What exactly are you changing?- DEBT

[supersuperwendy]

The best thing we ever did was to....STOP CHARGING??? it's the stupidest thing in the world to do. When I was younger I'd throw the stupidest items on my credit card...duh...why would I want to pay interest on deoderant????

Our only bills are our house, cars and utilities! We use layaways when possible rather than charging. We paid cash for xmas! We've been paying for our upcoming Disney trip a little at a time! A friend of mine put her big trip on credit 2 years ago and is still paying for it. She'd like to take another trip but her hubby said not until the first one is paid off.....she's caught in a rotten minimum payment cycle that she can't break. Only buy what you truely can afford...that's my best advice.

 

[minnie1928]

The best thing we ever did was to....STOP CHARGING??? it's the stupidest thing in the world to do. When I was younger I'd throw the stupidest items on my credit card...duh...why would I want to pay interest on deoderant????

Our only bills are our house, cars and utilities! We use layaways when possible rather than charging. We paid cash for xmas! We've been paying for our upcoming Disney trip a little at a time! A friend of mine put her big trip on credit 2 years ago and is still paying for it. She'd like to take another trip but her hubby said not until the first one is paid off.....she's caught in a rotten minimum payment cycle that she can't break. Only buy what you truely can afford...that's my best advice.

Great advice! I also know someone similar to your friend, they did bankruptcy a few years ago and learned nothing from it. I think it's inevitable that they'll be back in that same situation again, and not too far off in the future either. If you can't stop charging, then how can you expect to pay off your debt?

I must put my disclaimer in before someone else does, IF you are the kind of person that pays their CC bill in full each month then reward cards can be GREAT! But if you end up paying interest then that defeats the value of the card.

 

[seashoreCM]

Got rid of cable completely (won't work for you if you have equipment such as a dish that requires a minimum cost and minimum time subscription).

Didn't go places (including to Disney).

I have managed to almost never* pay finance charges for credit cards even though I continued to use them through good times and bad.

Unrelated family hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/family.htm

*Except when I forgot to mail in a payment.

 

[kinntj]

1. only pay for groceries and gas with credit
2. pay for everything else with cash only-that means no online purchases.
3. library only for books unless we travel, then we buy our own books to read
4. we'll keep Netflix through the winter and then we'll cancel that.

Right now I'm jotting everything we spend in a budget log in an excel spreadsheet. Then we'll know where our money is going and how we can cut down further. DH and I have to save our receipts and enter them in at the end of the day.

 

[bettyann29]

wow.. all of you guys have inspired me..

I resolved this year to be better with finances.. but I just dont know where to start.. part of my problem is that I pay on the credit cards and then we end up using them.. so I guess my first thing is gathering the credit cards and freezing them.. The credit cards is really where I need to focus this year.. My goal is to have NO credit card debt by end of year.. I generally get a bonus every 3 months and planning on using that small amt to put towards credit cards..

I thought and thought about what else I can do and I am taking an extra $50 each check and putting it towards a credit card.. starting with the smallest balances to get them paid off and one less bill each month.. I am cancelling my xm radio in my car as I can live without it.. DF got a sirius radio for Christmas so we'll cancel his XM and he'll keep the sirius since he got it to listen to Nascar..

We already have the minimum on the cable since we dont watch the premium channels and Im not willing to sacrifice my cable internet..

The kids do have cell phones.. I could get rid of those but then Im looking at paying the early cutoff fees.. but Ive been getting really upset about them just using them for gabbing with friends.. I guess the fees would end up being cheaper than paying that monthly bill each month.. They already have one of the lowest plans..

I like the freezer cooking menu idea.. I will look into this..

No more impulse buying.. this is easier said than done since I just went yesterday and bought some Christmas stuff at Walmart for next year.. although at the prices I got it was worth it.. ok.. this is part of my problem.. right??

I will spend next weekend going thru the house and looking for things to ebay.. which will give a little more money to put towards credit card debt and also clean out the house..

I plan on sitting down tomorrow and making a plan for the year.. such as how much I will pay for clothes, etc.. I would like to limit purchases of items I dont need..

No renting movies.. Our library has tons of movies we can check out for free.

 

[mudnuri]

The kids do have cell phones.. I could get rid of those but then Im looking at paying the early cutoff fees.. but Ive been getting really upset about them just using them for gabbing with friends.. I guess the fees would end up being cheaper than paying that monthly bill each month.. They already have one of the lowest plans..

I like the freezer cooking menu idea.. I will look into this..

.

Okay here's a thought- not sure how old the kids are- but they should be contributing to the phones. OR cancel the phones and get them tracfones- let them earn the cards- or use bday money etc...my DD got a tracfone for xmas, and she's using her money for additional cards...I did get her the 1 year card so if she runs out of minutes she wont lose her number

the freezer cooking deal- is VERY overwhelming looking at it, I'll be 100% honest, however now that everything is ready to go for this weeks cookathon, it's not that scary!

Brandy

 

[bettyann29]

Okay here's a thought- not sure how old the kids are- but they should be contributing to the phones. OR cancel the phones and get them tracfones- let them earn the cards- or use bday money etc...my DD got a tracfone for xmas, and she's using her money for additional cards...I did get her the 1 year card so if she runs out of minutes she wont lose her number

the freezer cooking deal- is VERY overwhelming looking at it, I'll be 100% honest, however now that everything is ready to go for this weeks cookathon, it's not that scary!

Brandy

They are 13 and 15.. my 15 yr old is looking for a pt job at Sonic.. she's filling out appl today and running there tomorrow or Tuesday to drop off.. she's limited on where she can work due to age but she does want to work.. the tracfone sounds good .. I will check into that.. I like them having one so I can get ahold of them when I need to, but they are using it as a phone to talk to friends.. DS13 doesnt hardly use his but DD15 uses hers and goes into his.. the only thing with the prepaid is that I know she will use up all the minutes gabbing with her friends and I still wont be able to get ahold of her.. I just dont know what to do other than cancelling them and eating the cost.. but I know it will save me money in the end..

The freezer cooking does seem a little overwhelming.. I dont know that I would do a month at first, but maybe a week and see how it goes.. we end up spending so much money eating out each month because noone feels like cooking that night and it would take to long to cook so we just grab takeout or call for pizza.. I wouldnt mind doing pizza once a month or something but with all of us it runs around $20-$24 for pizza.. that adds up..

 

[MiniGirl]

This is all great, sound advice. We did many of these things when we were paying off our debt. Now, with the exception of our mortgage, we are debt free. Our girls' college education is prepaid, and we contribute the maximum allowed to our 401Ks. Eventhough we are in pretty good financial shape, we still want to be totally debt free. There is an incredibly exhilarating feeling to not be tied down to your debt. It is very freeing and addictive, so we are once again tightening our belts and just simply doing without -- without more stuff and without eating out all the time.

I did 2 things that I haven't heard mentioned yet, so I will add them to the mix. See, I had to make it fun, so I tried to see how little money I could spend each week out of the allowance I gave myself. Or I'd see how much I could shave off the grocery bill or whatever. I had to challenge myself, and in a positive way. I knew if I did it with the attitude of deprevation and sacrifice, I was doomed to fail. I was also still working, and I used to figure out how many extra hours I'd have to work to buy that shirt or those shoes, etc outright. I added taxes to the purchase and took taxes out of my wages. In other words, if I made $10/hour and I wanted something that costs $20, I had to work 3 extra hours to pay for it -- not 2. Also, I was a flight attendant, so extra hours meant extra time away from my home and family. (A BIG negative for me.) Usually, I'd decide that the item wasn't worth it.

Also, finances are among the biggest reasons for stress in relationships. Relationships are hard enough sometimes. Why do we want to add to that in the form of debt and/or poor money management?

My....I've had some long posts today, so I'll just stop here.

 

[mudnuri]

They are 13 and 15.. my 15 yr old is looking for a pt job at Sonic.. she's filling out appl today and running there tomorrow or Tuesday to drop off.. she's limited on where she can work due to age but she does want to work.. the tracfone sounds good .. I will check into that.. I like them having one so I can get ahold of them when I need to, but they are using it as a phone to talk to friends.. DS13 doesnt hardly use his but DD15 uses hers and goes into his.. the only thing with the prepaid is that I know she will use up all the minutes gabbing with her friends and I still wont be able to get ahold of her.. I just dont know what to do other than cancelling them and eating the cost.. but I know it will save me money in the end..

The freezer cooking does seem a little overwhelming.. I dont know that I would do a month at first, but maybe a week and see how it goes.. we end up spending so much money eating out each month because noone feels like cooking that night and it would take to long to cook so we just grab takeout or call for pizza.. I wouldnt mind doing pizza once a month or something but with all of us it runs around $20-$24 for pizza.. that adds up..

I agree about gabbing to friends. I tried to explain to DD10 that it makes no sense to use the cell phone to talk to her friends when we have unlimited local on the land line! Since she saw the prices of the tracfone cards- she agreed! Of course she just got it, so we'll see how it works out in the long run.

One thing you might want to try- is double cooking for awhile. This will help stock your freezer and you won't really notice it. For instance- if you make lasagna for dinner- make 2. Cook them both, and freeze the 2nd, put the 2nd in the fridge overnight, then cut it into individual sizes- saran wrap them, then place them into a freezer bag. Its much easier to cut it cold, and its easy to pull out a zip loc with the right number of lasagna pieces for dinner another night.

When I make mac n cheese- I make 2, and freeze 1. Its not as quick as the lasagna to heat up, but it works

Doing this with a few caseroles, or spagetti dishes will stock your freezer in no time...with minimal costs.

Good luck

Brandy

 

[nowellsl]

If you get a large income tax return go to irs.gov and use their calculator to re-figure your exemptions. Use the extra to pay on your credit card debt. This gave me an extra $100 a month to pay on mine.

 

[jgates]

This sounds a bit funky, I have taken to shopping for more personal items on eBay. I went for YEARS with cheap walmart bras, sleeping in t-shirts etc. I then made the mistake of discovering I really liked Victoria's Secret & Gap body!!! Well, after several months of pricey credit card bills I started buying my VS bras & gap jammies on eBay. The only VS undies I get are the ones with the free coupons or when they have one of the big sale bins. It's still my treat to myself but I'm only paying about 30% of the price.

I began waitressing again on weekends (AND BOY DO MY FEET HURT!!). I went thru 6 weeks of working 7 days a week before it started to slow down to 6, but the extra $ went towards property taxes. Sent a check to pay in full on Friday so no 2nd half to worry about in mid-summer.

Also used extra to pay off the items we had accumulated on store cards - sons laptop from Best Buy, garage doors from Menards, VS, Gap, Sams Club, etc. Now that $ is going to go towards the big credit card. My goal is to get rid of one of them before year end. But it is so nice not having all those bills come in every month!!!

Sold, and sold, and sold on eBay and paid for everything for our UNPLANNED january Disney trip except the $540 in airfare (4 tix). I was pretty excited - paid for 4 nites at POFQ, 2 days passes, rental car, $ for food. Everything but the plane tix. I'm planning on still stashing away ebay money for summer vacation - nice thinking we can do it without charging anything.

 

[Holly&Joesmommy]

Subscribing!

 

[robsmom]

Is it too late to tell you to save the Christmas lights until next year!

I just have to ask are there actually people who throw them out? I have never heard of anyone not saving them and using them over and over again?

 

[denecarter]

Yesterday, we were laughing at my daughter's gerbil... he takes his food and stashes most of it in the upper section of his "apartment". Then, I opened my cabinet to put up the groceries I just bought on sale and BOOM... I realized that I'm acting just like the gerbil. I'm hoarding food! I just keep buying it and stashing it and buying it and stashing it. Lots of stuff in multiple cabinets and a full freezer with meats, veggies, etc. I'm alone during the week, DD19 comes home for the weekends from college so we don't really need that much. Except for fresh items, like fruit, I could probably go 2 to 3 months without grocery shopping... seriously!

After laughing at me, DD19 suggested I do just that... buy nothing but fruits, veggies, and milk until the food is GONE. Let's see if I can do it.

 

[ohiominnie]

I just have to ask are there actually people who throw them out? I have never heard of anyone not saving them and using them over and over again?

This year I'm throwing them all out and starting over fresh next year. this has been a horrible year to keep the tree lit. Fuses keep blowing and now the whole top of the tree won't light. If I wiggle the cord enough, it'll light briefly, but I'm not messing with that next year.

Typically I save lights year to year, but they are cheap enough that I'm getting all new next year.

 

[hsmamato2]

Yesterday, we were laughing at my daughter's gerbil... he takes his food and stashes most of it in the upper section of his "apartment". Then, I opened my cabinet to put up the groceries I just bought on sale and BOOM... I realized that I'm acting just like the gerbil. I'm hoarding food! I just keep buying it and stashing it and buying it and stashing it. Lots of stuff in multiple cabinets and a full freezer with meats, veggies, etc. I'm alone during the week, DD19 comes home for the weekends from college so we don't really need that much. Except for fresh items, like fruit, I could probably go 2 to 3 months without grocery shopping... seriously!

After laughing at me, DD19 suggested I do just that... buy nothing but fruits, veggies, and milk until the food is GONE. Let's see if I can do it.

I confess,i'm a gerbil too..... I like your style! i have a huge urge to grocery shop right now,and now I'm inspired to begin using all the stock ups I can for the next week...we'll see what happens! Today's ham and bean soup was big hit.....

 

[seashoreCM]

I just have to ask are there actually people who throw them [christmas lights] out? I have never heard of anyone not saving them and using them over and over again?

If large numbers of bulbs (if not the whole string) goes out, then the string has to be troubleshot (troubleshooted? debugged?) which is generally not worth the effort.

If individual burned out bulbs are replaced promptly, this prolongs the life of the remaining bulbs.

Trac Fone (tm) and other prepaid wireless plans have a high cost per minute not counting the cost of the phone itself and/or monthly fees of traditional cell phones. I don't have a cell phone so I don't know what it is like to rebudget by doing without one.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[mudnuri]

I just have to ask are there actually people who throw them out? I have never heard of anyone not saving them and using them over and over again?

ONCE i kept them till the next year- NEVER again..

I can light the tree for $5.00 easily- the time it takes to fix them, untangle them, etc... is just not worth it to me!

Brandy

 

[dimimi]

Wow. I have been reading these budget boards and getting great ideas. I have never heard of anyone throwing away their Christmas lights. We always save ours. If they burn out, we throw the strand away. I'm sure, positive actually, that our family wastes money in different ways! We just came back from lunch and what we spent on lunch would have easily bought new lights. Happy New Year!

 

[mom2dea0813]

WOW I never knew anyone threw them away either . I hope you atleast freecycle them .

Sarah M