Torn on what to do with my truck payment...

[sfalexi]

Ok. First time poster, been listening to TONS of Dave Ramsey and like the debt snowball idea.

First off, I'm not TOO far gone in debt (I think...). But my wife and I have three vehicles. Her car, my truck, and my motorcycle. She uses her vehicle for her job, I use my motorcycle daily, unless the weather is SO bad that I need to be in my truck. (Will be moving to GA, so really just a bad rainstorm or icy conditions in the winter will stop me from riding to/from work)

I'm slightly upside down on my truck. But I have some cash coming in the next two months. I have two working scenarios that I'm stuck on choosing between....

1) DELETED

2) Continue to pay on that "debt snowball" theory, putting the upcoming money into it and just pay things off as I can do it.

I'm leaning heavily to number one. If I get rid of that truck and get a beater, I will cut my time to getting out of debt by more than a year. The debt will be rid of, and the car payment will be rolled into the debt snowball.

The only thing that keeps me from going there is no one knows how long it takes to sell a vehicle, if I can get what I owe on it (although I'll price it slightly below kelley blue book value), and in the meantime, I'll have this money stashed without a purpose and nothing happening with it.

Thoughts anyone?

Alexi

PS - Sorry to burst in with a question right off the bat, but hey, when do people tend to come to financial help forums, right? I promise to lurk and learn afterwards! Although at this stage in the game, with how I got to where I am, I think I'll refrain from responding with 'advice'. lol.

EDIT: Choice one went away after I checked "real world" prices of vehicles. Kelly Blue Book gave me one price, the world shows another. So it looks like I'll be stuck paying for a vehicle I hardly use. Bummer. Wish I had gotten into motorcycles before buying that truck. Well, I guess I'll pay it and keep it till it dies.

[sofocused978]

How much do you owe on your truck? What make/model is it? Same questions for the bike. Do you own your bike outright?

[sfalexi]

Ok. Here goes..... I owe 10,900 on the truck. I owe 4000 on the bike. I will be able to save up/pay down about 5000 of debt by the time I get to GA.

The truck is a 2002 Ford Ranger 4x4. The gas-mileage stinks which is why it's value plummeted a few months after I bought it and the gas prices went up. On the other hand, it only has 42,000 miles. Cause I'm deployed and use the bike all the time.

The bike is a 2003 Yamaha FJR. The value of the bike is about 1500 more than what I owe, so I'm not upside down on it. And it's my primary mode of transportation. Wife uses her car, I use my bike, and I have my car for icy days (which hopefully in GA won't be much)

My original plan was to pay 5k on the truck when I get there, and see if I can sell it for around 7k. That'll get rid of the 10,900 debt, leaving me with my FJR to commute to/from work, better gas mileage, and free up let's say around 340 dollars a month to put into another debt (car payment + insurance)

I could pay off the motorcycle, freeing up the motorcycle payment to pay on other debts, but then I'm still paying on a vehicle I use about, conservatively, 4 days a month.

Also, a sidenote, but maybe worth mentioning, her car is a very small four-door sedan. We want to have about 3 children. And between three kids and a dog, I'm thinking we're gonna need something bigger than her sedan. So I was planning on (later on) getting rid of my car or her car and getting something bigger. I figure if I sell the truck now, I can pay down whatever we have, and by the time we NEED a bigger vehicle, we'll have been out of debt long enough that we can just pay cash for one.

I'd LIKE to have a vehicle for those bad weather days when I can't ride my bike. And (as selfish as it is), getting rid of the bike is the LAST thing I intend on doing. I love riding it too much, it's a small debt (smallest I have), and my wife has a car. But I'm sure I can work with her to get me dropped off/picked up on bad weather days.

Alexi