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My New Year Resolution will not be too much different than I am already doing. Under no circumstances will I purchase anything that I can not afford or I do not need When I do go to the store, I will use a list and stick to only what is on my list. I have also learned to say NO to my children when they come to the store with me. I also tell them, No it is too expensive, I am not paying that price for that, we can't afford that right now, you do not need that. I am hoping that this instills the value of not just buying things and working for what you want in them. For me, the hardest thing has been telling people I work with or my friends, No I can't go out to lunch/dinner. All these little things add up to alot. So, with every little bit of extra money I can save by doing all these things, I then put that into paying extra on my debts. I believe that if anything positive comes out of these economic times we face today, it is that people will go back to living on what they can afford. It is not easy to tell people, "I don't have the money or I can't afford that" but I have to ask myself why? Success is not what you have or how much money you make - sucess is how you live your life."

First plan on getting a budget set up. I don't do New Years resolutions, I do goals. I set down before the end of the uear and write down what goals I would like to see accomplished. I set short term goals like getting five or ten dollars, or more if I can afford it, extra when I buy groceries. At the end of the month, I put it in a savings. I also try to add a little more here and there. At the end of the year I have a little extra money, whether it is to pay toward a bill, Christmas, etc. I next will only pay cash in the comming year. If I don't have it, it doesn't get charged on a credit card. The long term goal being, that not only out of debt, but have a comfortable nest egg for emergencies. That is the one goal I am shooting for. If I have a nest egg, then if something financially comes along, I won't be tempted to charge, get loans,etc."

I have chalked out some simple but very important resolution for 2009. I have the reputation of breaking resolution every year but in 2009 I’m determined to follow it. Some of these new year resolutions are the following: - 1. I have a habit of spending too much sometimes. My resolution in 2009 is to stop spending mindlessly. 2. I have also planned to take an additional job. My wife lost her job recently. So, it has become very important to increase my income. Though she’s trying her level best to find one but it’s not that easy to find one in such a bad market condition. 3. I’ll try to use credit cards as less as possible. 4. I have some outstanding debts. Though the debts are small right now but it doesn’t take much time to inflate. So, I plan to pay them off ASAP."

We are going to start the new year on the right foot. We have plans as to how to help control our debt. We have caught up on our mortgage and installment loan for our vehicles and we can now start making smaller payments more often, this will help the principal go down faster as well as the interest be less. We have planned to pay half the mortgage one wk, half the installment the next and then mortgage remaining half and next wk installment remaining half. This will keep us 2 wks ahead of the due dates. We do have a few credit cards with small balances ranging from $200-$500 and we are making payments on those at least 2x the amount due, which is bringing them down much faster, the interest is still there, but paying the extra is helping. We are planning on less income in the beginning of the year with my husbands job slowing down at that time after the holidays. I currently work from home for an online employer and I work when my youngest goes to preschool in the afternoon. I have a flexable schedule so I will pick up hours on the days my husband does not work and he will be here for our son to keep him occupied so i can work extra to help compensate for the income we will be losing. We have almost completely cut out eating out, what money you can save . (*have to add I have lost 5 lbs!!!*) It adds up fast especially with four young boys. We dont even order pizza anymore, and of course our boys were missing it and wondered why we werent, We had a pizza night and I wanted to continue it, but now, we make our own, they love it, they want it more often, I make the dough and they shape it the way they want and top it the way they like, working out really well. We also plan on using our income tax money we get back to put towards our auto loan and put the rest in savings for a cushion and let it grow with interest. There is always something that comes up such as our furnace going out the other day. Just before christmas of course, so we had to have it fixed right away. We are also on the winter protection plan for our electric and gas so those payments are much much lower than paying the full amounts. Before the new year does start I want to add we do not go all out for our kids for christmas. They already have so many toys and we never have spent that much, they get more smaller items and more to open. They also get gifts from family. To sum it up, we are starting fresh for the new year. We have learned alot along the way and have learned from our mistakes and are ready to fix the mistakes and the right choices."

get a free Credit report Check on my report to make sure I do not have any errors, and if I do have errors call the companies to make sure that is corrected. call the creditors to check, make a plan on how I will be able to pay of my debts, and make sure I keep the plan."

I already have a head start on my New Year's resolution. I have begun to look at all options to save money on any expenses that we have. My husband's work is seasonal,so I am the sole provider right now. I started looking at ways to cut back on our bills. I had the business phone turned off and a message to call his cell phone number,that is a savings of $70.00 dollars a month. I am not using any credit cards for Christmas shopping. I am buying just what I can afford to pay for now. I know my Grandchildren will get less this year,but I won't have large charges on my credit cards. I have made this mistake for years and now I am in a really big mess with all the debt. My main New Year's resolution is to start paying off debt and become debt free.I would like to make the coming new year very special and let all my family know how important it is to have each other. We can give so much to each other just by showing our love and spending more time together. We can share this and not spend any money. I can also find more ways to save on the every day cost of living. I have gotten out of the habit of clipping coupons, I always did that when I was raising my Children.I have already started to do that again. I also can stop and think before I make a purchase, do I need this or do I just want this."

One of the main things we plan on doing is not getting any new loans. If we don't have the money for it we don't need it. I also got a better paying job and all the extra that I will be making will go towards our current debt. We have a set amount that we pay out every payday and I will still take that and the extra pay to pay off the debts. As soon as one is paid off that money being used will go towards the next smallest debt and so on. We have plans on doing some upgrades to our cabin and we will not do anything until most of our debt has been paid. With the economy the way it is we would hate to lose anything that we have because of our debts. My husband also works a second full-time job to help with paying things off. I will be looking for another job also (not full-time) We have a goal of having all our debts paid except for the car notes and the house by the end of 2009. We are quitting smoking the first of the year (employers are going smoke free as of Jan.1 which will save us $2400 a year)and trying to maintain a healthier lifestyle to cut down on medical costs."

My new years resolution regarding debt is to 1 open a account with Bank of America they have the keep the change program, so all of my change will go into my savings account. i will not think about the change that go into my savings account. Put 50.00 into my checking account every pay period. to trick my MIND into thinking that if i don't pay my debt/bills that i will be out of a loving home/stressed with my kids there dogs and one hundred fishes to talk my debt down like if my life was depending on it to something that i can afford in one payment to thing like if i don't pay my debt now that when i get older that it would be to much stress on me an my kids will be teenagers then an being in debt when with they need money, items, things that i a bad parent if i don't get things out the way before they start needing that life would be nothing to me to no that debt free is a PASSION feeling. Smile debt FREE ain't nothing like it"

try not to do any unnecessary spending especially things that are too expensive. try to pay more than the minimum payment when paying bills especially credit cards if you have them. Even a dollar or two makes a difference on the balance. Even with utility bills. paying a dollar or two can bring your balance also. turning off lights that are not necessary. using less heat when using your heater whether it be electric or gas. try choosing items that are lower priced in markets and stores. coupons may help too. some stores uses double coupons. be careful with name brand items too if you're on a budget. you clearly pay for the name and not always the product. Slow down on driving because the faster you drive the more gas you use. also those who start off in their car going fast, that uses up gas too. i'm going to do much better in 2009 to get my debts in better control."

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