Many years ago when I was struggling with unemployment after a long illness (a bit like now!) an old man I know gave me some good advice after listening to all that had happened. He just looked at me and said

"Just start where you are and do the very best with what you've got"

Looking back is not going to help. Getting started is. I plan to list each little things I do to become more frugal and debt free each day here.

Yesterday:
- I stewed a huge amount of fruit that I got on special which usually would have gone bad if not eaten
- I did not renew 6 domains that were about to expire which saved $60
- I gave DS a haircut, saved $28
- canceled all automatic payments that were going on to credit cards

I also spoke to DH about how stressed out I am about our finances. I will hear this week about the job and once we know that we will sit down and review the budget in detail.

First thank you for the welcome, I really appreciate it a lot

Well I took a big breath yesterday and added up our debt totals. We have almost $60,000 in unsecured debt to pay off. I've had a few tears and now it's time to get on with the job at hand! part of me wants to explain it all, but suffice to say most of it is a result of job loss and a sickness crisis. A year ago we had less than $10,000 debt.

Anyway I want to look forward, not backward from now on.

Yesterday I rang the tax department to tell them I can't pay $500 a month and they agreed I can pay $100 a month for a couple of months till I get work again. I am waiting to hear back about a job at the moment.

I was given a beautiful little moleskin notebook by my daughter (she knows I would never buy anything that extravagant!) and I am going to use it to keep in my purse and track my daily spending.

I've been reading lots of blogs and feel quiet motivated that we can do this!

The time has come for me to get my act together, stop lurking and worrying about finances and start holding myself accountable. I have a truckload of debt that needs to be paid off, a mortgage and a retirement to plan for.

I could live very frugally if it were just up to me. I'd be happy to live on 'beans & rice" by candlelight to do this quicker, but DH is not at all that way inclined so it's going to mean compromise.

The first thing I need to do is find out exactly where I stand, what is overdue and how much I owe specifically. So I'll track down that information today and get it posted here.

I can't wait to get started and see those debts dissappear!