Debt Reducers

[jennyf2]

WOW-what a great thread!! Ive been reading for awhile & finally decided to jump in! I recently paid off my cc ($7000) I have my emergency fund set up! Now I'm on the phone with Wells Fargo to see if they can lower my interest rate for my car! My only other debt is my car, I'm currently renting a townhouse so no house payment--but I've been saving for a house (hopefully in the near future)

Thanks for all the great suggestions so far

 

[NCTWINSMOM]

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm not going to give up. I know we aren't living beyond our means. I just have to figure out how to get the bills on a system. I've been juggling late payments for so long it is insane.

Late payments was also eating us up before we started. After figuring out why things were tight (eating out way too much, junk from WM, etc) we got on board with DR started an emergency fund and things have gone so much smoother. We had to use some of our emergency fund this month to pay one CC before we got hit with a late payment but to me that allowed the emergency fund to do it's job! The funny thing about that was the CC company changed our pay date to an early date in the month. Guess they saw what was coming...a paid off balance or loom and doom to the CC company!!!

Just hang in there, it takes finding your rhythm and then the results well they are simply amazing!

Keep us updated I've found lots of wisdom in this forum and it feels good to help each other along during this life altering expereince! :

 

[seashell724]

Hi everyone!
Well, I am in my mid-twenties and my husband and I paid off our debt except for our home. YAY! You can do it!

Recently we have decided that we really want to give our savings a huge BOOST while still doing things we love. Unfortunatly, we both have expensive hobbies. However we are going to cut back and find cheaper ways.

I don't see us getting much higher paying jobs in the near future. Plus, when we have kids I will probably want to stay home. However, we will need a bigger home because ours is really tiny. So, our plan is to save, save, save so that we can have a big down payment which will equal smaller mortgage. When I think of how much we will have to save it seems unattainable. Especially since my own personal rule is that I want to have a liquid amount of savings in case of emergency.

This board is such an encouragement. Especially reading about other cut backs people are making. It really inspires me. I have to keep reading this board to stay on track.

Here are some ways we save money:

1. I take the bus to work. My husband normally walks. (Lucky for us his job is close by.)
2. We have two vehicles but only register the van during spring/summer for when we go camping and road trips. We use the car the rest of the time. Both are used vehicles.
3. We do not have cable of any kind. 2 channels is not a lot but really, it isn't that bad. I buy seasons of tv shows on DVD to watch over and over. This was a big change when I moved out since my parents have a million channels plus movies, but I dealt.
4. We do not have a landline only cell phones. When we moved into our redone house we realized there was no phone jack! We never got to putting one in and have a buddy system on our cells that allows us to phone other cells in the province w/o paying long distance. Which helps alot because hubby's family is out of town.
5. We buy a lot of organic food (NOT cheap) but the good thing is that the meat comes in big quantities so it lasts for a long time.
6. Make big pots of soup/chili that last a long time.
7. When we paid off a loan we had that money automatically taken out of our paycheques to go into our savings.
8. I just yesterday started delivering flyers around our neighbourhood. Easy to do in summer and the money will add up to about an extra $700 a year. Excersize, flexible around my work and money! Woo!
9. We get gas at a local grocery store that gives us $ amount coupons to use in the store each time we buy gas. This is based on how much gas you buy so in summer when we use the oversize van this adds up!
10. I dry all of my clothing on a line outside in the summer.
11. We have a tiny garden we use in the summer.
12. We have a couple older appliances. It is amazing what you can find at a good thrift store. Good stove for only $60 after our other one broke down.
13. Find people that are handy and can do home repairs on their own for you.

Still, in the winter our heating bill is OUT OF CONTROL. We did get two new windows in Oct. which has helped a bit but not too much.
I get off the band wagon and start to SHOP shop shop. Not good. I did leave my credit card behind for a while but it didn't seem to help much. I used to be the saver and my husband the spender. That has reversed now.
I think I will have a garage sale this year to get some extra money.
ARG. We still need so many ideas to begin to be able to save money

 

[NCTWINSMOM]

We live like college students partially because we're cheap/QUOTE]

I prefer the word...creative!

 

[Chicago526]

What really helped us was using Quicken to track where everything was going. After doing that for a month or two it was easy to see where things were going and where we needed to cut back. I think I downloaded it off their website for around $20.

Ditto! Between Quicken and online bill pay via my bank, keeping track of where all our money goes is a breeze! It makes it easy to look ahead, and figure what bills I can pay now and what has to wait until the next pay check. I can "pay" bills online but not have the bank send them until pay day, so I never forget to send something out and because it goes right out on pay day, they are never late either (I also have a paper fileing system incase my computer crashes). I was never late before Quicken/online bill pay, but this makes it much easier.

Quicken also lets you run reports. In about 2 seconds I can tell you to the penny what we spent on groceries last month, or any other catagory. You can easiliy compare expenses year over year. I can tell you were paying more for food over the same time last year, for example, due to price increases, but that we are paying less to heat our home this winter since natural gas prices have come down a bit.

I also have our debt listed in Quicken and can see over time how paying on it consistantly has brought our balances down. In one glance I can tell you exactly what we owe on what card, what our interest rate is and when the next payment is due.

You can also set up your budget in Quicken, and if you go over budget in one catagory it will alert you, so you know not to spend any more money in that catagory that month (of course nothing's stoping you from spending anyway, but you can't claim you weren't aware of it!).

At my bank, online bill pay is free. Quicken does cost money but honestly it's worth the investment if it helps keep you organized and on track. If it helps save you from even one late fee and interest rate hike, it's more than paid for itself!

 

[Disneymom4123]

Count me in

We had over 30,000 last year now were down to 5,000

 

[stitchlet]

Would love to join!

I just read all 20 pages of posts (very slow day at work today ) and I am so inspired to get started on eliminating my CC debt once and for all.

I'm taking the first step and returning the 4 things I just got from QVC, and cancelling my outstanding "waitlist" order, so that when it comes back in stock, I won't be getting it!

Thank you everyone for sharing your situations and accomplishments - it's such a great feeling to know that I'm not "the only one living like this!"

 

[StephMK]

Count me in

We had over 30,000 last year now were down to 5,000

Ok, do you mind sharing tips what helped you get to that point? I've seen others post about paying big amounts in a relatively short period of time. How, if you don't mind me being nosy & inspired?

Thanks to the poster that reminded me that paying any balance off should be inspiring. I was feeling very down about the long road ahead but need to remind myself to plug away anyway.

Congrats to those finding extra money in their budgets, every little bit helps!

 

[POOHLUV69]

Count me in!

I'm going to concentrate on CC debt, with the way the companies are raising rates for no reason, I feel they should be the first to go. I'm going to start with the smallest balance and then move onto the one with the highest interest rate and work from there.

DH was unemployed for 2 months so I had to charge a little bit, but now that he's back to work I don't plan on charging anything else unless it's an extreme emergency. Any overtime pay or bonuses I make are going to go to those CC bills.

 

[rbramblett]

I am in a very similar situation. Lots of debt and a wonderful hubby who has no concept of the stress of paying the bills. I have just run across this site and it has encouraged me to start "snowballing" on our debt. Checked out one of Dave Ramsey's books and have created a spreadsheet. I know we have a loooong road ahead, but I don't want to be up all night worrying. It helps to know I'm not alone and we can get through it!!

I've read all of the posts on this thread...sadly, I found this website to begin with back in 2003 when I was planning our last (hopefully not last!) trip to WDW...we live in Alaska, so it's hard for us to plan anything outside the state, since we would have to pay for 4 airfares, which isn't cheap!!

Anyway, we moved to where we live now in 2004, and due to a lot of upheavel in our lives, the move, new schools, new jobs, changing jobs, me not working full time consistently, deaths in family, we racked up some BIG bills..I am tired of being in debt, and as I type right now it's 4am so obviously it's bothering me enough to write this. I need encouragement and support, and I figured if I joined a group like this it would help. My husband doesn't have anything to do with making sure the bills get paid other than donating his entire paycheck (which is a biggie) but I am always stressed trying to rob Peter to pay Paul.

We have a massive amount of cc debt, way more than any of the posters have mentioned here, more in the $45k range...not to mention two car loans + 4 wheeler loan. Also a small JCPenney bill for about $400. The one car loan is less than $3300, so that's good (at this point that sounds low to me) and our truck loan we owe $7600 on (it started out being about $22k so this is good) I just feel like there is no hope at this point, but I'm trying to be positive.

I went from a 64/hr month job (I job shared) to a full time job, so that helps a lot. I'm getting paid on Friday, this will be my 2nd paycheck! I'm very grateful to have gotten the job that I have, my pay isn't high, but I have great benefits, including free tuition (which will come in handy in a couple of years our daughter graduates from hs) and retirement, leave, medical, etc.

I've already cut out two gym memberships, downgraded cable, and cut off other monthly expenses, but I know that I can do more. I've cut out eating out, although we just attended a wedding this past weekend and we stayed at a hotel for a night and ate out a couple of times. I have a lot of inventory from former direct sales businesses that I used to do, so I have been posting on Craigslist, although I haven't done Ebay, just not sure what to do there.

I would love a nice, simple easy spreadsheet that can show progress as we tackle the insurmountable debt that we have to face. If any of you want to personally email me with any tips, hints, advice, etc. please feel free!! tkpowell@mtaonline.net
I'm also on Yahoo Messenger as: spicyinalaska or akcardsender

Thanks so much, and hope to hear from some of you soon!!
Kelly ; ))

 

[jakenjess]

Count me in

We had over 30,000 last year now were down to 5,000

That's fantastic! I'd also love to hear your debt-reducing ideas. You're very inspiring!

 

[akmom]

So...just found out we have to get a new furnace so now we are looking at an expense of at least $3700!!!

 

[SpaceGirl]

We have a massive amount of cc debt, way more than any of the posters have mentioned here, more in the $45k range...not to mention two car loans + 4 wheeler loan. Also a small JCPenney bill for about $400. The one car loan is less than $3300, so that's good (at this point that sounds low to me) and our truck loan we owe $7600 on (it started out being about $22k so this is good) I just feel like there is no hope at this point, but I'm trying to be positive.

Kelly

Don't think you are alone with your credit card debt being higher than anyone else that has posted. Some may have higher debit but are not ready to admit it yet.

You did, so now you are working on getting rid of it.

I'm proud of you because there may be others that think..."Oh my debit is so much higher than these people they can't possablly know what I'm going through."

What you did was help someone else that feels even more helpless have the courage to start working on getting rid of their debit.

Please stay positive.

 

[Disneymom4123]

Steph the way we did it was my Dh got a huge raise he went from making 40,000 a year to 78,000. It was totally unexpected as he is only 27 but we were very excited! The reason we still have the 5,000 is of course my dh car has been having a million problems and of course it seems as if everything in the house is breaking now. But now that everything is back on track we plan on applying huge amounts each month. Also from the stimulus payment we will be getting in may we plan on using it all toward debt as much as I would love to use it for other things!

 

[2manypets]

So...just found out we have to get a new furnace so now we are looking at an expense of at least $3700!!!

Sorry to hear that...it always seems just when you have extra money or are coming out ahead, something expensive needs to be repaired or replaced

We need a new roof immediately

 

[akmom]

Sorry to hear that...it always seems just when you have extra money or are coming out ahead, something expensive needs to be repaired or replaced

We need a new roof immediately

It's so frustrating isn't it?! Sometimes I just want to scream!!!

 

[jenm2878]

Kelly

Don't think you are alone with your credit card debt being higher than anyone else that has posted. Some may have higher debit but are not ready to admit it yet.

You did, so now you are working on getting rid of it.

I'm proud of you because there may be others that think..."Oh my debit is so much higher than these people they can't possablly know what I'm going through."

What you did was help someone else that feels even more helpless have the courage to start working on getting rid of their debit.

Please stay positive.

I agree. DH and I don't have credit card debt but we have $80k in student loans between us. I keep reading about people with a couple thousand in student loans so sometimes it feels like we're the only one's with a balance so high. I know there are others, but most people don't like admitting it.

 

[Handbag Lady]

I find this thread uplifting when I need help or a nudge to keep reducing the debt.

So far, I am on track to pay off one card by December!

I just got a statement from my other card, and Providian (wamu) is raising my interest to 31.99%

How insane is this? This card started out at 3.99% (not a limited offer). It was raised bit by bit over the years.

I have no choice but to try for a small loan from the credit union. I can't possibly pay it off within two years at that insane rate. I called them and there is NO reason given, not even based on my credit history. My credit rating is still good. My other option is to just close the card, per Providian, but I know doing that will hurt my credit score. Not going there. The credit union has a special for 5.7%, so I have an appointment to meet with them so see if this is something I can do.

Thoughts? Anyone else in the mess?

 

[JoanneNC]

I find this thread uplifting when I need help or a nudge to keep reducing the debt.

So far, I am on track to pay off one card by December!

I just got a statement from my other card, and Providian (wamu) is raising my interest to 31.99%

How insane is this? This card started out at 3.99% (not a limited offer). It was raised bit by bit over the years.

I have no choice but to try for a small loan from the credit union. I can't possibly pay it off within two years at that insane rate. I called them and there is NO reason given, not even based on my credit history. My credit rating is still good. My other option is to just close the card, per Providian, but I know doing that will hurt my credit score. Not going there. The credit union has a special for 5.7%, so I have an appointment to meet with them so see if this is something I can do.

Thoughts? Anyone else in the mess?

Curious - will they NOT apply the increased rate if you do close the card since they listed this as a "option" Because if so, and your credit rating is still good - I wouldn't worry about my score as much as I would worry about an insane rate of like 31%.

 

[TarzansKat]

I agree. DH and I don't have credit card debt but we have $80k in student loans between us. I keep reading about people with a couple thousand in student loans so sometimes it feels like we're the only one's with a balance so high. I know there are others, but most people don't like admitting it.

I know how you feel. DH's student loans never seemed like an issue to me, that is until we had DS, and we both lost our jobs! All of sudden, I thought, why oh why didn't I pay more of those down when we had so much disposable income and no kids!?!? Hindsight...always 20/20. Now, we're both working, so we're able to budget for extra payments. DH's original loan was over $45,000, so I totally feel your pain. We've been paying on it the minimum consistently, but this year, I got very aggressive about paying down. I belive our balance is now around $16,000; so it can be done. I also took some great advice off these boards by realizing that money sitting in our savings accounts was earning us less interest than we're paying on the loans (the highest one is 8.25%) and although it took me a little out of my comfort zone, I withdrew a lot to pay some of the smaller ones off. It is doable, and you will get there. It can be very hard, but totally worth it!