advice from frequently frugal folks

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I have been lurking on the board for a few days. I am married to my high
school honey for 4 ½ years and we don’t have any kids. WE graduated
college a year ago and the job market sucks. We don’t make the money we
thought we would and our spending habits haven’t reflected the lack of
income. We currently rent an apartment but would like to purchase a
home. In filling out the loan application my eyes were widened by the
debt that we owe. $80,000 alone in school loans combined not including
$18,000 in credit card debt. The school loans are understandable to me
and well worth every dime. Plus we consolidated those for 3% interest.
We will be paying for them for 20 years but oh well I wouldn’t change
that. Since we don’t have any kids and will in the future I would like
to eliminate the credit card debt. Each month we pay off way more then
the minimum but I would still like to do more so that in 2 years we have
no credit cards (only 1 with a 0 balance). Also since we have no kids we
have very few bills that have to be paid each month and a lot of ways
that we could be frugal. Anyway, I am on a mission to downsize the
credit cards along with my house so I decided to sell a ton of stuff on
ebay. That is going well but no where near $18,000 is being sold.

That was long and winded; my question is with all the things that you
are frugal about what has the greatest return. My husband is leery about
budgets and the whole 9 yards so I want to do something right now that
will get him to say “hey, this can work and I am on board”. My husband
and I are really bad at denying ourselves quick pleasures and are major
impulse buyers. I just can’t believe the credit cards have gotten to
this point and I really want to change it, learn from it and move on.

I also feel, I’m sure like many others, that money comes and goes
without every really knowing where and how. I need to get a handle on
where the money goes and then control it. Any advice on that would be
great.

Trying to get spending under control,
Tara

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