Overdraft Quicksand

My credit was never good enough for me to get an overdraft on my bank account but my wife is and she does have overdraft. Feels good to have this safety net just in case but when you put yourself into a bad situation overdraft can be like quicksand.

Since we bought our new house we have had a lot of unexpected expenses so we maxed the credit cards and now our last resort is overdraft. We pay it off every 2 weeks but then we over spend going several hundred dollars under $0. Knowing that it's there is not helping us to keep our spending in check and I think in fact it is making us feel better about overspending.

The quicksand has us and it's going to take a few months before we're out!

Fast Food, Fast Money!

My wife and I just bought our first house! We are also trying to pay down credit cards that were high before we bought the house but we didn't expect the extra expenditures that come with owning a house. We had to buy tools, lawn mower, garden stuff, paint, cleaners, accessories, kitchen stuff, more furniture, and on and on.

Now we're house poor and my wife had to get a second job because I'm taking night classes to get my Degree. We have been spinning our wheels for the last 6 months trying to make good payments onto our credit cards. Unfortunately, we keep going over budget EVERY month!

With the debt reduction plan we have in place and our budget to guide us we should have one credit card almost paid off by now. Our major bad spending habit is fast food. We get so tired of cooking (we have not children yet) that we find it easy to pick something up on the way home from work. Some weeks we eat out almost every night!

We are still having trouble adapting to not eating out by buying easy to cook foods. Ok, these are not as healthy as fresh food but it is healthier than eating out. With both of us struggling to lose weight eating out just isn't an option anymore but it's a very hard habit to break being addicted to carbohydrates.