Debt poll, what do you include in your debt figures

[BernardandMissBianca]

I was wondering what you include in your debt
just Credit cards, CC's and auto, CC, auto, and home, everything including student loans etc.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

I include everything, but I'm rethinking including the house.

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

Everything would be included (if we had student loans that is).

 

[rlovew]

I consider myself to be fairly debt free as the only thing we owe on is our mortgage. If my DH wasn't going to seminary next year then we could pay off our martgage within the next 4 years. We built our house last year. If we don't have the money for something we simply don't buy it. We try to choose things that are better priced but still good quailty.

Rebecca

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

That is great Rebecca!

I am trying to get debt free for the kids as well as ourselves, I want the boys to have a better understanding of finances. Right now they think that if we don't have money for dinner out or a toy we can just go to the machine and get more. Money is so convenient now.

 

[ddavis860]

We count everything, including the mortgage...

However, mortgage will be there for the next 14 years, so it's like a background expense. But the banks and lenders look at your total debt ratio, and assets are included...luckly we have a ton of equity in the house

 

[Lisa]

Looks like we all think alike.

No wonder we all get along here.

 

[hopemax]

I would count everything, although the mortgage I would put an * by it. If I was deciding if I could "afford" something, I wouldn't really count it, it's just there.

DH and I were both lucky to make it through college without needing student loans, so the only debt we have is the $3K I mentioned on the car. Plus we have $2K on a 0% APR credit card. We could pay off everything we owe from savings, but with the no interest, and our car loan is only 4.9%, it's better for us to grow our savings. The plan is to buy a house in hopefully less than 2 years. That's why were moving to Denver in March. We had to find someplace we could afford to do it.

 

[New England Eeyore]

I voted for everything but I don't think of the mortgage as debt. If I did, I'd cry when I thought about how big it is! Especially where we live, no one pays cash for a house, so while technically it is a debt, it's a necessary one. Besides, with no dependents, without the interest on our mortgage I'd get absolutely murdered on taxes!

We're very lucky. No student loans, no credit card debt. We had the car loan but only because we got one of those zero interest ones so there was no reason not to. We do have a home equity line of credit that I use for big things like home repairs but then pay off fairly quickly.

 

[party of 3]

i would say everything too! i do debt ratios at work and we do include the mortgage. but when i think of my own ratio, i don't count the mgt because i'll have it for a long time. so i think of just my cc and car payments. but i only have 2 cc's right now. our main one and my disney one~ that i use for big purchases that i will pay right off the next month just so i can get my disney points!!!!

 

[mommy2mrb]

I include everything (except we don't have a car pmt right now) I am a budget keeper, so I keep track of all our pmts, including household bills, ins, and DD dance classes for each month, I have it all laid out for the entire year so I don't have any surprises from those bills I need to pay a few times a year.

 

[bigbabyblues]

I voted credit cards, auto and home, but that's all the debt we have. Hopefully in about 8 months, all we have is the car and the house, but we'll celebrate that when we get there!!! Our house will be paid off in about 9 years, when I'm 40.

 

[SarahTel]

I used to include my mortgage, but it really got me down looking at such a huge amount of debt. Similar to what it says here, I just include my unsecured debt - the stuff I am actively paying off over the next few years. I think of my mortgage as an acceptable debt - the rest is not!

 

[tinkryansmom]

I too think just unsecured debt - the inital mortgage I do not count but if there was a home equity loan or line of credit out I would count that.

CC
Cars ??
Student Loans if you have them
HELOC
any other loans

I guess I don't really think about the car either though. It's a payment but I don't really think of it as debt. hhmmm... interesting. We might fall into the consumer trap on that one. We leased this vehicle, our first lease ever, so we really don't even own the car, though we plan to just pay for it at the end of the lease. Guess I have to think about that....

 

[hopemax]

I would count everything, although the mortgage I would put an * by it. If I was deciding if I could "afford" something, I wouldn't really count it, it's just there.

DH and I were both lucky to make it through college without needing student loans, so the only debt we have is the $3K I mentioned on the car. Plus we have $2K on a 0% APR credit card. We could pay off everything we owe from savings, but with the no interest, and our car loan is only 4.9%, it's better for us to grow our savings. The plan is to buy a house in hopefully less than 2 years. That's why were moving to Denver in March. We had to find someplace we could afford to do it.

Bumping this up because today we put the check for our final car payment in the mail. And we paid off the CC since the 0% is ending in June. So we have NO DEBT!!!!

And if DH could just get this whole job thing settled, then it's full steam ahead on acquiring some debt...a house! We hope to be in our own home by the end of next year.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Awesome job Hope!!!!! I hope DH's job gets straighten out soon.

Since starting this thread we have reduced our debt buy about $20,000, that includes DH's car but not the house or HELOC.
I paid off my car shortly after this thread too. I was soo happy that day! DH wants to buy me a new car but I plan on putting 50,000 more miles on my Truck first. I'll drive it til the wheels fall off just to keep from having another car payment. I only have 15,000 left on DH's car and that should be paid off in no time.

 

[party of 3]

Congrats Hope!!! good for you to be debt free.
and i'm sure your dh will get his job thing settled soon.

 

[rlovew]

Congratulations Hope!!!! That is always exciting. I am looking at being totaly debt free as soon as we sell our house- we won't buy another one because we will be living in parsonages for the next 20-30 years. Hopefully we can put aside enough to basically buy a house cash when we finish. We do have all the cash we need to put DH through seminary though.

Rebecca

Rebecca

 

[aroyer]

Congrats Hope! I hope your DH finds something soon.

We have reduced our debt by about $20k this past year as well. I can't wait to get rid of more. DH's has lots of school loans- undergrad and grad.

 

[Talking Hands]

Debt free. Only owe current bills like phone, insurance etc that are paid when due.