Numbers are finally up!

I finally did it... I put up my debt numbers.  It's a scary number and I don't even think the DH knows that the debt is as much as it is.  He knows that there is some debt but would probably be very surprised at the total amount.  Although I manage the finances in the house and am well aware of the debt situation, I was surprised when I finally saw the total.  Approx: $39,000!  Oh my gosh.. I feel like crying :(

I tend to freak out about our debt but I won't freak out this morning.  I will stay focused and try to chip away at this debt one dollar at a time.

This morning I feel like I need to write down the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Good

• DH is worked the day shift this week and was home in the evenings which was really nice.  We managed to not go out to eat or pick up fast food for supper
• I participated in a focus group last night.  We talked about local fruit.  It was fun.  And for the 2hr discussion, I made $65.  This will go towards debt.
• I am still selling T and J's outgrown clothes, and have also started selling clothes that I no longer wear.  A little more extra income.

Bad

• Twice this week, I brought lunch to work but ended up buying lunch still, leaving my packed lunch in my lunch bag
• I spent $40 on raffle tickets.  The draw is for a pair of NHL hockey tickets.  I'm not even a huge hockey fan, neither is DH.  But the entire city is excited about the return of the NHL after 15 years without a team.  I got caught up in all the NHL craziness.

Ugly

• I looked through T and J's closets and realized I really didn't need to place a $150 order with Old Navy for new clothes for them.  They have plenty of new clothes, clothes that still have tags on them.
• I sold T's old high chair and some clothing and made a total of $70.  None of that money went to debt repayment.  I can't even remember where the money went.

Okay, I feel slightly better now.

ANOTHER Moment of Weakness ... this time I lost

"Last Chance for an ADDITIONAL 10% off Sale Items!"

I'm such a sucker for those headlines.  It's such a great marketing tactic.
And I fell for it.

I went onto the Old Navy website and started adding items to my Shopping Cart.  Both T and J (DD and DS) will need new clothes for this fall/winter so I thought this would be a good opportunity.  After about 15 minutes navigating through the sale items, I had a total of 33 items in my shopping cart which totaled $353!!  I knew immediately that there was no way I could spend that much money.  So I started removing items from the shopping cart, and tried to only stick with items that I knew the kids would get most value/use of.

20 minutes later and 21 items less in my shopping cart, I went ahead and placed the order.  Total: $150.  I'm still selling T and J's outgrown clothes, so I will make sure I pay this total off this weekend.

Moment of weakness

I had a moment of weakness.  I checked my email account and found 2 emails from Gymboree.  For those not familiar with Gymboree, it is a clothing store that specializes in children's clothing.  I have never been a huge fan of Gymboree but I have purchased from them in the past.  Anyway, 2 emails sat in my Inbox.  First email was an invitation for 20% off my total order (online or in-store), second email was a Gymboree reward for $5 off my next purchase.  I thought that perhaps this would be a good time to shop for DDs next years summer clothes and to pick up some new clothes for DS.  I spent about 20 minutes clicking through pages and pages of clothing on their website.  In the end, I had 11 items in my shopping bag, with a total of $99 (including discount and rewards)  I thought to myself.. Not bad.. 11 items for under $99 which included $11.95 shipping costs.  I whipped out my MasterCard and proceeded to input the information.  I clicked Submit.  "Thank you for placing an order"

Then I realized that on top of the shipping costs, I'd probably have to pay for custom and duties as well since I ordered from a US based company.  That pretty much threw out any savings/deals I thought I was getting out of this order.

Luckily there was an option to cancel an order if it was submitted within the hour.  So I logged back into my Gymboree online account and cancelled the order.

Phew!