 24/7 that I called my "bills bag" It was a cute Victoria's Secret tote that was my second purse. I had some credit cards, but they were all paid in full WAY ahead of time. I had never received an overdraft or late fee in my life, and I was proud. I was 21 when I had my first child, got married (Adam), got pregnant again and bought our first house, dragging my poor hubby along for the ride. oh you know he loved it :-). So here we are going on our happy new family journey when it happened. Adam made fun of the bills bag and called me bag lady. I know it was a joke, but that bag didn't hurt anyone. It had kept us on track and on budget and gave us the ability to have good credit and o live within our means. After that the bills bag and its contents were discarded in the back of  my closet, while I attempted to be less type A, and to relax a little. Oh i received a bill? i'll put that on the counter and pay that later, hey let's go shop! credit card approval? why not, let's go out to eat, sure we can afford to finance something else. This was my new attitude and mama was finally fun. I was getting caught up in the "American" way of spend spend spend and all financed so what great way to extend on that idea? well of course a New Car (in the price is right voice) I was the cool mommy with the brand new Lightning Mcqueen red 4 dr Civic Si, with all the bells and whistles and it's awesome (sarcasm here) $570 payment. we also had another car with a $400 payment. So that put us at 5k in bills every month including daycare and home expenses. Mommy and Daddy worked so it was all good. The first time we had an over draft, it hurt, oh i cried about it and promised to make changes, got the Dave Ramsey book, Total Money Makeover, read about half of it, put it in the closet. It happened again about year later, but it didnt seem to hurt as bad, then it became a normal part of life. I got a new job with a very long transit and 3-4 tolls a day, and that added up quickly, i was basically working to afford to work with travel expenses and daycare. It really hit me when I had to miss my son's first recital and asked my mother in law to volunteer in his class because my job wouldn't let me take off. I sat on the other end of the phone tears pouring down my face as my husband held his phone in the air so I could hear my son sing. This was the day I vowed that things were going to change. Working full time so far away and always being broke just wasn't worth it. Luckily thanks to a great friend, I was able to get a job close to home, like literally right down the street, so now I am able to attend some things. But I'm still sitting at a desk all day making money just to pay bills on debt and have nothing left because we chose to not be smart with our finances. I want to have another baby, but I refuse to do it if I can't be home with my children. I'm not going to work to pay someone to take care of my children. So the Total Money Makeover book was dug out of the closet and so begins our journey to being debt free.