Another thing weighing on my mind lately has been whether to participate in the challenge and -- assuming I did -- what "rules" I would follow.

I've decided that I need to rise to the occasion and join in all the fun, so for my challenge I'm going to keep track of all the extra income I make -- and save or put toward debt repayment -- above and beyond our household base salary of $8,316 a month. This does not include money I already have earmarked for savings or debt repayment -- just anything extra I put toward these categories from extra money that comes in. This also doesn't include dividends from investments, which are automatically reinvested as it is.

The tricky part for me will be to not blow that extra income -- as I've been known to do in the past.

I could get really optimistic and say I'll also count any money leftover from the basic spending plan at the end of the month (i.e. any of that $8,316 that I don't spend or put toward previously budgeted debt repayment), but I figure there's little chance of that happening -- since it never did in 2007 -- so why kid myself....

Since it's so early in the month, I have no extra income but I anticipate a few extra bucks later in the month so wish me luck.