OK so i got a bunch of money help me

[sosurreal09]

i have $7,746.00 in debt.

i just got $15,000 from an annuity. I wont get any more for 5 years.

so here's what I am thinking.

pay off debt.

get a new mattress (i need one for mental health reasons)

keep the rest in a money market account and try to add to it when I can.

DH is going to school in Jan and will hopefully graduate within 2 years.

my goal is to buy a 2+ family closer to my family and friends after DH graduates. We should be able to afford the mortgage if DH gets a good job out there. That way we should get enough income to pay the mortgage from the other apartment(s) and be able to really save to buy a single family house for ourselves within 5 or so years.

So what do you think does that all sound like a good plan? also should I close out both credit cads or keep one open?

[ChristyMarie]

I think your idea of a money market account is great.  Why not open one, put the money in there and just let it sit for 30 days?  Think about what you want to do.

Paying off debt sounds perfect - assuming that is cc debt with a good chunk of interest attached?  Sounds like you could pay that off, buy a mattress and still have a very nice emergency fund/down payment fund sitting in the bank.

[Ruthiegirl]

Pay off debt.  Put the rest in a money market account.  Save money for a mattress and pay cash for it without dipping into your new savings.  That would be my plan.  

[zinemama]

Originally Posted by Ruthiegirl 

Pay off debt.  Put the rest in a money market account.  Save money for a mattress and pay cash for it without dipping into your new savings.  That would be my plan.  

I agree.

[sosurreal09]

maybe i should also add my unemployment is ending this month and we will only have DH's income which net it $1700-$1900 a month.  be back later crying baby

[Ruthiegirl]

Will his income cover your basic living expenses?  Will you need this money to get you through this period of one income?  

[sosurreal09]

well I am trying my best right now to cut things out.

we moved and switched to one car which seriously cut down spending!

rent 725

car  362

ins  111

gas 100

        70 phone internet and tv and they wont let me just do phone and internet...

      100 utilities

1468 without food or spending...

[happysmileylady]

How is your DH paying for school?

[sosurreal09]

haven't figured that out yet...still waiting to see how much FAFSA will do.

[happysmileylady]

Originally Posted by sosurreal09 

haven't figured that out yet...still waiting to see how much FAFSA will do.

Then, IMO, you should pay off the debt, buy the mattress, then use the rest to pay for school.  There's no point in paying off the debts if you are just going to turn around and go back into debt with student loans.
 

[matey]

I agree with paying off debt first. My dh makes a little less than yours, so I know it can be a tight budge, but paying off debt is most important in my mind. That is the sort of thing that can drag you down during a bad month and make it worse. We used to have a lot more debt and when I quit working I cashed out my retirement and payed all the debt off. Right now we have a little debt because we had some unaviodable car and home repairs that we could not afford. Had I stilll had other debt, it would have ruined us. Since we no debt otherwise, I have a little more wiggle room. My sister just recently sent me a check because she makes a ton of money and loves me so much. With her money and the "extra paycheck" this month from a bi-weekly pay period we will be debt free again. Being debt free makes me feel like I can breathe and that if problems arise, we will be able to figure it out for a while

I would vote to buy the mattress while you can especially since you have health reasons. The truth is that we can plan our futures as much as we want, but things don't always go as planned. You have the money now to do it. Then you can put the rest in some kind of account. I like the idea of saving for it and buying with cash, but with a tight budget that little bit that is supposed to be saved can easily get spent out of necessity. But just limit yourself to the mattress and dont negotiate other expenditures in you rmind.

[matey]

Originally Posted by happysmileylady 

Originally Posted by sosurreal09 

haven't figured that out yet...still waiting to see how much FAFSA will do.

Then, IMO, you should pay off the debt, buy the mattress, then use the rest to pay for school.  There's no point in paying off the debts if you are just going to turn around and go back into debt with student loans.
 

The only thing that would make me not worry aboutusing it to pay for school would be if your DH is going to make enough money to quickly pay off school debt. School debt sucks so it may benefit you to not have it around. But then, if you can afford to pay it later, it might be nice to have a little on the side. I dont know, that's a tough one. I think there are a lot of factors to that. For us, we can't afford to pay for school, but also the masters prgrams that dh has looked into are all for low paying jobs(social work, which he already has a job in, but he was granfathered in so he cant go anywhere with it), so we would have more debt and we still wouldn't have money to pay. We are actually doing income based repayment on dh's undergrad loans. We know that DH will never make very much money and the income based repayment option was the right way to go for us. So, in our case, if we were in your shoes and dh was going back to school, it would be better to let the loan accumulte and to turn it over to IBR. After 25 years of makinf the payments the loan is "forgiven".

[matey]

Originally Posted by sosurreal09 

well I am trying my best right now to cut things out.

we moved and switched to one car which seriously cut down spending!

rent 725

car  362

ins  111

gas 100

        70 phone internet and tv and they wont let me just do phone and internet...

      100 utilities

1468 without food or spending...

Does paying off your debt include paying off the car? That would really free up some money.

[heatherdeg]

I would pay off the debt, buy the mattress (I TOTALLY understand sleep and mental health issues :(  ) but stick the rest in a money market.  Hear me out...

I TOTALLY AGREE that student loans SUCK.  But your budget is so tight right now it squeeks and one nasty emergency is going to land you right back into debt.

Sit on the remaining money.  If you can grow it by the time he's out of school and can pay down some of the school loan, great.  But in the meantime, you need to pay for books (which are so NOT cheap--even used) and there are all kinds of crap that can hit the fan and land you in debt again.  Heck, even car registration renewals and the occasional birthday gift are going to be problems.  I might even set aside $1,000 of the remainder money as a sinking fund for a flat tire, legal stuff (like the car--and btw, insurance??), etc. and then take the rest and sit on it.  Reason being is that if you start dipping into a much larger pot, it's easy to whittle away the whole thing.

Your long-term goal sounds great.  I just suspect it might take longer than you think to do.  Multi-families/apt. buildings cost more and therefore require more down payment.  And once you get more than 4 units, you're going to be hard-pressed to get around putting less than 20% down even if you're going to live there (unless the mortgage banking climate changes again).  It's usually a different lending scene when you go over 4 units.  But you could do a 2-family and still make a huge impact on your finances.  :)  Plus, you could keep it when you leave, continue to rent it out and possibly have income.  :D

[sosurreal09]

Ok all sounds good everyone. I am thinkinf e can get one of those loans for school that you pay after you graduate? anyone know about those? my sis has one.

DH wants to do the utilities program there but now we found out there is a wait...and its only a certificate program! errr I hate MA I wanted to be a nurse and there was a 4 yr wait to get into the LPN program even! then I ended up getting pregnant and we are where we are now. I can't imagine leaving DD...anyways

So the whole mattress thing. I was attacked (forced upon) in a home invasion on that mattress and its been 2 years...I have been wanting a new one so badly. Every time I go to change the sheets I practically have a heart attack b/c of all the blood stains on the mattress...I feel like I can't get any closure while still sleeping on the same bed I was r@ped on KWIM? besides having DD sleep with us...I just feel like I need to do it. I have been trying for so long to tell myself it's not worth it...I have tried everything to get the stains out ect. I just can't do it any more...the money is there and I want a new mattress.

now we really need a King and I dont want to have to go down this mattress buying route again for 20 yrs! lol so I was thinking about getting a good one. IKEA has "organic" latex mattresses and there king is $1000 which is way cheaper than anywhere else I can find a natural untreated mattress. I feel guilty spending so much though...and I never bought anything from IKEA before. Yeah I could probably get one for $200 bucks that has springs and chemicals but I have a bad back too and I was thinking the latex would be better for it. The mattress we have now is a posturepedic and my back kills every single morning and that mattress is only 3 yrs old and was not cheap!

as far as debt goes. All of that debt would be just the credit cards. we would still have to pay the car monthly. I know it's not cheap but it is a reliable family car that we can have for years and years...we were paying $950 a month for the two cars with insurance and gas so we have significantly cut that down. we are going to have to make it work.

also DH is still smoking Ciggs. I told him he can not buy anymore after my last check period. he has been "working on quitting" I bought him a book and have been trying to help him...he doesnt seem to want it but he says he's been cutting down and taking care of it so I am trusting him with that. Either way there will not be an extra $8 a pack for them and he can not have the money for it so there isnt too much he can do about that.

[matey]

You MUST get a new mattress. Like, today. OK? My sister also experienced a home invasion-attack. It was awful. I can't even drive by the street that the apartment was on without feeling upset. I can't imagine what you feel like when you change thse sheets. Replace asap!!

[matey]

Oh, and as a former smoker, the battle goes on everyday. Have patience. I know it seems like an unaffordable and avoidable expense but addiction just isnt that cut and dry. Hope he is able to cut back as he has rassured you.

[sosurreal09]

i smoked for almost 9 years and quit the day i found out i was pregnant....he said he wanted to quit before the baby was born...then before she was 6 m/o...then before she was one...shes 15 m/o! I still don't smoke.

[matey]

That is very good of you. My track record is not nearly that nice. Like I said, I hope that he is able to do better and then quit. Congrats to you on staying smoke-free!

[laohaire]

Holy cow, a new mattress for you is #1 priority. Get a mattress today. I'm so stingy about that stuff but I would have done it right away, and my DH would have too (he's as stingy as me).