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G.O.O.D. January '05 thread- Let's go!

4K views 81 replies 30 participants last post by  kerc 
#1 ·
OK mamas, I am starting this a day early so that we can all list our GOOD New Years resolutions!

Here are mine:
#1- pay bills when they arrive, not right before they are due

#2- put a small amount toward savings before I put extra toward the CCs

#3- remember that this is a long-term thing for me, and not get stressed by the seeming un-ending debt.

WE CAN DO THIS MAMAS! Let's go!
 
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#52 ·
Ugh. DH and I have been on a bit of a spending spree lately, and it feels so out of control! We just got his Financial Aid check for the semester, and all the things that we're buying are necessary and frugal (Humidifier to control my asthma, school supplies for the coming semester, copays for fixing my teeth, school books) but it still feels like WAY TOO MUCH.

I'm trying to cut back by focusing on downsizing monthly bills -- we quit the gym DH was using (He has back problems and needs to use a gym regularly to avoid heriated disks from being too bloody tall) and are now using the student center, which is free and much nicer and downsized our cellphones to a pay as you go plan, which I'm absolutely in love with -- we pay PER YEAR what we used to pay per month. More money that can pay off existing debt rather than creating more, since we live on student loans.

My big challenge now is cutting our monstrosity of a heating bill... it's nearly $300/month for a 1200 sq. ft. townhouse... I don't really know where to start with it, but we always end up behind on that bill by spring, so I'd love suggestions.
 
#53 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by Belleweather
My big challenge now is cutting our monstrosity of a heating bill... it's nearly $300/month for a 1200 sq. ft. townhouse... I don't really know where to start with it, but we always end up behind on that bill by spring, so I'd love suggestions.
do you have a programmable thermostat? They are like 30-50 bucks at home depot or the like and IMO are worth it. They are reasonably easy to install, I could imagine if you don't own your landlord would likely approve it. You could then program it to get cooler at night 65 or less and warmer during the times you are home during the day.

instead of turning the heat up put on shoes or slippers and a stocking cap. Yeah you look crazy, but it is your house and once you own those things it is free.

How old is the townhome? Would plastic for the windows help?

You could also try turning it down just one degree. Say your normal daytime is 72. Try first to turn down to 71 and then if you're comfy, go for 70.

Get another blanket for the bed.

Avoid turning it way up and then way down. i.e. 55 at night and 70 in the day. It takes a lot of energy to get it that warm suddenly.

Another idea on how to avoid getting behind --> get on the budget plan. Call up your utility company and ask them to put you on a budget plan. You'll pay more in summer, but the bills will all be the same amount. Ours is sept. to july. Whatever the difference is we pay/are credited in August.

I recall you're in ohio? Heat is likely natural gas? Is the hot water heater natural gas too? You could turn that down a degree or two as well.
 
#54 ·
oh and I wanted to add:
we are natural gas as well and sometimes our jan or feb bill goes as high as 200 bucks. But it is never an issue because we pay 100 bucks a month. My neighbor pays the same and he has better insulation.

and finally the utility company here will come and give you a free home energy audit -- test the insulation, furnace, etc. and figure out where you could save some money.
 
#55 ·
Hi again. I am really putting effort into GOOD this year. I sat down and took a good look at our CC debt.
We have a lot wpread over 4 different cards but what I thought was most interesting was this: Citibank Card has 1,700.00 on it. With our current interest rate and by paying the minimum every month, we would pay off a total of 8,500.00. This was the kick in the bum that I needed to change the way we spend. Our groceries have gone down and we aren't eating out. I also got a little childcare gig once or twice a week that gives us a bit of extra money to send the the dern CCs. Also DH is going on a 1,000/week salary in February.

We have always been pretty poor and we got into CC debt when DD was born 3 months early and we moved to another city to be with her in the hospital. We used to get by on 1,000 a month before that. Now we need at least 2,400.00.
So this new salary ought to help get us out of debt maybe even by the end of the year. Well, at least CC debt, that doesn't count my 6,000 of student loans and our mortgage. Those things I can deal with though.

ANyways, just checking in a keeping myself inspired.
 
#56 ·
I am doing pretty well here too, I am paying all of my bills on time, thus eliminating late fees which used to pile up, and we are doing pretty well keeping our spending down too. My goal for this week is to apply for another 0% card to move a higher rate debt to.
 
#57 ·
we're still waiting ot hear about our re-fi on the house. It was appraised last Friday, so we should hear where its at any day now. Its looking pretty good. we might not get the full 25,000 that we were hoping for, but maybe at least 20,000. that would knock out 2 cards and leave us with just one. its amazing how much lighter i have felt knowing that we might actually move some of this debt!!
 
#58 ·
i need a little checking in -- i went window shopping saturday morning and saw this really cute purse I just loved. It was lots of $$ - 50 bucks. Ok look on ebay, still 40 + shipping. Spent lots of time obsessing about should I ask for this for my bday (feb 1) from MIL or what. Basically have devoted a ton of energy to this object. I think last night I decided to sew my own version and then allow myself to reconsider purchasing a new purse when/if I become really employed over the summer.

I also got a notice this week that said my student loans had been cancelled, due to some kind of paperwork snafu they are counting erik's loans against me and blah blah blah I now owe the university 2000. went to financial aid if i bring in the paperwork they can straighten it all out. (So i can borrow $$ and can pay the u). anyhow...during the time this is all going down I do a rough estimate on my taxes -- basically that 2000 bucks is what I am going to get back in taxes. I'm considering not borrowing any more student loan $$. aggggh. But then again, maybe I should just go ahead and do it, pay off one car with it and then be in a better situation to afford the possibility of one income.

In good news...we are about 1000 dollars closer than I thought to paying off my car (the smaller of the two car loans). We still don't have any callers on the other car to buy it and we know it isn't the price because we didn't include the price in the ad. So I was chatting with dh about it...paying the monthly payment we end up paying it off next spring. paying every little extra bit we can we probably pay it off in november. I really want the satisfaction of paying something off, he wants to get rid of the unsecured debt first. We will probably compromise and I'll send 50% of the "extra" to cc.

other good news...one of our two ccs is paid off now!

well, back to the task at hand, the phd research must go on for me to finish this degree.
 
#59 ·
Hey folks, I just read a surprisingly GOOD book on personal finance called "The Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey. I could do without the Jesus-y parts, but his plan is simple and brilliant and not easy. I liked his realism, how it's not a quick fix. His website outlines the "baby steps," which to paraphrase are:

1. Save 1,000 bucks.
2. Pay off all your debt except mortgage (and he goes into detail about the debt snowball)
3. Save your emergency fund of 3-6 months expenses
4. Fully fund retirement
5. Pay off/accelerate mortgage payoff
6. Accumulate wealth

He used this phrase "gazelle intense" to describe how committed we have to get in order for these things to happen. Anyway, I really liked the order of the steps, and the stories in the book of people making the steps happen. Ramsey himself struggled with squandering his first riches until his family hit poverty.

It also made me reevaulate where we are financially, and I did some thinking and tweaking: got a little more $$ taken out of my paycheck for retirement, rethinking how much we need for our emergency fund (twice as much as we have now - in a perfect universe), got me motivated about life insurance and a will (although haven't done this stuff yet).

Anyway, I'd highly recommend it - I got my copy from the library.
 
#60 ·
I am doing the plan that Dave Ramsey outlines right now. We started the first week in January. We have our $1000 in emergency savings, and are working towards our first debt being paid off. We didn't choose our smallest, but rather a debt to his exwife that we both hate sending money too each month.
Getting that debt out of our life and essentially HER is worth it to me to start at a higher debt first.
I am thinking April or May it will be gone and we can work on rolling our snowball to another debt. I listen to Dave Ramsey's online radio show once or twice a week. It has been pretty encouraging to hear success stories!
 
#61 ·
Well, we contacted the CC with the super high interest, citibank, and they say our account went into default in August from a late payment and they cannot provide us with a reduced rate.
I looked back over our records and saw that i actually paid two payments way before the due date just because I had the extra money.

When we requested proof, they could provide none. I am so furious at them. We are paying it off before the next statement on the 5th of Feb.

We have managed to keep our food budget down and not go out to eat at all. We are eating hot cereal bought in bulk instead of eggs and stuff. We no longer rent 3.00 movies a few times a week and I haven't bought anything frivilous.

I've decided that when I am feeling down on life and think yarn will make it all better or a new shirt, I clean some part of my house instead and see just how much stuff we already have, probably bought on CCs that we don't even use or need.

It is working.

I also had a big realization of just how much and how hard DH works and how we are supporting already super-rich companies. That is time away from the family thatwe are just pi$$ing away and a nice baby outfit or some yummy yarn isn't worth that at all!
 
#62 ·
Quote:
also had a big realization of just how much and how hard DH works and how we are supporting already super-rich companies. That is time away from the family thatwe are just pi$$ing away and a nice baby outfit or some yummy yarn isn't worth that at all!
That is so true and some people never come to this realization. Wow you had quite an epiphany. I just realized that with our adoption coming up we need to not rely on the bank to get us a loan but try to fast come up with the money to pay a big chunk down. So no more eating out here. I'm also going to start selling some of my household crap on ebay to try to make some extra. I have so many toys when the sw came to do the homestudy she commented on it. I eyeballed quite a few to get rid of at a yard sale in the spring.
I might try to ebay it first not sure if the fees would eat up all the profit. We'll see. My dh has been at his job for 14 years and he's sick of it. Too bad we have debt and not enough in savings so he can find something else. That's the shorttimers thinking. Spend what you make. But then you have to work. I'd love for my dh to find something else to do and not have to go back to his job. Won't happen though. He can't make what he makes anywhere else.
Dreaming here.

Love Dave Ramsey. He came and talked at our church before he got so hugely successful. He's a sweet man with the right attitude. I acctually took his course and am still in debt. But most of it is business related. I'm sure he'd look down on that too though. Sigh it always feels like I'm starting over with staying out of debt (err getting out of debt). Love this thread. Keeps me thinking about my debt instead of not worrying about it at all.
 
#63 ·
Wow- we're all doing so well with our baby steps toward GOOD. Kerc- great self- control on the purse. I resisted a slipcover for our playroom couch with dh's help yesterday.


morebabies- ROCK ON! GREAT idea about cleaning when you want to spend money, that would help all the way around. So true that we have so much junk we don't need. I cleaned my cellarway the other day and found like 10 rolls of red crepe paper, like for decorating for birthdays, WTH? What do I need 10 rolls for? I'll tell you, I kept buying it, b/c I didn't realize I had it already b/c my house is so cluttered. I always figured our clutter was not that bad, I mean compared to the people on Clean Sweep and stuff we are great, but seriously- if you don't know you have 10 rolls of red crepe paper- YOU HAVE CLUTTER! :LOL

So- my GOOD news for today- by the end of next month- we will have all of our CC debt on 0% interest cards, actually- one is on 1.9%, but close enough! And- all of those rates are good until Dec.- so long as I don't make any payments late, which I WON'T!


This means we will be half way out of debt by the end of this year, when only considering dh's salary and not my babysitting money or ebay money. So- maybe we'll be even more than half way out- which is huge when you consider how much debt we have.

Now- let's just hope taxes don't kill us, and hey- maybe we'll even get money back, we always used to- until last year when we owed, b/c GW had given us the money the summer before for the child tax credit.

Blah Blah Blah, I am rambling. I am so thankful to have you mamas here inspiring me
.

I wonder how Piglet is doing? I haven't seen here around in forever, is she still here? I hope she's still out-of-debt, she was our first success story
.
 
#64 ·
westernskies: How cool is that! It took you no time at all to save up that first thousand.

Peppermint: Good job on the interest rates!

More babies: CC companies suck! That why we all need to GOOD (oops, I typoed GOOF).

So I need a little help. I know what I SHOULD do, but it may not be quite right for our situation. We have about 12 years left on our 15 year mortgage. Dh is 50 and I'm 37. We've been TTC for 2 1/2 years, with IVF looming on the horizon.

Anway, the shop that DH has rented for the last 18 years is about to be sold, and if he moves to another rental, he'll pay at least 3x what he's paying now. Ouch! One idea has been to cash out of our house, take the money, move somewhere cheaper, and keep his business. The other idea is to stay put (we love where we live), and build him a barn at our house. The question is this: should be take out a 30 year mortgage (for basically double the total we currently owe) to pay for both house and barn (with the idea that we'd pay it off early), OR should we take out a 15 year mortgage. The former would give us some wiggle room if times got tough (my job majorly sucks rocks), but the latter would force us commit to paying it off in 15 years or less. I've been very good at aggressively paying down our current mortgage, and I'd like to think that I'd keep doing that if we opted for the 30 year. With Dh being 50, I do NOT want this mortgage business to last forever...so the 15 year also looks tempting, but a little daunting.

Waddya think?
 
#65 ·
I'd probably go for the 30 year mortgage and pay extra every chance I had, but, then again, I'm in major debt- so my opinion might not be the one to go with :LOL.
 
#67 ·
drumroll please..... we are going to be 95% out of credit card debt within a month!
:

ok... so we're paying it off by taking money out from the house, but its worth it! We just heard back from the bank about the appraisal. It appraised for 235K (we bought it for 154K, took an additional 33K for renovations for a total of 174K). Then, we racked up another 15K on credit cards in the renovation. But- we increased the value of the house by 80K!! So we're getting a 1st and 2nd mortgage- the first 174K to pay off the one we have (which was adjustable and now we're going to a fixed) and then a 33K 2nd in cash on 15years. This even includes the 1600 in property taxes we have looming in March which we haven't been able to save for b/c we've been too busy paying cc minimums- not any more!!

I'm beside myself, I'm so excited. This will wipe out our 2 biggest cards and get our little 0% card down to maybe $1500. Our mortgage payment is increasing by $200, but that's nothing compared to the $750 we were paying every month in minimums only.

I want you all to know that i am posting here first... I haven't even called my mom yet!
This thread has been awesome support and motivation. I'll definitely be hanging around as we continue to refine our ways, pay off the last card and then work on actually saving.

 
#68 ·


That is so awesome newmainer! You will be our next success story, I can't wait until you are all done- until that last $1500 is done, then we'll have a big old cyber-party for you. The best part about cyber-parties is that they are free!
You must feel like a huge weight has been lifted.

Hooray! See ladies- we CAN do this, and the work we do towards these goals will stay with us, and we'll never get in debt again!
 
#70 ·
thanks... it is amazing what a weight I feel has been lifted. I mean *seriously* and we haven't even signed the papers yet
.
 
#73 ·
Wow you guys are all doing so wonderful!!
I have a question. DH and I are paying off all our credit cards but one (through our bank low interest we like and want to keep it_with our tax returns (we got a nice one this year). My question is should we close our accounts there are 7. I am going to keep one of mine open because it's in my name only and want to build credit for myself. But should we close the other six, I heard it's bad for your credit to close them all down. But i don't always trust myself. I cut up the cards a long time ago but I have all the account numbers when I get the statements and know the exp dates (isn't that terrible).
:
 
#74 ·
ACK!! Ladies I've been missing you!!!


Such news in our home!! Let me get you up to date


In November dh was still working for Citibank and looking for a new job. He had some interviews and such at a church. Things looked promising, but they've been that way before. Right before Thanksgiving dh came hom efomr work at about 9am. He was white as a ghost and just sat on the bed with his coat still on staring at the wall. In a very quiet voice he said, "I can't go back there. They sent me home." He had been telling me that he had real issues with his job. Yes, ppl owed them money. But some had just lost jobs, or lost limbs, had major surgery, had spouses die, and other things. THey had real legit reasons to be behind in their debts (we'fe all been there haven't we...) but he was not allowed to care, empathize, comfort, or discuss. He had to demand money and he couldn't do it any more. I guess he broke down and had an anxiety attack as he walked onto the floor. So, in November dh quit his job.

It wasn't until mid December that we got the wonderful news. Dh had been hired on at the church!! It is a job he loves. He looks forward to going in and even comes home excited


Now, what we are doing financially......

We have paid off one credit card.


We are changing our cell phones. I know they are a luxury but with dh's type of work they are needed. So, our local phone company has a deal right now... home phone, 1500 shared minutes, and high speed internet for 116 a month!!! That is cheaper than we pay now for just our cells!! With this plan we save about 80 dollars a month!!

We get our tax return soon. We should be able to pay off one car, which will drop our insurance plus free up 100 a month. We are also paying off a small loan of 1000 and maybe part of a credit card!!

We are buying a house. This should work out great too. Why?? A city in our area is rehabbing the entire city. We are looking at homes that cost over 200k to build. The city is selling thema t 110k. We are eligible for 35k in grants! Our house should cost about 75k
Making our house payment about 600 a month which is 125 less than our last rental!

Thats enough good....now the bad....
Dh's last employer mailed us a check at the beginning of the month. On friday they took it back! 368.00 Then we get a letter that says they goofed and we still owe them 268!! (We are fighting this)

We were in a car accident before xmas and had to borrow from my sister the 500 deductible.

We borrwed 500 from a friend to cover the 368 that the company took. We were given NO warning. They just took it out. It had been in for 14 days already and we had spent it on paying bills. So borrowing the money kept us from having about 18 checks overdraft (we don't use plastic just cash and checks...so much easier to keep track of). At 30 a check thats saving us
540 on just the overdrafts not counting the actual amount the checks were for.

We borrowed 200 from FIL due to the fact that dh was without work for a month.

We were also victims of a pothole, midwest winter raods suck. Now we have to put new rims ont he car because 2 of them are bent and wont let the tire hold air.

So, in a matter of 2 weeks we went in debt 1500.00


That really sux
Whenever we finally start to get ahead we just crash even harder.
 
#75 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by morebabies
Well, we contacted the CC with the super high interest, citibank, and they say our account went into default in August from a late payment and they cannot provide us with a reduced rate.
I looked back over our records and saw that i actually paid two payments way before the due date just because I had the extra money.

When we requested proof, they could provide none. I am so furious at them. We are paying it off before the next statement on the 5th of Feb.
I just asked dh since he worked collections for Citibank. He said it doesn't matter what you can prove it is all based on THEIR system. He said it has a name but can't think of it... He said you have to have 6 months of on time payments and they will lower the rate. It has a name though. He says they make big bucks off of it though.

He also said that even if you pay it off and use it again within the 6 months you wills till have the higher interest rate.

I agree...I hate Citibank too!!!!
 
#76 ·
OK, my df and I aren't quite to the getting out of debt part, we're at the step before it: learning to manage money. We've been irresponsible with our money for so long, and it takes a lot of guts for me to say that.

Here's our situation: It's me, dd, df and my granny in a teeny tiny apartment with a kitchen, bathroom and 2 "other" rooms (no real bedrooms, no living room, etc). We pool our money together every month, which right now is df's paychecks and granny's social security and pension checks. I haven't worked since having dd so I feel like a bit of a mooch but I am hoping to start work here in the next week or so. Right now our rent is $350 a month plus gas @$100 a month and electric/water at $80 a month, so essentially we pay $530 a month. We're behind on several bills (including rent) because of bad money decisions made by all of us and we never have any money left by the last week of the month. That's not even getting into our debts


So, starting in February, I am taking charge of money management in our house, that way we're all on the same page and all essentials get paid, we have food, meds, etc and start paying off our debts. Once we get our basic bills paid up to date I'm going to start looking for a better place to live (one which has actual bedrooms, as I can't work when we have company due to the nature of my job). I'm hoping to find a rental with utilities included, which by looking through the classifieds shouldn't be too difficult...I hope.

I'm working on a menu for the month, so we avoid our usual take out habits, and so far, most of the meals i've got on here are pretty low cost
I have quicken so now I'm tracking our expenses (also going to get little notebooks to use while we're out running errands or while df is at work). I'd love to find some good (and cheap) recipes... I got a crockpot for Yule that I'm itching to try out!

Anyone have any tips for a newbie to the thread? (I'll also be visiting the frugal forum once it's up- can't wait!)
 
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