Money and a House

So, I really, really, really want to buy a house. The trouble? I spend money like a wild fire. I don't even have anything to show for it most of the time either. James is my complete opposite and that is the reason we have kept our checking accounts separate. Even though he pays most of our household bills, he still finds a way to save money. I love him and evny him for it. I know I drive him crazy even though he never says anything to me about it.

It is time for me to stop spending. Here's my plan... most of my bills are paid automatically through my checking account so we are going to continue to let that happen. However, after all my bills are paid, I've bought groceries and put gas in my car, I have to write James a check for the remainder of the money. Yep, that's right, no more extra money in my account. Trust me, I'd die without a little bit of free money. To compensate for that, I am going to limit myself to $300 in CASH a month. Oh Nelly, that's the part that is going to be hard. I have to budget out what I want to spend my money on again and relearn to tell myself "No". I have to learn that I can't buy absolutely EVERYTHING that I want. It scares me to think what I've already taught my little woman about earning something instead of getting right away.

My motivation for all this is going to have to come from constantly reminding myself that I want to buy a house, and before the year's end. If we buy before the end off 2009, we will get the $8,000 tax credit. I think that is more than we owed total last year! James has awesome credit but mine is still suffering a bit from when I went through my divorce. So in order for all this to work out, we need to pay off about $3500 in my debt to bump up my credit score and save some money for a down-payment. Holy moly do we have our work cut out for us! Actually, holy moly do I have my work cut out for me!

For obvious reasons, my husband has absolutely no faith in me. But if this little plan works, we could have a new house by Christmas and an extra $8,000 a few short months later. My car lease is going to expire next summer. That $8,000 will just about pay off the balance. A new house and a paid off car that I love?!?! I am totally game for that. I think I'm going to have post little sticky notes all over my house, car and wallet to keep myself on track!
~Andrea