Debt Reducers

[cruisnfamily]

I am posting to this thread. DH and I want to buy a house, but our credit sucks. He owe 14,756 in old credit cards, and a few old cable, water bill, electric bill this does include his student loans which is about 7,500 but it in good standing. Now for my credit a lot of old capital one accounts, a few old phone bill, and a lot of medical bills due to bad kidneys. I guess what am asking my wonderful diser family is were do I begin on getting rid of this debt. We my husband and I agree we were irresponsible in the pass and are now ready to pay back the money we owe. One last thing we also owe my parents about 16,400 for different thing they help us with over the last 13 years. I plan on pay them, but they said after we get through pay everyone else.

Right now after tax we bring home 2500

Rent-600
Water-127
Electric-143
Car-432
Insurance-110
Computer and washer pymt-240 ( be paid off in August)
Dad-100
Cigarette-120
Gas-200
Groceries(2 adults and 5 kids)-320 month
phone-70
dish-106
Total: 2669
we are in the red by 69 a month
Please give any suggestion you have. Please be gentle.

Wow! Your grocery bill is FABULOUS for that sized crowd! I spend more than that and we're only 2 adults, 2 kids. Your rent and insurance seem great too! I'm assuming that's auto insurance? Do you have medical insurance?
1.Can your dish service be reduced to a smaller package at a lower cost?
2.What's the "dad" money? Can this be reduced or stopped temporarily?
3.I don't see any credit card payments listed....Are you paying on those each month?
4.Have you tried applying for WIC? With that income and your family size, you may qualify for stuff like milk/eggs/peanut butter/etc if any of your kids are under years old.
5.The $432 says "car". Is this the payment for 1 car? Or 2? If it's for 1 car, that's a pretty expensive car! Can you trade it in and reduce that payment?

 

[MyGoofy26]

Before it's due, call them up and ask if they'll waive the fee for the year. They might do it to keep you from canceling. That way you can keep the card open to help your utilization but not have to pay the fee.

I should have most, if not all, of my other CCs paid off by the time the Annual Fee is due. Barring any major catastrophes between then and now. That's my goal, to get my utilization low enough that I can start cancelling my sockdrawered cards that aren't really helping me other than utilization. I'll hang onto my oldest account. My actual oldest account is a student loan, so my age should be fine once I start cancelling.

 

[angeladisney]

First thank you everyone it help to see it wrote out. There are a few things I need to tell you all to help understand the bills. First the car payment is something I can't change. My wonderful dad went and got this car in his and mom name for me after my husband wreck our paid off 1996 Neon. Though I appericate it he didn't ask my opinion or what we could afford he just bought and said now pay for it. As far as a a second job I work two already. Matter fact I fixing to leave to go to work at the laundrymat 4-7 and then with my mental challenge girls five from 7-11. so I can't work anymore because I stay
home with DS (4) to save on daycare. My husband the one that smokes and he suppose to be getting chantix to quit. He was working overtime, but the job cut it out last week. He keep the children so I can work evening and few extra shift with the girls. I normal work weekend with the girls either 8-4 or 8-8. The good news is my husband in the union so they are renego. the contract, and he get a raise in July. I will be through with school in Dec 2008 and start teaching. So it just a struggle right now. Well got go thank you for your help anymore advice is welcome.

 

[roadtripper]

I am posting to this thread. DH and I want to buy a house, but our credit sucks. He owe 14,756 in old credit cards, and a few old cable, water bill, electric bill this does include his student loans which is about 7,500 but it in good standing. Now for my credit a lot of old capital one accounts, a few old phone bill, and a lot of medical bills due to bad kidneys. I guess what am asking my wonderful diser family is were do I begin on getting rid of this debt. We my husband and I agree we were irresponsible in the pass and are now ready to pay back the money we owe. One last thing we also owe my parents about 16,400 for different thing they help us with over the last 13 years. I plan on pay them, but they said after we get through pay everyone else.

Right now after tax we bring home 2500

Rent-600
Water-127
Electric-143
Car-432
Insurance-110
Computer and washer pymt-240 ( be paid off in August)
Dad-100
Cigarette-120
Gas-200
Groceries(2 adults and 5 kids)-320 month
phone-70
dish-106
Total: 2669
we are in the red by 69 a month
Please give any suggestion you have. Please be gentle.

I don't want to be the voice of doom here, but you didn't include minimum credit card/old bill payments in your monthly budget, nor your student loan payments. My guess is that the revised number will put you several hundred dollars more in the hole every month.
Right off the bat, I would agree that the dish, the smokes, and the expensive car payments have to go. Is that for one car or two?
Find a PT job waiting tables, sell stuff, watch people's kids, mow lawns, whatever it takes. Good luck!

 

[udsweetpea]

I'm going to add another thing. You didn't factor in a larger housing payment for when you buy a house. If you plan to spend only $600, that doesn't buy much more than $100,000 not including home owners insurance and property taxes.

 

[wwwosie]

Angela,
With all the respect I can muster. You can put yourself in the positive by cutting out the cigarrettes! I know that it is the hardest habit to quit and it might not come easily, but even if you cut your cigarrette consumption in half you would be ahead of the game.

What I am doing is cutting out non-essentials (i.e. starbucks or even 7-11 coffees) whenever I skip one, I put the $2-$3 in a box, it adds up slowly but surely.

 

[roselark]

I am posting to this thread. DH and I want to buy a house, but our credit sucks. He owe 14,756 in old credit cards, and a few old cable, water bill, electric bill this does include his student loans which is about 7,500 but it in good standing. Now for my credit a lot of old capital one accounts, a few old phone bill, and a lot of medical bills due to bad kidneys. I guess what am asking my wonderful diser family is were do I begin on getting rid of this debt. We my husband and I agree we were irresponsible in the pass and are now ready to pay back the money we owe. One last thing we also owe my parents about 16,400 for different thing they help us with over the last 13 years. I plan on pay them, but they said after we get through pay everyone else.

Right now after tax we bring home 2500

Rent-600
Water-127
Electric-143
Car-432
Insurance-110
Computer and washer pymt-240 ( be paid off in August)
Dad-100
Cigarette-120
Gas-200
Groceries(2 adults and 5 kids)-320 month
phone-70
dish-106
Total: 2669
we are in the red by 69 a month
Please give any suggestion you have. Please be gentle.

1. $70 for phone? Is that just a landline or is it a cell phone? Is that just the phone or also DSL? That amount is really high if it is just a landline. I would cut down to just basic service, at least for a while. You should, at the very least, be able to cut it in half, probably more.

2. If you can, cut down to a smaller package on the dish. I know this will depend a lot on your contract, but again, you can probably cut this in half.

3. I am really surprised that your water bill is nearly as much as your electric bill. Our water bill is $140 ever SIX months! Analyze your water use and see if perhaps you are over using. Maybe take shorter showers, reuse towels so you have fewer loads of laundry, turn off the water while you brush your teeth, etc. You can also possibly cut down a little on the electric by doing the same type of analysis. If the kids are old enough, get them involved. Make it a household "Going Green" project. It could be a lot of fun!

You have already said that hubby plans on quitting smoking. This will be a great help, not only on the budget, but also on everyone's health. You will be surprised too at how much better your house and clothes will smell (heh, maybe you will even see a slight difference in the laundry budget). Even if he only smokes outside, that smell still sticks on the clothes and will permeate inside as well. My DH quit 3 years ago and the disappearance of the smell was the first thing we noticed.

My DH and I were in a similar situation many years ago. Our credit was so bad that it would have actually gone up if we had declared bankruptcy. My parents declared bankruptcy twice when I was a kid and I was determined not to. I had gotten myself into that situation and I was gonna get myself out. Well, several years later, both DH and I have great scores! It can be done, just realize it takes time and dedication.

You are starting out on the right path by trying to make the most of your budget. Once you do some cutting back, and when a couple of things are paid off, start contacting the collection agencies that manage those old accounts. Many times you can negotiate a payoff amount much lower than your original debt. You can start paying off those balances and start getting those scores moving in the right direction.

 

[littlelulu33]

copy from roselark
3. I am really surprised that your water bill is nearly as much as your electric bill. Our water bill is $140 ever SIX months!



Ours water bill is more than my electric
I would jumping up and down if I only had a $140 water bill every six months, I would be very happy with a $140 water bill every three months. I live in a town that has our own water and our bills for three months in the winter are around $250 maybe a little less and our summer bills because we water our grass every other day are $500+. When we moved in and got the grass installed and needed to water two-three times per day our bill was over $1200 I about died. It was our first water bill and it was only for two months. I thought we are going to have to move because we can't afford water. We only have DH, myself, and DD2. I also have a front loading washing machine to save on water. I would not want to see my bill for a family of 5.

 

[DiznEeyore]

3. I am really surprised that your water bill is nearly as much as your electric bill. Our water bill is $140 ever SIX months! Analyze your water use and see if perhaps you are over using. Maybe take shorter showers, reuse towels so you have fewer loads of laundry, turn off the water while you brush your teeth, etc.

I just wanted to quickly mention that even though Angela's water bill seems pretty high to me too, you (roselark) have a really reasonable water bill!

I am fanatical about not wasting water (I'm always chasing my dh and ds out of the shower, LOL!) and still we average between $40 and $50 per month. So that's about double your cost. Different municipalities must charge vastly different rates I guess. (We're on Detroit City water.)

Maybe Angela lives in a high cost area?

 

[roselark]

littlelulu33, you do make a good point. I live in a condo (townhouse) and I don't pay for watering the lawn and very little of my condo association fees are allocated to that. Living in WI helps since we don't get the high temps, but we have decent rainfall. I often forget about costs like that since I don't see them directly. (good thing too, because if I had to pay that much just to water a yard, I would replace the grass with rocks! Seriously)

However, Angela indicated that she pays rent. Since it is hard to say if this is for a house or an apartment, is hard to say if there are lawn watering costs involved.

Also, another good point that DiznEeyore made is that they could live in a high cost area. This is one of the reasons I suggested analyzing their water use as everyone's situation is different. There is almost always something that can be reduced if you make yourself aware of your real consumption. We were paying nearly $200 every 6 months but actually found it very easy to cut back once we paid attention to it.

 

[Eeyore's Tiara]

angeladisney

I feel for you. There was a time in my life where there wasn't enough money to go around to pay for everything. My ex husband wouldnt give up cigarettes, or cable, or anything else for that matter. I don't know if that's your situation or not. I would have willingly given it all up to take care of my kids.

It's been a long time since I've had math, but
2669.00
-2500.00
---------
169.00

Unless I missed something, it looks like you are in the hole $169.00 a month. I hope that didn't make you feel worse,

It looks like the non necessities need to go. Way to go on the groceries!!! Great job! Just try to keep your head above water and make cuts where you can. When you have the extra money in August, try to apply it to whatever has the worst interest rate and get it paid off. Good luck!

 

[angeladisney]

Hey Everyone . Thank you for the sugguestion. First, let start by say you all are great. Now I need to clear a few things up so I don't confuse anyone.

I don't smoke just my husband. I hate cigarette smoke.

The water bill high I think because we have a leak in the back bathroom that
the landlord is suppose to fix. Plus we are a family of six and seven in the summer due to my oldest is home for summer.

I plan on check on my dish plan. I think we are month by month not contract I don't know.

I put 169.00 in red but that before I took out Disney Visa payment I use to make which was 100. that I was help my mom pay but she take over for now. We are both on it I have been pay it for a year now she paying it.

My grocery bill is due to Kroger and planning meal is. I always buy 10 for 10
and whatever meat on sale that what we have. I always buy Kroger brand products unless name brands are have an awesome sale. This bill will definitely go up due to all the kids will be home for summer. That breakfast, lunch and dinner. Plus my oldest is 13 yr old boy

One of the main problem is my 2005 Kia Sedona it 432.00 a month but there really nothing I can do about that. You see my dad who a control freak went out and got this van after my wonderful husband wreck our paid
off 1996 Neon that just had 2000 worth of work done on it. I wanted to kill him. Anyway my dad called me told look I got you a van the payment are 432.00 amonth. I will pay for it until Jan 2006 after that you have to pick it
up. He never ask me what car I wanted because I would have got a used car not a new one. He also made me sign a contract saying I would pay the note start Jan 2006. I signed it and cried the whole time, because I knew it was going to held over my head and that the payment was to high, but I also
new I had five children and no car, because the Neon was our only car. plus we lived 14 miles in the country at the time. So I really did not have choice but to agree. Now to be fair my parents they did continue to pay for it for an extra year but the guilt and my dad constant mention of it made me pick up the tab because I do use it. So to end this long thing. I pretty much am stuck with it. Oh yeah the two year they paid I also have to pay back. So I'll probably still be paying on it when my children have children.

My phone bill includes unlimited long distance and DSL . I have to talk to my mom three times or more a day because she lives in Louisiana and I live in Texas with no relatives. Plus she may have breast cancer don't know yet waiting on result. Please pray for her, and my oldest son lives down block with his dad so I always call to check on him or talk to him because he goes over there a lot. Sorry for the run on sentences.

Positive note husband will be getting a raise in July. I graduate in Dec 2008 hopefully teaching by Fall 2009. If contract nego go well for husband another raise end of summer. I try to think of it this way at least we have a roof over our head and food on our table, and the Good Lord always provide a way. My children are health and happy for the most part, and I get to live another day to enjoy being a mother and wif. Thank you all for listening and sharing your wonderful ideas. I will be put most if not all to use. I will post my plan in a few days to see if you all think I am head in the right direction, because I suck at handle money as we can see.

 

[angeladisney]

I forgot a few things the 432.00 is one car only and carsituation explained above.

I have applied for food stamps and told we quailfy for 10.00 amonth

House price around here are between 100,000 to 175,000. I found ahouse that prefect but due to our credit can't even get it. It a five bedroom and two bath on 1.25 acres with improve like tile add on den and hardwood floors for 89,000. I did the mortgage calculator and with nothing down and an intrest rate 7 or 8% is cheaper or about the same as my rent now, but no we had toscrew up our credit and now our paying the price.

I can't get another job as I care for my 4 year old to save on daycare, and I have four other children. In the state of Texas you are only allow five children in a home care so with my children I can't watch another. My husband has the van from 7-3:30. I leave for work at laundrymat from 4-7p and
lately work with my mentally challenge girls from 7-12a.m., and then I sleep from 1a.m.-7a.m. in which I then get up and watch my son. I guess I could give up sleep I wish. During fall add school to all that.

As for credit card bills we have no new credit cards just the old charge off ones that the collections company have. I do not do credit cards anymore. As for student loans I plan on pay all old debt first and put my loan in forebrance just pay the interest until I have old stuff paid. Then I will attack the student loans. I may have failed to mention in two years my husband will be out of sheetmetal appentrinceship school and is promise or has to to make no less then $25.00, but can get more especially since they are renego contracts. He a 2nd year appentrince well technically now third year starting in fall.

 

[udsweetpea]

I did the mortgage calculator and with nothing down and an intrest rate 7 or 8% is cheaper or about the same as my rent now, but no we had toscrew up our credit and now our paying the price.

I hate to tell you this, but there aren't any 100% financing programs out there anymore. Are either one of you a veteran? If so, that's the only way you can get 100% financing. FHA requires 3% down, but that can be a gift from a family member or employer. So, I'd start putting any extra money away for the down payment on a house.

Don't forget to add property taxes and homeowners insurance in the mortgage payment. I'm not sure how much those are in your area though.

 

[angeladisney]

Rebecca06261 First I like to say you make a good point about the cigarette. I
will definitately bring that up to my husband. Now I feel I need to reply about
my priorities in regard to my children. I work my butt off to make sure my children are care for and love. I put them first that why I work two jobs. It really hurt my feelings because anyone that know me know that my children are my whole world. Please try an not judge people. I have admitted that we
have crazy bills. Some of which I plan to use the wonderful suggestion I been given on this thread to correct. I know you were not trying to be mean I just want you to please consider the way you say or write thing. Again that was
a very awesome observation about the cigarettes and believe i will mention it tonite. Thank you for take your time to reply to my post and I hope you will post again if you have anymore suggestions. Please read what i posted about the car situation in the above post that will explain the car i know i can't afford. Bye. Thanks

 

[cruisnfamily]

I have applied for food stamps and told we quailfy for 10.00 amonth

Have you tried WIC? Are any of your kids under 5 years old?

 

[nowellsl]

Rebecca06261 First I like to say you make a good point about the cigarette. I
will definitately bring that up to my husband. Now I feel I need to reply about
my priorities in regard to my children. I work my butt off to make sure my children are care for and love. I put them first that why I work two jobs. It really hurt my feelings because anyone that know me know that my children are my whole world. Please try an not judge people. I have admitted that we
have crazy bills. Some of which I plan to use the wonderful suggestion I been given on this thread to correct. I know you were not trying to be mean I just want you to please consider the way you say or write thing. Again that was
a very awesome observation about the cigarettes and believe i will mention it tonite. Thank you for take your time to reply to my post and I hope you will post again if you have anymore suggestions. Please read what i posted about the car situation in the above post that will explain the car i know i can't afford. Bye. Thanks

I'm sorry your feelings got hurt. I had a feeling that might happen with some of the posts. I think you do an amazing job on your income. I make more than that and it's just me and DD. I think you should think of your situation in temporary terms. You are doing what you have to to survive until you get out of school and your husband finishes his apprenticeship. Your financial situation will be so much better when you're both finished and then you can work your way out of the debt situation and you'll have extra income to save as well! I know it will be hard, but just try to keep your head above water for now - it will be so much better for you in the long run!

 

[littlelulu33]

Another extra payment to the CC. I am so excited I finally see a end to no more debt. We have one CC and one car payment which has 2 1/2 years to go. My goal is by this time next year to not have either. Every extra $$ I pay towards the CC, the car payment is interest free. Then it is time to pay extra on the house.

 

[8 Ears]

This week we were able to pay off $281.39 in medical bills!
If things keep going the way they are we should be debt free by Christmas!

What did you pay off this week?

 

[NCTWINSMOM]

So after repairs to the car and truck we are back on track! We paid off 2 more cc yesterday

Hopefully by the end of this month we can ding another cc in half . I'm so excited to be back on our goal. We're not off by much just a month but I sure missed that exciting skip to the mailbox...