The Step Before Step One - Fall Down Go Boom

Or in adult termanology have something happen to you that changes your way of thinking in an instant. (Now it's time for me to be brutally honest and admit things that aren't so plesant) For us that was coming home from spending $300 at Ikea to see that Lightning Mcqueen had gone bye bye. I had been contemplating letting it go back for a while, but that was just a thought. Since working so far away was taking away my income i had fallen behind on my car. I had made a payment online to catch it up and even be a little ahead but since I did not call and speak to someone the payment was applied too late. I wasn't upset, it was more like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I'm not saying that it was a great moment or that it isn't going to follow me around for years, but the feeling of no longer having $600 payments was such a relief. We immediatly got the payment that I had made refunded and bought a cash car. My husband works for a car store so we were able to get a quality car, paid in full. it also dropped the insurance by $50. I was also able to get a job that is right down the street and great benifits.
This is the thing, we had done all of this spending and were riding high but it didn't last, now we have so many monthly bills that we can't afford to do anything, and if things don't change, it will just get worse. I used to live at the mall, serious shopping addiction, now I can't even stand to step foot in the mall. all the people, the kids, the noise, the girls dressed like skanks trying to "ask you a question and try this scrub from the dead sea?" The thought of shopping is exhausting, heck debt is exhausting. The stress, the worry, the writing of the checks and typing to use online bill pay. Yawn, i seriously just yawned thinking about it. Now comes step one. Open the Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey and read it.