Debt Reducers

[Luvdancink]

I submitted my taxes on turbotax today. When the refund comes it's going straight to the big bad credit card. I can't wait.

~Kristy

 

[FirstTimertoDiz]

I also e-filed my taxes today; we are using most of it to complete the renovations on a new bathroom that we started constructing next year. Ever since my son was potty-trained over a year ago, we have needed that extra bathroom, so we have made it a priority to get finished. All other projects will be on hold, however for now.

Well, looks like I am going to have to dip into the emergency fund- dh's windshield was shattered this week when a rock hit it on the highway.... This comes only a couple weeks after I raised all the deductibles to save money on insurance! Oh well, I will just keep babystepping.

 

[mommyof3grlz]

Our income tax refund, if we get one is going straight to the mastercard bill. Can't wait to see it go bye bye!

 

[DearDaisyinDurham]

Well, it's Monday again, and I hope everyone gets off on the right foot this week to work on their goals. This past weekend was one for me where I started to put myself in the right mindframe to be more budget-conscious. I cooked and baked and made several meals for a busy week so we won't give in to fast food. I also dusted off my copy of The Tightwad Gazette and began reading it again. I'd had it for years and used a lot of the ideas in the book, but had forgotten about many of the tactics to save money. If you are interested in discovering some frugal tips, you may enjoy checking the book out from your library.

I love her Gazette series!

 

[minnie1928]

I've been reading all the previous posts about snowballing and the enveleope system. I just can't figure out how to get started when I'm soooooo far behind on everything. GRRRRRRRRR

When starting out you work with the basics first...total your expenses for the month (all the needs + minimum payments). Then look at your income. Say you spend $400 per month on groceries and you get paid every 2 weeks. Then out of each paycheck you would take $200 and put that into the grocery envelope. Do this for all your expenses. Any left over funds would be applied to the debt you are focussed on. Dave Ramsey would say focus on the smallest debt so that you get something paid off faster in order to keep your motivation up. Financially speaking it would be better to pay off the higher interest debt first. Personally, I think either way is good...as long as you stick with it.

Write down ALL your expenses (including that pack of gum) and tweak your envelopes as needed. The longer you track your expenses, the better your estimate will be. Keep in mind that this is a work in progress and will need to be altered from time to time, especially in the beginning.

 

[doodlesmommy]

Oh it feels good to know I'm not alone! I too am working towards reducing cc debt. I'm loosing sleep at night. No more spending as of today and I'm going to pay these things off. Our upcoming trip is already paid in full and I'm starting to feel guilty about it. If I cancel I'm looking at loosing quite a bit of $$ for airline tickets. I can only move forward. Glad to have the support on this thread.

 

[newt1912]

I need to recommend one of the Dave Ramsey books to a relative who is absolutely clueless when it comes to finances, budgeting, living within your means, spending less than you earn, etc. While I personally don't agree with everything Dave suggests, I have found his books to be very good and I find his radio show enjoyable. His simple, commonsense financial advice has helped me in many ways.

I need the name of the book that gets one started onboard with the basic Dave Ramsey program and then I can suggest that the others be read. Is it The Total Money Makeover or Financial Peace?

 

[kandeebunny]

Well I had a GREAT debt reduction day!!!

I have been fighting with a former school about a course I didn't take for 6 months now. They said I owed them $900 for the course and put me in collections! (I didn't find out about ANY of this until I went to get my transcript.) Well after the 6 months of fighting them, they called today and removed all charges from my account AND removed me from collections!!! So thats $900 less to pay. It was getting to the point where I was just going to pay it because it is holding me up from graduating.

I also got my cell phone bill cut in half by saying I was cancelling my service (after 6 years) so that gives me $40 more a month towards my other debt!

I have 6 months left on the auto-billpay for my 2 credit cards that I have left, then they will be 100% paid off!

When that is done I will still have a few medical bills I am paying, and my student loan (I only owe like $2000 on it and have 4 years left, but am trying to pay it off ahead.)

I am hoping to have everything but the student loan paid off by the New Year.

 

[leanan]

I would love to pay off my debt but my evil CC company Chase does not want to work with me. Not to mention last time I gave them my bank account information they screwed up and pulled too much out of my account. I hate that chase has foreigners on foreign soil working their call centers. I think for financial institutions this should be deemed illegal.

 

[duketennisgal]

I don't know if this might help anybody but I used this site: http://www.simplejoe.com/web-calculators/debt-repayment-calculator.htm to set up plan. I input all of my balances, interest rates and minimum payments along with how much I could pay per month and it calculated a plan for me. I like it because it set out a monthly plan in black and white. Then I copied and pasted it into excel and broke it up by paycheck b/c I get paid every other week. It seems like it will be very easy to follow.

 

[alicenwonder99]

Hi Everyone!!

I reworked my snowball debt with paying off my highest interest rate card first (as opposed to my smallest debt amount card first). Well, it shaved almost 2 years off my snowball debt!!!! What a difference!! I will be cc free in 2 years!!! I just have 2 loans to pay off which shouldn't take more than another year.

Then, I figured out how much money I'll have each month once my cc and loans are paid off. $2250!!!! I'll still have my 1st and 2nd mortgage, and my student loan, but that's ok. I'm using that amount as my incentive to pay off the cards & loans!

 

[0hmyheck]

Hi fellow debt reducers;

I can't say much since being cyber bullied once. But I did sit down again and cut up credit cards. I called and canceled 4 cards today! I wrote the current balance due the four remaining cards and I know I should feel good about it but to see the numbers is really kind of sad. I can't help to wonder how on earth I got so far in???

But for now I am only using cash, only for what is necessary, and rest is for debt snowball. 1 more month and my Disney is paid off. I have also promised no Disney trips until I have an envelope with cash to pay for the airlines and all expenses. It will be two years but the madness is stopped and I am onto a new way of managing money.

Thanks for the support. Some days I think I am the only person who is struggling and working the program.

 

[mmfan53226]

I am so totally in, my debt is getting way out of control for me.

I looked into Take Charge America, and while I could afford the payments I would be left with only $6.00 to save (and if we have a week, where hours are short, we would be screwed). I said I can't do that I need to try and save more, so I have written my credit cards and explained my situation and that I accept responsiblity for the amounts charged and I want to pay them and not declare bankruptcy.

For my budget I going to put everything over my budget amount to get our car paid off next month, then on to the next small balance.

And after I am done, I don't want to see another credit card or offer! I don't care how good of an offer it is, because in the end it only causes me problems!!!

Krystine

 

[5fordisney]

Way to go everyone!! Even if it's just baby steps, it's still moving forward!! I sat down this weekend and planned out for the next 7 months. If we don't spend $1 extra out of our normal bills and expenses, and use our tax return check, we could be credit card free by Sept. 1st. (That still leaves our home equity loan and furniture payments but still...!) The only problem is we all know unexpected things come up. For example, my son just got invited to a classmate's b-day party so there's $10-15 needed for a gift unless I tell him he can't go. We also had a different $15 expense come up. That's $30 not planned in 2 days. But on the other hand, I'm proud that I said no to 2 girl scouts for cookies, Hannah Montana movie tickets that my kids really wanted to see, and haven't gone out to the mall so no money spent there! My husband also resisted the urge to splurge on pizza for super bowl Sunday so I guess I should be happy about all of those little things, right?!! Ughh, sometimes I get so tired though of living to the $1 tight. We don't allow ourselves ANY weekly spending, lunch money, etc. so there's never any wiggle room. But I sooo want these credit cards paid off asap!! Just in time to start all over again next Christmas with the debt cycle!!

 

[aclov]

I don't know if this might help anybody but I used this site: http://www.simplejoe.com/web-calculators/debt-repayment-calculator.htm to set up plan. I input all of my balances, interest rates and minimum payments along with how much I could pay per month and it calculated a plan for me. I like it because it set out a monthly plan in black and white. Then I copied and pasted it into excel and broke it up by paycheck b/c I get paid every other week. It seems like it will be very easy to follow.

Thanks for sharing - kinda a reality check, I didn't think it was going to take me that long! I can see how paying for smallest card helps the motivation. And this is if I don't charge anything anymore.

 

[minnie1928]

And after I am done, I don't want to see another credit card or offer! I don't care how good of an offer it is, because in the end it only causes me problems!!!

Krystine

I saw this comment and it reminded me, go to www.optoutprescreen.com to stop all those unwanted credit cards offers from coming in the mail. Not only is it better for the planet, it'll lessen the temptation to get a new card!

 

[jenrose66]

I'm getting ready to attack my debt But it's going to be very hard getting my husband on board. I was actually raised to not like debt. My mom never carried a credit card balance, never had a car payment, etc... Anyway, I always felt the same way, but dh's family are huge spenders. Out of 5 kids 1 went bankrupt and all but my dh ended up in consumer credit counseling. I kept a pretty tight reign on things at our house until I became a mom. When I stayed home for the first year I let dh control the cash and we are in a mess. We are carrying a balance on credit, almost all the bills are past due and we have no money in savings. I'm back at work now, and I know things will work out, but it is going to take a lot of sacrifice. I spend absolutely no cash now, but dh just keeps buying stuff. Anyway, this post isn't supposed to be about blame. I just read Dave Ramsey's total money makeover and I'm making it required reading for my dh. I'm hoping it will motivate him to support me with the changes we need to make to our way of life.

I was just wondering though, if anyone else finds Dave a little money hungry. I thought the book had good advice, but I was a little turned off by all the advertising at the end of the book (and the subtle advertising in the book). I mean, he says we can't spend any cash, we are in dire straights, but we should find $90 a year to join his website and be sure to buy all of his books? Hmm....

Anyway, thanks for listening and good luck to everyone!

 

[doodlesmommy]

I went all week long and only spent $5 (on drycleaning). Now I just need to keep it up. I'm finding creative ways to have fun. I brought my own coffee and lunch to work all week. Tomorrow I'm going to cash in on all of those gift cards I got at Christmas. I'm off to the mall with my friend to shop on gift cards only. I have a Starbucks card for a coffee treat and movie cards to finish off the day. Debit cards are staying home. Credit cards were shredding last week! I've never done this before so I consider this a huge accomplishment!

I agree with the last post about Dave's marketing. Pretty sneaky; it reminds me of the Mars book series from the 90's with the marriage advice only to find out he has been divorced twice. What he describes works, I just prefer to get his advice free from his books at the library.

 

[decaff38]

Ok tallied up cc debt. I knew an approx. amount and was within 2000.00 . At least I wasn't really surprised. Took the scissors to 4 cc tonight. Decided I needed to take the "baby steps" so that I don't get crazy and do something really stupid. reactivated my ING account with auto deposit. Small but something! Have a solid 403B and increased that this year and solid retirement account. . One day at a time. I should be out of CC debt in 2 years. Also have 2 girls in college next year( one on either side) and for the next 3yrs, --son getting married in the fall( in the middle between his sisters). Ofdah!!! I don't have enough body parts to sell!!!! I am moving forward and will snowball the smallest ones first (4) and then I will jump to the big daddy - sears!! How did that happen?!?! It will be fine but whoa! Last time I do this!! I was so much smarter when I was younger but I just didn't have the best information. Duh!! No more!! I will be smart!!!

Good news!! Daughter wanted to file her own taxes( one on the left). She decided to try HR Block. Bad idea. they said she would get 400.00 fed and 125.00 state. Even I thought that was low. She turned her paperwok over a friend of ours who has been doing returns for 20 years. For $40.00 she will get 200.00 state and 1500.00 from the feds. Is she ever happy!!!! I am also happy for her!!! A bit fearful about my own but can't do anything now. Just bite the bullet and see the accountant. I am getting so brave, i may just get the credit card interest reduction script and have at it!!!! THey can only say no, right!!!!

Best of luck to all in the venture to free ourselves and soar!!!!

 

[alicenwonder99]

I was watching an old episode of Little People, Big World last night. It was the one where they went to Hawaii. They went all out for this trip. Stayed at the Four Seasons, went jet skiing, went snorkeling, etc. I thought to myself that if I didn't have this stupid debt to pay off, I could EASILY save for a trip like that in just a few months.

I am now doing something that I said I never would: I'm working for the credit card companies...sigh!

I think I'm going to increase my hours at work so I can get this debt paid off even sooner.