Our Journey to Debt Free Living Part 4... Setbacks

Every journey has some setbacks now and then. On our journey to being totally debt free, this month has had our fair share of them. We have learned some lessons and been reminded of others we have already learned but drifted away from. First, I went to an out of town conferences that, of course, cost more than it should have. Second, my car broke down, costing over $500 to fix... Third, Christmas... enough said.

Here are the lessons that w have been reminded of this month.

1. Emergency fund... needless to say, this is an area we have difficulty with. We always have an emergency as soon as we get our fund, thus we have about $12 in our emergency fund most of the time.. We have GOT to do better at this.
2. Plan ahead. Again, I did poorly at planning for unexpected expenses and saving money for Christmas. I always have good intentions. Maybe next year I will be better prepared for Christmas.
3. Robbing Peter to pay Paul... this has been a common occurrence in our household and it needs to stop. Because of our unexpected expenses, we are now slightly behind on other bills, causing more stress.

This has been a tough month financially. I expect after Christmas, we will be able to get caught up due to my husband getting extra work during the holidays. Again, my goal it to become debt free. It is a journey for sure, and not an easy one. I know we will get there and hopefully we will do better in the near future with overcoming obstacles.