not living within my means

a year ago, i was very serious about getting myself of debt (not that I'm fooling around NOW but I had a better sense of what I could and could not afford). I budgeted every last cent for up to nearly a year ahead of time1 I was two years out of college, at my first serious job (note I don't refer to my place of employment as a career, b/c I now know that I can no longer consider staying in this field for many years to come), and set to clear out my last $4k of (consumer) debt by April 2008.

It is now August 2008, and I've moved so far in the opposite direction, I want to pull my hair out and scream. I am now ~$14k in consumer debt, and what do I have to show for it? Clothes? Shoes? a laptop (which isn't even charged on my own CC, so that's another $2k in debt to my mother!)? I make approximately $10k more than I did last year, and this is what I have to show for it? Although, to be fair, I was laid off for awhile earlier this year, and was given a severance package that was pretty much equivalent to 1.5 weeks pay. Can you believe that? And unemployment benefits took so long to kick in, I was already employed again (by the same employer...long story)! So, that does account for a lot. Plus the rising costs of gas and food surely has an effect, right?

Hardcore budgeting begins right now! It may take me a few days to figure out what I'm going to do, but my budget will be up ASAP. I'm going over my 2007 budget and attempting to figure out what changed.

One of my roomies moved out but that only accounts for an additional $30 in rent (I live in So Cal and pay ridiculously cheap rent to my "landlord" aka the BF's father).

Utility costs are roughly the same. The cell phone bill is slightly higher, due to the fact that I added my mother to my family plan.

The cost of food has definitely gone up, even without the fact that I know live with a BF and dog, and haven't really taken the time to figure out how much I exactly need to budget for food.

Ah...the BF. he was not around last year, so obviously $ goes towards gifts, going out, etc.

Shopping...i avoided it for so long, and now it's my kryptonite!

Time to work on the budget. eesh.

At some point this week...

I should get around to telling a short little background story as to why I am in the situation I am today.

My primary goals at the moment is to calculate just how much I am in debt (specifically to credit card companies) and then figure out what the debt ratio is, prioritize them in order of interest rate and most importantly, contact these companies and see what I can do about negotiating a lower APR....

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. I am actually not sure what I should tell them. Alright, I must formulate some plan of attack. The worst they can do is say no...eek.