Deeply in debt...HELP!

[dillonandmarasmom]

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[Godaime]

start budgeting right way and stick to your budget. Make sure to budget in paying back cc debt. Start using cash only would really help because you can really see how much money is going out. Trim the fat in your expenses such as eating out, entertainment, and non necessary items. Most importantly stop spending blindly...if you have room in your budget you can assign an amount to your husband and yourself for "extras" and never spend more than that amount.

[Treasuremapper]

Go to http://www.creditboards.com. That's where to start this journey. Good luck. Also check out some Dave Ramsey.

[LEAW]

Don't file BK. Go get "The total money makeover" by Dave Ramsey from your library. Read it. Make a budget. Cut out everything you can, pay off those debts one at a time.

Dh and I were drowning once too, and while we are still in debt, it's a LOT less than before and something we can handle in our budget. We're paying down cc one at a time, then my student loans, then we will only have a house payment, no car payments, and no debt. But it's been a LONG hard road.

Put those credit cards in a ziplock of water and freeze them. If they are in the freezer in ice you can't use them to mkae more debt. And do a budget!

Budgets are scary when you haven't had one, and it's hard to learn to stick to it. But once you do, things are much more orderly and you can see where your money is going and be responsible for it.

Good luck.

[skueppers]

First, establish an emergency fund if you don't have one. The point of the emergency fund is to prevent you from needing to go to your credit cards if, for example, you need new tires for your car, or your washing machine springs a leak. I also find that having an emergency fund from which I have to pay for these kinds of things makes me more frugal -- for example, when my clothes dryer broke down a few months ago, I repaired it myself for $15 in parts instead of calling a repair guy; if I'd been using a credit card rather than my own hard-saved cash, I might not have looked for a less expensive way to fix my dryer. I find it helpful to add a certain amount to my emergency fund every month by automatic deduction.

Stop using the credit cards.

Then, develop a budget which includes a specific amount of money to be used each month to pay off your debts. Don't fall into the trap of sending "whatever you have left over" to your credit cards -- make the credit cards one of your regular bills, just like the mortgage and the electricity. It's often useful to pay off the highest-interest debt first, though if that is a large amount of money, it can also be worthwhile psychologically to pay off a few of the smaller debts early on, because that gives a greater sense of progress.

I find that the most important thing is to have the mentality that I can't buy anything I can't afford to pay cash for. If I can't pay cash, then it's just going to have to wait until I can.

[dillonandmarasmom]

nak
thanks for the replies. i forgot to mention the most pathetic part...we have a financial planner. have for years. we've been debt free twice...then buikt it up again to be home with each little one. so, it hasn't been spent on foolish things completely, just partially
the thing that hurt us most was how easily we got out of debt those times (refi's). so this time we are doing it our way. paying things off one at a time. bankruptcy isn't an issue...we have lots of money tied up in ira's before ever filing like that. but, we are not going to touch our retirement unless absolutely desparate.
we are switching to the envelope method, cash only. it feels strangely freeing...

[mommyofshmoo]

If you haven't yet, go to www.cindysporch.com. It is changing my life as we speak. Lots of good ways to help you get back in control of your finances and spending.

We've also been there. Refi is not the way to go (though we did have to do it once.) The only way right now is to make a plan and stick to it.

Funny, this last time we got in too dep with debt was because dh and I had too much money. I had a high paying job and worked w/o childcare for a while and we had a lot of disposable income. Then I needed childcare (dd#2 started walking) and then I lost my job. We were Way Too Slow to cut back once our income declined.