Day 170: No Good

I didn’t want to post this entry this month. I kind of want to beat myself after looking at it, honestly. Here is our debt for this month, including the money we’ve spent on Christmas so far.

So what can we discern from this image?

I am lousy at paying off debt. We have added over $17,000 in debt since June. We have added over $3000 in credit card debt since June. We have added over $2500 of that credit card debt in just the past month. From last month to this month, we have added nearly $2000 in overall debt.

Taking stock in our current financial picture, I think it suffices to say that I am not meant to be a debt counselor. Our balance transfer from our Target card did us no good. Not only did it max out our credit union card, but the Target card is now nearly maxed out again.

We are foolish. We are never going to get out of this debt trap. I’m ready to return my washer and dryer. My husband is using that purchase as an excuse to go out and buy himself an expensive Christmas gift, even though the conversation we had when we bought the washer and dryer was “If we buy this, then we’ll just buy small gifts for each other.” I should have known that he’d want everything to be “fair and equal.”

This is why I don’t let my husband know the state of our financial affairs if we get extra money. He will never know how much of a bonus I bring in. He won’t know how big our tax return is. He won’t know anything about money I’m putting into savings. Is it horrible that I’m thinking about withdrawing our kid’s savings accounts to pay off our debt? I feel like, if I do that and I’m not paying interest on credit card debt, that we can replenish their savings accounts quickly.

Does it make me a bad mom for withdrawing their savings when they’ve earned less than a dollar of interest YTD on either account? I just kind of think that’s the only way we’re going to get rid of our debt. But what if that doesn’t work either? I feel like we’re drowning.

On a slightly less desperate note, I joined Swagbucks three weeks ago and have since earned enough swag bucks for three $5 Amazon gift cards. If you're interested in doing things to earn Swagbucks (which can ultimately be cashed in for real gifts), please click the button to the right to sign up using me as a referral. I also cashed out all of my survey winnings last week so I can put that towards paying off Christmas. It was only about $60, but $60 is better than nothing, right?