Aha moments

[strawberryfire]

while, i knew that things wernt looking good, but hubby didn't quite realise or i the extent of our finances till this morning when we did an updated budget, the lightbulb moment has arrived, and its a little sad, the only thing i can be gratefull for ( aside from the love and health of my family and friends) is that it happened on the first day of barrys holidays, so we know not to spend up big as usall,
Does this count as a bittersweet moment?

how did your aha moments occur? have things picked up?
just being nosey, but its nice to know we are not alone.

[Jerseygirl]

My aha moment-there were actually a few.
First one came when I paid off my $320 per month car payment when I already had almost 100,000 miles on it. I did the math and with a $5,000 down payment and 4 years of payments I paid over$ 21,000 for a $17,000 car--that's when I said never again. My next car was $3,000 and 12 years old.
Second one came when I realized that even though I was making payments every month my credit card bills weren't getting smaller-I thought everyone paid 20 % interest. WRONG, I tore up my cards-all but AMEX-and spent over 6 months making huge payments, it disgusted me to send my entire check and I swore never again would I do this.
Third came when we decided to buy a house and I set the goal of having $20,000 to put down. I knew that I needed out of the apartment-I was really not happy paying someone else's mortgage, so the date was set that we would be out in 18 months. That meant while paying rent, and his child support and alimony and living expenses I needed to pull over $1000 a month out of the budget each month. I did not think it was possible. We do make decent money, but tightening the belt does not even begin to describe it. It was worth every minute of the "do we really need it?" I learned a lot about myself and Dh and a lot about what we are capable of. Things are still tight-repairs, upgrades on the house, lots of small unexpected expenses-but I wouldn't trade it for anything.