Getting Out of Debt in November - Page 6

[3timesamom]

laveta, I see nothing wrong with changing dave's plan. I think his point however is to focus on one thing at a time. Some of the ladies have chosen to make the FFEF FIRST and THEN focus on debt. Whatever works.

Chely, I do that too. I put things on the card to get discounts BUT I have the cash:)

AFM, I get the extra check Friday. I sign 500 to DH for that gun and the rest is gas and the rest of the money is savings:) I will let you know what we get!

Edited by 3timesamom - 12/1/10 at 10:54am

[laohaire]

I was very pessimistic about our finances but now that November is closed, I am thrilled to have put away what I consider a decent amount of money. BEF is up to $535, and our savings "buckets" (savings that are intended for specific purposes, like heating oil or medical or airfare to visit my parents) are also getting decently funded. Once those savings buckets are in really good shape, we should have more to put away toward the unspecified EF. Some of the savings buckets might technically be the EF, such as the medical (goal is to save $1000, the max deductible for one person - would mean medical expenses would not likely have to touch the EF at all) or the auto (goal is to save $500 which should cover basic maintenance and repairs). Also, some buckets might even give us cash back later, for example when we pay our property tax and if anything is left over, we can put that money in the EF or toward our mortgage or something. Anyway, it will take a long time but surely within a year we will have built up enough cushion again that we should be able to cover all the usual stuff without affecting much of anything.

I also paid $21 extra to the mortgage, which is a measly amount but I'm happy. I intend to send at least that much extra every month. Previously we committed to paying down the student loan but I ulitmately felt that the amount of time we'd have to have no cushion for (3.5 years) is too risky, and the end result would simply be that we're off the hook for a $165 monthly payment, which is not nothing but isn't going to really change our lives. The rate is, what, 2%? Lest I sound like I'm fine being in debt, I'm not, I think I am just going to refocus on our savings and then maybe the mortgage next - not that we can pay off our mortgage anytime soon but we can save soooo much more money over the life of the mortgage by sending a little extra to that. Whereas the same effort for the student loans gains us very little.

Onward and upward to December! December is a 3 paycheck month for us! But unfortunately some of that extra is already earmarked toward some stuff like paying the balance of our CSA ($300) - that reminds me, I need to add a savings bucket for the CSA so we're already setting aside money for the next season and don't have to feel the pinch at the end like we are now.

[mtm]

lavatea, sounds like your situation will look up a bit when you go back to work. Does your dh start school right away or will you get some double income time to hammer the bills? The worry with not doing the steps in order is that its hard to stay motivated without little victories. I'd consider putting the students in a later step and doing step one and two (the credit cards anyway) and then hitting retirement either in conjunction with the student loans or even before them. I'm leery of you pre-paying your kids colleges when you're own are still hanging over you. I hope Dec and Jan are good to you until you get your traction going in Feb. Let us know if we can help with budgets or bouncing ideas around.

chely7425, great job on that cc. Be careful messing with credit cards, I've been bitten playing that game.
 

[mtm]

laohaire, that's great that November turned out to be good for you! Yay for the three paycheque month.
 

[lavatea]

Originally Posted by mtm 

lavatea, sounds like your situation will look up a bit when you go back to work. Does your dh start school right away or will you get some double income time to hammer the bills? The worry with not doing the steps in order is that its hard to stay motivated without little victories. I'd consider putting the students in a later step and doing step one and two (the credit cards anyway) and then hitting retirement either in conjunction with the student loans or even before them. I'm leery of you pre-paying your kids colleges when you're own are still hanging over you. I hope Dec and Jan are good to you until you get your traction going in Feb. Let us know if we can help with budgets or bouncing ideas around.

chely7425, great job on that cc. Be careful messing with credit cards, I've been bitten playing that game.
 

I think he's going to go straight in in January. I would ask him to wait, but he's never been this motivated to go back before and I want to jump on this since he's ready. He's agreed to a community college so hopefully the bill won't be too bad. The ultimate plan is for him to get a good paying job and me scale down my work load (or quit altogether). That will be 4-5 years, but I want to be as close to a SAHM as possible. That's where my heart is. And eventually I'll get my Master's and be a midwife. Not sure when that will happen.

I like the idea of saving the student loans for a later step. They are HUGE and scary, and I just don't see them going away very quickly.

I know funding kids' college before paying off our own isn't ideal. I just really feel like we need to contribute, and our oldest is already 6. So if we don't get our loans paid off for 10 years that would only leave 2 to save up for hers. Hopefully it will all fall into place way before that, but whoever knows.

We both come from families that struggled to get by and I hate to see that for my kids. I want to get ahead of this stuff and set them up for a good future.

Oh, and I started bouncing some ideas around in my head, but it's a bit premature as good income won't be rolling in until early February. But I'll definitely be following along until then and will probably be asking you guys for input when the time comes.

[naturallyspeaking]

HI,

I didn't see this thread until now but I wanted to add me to the list and update that we are debt free now (as of Nov 23).

We kind of follow Dave Ramsey too and now we need to start saving FFEF and save for a down payment for a house.