the truth

There is only one way to do this, so I am just going to jump right in and be honest.

Here goes.....

We are $116,000 in debt.

I can't believe I just admitted that and yes, it really is true. That does not include our mortgage, which is another $153,000.

We are an honest, hardworking family with a decent income. We are very modest. We do not eat out, we do not take vacations, drive expensive cars or have lots of nice things. So, how in the world did we get here?

I could spend all day writing you a novel of reasons. Plenty of things that might seem to justify our current situation. Plenty of things that might even make you feel sorry for us, but that would not help anything.

The bottom line.....we have planned poorly (or not at all) and spent beyond our means. That is the real reason why ANYONE is in debt. It's not unfortunate life circumstances, it's people who are not willing to take responsibility for why they are in the position they are in. And as long as you are in denial, your debt will keep growing until you simply can't make your payments anymore.

Living paycheck to paycheck with nothing left over at the end of the month has become our life. It's stressful, frustrating and scary. There is no fun in life when you live this way.

We don't want to live this way anymore!!!!

Both my husband (Dan) and I have known for a long time that we desperately needed to make a change. We knew our way was not working, but we were just not ready to deal with it yet. Well, we are ready now.

Starting today, life around our house is about to get really "interesting". I am prepared for it to be one of the hardest things we will ever do, and I am sure it will be, so that's why I decided to start this blog. I want to make sure it's all written down, so some day, when we look back at all we have accomplished, we can remember what it took to get there.

Dan and I want to keep this blog updated as often as we can. We will share will you the intimate details of our financial situation and our life. We really are a very average American family that I would imagine a lot of people can relate to. I hope this blog is a way for us to stay accountable and I hope it will help others who are struggling the same way we are. I don't want to sugarcoat anything...I want it to be real. I want to share all the real life things we will go through to accomplish getting out of debt.

I am sure we are going to learn a lot along the way and I KNOW that financial freedom will only be the beginning to what we will gain.

I hope you check in often to see what we are up to.
love
love