Am I on the right track?

[maat55]

Half-hearted attempts to get out of debt are usually not successful. I gave up golf, cable, lunches out etc. to get out of debt and build an EF.

Today, I have much less taste for consumption and am content with growing wealth. Sacrifice is not as bad as you think it will be when you see real results.

[BlackDiamond]

Half-hearted attempts to get out of debt are usually not successful. I gave up golf, cable, lunches out etc. to get out of debt and build an EF.

Today, I have much less taste for consumption and am content with growing wealth. Sacrifice is not as bad as you think it will be when you see real results.

This is such a great point. I am getting out of debt by selling my junk on Ebay and at various cd & dvd stores and I actually LOVE the feeling of de-cluttering my life. I made $41 tonight by selling stuff I took out of a plastic bin in my basement an hour beforehand that had been sitting down there for over 5 years. Last week, I made $71 selling a box of cds (32 of them) that had been forgotten for years under my bed. I literally had to dust them off to make them presentable. On average, I make $400 per month between cd/dvd secondhand shops and Ebay.

There was a time when I NEVER would have parted with these things but it feels great letting them go and watching my debt decrease and savings increase. I also have ZERO interest in replenishing the contents of those bins. I love music but I am picky about what I purchase now. I love movies but Netflix is a lot cheaper than buying every dvd I want to see.

[maat55]

This is such a great point. I am getting out of debt by selling my junk on Ebay and at various cd & dvd stores and I actually LOVE the feeling of de-cluttering my life. I made $41 tonight by selling stuff I took out of a plastic bin in my basement an hour beforehand that had been sitting down there for over 5 years. Last week, I made $71 selling a box of cds (32 of them) that had been forgotten for years under my bed. I literally had to dust them off to make them presentable. On average, I make $400 per month between cd/dvd secondhand shops and Ebay.

There was a time when I NEVER would have parted with these things but it feels great letting them go and watching my debt decrease and savings increase. I also have ZERO interest in replenishing the contents of those bins. I love music but I am picky about what I purchase now. I love movies but Netflix is a lot cheaper than buying every dvd I want to see.

Good job. Getting out of debt and building wealth, IMO, is more enriching than mindless consumption. Financial peace is worth the short-term sacrifice. Keep it up.

[snafu]

Good on you for making a start to track expenses before your financial situation gets worse. Is your wife supportive of your desire to reduce debt?

I suggest you throw CC & ATM cards in the freezer and totally stop using them. Decide how much you can spend on food, transportation & variables and use cash. Once the money is gone, so is spending in that category.