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No exceptions

$5 and change ... That's how much money my daughter has in her piggy bank. It is also thousands of dollars above and beyond what my husband and I have because of the years we've allowed stupidity to rule when it comes to our finances.

To get to the point where we're making decent headway on paying down our debt, I know what we've got to do: Make -- and stick to -- a "no exceptions" policy.

In the past, I've found that our efforts to eliminate our debt often get thwarted by the phrase, "Well, just this one time ... ," which is often followed by phrases such as, "we'll dine out," "I'll charge these clothes," etc.

If we did, in fact, limit such actions to "just one time," we could still make good headway, but we never do. Instead, making the "one-time" exception just makes it easier to buy restaurant food or to charge clothes or other nonessentials a second time, then a third, and so on.

So my goal from now until the end of the year is not to make exceptions. My hope is that if I can make it through the last three weeks of this year, I will feel more confident in my ability to one day kick the debt as 2015 kicks off. 

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