Getting out of Debt in December! - Page 3

[orangemomma]

Okay, eirual I am curious - how was it resolved?? My siblings and I just bought a big gift for our parents anniversary and I ended up putting in $40 more than I had budgeted for. I guess I felt guilted into it :( 

trekkingirl - hoping the perfect house comes along soon!

[trekkingirl]

got an accepted offer in way in our price range and in the preffered area! going to look at it tomorrow morning. It's a fixer but has a new roof and new exterior paint. So that's a good start right? I will update tomorrow. It may be a good opportunity to put in some sweat equity and sell for much more a few years down the road. Might be a stepping stone to our dream house. We shall see.....I think this calls for some dancing perishables!
 

[SunRise]

treggkingirl EXCITING!!! A new roof and exterior paint is a good start!

re: family gifts, ugh - one year my brother came up with the idea to get my mom a gift split between the three siblings. I offered to buy it down here (in the US where i live) as the prices are typically lower, My brother paid me his portion, but my sister never paid her portion, she was mad at something ... not the cost, but something else (she has money issues though) .... that was a few years ago and I never got her portion ... but decided there is more to it when buying a family gift psssft

[eirual]

Congrats, trekkingirl!! Do you have a knowledgeable someone who can quote repairs that you can bring with you? I hope it's all you hope it will be.

Orangemama, I sent an e-mail to my brother saying simply that I can really only contribute what I had originally said and that I hope he can somehow make that work. He replied saying he'd make up the difference.

On one hand, I feel bad letting people down (I'm such a people pleaser) but on the other hand, our family's got a pretty simple Christmas planned (in the gift department anyway) and I specifically gave my upper limit amount when we started out, so, gargh!!!

[lilacvioletiris]

trekkingirl, that is exciting news!  Had you looked at the house before you put an offer in on it? I hope things work our for you.  A new house for Christmas sounds like a great gift, even if there is some fixer upper things to do.

eirual, good for sticking to your guns!

AFM, so now for my amazing turn of events.  I work for a Christian school as a teacher.  On Monday night I was talking with my superintendent and principal about some school related issues. My principal is a man and just moved here this year. The superintendent has known me from my college days when she was a professor at my college. The principal stepped out and I shared very quickly with the superintendent that my DH and I were going to have to go through IVF in order to get pregnant and that it was influencing my decision whether to continue employment at my school next year.  My principal came back in and I let the conversation end quickly. We finished our conversation with the three of us and then we departed.  My superintendent asked to speak with my privately in my classroom. She asked if finances were influencing our IVF journey. I said they were and that we had a 1/3 of the money saved for the procedure. She told me that from time to time there are some individuals that donate to special causes in our school system and she asked my permission to ask for the remaining money that my DH and I needed to go through with our IVF. I told her that was okay.

On Thursday night, she called me and said that she had asked the finance committee and that they approved giving me two bonus pay checks one in December and one in January or February to cover what out of pocket expenses my DH and I will have for IVF.  I was in tears of happiness.  DH and I are going to make an appointment to figure out exactly when we will go through with the procedures - either March or June - and exactly what time commitments we are talking about - when I have to go in to get ultrasounds done as follicles grow, then egg retrieval, fertilization, and then egg transfer. Now we can concentrate our money on paying off some more debts so I can stay home with our kids for a few years when they are little. I have to say it is the best Christmas present I could have gotten that wasn't a BFP.

I just have to remember - don't give up, stay positive, keep the faith that the best is yet to come! I am so glad that last year my DH and I started Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University and made so many changes to our finances. We are in such better places than we were a year ago. Next week Thursday will be our one year anniversary of following a cash flow plan and getting our finances in order. It feels so good to see a light at the end of the tunnel that means financial freedom.

[eirual]

OMG, LVI, THAT IS FREAKING AMAZING!!!!

What a wonderful and generous gift!

[orangemomma]

WOW lilacvioletiris - such an awesome present!

[orangemomma]

trekkingirl - any news on the house? Did you like it?  Are the repairs something you could work on over time?

[trekkingirl]

I really do like the house and I was really excited to put in the work to fix it how I wanted. Then I get the call from my realtor that they decided to sell the house to someone else. I am so frustrated and really trying not to get too emotional but this just really sucks!

[lilacvioletiris]

Oh, trekkingirl, I am so sorry to hear that.

[Sharlla]

to reduce bills we got rid of cable and we stream hulu and netflix.  we got the cheap internet. got rid of trash/recycling service, dowgraded our phone plan, and the weatherization program is coming  tomorrow to weatherize the house so our electric/gas should go down; (saves us $130/month)

2 months ago our cc was at 12k so dh did a medical study that paid $2800 and we applied that to our cc.  we should get $8500 back in taxes so all of that will to the cc.

we ended up applying for foodstamps this month (the reason why our cc was so big was because we used it to buy food and supplies) so hopefully we can stay out of consume debt and make due with just our income since we qualify for $445/month

any extra money we have after bills will go toward dh's student loans since he still  has 22k left to pay ($300/month)

[Sharlla]

i had won a $100 gc to target and used the free $10 gc with $50 purchase twice plus a $8 off $80 coupon to get $131 worth of supplies and groceries for $10 after tax out of pocket 

[PPK]

Hi,

I'm joining again here, its been maybe a year or more since I last checked in.  We were up to BS3 years ago, but since then have bought a house, and now I'm in school FT and beginning to rack up student loans...

We are about through BS2 (2months till DH's minor cc's are paid).  What do you consider school loans to be catergorized as?  They will take quite a while to pay.. if I keep borrowing at this rate it will be maybe 30,000 in 3 more years.

Thanks, and this is so motivating to me to buckle down on spending again and motivational to start working more (I'm self-employed and was really lacking motivation the last 3 months to make beyond bare minimum...)

[lilacvioletiris]

I treat school loans like consumer debt, although even when the total is less than my consumer debt, they are at the end of my snowball because the interest rates are so low.

[micah_mae_]

I also treated my student loans like any other consumer debt, although I did put them at the end of the snowball.

[AntoninBeGonin]

Hi!  I need to work on my debt, too.  I graduated in early October with my massage therapy certificate and passed my licensing exam at the same time.  I have not received my official license from the state yet and can't work until they send it.  Meanwhile I have student loans (from other college I've taken) and credit card bills piling up.  I'm sick of being in debt so I need to get a handle on my finances.  Great thread! 
 

[lilacvioletiris]

Welcome Antonin! This is a great thread to keep ourselves accountable and encouraged as we go forward through into a debt free life with financial freedom.

[lactatinggirl]

We treat our student loans as consumer debt, but since mine aren't in repayment yet (I'm still in school), we don't count them in our snowball. I'll be out of school shortly before we pay off DH's loans though, so they'll be tacked onto our snowball at that point. I don't know if we'll roll the full amount over into my student loans though, since we're currently paying about $400 a month to DH's with other money we've snowballed. 

[orangemomma]

Sarah, meandk0610 - I think I read that you recently bought  your home? Have you had an energy audit on it? We did this with the house we live in and they had helpful weatherization suggestions etc.... 

Some areas of the country have programs which are free based on income.

If you have Dominion Virginia Power for example, they have an income- qualifying home improvement program.

Just thought this could save you on heating/electricity - we have found that the ceramic room heaters really drive up our electric bills in the winter.

[Sharlla]

i just called the utility company to get on their level pay plan so i can budge better. so now i will be paying $161/month for water, sewer, gas and electric.
 

sold some diapers i dont use for $100, that's going to the credit card