Getting Out Of Debt In January 2013! - Page 6

[TiredX2]

Originally Posted by veganmama44 

tiredx2, thanks, i did look at creditkarma.com and am now in the process of disputing my car loan., it was from a credit union and its stating that i still owe 9 grand! i have the title! i paid 6 long years to own my car! hopefully this will get cleared up soon and my score will go up a few points. im going to wait til i hear back about this dispute ( with in a week or so) until i apply for a cc ( i need to build my score so that i can get a mortgage, but i will only charge my gas an payoff in full each month).

That's GREAT.  Well, it's horrible that it has been misreported but awesome that there is something to be cleaned up.  Hopefully it will make a diffference!

[lilacvioletiris]

The creditkarma.com site looks interesting.  I will have to try it out tonight when I have more time to register.

[CookiePie]

I've been on Credit Karma since October, it seems decent.  DH's credit score went up when we paid the credit cards off, he was just a few points behind mine.  Mine hasn't moved, I assume because he is the main account holder on most of the accounts. I know that I have 2 in my name only 1 is the 1 that I just paid off, waiting to see if mine changes.

[SunRise]

I just checked out credit karma. Kinda cool. Its been several years since I checked my credit as I have never been concerned about it, and I have to say, I was kind of surprised at my score (its good, but not above 800), I thought it would be higher. Although I have carried credit card debt in the past, for the 14 years I have lived in the US, I have never had a late payment (got 100% there on the CK site), have bought and sold a house, bought another house, paid off car and all credit cards. I wonder what one has to do to get over 800!

[veganmama44]

Yes!!!! I just spoke with the woman at the credit union and she said she fixed it and it would be updated over night, so I should see the change tomorrow!
next step is to get a cc, to improve my credit get a mortgage and be done paying rent (my landlords mortgage!)
thanks again tiredx2, I never would have checked My score ( I was nervous I guess)!

[lactatinggirl]

Thanks everyone! I don't know if we'll end up buying a beater and getting rid of the van, but I'm solidified in my choice that we shouldn't get a car loan. :-D

[orangemomma]

Called my cell phone carrier yesterday and my bill will be reduced by $24/month starting next bill cycle. That should help a bit. I can't really think of what else I could cut for expenses - not drive the car to save the money I have budgeted for gas,  but that seems kind of depressing.

I am going to have to pester my boss tomorrow to see if he has spoken to the division boss yet - it has been almost 2 weeks since he said he would advocate for me to get more hours.

[TiredX2]

Originally Posted by SunRise 

I just checked out credit karma. Kinda cool. Its been several years since I checked my credit as I have never been concerned about it, and I have to say, I was kind of surprised at my score (its good, but not above 800), I thought it would be higher. Although I have carried credit card debt in the past, for the 14 years I have lived in the US, I have never had a late payment (got 100% there on the CK site), have bought and sold a house, bought another house, paid off car and all credit cards. I wonder what one has to do to get over 800!

I've read that the score on there isn't perfect.  It's *close* and in the same category, but not quite on. I've heard of people being *right* on, people having their FICO score up to 50 points higher than their Credit Karma score and the opposite as well.  It will track the "real" score, though, so for educational purposes you can see if your score is going up or down.  For many people it will be close, but I think outliers are even further off (When we bought our van, we were shown our FICO score and it was 30-35 points higher than the Credit Karma score has ever reached).

[LoveOurBabies]

Originally Posted by trekkingirl 

thanks for the responses. here in the bay area there are about 20+ offers per property and it took me about 45 offers to finally get an accepted offer on this property. That's why I am so scared to walk away. The house is owned by fannie may so it's a REO and they won't even replace the cracked windows! So from what I can see it needs a new roof, new windows, a new kitchen, and eventually two new bathrooms. Also they put linoleum over the kitchen and living room floors and you can see the ripple where the two floors used to be divided. So basically they didn't bother to remove the old floor before putting down the linoleum. In the back yard it needs new fence on all three sides plus two sheds removed. Also I lost all my furniture because my storage had a rodent infestation. So I also need all new furniture! Oh and the central heat unit is 20 years old, not sure how long those usually last.

and we found signs of rats and possible mold.

I would walk unless you are prepared to spend some serious dosh and have a handy partner.

Just some advice from someone who has been there, done that..

We bought a 800sq ft house in similar condition (barring the mold) and it has been hell to renovate. My dh is super handy, but it still cost us in the vicinity of 40k to finish on the inside only. We changed all the 50 year old lead tainted windows and doors, removed all the asbestos from the home (professionals did it), changed the cracked walls and ceiling, opened up the super tiny kitchen and put a new (bigger) one in place. We opened up the tiny bathroom and completely unusable laundry and combined the two to make a european style bath/laundry room. We also replaced some original flooring under the new floorboards because they were cracked.. Put some built in wardrobes (the place had zero storage).. The list goes on.. We still need to pay for garage materials, fencing, do our own landscaping, replace the cladding that is literally falling apart (and off the house) as I type..

Our house was dubbed the 'crack house' by family, because it really did look like one when we first signed. It now looks like a warm and very modern family home on the inside.

It sounds like we got jipped with the house because of all the things we had to change - We didn't. We knew what we were getting ourselves into. We knew we would have to renovate, but the extent of the renovation has been a shock (like another mama said). 18 months later we are still NOT DONE and it's been extremely stressful. Thankfully we had no mold issues anywhere (we know this with certainty because the walls and ceiling were ripped off to reveal nothing but the actual house frame). If there are possible mold issues, be prepared to part with more dollars.

If you can get the house really cheap for the area (and like I was saying before), have some cash stashed away for a renovation and your partner or yourself are handy, then consider. If you can't tick off all 3 boxes, then walk. We bought our house super cheap (reposession sale), had some cash ready to spend and now after 18 months, it's worth about 100k more (at least) than what it originally was (this is with the market still being 'low' and without all the external renovations that are yet to happen).

[trekkingirl]

well my realtor is MIA so as soon as I can get a hold of her I will cancel on this property and move on to more offers.

[BaileyB]

Hi Trekking girl!

I don't have much to report as of today except we are still doing our DR class. Tonight we decided, since DH works for himself and pays us paychecks from the earnings, that he needs to change our pay dates from every 2 weeks to twice a month so that we can budget better. It's hard when your bill dates stay the same but paydays change each month. I am hoping to not feel such a crunch at the end of the month when we are in between checks but have some month leftover. It's something I never would have thought about so I guess we are learning something.

[whalemama17]

Here's DR's plan:

Pre-Step 1: Get current on your debts and do a budget
0.1 No new borrowing. Done
0.2 Talk with spouse and get him/her on the same page as you concerning finances. Working on it
0.3 Do a written budget Working on it
0.4 Temporarily stop all retirement contributions N/A
0.5 Get current on all the basics (Shelter, Food, Utilities, Basic clothing) Done, except for some clothing needs
0.6 Amputate "toys" (bikes, boats, ATV's etc) to help snowball N/A
0.7 Cut lifestyle (Cut cable, cell, extras, eating out) and/or get a second job to raise $1000 EF. Need to reassess cell phone, internet, and netflix bills.
0.8 Get current on ALL bills Done

BS1 $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund Will have this once we receive our tax refund.
1.1 Chop up/freeze CC's (You have an EF now) In the freezer!
1.2 Get Health insurance NOW if in the US Done
1.3 Get Life insurance NOW if you have considerable debt/your family couldn't make it financially if you died. Done
1.4 Amputate cars that you can't pay off within 24 months DH has a car payment-won't be paid off in 24 months; can't get rid of it. Car is a Toyota Matrix, so hopefully will last for a long time after it's paid for.

BS2 Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball
2.0 Do the debt snowball, paying all your debts from lowest BALANCE to highest. Working on paying off $1,500 in credit card debt-will pay it off completely once tax refund arrives. Have close to 80 k in student loan debt-I'm not focusing on heavily paying that off, because I will be on the Income-Based Repayment Plan, and hope to have it forgiven after 10-15 years, since I will be working within the public school system.

BS3 Three to six months of expenses in savings Working on it. Not sure what the ideal target savings goal is.
3.1 Start car replacement fund Have a 1996 Volvo wagon-determined to drive it until it falls apart, though I'd love a different car (Mazda 5) Not sure if it makes sense to prioritize this savings goal, or plan on just having a car payment.
3.2 Save up 20% for home purchase OR pay down existing mortgage to the point you can drop PMI. Thinking about trying to put 5 k from student loan excess refund into an account to start saving for a down payment.
3.3 Start furniture or other non-essential stuff replacement fund Not focusing on this now.

BS4 Invest 15 percent of household income for retirement Checked out Roth IRA's today-most seem to require a $1,000-$3,000 minimum initial investment.

BS5 College funding for children Not going to focus on this for the next few years-prioritizing saving for a house, etc. Our children's grandparents and great-grandparents have all opened college savings accounts for them-feeling thankful for that, and taking Suze Orman's advice that while there are always loans available for college, there aren't for retirement! Going to focus more on this goal once they are a bit older.

BS6 Pay off home early N/A

BS7 Build wealth and give! Invest in mutual funds and real estate Counting our yearly contributions to NRDC & WFCR as this.

My main questions are:

How many different accounts do you all have? My spouse and I each have an individual checking and savings account (we found this reduced conflict/confusion to have a small amount to spend as we'd like w/out having to check-in with the other person), a household checking and savings account, and a savings account for each of our kids. I feel like the $ for an EF, short-term savings such as $ for holiday gifts, insurance premiums, etc., and long-term savings goals like the home downpayment need to be in separate accounts to avoid the temptation of transferring the $ into our checking account. But, when it comes time to apply for a mortgage, will the bank look poorly on too man account? Thinking that the home down payment should be in CD's potentially.

Our main challenge is establishing a budget, monitoring spending, and sticking to it. Also avoiding spending on a credit card. While I have a genuine need for some clothing now, I historically have a terrible track record of over-spending on clothing, and not even keeping it! Fickle Gemini, am I. :)

[delightedbutterfly]

Originally Posted by delightedbutterfly 

BS1 $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund Working on this. Babysitting money, sold items and possibly a large chunk from DH's next couple paycheques will go to this.

$80/$1000 Took my babysitting cheque from last week and it's now the start of our BEF. I should get paid again either Friday or Mon and that $80 will go in too. Also planning on cashing in some winning lotto scratch tickets from Christmas today and adding that in as well.

BS2 Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball 
2.0 Do the debt snowball, paying all your debts from lowest BALANCE to highest. Currently owe $3767. Would like to have the smaller debt of $930 paid off in the next two PC's. The $2837 is on our personal LOC and I'd like to have that paid off by end April. I'm hoping that I can put $350-550 per pay depending on how much DH works.

Paid $400 to the $930 CC bill today. Which brings the debt to $530 plus whatever interest has accured.

Paid $200 to the $2837 LOC today. Which brings that down to $2675 as there was an interest charge today. 

BS1 $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund Working on this. Babysitting money, sold items and possibly a large chunk from DH's next couple paycheques will go to this.

$240/$1000 Two more weeks of babysitting money added. Still have to take the Lotto tickets in. I keep forgetting them in the car when I go to the store!

BS2 Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball 

2.0 Do the debt snowball, paying all your debts from lowest BALANCE to highest. Currently owe $3767. Would like to have the smaller debt of $930 paid off in the next two PC's. The $2837 is on our personal LOC and I'd like to have that paid off by end April. I'm hoping that I can put $350-550 per pay depending on how much DH works.

Paid $100 to the $2675 LOC today. Brings it down to $2575.

Paid $117 to the $517 CC today. Brings it down to $400. 

DH was sick and had a couple other days off. So his paycheque was low. And then sometimes they mess up on hours as well so it was even lower than we thought, he needs to check that all the hours were accounted for. We're ok as his last cheque was larger than usual and we'd saved almost $1400 from it but I couldn't put it all to debt like I had wanted. He's working like crazy this pay period so I'm hopeful the next one will be "regular" size :)

[TiredX2]

Originally Posted by whalemama17 

1.4 Amputate cars that you can't pay off within 24 months DH has a car payment-won't be paid off in 24 months; can't get rid of it. Car is a Toyota Matrix, so hopefully will last for a long time after it's paid for.

BS2 Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball
2.0 Do the debt snowball, paying all your debts from lowest BALANCE to highest. Working on paying off $1,500 in credit card debt-will pay it off completely once tax refund arrives. Have close to 80 k in student loan debt-I'm not focusing on heavily paying that off, because I will be on the Income-Based Repayment Plan, and hope to have it forgiven after 10-15 years, since I will be working within the public school system.

BS3 Three to six months of expenses in savings Working on it. Not sure what the ideal target savings goal is.
3.1 Start car replacement fund Have a 1996 Volvo wagon-determined to drive it until it falls apart, though I'd love a different car (Mazda 5) Not sure if it makes sense to prioritize this savings goal, or plan on just having a car payment.
3.2 Save up 20% for home purchase OR pay down existing mortgage to the point you can drop PMI. Thinking about trying to put 5 k from student loan excess refund into an account to start saving for a down payment.

BS4 Invest 15 percent of household income for retirement Checked out Roth IRA's today-most seem to require a $1,000-$3,000 minimum initial investment.

My main questions are:

How many different accounts do you all have? My spouse and I each have an individual checking and savings account (we found this reduced conflict/confusion to have a small amount to spend as we'd like w/out having to check-in with the other person), a household checking and savings account, and a savings account for each of our kids. I feel like the $ for an EF, short-term savings such as $ for holiday gifts, insurance premiums, etc., and long-term savings goals like the home downpayment need to be in separate accounts to avoid the temptation of transferring the $ into our checking account. But, when it comes time to apply for a mortgage, will the bank look poorly on too man account? Thinking that the home down payment should be in CD's potentially.

Wow, you're doing great with your steps! 

How much longer do you think the '96 wagon will last? If several years, you could pay off the Matrix (increasing the payment after you pay off the credit cards) and then, once that was paid off use the money you have been paying towards the car to start saving for your next car. It sounds like you will be completely done with credit card repayments after your income tax refund, so that could hypothetically accelerate your car payment quite a bit.

What is your time line on home ownership?  If you have 5K to start your fund, especially if it may be many years before you purchase,  you might want to consider using that money to start a Roth IRA instead.  You can withdraw contributions without tax or penalty at any time and you can even withdraw earnings without penalty for a first home purchase.  I'm assuming you do not have a 401(k) or 403(b) or other company sponsored retirement plan--- if you do, especially one that has matching, you should look into those before an IRA.

As for how many accounts.  We have a checking and saving account at a local credit union.  (my kids are older--- 11 & 14 and they each have their own savings and checking acccount at a credit union, as well as ATM cards) We do bill pay through them, so it holds the amount we need for bills plus about $500 for security and ATM withdrawals.  We then have an ING account.  That ING account has *many* subaccounts.  For example, we (DP & I) each have an account to hold our personal spending money, we have one for major home costs, one for vacations, medical ...  When we actually spend money from those categories, we then transfer it out of ING to our credit union.  I cannot imagine a bank would look poorly on too many SAVINGS accounts.  It sounds like you could use our method quite easily--- just open an online account with subaccounts for each major area (holidays, insurance, down payment, etc...) and keep those funds there until you actually use them (for example, transfer the holiday money into your regular account in November).   CDs are a common savings vehicle for home down payment--- you just need to decide on your time frame for purchase.

[alittlesandy]

Joining this thread late but just read Total Money Makeover and loved it. I am so sick of living paycheck to paycheck, putting every extra expense on credit cards (in November and December it was the tires, travel, and Christmas presents), and managing money so poorly.

I'm 41, have two beautiful babies, and teach full time at the university. My husband is a stay-at-home dad. We are really planning to buckle down and do the baby steps. I already made a budget and figured out how to get started on creating the emergency fund. We will be able to finish the initial emergency fund and start the debt snowball when we get our tax return, but I am really going at this with "gazelle intensity" and have started listing a bunch of stuff to sell on ebay and craigslist and am even thinking of opening an etsy shop.

Thank you to everyone who has posted in this thread for all of the inspiration! I'm loving the threads in this forum!

[trekkingirl]

Not sure how ING sub accounts work? I have a checking and savings with them. Do you just open more than one account in your name?

[lilacvioletiris]

trekkingirl, I just click on "My Accounts" in ingdirect, and click "open account". I currently have 11 accounts to do the "sinking funds" for important things that I know are coming up to keep our money separate from our regular checking accounts.

[eirual]

I would just like to confess that I have freaking SUCKED at staying on budget....like, so much so that I've given up and don't care anymore and keep spending money.

Seriously. Awful.

I've made such a mess of what was knowingly a really tight month to begin with. I need to get back on CASH and nothing but.

[ILoveMyBabyBird]

6 days left in the month and I think it is safe to say I am living within my means. I have 160$ to last me the rest of jan, I plan to pay alot of my cc debt off in feb..

[BaileyB]

Eirual! I have had months (and months) like that. It always seems like if I know I have barely anything to begin with I spend more because I feel like it is impossible to stick to anyway. That, and being almost 7 months pregnant I feel like I am always going over budget to buy food because I am always so damn hungry.