$4000 more on our credit cards

We got our tax refund back, and that combined with a little extra went towards paying off another credit card. We have a little more money coming and should be able to put another $2K on the credit cards next month, so I am very happy with our debt reduction. Since we are working against a deadline in May -- we'll lose $750/month in income then -- I'm hoping to have our credit card debt down to "manageable" if not "gone." We will just have one card with a balance after this week. I will adjust the bars to the left so everyone can see our progress.

We went ahead and spent $250 of our refund on a new iTouch for my husband; he's been collecting gift cards since last fall, and had over a third saved that way. Since he's been diligently saving in a savings account, and because we've been paying things off steadily, we agreed to make this purchase. He's a tech-head and has used his iPod of 3 years ago nearly every day and it's getting pretty old and delicate (when I set it down, it turns itself on, etc.). Plus, it means a lot to him. It's important to me to pay off the debt, but it's also important to let him have some cool stuff every now and then. I can hardly get him out of holey t-shirts and khaki shorts from the used clothing store, so it isn't as if he is a spendthrift in other ways.

I'm bringing in $400/month now babysitting and this month we'll pull in around $250 for the guesthouse, so that income is relatively steady. I'd like the guesthouse to be rented out more, but I'm giving it some time. I may start looking for more advertising venues; so far I've limited myself to "free," but I may be able to find some really low-cost things to do as well. I'm considering buying a domain and building a website for it also -- maybe a good project for summer, which is off-season here.

It's amazing how much cutting our monthly expenses -- $40 here, $60 there -- really helps. I don't feel nearly as stretched financially as I was just last fall, and we had more money coming in every month then.