Today is the first day of the rest of my life. Things have been tight for us ever since I quit my "real" job to go back to school. DH and I have substantial CC debt from a few years of trying to keep up with the Joneses' (and a couple of years of staying afloat). We've been stuck in a vicious cycle and we finally started taking some drastic steps to move in the right direction. In December, we moved from our home (which we could no longer afford) into a "spare" house my parents have - it was a rough move for all of us, but you can't beat no rent/no mortgage. In case I haven't said it today, I love my parents. In January, all of the credit cards were cut up to smithereens. We hadn't really used them for awhile, but it was official. We have been using only cash or debit since then and it feels good. We've been getting our act together and preparing to attack our debt once and for all. We did take a 2 day vacation to Tulsa to see the JoBros (it was DDs joint birthday present from several family members) and it was all paid with cash (and the hotel was free with loyalty program points). So, today I start holding myself accountable - even if it is to a bunch of strangers in cyberspace. Today is the day I become a gazelle - I have 1 year, 9 months, and 11 days until I graduate and my goals are: 1. Be rid of ALL credit card/loan debt at that time (with the exception of my student loans from my current schooling) 2. Pay CASH for my graduation celebration trip in 2011 - we have started working on the budget but I probably won't start putting money away for this for awhile (my income will increase substantially when I graduate - like about 6-fold - so I should be able to whip the cash together in a couple of months if all other debt is paid off). DH has 2 jobs right now and I have one - with full-time school and full-time work, I can't work a 2nd job and still pass my classes (and failing out of school is NOT an option!). As soon as I'm done with this post, I'm writing my August budget and then I'm taking pictures of a bunch of junk (er, treasures) for ebay. So, off I go - wish me luck!