Dumping Debt and Building Wealth with Dave Ramsey~ FEBRUARY - Page 3

[Purple*Lotus]

I'll get everyone updated tomorrow when I get home from work. I have tried for an hour to edit it but it wont go through. The hampster must be hungry in the computer

I reworked my budget and now we can easily life off of DH's income without the cell phone. The debt bills will all be out of my income. I feel a lot better about it now.

[tannersmommy]

Originally Posted by ~*Jaime

I reworked my budget and now we can easily life off of DH's income without the cell phone.

Jaime, I am so happy for you! I really wish that someone had told me before I had children to try to live off of one income, practicing for staying home. You and your husband are making such a wise decision.

[Guinevere]

Originally Posted by phathui5

I didn't realize you had two houses. Why keep both?

Originally Posted by my2girlz

My 1st thought was she was trying to sell one of them and it's been on the market for a while. I don't know if this is the case, but I do know quite a few people who have been in this perdicament lately.

Exactly, my2girlz. I said in my original post above:

Right now, we own two homes b/c our old house didn't sell and although it's rented, the overall cost of running two households is killing us.

I would love nothing more than to sell our old house, but we couldn't afford to keep it on the market any longer and pay both mortgages, so it's rented until May, when we will try again.

Guin

[koofie]

Originally Posted by tannersmommy

Jaime, I am so happy for you! I really wish that someone had told me before I had children to try to live off of one income, practicing for staying home. You and your husband are making such a wise decision.

Ditto. Now we are struggling to figure out a way for me to SAH.

[Guinevere]

Oh, as for my financial goals for this month:

1. Continue to track and curb spending, especially in the groceries/eating out part of our budget.

2. Find a way to better control household items spending by staying out of big box stores as much as possible.

3. Do our taxes as soon as DH gets all his 1099s in from clients, to find out how much (if any) we will owe. I'm almost positive we're not getting a refund this year.

4. Complete our changeover from a high-interest, yucky terms credit card we've had for years and years to a new, 0% interest, cash-back-earning credit card that we plan to start using for gas and utilities and to better track our spending.

It's great to read where everyone is and share in the struggles -- thanks, mamas!

Guin

[Purple*Lotus]

Originally Posted by tannersmommy

Jaime, I am so happy for you! I really wish that someone had told me before I had children to try to live off of one income, practicing for staying home. You and your husband are making such a wise decision.

DH will still look for another job if he can find one. I set it up without internet, phones or cable None of those things are needed. But we wont be able to save on his income alone, so that is why we are hoping to get totally debt free before we have a child. I should be starting on our snowball next paycheck

I feel a lot better because now we can cover our basic expenses with his check and mine can all be snowballed. That is a huge relief. Let the snowballing begin

[Purple*Lotus]

Originally Posted by arismomkoofie

Ditto. Now we are struggling to figure out a way for me to SAH.

Well it has taken us a long time to figure out what to cut out to make it possible. No TV, internet or phone. We've never had TV so that isn't so much of an issue. And we have to pay off our debt or else I will have to keep working That is why we are trying to hard to be gazelle now. At the very least, I want to try to stay home for a year, even if it means going without any extras. Like I mentioned before, in addition to living off of just his now and using all of mine to pay debt with, we also sat down and just looked at the numbers, and together figured out ways to eliminate things. But like I said, it has been a several month process to figure it out. We have given up eating out, entertainment and misc. personal money.

[koofie]

Our problem is that DH's income does not cover all of the expenses (not including our debt). Actually, it covers most except SL and daycare and food/gas, but our SL debt is almost 100% of our combined income so it will take a long time to pay off

[TanyaS]

Originally Posted by tannersmommy

Jaime, I am so happy for you! I really wish that someone had told me before I had children to try to live off of one income, practicing for staying home. You and your husband are making such a wise decision.

:

[shanetedissac]

Originally Posted by arismomkoofie

Our problem is that DH's income does not cover all of the expenses (not including our debt). Actually, it covers most except SL and daycare and food/gas, but our SL debt is almost 100% of our combined income so it will take a long time to pay off

What step did you put your SL at? Also what jobs do you two have that got such high SL?

Be well,

[lafemmedesfemmes]

subbing!

i just got through reading ttmm, and i am *so* excited about it! i told dh that he *had* to read this book, but he couldn't get past page 25 or so before i had to return it to the library. *pout* and i couldn't renew it because it's extremely popular in our library system-- when i had requested it, i was number 800 or so in line! i think i may just go ahead and buy a copy.

dh knows that i'm doing a major shift in now we're handling our money, but i really want him to read the book, so he'll understand what i'm doing and why, you know?

so here's where we are:

0-- Get current on bills
we'll be getting our tax refund in a couple of weeks to finally take care of this! yay! and i already have a budget worked out so we can stay on top of things. and we're shutting down our individual checking accounts and working from just our joint checking account, and locking up that debit card. this step will definitely stop a lot of mismanagement.

1 -- $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund.
we'll be doing that with our tax refund. it'll be nice to be able to make things less hospitable for murphy, finally.

2 -- Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball.
our only current debt is dh's car loan with the ridiculous interest rate. the last of our refund will go towards paying that down. we currently owe about $4500 on it.

3 -- Three to six months of expenses in savings.
we'll be working on six months of expenses. dh is the only wage-earner right now, though when i finally start working again (part-time only!), the lion's share of what i make will be going into savings, so that should accumulate quickly, i'm hoping!

3.5 -- Save for downpayment on house if you do not already own a house.
we're in an apartment, and want to own a house so badly, we can taste it.

4 -- Invest 15 percent of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement
5 -- College funding for children
6 -- Pay off home early
7 -- Build wealth and give! --- Invest in mutual funds and real estate

so glad to see this thread!

christina

[CeciMami]

subbing again!

[koofie]

Dh is still in school (an ex-gf convinced him to take out SL) and I am a teacher, but was in school as a single mother with a full time internship.

[shanetedissac]

Originally Posted by arismomkoofie

Dh is still in school (an ex-gf convinced him to take out SL) and I am a teacher, but was in school as a single mother with a full time internship.

Ah, was the the fulltime intership that did not pay? I think you many have mentioned it before. Is DH working while taking classes? My dh is a teacher also, he teaches outdoor education. What do you teach?

Be well,

[koofie]

DH is working and taking classes - a few at a time and we are trying to do no SL - those are all old. I teach Reading/Language Arts at an alternative school - 7th grade. The internship was unpaid - 1/2 time the first year (while I was pg) and full time the second year. It was a great experience but impossible to work with a 1yo. Luckily I lived in a cheaper area then I do now, or my SL would be more $$$

[Galatea]

HUGE excitement for us! I just did our taxes and we are getting a big refund (we actually claimed exempt from taxes on our 2007 W-4s; this is just EIC, child, and education credits.) So, with this refund, we can pay off 2 credit cards and half of a third (out of 5 total.) We are knocking out one-sixth of our credit card debt in one swoop!

We are also allocating a small percentage of our tax refund to our slush fund so that we don't feel deprived. A huge part of making this TMMO work for us is to not feel as though we can never spend money - the difference is now we plan for it and budget it and agree on it, and if we earn more or work harder, then that shows up in a little tangible cash reward for us. (I'm also hoping to get a nice 30th birthday celebration out of it...)

Before we started the TMMO, I thought we would always carry a ton of debt. My parents always have had a ton of debt, while living very well, so I assumed this was the only way to live. Then we started the TMMO, and I thought it would take us 5 years to pay off our consumer debt. 4 weeks later, it is down to 3.5 years, and we haven't even started selling off our extra stuff yet, and 3.5 years doesn't include future tax refunds! And this doesn't even include me working a real job!

Last night we went to a party and everyone was talking about how they would like to be a thousandaire - they'd like to just have $1000 in an account. I kept my mouth shut, but it was GREAT to think that I *do* have $1000 in an account in case we need it. The change in our marriage has been huge, too - we always loved each other, but this has brought a new level of partnership and closeness. We used to go to marriage therapy and my complaint was always the same - I wanted to feel like we were in the same yoke, pulling the same plow. And that is exactly what I have now.

I also got a huge compliment from my dad - he thinks I am becoming "too cheap!" He also offered to pay my (very small) nursing school tuition payment if I decide to go in the fall. It is only $800/term, so we could budget for that, but any bit of money is nice!

[mommyjoy7021]

Great job!

Galatea...great job getting some things paid off. That's SO exciting!!!! We don't have our $1000 yet, and it looks like it will be May before we have it. That's a little frustrating, but at least it's in our near future. I'm hoping to have a yard sale in late March or early April, and that will go into the EF. Then, DH gets an extra pay in May, so that should complete the $1000. I will definitely post when that is complete I'll be so proud!!!!

It feels good to be disciplined in our finances!!!!

Mjoy

[Purple*Lotus]

Originally Posted by TanyaS

Huge update for us!

We have jumped from BS0 to BS2 overnight! We got our tax return.

Today I put $1000 BEF into our credit union savings account. It's not directly linked to checking, but we can get it quickly in an emergency.

I also just paid off TWO credit cards with a total balance of $7018.65!!!!!

There is some money leftover to get all bills current. Dh and I had a huge discussion about his withholdings last month. His withholdings have changed and we are going to use the extra funds for our snowball. I'm excited to watch it grow!!! We will be here a while at BS2 unfortunately.

But I am still very excited about this, and am thankful to have you all for encouragement and inspiration.

That is very exciting!!

Originally Posted by littleaugustbaby

Hey everyone!

I just realized I haven't posted my progress:

0 - DONE
1 - EF $380/1000 (I only got paid for 1/2 the month of January, so I should be fully funded by the end of this month!)

I have you added

Originally Posted by Galatea

I am working 10 extra hours this week and so have an extra $100. Dh is doing 2 deliveries for $70 extra dollars. We can finally afford floor mats for the van. (Seems silly but the winter weather is really ruining the floor carpet and I don't want to keep trying to clean it.) Do you guys think it is silly?

Nope, doesn't seem silly to me

Originally Posted by shanetedissac

Hi All:

Jamie would you change 4.5 to 3200/21000.

Oh, and on a side note how do you do multiple quotes in a single mesage. I've been wondering this for a while.

I changed it, and someone beat me to the multi quote explaination

Originally Posted by Guinevere

Hi everyone, Happy February!

I joined for the first time last month, so I'm still getting my bearings, but here is what's going on for us right now:

0-- Get current on bills -
Done. Always done.

1 -- $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund
Done

2 -- Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball
We'll be on this step for a while, I suspect. But it could be worse -- we only have one cc debt, around 7K, that is at 0% percent interest for a year, and we are able to pay $150/month on it right now. If I can successfully cut our budget in other areas, we can hopefully pay off even more every month. Or, if our former house sells this summer (cross all fingers and toes,) we will pay it off in full.

3 -- Three to six months of expenses in savings
We've got 2 months' worth of living expenses saved, but can't contribute anymore to savings right now. I asked last month about using our savings to pay off the cc, but since the cc debt is at 0% and the savings are earning around 5% and we can't afford to replace them anytime soon, I'm leaving them there for the time being. DH is self-employed, we've got a large, young family, and I homeschool half-time and have a child w/SN, making it very difficult for me to supplement our income. So having that cushion is important to us, in case DH's business is negatively affected by this upcoming recession.

4 -- Invest 15 percent of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement
Can't do this yet, although we used to in previous years. Right now, we own two homes b/c our old house didn't sell and although it's rented, the overall cost of running two households is killing us. I did find some ancient savings bonds my grandmother gave me (about $900 worth) in my files the other day and am thinking about putting those into my Roth IRA as this year's contribution. Better than nothing, right?

5 -- College funding for children
Everyone has an education fund, including Sophie, who has a special needs trust, but it's mostly grandparents and aunts/uncles who contribute to them at the moment. Still, every little bit helps.

6 -- Pay off home early
I so can't wait to be here! Actually, right now I'd just settle for only owning ONE home, lol. Owning two homes may sound glamorous, but that hasn't been our experience at all!

7 -- Build wealth and give! --- Invest in mutual funds and real estate
I hope I live long enough to get to this point.

Guin

Got you updated

Originally Posted by TattooedMama

My update for the month... we went totally out of order last month and actually paid off a debt that wasn't even technically on our snowball. It was the last of the CC debt leftover from when I was enrolled in a consumer credit consolidation program several years ago. It was a CitiBank card and they essentially refused to work with the agency so I left it virtually untouched after paying the rest of my debt off with the assistance of the agency.
What a dark cloud has been lifted by just paying the stupid thing off. We did actually dip into the EF to do it, but we paid the debt off at the end of last month... $1800.
I think our EF is at $300 right now, but it will be replaced this month. Also our targeted debt this month is $800 left on a line of credit loan from our last homebirth.
That will leave us with car, SL's and mortgage. :
We also (DP and I) will have insurance again in February. We have gone without since I left my job in June '07. It's a high deductible plan with HSA. I'm excited.
Great job everyone... let's have a good month!

Congrats on paying off a bill

Originally Posted by Maggi315

HI,
I sent my update to Jaime with my steps. I am still holding on to our $1000 fund, but it looks like it might have to go this month. On the plus side:

-got paid for a december birth that was due, yeah!
-have 3 people due right now, so will have income for february!
-we are working on our taxes and it looks like we will have a refund this year, double yeah!
-my teenager is getting a small refund and will be able to pay off the money she owes for car repairs (I will actually use this money for an 18th birthday party for her, shhhh)


My goals this month:
-first and foremost to not stress so much and worry and fight about bills!!!!
-to keep our food budget from going over!
-to seriously reduce our food waste, going out to eat
-to reduce running around on errands, forgotten stuff, etc. and thus save on gas
-to use up household stuff
-to spend some time this month on house projects that we already bought the supplies for (painting, wallpaper borders, decorating stuff)


What are everyone else's goals?

I got you added on I sent you a nosey PM back

Originally Posted by lafemmedesfemmes

subbing!

i just got through reading ttmm, and i am *so* excited about it! i told dh that he *had* to read this book, but he couldn't get past page 25 or so before i had to return it to the library. *pout* and i couldn't renew it because it's extremely popular in our library system-- when i had requested it, i was number 800 or so in line! i think i may just go ahead and buy a copy.

dh knows that i'm doing a major shift in now we're handling our money, but i really want him to read the book, so he'll understand what i'm doing and why, you know?

so here's where we are:

0-- Get current on bills
we'll be getting our tax refund in a couple of weeks to finally take care of this! yay! and i already have a budget worked out so we can stay on top of things. and we're shutting down our individual checking accounts and working from just our joint checking account, and locking up that debit card. this step will definitely stop a lot of mismanagement.

1 -- $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund.
we'll be doing that with our tax refund. it'll be nice to be able to make things less hospitable for murphy, finally.

2 -- Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball.
our only current debt is dh's car loan with the ridiculous interest rate. the last of our refund will go towards paying that down. we currently owe about $4500 on it.

3 -- Three to six months of expenses in savings.
we'll be working on six months of expenses. dh is the only wage-earner right now, though when i finally start working again (part-time only!), the lion's share of what i make will be going into savings, so that should accumulate quickly, i'm hoping!

3.5 -- Save for downpayment on house if you do not already own a house.
we're in an apartment, and want to own a house so badly, we can taste it.

4 -- Invest 15 percent of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement
5 -- College funding for children
6 -- Pay off home early
7 -- Build wealth and give! --- Invest in mutual funds and real estate

so glad to see this thread!

christina

I've added you

Originally Posted by CeciMami

subbing again!

Welcome

Originally Posted by Galatea

HUGE excitement for us! I just did our taxes and we are getting a big refund (we actually claimed exempt from taxes on our 2007 W-4s; this is just EIC, child, and education credits.) So, with this refund, we can pay off 2 credit cards and half of a third (out of 5 total.) We are knocking out one-sixth of our credit card debt in one swoop!

We are also allocating a small percentage of our tax refund to our slush fund so that we don't feel deprived. A huge part of making this TMMO work for us is to not feel as though we can never spend money - the difference is now we plan for it and budget it and agree on it, and if we earn more or work harder, then that shows up in a little tangible cash reward for us. (I'm also hoping to get a nice 30th birthday celebration out of it...)

Before we started the TMMO, I thought we would always carry a ton of debt. My parents always have had a ton of debt, while living very well, so I assumed this was the only way to live. Then we started the TMMO, and I thought it would take us 5 years to pay off our consumer debt. 4 weeks later, it is down to 3.5 years, and we haven't even started selling off our extra stuff yet, and 3.5 years doesn't include future tax refunds! And this doesn't even include me working a real job!

Last night we went to a party and everyone was talking about how they would like to be a thousandaire - they'd like to just have $1000 in an account. I kept my mouth shut, but it was GREAT to think that I *do* have $1000 in an account in case we need it. The change in our marriage has been huge, too - we always loved each other, but this has brought a new level of partnership and closeness. We used to go to marriage therapy and my complaint was always the same - I wanted to feel like we were in the same yoke, pulling the same plow. And that is exactly what I have now.

I also got a huge compliment from my dad - he thinks I am becoming "too cheap!" He also offered to pay my (very small) nursing school tuition payment if I decide to go in the fall. It is only $800/term, so we could budget for that, but any bit of money is nice!

That is exciting!!

Originally Posted by mommyjoy7021

Galatea...great job getting some things paid off. That's SO exciting!!!! We don't have our $1000 yet, and it looks like it will be May before we have it. That's a little frustrating, but at least it's in our near future. I'm hoping to have a yard sale in late March or early April, and that will go into the EF. Then, DH gets an extra pay in May, so that should complete the $1000. I will definitely post when that is complete I'll be so proud!!!!

It feels good to be disciplined in our finances!!!!

Mjoy

Feels great doesn't it? I can't wait to fully fund my EF too!

[mtm]

Today was a good day for us. I paid cash for the two new car seats I needed to get and my employer finally came through with my backpay from last year. I was whining last month about how the snowball was working slowly on this cc and now we're getting a big boost on it.

[Purple*Lotus]

Someone has got to talk me down because I am about to freak out.

DH is picking up his glasses today. I am also picking up mine today. My doctor says we have a $30 co pay, his says it is only $20. He wants to know which is which in case he needs to pay his doctor $10 more dollars.

He calls the insurance company. They tell us we have no visison coverage.

WHAT??? We have never NOT had vision coverage. My DH can't see 3 inches in front of his face, vision is not optional for us. DH is an eye doctor's dream client. I can't afford to pay out of pocket for these two visits and the two sets of glasses. And where, pray tell, does this money they suck out of my husband's paycheck every two weeks go then??

I am seriously flipping out over here