I just stumbled on to your blog today. First off, I applaud your efforts. You really have made some progress in ridding yourself of debt. You mentioned on a couple of occassions though, that you had considered using the “envelope system”, but were hesitating because of the constraints. When my wife and I cut up our credit cards nearly ten years ago, we began using envelopes in digging our way out of debt. It really did make a difference. Every pay period we would go to the bank and withdraw a lump sum. We’d then fund each envelope with a predetermined amount of cash. The envelopes were labled in categories that we’ve established for ourselves. We’d have one for gas, entertainment, food, etc. It forced us spend our discretionary income prudently. Using envelopes ended the impulsive purchasing as we were more cognizant of the limitated funds available for each expense category. As an example, as the cash in our entertainment envelope was finite, we found ourselves having to use discretion when deciding how to spend it. After the money was gone, it didn’t get replenished until the next pay period. As a result we became much better at managing our money, and planning our purchases.