My Money Crisis-Help Please

[Tree0164]

I would sell those shoes back on ebay. And change the password to the ebay account so it doesn't happen again.

Plan easy things so your 13 yr old daughter can cook or take out of the freezer.

The cell phone bill is crazy. Is one of the phones your daughter's? I would cut down her plan.

[FrugalBachelor]

Originally Posted by Brenda345

Thanks everyone! These are great tips. We use a lot of water. I have always been afraid of buying generic, but recently I was at Wal*Mart and I bought some Crystal Light pour into the bottle things,do you know what I'm talking about? Well I got the Wal*Mart brand and they were okay. asmom, I could afford that trip. I had saved for a few months. Like I said I had some unexpectd expenses. My kids are 13,12,7. They cannot cook. My neighbor keeps an eye on them. I also used some coupons. Thanks again for all your suggestions.

I do know what you mean..I buy the walmart crystal light all the time...the orange and cherry are really good and the fruit punch is also very good...they actually taste like fruity instead of like sugar water. I get the sugar free...they're all sugar free I believe.

[Ima saver]

I will stick with plain old water, nothing tastes better when you are thirsty!!

[FrugalBachelor]

Originally Posted by Ima saver

I will stick with plain old water, nothing tastes better when you are thirsty!!

ultimately water is best.

I cut down on my 2 liter of diet sprite habit which was 1 per day. I like the crystal lite, gotta have something tasty to sip on in the heat.

[lillyb]

Originally Posted by Brenda345

Hi, my name is Brenda and I'm a divorced single mother of 3. What I need help with is my budget. I probably could cut back on a few things(at least until I get my finaces straightened out). I make about 65k a year. I live in Atlanta. Recently I spent too much money at one time.
Things I have to pay for on my credit card:
1. Week long vacation Jamacia 4 people-$2000(It's too late to cut back!) I normally could afford this but I had some unexpected bills.
2. Kids new clothes and school supplies-$500
3.Air conditioning repair-$200
4. Shoes-$316 My daughter bought them. ONE PAIR!!! I am really mad at her. She got them off ebay so we had to pay for them.
Those things are things I can't cut back on. It is too late. Don't think I just went out with my credit cards and just bought wants. I planed for some of the things then others were unexpected.This is a list of things I have to buy monthly:
Gas:$100
Groceries:average$275
Mortgage:$900
Telephone:$35
Cell Phone(x2):$175
Internet:$35(need for work)
Trash Service:$15/month
Water:$46
Electricity:$60
Cable:$50
I drive but I'm done paying for my car
If you could please help me that would be great!

What's done is done, here is how you work out of it.

I second re-selling the shoes. Change the password. Cancel all cc's, maybe open a new one and hide the numbers for emergency (although we get along fine with 0 cc's). You've done well by paying off your car and keeping it to drive, no car payments gives you some breathing room.

65k a year at the 25% tax bracket (not sure what yours is, my dh makes around that and this is what's taken out of his paycheck) leaves you a bit over 4k a month. Your expenses run about just under $1700 right now. Good suggestions already for cutting down expenses, so I won't repeat them. I would consider upping your grocery budget if it means helping you cut out your eating out, it's eating away your income severely.

Say you spent $500 on groceries and limit eating out to 2-4 times a month only. For starters, you can always work that down later. Your expenses just went to about $2,000 a month, leaving $2000 to work with.

Okay, say you have $2000 to work with, I'd set aside a small emergency fund first, to catch those things that you used to put on a credit card. After that I would start working to pay off what you owe. I'm not sure if all of this was put on the same credit card or seperate ones. Say they are on seperate ones, start working one at a time (some pay smallest to largest, some pay higher interest to smaller interst, whichever works best for you).

I've had good luck with paying smallest to largest, so lets just use that for an example. First month put away, say, $1000 for an emergency fund. And DO NOT touch it unless is it an actual emergency! Then with the left over $1000 pay off the airconditioning repair ($1000 - $200 = $800), then the shoes (hopefully you can resell it, but for example's sake I'll leave it in), ($800 - $ $316 = $484), then kids clothes and school supplies ($500 - $484 = -$16).

The next month, with your $2000 leftover after expenses you keep working down the list: Kids clothes and school supplies ($16 - $16 = $1984) and then on to the trip ($2000 - $1984 = $16). The next month you use only $16 to finish it up.

Works the same way if you have all of it on one cc: small emergency fund first and then $3016. First month, $1000 emergency fund, the other $1000 on the cc, leaving $2016. The second month pay $2000 leaving $16 for the third month.

You are done with $1984 to spare on the third month!!! I've known people waaaaayyyy worse off with tons more debt working the plan just like above. Compared to some you are in great shape! Good income, not a ton of debt, like 3 grand. I don't see a biggy problem here.

I want to say thank you to everyone who has given me suggestions. I have changed a few things like.... changing my ebay password.(I think I'm goning to close my ebay account) My ex hubby paid for the shoes. Got the check yesterday. We are now trying to conserve water and electricity. My mother wants me to keep the credit cards-all of them. I paid off 1 and a half credit cards already. My kids go back to school tomorrow(Tuesday) Yes! I'm going to start cooking 3 days a week(It's better than what I used to) I am going to clean house today and reward my self with going out to dinner. My oldest daughter is helping around the house now. I also got a part time job at Victoria's Secret. Just to pay off my credit cards even faster so I can afford luxuries. I really like working there, I get great discounts! My daughter is entering a beauty pageant, so that means an entrance fee. She won last year and the grand prize was $5,000! So I'm hoping she wins again. Thanks again for all your help. This is a great group of money savers!

[sakigt]

Resell those shoes on ebay. She can get them when she saves for them.

$300? Sheesh.

[kashi]

Rachael Ray has a kid's cookbook. You might want to check it out. Maybe assign your kids to make one dinner per week, to start off....that is, if you can trust them with a stove. Your daughter sounds pretty savvy for a 13 year old, so I'm thinking she could do it.

My other suggestions have already been voiced by previous posters. Good luck!

[Ima saver]

Eating out is my downfall and it sounds like it is yours too. If I had a family to cook for (like I use to), I would hardly ever eat out. It is eating into too much of your budget, but I know when you are use to it, it is hard to change.

[PrincessPerky]

Originally Posted by Brenda345

Thanks everyone! These are great tips. We use a lot of water. I have always been afraid of buying generic, but recently I was at Wal*Mart and I bought some Crystal Light pour into the bottle things,do you know what I'm talking about? Well I got the Wal*Mart brand and they were okay. asmom, I could afford that trip. I had saved for a few months. Like I said I had some unexpectd expenses. My kids are 13,12,7. They cannot cook. My neighbor keeps an eye on them. I also used some coupons. Thanks again for all your suggestions.

I cooked at that age...
Nearly every night, cept when my brother cooked..
you would be suppriosed at what your kids can do
spend a wekend teaching them one simple meal, let em practice during the week

Then next weekend teach em another, by the time you have gone a month you will have 4 meals under their belt (mac n cheese, hot dogs, nuked potatoes, ramen noodles) 4 simple easy taller than stove freindly meals. (you do have to be taller than stove though.)

Next month learn tosted cheese, scrambeled eggs, pancakes, salad ( actually salad is 'no cook' if you don't like/cant afford mushrooms or steak, or whatever.),

If you don't want them doing it alone, then let them do it with you when you come home for a bit, one kid is on cooking, one kid is on laundry (switch it fold it start it, whatever) one is on lunches/breakfast (pack/prep it) while your 7 year old may not be able to do it all, starting now means that at 13 they will...you can go change out of work clothes or sort bills while one of them 'watches the pot boil'

[autoxer]

Originally Posted by PrincessPerky

you would be suppriosed at what your kids can do

Has anyone seen the show about The Duggar Family on the Discovery Channel? They have 15 children and it is amazing how organized & efficient they are, because of how much the children help out. They all have their own duties for cooking, cleaning, and doing laundry.

Yeah, I've seen that show. I bet Mrs. Duggar beats her children to get them to behave because children just don't act that way with out some kind of force. I now wake my oldest daughter up at 5:30am. I make her get everyones breakfast ready then serve it. She now has many chores which she never used to do. Her shoes arrived in the mail today, so it's been a hard day for me. I'm afraid to let my children cook. You would think my oldest daughter would be responsible and smart, but not mine. Like one time she stuck her hand in the oven to get a muffin pan with out an oven mit. So I'm afraid for her safetey and my house's safetey. She put popcorn in the microwave and it still had the plastic on it. I know I could watch her more closely but I am too busy to watch her when it would be faster and easier for me to do it. I really appreciate all of your suggestions!!! Thanks

[mariec99]

My daughter is entering a beauty pageant, so that means an entrance fee. She won last year and the grand prize was $5,000!

You didn't include any of the expenses for this in your budget. What is the entrance fee? How much are you paying for her gowns and other pageant clothing? Hair, nails and makeup? Travel to pageants? Hotel rooms during the event? Portfolios? Does she have coaches? Lessons? How many gowns, hotel rooms and entrance fees have you paid for times she didn't win? I know a lot of people who think they are coming out ahead with a cash beauty pageant win -- but they forget to that it cost them twice what they won to participate. This is an expensive hobby and not a good way to pay for school or earn income.

Unless your neighbor is with your kids all day with the primary responsiblity of caring for them, then your kids are unsupervised all day. Don't fool yourself. A 13 year old may be fine watching herself, but not mature enough to watch younger kids, too.

Mariec99: She decided not to enter, but wait to enter the one at her school.(6 months away) The entrance fee is $50. I'm not sure how much hair, nails,etc. will cost but is not a concern right now. Your absolutely right about watching my children. School started today so is no longer a problem. I also cooked dinner tonight. We had steak, baked potatoes and some other stuff DD prepared.(Nothing hard or complicated,does not require heat to prepare) Thanks again for all your tips and suggestions. They really help me strech my budget!

[Kris10Leigh]

Mmmmmm, that sounds like a good dinner.

Brenda, I was on the "let your children cook" train until I read about her reaching into the oven without an oven mitt!!!! Yes, that child should not be cooking! LOL! (And yet, not a laughing matter.)

Along the lines of your children helping out though, on the weekends I second the advice of cooking with them and teaching them one easy cook meal at a time. While cooking, maybe go through all the safety problem solving things you can think of. Then once you are comfortable with it, let them cook. I completely understand now why you have been hesitant thus far.

It is so much easier to do it yourself, I know, but eventually it is easier when they can do it for themselves. A little time invested now really helps later. Now I dod need to heed my own advice with my four year old. When I came to my six year old, I always had the patience to teach him to be independent. With my four year old, I just do it for him. And there is a big difference in my children to show for it.

[jaksilee]

Originally Posted by Brenda345

My kids are 13,12,7. They cannot cook.

I'm sorry at this I had to laugh...by the time I was 13 I could bake the best bread, and hepled my mom by starting supper before she came home from work! I agree with everyone who said to teach them a meal at a time...also check out the library for other kids cookbooks.

Also did you know that most "off brand" items are made by the same companies as the name brand items? Some time they are even made in the same plants...just put in different boxes or cans. Buying them can save you a ton of money!

[PrincessPerky]

Don't be supprised at odd things she does, it isn't about age so much as lack of experience!

My kids have chores, they are 4, 2, and 9mo (ok the 9m doesn't have any) cause the sooner you start practicing the sooner you figure it out. (they fold hand towels and washclothes like a dream, and faster than daddy!)

chalk those oops up to experience. you gotta start somewhere. (though on ovens start with 'cold drills' anything to help her remember) honestly if you can't find one adult who has done all the things and much more, I can (and some of the stupidity would be from me!)

I bought a kids cook book the other day. We have not used it yet. Tonight we ate out again. I have got to get better about cooking. Thanks for your suggestions about teaching them one meal at a time. I would have never thought of that. Thanks!

[LuxLiving]

Brenda - where are you? How's the budget going???

[greedy4chips]

I bet your DD does not put bare hands into the oven to remove anything now...sometimes that is the best teaching method. Luckily she wasn't severely hurt. I would worry about my kids cooking if they were boiling water for anything since there are so many ways to get hurt with it.

With that being said, our 8 year old can make toasted cheese sandwiches and any canned veggies we have (microwaved). Our 6 year old can make microwave popcorn btw (without the plastic). I even let them cut up veggies (under close supervision), by suppertime they are full of veggies! Teach them the proper techniques and watch them closely until they are good at it.

If you don't teach them, they will end up never cooking and eating out all the time.

You could spend 2-3 hrs on Sunday afternoons making meals for your oldest to take out of the freezer to warm up later in the week. This is much cheaper and better for you than frozen meals at the grocery store!

When I was 12 my mom left my dad and there were lots of nights we had to make meals on our own. My dad worked shift work and sometimes would have to work unexpected OT so we were on our own. We survived by making meals we had helped make in the past. We peeled enough potatoes to make any army cook proud! We always had something around that was easy to make like hotdogs, spaghetti, hamburgers, eggs, caserolles, home canned veggies, etc.