Finance 1 OH 1

Every body's finances are different. But for the most part, it comes down to one simple equation- What you make minus (-) what you spend equals (=) what you have to save for the things you want later on. Things like vacations, children's college funds, retirement... food. I have to say that I really am set on being debt free by the end of the year. Looking back over the past year, we made enough money that we should have been able to pay off a bunch of things that are still sitting in the "to be paid" file. Last years idea didn't work... throw the bills up in the air and pay the ones that didn't hit the floor. Not my best plan. This year my ideas are pretty basic.
1) stop spending money I don't have.
2) get rid of any bill that has accrued more interest than the original principal.
3) start saving every month.

See, the thing is, Mark and I make enough money that there should be something there at the end of the month. Unfortunately, we usually end up on a Mac and Cheese menu. Then we get so tired of the Mac and Cheese when the money comes in we splurge on something expensive.
This is problem number one.
Problem number two... we have been on different pages when it comes to the important purchases and how we are spending money. I want to see if this year we can pay off all the creepy little bills that we have here and get down to the House, Car, Insurance, and the Utilities... uhhh and my student loans that are in the process of being deferred until I get a full time teaching gig.
I am certain this year we will get this under control. We only owe on 3 lines of credit... less than $10,000. If we do it right we can get out from under this. I am setting up my budget, and sticking to it. Then, whatever money is left over at the end of the month, whether it is $500.00 or $0.05 it will go into savings to pay down the rest of the bills and start an emergency fund.