Dumping Debt and Building Wealth with Dave Ramsey~ FEBRUARY - Page 4

[JackieR]

I hope that you've had a chance to get it straightened out by now, Jaime! If not, call again - speak with someone else, and talk to a manager if you need to. My bet is that you were talking to an idiot. *hug!*

[Purple*Lotus]

Originally Posted by JackieR

I hope that you've had a chance to get it straightened out by now, Jaime! If not, call again - speak with someone else, and talk to a manager if you need to. My bet is that you were talking to an idiot. *hug!*

You would be correct. It took a couple of hours, but it is finally straightened out. Thank goodness.

[Purple*Lotus]

Originally Posted by JackieR

I hope that you've had a chance to get it straightened out by now, Jaime! If not, call again - speak with someone else, and talk to a manager if you need to. My bet is that you were talking to an idiot. *hug!*

You would be correct. It took a couple of hours, but it is finally straightened out. Thank goodness. I was really panicing there!

[Girl In The Fire]

Jamie I hope you were just talking to someone that had no clue what they were talking about. We had a similar situation recently and it turned out we talked to an idiot and everything turned out fine.

We sold some things on eBay and made enough to pay off the smallest CC plus some. I cant wait to find out what my tax return will be, if it is what I think it will be it will take care of 2/3 of the rest of our debt and it should only be a couple more months till everything else is paid off

ETA: Glad to hear everything worked out

[all in green]

Jaime, thanks so much for keeping this up!

Well, I had my EBF up to $396.57/1000.00, but then we had a plumbing emergency this weekend and now the EBF is down to $85.28. It felt sooooo good to have the emergency fund there and to be able to pay the bill with a check instead of a credit card that I am almost not upset about having yet another plumbing issue yet again.

So, here's where we're at:
Step #0: Done.
Step #1: $85.28/$1000.00

[my2girlz]

Jaime, I'm glad things worked out in the end.

Yesterday dh did our taxes. Because dh is in sales (part commission) we get way too much back, but I'll take it! It's enough to pay off Target, Discover, financing that we did on our A/C back in 2004 , and the majority (2/3) of Capital One. I can't wait till the day when I can say they are GONE! Should have the money deposited on 2/15!

ETA: This will free up $340/month that I will be able to snowball onto AT&T Universal Card!

[mom2dea]

Well I am finally able to update I have had major sick kids here and just not can think clearly.

Jamie if you can update me that would be great

Sarah from SC
BS#0 - done
BS#1 - done
BS#2 - Just paid off 1 card and 3100.00 towards Dh student loan !!! We have 1000.0 left on the student loan and his car will be paid of Friday and our other CC will be paid off on Monday so we only have that Student laon left
BS#3-Have not started yet will in March
BS#3.5 (have house)
BS#4- contributing 3% This is for my sanity
BS#5- college We are starting a small amount After the Student laon is paid off
BS#6- pay off home 125,000.00 We do pay 120 extra every month and have done this sence day 1

[organic-momma]

How do you keep your spirits up when it feels like you're not going ANYWHERE? DH just got a raise, but then when his paycheque came he is actually now making less because he's in a higher tax bracket! grrr, so now my budget is all out of whack. I work contract and didn't get as much work last month as I expected so my cheque will also be $300 less.

I want to keep the momentum and determination up but it's hard when it feels like we're not going anywhere. And DH is the king of being able to justify purchases, he can't understand the "sacrifice now so we don't have to later" mentality.

[lalaland42]

*sigh* My student loans are being moved around and consolidated. I just received my new student loan repayment schedule and if I just pay the minimum, I will be paying $10,000 in interest in the next 10 years. DD will also be 12 by the time I pay them off if I follow the schedule. It is depressing just thinking about it, I *have* to get these things paid off.

A couple of days ago I sold a box of cat 5 cable (1000 feet) for $50. That is going to cc debt.

[famousmockngbrd]

Originally Posted by organic-momma

DH just got a raise, but then when his paycheque came he is actually now making less because he's in a higher tax bracket! grrr, so now my budget is all out of whack.

I am so sorry, that is just horrible and quite frankly if I were your DH, I would go to whoever is in charge over there and ask them to help. Maybe they can put him back in his old pay level, and roll this raise over into his next one, so you'll actually take home some of it. Surely they don't want to punish him by giving him a raise.

lalaland40, the student loan people are surprisingly flexible. They are just happy you aren't defaulting, which apparently is what most people do. You can call them and tell them you want to pay it back, but you have a kid and you're strapped for cash, and they will lower your payments AND your interest, a lot of times. If you can make lump payments, like when you get your tax check, they will defer payments, and sometimes they will even cut you a deal. For instance, I was in default of a small (1800) student loan. I finally contacted them and agreed to make small payments of $50 a month. After a few years of this, the student loan people contacted me and asked if I wanted to settle the debt for $485 - at the time I owed about $900. I said hell yeah, lol. So be aware you can propose a settlement yourself, and they may take it.

[Piglet68]

I've been out of town for a few days so I'm just catching up on this thread.

We went on a ski trip and it was so awesome! Now before y'all throw tomatoes at me hear me out: we'd committed to this trip with another family before we "Got Dave" and jamming out on them would not have been cool. More importantly, it was my 40th birthday last Sunday - this was my combined 40th b-day AND our christmas gifts to each other. We paid cash that we got from Husband's annual bonus. Less than 1/3rd of the bonus went to our trip - the rest of the bonus went to BS3.5 (see below). AND...with careful meal planning I am proud to say that we came in way under budget. I did not spend one penny on food except for a box of Oreo's I bought for Poker night (we played with matchsticks, lol). I'd been feeling a bit guilty about the trip, nevertheless, but resonated with this:

Originally Posted by Galatea

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...

Jaime, you can add this to my status:

BS0 -- N/A (bills were current)
BS1 -- Done.
BS2 -- Currently have two low-interest debts and one small student loan (I've been paying into it for years and it's almost done). We're reversing this step with BS3.5.
BS3 -- Done. (Three months' worth)
BS3.5 -- Goal is to save 30% of DH's salary by December 31, 2008. With this we'll pay off all debts and put the rest towards a downpayment. As someone else said: we "want to own a house so badly, we can taste it"!
BS4 -- Doing this already.
BS5 -- My father is doing this for both of my kids; his idea, a (generous) gift.
BS6 -- Hope to one day!
BS7 -- More hoping!

[TanyaS]

Jaime, you have me listed on BS3 in the OP.

Here's where I am:

TanyaS in
BS#0: DONE
BS 1 DONE
BS 2 working on

[organic-momma]

Originally Posted by famousmockngbrd

I am so sorry, that is just horrible and quite frankly if I were your DH, I would go to whoever is in charge over there and ask them to help. Maybe they can put him back in his old pay level, and roll this raise over into his next one, so you'll actually take home some of it. Surely they don't want to punish him by giving him a raise.

The issue is that it's a company wide raise, and he works for a very large engineering company, so they won't make an exception for one person. The good news is that he'll get another raise in July so we'll see an increase then. Plus we'll end up getting the money back when we file taxes next year since I don't work. Still a PITA right now though

[artparent]

what about investing that increase in whatever the usa's equivalent to a registered retirement savings plan is, to reduce your taxes....if you can reduce them enough, you may get money back in the end...that's what i would do.

*

[my2girlz]

organic-momma, you could also change your withholdings and that should bump it back up.

I have a question. Does it make more sense to pay for auto insurance monthly or every 6 months. There is a "fee" of $2/month if you decide to pay monthly. I'm currently transfering the amount into a savings account and will pay it when I receive the bill in June. Or does it make more sense to start paying monthly in June and use the money ($68/month) now to pay down debt. Did that make sense? I'm being interrupted by my 3.5 year old.

[CrunchyDoula]

Hi! I'd really like to join this thread! I don't have Dave's Book and I can't seem to find the previous thread that explained it all. Can somebody post the guidelines? I know the first two are current with bills and $1000 of savings right? TIA!

[cdahlgrd]

I am joining! I have been taking the finances over again, after a 2 1/2 year hiatus because of twins, and . . . well, it isn't pretty

#0 in proress
#1 in progress
#2 3 credit cards, 1 student loan, van loan

We are saving for retirement, but all 401K and just adding onto our debt. So I am trying to get dh to drop this down to 5% and use the other 10% to pay off our debt, etc.

[Purple*Lotus]

I will get everything updated tomorrow when I get home. I am not having a very good day right now. But I hope everyone is well.

[shanetedissac]

Originally Posted by my2girlz

organic-momma, you could also change your withholdings and that should bump it back up.

I have a question. Does it make more sense to pay for auto insurance monthly or every 6 months. There is a "fee" of $2/month if you decide to pay monthly. I'm currently transfering the amount into a savings account and will pay it when I receive the bill in June. Or does it make more sense to start paying monthly in June and use the money ($68/month) now to pay down debt. Did that make sense? I'm being interrupted by my 3.5 year old.

We do sink funds for things like this. We put the monthly payment in an envelope and then write a check when the bill comes due. Saving the monthly service fee.

[shanetedissac]

Originally Posted by Crunchy Doula

Hi! I'd really like to join this thread! I don't have Dave's Book and I can't seem to find the previous thread that explained it all. Can somebody post the guidelines? I know the first two are current with bills and $1000 of savings right? TIA!

Welcome!

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www.daveramsey.com