Getting Out of Debt with DR, Oct 2009 - Page 9

[annettemarie]

True enough. We'll do what we can, and we expect the kids to work and save as soon as they can to help out too, but if they have to get some loans or go to less expensive college, I guess that's what they'll have to do. You can't squeeze blood from a stone!

My parents didn't help that much with college. I had scholarships and grants and a few small loans, plus I went to Grove City College, which was pretty darned inexpensive fifteen years ago. So it's hard for to wrap my brain around this whole "Parents, you owe it to your kids to pay for college" concept. Don't get me wrong-- it's a gift I would love to bless them with-- but it just doesn't resonate with me like it seems to with others.

[Belia]

Originally Posted by annettemarie

Is it twisted that my kids like to listen to the DR CDs for fun?

Only if they dance to them.....

[Belia]

Originally Posted by annettemarie

So it's hard for to wrap my brain around this whole "Parents, you owe it to your kids to pay for college" concept. Don't get me wrong-- it's a gift I would love to bless them with-- but it just doesn't resonate with me like it seems to with others.

I think it depends on the kid. My parents paid for my college 100%. I even found a piece of cake job my soph or junior year (in an 8 hour shift I worked about 2.5 hours and had the rest of the time free to study, sleep, etc) and my parents FOUGHT me and didn't want me to accept it. They were worried that it would distract me from study & fun. "You have your whole life to work" is what they told me. It was such a GIFT to graduate debt free with a clean slate.

But I was also very responsible... I graduated with a 3.8 GPA... I spent the money I was given very wisely... I never charged up my credit card... I "earned" that education via the work ethic and responsibility that I demonstrated in high school and college. I wasn't entitled to a college education by any means, but I did earn it (if that makes sense).

I would like to think that if DS were just as responsible I would move heaven and earth to do the same when it comes time to pay for his college.

But if he is immature, not responsible, not remotely serious or focused.... then I would be much more conservative with my $$$$$.

[lalaland42]

I don't know about owing your child a college education but it is something I want to provide for my children. I don't want my child to have to choose a college based on cost, rather on programs and yes, prestige. I also don't want my child to attend community college for the first couple of years because of money. I made certain decisions about having kids with this very much in mind though and I am sure we can both save for retirement and college. This is just one of the priorities I have for my kids.

Speaking of college, I heard back from the student loan company and it sounds like it will be cheaper to do a wire transfer to my US bank account and pay loans out of that account. I think I can do 2 free wire transfers a month so all it will cost is in exchange rate fees.

[_ktg_]

Originally Posted by annettemarie

It's a little purse-sized notebook for me.

What I do is, one each page, I write something I buy often.

So "Milk, 2%"

Then I write the prices for the different stores. I generally get a good feel for where it's cheapest, but if there's a sale or I have coupons, I can easily look and see if it's really less expensive.

I have mild OCD, so my notebook is actually a bunch of index cards on a key ring. That way I can alphabetize them. For a while, I thought about color coding them as well, but I was able to talk myself down.

*swoon* Ok I have something like this (a series of spreadsheets & 1 software program) but typically I use it to verify if the costco purchase I'm about to pull on is the better deal (consistently) since we only go shopping once per month for NFC & majority of our groceries. I thought maybe this was something new - or better so I can stop driving DH crazy with my maddness of entering all this stuff constantly.

I'm a visual person for organizing - so I'm all about the color coding

[Kyamo]

Originally Posted by lalaland42

I don't know about owing your child a college education but it is something I want to provide for my children. I don't want my child to have to choose a college based on cost, rather on programs and yes, prestige. I also don't want my child to attend community college for the first couple of years because of money. I made certain decisions about having kids with this very much in mind though and I am sure we can both save for retirement and college. This is just one of the priorities I have for my kids.

Speaking of college, I heard back from the student loan company and it sounds like it will be cheaper to do a wire transfer to my US bank account and pay loans out of that account. I think I can do 2 free wire transfers a month so all it will cost is in exchange rate fees.

Free wire transfers! Lucky!

[lalaland42]

Free wire transfers is a benefit from WAMU that Chase is carrying over. At least that is what I was told when I made a wire transfer from my Chase account. They don't use checks here so I really have no choice.

[p1gg1e]

We are in contract with our house They came back with a much lower counter then we thought they would. $10,000 less actually , $2000 less then the top amount we wanted to spend. Thanks goodness for a good Realtor. We though are sticking to our budget. We will be debt free except the house by spring at the latest. This will be the largest house I have ever lived in...so in 2 years we have gone from barely 600 sqft to 2600ish...crazy!

Pretty excited!!

[p1gg1e]

We have inspection on Wed.

Shameless bump

[Softmama]

Congrats P1gg1e! Very exciting

[RoadWorkAhead]

Congrats p1ggle!


In not so happy news, DH was laid off today w/ no warning...The 3rd time this year. I mean, he normally gets laid off at the end of a job, but this was theoretically more longterm. We're under 1k in debt and we've got our BEF. Unemployment + DD's SSI will get us through but it still sucks

[_ktg_]

Congrats p1gg1e!!! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you the inspection doesn't turn up any "red flags!!"

roadworkahead! I'm sorry for this news

[p1gg1e]

Originally Posted by RoadWorkAhead

In not so happy news, DH was laid off today w/ no warning...The 3rd time this year. I mean, he normally gets laid off at the end of a job, but this was theoretically more longterm. We're under 1k in debt and we've got our BEF. Unemployment + DD's SSI will get us through but it still sucks

I'm so sorry

At least you have a plan and you won't be getting into more debt right? Thats a plus as the story would have been different before?

[eirual]

That sucks, roadwork, you can be thankful for what you have though! Hopefully it will be enough to get you by!

[annethcz]

Congrats P1ggle! New houses are so exciting! I'm sure you know this, but remember when you move in that you don't need to redecorate and change everything right away! That's the whole reason I started posting on this thread, making bad choices after moving into a new house 2.5 years ago

RoadWork- I'm so sorry that your DH got laid off. But it sounds like you've got a plan in place, and you'll make it through.

As for me, things are good. I started a new job this fall, it's going GREAT. DH's temporary 10% paycut (a 2 week unpaid furlough that he spread out by taking off every other Friday for 10 payperiods) is over. And DH also inherited a small amount of money from the estate of an uncle who passed away last year. So we're really chugging away on BS3. I'm not sure of exact numbers right now, I'll get them later. We could be socking away money a little faster right now, but as I've mentioned before, we've decided to save our 6-month EF and cash-flow finishing our basement at the same time. On one hand, it would be nice to have a FFEF before working on the house. But OTOH, two of my kids are currently living in the basement with nothing more than sheets hanging from the ceiling for bedroom walls. Although the situation is working, it's not the most comfortable, and I think my kids deserve better. So we're departing from DR in that we're not gazelle intense on BS3, and worse yet, we're working on steps 3, 4, and 5 at the same time But we're comfortable with the choices we're making, so all is good.

[p1gg1e]

Originally Posted by annethcz

Congrats P1ggle! New houses are so exciting! I'm sure you know this, but remember when you move in that you don't need to redecorate and change everything right away! That's the whole reason I started posting on this thread, making bad choices after moving into a new house 2.5 years ago

LOL I'm only going to paint a couple rooms if we can swing it in the budget New stuff will wait till we are debt free...I already have evil plans for that

[mtm]

Re the college thread, in Canada at least it would be tough to pay your way through like I did back 20 years ago. I had a good job, couple of small scholarships and managed to escape almost debt free. With the way tuition has been rising, I just don't know that that's possible anymore. We'll save what we can but since it won't be enough, we'll also encourage our kids to get summer jobs and scholarships.


p1gg1e congrats on the new place! It sounds great!

RoadWorkAhead, oh no. In good news you've got your bef and are already living on a budget. I'll keep my fingers crossed your dh gets something soon.

annethcz, yay for a good news post! We're doing similar to you, cashflowing a few home projects as we do bs3. We put off stuff in bs2 and now need to start doing some stuff. I've got guys upstairs right now putting in my new hot water heater. Slowly it will all get done.

[Rev1053]

Congrats P1gg1e!

October has been a great month for us! I have been transferring money into savings when DH gets paid. Though it hasnt completely stopped us from using the debt card (in emergencies ) it has drastically cut it down. My FIL and my mother both came on visits and stayed in our house and we still managed to be very frugal and actually we only went out to eat once! Our grocery budget even managed to stay the same. Though I havent run the final numbers we should put around 10% of our EF into savings this month.

Now November is going to be hard. My father is coming to visit for 6 weeks. He is going to be a huge burden on us financially, and I am really worried on how to keep him reigned in financially. He works as a missionary in Thailand and lives off of nothing, he used all his money on tickets for him and his wife. He is literally coming to stay with $10 in his bank account. My sister and I agreed to sort of split the expense of him coming but it still should be significant. But we are happy to see him just the same! Just crossing my fingers that the damage is not too bad.

[justamama]

Where to start?

Okay. Our situation is weird, so I'm not sure how to go about the baby steps.

We currently have 2 paid for vehicles. A 17 year old tempo that DH drives back and forth to work and my van. A 2001 in great condition (some cosmetic stuff, but runs perfectly) with 68k miles and a warranty until 155k miles. Seeing as we're expecting our third kid and we frequently have my younger sister or a friend's child with us, selling the van isn't an option.

We'll bring home around $2850 a month. We are $3k behind on our mortgage, so our normally $688 payment (incl. tax/ins) is now $891 until the $3k is paid off. All other bills are current, or can easily be brought current.

The problem is our debt. We have around $40k in debt. 3 vehicle loans (2 cars and a motorcycle- we gave them to the bank last year because we couldn't afford the payments anymore), credit cards, school tuition (not student loans), student loans, and some medical bills. All of it is currently in collections or on its way there. The credit cards haven't been touched in over a year. We never, ever plan on touching a credit card or a loan (except a 15yr mortgage) again. We currently are paying nothing on our debt. :x

Last year when we realized how far in over our heads we were, we decided to file bankruptcy. We have paid $750 towards our lawyer so far, and owe around $400 more before he files anything. If we decide not to file, we lose the $750. DH wants to file bankruptcy on the cc and the cars, and medical bills over $2k. Everything else we would put into our debt snowball, along with money owed to family members.

We also have no savings. No baby EF, no regular EF, not even $5 in the glovebox in case we run out of gas.

WWYD? And does the $3k on the mortgage come before baby step #1 or after, since we have the payment plan worked out?

[Sarah8Jane]

How much of the $40k do the car loans, cc, and medical bills represent? How much will the bankrupcy move?

Is there any way to get the income up? PT work, in home child care, second job? Paper route, pizza delivery?

I personally would just keep working the plan with the mortgage company, and not confuse them with extra payments.

If you want to post your budget, we can give you suggestions for cutting unnecessary expenses and to get the snowball rolling.