I've been taking some action and calling my creditors to set up payment arrangements. Why now? I got my tax returns and I know what I did with it last year — which was pretty much squander it away. I did pay off a lot of debt, but it was too spread out. I wound up right back at square one when I didn't have money to keep my payments up. I don't want to see this money all go to waste.

So far, it’s not. I've been getting some really good terms: $10 payments with less that 5% interest as long as I make my payments. I wish I would’ve done this sooner but I'm glad to be doing it now. It’s such a relief to have the number of creditors calling at 8 a.m. down to 3 or 4 instead 10 or 11!

So far this year we have succeeded on finding ways to save money! I have lessened the cable privileges. Cut out the perks on the cell phone. Spent less money weekly on groceries and gas. I have not used a credit card since December. My husband gave me his credit card, so he hasn't used it all month long! I am looking into changing some insurance policies to potentially save more money. I am happy with our changes.

I got my first paycheck! Whoo hoo! I also got to deposit my financial aid funds. Then I got an almost $400 bill from my daycare that I had to take care of the same day or my kids would not be allowed to return that afternoon, let alone the next day. I hated that I needed to use the financial aid funds for that, but was grateful I had the option at least. I can't work if the kids aren't in daycare! So it became a short debate: Do I take the time off work, or do I use the funds and pay myself back? I used the funds.

Next step is to set up a savings account to put the remaining financial aid funds into and get them out of my checking account. That way: 1.) I'll be earning interest and 2.) I won't be nearly as tempted to use those funds for other things.

I have two weeks of the Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University under my belt. I’m enjoying the class. Each class begins with a review of the previous week’s lesson and going over homework. Then on to the new stuff: We watch a video and then have a discussion about how the material relates to your life. Each class ends with new homework. I’m assigned certain chapters to read from Dave Ramsey's book which correspond with the video we watched in class.

What are some of the leading causes of overspending? An obvious one is trying to keep up with the Jones’s (or Smith’s, or whatever your neighbor’s last name is). You would be surprised at how many visitors to my home are amazed that we don’t own a big flat screen TV.