Budgets

All the talk over at The Happy Housewife regarding budgets, hits home hard. We have been living on a single income completely since October of 2008, when I lost my job. We were not prepared. Had no savings. SO to say it has been hard is a understatement. We have sacrificed a ton. And on top of all this, we decided to go back to homeschooling our kids. But as he said, we will do what is best for them.
Now my kids don't ask for much. They really are good kids. Even with their flaws, I couldn't ask for better. But it is VERY hard for us to take them to the store and see they want something.. But instead of asking for the item, They ask do we have $5 or $10 for this. It is heartbreaking to say no we don't. On top of all this we put ourselves in deep debt. Not as bad as I have seen others do. But it is not where we wanted to be. When I lost my job, we depended on a credit card...or 2...or 3...or more.. For just your basic necessities in life. Gas,food,some bills, and always running short. I see A LOT of people complaining when they see someone else doing better. And it's sad. I look at it this way. Those people who are doing good. Did it for themselves. And no matter how bad things look. We did it to ourselves. No one made us put ourselves in debt.
Now, the question is.....HOW do I get out of it?
First- We cancel those unnecessary items. Cable--gone Cell phones are next to go. Ok.. well that sums up our unnecessary items. Doesn't seem like much does it..Well we are not ones who decided we needed every new thing on the shelves lol.

Second-Selling things that we really don't have to have. We sold a lot of our stuff before. Now we are selling the other stuff. Our motor home is soon to find a new home(we hope) Now before you say MOTOR HOME!! HOW IN THE WORLD?? Its a 1976 Winnebago, that we traded a vehicle for. We love it. But well tent camping is fine by me. And I think it teaches more respect for nature.

Third-Find more money. My husband really likes me being home with the kids. And I have days I feel I should be in the workplace helping. Many days. I don't like him bearing the burden alone. I do have my online business. And it helps some. But instead of taking 10 years to pay off our debt. We want to hit it faster than that. I do not want to spend the next 10 years worrying about debt.


I am sure there is more I could do. I look for anyway I can to cut cost. And to make money. But these are the main things. I can live without a cell phone, a motor home, cable. I can't live without food, and my family. And my family means more to me than anything. And I am grateful to my husband, who would rather work 14 hours days, to keep me at home with our kids, so we can pay off debt and get ourselves to the place we want to be.