I've been looking at last year. I realize I have saved $10,500 toward paying off the Ex-Spouse. I have built up my emergency fund to $3,000 and I have almost $l000 in my account to pay the bills that come up on a non-monthly basis (like car insurance, church pledge, christmas, etc.) I also have a CD for $1000, an Ira for $986, and another CD for $686.

I have reduced spending on going out to eat. I have made more home-cooked meals. I have stocked up my refrigerator and freezer and my pantry. I have adopted a one-eyed chihuahua who plans to rule the universe, made a wonderful friend and roomate and lost her, adopted her dog, and got a new roomate.

I realize that I still owe the Ex-Spouse $21K and I have a larger but affordable mortgage. But having saved all that I did, I feel powerful.

I haven't heard from my lawyer with any new demands, so I'm just keeping the money in the bank, where its earning a snippet of interest, and continuing to save. I doubt that I'll be able to save up the remaining 21K in the next year, and I will probably have to finance it through my 401K, but I feel much more serene about everything.

This is the power of frugality. I still have further to go. My goal for 2010 is to write down and put all expenditures on a spread sheet, and to determine what I spent in categories. I'm writing up all expenditures in my check book (I put cash purchases in parens).