Just a reminder to head to your local Target for after Halloween sales.  Everything is currently 75% off and some great deals are there to be had! You can print some great candy coupons on Target's website to score $.24 fun size bags of m&ms and peanut m&ms when paired with the 75% off.
Don't forget to think ahead when looking at the costumes and bags of individual tubs of playdough.  These are easily transformed into fabulous Christmas presents.  I am planning to create a dress up trunk for my girlies as a Christmas present from Santa!  I purchased 8 costumes and am using them for dress up!
Also, the toy book coupons are a great find.  You can get them in the toy department. My favorite coupon is the $5 off of the Leapster Scout or Violet bears.  They have recently been reduced to $14.99 so just $9.99 after the coupon.  This is a very expensive looking gift for a great price! I admit I got 4 for family members as there are lots of little kids in the family! You can also price match to deals in other circulars and then use Target coupons to score a great deal.  On coupons.com you can find a coupon for $5 off of a Spud Buds Mr. Potato Head toy.  The Christmas Spud Buds are $5.99. So they would be $.99 after coupon.  My girlies love the Mr. Potato Head toys right now so I am off to pick up a few!

 

Getting Started!!

Welcome to this blog.  I am a mommy of twin 2 year old girlies.  I have a passion for saving money and paying off debt and I wanted to share some of my techniques and deals with you so that you can save lots of money for your family too! 
I have worked at the same job for the past 19 years and my goal is to pay off enough of our debt to be able to stay home with my girlies!  Do you already stay home? I want to be you when I grow up :)  Are you not able to stay home either? Maybe we can work together to accomplish our goal or at least give our family some piece of mind along the way.
I know first hand that it's tough out there.  My goal is to save every penny I can and put my savings towards paying off my family's debt so hopefully we can be debt free.  This isn't easy in today's economy, but with your help and encouragement I think we can achieve our goals.

With that said my plan is to bring you lots of great deals, financial advice for paying off debt and laughs along the way!

Our Journey

Our Journey

My hubby and I have been married for over 6 years. We have had individual debt issues before marrying in 2004. We have each done all of the wrong things with money. I have had the electricity turned off, the phone turned off and other things for late payments. At one time I had a horrible credit rating. My husband had one as well. We had to drive 15 year old cars because we didn't qualify for a decent car. My husband was severely delinquent on a student loan of over $30,000. He was being charged over $250 in interest per month at one point. I went through the phase of not opening the bills (If I don't look at it, it didn't come in the mail). I have bounced checks albeit unintentionally. As embarrasing as it is to admit, I even had a credit card confiscated by a store clerk when he called the credit card company because I was declined ( I think they gave him a reward for mailing my card back-LOL).

Why am I telling you all of this??? I want you to know that no matter where you've been, I have been there too and there is hope. You can turn the ship around and live a different life. I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that it's simple and happens instantly. It doesn't. It takes work, but it can be done.

Let me show you the other side of things. At one point in time, we had over $100,000 in non mortgage debt. That's an astounding amount of money to owe. Then the ultrasound technician told us that we had twins on the way-YIKES!!! We realized then that we had to live differently.

We did exactly what I outline here. The steps to getting out of debt and the deals that help me save the extra money to make double and triple payments towards our debt. Since starting our program we have:

• Paid off over $26,000 in credit card debt
• Paid off our $23,000 2006 Chrysler Town and Country Minivan (Payment was $474/mo.)
• Paid off my husband's student loan - balance was $31,000
• Recently made the last payment and paid off my hubby's 2007 Dodge Durango. 

We are now debt free except for the house.  It feels GREAT.  My hubby says that we need to rack up some more debt so that we get some mail.  We don't get alot of mail these days :) I actually have credit card companies begging me to use their cards

My bigger goal now is to save a significant amount of money to move into a bigger house for my girlies who are now three. They need a little yard and a little bit of running around room. We currently live in a town house that is a split level so it's 7 floors, but chopped up (not fun when the girlies were babies as their nursery is on the 5th floor).

I can honestly tell you that while we're not done yet, life feels different now. We don't argue about money. I don't worry about affording my daughters wants and needs. I don't lose sleep because of money. The list goes on and on.

Keep following our journey and please tell me yours. It helps to have a support system when you are going through this. Keep checking in for deals to get freebies and really cheap household things and then come home and make an extra payment to your credit card! Your debt can be gone soon too!