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By Dana Burgess, as told to Gabrielle Karol I live in Graham, Texas, with my husband and three children, whoare 17, 14 and 9 years old. I work full-time at a public school asan "intervention" teacher, helping kids who need an extra pushacademically with reading and math. When I first started racking up credit card debt, my husband wasrunning two businesses, which we co-owned: a store that sold farmequipment and an auction company. The farm store wasn't doing sowell at the time, so a lot of our money was going toward thatbusiness. I had always been responsible for running the household, so when Ididn't have the money for groceries, or for gas, I would just putit on my credit card. And then, occasionally, I would splurge onsomething and put that on the card as well. In three years, Iracked up close to $63,000 in debt. It seems like a lot, butbetween paying for all the household utilities, food, phones andcar payments -- and taking care of three kids -- it all adds upfast! Dana's Wake-Up Call My husband found out about one of the credit cards (there weresix), and he was very upset about the balance, obviously -- hehadn't known that I had accumulated so much debt. And that was justthe tip of our debt iceberg: He didn't even know how much was onthe other cards! Creditors had begun calling the house as well, and that's when Ifinally realized I needed to gain control over our finances andturn things around. I was so overwhelmed and stressed about it allthe time, and I didn't want to be any longer. I had gotten us intothis mess, and I knew I needed to make some big changes, for thegood of my family. So, I decided to get aggressive with our finances, trying to earnmore while simultaneously paying off debt and learning to live witha whole lot less. Taking the First Steps From my work as a teacher, I bring home about $2,900 per month. Iset up automatic payments: $1,500 goes to paying off the cards withthe highest interest rates, and the remainder goes to utilities,groceries and gas. My husband takes care of the mortgage payments,car insurance payments and extras for the kids likebaseball-related expenses for my son, or summer camps, so I'm notresponsible for those expenses. Once I set my mind to paying down our debt, I tried to streamlineevery aspect of my life. I got rid of our second phone line and cutmy gym membership -- I just started walking more for exercise. Iused to get manicures frequently, which I cut out altogether, andnow I just get my hair cut once a year. We used to eat out as afamily, which we no longer do, either. Plus, I started reading a lot of LearnVest articles, and I watchedall the courses, which gave me a lot of good ideas on how to managemy money. I also signed up for email newsletters from a site called5 Dollar Dinners, which sends coupons each day. Baking My Way to Earning More I also started working more outside of my job as a teacher, whichallows me to contribute more money to paying off my debts. I sellMary Kay cosmetics, and I can make between $300 and $400 for atwo-hour Mary Kay party. Not bad! Additionally, I bake cakes for events and weddings. My mother bakedcakes so she could earn money while being a stay-at-home mom, and Iswore up and down that I would never bake cakes. But when I neededthe money, I thought, "I could do that, too!" I sell little birthday cakes for about $25, and wedding cakes for$3 per slice. One time, I sold a wedding cake for $1,500! All ofthis extra money I put toward paying off my credit card debts morequickly. Raising Kids on a Shoestring Budget When I decided to take charge of my finances, I told my kids thatthings were tight, and that they would need to start saving up forthe little things they wanted. I try not to make them stressedabout money, so I won't go grocery shopping if they're with me,because they'll want things that aren't on the list, and thatdoesn't fit with the budget I need to follow. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China Induced Draft Fan , Pellet Screener Manufacturer, and more. For more , please visit Pellet Crumbler today!
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