We need a new plan

[my3peanuts]

Right now dh and I have no budget and it's showing. Our finances are a mess and we're overdrafting nearly every month now. We have a huge house payment that I see no way out of. We've talked about refinancing but interest rates are higher right now. We can't sell without losing money.

We have a van that we still owe a couple thousand on. We have to keep the van.

Dh has a motorcycle we owe a TON on. We don't NEED it. I'm still pretty resentful over the fact he bought it without my discussing it. I cannot convince him to get rid of it. :

We have student loans we pay on each month. I do not want to defer these because I'm afraid interest rates will be even higher later on when we go to pay them off.

I just feel stuck. We do pay for internet each month but other than that we don't have any unecessary bills that I can see. We don't pay for cable tv. We do pay for long distance, although I'm planning on getting rid of that & using calling cards. We have a cell phone because dh needs one for his business.

We eat out a lot and buy uneccesary things. I know that, but yet we don't stop. We get in this cycle where we don't have money for a while so when we finally get some we spend it ASAP.

We really need help. I want to get out of debt!

[NoliMum]

Eating out will kill you. Make a pact with DH to reduce the amount of meals you buy at restaurants. My fiance and I eat out only on the weekends, and when other people (his parents mainly) offer to buy for us. That has worked so far to keep our craving for restaurant food in check. Sometimes we do get caught and have to pick up something quick, but we keep that limited to the 99 cent menus at fast-food chains. We both hate eating fast-food, so knowing that it's our only option on the weekdays, it helps us resist even more.

Any time you do go out, remember to figure in drinks and tips. We usually order one water and one drink and just share the drink between us. We try to eat at places where you serve yourself so you don't have to tip anyone. We also try to find hole-in-the-wall independent places that don't cost much more than $6-7 an entree. Usually they taste better than the chains, anyway. I've gotten to the point that I'd choose "Los Burritos Locos," a place just down the street from us, over On The Border any day. It has more character and tastes ten times more authentic, AND it's cheaper.

Good luck. I know how hard it is to cut spending. I'm in a ton of debt myself.

[polyhymnia]

What kind of student loans do you have? If they are federally sponsored, you can consolidate them and lock in a fixed rate, and then defer them. Or, you can get on a graduated payment plan where you pay a little less now and a little more later (the idea being your earning power grows over time). Just a thought.

Good luck, and I'm sorry your DH is not being helpful re: the motorcycle.

[doublesnap]

We're working on getting ourselves into a better place financially. We're not in too bad of a hole but we have plenty of room to improve. We live by the Suze Orman "Money book for the young, fabulous, and broke!" because it suits us to a t! My DP and I are first time parents both under 30 and dealing with a lot of the issues she discusses in her book.

I SAH so in order to cut costs we only eat out 1x a week, the rest of the week we eat at home no matter what. We'll pack snacks to take if we're going out on errands or such in case we get hungry.

I also went through the entire house and decluttered. I put tons of stuff up on Craigslist and I've already yielded $300 for old furniture and stuff I no longer use.

We sold our 2 new cars and got 1 larger new car and we've kept our commuter beater.

We freecycle our hearts out and we sell off our baby items that we no longer need. Freecycle's been great, we've gotten our crib and changing table from it.

We've cut out cable and gym memberships, we've joined Costco to buy in bulk. That's been working for us so far.

Other ideas: maybe pick up a small part time job to get extra cash? You could baby sit, dogwalk, etc. My little one's too young for dogwalking but it's something I'd like to do.

Basically you just need to sit DH down and go over all your income, expenses, and goals. You both need to commit to paying off debt and saving. Good luck!

[cdahlgrd]

You need to sit down with dh and tell him that if you don't make drastic changes, ASAP, you will be bankrupt in a year (or less from the sounds of it). He will lose his bike then, and maybe the house too.

Making a budget always sounds good, but I could never make reality look likethe paper chart.

What really worked for us, was a weekly allowance for groceries, eating out, and playing. We got our money on Friday ($100 for all 3 items). When the money ran out, we were done for the week. ANd if we didn't want to eat rice and beans all week, we had to remember to save grocery money.