Getting out of Debt in December! - Page 2

[meandk0610]

thanks for the advice about not spending dd's savings. i've decided to hold onto it and kind of think of it as sort of EF money, hoping that in the future i would be able to repay it much more easily. i'm still keeping it in a separate envelope so i'm not totally thinking of it as EF, but without it my EF is $42. i guess it's a start!

another medical bill showed up yesterday, bringing my grand total to about $2450. *sigh* that's a lot of months at $5/month for 3-4 of them and $20/month for 2 of them. i created a chart in excel so that i can see the EF go up and the debt go down in an effort to keep my motivation up.

i'm also not going to take any extra shifts at the central office for 2 reasons: (1) getting sick 3 times over the past 2 months since starting this job has wrecked my progress with my adrenal fatigue and i am back to being bedridden much of the time, and (2) they had flu circulating there last week (5 teachers out on 1 day with flu) and i do NOT, NOT, NOT need another round of anything! i have been fighting on/off some kind of cough thing for about the past 8 days and i'm hoping that it will just go away permanently. meanwhile, i've decided that i need to go ahead and get my adrenal fatigue supplements because just taking the isocort is not helping me recover. i guess i'll just have to think of that $ spent as an investment in the future and try not to let it stress me.

[lilacvioletiris]

Sounds like an excellent plan meandk. Staying well is important.

[eirual]

Orangemama, thanks for sharing! Do you own or rent? Is your housing as low as can go? This is DR's approach to upside down car loans: http://www.daveramsey.com/company/faq/#upside_down_vehicle . Do you and your SO split the bills fairly? Does he have more "free" money than you?

CookiePie, yay! It's a great read (and P.S. I am so happy I read the book prior to listening to his radio show- his real voice drives me NUTS, I was much happier with my own voice in my head). Have you heard him speak before?

[studentDr]

g you really suffer over in the USA. over in Australia we get free medical. I sympathise with you. it must be really hard to pay off such debts.

[eirual]

Don't even get me started on DR's take on health care. . That is one area where I think he's a complete quack.

We have universal health care in Canada as well....there's a huge school of thought that it's a socialist handout in the States. Drives me crazy.

[micah_mae_]

Originally Posted by studentDr 

g you really suffer over in the USA. over in Australia we get free medical. I sympathise with you. it must be really hard to pay off such debts.

Question, is it really "free" or do you just pay crazy taxes that cover it? Obviously universal healthcare is a new subject of interest for us in the US so I have no idea.

[orangemomma]

eirual - thanks for the link! We have 3 years left on the loan - or I should say HE does - but I think that we could pay it off in close to 18 months - maybe like 20 months. The trouble is is that he's not really on board with DR or any plan really. I think he just gets discouraged. If I could convince him somehow........ Maybe I should try running some figures with different extra amounts and SHOW him we could get the car paid off.???

More on the other questions later.

[eirual]

Really, it's covered by taxes. But that means when your brother who's been sick for 10 years and doesn't qualify for insurance needs a liver transplant, that happens without concern for money.

[orangemomma]

To answer one of eirual's other questions - our housing is as low as it can go - free at the moment. We live in SO's mother's house - I call her my MIL - and she doesn't charge us rent. We want to the buy the place from her and that would necessitate taking on a mortgage - more motivation for me/us to get out of this silly debt: CCs, student loans etc...

I know DR says no new debt - but SO really wants to own this house - been in his family for 44 years, the house he grew up in etc.... It's a good house too - we could rent it out to someone and go live somewhere else - once we pay off the mortgage, that we don't have because we don't qualify, because we have too much debt.

I feel like I am talking/typing in circles - hope that makes sense.

It occurs to me later that someone might wonder why I talk about mortgages in the present tense - I have a rental property. I am considering selling it but for now, it's mine. Well, the bank's really....................

Edited by orangemomma - 12/11/12 at 2:10pm

[trekkingirl]

thanks for the DR link to upside down car loans. I am absolutely floored that his solution was to take out more debt. I never thought he would ever see a reason for more debt.

I got another accepted offer on a beautiful home. Again they want me to pay the difference of what I offered and what it appraises for. Being that I am going the FHA route, they are only going to finance me for what the home appraises for so my hands are tied. Either they will sell it to me for what it's worth or I will move on to the next house. We shall see!

[micah_mae_]

Originally Posted by trekkingirl 

thanks for the DR link to upside down car loans. I am absolutely floored that his solution was to take out more debt. I never thought he would ever see a reason for more debt.

I got another accepted offer on a beautiful home. Again they want me to pay the difference of what I offered and what it appraises for. Being that I am going the FHA route, they are only going to finance me for what the home appraises for so my hands are tied. Either they will sell it to me for what it's worth or I will move on to the next house. We shall see!

I had that issue as well, I talked to my mom (a DR fan) about it and she says "yeah you just buy a clunker". Ok but the car I owe over $11,000 on is worth less than $3,000...isn't that considered a clunker already? 

[eirual]

micah_mae, why is it only worth $3,000? Have you tried to sell it for $8,000 or so and see if anyone bites?

[micah_mae_]

I don't even know how to go about selling it. It has 140,000 miles and the inside is pretty gross from kid stuff, lol. I mean we want to give it a deep clean but it'll still be stained.

[trekkingirl]

sounds exactly like my mazda5 ! I owe $9,500 and also just put in a $4,000 transmission. It has 137,000 miles and I have never had it detailed and my kids have completely trashed it. Full on GRIME! I was thinking if I get it detailed maybe I could pay a few thousand down on it and try to trade it in for a $5,000 car. After license, fees, and registration I might brake even. Eventually the transmission will be going out again and I don't want to own it when that happens.

[meandk0610]

thought i'd throw my budget on here to see if anyone has any insight that i'm missing. the gas money is to drive us from VA to MD for dd to visit with ex-h, her father. i have sole custody and he has court-ordered supervised visitation. i work 3 miles from my home so usually only drive 6-8 miles, depending if i go to the post office, and add another 19 miles twice a week to drive to the central office. i don't know if i could get this down to only once a week - i usually have to deliver checks on monday from my site to central and pick up more snacks on wednesday (after school child care). i'm guessing on the electricity; we moved here in may and the house had been empty for 2-3 years so i don't have any previous history to base that on. last payment was $146 and i have since moved the thermostat from 66 to 64 and put a portable heater in the bedroom that i share with dd. i set that 68-69 at night, depending on how cold i am. i'm so tired of being cold! i've also just started rack drying most of our laundry. we frequently go over the $260 grocery budget and my savings have been getting lower and lower, so low that the overspending is not really an option any more. the property tax savings is too low. i paid over $500 when i settled at the end of may but i don't know the annual amount yet.
 

	Budget
Capital One CC	25.00	minimum payment
Savings (E.F.)	0.00
Pay/Allowance (Kaida)	5.00	based on earning points ala America's Cheapest Family
Charity	0.00
Property taxes	50.00	not enough but don't know what correct amount should be
Electricity	140.00
Groceries	260.00	food stamp allowance, usually not enough due to several food allergies
Gas	400.00	mostly to visit ex in MD
Car maintenance/car	50.00	van has 105,000 miles; don't know what would happen if it broke!
Car insurance	20.00	only liability
Car registration	10.00	currently $90/year but don't know when state will raise
Dogs/cat	20.00
Horses	50.00	feed & feet trims, free lease, no purchase price
Poultry/rabbits	50.00	feed, hopefully by june we'll have enough layers to sell eggs/chicks
Fish	1.00
Supplements/Medical/Health	25.00
Doctor/Dentist (savings to go see)	0.00
Doctor 1	10.00
Dentist	20.00
Doctor 2	5.00
Doctor 3	5.00
Doctor 4	5.00
Home insurance	0.00
WildBlue Internet	49.98	rural, lowest internet, no home phone
Netflix	7.99	no cable or satellite
Lowes CC	25.00	minimum payment
Toys/Gifts	10.00	thought 60/year would be too low
Gifts (non-dd)	5.00	total for all other family members
Dining	10.00	used on our trips to see ex, could be stricter
Homeschool	5.00	ex pays for some of her HS stuff as well
Business Expense	15.00	domain name renewals & web hosting
Clothes	5.00	shop Goodwill except for undies/socks
Hair Cuts	0.00
Household	1.00	cleaning supplies, toilet paper - not enough $ but it's something
House	0.00
Art Supplies	0.00
Library fines	2.00	could make 1 but have to have some payment
Great Lakes (student loan)	0.00	deferrment
Garden	0.00
Craft/Religious	0.00
Entertainment	0.00
Misc	0.00
Total out	1286.97
Sarah	174.72	school closed, usually about 320
Sarah	354.82	estimate, usually about 320
Other income	500.00	child support, minimum $400
Transfer for house	0.00
Food Stamps	260.00
Total in	1289.54

Edited by meandk0610 - 12/12/12 at 7:18pm

[orangemomma]

Sarah, this is just a little thing but I thought I'd mention. I LOVE books, we are always at the library and it seems like I was always accruing fines - where I live they shut you off from borrowing at $10 in fines - I was shut off many a time.

I had to develop a system so that if I am careful - I never have fines again. What worked for me was to sign up for the email  notification when an item was due in 2 days - and then go immediately to the website and renew. Or if not able to renew start looking for what had to go back in 48 hours. Before our library got this notification system, I called them once a week and had them review my account.

I guess that won't help with the back fines but at least if you had a system - you'd know that the library would go back to being free.

Would they allow you to volunteer time to erase back debt?? I think I remember you saying not wanting to be around crowds this time of year due to health issues -  maybe you could stuff envelopes for a fund drive at home? My son used to volunteer a few yrs back at reshelving the VHS tapes to reduce his fines.

I know this is only $2/month that you'd save. I will be glad to look again at yr budget after work. There are a lot of smart ladies on this thread that I hope will jump in with bigger/better suggestions.

[SunRise]

Sarah - Can you scrutinize your gas costs - when you go to the post office is that for business/work?  If its 19 miles two times a week (that adds up), could you ask for gas mileage (between 35 - 55cents per mile); if its for your own business, keep gas receipts / mileage records and claim it on taxes.  How many miles is it one way to your X? Can your x pay for one way?

If you could focus on one of the debts, - pick one of the smallest, even if its the library fine - pay it off and then move to the next one.  This wouldn't ease up cash, but it would simplify things, perhaps.

Do you or can you get an programmable thermostat - its nice to have heat in the evening while you are there, but once you are a sleep, you can set the thermostat to lower temp (60?), and then come back up a half an hour before you wake. Its a bit of an investment (100 for the thermostat and then installing it) but may be a goal for next winter.

[meandk0610]

Originally Posted by orangemomma 

Sarah, this is just a little thing but I thought I'd mention. I LOVE books, we are always at the library and it seems like I was always accruing fines - where I live they shut you off from borrowing at $10 in fines - I was shut off many a time.

I had to develop a system so that if I am careful - I never have fines again. What worked for me was to sign up for the email  notification when an item was due in 2 days - and then go immediately to the website and renew. Or if not able to renew start looking for what had to go back in 48 hours. Before our library got this notification system, I called them once a week and had them review my account.

I guess that won't help with the back fines but at least if you had a system - you'd know that the library would go back to being free.

Would they allow you to volunteer time to erase back debt?? I think I remember you saying not wanting to be around crowds this time of year due to health issues -  maybe you could stuff envelopes for a fund drive at home? My son used to volunteer a few yrs back at reshelving the VHS tapes to reduce his fines.

I know this is only $2/month that you'd save. I will be glad to look again at yr budget after work. There are a lot of smart ladies on this thread that I hope will jump in with bigger/better suggestions.

I had no idea this was even possible! I'll have to ask when we go in there today. Unfortunately, email notification is not available where we now live (it was in both counties we used in MD). I try to remember to check the website but forget sometimes and they still charge $1/DAY for late DVDs!

Originally Posted by SunRise 

Sarah - Can you scrutinize your gas costs - when you go to the post office is that for business/work?  If its 19 miles two times a week (that adds up), could you ask for gas mileage (between 35 - 55cents per mile); if its for your own business, keep gas receipts / mileage records and claim it on taxes.  How many miles is it one way to your X? Can your x pay for one way?

If you could focus on one of the debts, - pick one of the smallest, even if its the library fine - pay it off and then move to the next one.  This wouldn't ease up cash, but it would simplify things, perhaps.

Do you or can you get an programmable thermostat - its nice to have heat in the evening while you are there, but once you are a sleep, you can set the thermostat to lower temp (60?), and then come back up a half an hour before you wake. Its a bit of an investment (100 for the thermostat and then installing it) but may be a goal for next winter.

I will have to see if I can work it so that I'm only driving to the central office 1x/week. It's for their company and I'm allowed to charge for the time instead of mileage. They allow 1 hour for travel to and from Central and 2 hours of planning time. The reason I had been going was that there was not enough food to pick up a week's worth of snacks available on Monday. The truck comes Tuesday afternoon so I was going up on Wednesday again to pick up more food. I took inventory of our food at our site a few days and ago and I think that I might be able to start doing once/week trips to Central as long as I can keep milk in stock. We have to follow USDA guidelines for snack (incredibly, junk food counts!) so it's a little difficult to keep everything to make the combinations on hand.

I will have to talk to ex-h about meeting us part of the way again. We live over 200 miles away. He thinks that we live about 100 miles away so I'll have to see where he'd be willing to meet us anywhere closer to us. Miles saved is miles saved!

That might work with the programmable thermostat for next year. Do you think it would save money over just using the ceramic portable heater in the bedroom? I usually throw a flannel shirt over my pjs or regular clothes when I'm out in the house and call it good. I think my dream would be to have the in-floor heating system. Ah, warm feet at last!

[eirual]

Rant resolved.

Edited by eirual - 12/13/12 at 6:27pm

[eirual]

Sarah,

I can't believe those little bits add up to such a large sum!!

If I were in your shoes, I would look for a way to get rid of the piddly $5 payments and ATTACK one debt at a time. Call each lender up and say "look, I'm giving about $5 to everyone I owe. I'm not going to get anywhere like this. What I'd like to do is pay one person off at a time. Would you be willing to hold my payments for 8 months, then I will give you the total amount that I owe you then?"

That way you can snowball like mad- work the smallest debt and throw everything you can at it, feel success and note your progress and move on to the next even quicker, etc.

P.S. This may not be what you want to hear, but I'd get rid of the pets (they eat HALF of what you do in a month!!!!) ....or find someone who wants to come visit for the cost of feed??? I think that's a huge chunk. ....will your ex pay for half of your travel expenses or meet you half way??