Getting out of debt in AUGUST!! - Page 2

[eirual]

Do you live close to neighbours by chance? We live in a 4-plex and I've been considering getting in touch with the other residents to see if they're interested in getting a monthly unlimited plan (~$60/mo but divided by 4=$15/household). Mind you they probably all have other services bundled. We pay $48/mo for internet though....brutal, really. That's all that we get though- no cable or satellite or commercial home phone. 

[PPK]

We have Comcast and every 6 months they try to bump us up to $60/month for just internet.  So we call every 6 months, complain and threaten to drop, and they drop us to the 'introductory' offer of 32/month.  Sometimes I end up paying for a month or two while it gets readjusted to the better price, but god...$60 is crazy.

[Ruthiegirl]

Joining late, but I really need to be back here.  We have had the most expensive month -- both of our cars have needed work and we are further in the hole than we were a month ago.  Very frustrated.  

We have gone into deep, deep Ramsey mode at my house.  We sold 1/2 of our belongings a year ago, so not much to sell, but we will be living super cheap till Christmas.  I estimate that I can have our debt paid off by then, if we stick to a tight budget.  

Credit card debt has risen:

CC #1     2158.47

CC #2     2826.48

Total cc debt......4984.95

Ugh.  Just awful.  I hate, hate, hate cc debt.  We are putting our savings goals on hold till 2012 and working like mad to be rid ourselves of the debt.  

My plan:

Pay off cc #1 with paychecks from 8/19, 9/2, 9/16 and 9/30.  Make minimums payments on cc#2.  Pay off cc#2 with paychecks from 9/30, 10/14, and 11/4.  

This means we will need to keep the heat off till November (normal for us) and keep our activities cheap.  Kids are doing soccer this Fall which is all ready paid for and they have cleats.  I am considering holding off on starting piano lesson until January; the kids usually start in September.  No, nix that -- I will have to postpone lessons.  The money is simply not there.  And no travel this Fall.  

I have an order in for our co-op food -- 25 pound bags of rice and beans, spices and nuts, etc.  This is our normal diet, so no change there.  I am working like a dog every morning to get the Fall garden in shape.  That should help ease the grocery budget.  We normally do a  big garden, so I have the garden space and seeds all ready.

No shopping for new baby.  I keep wandering onto high-end baby gear sites and drooling over strollers.  I don't really need one -- I have a stroller that is old, but fine and I have a nice baby carrier that will also be fine.  Just need to curb my bad case of 'I wants'.  I did find a garage sale a few weeks ago and for $20 bought a huge load of infant clothes, so baby will be all set.  

Talked to dh and he is completely on board.  He knows that I am very uncomfortable with debt and is helping in any way to ease the financial stress.  Love him!  

So, you'll be seeing a lot of me in the next few months.  

[mylilmonkeys]

Ruthiegirl, Dh and I also talked and will be going very tight on our budget starting next month.  I had stopped making extra payments while dh was off school to put money into the house.  I plan to have our last cc paid off in two months, we are saving for a van, plus we are about $1000 away from having our PMI automatically dropped without having to pay for an appraisal.  So he's on board and it will be a tight fall/winter for us, too.  

Trekkingirl - Can you budget around your DH's spending?  The key to living on a budget for us was to write down what we were already spending so we could see where the money needed to go, and not try to hard to change it but work within it.  Course, we're already used to not spending extra on Starbucks or something.  But it sounds like you guys are living similarly.  I think a working budget really is essential.  Life has gotten much easier since we had one.  

And lastly, a small victory for us.  This Monday was our 15th anniversary.  We celebrated quietly on Sunday, and stopped to look at TVs.  We've been wanting to get one for our bedroom since the conversion to digital, but been waiting until our debts were paid off and we could save.  I was looking to see how much we would need, but there were several models we could have bought.  The old us would have talked ourselves into it, transferred a couple hundred from our EF and intended to replace it later.  We even discussed it and I was so proud of dh sticking firmly to our plan (he's always been easy to convince).  It'll be awhile longer, but we'll be happier in the long run.  Besides, with the way electronics are almost always dropping in price, it'll probably be cheaper.

[trekkingirl]

we sort of live off a rough budget and DH and I both agree we need to rewrite it. The one we have now is from the beginning of summer and a few things have changed. We got life insurance and cancelled our cable. I was budgeting for DD school lunches as she was temporarily in public school but now that we are homeschooling again I don't have to spend the $60 per month on her school lunches. We try to keep groceries around $120 a week. DH lunches at work are $30 a week. I try to fill up on gas once a week for $50. We have two bank accounts. One is for the regular monthly expenses and the other is our spending account.

[eirual]

Ruthie, do you have a BEF saved already? Just curious since you dipped into credit and your next step is debt-repayment. If not, it really is an empowering step! If so, you can disregard this message :)

I've been thinking lately about creating a wardrobe "capsule" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXNnNnBgotc&feature=relmfu). I don't have a ton of clothes, but there are very few I actually enjoy. I was considering getting a few new (i.e. new-to-me, I usually buy used) pieces and figure I may as well have a well-constructed plan to get the most out of them, and to keep me focused so I don't blow what little budget I'll have to work with. I think the first capsule which has to lead from summer weather into fall will probably simply be grey, white, and black (since I'll have most of that, it won't take a lot of buying to round it out- just some jewelry and scarves and white shirts)...then I can learn where to go from there for the winter.

[Ruthiegirl]

Originally Posted by eirual 

Ruthie, do you have a BEF saved already? Just curious since you dipped into credit and your next step is debt-repayment. If not, it really is an empowering step! If so, you can disregard this message :)

Yes, we do.  We have been debt paying and living the Ramsey-lifestyle for a while now.  I can technically pay off the cards today with our EF.  Not using the EF and forcing ourselves to be very disciplined is better for our behavior and long term spending habits.  What I pay in interest pains me and that discomfort is a good reminder of why I do not like having debt.  These CC's and our mortgage are our only debt.  

I suppose we are not following the steps exactly, but this works well for us. 

[eirual]

I hear you. Having that cushion is comforting, I can see why you wouldn't want to dip into it. :)

[trekkingirl]

I never made it to $1000 BEF before I had to spend what little I had on dental work. I have been selling stuff on craigs and originally that was to replenish the BEF but now that I am out of work due to my back injury......every time I sell something the money goes for TP or gas or groceries. Medical copays and prescriptions...You know, the important stuff.

DH and I took the time to rewrite our budget last night and it basicly affirmed the fact that living in our home is out of our means. Really, living in our county is out of our means, but it's where our jobs are. An apartment here is the same rent as our house. There is a nice RV park close to here for $800 a month and we may just get a 20 year old RV and live out of it for a few months while we bust out the debt and stack our FFEF.

I don't really see any other way to better ourselves. That would definately be living like no one else!

[kitteh]

Originally Posted by mylilmonkeys 

Our progress:  In July we completed BS1.  We are about 2-3 months from completing BS2, except for my dh's student loan which I'm sort of ignoring for now.  We need to replace our vehicles before they die, so I have started on BS3.1.  My goals this month are another $330 in our car fund and tie up as many of our house projects as possible since DH goes back to school this month.  He's starting his last year, and thankfully has managed to get four needed classes for his degree, and please God, will finish the spring semester if the classes fall in the right timing.  It's been difficult since he only can use after work hours..  

Sounds like you're making great progress! It sucks when you have to shift gears a bit to build sinking funds, it almost feels like lost momentum. Only 2-3 months on BS2 sounds like a dream! We've been paying off debt for almost 2 years. Even though the end is in sight (sort of. We've got about $3,500 left of CC. Like you, I'm currently ignoring my ~$24K in student loan debt. GAH) It feels like we've been doing this FOREVER.

Originally Posted by Siennaflower  I have a job interview tomorrow and I'm crossing my fingers that they can give me nights and weekends so I can work opposite dh and we won't have to put dd2 in day care.  We really need the extra $$ to go towards paying off debt.  We could be on BS3 in under a year if everything works out!

How'd the job interview go? Hope the job search works out for you, quickly! DH and I do the opposite schedules thing right now too in order to avoid childcare costs. I hate it, but I  keep reminding myself that it is a temporary necessity until our finances are in better shape.

Originally Posted by eirual 

I've made it my goal to "find" more money and so far, so good. We've ditched our phone ($20/mo) for Magic Jack ($30/yr), we've switched auto insurance companies ($104/mo to $87/mo.) and are looking to switch over home, and life insurance as well (which are both cheaper through this new insurance company, not to mention discounts for having more insurance with one company)....so that should hopefully save another ~$20ish/mo. I paid to cancel my gym membership which I haven't used in 3 mos ($40/mo...and believe you me, I am DONE with ANYTHING that requires a contract!!). Next up: cheaper cell phone option ($15/mo, but some how I keep going over, even though I feel I hardly use the thing so it ends up being $30-$45/mo which is flaming ridiculous!). Total monthly savings to date: $75/mo...

WTG "finding" that extra money every month. $75 is significant! And very smart to have that amount automatically put into savings each month. We've learned our lesson there too, it's just too easy to let the extra money slip through our hands, so we try to take our hands out of the equation and save the extras before we even get a chance to "see" it.

Originally Posted by _ktg_ 

jumping back in and re-subscribing to get back on the bandwagon of savings and moving ourselves out of debt!!
 

Welcome back and good luck!

Originally Posted by Ruthiegirl 

I can technically pay off the cards today with our EF.  Not using the EF and forcing ourselves to be very disciplined is better for our behavior and long term spending habits.  What I pay in interest pains me and that discomfort is a good reminder of why I do not like having debt.  These CC's and our mortgage are our only debt.  

I suppose we are not following the steps exactly, but this works well for us. 

I definitely hear you there. We're not following Dave Ramsey to the letter either. We have about $1300 in our EF right now and we're funding it little by little (between $50 and $100 a month). Having a growing savings makes me feel more at ease and sets up good long-term habits for us.

We had a great month in July. Managed to throw $800 at the credit cards, which currently look like this:

BofA--$2091 at 6.99%

Citi--$1525 at 0%

I also got my student loans consolidated at 6.5% and on an Income Based Repayment plan, so that is positive. I'm trying to decide if we are going to immediately try going "gazelle" on the student loans after the CC is gone, or if we're going to let those "sit" for a while while we move forward with other areas. Right now we're sharing an apartment in an area that has great public transportation, so we don't need a car. But in 8 or 9 months our lease is up and we're going to find our own little one bedroom. We have to save up for the move and possibly for a car, depending on the location of our next apt.I'm leaning towards "ignoring" it and just paying the minimum IBR for a while.

DH got a raise of $1/hour which is great. We've got our auto-savings set up to take an extra $150/mo starting in October. This month we're using the extra money for CC. Things are really tight this weekend, though. DH gets paid on Monday. Right now we have $30 in the checking account, and DH should bring home around $20-$40 a night in tips, which should just barely get us through the weekend. We need some groceries, though. And I'm really hoping our life insurance premiums aren't deducted this weekend, cause that is $40. We're trying to make it through til Monday without touching the EF.

[trekkingirl]

kitteh I love the way you took the time to say something about everyones progress. I should do that more often instead of coming here to complain about how tight things are.

AFM I may have the opportunity to get paid to be in a study. The co that made the new format for mdc is looking to watch somebody on mdc for an hour and answer some questions about the new format. Since I am local to their office I figured what the heck. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

[mylilmonkeys]

Originally Posted by kitteh 

Sounds like you're making great progress! It sucks when you have to shift gears a bit to build sinking funds, it almost feels like lost momentum. Only 2-3 months on BS2 sounds like a dream! We've been paying off debt for almost 2 years. 

Hahaha, yeah 2 months on BS2 would be like a dream!  No, we've been at it almost 2 years, too, but we found this forum and Dave Ramsey several months back and stopped to build the BEF, so we only have 2 mo left on the remaining debt.

WTG on your progress, too!  

[Turquesa]

Hello!  I've been hors de combat for a little while, but I'm ready to jump back in.  I've been lingering on BS4 (15% toward retirement) for a few months, and the recent market is just encouraging more procrastination.  Do any of you want to give me a Dave Ramsey-esque kick in the pants?   Lord knows, I could use it. Convince me to act on this!!

[Ruthiegirl]

Limping along here.  Our budget is set for the next few months, so not much to do but twiddle my fingers as the days go by and I keep busy while not spending any money. I got through the back-to-school shopping with limited purchases and kept to our budget.  We did spend some cash taking friends to dinner who had recently suffered a great loss. Money worth spending and we kept it cheap.  

The garden is growing!  We will have a nice Fall with fresh greens, beets, beans and lots of salads.  And all of it was done with what I had on hand.  

Spent a few dollars on new tubes for my bike.  We are going to commute the kids to school and day care on their bikes, so this was $10 worth spending as well.  Less driving is less gas $.  

So, not much to report, which is a good sign.  No crazy spending, just nice focused living and conscious spending.  

[honeybunmom]

Sounds like you're holding it down well, Ruthiegirl!

I was all set to pay off the 401(k) loan, now it looks like I may only be able to pay 1/4 of what I'd planned.  It's still progress, though.  My husband is back in school and his tuition was more than I'd anticipated, $2100 instead of $1500 . . . and still he has to purchase books.  Good news is that we actually did have the money to pay it.  Kids' tuition was due on the 1st and I thought it was the 15th and I still have to get it in the mail!  Ooops.

With respect to Back to School, this is the first year it hasn't caught me off guard.  The little guy starts 2 days a week and has his rain boots, umbrella and gym shoes (thanks Zulily!), and I need to make sure his slippers fit (from  Lands End clearance sale last winter) and will have to purchase woolens.  Everything else came from Goodwill.  Even a great Hannah Anderson courderoy coat.  Yeah!!!  And the big girl is set . . . except we have to see if her school shoes fit.  They were a final sale purchase off of Zulily and she's away until Friday.

No school supplies to buy.  Just wool socks and hats to be knit up by the time the cold weather hits.

Still hoping to get $500 out on the 401(k) loan.

[eirual]

We're finding more money here....which is good since I'm not bringing any in this summer, and won't see a paycheque again until the END of September....September's going to be interesting for us since DH is going back to school so he won't be bringing in anything then.

I'm selling my collection of children's books (well over 300 of them) today and we're going to have a yard sale this weekend to get rid of some more stuff in the house we own (vs. the tiny 1BR we live in). AND!!!!!....DS has expressed an interest in playing the violin so I put a call out looking to buy or borrow and got a response back from someone willing to just pass one on for FREE!!!!

...and I'm kind of writing-off "back-to-school" shopping...I got DS some indoor shoes for $3, and otherwise he has everything else he needs, really. None of it new, but but I don't think he cares and I don't think I do either...DH was in school last fall too, so although he needs books, he's pretty set too as far as supplies go. I picked up a few pieces of clothing after getting rid of a garbage bag full in hopes of having a more stream-lined wardrobe that all mixes and matches so I don't get that sinking "I have so many clothes, but nothing to wear!" feeling.

[eirual]

Originally Posted by Ruthiegirl 

The garden is growing!  We will have a nice Fall with fresh greens, beets, beans and lots of salads.  And all of it was done with what I had on hand.  

JEALOUS!!!....My garden is pretty much dead...corn was a dud, my pumpkin died, for some reason tomatoes aren't ripening and I have one watermelon the size of a silver dollar. I have been enjoying the herbs though. I'm a neglectful gardener...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turquesa 

Hello!  I've been hors de combat for a little while, but I'm ready to jump back in.  I've been lingering on BS4 (15% toward retirement) for a few months, and the recent market is just encouraging more procrastination.  Do any of you want to give me a Dave Ramsey-esque kick in the pants?    Lord knows, I could use it. Convince me to act on this!!

 

Turquesa, that's a good predicament to have! Investing's like a roller coaster, right? -you only get hurt if you jump off half way through the ride. GET BACK OUT THERE AND FOCUS ON YOUR GOAL!!! ...but really, is there another place you'd be more comfortable putting that 15% for now if you're not liking the market? Something safer or more predictable like GICs or something to the equivalent of a Canadian Tax-Free-Savings-Account? Mattress? 

Edited by eirual - 8/18/11 at 5:28am

[Wolfcat]

I haven't posted for awhile...

This month has been HORRIBLE. We have an event coming up, so there goes $900 right there. Then I paid off some bills and a couple days later, DHs car blows a tire. We got that fixed and now another tire has locked up.

The bathroom drain pipe started leaking and the lawn mower pull cord broke.

My parents took the kids for the afternoon and took one of the baby's bottles by accident. I called them to get it back and they gave me crap for not just going out and buying new bottles. I almost started crying over that. My parents haven't had money issues in decades and they don't get that you can work hard at a full time job that pays above minimum wage and still not be able to catch up easily. They live such a disposable life and it drives me nuts that they expect me to be able and willing to do the same.

[dziejen]

Sorry you are struggling, Wolfcat.  I hope your event is at least something that you will enjoy.  We have had a lot of frustration here too - flooded basement due to pump malfunction, unexpected bills, etc.  Seems like something is broken every other week that we have to just add to the "list" of things to fix someday (tv, grill, lawnmower, etc.) 

It's hard when people you love don't understand or remember what it's like to be working so hard towards your goals.  Hope this week brings good things for you.

Originally Posted by Wolfcat 

I haven't posted for awhile...

This month has been HORRIBLE. We have an event coming up, so there goes $900 right there. Then I paid off some bills and a couple days later, DHs car blows a tire. We got that fixed and now another tire has locked up.

The bathroom drain pipe started leaking and the lawn mower pull cord broke.

My parents took the kids for the afternoon and took one of the baby's bottles by accident. I called them to get it back and they gave me crap for not just going out and buying new bottles. I almost started crying over that. My parents haven't had money issues in decades and they don't get that you can work hard at a full time job that pays above minimum wage and still not be able to catch up easily. They live such a disposable life and it drives me nuts that they expect me to be able and willing to do the same.

[Ruthiegirl]

Originally Posted by Wolfcat 

My parents took the kids for the afternoon and took one of the baby's bottles by accident. I called them to get it back and they gave me crap for not just going out and buying new bottles. I almost started crying over that. My parents haven't had money issues in decades and they don't get that you can work hard at a full time job that pays above minimum wage and still not be able to catch up easily. They live such a disposable life and it drives me nuts that they expect me to be able and willing to do the same.

That is really rough.  I have had my own run-ins with my mom and the in-laws.  They simply do not remember the years of living lean with children.  And it makes it so much harder when it feels like your family is not on your side.  

Here is to a better week.