Renewed. Revitalized. Reawakened.

It has been almost four years since my last blog post. I don't know if anyone ever read my blog when it was active, but let's just say I'm not holding my breath. But I want to start up again as I've kind of hit a wall and I want - need - to break through. Even if this is just for myself to come and blather on, at least I can feel like I'm trying, and I'm being held accountable in some way.

My husband and I have been married for over five years now and while we've enjoyed a great life (albeit with ups and downs), it has come at a price. A $30,000 price to be exact. Well, to be exact, it's more like $31,260.44. But we'll get to that. We are so far down the rabbit hole of consumer debt that I can't see the sun any longer. We have been in this hole before and we've always managed to climb out, but it just seems like we keep on falling time and time again. And this time, the hole is the deepest we've ever seen.

So, it's time to buckle down and get this sucker paid off. And this time I want to change how we do it and why we do it and what we'll look like when we come out the other end.

We are middle-class by most standards. Average 3-bedroom house. A few fur babies, but none of the human variety. We don't like a crazy lavish lifestyle - we share a car between the two of us, we don't eat out at fancy restaurants or travel a ton. But we do live a rather excessive life - cupboards bursting with food. A basement and garage crowded with stuff. Shelves full of knick-knacks that don't really mean anything to us. Closets full of clothing we barely touch. It needs to change. So here we go...

The Numbers
Credit card - $10,553.57
Line of credit - $13,808.69
New couch - $1,700 (it's slightly more than this, but I don't have a recent bill and we're currently on a no interest, no payment plan for another 6 months or so)
Doors - $1,279.97
Furnace - $3,918.21 (both this and the doors loan are on our hydro bill with a fairly low 3.x% interest rate)

TOTAL = $31,260.44

The order above is the order in which we will work to pay the debt off. The couch will be transferred to the line of credit when it comes time to pay it to avoid an insame amount of interest tacked on to it.

My commitment is to check in at least once a week on the numbers. I want to get these paid down as quickly as possible, but also learn a few lessons in the end. I want to make a budget that we can and will stick to. And I want husband and I to get on the same page financially.

Here goes...