please ignore

[peacefulgirl]

please ignore

 

[peacefulgirl]

please ignore

 

[peacefulgirl]

please ignore

 

[MrsPete]

The AP rate thing was before Sunday... so please drop it, it is a wasted issue, as I said before, I have no plan to go at this moment AND I wanted to see what Disney was doing with AP is all. Let it go.

You've missed my point, which wasn't really about APs at all: We all find the time to do the things that we want to do.

I have just one more comment: Have you heard that statistic about the average person being two paychecks away from the streets? It's an exaggeration, of course, but it means that if the average person missed two paychecks, he or she wouldn't be able to pay the monthly bills.

You had a taste of that reality when you had two emergencies pop up in one month (was it something dental and something car-related?). The real problem isn't the dentist bill or the car bill; the real problem is being unprepared for the emergencies. I understand that the shortfall was a one-month thing, but the underlying problem still exists.

The longer you sit and plan, the longer this situation persists.

The dump is paid for there is no loan on it How to sell it or make money using it is one thing we will be discussing.

That's great -- its sale will be pure profit. But right now it's still costing you money for insurance and tags, and the truck is depreciating, so it's worth more today than it will be tomorrow. Unless it can be used to bring in money, it should go.

And when someone is down about something, cheering them on, to the positive things they can do, is my way. I do not kick someone when they are down.

I've noticed that you responded positively to vague but positive posts with messages like, "You can get out of this situation!" (No suggestions how to do it.) But negatively to posts that give concrete suggestions such as "Consider public school".

 

[peacefulgirl]

please ignore

 

[disneysteve]

Once you have your starter emergency fund in place, take all that extra money you were using to save, and pay it towards the LOWEST balance bill you have, while continuing to make the minimum on all the others. Once you totaly pay off that bill, take the money you were paying to that one and put it towards your next lowest bill. Don't worry about interest rates, pay from lowest owed to highest owed.

Just keep in mind that following this advice will actually cost you more money in the long run as compared to paying the highest interest debt first. There is a psychological advantage to reducing the number of debt accounts but it isn't financially the best way to go.

 

[peacefulgirl]

please ignore

 

[peacefulgirl]

please ignore

 

[peacefulgirl]

please ignore

 

[dvcgirl]

Just keep in mind that following this advice will actually cost you more money in the long run as compared to paying the highest interest debt first. There is a psychological advantage to reducing the number of debt accounts but it isn't financially the best way to go.

Very true DisneySteve, but I do think that this "snowballing" method of debt paydown could work better for anyone who needs the psychological boost of instant tangible results. The OP seems to respond only to cheerleading kind of feedback. So I would think that any method where she can see bills going down in numbers would suit her much better. People who are in debt are often emotional when it comes to finances. I think we can all agree that our OP fits that mold. No offense intended. Paying down a larger high interest loan, well, I think emotional people like this can lose their focus and get down about their finances...and fall off the wagon so to speak. I think that the snowball method would work well here.

 

[disneysteve]

Very true DisneySteve, but I do think that this "snowballing" method of debt paydown could work better for anyone who needs the psychological boost of instant tangible results.

I agree. Didn't mean to imply otherwise. Just wanted to be clear that while "snowballing" has a psychological advantage, it actually has a financial disadvantage.

Personally, I paid off my very low interest student loans several years ahead of schedule just because I hated having student loans. It would have made more sense financially to invest the extra money or put it toward our mortgage but it was more important to me to get rid of those student loans. If I had to do it all over again, I'd do the exact same thing.

 

[ForTheLoveofDisney]

I agree. Didn't mean to imply otherwise. Just wanted to be clear that while "snowballing" has a psychological advantage, it actually has a financial disadvantage.

I, for one, need that psychological advantage. It's really worked for us. When nothing else worked this helped us to get intense as well as stay focused. In the end, for us, it will really be a "financial advantage" because we will be out of debt when before we were headed into a life of just living in debt. Before I stumbled onto Ramsey I had someone try and set us up on a budget of highest interest rates to lowest (in December of 2002) and the estimated pay off time was (May 2006). Of course they also weren't focusing all of our money onto the debt repayment. They also had us putting money into savings and retirement and what not. Ramsey has you work on "Baby Steps" (which indeed may not work for everybody) where #1 You save $1,000 in an EF. Baby step #2 focus all money into debt repayment (which will only be about 18 months for the average person who is serious about getting out of debt per his statistics) Baby step #3 have a Fully funded EF of 3-6 months living expenses. Baby step #4 save 15 percent of your gross household income in retirement plans. Baby step #5 children's college fund. Baby step #6 pay your home off early and Baby step #7 Build your wealth. Now Baby steps #4-7 will be done at the same time. It's the first 3 that you do one at a time but I am digressing.

Now, I'm sure we could have shortened our debt repayment if we had added extra money and became as intense with this as well but for some reason it just didn't click for us. Becuase we weren't "seeing" progress (our shortcoming) so we basically disregarded it and diverted from the plan. Then at the end of 2003 is when I stumbled on to Dave's radio program. In January of '04 we started our debt snowball. We saw some quick wins and that fueled our fire to keep on going. What good money sense couldn't make us see, the emotional part of seeing a balance of $0.00 did. We will be done in September/October of '05. A bit over the 18 month average but I'm ok with that as long as it's gone. As another poster said as well as myself, "Finances are 20% head knowledge and 80% behavior."

I don't know where I'm going with this other than to say yes, there are those of us out here who seem to do things backwards.

 

[disneymom3]

PG--I am learing a lot from this thread too. I just wanted to say that I think the problem people are having is that you haven't said much of "Yes, we are considering that" type of stuff like in response to the private school issue other than when you are defending yourself then it comes up. (And I don't blame you for feeling you need to defend yourself.) I just think that if you answered some of the posts more directly the people who I think really are trying to help would not be frustrated by the whole thing, know what I mean. If you were to say, "We are going to talk about either seling the dump truck or making a plan for ways to make it increase our income as well as what to do with DDs schooling situation this weekend." or something along those lines, the other posters would feel you are listening to them.

I know what you mean about the vacations too. One year in a six month time period, I went to Europe, we went on a family reunion cruise and DH and I went on an anniversary cruise. During almost this whole time, DH was unemployed. To those outside, it didn't look good, but my mom paid for the whole Europe trip, she also paid for most of the family reunion cruise and we had comitted to our portion before DH was laid off and we had also prepaid for the other cruise. Seemed like we were being irresponsible but we weren't.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

This is true. The books I am reading are explaining this in depth and giving me ways to be ready for the surprises. Ideas I have never heard of before. That is why I say I am LEARNING. I need to gather different ways/ideas/plans and find what will work for us. I have been saying this all along. Thanks

Do you have your records available for the past 9 months. For someone in your spot..tight, comfy, or otherwise....you started this over 9 months ago and should have some skeleton on paper to go by.


I understand learning--I do it all the time...but what do your records for the last 9 months say?

 

[etblank]

I know, it is so crazy. Its all SUVs SUVs SUVS where I live. And, we have one too! DH gets a new vehicle every three years (work related, he is in sales and travels). To me, a car is just to get from point A to point B. I have owned three cars in my entire life and I am 40! One right out of college for 10 years, one for 7 years and now my current vehicle. Now, I want to trade it in and get a hybrid to cut fuel costs. Always trying to figure out ways to save. I guess it is my good midwestern upbrining...

Oh PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not get a Hybrid thinking you are going to save money!!! I did this two years ago because I drive 100+ miles per day. The car was on it's third transmission at 40k miles (Honda Civic Hybrid). Thank god it was under warranty. Anyway..long story short...I ended up being upsidedown on my loan because of mileage, etc. I ended up losing about 4 grand. Please really do your research before you would buy a hybrid. You will have to spend so much more money when you buy it; to make up the fuel difference, I don't believe it is worth it. If you don't believe me...check out the Honda Accord Hybrid...it is like 33 grand. The mpg rating isn't that much better than the regular Accord, and you can get a regular Accord somewhere in the low 20 grand price range.

I digress...sorry...I have really enjoyed reading these posts!

 

[SleepyatDVC]

Thanks! You summed it up perfectly! You have the picture pretty much correct.

We do have life ins.

Have a great July 4th weekend! Hope you get some quality time to talk to DH and make some serious decision too.

Since I brought up life insurance. You might want to check on-line about life insurance rates. Don't cancel anything yet! Just do some comparision shopping.

That's what we've been doing. DH bought term life a few years ago when we started having kids. I've been looking at costs this past week and for the same amount of money we've been paying for premiums on his existing policy, he could double the face policy. Not to mention that his 20 year term, now only has about 15 years left.

So, we are seriously looking to replace his policy before his birthday in Sept. for another one for more coverage for the same premiums with more years than the 15 years he has left.

Can't decide whether to pay even more to get the guaranteed 30 year term instead of the 20 year that was the longest one available when we bought.

My situation is more complicated since I have a Universal Life Policy with a some cash value (past surrender penalty period). 20 or 30 year terms are since very short based on my life expectency, which is why the term policies quotes for me seem dirt cheap.

Very tempted to switch to term life and use the cash value to fund it since the current premiums are so high. I'm lucky to have no housing expenses (part of my job benefits) but all the money is going into insurance premiums instead.

Need to do some more research first. Hopefully quick becasue my birthday is on August. Premiums are based on your age when witten.

My parents also have UL (we paid for their agent's vacation house ) but I don't dare to tamper with them because of their age and health. Although, we did take out loans on the cash value (and mine too) during a cash crisis (parents' business) in the past. Thank God that is past and all loans are paid off including on the life insurance policies.

Anyone who has any life insurance advice who can jump in here? Or should I start my own thread? Lol!

Anyways, PG, check out if you have any cash value on your policies, if any are paid up, or if you have to continue to pay forever, or if term, is there a better policy out there for either less money or better coverage. Do this while you are all still healthly!

 

[disneysteve]

Oh PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not get a Hybrid thinking you are going to save money!!!

Yep, hybrids DO NOT save money. They only save gas. Problem is the premium you pay for the hybrid far outweighs what you save in fuel costs. So if you are buying a hybrid because you care about the environment, go right ahead, but don't do it thinking it will save you any money because it will not.

 

[crisi]

Yep, hybrids DO NOT save money. They only save gas. Problem is the premium you pay for the hybrid far outweighs what you save in fuel costs. So if you are buying a hybrid because you care about the environment, go right ahead, but don't do it thinking it will save you any money because it will not.

And the jury is still out on the environment. Sure you get rid of some of the emissions, but you have to dispose of the batteries.

 

[EthansMom]

Yep, hybrids DO NOT save money. They only save gas. Problem is the premium you pay for the hybrid far outweighs what you save in fuel costs. So if you are buying a hybrid because you care about the environment, go right ahead, but don't do it thinking it will save you any money because it will not.

Yup, DH and a coworker actually ran the numbers and the hybrid + gas was going to cost more than the regular version + gas.

If you really want to save money, look at less expensive automobiles that are more fuel efficient. For instance, the Toyota Corolla I purchased 6 years ago cost around $14k brand new, is pretty efficient on fuel, has been very low maintenance, and the car gets 4 people from point A to point B just as well as any other car. The only downside is that with two growing kids in carseats fitting all of us in the car is getting slightly snug, but I can't think of many vehicles these days that feel roomy AFTER you've put two carseats and two kids in the back.

 

[ForTheLoveofDisney]

Have a great July 4th weekend! Hope you get some quality time to talk to DH and make some serious decision too.

Since I brought up life insurance. You might want to check on-line about life insurance rates. Don't cancel anything yet! Just do some comparision shopping.

That's what we've been doing. DH bought term life a few years ago when we started having kids. I've been looking at costs this past week and for the same amount of money we've been paying for premiums on his existing policy, he could double the face policy. Not to mention that his 20 year term, now only has about 15 years left.

So, we are seriously looking to replace his policy before his birthday in Sept. for another one for more coverage for the same premiums with more years than the 15 years he has left.

Can't decide whether to pay even more to get the guaranteed 30 year term instead of the 20 year that was the longest one available when we bought.

My situation is more complicated since I have a Universal Life Policy with a some cash value (past surrender penalty period). 20 or 30 year terms are since very short based on my life expectency, which is why the term policies quotes for me seem dirt cheap.

Very tempted to switch to term life and use the cash value to fund it since the current premiums are so high. I'm lucky to have no housing expenses (part of my job benefits) but all the money is going into insurance premiums instead.

Need to do some more research first. Hopefully quick becasue my birthday is on August. Premiums are based on your age when witten.

My parents also have UL (we paid for their agent's vacation house ) but I don't dare to tamper with them because of their age and health. Although, we did take out loans on the cash value (and mine too) during a cash crisis (parents' business) in the past. Thank God that is past and all loans are paid off including on the life insurance policies.

Anyone who has any life insurance advice who can jump in here? Or should I start my own thread? Lol!

Anyways, PG, check out if you have any cash value on your policies, if any are paid up, or if you have to continue to pay forever, or if term, is there a better policy out there for either less money or better coverage. Do this while you are all still healthly!

I am absolutely, positively not an insurance expert I only know what our experiences are and the research I've done.

I do know that they price your policy w/ in six months of your birthday, not your birthday itself. For instance, I'm 30 now and I'm looking at policies now but my birthday is not until October. They already consider me to be 31 because I'm w/in six months of my birthday. We are considering changing DH term life insurance policy to get the same coverage for less money because under DH's existing policy they considered his parents health as well. Now our agent has informed us that AIG has eased up on the parents health recognizing that some of the problems that our parents have are based on poor health choices and we being a more informed generation (?) may not necessarily have the same conditions as our parents because we are taking better care of ourselves.

We also have term life insurance because we are not looking for a savings account to be built in or come from our insurance which is basically the selling point for the whole life or universal life insurance. We just want pure insurance with no bells and whistles. We have a plan in place and we're working the plan. At this moment we have debt and a mortgage and only a small amount of retirement. If something were to happen to DH or myself we would need to pay these things off and replace our incomes until we could get back on our feet again so that is the need for life insurance.
Twenty years from today (if we stick to the plan ) the debt will be gone. The house will be paid for and our investments will have grown to a substantial amount. We will then have become self insured.
With whole life with the built in savings they are doing the same thing that I could do better and that is invest my money w/ the help of good growth mutual funds so that my investments will grow to a substantial amount.
At this time I do not know the ins and outs and terms of investing but I do know the basics and that is over the long haul your investments generally go up. Sure they may dip and soar but over the long haul you will make money on your investments.
So basically get the term life insurance and invest the difference of the savings you will have by not having to pay as high a premium because the money your paying to your term life insurance will be going to the actual policy and not being split up with some going to your policy and the rest into your savings account.

Hope this makes sense.