This little piggy went to the bank, and this little piggy came home...

Yesterday, I met up with Steven as he was coming into town. We met at the bank. Steven stayed in the van and watched Little Rascals with the kids (our kids are a NIGHTMARE at the bank...it's like they smell money and suckers and start to hulk out or something...). I went in and opened my own personal "wife" checking and savings account. I relieved Steven from his post and he went into the bank and opened his own personal "husband" checking and savings account. We're doing this. So far it has been refreshing and exciting to move forward with this budgeting method. I really think it's going to work.

I also reactivated my mint.com account (PEOPLE, NEWSFLASH! THIS SITE IS AMAZING! WANT TO BE MORE ORGANIZED IN FINANCES? SHEBAM...OPEN UP A MINT.COM ACCOUNT. YOU'RE WELCOME...) and updated our financial information. It's a little painful to see the credit debt and student loan debt totals, but truth is truth and there's no wiggling out of that death grip--debt is debt. When we consolidate Steven's loans when he is done with school, we might just die from shame. Until then, I will allow the mortification of our debt to motivate us to pay it off. It's crazy because we don't go and spend money on fun outings or clothes or get the new iPhone...we want to pay off our debt and have been chomping at the bit to get going on it. We're just not bringing in enough money. So, I thought we would at least hunker down and really get a tight grip on our spending--even though it's all necessities of life and debt payments, I wonder if we could make our money go even farther. It's also been frustrating for us because Steven hardly sees his paycheck before it's gone. With us having separate bank accounts, we can each take care of paying for a cell phone, gas, and expenses that we normally take care of (example: I usually buy diapers and Steven usually picks up a redbox movie once a month) and feel like there's balance in the spending now--I don't take his paycheck and spend it all by myself on our monthly expenses...he will get to handle what expenses he wants to take care of. Woot woot for less resentment, not that he's ever expressed that but I feel like it might be there underneath the surface.

I also started to inquire about MMI's services. Why not just take the plunge and get it over with? Steven and I were talking about what was holding us back from using debt counseling to help us get out of debt. Our biggest concern is if it will negatively effect our credit. But late payments and being over the limits are also negatively effecting our credit, plus it would be a relief to get the payments down to a manageable amount instead of going without shampoo and baby wash and qtips (toilet paper works, too, people...we're still very hygenic...) for months and months. Lower interest rates are also looking good right now since the majority of our credit lines have 23%-29% interest rates (store cards will rob you blind...).

I am also making progress by saying "No." I have to officially give my first "No" this morning. A lady in our ward that I've never met before stopped by my house to ask me to come over today for lunch. Not going to happen with a three year old and an 18 month old who turn into crazy people when new people are around. I'm just not in a season where that would be either relaxing or enticing to go and do that. Maybe when my kids are older and less needy. Ugh, I am cringing at the thought of making that phone call...