I kept my bank's overdraft protection as my emergency credit line. I only have a $300.00 limit. I guess I am not sure how we ended with so much credit card debt. I know up till about 4 years ago I was still paying on an appendix operation, When our daughter was born something goofy happened with my wife's maternity leave and short term disability. She never got a paycheck in 3 months. Then when they finally put her back in the payroll system our first check was like $15.00 because she had to get caught up on deductions. There was some foolish spending. We bought a 2nd vacation home. I was trying to put 10% of my income in 401K but couldn't afford it. I was using plastic to supplement the 10% I was throwing in my 401K. I had the right idea about saving money but couldn't curb the spending habits.. LOL I guess what frustrates me the most is I can't afford to take my daughter on a vacation, I can't afford swimming lessons for her, I can't afford child activities. So it makes me depressed to see her suffer for my mistakes.. but its only a temporary thing. She is only 4 years old, I will be out of it when she is 6. With the price of gas and groceries we are ending up short when we have 14 days to budget between paychecks. Around day 8 or 9 the money gets tight. Around day 12 we really scramble to find enough gas just to drive to work. Or dig change out of our couch to buy a loaf of bread.. LOL I guess it isn't suppose to be fun and games being on a DMP. It is suppose to be lesson learner. A punishment. Had I not been on a DMP, I would still be struggling with those minimum payments and I wouldn't be bringing the principle down. I would be paying a minimum of $1,300 a month and $1,150 of the payment would be interest. And no light at the end of the tunnel. Had I got a bailout from ma and pa, or some sort of home equity loan.. I wouldn't have learned a lesson. I probably would have been back up to 30K in credit card debt and in worse shape than I was before. All those late fees, over the limit fees, interest, and overdrafts I paid in my lifetime.. I could have had a nice retirement/savings by now. That makes me want to cry.. 
Message Edited by Pants on 06-22-2008 01:22 PM
Message Edited by Pants on 06-22-2008 01:22 PM