Getting out of Debt May 2010

[mtm]

Welcome to May! Lets make May a good month for getting out of debt! Most of us use Dave Ramsey's method but please join us even if you're following someone else/your own plan. All welcome!

Here's DR's plan:

These are the Baby Steps:

Pre-Step 1: Get current on your debts and do a budget
0.1 Commit to NEVER borrow $$$ again
0.2 Talk with spouse and get him/her on the same page as you concerning finances.
0.3 Do a written budget
0.4 Temporarily stop all retirement contributions
0.5 Get current on all the basics (Shelter, Food, Utilities, Basic clothing)
0.6 Amputate "toys" (bikes, boats, ATV's etc) if they will keep you from completing the snowball within 12 months
0.7 Cut lifestyle (Cut CATV, Cellphone, Regular phone "extra's", Internet, Eating out, etc) and/or take second job if $1000 EF will take more than 30-90 days.
0.8 Get current on ALL bills

BS1 $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund
1.1 Chop up/freeze CC's (You have an EF now)
1.2 Get Health insurance NOW if in the US (chances of getting sick w/ major medical bills are larger than that of death)
1.3 Get Life insurance NOW if you have considerable debt/your family couldn't make it financially if you died.
1.4 Amputate cars that you can't pay off within 24 months
1.5 Consider raising insurance deductables to $500 or $1000

BS2 Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball
2.0 Do the debt snowball, paying all your debts from lowest BALANCE to highest.
2.1 You can take your first vacation since finding Dave if you can pay cash for it (no using the EF !!!)

BS3 Three to six months of expenses in savings
3.1 Start car replacement fund
3.2 Save up 20% for home purchase OR pay down existing mortgage to the point you can drop PMI.
3.3 Start furniture or other non-essential stuff replacement fund

BS4 Invest 15 percent of household income for retirement

BS5 College funding for children

BS6 Pay off home early

BS7 Build wealth and give! Invest in mutual funds and real estate


Here's the link to Dave Ramsey's website:

www.daveramsey.com

Please join us!

[mtm]

If you need added or removed from the list, or I got your details wrong just let me know and I'll fix it.

Pre-Step 1
anstar
BelovedK
BonnieNova
chanibell
dagny.galt
dfunk98
Gray's_Mommy
kittywitty
lactivistmama
luckybamboo
madsommer
Miasmamma
papayapetunia
punkrawkmomma27
Stephenie

BS#1: Save up $1000
2lilsweetfoxes
annettemarie
Contrariety
CookiePie
crunchymomof2
dex_millie
Evenstar
fairydust020409
greenmom4
JamieB
JenniferH
JustKiya
Kaitnbugsmom
Krisis
Ksenia
lakeruby
lj2blessed
mamabain
mommaknowsbest
neveryoumindthere
NWmt_Mama
prana
Sihaya
teenyToona
Tryingforbaby
vmommy

BS#2: Pay off all Debt (except the mortgage)
100%Mom
2Rubies
AAK
AFwife
AllieFaye
astar326
Belia
Bluegoat
canuckgal
claddaghmom
Cody'smomma
ColoradoMama
Contrariety
cparkly
cymbeline
Deir
dkenagy
eirual
excitedtobeamom
FeelingBlessed
FiveLittleMonkeys
goldfishkate
HappyMommy2
Hedgehog_Mtn
herwitsend
hollytheteacher
indie
jeliphish
jjawm
kat.c.stevens
kavita
Keeta
killick
kings5queens4
KnittingKara
ktg
lalaland42
laohaire
Leav97
LittleBirdy
lizziebits
Livi's_Mama
llamalluv
LZP
major_mama11
mamabain
MamaPam
MamatoWill
mamimapster
mich
MyTwoAs
my2girlz
Nickarolaberry
okapi
onlygirls
onthemove
Pernillep
PluggingAway
proudmamanow
Resque
RisingSun
RoadWorkAhead
samandhenrysmom
scrandall1173
Shellie
shllywlly
smallmama
stanleymama
stellarae
sweetjasmine
thenaturefreak
Tradd
tricia80
triscuitsmom
tynme
twin_mama
whiddle
wife&mommy
willew

BS#3: Build up to 3-6 months of savings
akichan
annethcz
beansmama
corrie43
Crunchy*VT*Mom
Denvergirlie
HappyHelpmate
MomtoWilmo
mammamo
maryjane
MCsMom
Nora_SEA
phatui5
phillytwinmama
p1gg1e
PPK
Rev1053
sarafi
sparkprincess
Stone_Fence
yasinsmama

BS#4
mtm

BS#5
Maluhia

BS#6
kanga1622
rebeccalynn
Sarah8Jane
Softmama

[mtm]

we ended april with eirual asking about blow money. Here's her post:

YOUR spending money?
I've noticed that a lot of women don't budget spending money for themselves. We often hear of DH's spending money but that you don't budget your own (I'm not saying this is always the case, but it seems like a frequent arrangement).

We do the same thing. DH has $20/wk to spend (often he chooses to spend it on family-friendly things like maybe getting a pizza one night or stuff we need or sometimes just on a lunch one day or a few coffees through the week). I don't give myself any set-aside spending money. I find that shopping for the family and the act of getting little planned-purchases is often satisfying of my need to shop. I do treat myself with budget left-overs and will sometimes get un-budgetted items just because they're needed at the moment and were forgotten about at budget-writing time. I actually like it this way because I feel that with my financial habits I'd feel ownership over that money, blow it, but then still go over budget or still spend the extras instead of limiting any extra spending to that set amount.

I don't know if that paragraph is clear. I guess I'm just curious if you budget in your own spending money or not? If you do so successfully, do you have any strategies or a mind-set that makes that work? If you don't budget spending money, do you honestly spend nothing on yourself? Do you keep it sacredly yours or does it often get put towards the greater good? ...like this winter I had $200 saved so I could skate (finally, I'd been waiting for years to get back into it), then oh we're renovating the kitchen! all of a sudden skating seems frivolous since there's this communal need now.

I'm thinking maybe next budget cycle I'll try budgetting my own spending money and realise that it needs to last a month and mean that there's NO other extra spending. It might make me more accountable for the little purchases I make and keep them in check. I'm starting to get a little loose with the budget this past month and need to get things tighter and back on track. I'm starting to feel deserving of un-budgetted "stuff".

Sorry, that was a little rambly. In a nut-shell: what are your thoughts on budgetting your own spending money?

[eirual]

YAY MAY!! :joy

Well, it's official, our savings are now more than our debt!! ...for now anyways.

At this rate we'll exceed our moving-fund goal (though we'll need to pay tuition too and first month's rent, etc. which we haven't really planned on too much). We'll see where we end up, but I'm HOPING we'll have excess to throw at debt at the end of it all! So much is up in the air until we know this adventure is for sure a go. We'll know for sure by the end of May once DH is done his last exam.

Moving into May feeling industrious and focused after gettitng a little loose in April....

[mtm]

we had a bunch of new people last month. RisingSun, wife&mommy, vmommy, kat.c.stevens and kitteh, how is it going? Need encouragement or have any questions?

[MyTwoAs]

Hello May!

Looking back at the April thread, my goal was to be at 11.5% of debt paid off and I just calculated our figures this morning - we are at 12.9% paid off - I beat my goal, wahoo!!

Looking ahead to 6/1, my goal is to be at 20%.

[Leav97]

Originally Posted by eirual

Well, it's official, our savings are now more than our debt!! ...for now anyways.

Sounds like you're doing a good job of getting ready.

I'm slowly making progress. Paid off a CC last moth.

BS #2
Med Bill 2 - 775 - Nov
CC 2 - 3012- Dec
CC 3 - 5336 - 2011
Car Loan - 11458
Medical bill 1 - Done
Signature loan - Done
CC 1 - Done

[dagny.galt]

Joining here for the first time.

In early April, I picked up a TMMO starter kit on impulse at Sam's Club. (I'm sure we'll be laughing about that in a few years!) DH had been laid off since early Jan., our cash flow was negative and starting to drain our meagre savings, and we were both getting depressed about the state of our finances. I'd heard of Dave Ramsey before, and had a general idea of what the baby steps entailed. DH, on the other hand, was completely new to DR. I read TMMO, then passed it on to DH expecting that the "getting on the same page" step would take lots and lots of discussion and negotiation. Instead, he was all for it right away!! He's back to work starting last Monday, so I'm spending today working on getting our new budget together and writing out the plan of attack for our debts. First up, though, is refilling our savings account and getting the basics in order.

May Goals:

Pre-step #1:
Finish and agree on written budget, by 5/1
Get current on ALL bills, by 5/7
Cut internet speed to lower level, by 5/7
Cut land line phone, by 5/7

BS #1:
re-fund our $1000 baby emergency fund, by 5/31 (currently at $63/1000)

It's so exciting to realize there's a light at the end of this financial tunnel and it's not a train!!

[MyTwoAs]

eirual - Woohooo congrats!! I'm glad that you're getting some more solid direction come the end of May as far as details on the move.

Leav97 - Congrats on paying off another credit card!!

dagny.galt - Welcome to the group, congrats on your husband getting back to work and for both of you being on the same page from the start - yay! Gotta love knowing that the light you see isn't a train anymore.

[dkenagy]

I'm joining in, too. We've been "doing" DR for a while, but took a break from it when DH's hours were cut by 1/3 last year... anyway, we are back in Baby Step #2, after having to go back and re-refill our BEF A-gain... We paid off our first cc last fall, then took a break from snowball due to DD2 needing surgery and having to pay for that. We are now sitting pretty with $300 saved for van property tax due in June, insurance co-pay for baby #5 due in May, and $1000 BEF PLUS, the best news yet, we are set to pay off our second cc next week!! I'm so freakin excited! We've still got a LONG way to go, but we are doing SO much better than we were and I'm so proud that we've been able to take these setbacks and persevere and STILL not borrow a dime toward our stupid DEBT in WELL over a year!!!! We keep our cc "confetti" in a ziploc bag in the kitchen so we can see it all the time and remind ourselves where we are and where we are heading. I have refigured our snowball with paying off this cc and applying the min. pmt. to the next one and even if we never add an extra dime to the payments (and we will), we'll be completely debt free (excluding house) in SIX years. That's a long time, I guess, but not too bad for more than $50,000 worth of stupid.

So, heya everyone!! I may be in-and-out this month as I intend to be birthing a baby, but I'm on the bandwagon!!

[PPK]

mtm and eurial~

I know about how much I tend to spend on "my fun stuff". Usualy its a few new clothing items each month and maybe a book or two..things along those lines. So I basically know where I am during the month by looking at what I've already spent in those catergories and from there I scale back, or feel free to pick up something if I really need/want it.

The other part of that question is asking myself if its a need or a want and if its purely a want, then I think about if I'll regret the purchase at the end of the month. I make decent money, and I don't want to feel depraved, so I try to keep a good healthy balance.

Anyways, good to be in this thread for May!! I just did April's income/expenses and I did pretty good keeping expenses lower than usual, but got nailed with taxes...at least I'm proud of myself for having the money available to pay them on-time and be done with it! Onward and forward!!

[annethcz]

We're holding steady at about 60+% of FFEF. It's probably going to start going down soon, since we're moving full-speed ahead on our planned home remodeling (we're finishing our basement). We've been cash-flowing the expenses so far, but it's getting more expensive as we're approaching the end of the project. Last week we bought half of the doors we need and all of the door handles. I really wanted custom doors, but we decided to stick with stock to save money. That was $800. Today we spent nearly $300 to buy all of the electric components (wiring, circuits, etc) that we need before we get central air conditioning installed next week.

I think we'll be able to cash-flow the rest of the smallish expenses. It's the bigger expenses like the carpet and digging out/installing an egress window that we may need to dip into the EF to cover. I know that we could wait longer to finish it and not have to take money from savings. But my boys have been living in bedrooms without walls for over a year, so I prefer to finish sooner rather than later. DH and I both have stable jobs, so I feel comfortable knowing that although we don't have a fully funded EF, we will still maintain a bigger EF than we've had for many years.

Originally Posted by mtm

Sorry, that was a little rambly. In a nut-shell: what are your thoughts on budgetting your own spending money?

First of all, I should point out that I am NOT gazelle intense. We tried bare-bones budgets in the past, and they were miserable failures. So we have a comfortable budget. We don't have specific blow money. A big part of that is because I'd have a hard time classifying what is a blow purchase and what isn't. Some purchases are obviously only for me- clothing, shoes, girls' night out. Other purchases are questionable- there's a special lotion that I LOVE, it's $30 for a tub, and I buy it a few times a year. Is that a purchase for me, or is that a household expense like soap is? What about the new hand towels I just bought for the bathroom. We didn't NEED new towels, but the old ones were looking grubby. I'm the only person who cares about towels, so are they a household expense or was that a purchase for me?

Instead of having blow money, we have well funded budget categories that will provide for all of our needs and some of our wants. The way it generally works is that if there is money left over after buying what we need, we spend the money on things we want. For example, we have a clothing category. If the kids don't need new clothes this month, I'll probably splurge and buy something for myself. We have an entertainment budget, which covers things like zoo/museum fees, theater tickets, and cover charges for bars/clubs. If we don't take the family to the museum, it means I can afford to go out and meet my friends for a few drinks on the weekends. Most of our 'blow' expenses fall under our household/misc. category. This category covers a lot of the miscellaneous things we use around the house. It doesn't matter if the bathroom towels or spendy body butter or the extra special new baby gift is for me or if it's a household expense, as long as we have money left in the household/misc category, it's all good.

I don't know if this makes sense or helps, but it's what works best for us. DH and I do a pretty good job communicating with each other about budget issues, so there isn't an issue that one spent too much so the other person doesn't get what they want. We have enough extra in the budget that both of us can splurge a little bit without going over budget.

[triscuitsmom]

Last month was a good month DP got a new job and we got a windfall that allowed us to finish our BEF and finish paying off our consumer debt all in the same month

BS1 $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund
*DONE: BEF: $2000.00/$2000.00 as of April, 2010

BS2 Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball
*BS2.1-2.4 DONE: $2216.80 in consumer debt paid off as off as of April, 2010
*As of May 1st*
BS 2.5: Vehicle fund $1000.00/$4000.00 (25% done)
BS 2.6: Student Loan #1: $5551.07 left of total $5591.78 (99% to go)
BS 2.7: Student Loan #2: $5887.16 left of total $5930.33 (99% to go)
BS 2.8-2.10 Student Loans #3-5 On Hold for Now

[corrie43]

you can move me to BS 3.. We just paid off our Heloc. We are now debt free except the mortgage!!!

Now the $400 a month we were paying on that is going straight into an account to pay cash for a trip to disney in an 2011!!!

[eirual]

Originally Posted by corrie43

you can move me to BS 3.. We just paid off our Heloc. We are now debt free except the mortgage!!!

Now the $400 a month we were paying on that is going straight into an account to pay cash for a trip to disney in an 2011!!!

What a feat, CONGRATULATIONS!!!

How much do you figure you'll need for Disney? It seems like at $400/mo you'll have that well funded fairly quickly (maybe?).

[dkenagy]

Wootwoot!! We killed another credit card today! I'm so freaking excited!!!!!

So,
BS 1- DONE $1500/$1500
BS 1.2 (property tax fund) DONE $300/$300
BS 2- IN PROGRESS
BB&T (credit line) PAID OFF
CHASE #1 PAID OFF
CHASE #2 PAID OFF Woot!
Discover
StarCard
AT&T card
BoA Loan

We've still got a long row to hoe, but I'm so glad we are making so much progress, particularly given the setbacks we've had over the past year!!

[Shellie]

We're on 2.1, including just having taken the first vacation (all cash!) since starting our TMMO.

I'm still struggling with how far that vacay $$ would have gone toward debt but hubby really, really needed the vacation and needed to see some of his hard-earned dollars making the family happy in a big way.

We have one CC left (Discover, 11% interest, balance ~ $4k) and one car loan left (5%, balance about $8k) and paid off around $35k in car loans (had three at one point) and CC's in the past two years.

Our plan is to get rid of the remaining car loan by the end of the year and finish paying off the Discover by this time next year. Dh likely will be losing his second job at the end of the year so we're looking into other supplemental employment for him.

ETA: We are not gazelle-intense for various reasons, mostly emotional. We have to do what works and dh finds it too hard to work 12+ hours a day and then not be able to "afford" going out to dinner or to the movies or new clothes, etc.

[dagny.galt]

Wheee...our budget is done and agreed on, and we're all caught up on bills/payments! We decided not to cut the cable internet speed, considering our monthly entertainment budget has been cut to only $18 a month (for Netflix/Xbox Live). I can only eliminate so much without a complete revolt from all my boys, DH included, and cutting the 'net speed would likely mess up our ability to stream movies or game online.

So, I guess we're officially in BS #1 now...

BS #1: $63/1000 saved

BS #2: $5666 consumer/medical debt remaining (no credit cards or vehicle payments, student loans moved to BS #6)

BS #3: $0/10000 saved

BS #6: ~$21,700 student loan debt remaining; ~$118,000 mortgage debt remaining


Here's a question for you... I sold a few old baby things on Craigslist today, netted about $40. Not much, in the grand scheme of things. Is the common wisdom to apply such small windfalls to the snowball, or just add it to my blow-it money or other cash budget category?

[corrie43]

Well we plan on gong to disney in Jan 2011. my mom is letting us use her timeshare that is 1 mile from disney, so we only have to pay for park tickets, flights and a rental car. We are thinking we will need about 2500-3000 to cover a 6-7 day vacation with food souveniers ect ect. Anything left over from the 400 a month will start savings for home improvements like new flooring and some landscaping, but this will be our first vacation. Our kids are 7 and 9, so they really deserve a good one.

[eirual]

Originally Posted by dagny.galt

Here's a question for you... I sold a few old baby things on Craigslist today, netted about $40. Not much, in the grand scheme of things. Is the common wisdom to apply such small windfalls to the snowball, or just add it to my blow-it money or other cash budget category?

I hate to say it, but....technically you should add it to your snowball.

I had a whole " but if you choose to spend it...." reply going but couldn't bring myself to encourage that. I'm going to be the voice of reason and say put it to work. I'm sure you've got enough voices saying all the fun things you could do with it.