Hi, I'm Michelle and I'm an Overspender

by Michelle Vandepas | More from this Blogger

09 Dec 2006 03:22 PM

I've been a working gal all my life. My first job was at twelve years old helping the neighbor lady in her small grocery store down the road. Every Friday I'd proudly get my paycheck and.... spend it.

Years later,as a married woman, I more or less did the same thing. I got my paycheck, and hubby and I spent it. We went out to dinner, to the bars, I got massages, had spa days, and bought new clothes at the trendy spot downtown.

Then Hubby and I adopted a little girl and I quit working.

Suddenly we found ourselves with one income, and little discretionary income.

It didn't stop us though - after all, we were mature, responsible, stable adults.

What did we do? We charged our fun!

I'm almost ashamed to admit it. We just built up debt and rotated credit cards and used bonuses and my occasional book sale royalty check to pay off (mostly) our debts.

Then we decided to spend some real money remodeling our fifties style kitchen.

(You would understand if you saw our red cabinets and yellow tiles).

What did we do?

We did what every other red-blooded American does. We got a home equity loan and charged it! We charged a whole new kitchen.

It didn't take long for that to catch up with us.

We were making the payments ok, but never getting ahead.

The calculator let us know each and every month that we were mostly paying interest, and nothing on the debt itself.

That's when we knew -

We'd have to get enlightened about spending and saving.

We'd have to budget.

Out went the dinners out - except for special occasions; massages, spa days - gone.

Hair cuts went to a family style strip mall barber and guess what? I look ok!

It is working, finally. We've paid off a bunch of debt.... but it didn't happen overnight.

The best advice I can give? If you are starting this process give yourself a bit of time to figure it out.

Don't get me wrong, you've got to stop the spending now, today.

But let yourself make mistakes, you'll fall off the thrifty wagon at first. It'll take time to adjust.

And then, poof! Before you know it, you'll be a thrift house hound and a shrimp on sale freak.

Stay tuned, I'm going to tell you how we did it - and what is working for us.

More from the Money Guru:

Four Step to Budgets Budgeting Fun Money

Learn more about Michelle Vandepas

In a previous life, Michelle was president of a medical manufacturing company, and then in private practice as a holistic business consultant.

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