Too early to become battle weary

Well, it is the middle of January and we are doing pretty well managing the budget maze...I would be lying if I said that we have been to the penny with our budget, but I can say that I took my lunch all week, we cooked dinner at home every night (except for Friday, but that was within our "eating out" budget), and paid all of the bills. Old habits were hard to avoid though- I was so tempted to rob Peter to pay Paul and leave a few bills unpaid like I have in the past in order to make our lives a little more comfortable, but we didn't. A pastor from when I was in college use to say "It's tight, but it's right"- he was referring to his message, but in this case, it is my budget... man is it ever tight- but I like being able to sleep at night.

About a year ago, we didn't have health insurance, my hubby was laid off two-weeks before Christmas (ironically, it was at the same time that we had decided that we were secure enough for me to quit my job and look for one with better hours and better pay)... so there we were, both job-less and without health insurance, with two kids- at Christmas...it really stunk. One night I woke up with serious chest pain, it lasted for about 24 hours before I decided to go to the ER- when we went in, of course they rushed me in, treated me really well- even though I told them I had no money or insurance- fortunately, I was only having an ANXIETY attack but and I was not admitted to the hospital, but the bill was still well over $2000! Long story short, I have put that bill off as long as I could and even though I can only pay a small amount each month, I am glad to be getting it done and that feels pretty darn good.

Each time I pay off a bit of the bill, I feel like I am actually paying a little bit toward our future... debt free (I feel like if we keep on this path ALL debts will be gone within 18 months) and working toward what ever our post debt goals are... We don't have credit cards, but between school loans, personal loans and medical bills- we have a lot in front of us. I know that we can do it if we just keep plugging away.