The start of our new life

Okay so the whole point to this blog is so my family can track its progress as we move from financially shitty to a place where we have money in the bank, bills paid, and are able to use our bank card without holding our breath in anticipation of the dreaded "no funds available" message.

We are a family of four with one income right now (mine). I make $33,000 / yr. M is currently unemployed and looking for work. She may be starting a job this Monday, but it will be temporary, but with a decent pay. She should be making around $30,000 / yr. In addition to our income, we receive $425/mth in child tax credit, $975 / quarter in child assistance, and $180 / quarter in GST. I should be losing that GST soon, though, because my student loan is moving into the government's collections, which means I'll also be losing my income tax refunds. M currently does not get GST or income tax refunds because her student loan is with government collections.

J is 12 and therefore doesn't contribute, but he does take a weekly $12 allowance. K is 9, and her allowance is $9. J & K are getting their first allowance today. We usually don't give them one, but we've been watching A LOT of Til Debt Do Us Part and Gail says allowance should be $1 per year of life, but it is so high because they are expected to buy a lot for themselves. We'll cover the necessities (groceries, after school care, etc) but they cover the rest. When we buy their school supplies, if they lose things or run out of things, they'll cover it since what we buy them is supposed to do them for the school year.

We currently have about $300 in my account, and M's is overdrawn by $180 (and we don't have overdraft). We are up to date with rent and our car insurance and for the summer we have no child care expenses. We owe over $600 to our cable / internet provider. Our cell phones and home phone are up to date, although they are paid late every month (just before a new bill is due, we pay the old off). Our Hydro is sitting at about $300 owing (haven't made one payment, been in this house since May). Our car payment is behind (new car, payment is $423, 1st payment was due on July 20th but it's still not made yet. M has about $10,000 in student loans and about another $10,000 in consumer debt. I owe around $30,000 in student loans and around $1000 in consumer debt. I also owe my mother $800 (have paid $200 toward the original $1000 debt) and my cousin $700 (have paid $1000 toward the $1700 debt). I borrowed $400 in payday loans a few weeks ago and have since paid $300 in interest toward that but have yet to pay them off. I pay $120 biweekly in interest. I have completed a bankruptcy in 2006.

We live beyond our means, especially regarding take-out. When I reviewed bank statements from the past 6 mths, we average over $800 / month in take-out. Over the past year we have lived rent free for 2 months, borrowed 2 mths rent from my cousin (see debt above), had a charity pay two months, and the rest we paid ourselves. That's ridiculous, and we know it. We are trying so hard to get off the take-out, but when we get upset about money, we "treat" ourselves. We go to the movies occasionally, but we've cut back a lot. Our house doesn't have nice furniture or expensive electronics. We bought our computer outright with my last income tax refund. We have no credit card currently.

I'll be posting on a very regular basis, and will not hold back any financial information. If I try to sugar-coat it, I won't get ahead.

We're trying to move to a cash-only system as seen on Til Debt Do Us Part. That starts with my next pay, which is on the 22nd. Wish us luck!