It's June! Lets Get Out of Debt with Dave Ramsey - Page 2

[Maluhia]

Originally Posted by cymbeline

I can do this, right? This is terrifying.

You can and it will be great!

Originally Posted by kay4

I am at BS1. I've done all of the prestep things, except dh does NOT want to stop his retirement contributions. So I am not arguing on that one.

Hey - at least he's down with doing the EF....it's a great first step! And if you can get out of debt, etc. in a year without stopping retirement, etc. then I think you are not supposed to - can anyone back me up on that? I can't remember if I heard it in FPU or here?

[AllisonK]

Hi mamas I don't post much but wanted opinions.

We are working on our EF and are about half way there. Here is the issue. DH's car died 2 months ago and he is required to have a car for work. Well since school is out soon we decided to go one car and have been since then. He plans 2 paperwork days and I take the car then to get the kids things done and he has it the other three. Well he was just asked to apply for a supervisor postion on a team in Portland (across the river). It would make us A LOT more money and would be awesome. He is bored in the current job he is in, too slow he says. lol Anyway IF he gets this job (its internal hire between him and one other) he has to have a car 5 days a week. He could technically get in HUGE trouble for not having a car all 5 days at his current job but with the pace it is we were okay with it if no one found out. So how do we buy a second car for him? DD and DS have camp in July, plus other HS activities that I will have no way to get them too. We both feel that it would be really unfair for them to have none of their planned activities during this time but I don't know what to do. DH wants to use the EF and the cc to buy a cheap car and use the extra from the job to pay it all off in 2-4 months (would depend on the price of the car). I don't know. As much as I hate being stuck home all the time and as much as I know the kids would be so very dissapointed with their cancelled summer I just do not like the idea of charging the darn car.

[Contrariety]

Okay... I was gung-ho with this a few months ago but have been considerably de-railed by some tuition/car/unplanned pregnancy snafus. BUT I am committing today. I WILL be financially responsible, I will! We only have about $500-600 a month beyond necessities, so it will be slow going, but... here we go!

JUNE 2009 Numbers:

BS#1
1.1: $1000/1000 - EF Done! :
1.2: $0/1800 - Must pay midwife by 36 weeks! Eeek!

BS#2
2.1: $3627.50 - CC
2.2: $13,551.92 - My student loans, currently in repayment
2.3: $9344.60 - DH's sudent loans, in deferment while in school for at least 3 years

[Kyamo]

Originally Posted by AllisonK

Hi mamas I don't post much but wanted opinions.

We are working on our EF and are about half way there. Here is the issue. DH's car died 2 months ago and he is required to have a car for work. Well since school is out soon we decided to go one car and have been since then. He plans 2 paperwork days and I take the car then to get the kids things done and he has it the other three. Well he was just asked to apply for a supervisor postion on a team in Portland (across the river). It would make us A LOT more money and would be awesome. He is bored in the current job he is in, too slow he says. lol Anyway IF he gets this job (its internal hire between him and one other) he has to have a car 5 days a week. He could technically get in HUGE trouble for not having a car all 5 days at his current job but with the pace it is we were okay with it if no one found out. So how do we buy a second car for him? DD and DS have camp in July, plus other HS activities that I will have no way to get them too. We both feel that it would be really unfair for them to have none of their planned activities during this time but I don't know what to do. DH wants to use the EF and the cc to buy a cheap car and use the extra from the job to pay it all off in 2-4 months (would depend on the price of the car). I don't know. As much as I hate being stuck home all the time and as much as I know the kids would be so very dissapointed with their cancelled summer I just do not like the idea of charging the darn car.

Can you do homeschool outings on Saturday/Sunday? Is anyone else's kids in your area going to that camp that could take your kids? Is there any public transportation at all in your area? Even if its really crappy service maybe you could swing it for a few months while you save up?

Even if you do end up borrowing money, what about a car loan instead of a CC? Aren't regular car loans usually a much lower interest rate than a CC?

[Rev1053]

Originally Posted by AllisonK

DH wants to use the EF and the cc to buy a cheap car and use the extra from the job to pay it all off in 2-4 months (would depend on the price of the car).

I would only consider using the EF to buy a car, but personally I would try to get by without a car till you can save up for it. DO NOT CHARGE A CAR.
I understand with kids missing their summer or having their summers ruined by not going to camp but they will survive. The way I look at it is, this is a life change that we as a family are going to make. EVERYONE will make sacrifices. DS1 doesn't care for our "budget" or the fact that we don't go shopping ever. But I am doing this budget for him. He cant go to camp this summer. He cant go to most of the home school classes he wants. But he is learning a valuable lesson about money. I truely hope that when he gets out into the world that he doesn't put everything on a credit card. That he learns from his parents mistakes and that he values a dollar.
I want him to be responsible (moneywise) and part of teaching him that is showing him how our family works with the money we have.
Sorry. End rant now.

Originally Posted by kay4

ETA I am at BS1. I've done all of the prestep things, except dh does NOT want to stop his retirement contributions. So I am not arguing on that one.

DH and I will not stop his 401K, though we did cut it down a lot. But we did put on hold the Roth contributions. Just IMO taking away retirement savings when your so young (30yo) is not worth it. Compounding interest is huge and we were not willing to loose that.

[samandhenrysmom]

We are plugging along on BS2. We have major additional expenses this month to the tune of almost $5000 (GULP!!!) but should be back on track by next month.

[Maluhia]

I think I'd send DH with the car and
*carpool/pitch in on gas to HS outings
*bus it
*save up over the next 2 months with "gazelle intensity" to buy a beater if that is what you can get

I would not send the kids to camp at the expense of buying a car with a loan.

I know it's hard but for me - life is not fair, if we don't have the $ to send you to camp, we just don't have it. Let's work on a paper route to contribute to the family!

[p1gg1e]

Do you still have the old car? Could it be patched up? Could you junk it and get some money for it?

Id get a small loan for the "new" car. Just make sure you don't touch the Emergency fund and that "new" car will be #1 priority.

I agree with the PP , don't do camp this year . Can you go camping as a family? Or with other HS kids? Sounds like if you stick to your guns for a couple months you will come out on top

[p1gg1e]

We are on BS#2 still, Half way done! :

We are credit card debt FREE!!!!! :::

Now we have our big car loan ( about $7000) and a SL (3000) left though we aren't that concerned about it...its all principle.

We are tackling the car first

[Sarah8Jane]

Originally Posted by p1gg1e

We are on BS#2 still, Half way done! :

We are credit card debt FREE!!!!! :::

Now we have our big car loan ( about $7000) and a SL (3000) left though we aren't that concerned about it...its all principle.

We are tackling the car first

Yeah! Piggle! No more credit cards. :

[Maluhia]

congrats p1gg1e - it must feel awesome to be out from under all CCs! It's super exciting to know, for me, that we won't again have another CC bill......ever! :

[Rev1053]

Originally Posted by p1gg1e

We are on BS#2 still, Half way done! :

We are credit card debt FREE!!!!! :::

Congratulations! You have come so far in such a short time.

::::

[AllisonK]

Thanks for all the responses. I DO NOT want to charge the car just FYI DH does. He thinks that we can just pay it off with in 2-4 months with the extra from the new paycheck. Sigh he is so darn hard to talk to about this!

Camp does not cost anything so its not the issue of having no money to go. We all ready cut the homeschool budget out and are putting that into the EF for now. Its an issue of getting there. We think we have figured that out now though. DH is going to take a week of his vacation time and volunteer at camp as well. So he can just drive the kids and himself up there. Which I think will work wonderful as they need volunteers and the kids still get to go.

We have all ready sold the old car. It would have cost well over 2,000 to fix it all (transmission, brakes, and some turny wheel like thing ) so we sold it and put the $ in the EF. Joe puts over 300 miles on his car every month when working in Portland so he really does not want to buy a nice car (in looks, needs to run obviously) as it really will be taking a beating with all the miles.

I wish I could carpool/share gas with someone to outings but no one I know has room in their car for an adult and 4 kids (2 booster, 2 car seats).

Thanks for all the responses.

[p1gg1e]

We have a 95 Mercury tracer ( ka ford escort) and its a good little car to run into the ground..if you can find one snag it! .... though they come in non manly colors mostly LOL

[AllisonK]

Originally Posted by p1gg1e

We have a 95 Mercury tracer ( ka ford escort) and its a good little car to run into the ground..if you can find one snag it! .... though they come in non manly colors mostly LOL

DH's car when we got together was a Ford Escort.

[eggsandpancakes]

can I join? We are pre-baby steps at this point, but after hubby and I talking it to death, we are really, really committed!
We had a meeting with a Primerica rep as a favor, and realized that although compared to most people we know we're aren't in a bad position, we don't want to be here the rest of our lives. Hubby cut up the maxed out credit cards, and starting next paycheck we are doing the envelope system!

[MCsMom]

Originally Posted by Softmama

That's terrible. I am always concerned that we are going to end up with renters like those. Makes me really really really want to sell that house. But right now it won't sell. So renters it is. Sorry you are dealing with that. We've been renting to a company who brings employees over from Japan for 2 year stints. Renting to a large company makes me feel better about things. And they do send in the rent on time. Do you have any major companies around you? Check into whether or not they have any expats. I guess the realtors would be the ones to know that.

Well she called up today with quite an excuse -sigh- I am really glad that right now we are not actually dependent on that rent money. Hopefully I will have the money in a few days, by the ninth at the latest. At least she is staying in contact with me and I am 99% sure not trashing the house.

That sounds like a great set up that you have your house rented through. Unfortunately we don't have any large companies around where we live and certainly none with ex-pats. And we have gone through a rental agency twice in the past, both times left us with a bad taste in our mouth for different reasons. I certainly would not choose to be a long distance landlord ever again. Hopefully we will be moving back into the house when this families lease is up, if not, I think I might push for trying to sell it, even though I am sure we have lost a ton of equity.

[MCsMom]

Welcome tinahiggins!

[Maluhia]

Welcome Tina! You know - that first big chat, and both choosing to get intense can be GOLDEN. I'd be careful of the "rep" because no matter what the favor, they make $ on commissions so make sure to read more in the DR so you come in armed with knowledge and don't end up with whole life, etc. when it's not right for you two

[cymbeline]

Way to go, p1gg1e!!!

Well, I did it.

I went through the giant stack of bills and put them in my inbox.

I reconciled our bank accounts, both personal and business.

I wrote down all of our debts.

I created a debt elimination plan. With hard work and mindfulness, our business will be debt free by March 1, and our family will be debt free in just 12 months (other than the mortgage).

I created both a business budget as well as a household budget.

I shared all of the info with DH. He is on board. We are both very nervous.

A few years ago, our income was double what it is now, and our biz was booming. I realize now I have been in denial for months about the reality of our new situation, and we have both been living the reality of the past and not the present. I am ready to face it head on now, and I am really grateful that all of you are here!!