Things you should know about me, Part 1: I'm learning to live below my means, and failing miserably

This month, my consolidated debt dropped below $30,000. It looks overwhelming, but that’s actually a good thing. It was about $36,000 right after I consolidated. Baby steps. Only 36 months to go. I'm trying not to think about how long that actually is.

A friend is trying to convince me to start following the Being Frugal is Fabulous blog. Apparently last weekend she got paid to go buy a toothbrush at Walgreen’s. It looks a little involved to me. I’d probably try it if I had any of the stores that the Frugal lady shops at in my town. But until she starts sending me deals at Fred’s or Dollar General... or I move to a place with a Publix, Walgreen’s, or Rite Aid... or until gas gets below $3 a gallon, I don’t think it’s worth it for me. But I’d advocate it for those of you who live in other places.

For me, I’ll just stick to cleaning and organizing my house. That’s what I did last weekend between the pageant festivities. I found lots of things that had been MIA, like two pairs of black dress shoes that I’ve been looking for all summer. Mostly, it was amazing to uncover all the things I rediscovered that I didn’t know I had. It was like Christmas. I found three things of face wash, a chap stick holder, some brand new deodorant, and two packs of AA batteries that had never been opened. I also found a whole bag of electronics stuff that I didn’t need, which I took back to Wal-Mart tonight.

It turned out to be about $23 worth, which I then used to buy food and AAA batteries, since I didn’t find either of those things. It worked out really well. Too bad I can’t find $20 worth of random stuff that I bought but never used every week.