FightingSplurging

Wow! I dint realize that it’s been a year and half since I have logged on. I have been very busy paying off debt. I did get both of my cars paid off which does feel good. Right now I am working on getting my three month emergency fund. I do have enough to buy a good used car but I didn’t want to wipe out all my savings at once. I have fallen off the loop a little and rack up 1200 on the credit card, but I will have it paid off next month. It’s great to be back and I’ll update soon.

with this free trip to orlando-in which i know i will spend money- and these two future holidays, i am having a hard time attacking my debt. i keep telling my self 'just wait till january'. yes i know that probably isnt the best idea, but all i know i can do is keep my spending to minimal and try to keep to a buget.

I have a very large extended family and Christmas is one of those holidays I love and also dread. I love the family time it brings but I can’t stand the useless spending of gifts that are given just so a person can say that they gave you gift. I like to give gifts to kids but I know they will only like it for a few months and will just go it to the closet. I try to tell my family and friends to just buy for the kids and that I don’t need anything... mostly b/c i am not in a finical position and also will feel obligated to get them something in return. I do love Christmas and the meaning but it defiantly has turned into a consumer buying holiday and that is sad.

I had my 401k turned off earlier in the year because I was following Dave Ramsey advice of getting out of debt. But luckily after carefully watching the market and realizing that I was loosing out of my employers match contributions, I turned my 401k back on mid summer. Now I am glad that I did because market jumped back up and to the Dow did hit 10000 again..well at least for a little while and I did see profit of 35% of my investments. But if the market does go again I figure I still a long time before I will ever need it.

My dad recently contacted me about a vacation that he and my step mom’s family were going on to Orlando. They had made the reservations and bought the tickets. Unfortunately for her, my step mom’s brother had a surgery go wrong and wasn’t able to come on the trip. They then offered to bring my family and me to come along. At first I was very excited. But after a few days, my anticipation for the trip faded away. Yes, most of the trip was already paid for, but I am in no real position to go out of state on vacation. Once food, gas, and gifts from Disney World, this will be very costly to me and my family. I also have to worry about expenses in December. I have to buy tags for my two cars and Christmas gifts for my kids and extended family. It is going to be very hard me to budget this trip and maybe just cancel it. Luckily, I still have some more time to think about. Heck, I might just put it on a credit card.