Debt Reducers

[Chicago526]

Grrrrr.....

I know it's the responsible thing, but....

DH and I have next week off from work. We were planning on staying home and working on the house for most of it, but then take two days and go to the Dells for a get away.

But our bills last month were much higher than expected. DH's truck needed new tires, a few medical bills from the winter weren't covered by insurance and came through last month, my car broke down and need about $300 in repairs, stupid stuff like that.

So, we did the responsible adult thing and canceled the trip. We'll take a day and go to the zoo or something instead.

Unless something unforseen happens, we will not take a trip of any sort in 2008, we just don't have the money and the few times we do scrap something extra up, something comes a long to suck it out of the savings account. Oh well. DH's truck is paid off in about 18 months so MAYBE we can do something then.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

Grrrrr.....

I know it's the responsible thing, but....

DH and I have next week off from work. We were planning on staying home and working on the house for most of it, but then take two days and go to the Dells for a get away.

But our bills last month were much higher than expected. DH's truck needed new tires, a few medical bills from the winter weren't covered by insurance and came through last month, my car broke down and need about $300 in repairs, stupid stuff like that.

So, we did the responsible adult thing and canceled the trip. We'll take a day and go to the zoo or something instead.

Unless something unforseen happens, we will not take a trip of any sort in 2008, we just don't have the money and the few times we do scrap something extra up, something comes a long to suck it out of the savings account. Oh well. DH's truck is paid off in about 18 months so MAYBE we can do something then.

I can relate. We had some car trouble last weekend that now is fixed and paid for......but that was our little bit of extra money that I was hoping to save for a future vacation. It seems just as I think we might be catching up, something happens and it costs more money.

 

[8 Ears]

Wahoo! It is Friday and we just paid off another $196.20 for a medical bill

Feels so good to be seeing these checked off!
I should be able to pay off 2 more in the next 2 weeks. But then it will take me 2 weeks each to pay off 2 more.

Then it is onto the nearly $2,000.00 one. This one I could use a little encouragement on. The least amount of time it will take me is 4 paychecks!

But our DS is alive and is able to walk , so how much is that really worth?

How about you? Were you able to pay anything off this week?

 

[Boston Tea Party]

Wahoo! It is Friday and we just paid off another $196.20 for a medical bill

Feels so good to be seeing these checked off!
I should be able to pay off 2 more in the next 2 weeks. But then it will take me 2 weeks each to pay off 2 more.

Then it is onto the nearly $2,000.00 one. This one I could use a little encouragement on. The least amount of time it will take me is 4 paychecks!

But our DS is alive and is able to walk , so how much is that really worth?

How about you? Were you able to pay anything off this week?

Congratulations on your progress!


I just paid off a $1000 no pay/deferred interest furniture debt. Peanut butter for everyone! I'm buyin'!

 

[Kathi OD]

Well my plan to pay off our debt just went "you know where" in a handbasket. Next Friday will be DH's last day of work for awhile. Everyone except one manager and the Human Resources person were laid off. His company has never before had to lay anyone off, so this came as a pretty big surprise (although not really, as they have had nothing to do for about 2 months now).

For the most part, we're in pretty good shape. We just won't have any extra cash to pay down the debt. Now I'm just hoping he gets back to work before we have to incur any more.

 

[taraprather]

I just paid another $500.00 towards our new furnace/ac (we are trying to pay it off before it accrues all the back interest of almost $700 on October 31) but we only have about $600.00 more to go!
I also paid off 1 medical bill and made $50.00 payments to 2 other medical bills. It will feel so good when the furnace/ac will be paid off. Then we will move onto a cc that has 0% until July 2009. This paying off debt thing is actually kind of fun...and addicting!

 

[drinkme]

We just had a financial set back. Had to give my mom $5000. Add that to the already piled up debt and it was so depressing here for a couple of weeks.

Anyway, I've been working extra hours, and I should have that $5000 back, plus pay off a couple of more bills by March 2009. We won't be debt free, but it will be a good start.

The only "kink" in my well thought out plan is the price of gas. It cost me $72 to fill up my minivan the other day. When gas goes higher, we'll be screwed. I'm trying not to drive any where but work.

The price of things is just getting out of control.

 

[8 Ears]

I just wrote out a check for $317.42 to pay off ANOTHER medical bill!! Feeling so good paying these foolish things off!

So yet again this week I ask what you have been able to pay off this week?

 

[WDW4TheGirls]

We paid off our TV! DH bought his dream TV 18 months ago (much to my dismay), but he got an 18-month, no-interest payment, and that was paid off today! Hooray!

 

[littlelulu33]

I have paid all our regular monthly bills this month already and we still have 2 paychecks this month. Good budgeting this month, I keep re checking to make sure that I did not miss paying something. The extra paychecks will be going to the CC. I have moved my goal up a little with a little extra in the bank and if I can keep up on the good budgeting I can move it up again. Hopefully by March/April we will have no more CC or Car Payments. Yeah!!!
I was going to spend the Sim. Check on the CC, but we got a great deal for painting the entire outside of the house that really needs it. We thought we should get it done. Thats ok I am still going good. I just want this debt gone for good.

 

[8 Ears]

Thought I would add up our debt, it is about what I thought.

$2884.52 left on DH truck. Have one ready to pay tomorrow.

$4123.39 left on my vehicle.

$3145.35 left on medical bills Feel good about this as it was nearly $5000.00 not too long ago.

$10153.26 is our total. So I feel a cross between and

Feeling good about how well we are reducing it but still have SO far to go!!

 

[Grendalynn]

Ok, so I have been reading many of the posts and have come to realize that we are that bad off and are in similar situations of many out there. We have debt, some debt, not huge debt - we could sell our house tomorrow, pay off all our debters and still walk away with $50k cash in hand. Being that we are 31 and 33, thats not too bad. DH and I are using the new motto: "Pay as you go, never owe." Starting now, we will not finance anything (or will try not to). We are going to save , save , save and pay, pay, pay. Or we hope to anyway... Here is our breakdown - roughly:
Mortgage - $118,000
My Car - $20,000
Personal Loan - $15,500
Small Credit Card Balance totals - $2,000 (hope to pay off by the end of the summer)
Misc things (medical & dental bills) - $2,900 (hope to pay off by the end of the summer)

A grand Total of about: $158,000

Sure, we would love to be debt free. But the common reality of life is not so. We have a small, modest home, but its ours - we built it with our own blood, sweat and tears. Our car was used, but its in great shape with a smaller payment and suits our needs. We do have some credit card and loan payments, but the vactions we had wth our kids/family and home improvments we did with our own hands are worth almost every penny and drop of sweat. Would I like a bigger house? Sure - but not a bigger payment. I'd rather have the vacations and weekend adventures. This is my outlook - we could be in better financial shape. But we could also be in waaay worse shape!!?? We are making a conscious effort to be fiscally fit and responcipal. Its a step in the right direction... Thanks for reading!

 

[lttlmc3]

Just paid off second credit card!! We've paid off $10k the past 6 months! Now on to the next!!

 

[Gokstate]

Okay - I'm late to join the boards but I'm in.

My DH and I are 28 and paid off our $16,000 in CC debt before we had our first child 3 years ago. What a great feeling to get out from under that black cloud!

Now we have: my paid off car that I hope will go for at least a few more years
DH's Truck: $18,000 on 0% interest for another 48 months
My student loan: $15,000
DH's student loan: $15,000
Mortgage: $137,000

Goals: To pay off DH's truck this year. We have saved $10,000 so far to put towards this debt so we should be able to do this in '08. My goal in 2009 is to pay off one of our student loans, start paying on the other, and save an additional $5,000 in our emergency fund. My 2010 goal is to finish paying off the student loan debt and then really sock money into our kid's college funds. We'll see how it goes - I'll try to post occasionally to keep myself on track.

Thanks for this thread!!!

 

[akmom]

Well, I haven't posted in awhile, but I just paid off one of our cc's this month. I'm so excited. Four more to go. They should be paid off in no time!

 

[kwhite1022]

Such a great thread, very motivating.


Debts:

Mortage 110,000
van loan 3000 (remainder of 5000 balance)
mom 2000 (remainder of 6500 balance)
cc 1000 (remainder of 10,000 balance)

total: 116000

The cc and mom loan will be done by Christmas, the Van will take till this time next year. The Mortage, is just gonna remain, till I get back to work after being a SAHM for the past 8 years. All in all, not too bad, but it does make me wish we would stop having to pour money into our house, then we could really knock off our mortage. We have paid over $10,000 in cash since January for several neccessary and a couple, none essential, but put off for 5 year, upgrades to the house. My mom refused to let us pay her off with the money my hubby made selling his classic car, she felt it should go towards all these projects we keep saying we were going to do, but never had the money for as we pay cash only now, and have for 3 years. I feel pretty proud of where we are, considering where we were, and that we are a one income family. I hope to keep digging out and battening down the hatches for what I think is coming up the pike in the near future for us Americans. Good luck to all of us.

 

[HenDuck]

I have a little over $9k in CC debt:

Discover: $144 (will be paid off next month)
Sears: $1,185 (0% interest until 5/1/09)
WaMu: $2,000 (0% interest until 4/2009)
CitiBank: $6,200 (0% interest until 4/2009)

The above debt is a combination of 2+ years worth of using CCs as an emergency fund (even though I have a cash emergency fund) . Not wanting to touch my cash fund because I might "need it". It's also a result of falling into the 0% interest CC trap. "Oh, it's zero interest for 16 months, I'll charge it now and pay it back whenever..."

Now mind you, I consider myself a fairly intelligent person, but obviously, my brain has been on a holiday.

We have other debt that DH pays, so I won't go there. He's struggling to pay those debts too.

I'm waiting on the library down the street to have the Dave Ramsey book, since I really shouldn't be buying it. But I'm going to try his snowball method and see if I can't get rid of half my CC debt in the next 12 months.

That's the plan.

I'll let you all know how it goes.

Thanks for the inspiration!

Good luck everyone!

 

[a1tinkfans]

I have a little over $9k in CC debt:

Discover: $144 (will be paid off next month)
Sears: $1,185 (0% interest until 5/1/09)
WaMu: $2,000 (0% interest until 4/2009)
CitiBank: $6,200 (0% interest until 4/2009)

The above debt is a combination of 2+ years worth of using CCs as an emergency fund (even though I have a cash emergency fund) . Not wanting to touch my cash fund because I might "need it". It's also a result of falling into the 0% interest CC trap. "Oh, it's zero interest for 16 months, I'll charge it now and pay it back whenever..."

Now mind you, I consider myself a fairly intelligent person, but obviously, my brain has been on a holiday.

We have other debt that DH pays, so I won't go there. He's struggling to pay those debts too.

I'm waiting on the library down the street to have the Dave Ramsey book, since I really shouldn't be buying it. But I'm going to try his snowball method and see if I can't get rid of half my CC debt in the next 12 months.

That's the plan.

I'll let you all know how it goes.

Thanks for the inspiration!

Good luck everyone!

*********************
http://www.daveramsey.com/the_truth_about/get_out_of_debt_4055.html.cfm
Have you seen his website?

 

[StephMK]

We're doing the two steps forward, one step back dance right now. I used our refund & stimulus checks to pay off a cc. Plus then transferred two other balances to that card since they immediately offered a 0% transfer once it was paid. lol

It's a tough month because we need more childcare & I didn't start back to work until too late in the spring to put much away. It's making a big dent but I have to keep reminding myself we'll be much better and go back to making good debt progress once school starts back in Aug. Plus the kids love her so it's worth it!

Then, our hot water heater went out with no notice. Though it turns out it was original so we've been bathing on borrowed water for some time now I guess. Sadly, $ back on the card but not nearly as much as what we paid off so we're technically still ahead of the game, but not quite as far as I wanted to be.

Back to good news, I thought our medical bills were so high because of a deductible. Turns out there is a pre-existing clause and they never received our notice of prior coverage. Once I get that faxed, they will re-open every denied claim & pay them. Big pain in the rear since they won't just reimburse me but I should be able to go back to the places I paid and get reimbursed for the bills we paid. That will definitely add up & go right towards debt.

Way to go on everyone either taking a hard look at their debt & getting started & congrats to those making such great progress & keeping everyone motivated!! I look forward to seeing how everyone's doing.

 

[minnie1928]

I'm back in!

We stopped paying down debt in December '07 because DH accepted a promotion at work which required us to relocate from cheap PA to not cheap NJ. We hoarded cash & did some updating investments (appliances, paint, etc) in the old house. By doing this we were able to buy our new home with a lower interest rate (a jumbo loan at 5.75%, a phenomenal rate for a jumbo!) and our old house had a sales contract in 3 weeks for more than what my DH's relocation company would have paid for it!

Now, we've moved to NJ (about 3 weeks ago) and we've hopefully found all the items that we need/want to get repaired in the next several months. Starting with DH's next pay, the budget returns!

I have 2 goals:
1. payoff sleepnumber bed by year end before 0% promo ends. I have the money in a savings account earning interest. Hopefully it can stay there until year end (assuming nothing else needs fixed).
2. paydown/payoff our second DVC contract ASAP.

After those are done, my DH and I are planning on hoarding more cash and investing it in various forms. We need are more substantial emergency fund since I'm now retired (or SAHM, but I like retired ). After that's done, then we'll start paying down our mortgage.