A Walk With The Walkers

There we were, sitting in the backyard while the sun was shining down on us and the hum of the blower to the giant waterslide I purchased for our children was making me sick to my stomach. What. On. Earth. When the slide was fully blown up, it reached the top of our second story deck. It was a monstrosity, and it's grandness made me sick to my stomach. To top off the afternoon, our children didn't even like this new water feature. The water was too cold. The slide(s) were too fast. The pool in the bottom was too deep for one and too shallow for another. I had immediate buyers remorse. For about a year, I had been trying to convince the hubby that a playset would be a great addition to our backyard. He wasn't super keen on the idea, but he came around to it about a month and half earlier. We actually decided to have people chip-in for it as birthday gifts to our one year old if they asked for ideas. Well, a month had passed since her birthday, and still, no playset. There...

Recently, Facebook reminded me that it had been 6 years since I marched into Bank of America to make the final payment on our credit card and became consumer debt free. 6 YEARS!!! I remember having such a feeling of accomplishment. I could have mailed in the payment, done it over the phone, or online, but what fun would that have been!?! For that life changing moment, I HAD to do it in person. The teller was not nearly as excited as I was, but in a society where consumerism is king, and having mounds of debt is considered the norm, who can really blame her. If you would have asked me 7 years ago where I was financially, I probably couldn't or wouldn't have given you a straight answer. I didn't grow up in a home where finances were discussed regularly. I do remember my parents and grandparents having tons of credit cards, so when I turned 18, I started my collection. The only good thing that came of this, was that I had enough established credit to qualify for an ARM when ...