HELP!I'm pouring my heart out here, need advice!*Updated 6/12/07*

[dvcgirl]

Hey Magic...

Glad to read this! I remember this thread well.....long sucker isn't it?

I'm happy to read that you guys were able to *not* use those CCs despite being out of work with back surgery. That's huge...and a good sign that this time you have really made a definite life change. That's great!

Once you are back to work, you'll knock out that debt in no time. Remember, make a very strict budget for yourselves once you are totally *out* of debt....that's how you become a great saver and investor. And build up a decent emergency fund before you start aggressively saving for retirement/college so that you never have to worry again if there's an illness or big car trouble. And remember, a trip to WDW is *not* an emergency, despite what you might read around these boards .

Keep up the good work!

 

[kinntj]

Because of your update, today is the 1st time reading the entire post! WOW! You've come a long way! Your road as been a long and hard one, but you're are one determined woman to make it right.

I'm so glad you're doing well after your surgery. Sounds painful, but now you'll be going back to work and getting back on track. You have to realize that these medical upsets can definately put a damper on things and as long as they are temporary (like yours is) then you should be able to pick up where you left off.

The cash only is great! We use cc's, but only for grocery shopping and gas at the time being. Cash is for everything else! I had to stop shopping on the internet for now, because that was out of control for me, so I know how the shopping snowball thing goes. BTDT!

You're doing great and keep up the updates, as it really helps to see the path you've been on to get where you want to go. You even inspired me to do more to save.

 

[MAGICX2]

Hey everyone. Just wanted to drop a line and give everyone a little update. I have A LOT to share so I am going to gather my thoughts and then let it go. I wanted to give you a pre-emptor though. I lost my job on Aug. 17, 2006. I have been unemployed since then. However, we still have not used the cc's one time. Going to update later tonight. C-ya soon.

 

[SleepyatDVC]

Hey everyone. Just wanted to drop a line and give everyone a little update. I have A LOT to share so I am going to gather my thoughts and then let it go. I wanted to give you a pre-emptor though. I lost my job on Aug. 17, 2006. I have been unemployed since then. However, we still have not used the cc's one time. Going to update later tonight. C-ya soon.

Looking forward to your update. Sorry about the job loss but kudos about NOT using the cc at all!!

 

[MAGICX2]

Hello everyone! I just wanted to give everyone and update on my road to recovery. It has been a long and bumpy ride to say the least. As you can see from my above post I lost my job in Aug. of 2006. I returned to work on Mon. Aug. 14 after being off since March from the problems with my neck. On Wed. Aug. 16 I was told that I was being layed off from work due to budget cuts. The decision had been made while I was off of work, but they had wanted to put it off until I returned so that I would not lose my insurance or disablility benefits. I was a little upset to say the least. So we are down to one income, but there are pluses to this. We spent WAY less money because I was driving less and was out of the house less. My DS started Kindergarten, so we eliminated his daycare costs, we also dropped my DD down to just two days a week, strictly for educational purposes. The Sallie Mae consolidation loan that most of you will remember we took out in Dec. 2005 went into payment protection when I lost my job. They still charge us finance fees, but they make the min. payment for us! So it's dropped by $3500 in the last 9 months. It will stay in payment protection as long as I remain unemployed(which I wish I wasn't,but I seem to be "over qualified" for everything) up to 24 months. So, unless I get another job, they will make the payments until Sept. 2008. Our balance should be about $15-16,000 at that point. The personal loan we left out of the Sallie Mae will be paid off as of July 6! We have not used our cc's for the first thing! I feel so good about our situation right now.
I will tell everyone that my car, the same one I wrecked in Jan.06, the same one the transmission went kaput on in Nov.05, was about to give up the ghost. We were looking at a min. $4500 in repairs and the care is only worth about $4000. So DH and I made the decision to trade it in and purchase me a different vehicle. DH is gone a large % of the time and I needed something reliable. We were able to get a good deal thru the dealership that DH's boss uses to purchase about 4 vehicles a year. I feel good about our purchase and our decision.
I just wanted to thank everyone and to all of you who thought I would never make it, that I wasn't committed, that I wasn't ready to change............!
No really, everyone, supportive or not, helped me to get where I am. To all of you who are reading this for the first time, head their advice! They are a great bunch. At this rate I am hoping to be debt free about this time next year!

 

[LoriKutchey]

So glad to here you are doing well, thanks for the update. I often wondered how you were doing!

 

[disneysteve]

Sounds great (for the most part). I think I might have been one of those who was initially skeptical about your willingness to change (I haven't paged back to see what I wrote before), but I'm glad to hear you've made some really good progress along the way. Thanks for the update.

 

[Cindi0511]

Way to go, girl! I knew you were serious from not only your first post (that was really putting your pride and everything else on the line!) but also from the way you took everyone's advice seriously, whether they bashed you or not. I'm so proud of you! Not many people will put that much personal info on the line and take some serious bashing if they aren't serious. You could have thrown your hands up and said, "I can't do what everyone is telling me. It's too hard, blah, blah, blah" but you didn't.

 

[nowellsl]

Congratulations! I've never used payment protection - so they make the payment for you and you never have to pay it back? That sounds like a good deal!

 

[tngramma]

Congratulations! It sounds as if you have really had to keep your head on straight. I admire you.

 

[MAGICX2]

Congratulations! I've never used payment protection - so they make the payment for you and you never have to pay it back? That sounds like a good deal!

For this particular account, yes. I paid a monthly fee for the payment protection, that was worked into my payment. Its kind of like insurance, you pay it every month, but you may never use it. I took it on because I knew my children and I had previous health problems that may have resurfaced requiring me to be off work. However, it also makes the payments should I become unemployed. The maximum benefit time is 24 months. I still aquire finance charges, but they make the minimum payment for me that I am never required to pay back.
On a few of the accounts I had previously, I had payment protection but the benefit was different. I was not charged the finance fees, interest, etc. But they did not make any payments. I was just not required to make the min. payment, and the account was frozen.