Inquiring minds want to know...

Be assured that the Lamberts are not starving, homeless or foreclosing, wearing clothes with holes in them (at least not with holes that you can see), or having frequent convos with the repo-man. In fact, even after Mama Kati's grumblings, we still get digital TV and Tivo so that Deo can watch all his shows, and Papa can watch Sportscenter to his heart's conent. (Okay, so after I grumbled I had to stop watching Housewives and Chopped so as not to be a hypocrite). We also still use expensive haircare and cleaning products and eat certain organic foods because I refuse to compromise on some things. So, all in all, we still look the same, and smell the same. We even have a fund for dollar Diet Cokes and coffee and a measly pile of money for monthly fun.

So what's different? We know exactly how much money we owe "The Man." We have started paying it back in large amounts, and we have a small savings account for emergencies! We have an idea of how to start to think about what we want our retirement plans to look like and what kinds of insurances we need for ourselves and our family. We have a budget for every month and we know where every penny goes for the first time in the history of our lives. This means we only spend a pre-determined amount of cash on things like groceries and when we run out we get creative (Slumgullion for dinner). And we do run out. And we do try to be creative. Some months we have "gazelle-like" financial focus (our first month) and some months (our second month) we're more like dodo-birds and fail miserably.

Right! So, duh! Maybe most of you do/have this already. More likely, most of you don't, cause there's a lot of credit cards out there people, not to mention student loan debt.  We didn't. We never did. And paying attention and cleaning up is hard!

Why do I need to be telling you this on our blog?
Well, it's a long story but I 'll try to be short about it. We have been working on our finances for two months now - building up said E.R. fund and peicing together what little scraps of baco-s we can to pay off a part of one of many credit cards. Did I say this is HARD! It's hard because we are spoiled. We have some money -we are not suffering or in need- we just make bad decisions with the money we do have. We like to spend money on things that help us get away from the stress of life (like little trips here or there, retail therapy at the outlet mall, mainly nice, somewhat expensive things we can't afford). Really when it comes down to it - we are selfish. There is no reason why we can't live and enjoy a more simple life so that we can be accountable for the debt we do have and hoepfully, in the future, do a better job sharing our wealth others who depend on us or those really in need. 

Cut to the gym. (We do spend a little cash to work out at the gym while E plays with friends). I am running on the treadmill and watching Public Television, a show on Greek tradgedy, something I know very little about. A portion of the show focuses on Socrates and his convictions: 
"Everyone should be responsible for their beliefs." My brain works in mysterious ways (and that need not be explained, now or EVER) but I get to thinking about how we are digging ourselves out of our secret debt in secret. We don't talk about it, we don't share our story with others - it's shameful. We feel shame. And maybe this shame is part of what drives us to retail therapy, it certainly kept us from taking a serious and total look at the problem in the first place. So really "So-Crates" who was a radical dude, according to Bill and Ted, is really to blame for this blog. I decided not to hide anymore, to be accountable, and to write it down, not just for you all but for us too - to say we did it, to check ourselves, to be true to our beliefs, to have a record of the fun and joy our amazing family has shared for free (or really, really cheap) while we lived this journey together. Once a month I'll write an entry specifically about our financial clean up project the rest of the time I'll share our stories and put up cute pics of E, like these:

One...

Two... Surprise!

Sidenote: This really is all about Socrates and the INCREDIBLE, WONDERFUL, AMAZING BABE-O (who will steal the show EVERY SINGLE TIME). We aren't looking for sympathy, money or free stuff (well free stuff is always good and so is cake, we really like cake and cookies and veggie hot dogs with lots of ketchup).  BTW - what do you think Socrates kitchen looked like? Cause with all this thinking, writing, and Momma-ing my kitchen looks like crap, not to mention my laundry room.

Hey, seriously, what do you think Socrates kitchen looked like? Comment on it.