Dave Ramsey.
When I was younger he was not yet speaking, but I pretty much figured things out by myself. What he is teaching does work.
After a series of disasters and problems we are again in debt. This is how I am going to get out of debt again.
A new credit card has been gotten, with no interest for a year or transfer fee. I transfered what debt that I could onto it.
The remaining debt will be paid first, excepting that I MUST pay off the 0% card before a year is up. I am going to whack off the higher interest rate card for 6 months, then look at how fast that CC card is being paid off, and then I will know when I have to focus on the 0% card.
As for the household, my preps will help for a bit. No, I am NOT! going to eat them down I am building them up. But, on days when there is no time to cook I can fix an instant meal. This saves us a trip to McDonalds and with a family of 4 a McDonalds meal does cost. Some of my preps include canned stew, which can be opened and heated.
I looked at what I was spending on my weekly grocery trips: pop was a significant cost and so I switched to buying tea bag in bulk, and I now keep a pitcher made. The kids do not like the tea so I got them powdered drink mix which they must fix themselves.
I continue to prefer the groceries that are on sale, and to make meals out of them. Ragu and spagetti noodles and on-sale meat make a good meal for $6 for the family.
I bought inexpensive seeds and planted them: a $1 packet of seeds gives me 4 meals worth of vegetables for a family of 4, and because it has rained a lot I have barely had to water. We had a couple of sweet potatos that sprouted: I planted them and I hope to get 6 for every one that I planted.
I go to the library instead of the book store, and when i drive I try to make several stops to save on gas.
When you have kids, if you have $100 in the savings account you *WILL* see something educational for $99 that will teach the kids something that will benefit them for years to come: it is all part of parenthood. Make up a budget and include this sort of purchase in it and do NOT go over it! I had trouble with this one, LOL.
I intend to be out of debt again in a year. No consolidation, as somebody already said that increases the final total. Instead I was able to put almost half of it on a 0% discover card, which cuts my TOTAL interest in half.
Lastly, you need to have already changed your spending habits. The urge to teach your kids with education stuff is a very strong one and parents often go into debt. We did. But, we had to stop it and you do too.
