Ambitious Payoff attempt - advice and encouragement

[barbarabini]

So, expecting our fourth child in May and methinks I need to get serious about paying off a law school loan and a car loan prior by May. $27,000 in debt to be exact.

Now, I have ramped up my work in order to make more income.
Last night I contacted my credit card co because I overpaid by 240 - so their are sending it back to me.

Today, I have to return unused christmas gifts for another 100.
I have a few gift cards that I think I will sell to net another 130.00.

For the first time I have listed 5 cds and a few new dvds on ebay and if all goes well will net another 150.00.
I also just listed two hess trucks on craigslist. so, maybe another 40 there.

So, around 650 so far.

Any other ideas - or items that sell well and are relatively easy to pack? I have strollers, bikes ect but think I shouldnt put them on craigslist till the spring. I have tons of played with toys but not sure if this stuff actually sells anywhere. Little people, pet shop, ponys ect.

Any suggestions?

I know that the sale of items won't make a huge dent, the extra work will but any extras will help.

 

[JDX4]

You could try to sell some of your unwanted gold jewelry. There are lots of places advertising to buy gold. I sold a few 10k rings and a 14k bracelet that I no longer wore and I got over $400.

Good luck with your fund-raising, and with the new baby.

 

[AJ1983]

I feel your pain, I am also $55,000 in debt due to law school, and sometimes it feels like it will never get paid off. One thing I find that really helps is to increase your monthly minimum payment if at all possible, you'd be surprised how much difference even an extra $50-100/month can make.

Also, concentrate on what you've already paid off as a source of encouragement rather than think about how much you have left to pay. It won't help you get it paid off any faster, but it will at least make you feel better

 

[disprincessatheart]

27k in basically four months sounds nearly impossible - that's almost $7k per month! I would pick one to work on first (the one with the highest interest). That way you will have two small goals instead of the one giant amount that seems really daunting! I would make plans to have your taxes done as soon as the paperwork is all in and plan to put any refunds directly to your debt. Last year I had recently been laid off, had just finished up my student loan payments (not early just worked out that way) and had 6 months or so left on my car payment. Dh and I decided to use a good portion of our refund to finish paying off my car and the rest paid our dvc dues for the year. I am still out of work, so I think this year we will again use our refund to pay dvc dues and then dh will put the rest towards his car loan. It won't pay his car off, but it will make a nice dent.

 

[prncess674]

So, expecting our fourth child in May

For the first time I have listed 5 cds and a few new dvds on ebay and if all goes well will net another 150.00.

Any other ideas - or items that sell well and are relatively easy to pack? I have strollers, bikes ect but think I shouldnt put them on craigslist till the spring.

Are the CD/DVDs something hard to find? I think you are way overestimating how much you will get for them. I wouldn't expect more than $5 a piece for CDs/DVDs.

Also if you are expecting another child why would you be selling the stroller?

Rather than looking for things to sell, I would start looking for ways to earn money. You have a law degree, why not post that you will do notary work or other small legal jobs.

 

[Marionnette]

So, expecting our fourth child in May and methinks I need to get serious about paying off a law school loan and a car loan prior by May. $27,000 in debt to be exact.

Now, I have ramped up my work in order to make more income.
Last night I contacted my credit card co because I overpaid by 240 - so their are sending it back to me.

Today, I have to return unused christmas gifts for another 100.
I have a few gift cards that I think I will sell to net another 130.00.

For the first time I have listed 5 cds and a few new dvds on ebay and if all goes well will net another 150.00.
I also just listed two hess trucks on craigslist. so, maybe another 40 there.

So, around 650 so far.

Any other ideas - or items that sell well and are relatively easy to pack? I have strollers, bikes ect but think I shouldnt put them on craigslist till the spring. I have tons of played with toys but not sure if this stuff actually sells anywhere. Little people, pet shop, ponys ect.

Any suggestions?

I know that the sale of items won't make a huge dent, the extra work will but any extras will help.

I think that it's great that you want to take an aggressive approach to paying down your debts. But your goal should be realistic and you should have a definite plan in place. You cannot rely on selling off unwanted items and extra hours at work to accomplish this.

To eliminate $27K in debt by May, you would have to either reduce your spending or take in an additional $1800/week, every week, for 15 weeks. This isn't going to happen by selling My Little Ponies and CDs.

I really think you need to take a more realistic look at your timeline.

 

[barbarabini]

The Cd's I seem to be getting 5 for. I am selling box dvd sets - 5-7 cds per set (Lost Mad Men ect.) type things.

I have ramped up my own practice which is elder law, estate, trusts and tax. I am hoping to use all my income from that to pay the debt by May. My practice has been open 5 years but with the "constant" arrival of babies, I have pared down the work I accept.

So I am hoping on a part-time working basis between now and May that I can cover about 20,000 of the debt.

I need to come up with about 7000 from other things so I can keep a decent schedule and kind of wind down at the end of April. So any suggestions on selling other things?

(note - i have accumulated 7 strollers - doubles, singles ride on ect, clip in carriers ect) over the years but I don't think I need them all.

With the advent of our first child, my husband and I took a similar approach and did the 55000 left on his law school loan in 12 mos. Not easy but it was done.

 

[ilovemk76]

The Cd's I seem to be getting 5 for. I am selling box dvd sets - 5-7 cds per set (Lost Mad Men ect.) type things.

I have ramped up my own practice which is elder law, estate, trusts and tax. I am hoping to use all my income from that to pay the debt by May. My practice has been open 5 years but with the "constant" arrival of babies, I have pared down the work I accept.

So I am hoping on a part-time working basis between now and May that I can cover about 20,000 of the debt.

I need to come up with about 7000 from other things so I can keep a decent schedule and kind of wind down at the end of April. So any suggestions on selling other things?

(note - i have accumulated 7 strollers - doubles, singles ride on ect, clip in carriers ect) over the years but I don't think I need them all.

With the advent of our first child, my husband and I took a similar approach and did the 55000 left on his law school loan in 12 mos. Not easy but it was done.

It took you a year with not kids to pay off $55K in debt. How do you think you can pay off half of that in one quarter of the time with three kids?

 

[DISdreamin']

Go for it!!! Get creative with selling things - Craigslist stuff you don't need that is just taking up space. Maybe you won't get all the debt gone, but less is still less! Kudos for giving it a whirl, no matter how it turns out.

FWIW, we paid off a lot of debt last year (killed off the car loan) and it felt so, SO good to be done with it. I also remember how darn fine it felt paying off the student loan (DH didn't have any, but I had LOTS). Ah, great feeling.

 

[punkin]

It is rather hard to make suggestions without knowing your income and expenses.

 

[Traveliz]

It took you a year with not kids to pay off $55K in debt. How do you think you can pay off half of that in one quarter of the time with three kids?

I suspect both the poster and her husband make much more money than they did prekids. If she thinks its in the realm of possibilities then maybe in her circumstances it is.

Good luck to the OP.

Liz

 

[barbarabini]

OP here: Good point on the kids. They are variable expenses.
While the fixed expenses have decreased (mortgage, car ect) the variable - i.e. what the kids need and want have decidedly increased. I will need to think about that more. i.e. Last night, the 8 year old decided she wanted piano lessons.

We are not going on a big vaca this year b/c of the baby coming so, hopefully we will a save a little there. i.e. no flying to disney.

Now, that said, my Dh brings home about 2.5 times what we made when we were having our first. My income is the real variable here and what I intend to use to payoff these loans.

Ah, how do you eat and elephant....one bite at a time...the difference ...I would like my meal to be finished by May.

I am going to give it the old college try. If I fail, well at least I may have knocked off one of the loans. In the meantime, any good ideas or luck that other people have had with selling extras - i'm listening.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

I would list everything you're not using on CL. In my experience people will buy just about anything. I also do listings so people can search and find everything I have listed (a lot of people will then purchase from multiple listings making me more $$ ) Do take good pictures and put out good descriptions of the items - it makes a world of difference.

Good luck!!

 

[akcire]

I would think you would make much more money doing temp work than you will selling items (but then I haven't seen what you have to sell). My husband is always getting offers to do legal temp work, but he doesn't want to be a contract monkey. Not even for extra money. You could also cover court calls for other people or look into being an adminstrative law judge. I know a couple of people who are alj's for the tollway authority to cover their country club dues.

We blasted away my husbands loans years ago by exercising some options.