It's not like me to get real personal. I've shared that I have kids, but not much about them... and I doubt I ever really will. Stay with me on this one. I feel like my cyber friends are my real friends, but really how well do you really know anyone? I'm not willing to put my kids out there and you'll never see a picture of them. I don't "knock" those that do share more about their kids as I do what works and makes me comfortable and others do the same. I can't say if posting about kids publically is good or bad. It's a personal choice.

When I became a REALTORŪ I did not put a picture on my business card. I know that most real estate agents do, but I just felt really silly doing it and do I really need everyone to know what I look like? I since realized that future clients really like to see who they are dealing with before they meet you in person and now I have a picture on my website but still not my business card, I just can't do it. I still feel silly having it on my website, but I felt like I had to make the plunge and do it... It's not a "glamour shot" or even a professional photo, just one of me looking like I normally do! I get a laugh out of peoples pictures and then meet them and they look nothing like their picture.... either they are years older or a Pro took the picture and it's had major air brushing (don't get me wrong, I could use some air brushing).... Even the picture I use here on my blog is kinda incognito with sunglasses and such. It's how I really look, and yes I always wear sunglasses, okay not at night, but definitely during the day. I'm just one of those people who is sensitive to the sun, I burn easy too! (now I'm hearing "I wear my sunglasses at night, so I can, so I can... remember that 80's song!)

So my point is that I am a really private person. I fight with this when I write. There is so much I want to share and talk about, but I balance sharing with maintaining privacy for my families sake. When I first started my website I was shocked at the emails I received, both with what others would share with me, a complete stranger and with how my comments could be interpreted. I am lucky that I have not had any truly bizarre issues, but I am mindful of what can happen... I am putting my thoughts and my budget plan out there to the world, literally and anything can and will happen. Having said this, this is a big day for me as I am going to share a very private part of my life. I feel like it's a confession of sorts, but not in a bad way, at least I don't think so.

Here goes. For the past two years I have spent a huge amount of money to have another child. This is the only area in my life where I would ever consider racking up my credit cards. My "story" started when I went to the hospital to have a "normal" "easy" "quick" (you get the picture) test done. The test took all of 5 minutes. I went home and life was normal. Almost exactly 12 hours later I was being transfered from one hospital to another via ambulance and this started a 6 month battle against an infection that left me unable to get pregnant without IVF. Had the ordering Dr. remembered to order me an antibiotic or the performing Dr. not lied that the instruments did not have latex (I'm allergic) none of this would have happened. This was one of those times in life where anything that can go wrong did go wrong. Basically the infection destroyed both of my fallopian tubes. One tube was removed as it was filled with infection after 6 months of antibiotics, the other was lost with a ruptured ectopic. This was just last September and as horrific as it sounds, the rupture and surgery were nothing compared to loosing the baby, that broke my heart, the surgery just "broke" my tube. After this I went on to have two more early losses from IVF, (the last being right after my husbands car accident by the uninsured motorist, two weeks ago). I'm not done yet. I will keep trying, but at what cost I must ask myself.

And here is where my question starts. Are there any really good reasons to rack up your credit cards and go into debt? I want to say yes. Having another child would be worth paying down debt for the next 100 years. I promise you I would never look at the child and say "you were not worth it". I can also imagine using your credit cards to pay for health care of a family member. There is really nothing I wouldn't do for my families health and safety wise. Money is just money. Easy come, easy go. You can always make more.

I used to be a very strict no debt, don't spend more than you make, suck it up, it's your fault you are in debt, kinda person. Having started the No Excuse Budget and thus hearing others stories has changed me. Having gone through this trying time in my life has taught me so much. I am a lot less judging and although I really feel like I can budget with the best of them, and I love my No Excuse Budget system, I also know that I can learn so much from others and that the No Excuse Budget is and will continue to grow from all of this. I still contend that we must be responsible for our actions and that there is No Excuse for not having a budget, but I understand that life throws curve balls and that we must adapt. There is trully nothing we can not overcome and there are no worthy excuses.

On another note, traffic to my website has grown a lot in just the past few months. What is especially noteworthy is that I have done next to nothing to encourage this. I have done no advertising. I have been spending all of my time focusing on making money to fuel my "have a baby addiction" so I was really surprised. The number one search term was "make a budget" and "survive a recession". This worries me. I've made it very clear that I think we are in a recession, at least in certain areas and I think more people are thinking the same way. I'll be adding a page to cover these topics on http://www.NoExcuseBudget.com in the next few days. In case you were wondering, the old terms that brought me the most visitors were "free budget worksheets" and "how to make more money".

So here is my question to all you die hard budgeters and frugal friends... is there ever a good reason to rack up your credit cards? Please share with me your thoughts...