Where Do I Even Start?

[minnie1928]

The only thing I have to add to your wonderful list is to track your progress. Make a chart or list the debts by date and balances...something. Once you see that you are making headway then it will inspire you to continue on that path.

Good luck! I think you are heading in the right direction!

[Seeker]

Originally Posted by poohstixx

I need some advice on what to do! We have a ton of money going out which leaves us with little for food, gas, etc. and we're quckly falling behind! Not to mention we often get slapped with overdraft fees in our account, because we struggle to keep track of what's going out, timing with bills, etc.

I'm responding to just the one paragraph because it sounds as if the other issues are on the way to being explored and organised.... but I'm curious about the above.

How are you and your SO handing the paying of bills? Do you keep them in one place until ready to pay? Do you keep a list of all amounts spent? Maybe even at the top of the list the amount you have budgeted for all the bills and then keep subtracting out the amount as the bills come in?

For day-to-day expenses, it sounds like you're not operating from credit cards, but gone to debit cards instead? Is there a problem with both of you using cash temporarily at least, until your get a handle on the above?

It's (unfortunately) the little day-to-day amounts that are spent that quickly eat into the available $'s (after bills) left over each month. Reducing the monthly bills (storage, phone, etc. as has been suggested previously) should help somewhat, but you still need to protect yourself from overdraft fees, if you're both not on the same page financially and you don't know who is doign what as far as spending/paying the bills.

[poohstixx]

Check out my blog on this site, under poohstixx, to see how I'm doing! I can't post a link until I've made 15 posts, I guess I'm not quite there yet!

[lucmas]

Well first off, are you paying your mother the $600/mth for child care? Perhaps she can give you a break if she doesn't need the income so that you can gain some breathing room. I think it might be difficult, but you need to cancel whatever cable you have and one of your phones. Then clear out your storage unit by having a garage sale and close the storage unit. This is just the tip of the iceburg, but I think you can get through this as long as you build and stick to a solid plan.

[snafu]

Second Jobs:
My husband receives regular business doing photography, mostly through friends and co-workers. This comes at little to no cost to us, except his time which is by no means a lot. I received some criticism about this, but so far there have been very few negatives and financial cost to us as his business is becoming well established and he has several repeat customers.


When I add up the facts and your acknowledgement that you have made poor financial decisions in the past...I point out again, your husband has the option of seeking some part time work to enhance family income since his business does not take up a considerable amount of time. It's great to operate your own business and be self employed but it's pretty self indulgent when you need to dig out of a self created financial hole. His ego needs to deflate while his contribution to family income needs to inflate!

[Seeker]

Originally Posted by snafu

Second Jobs:
My husband receives regular business doing photography, mostly through friends and co-workers. This comes at little to no cost to us, except his time which is by no means a lot. I received some criticism about this, but so far there have been very few negatives and financial cost to us as his business is becoming well established and he has several repeat customers.


When I add up the facts and your acknowledgement that you have made poor financial decisions in the past...I point out again, your husband has the option of seeking some part time work to enhance family income since his business does not take up a considerable amount of time. It's great to operate your own business and be self employed but it's pretty self indulgent when you need to dig out of a self created financial hole. His ego needs to deflate while his contribution to family income needs to inflate!

Snafu, she put all of this under second jobs.... so isn't his photography work a second job already (It sounds like he has a full-time work-for-somone-else type of job already and does photography for his second part-time job though some of his customers are co-workers from his full-time work).

He doesn't have a lot of time -- which I take as he's working two jobs already.... not one part-time hobby job. Am I missing something?

[snafu]

If I misunderstood, apologies to OP; I thought DH chose to be self employed

[carpevacationum]

Not sure if this is possible, but could you trade both your cars in and get two that are cheaper? Right now there are a lot of 0% financing deals going on that could possibly cut your monthly payments significantly even if you wind up buying new cars. Maybe something like a small Hyundai or something?