So I just found this thread, but it seems that I'm with the rest of you. I've decided that debt, not just cc debt, is no longer my friend. DH and I started the year with 6
cc that had balances, 2 personal loans, and a car payment, not to mention both a 1st & 2nd mortgage!
Well, I just decided to put us on a relatively strict no-spending for extras budget so that we can get those cards paid off. Now DH has been asking where we are going on vacation this year, and I have just told him I haven't figured it out yet. The bottom line is that we won't be going anywhere this year, but he'll figure that out, oh about December 31st.
Fortunately we've been saving fairly regularly and have a good sized emergency fund - large enough so that if either one of us loses our jobs we won't lose the house for a year. With the economy the way it is, I am not going to tap that to pay off the bills, just in case. I feel much more secure w/ that money in the bank.
So far I've paid off 2 cards and will have a 3rd paid off this month. Card number 4 will be paid off by September, so that leaves only 2 for 2009. One of them is at 0% for the life, so I'll just pay the minimum on that unless they decide to change it. Also, the one personal loan should be paid off by the end of the year, so that will leave us in much better shape heading into '09. If I manage to stay on track, we should have everything, except the mortgages paid off in a little over 2 years.
I worked our budget so that we won't be penny-pinching, so if something unexpected comes up it won't mess with the schedule. At the end of the month, anything not used for unexpected expenses will get tossed to the cc w/ the highest interest, even if it is only $5 or $10.
It's been so rewarding to see those cc balances drop like rocks! I can't wait to not have any cc bills to pay each month. After all the other debt is paid off, I'll start working on the mortgages. As the plan stands now, I'll have the 15 yr paid off in 7 and the 30 yr in 12.
We do have quite a bit of credit card debt looming over us. Luckily, we just paid off my car so we will have that money to put to a credit card. It's not much($135/month) but that's something I guess. We got into trouble with credit cards while building our house. After getting a construction loan the price of materials skyrocketed(right at the beginning of the war) and the bank wouldn't give us any more money. So we ended up finishing our house with credit card. Not a good idea.
We probably should have just lived in a half-finished house.
We had the hardest time even finding a bank that would give us a mortgage that covered our land and the inital construction loan, never mind more to cover the credit card debt. Luckily we do have a fixed rate mortgage but it will be several years before we actually have any equity. I know it is stupid to be planning a WDW trip(I tell myself that 20 times a day) but we are going to use the tax rebate and won't add to our debt. I looked at the Dave Ramsey website but it seems you have to pay for any real service.
I sure don't have the extra $$ to give to him every month.
What book should I be looking for by him?
They said if I wanted to I could call back and see if their was anything that the account managers could do. I am waiting until I get home from work to do that cause right now I am soo mad!!
I ended up making our own pizzas and boy were they delicious and cheaper!!
