In the beginning. . .

Every story has a beginning and mine is no exception. I could tell a sob story about now I ended up with this debt, but the simple truth is that when I want something, I go out and get it. There was no huge misfortune. No past history of extreme poverty. I am simply an American who never waits for the things I want. After all, we have this unending supply of credit available to us, right?

So let's just get done to the details. I am a woman who likes to cut to the chase. Here are the facts:

Debt as of 24 September 2008
House Approx $150,627.96
Home Equity Loan $ 43,807.17
Minivan $ 19,994.41
MasterCard $ 11,258.77
MasterCard $ 3045.03
Unsecured Loan $ 7,388.03
Wells Fargo Loan $ 7589.09
Wells Fargo Credit Card $ 4765.06
Wells Fargo Loan $ 3480.63
Future Trust Credit Card $ 9914.47
Lowe's Credit Card $ 2543.17
Grand Total $264,413.79

Now, at this point, paying off my home is not even in the cards. I pay my mortgage and will continue doing so, but I am no where near being able to tackle paying off the mortgage early. So let's subtract that and see what I am truly tackling. Without the mortgage the total is $113,785.83 I could own a second home for that amount. I have over $100,000 in consumer debt! Completely and totally disgusting and unacceptable!

After looking at this mess, you may be thinking, "How much income does she make?" Well let's just get that out in the open as well. I currently draw $110,000 salary annually. If I were even a little bit patient, I would have no problem paying cash for the things I want. However, now that I have dug this hole, I am beginning to feel the crunch. I make over $100,000 a year and I feel financially tight?!?!? I can not take this lifestyle anymore. I have put into place some practices already that are beginning to show very positive progress in turning this mess around. And I will begin to share those in my next posts. This post is just about the facts.

I do have some savings. As of today, the savings picture is this:

Savings
401K $16,347.95
IRA $ 4,812.09
Online Savings $ 474.24
Grand Total $21,634.28

There it all is, the good, the bad, and the ugly! Next post will be about the first bill I am tackling and how I began to "budget". And I really do use the word budget very loosely.