In a financial mess.

[SeanH]

Just out of curiosity - if the loans were divided up who brought how much student loan debt to the marriage?

[Incognito815]

I get paid weekly, and on months with 4 wednesdays I get 3067.88 a month. On months with 5 wednesdays (current one, for example) I bring home 3834.85 a month.


I've dropped my 401k contribution to 0 for awhile. My company doesn't match anyway.

We had a big refund last year, so i adjusted my W4 to cut into that. My wife was working until the baby was born and we moved for my job.


766.97 x 52 = 39882.44.


The loans were about 50/50. I had about 30k student loans finishing my BSME. She had about the same by going to a private school and dropping out after a year.

[PetMom]

I would just try not to ever have two car payments going.

We refuse to have more than one going and drive an old car.

We now have no car payments but a fund for maintenance/repairs.

If you tried to work towards that goal that would be good.

Or if she wants to be an sahm she really is at home all day - just
have one car. Sell one. Have heard of this theory. Also figure in
what you would save on car insurance and possibly some gas depending
on her daily driving habits. Her shopping or errands would be done
in evenings or on weekends.

A taxi would be option if she needed a car or she would drive you to
work if she needed it for a day.

That would be about what you would equal out with her getting fast
food work.

Hope you find a good home for your dog. I would not give that up as
those are security and for me much more. In my apartment, I was awakened
from my dog barking because someone was using a hammer on my door. I would
have slept through it but for my dog - called police etc...

I have to defend cable costs. If that is the only entertainment then that is
not so bad. With small children there are learning channels. I also use my
cable for recording songs - some movies have a lot of songs (does away with need
for a cd player or radio), and get my news from all the channels doing away with
buying any newpapers, etc...Plus the financial channel to keep up on gas prices and commodities. The weather channel was of great use when tornadoes were coming through,
had enough warning to get cover.

But that is your only entertainment. You have to be strict about no meals out. Also
no vacations. Potluck dinners with friends is about the only entertainment costs you
would have and would be cheap. Take up walking or going to the park on weekends.

[disneysteve]

Cable $100.00

I have to defend cable costs. If that is the only entertainment then that is
not so bad.

I don't think any of us are saying that having cable is a bad thing. What we're saying is that OP can't afford it right now. Hulu is free. Most TV shows can be viewed online for free. Dumping cable and just keeping internet will give endless hours of entertainment for much less money. Or at least cut down to the bare minimum cable package which is typically in the $10-15/month range.

[jpg7n16]

I get paid weekly, and on months with 4 wednesdays I get 3067.88 a month. On months with 5 wednesdays (current one, for example) I bring home 3834.85 a month.

What are your plans for the extra $900 youll have this month?

As cash flow is a major issue right now, I would personally pay off chase 1, chase 2 and capital one A.

That'd free up $50/month or so. And at some point you'll need to eliminate car 1.

I've dropped my 401k contribution to 0 for awhile. My company doesn't match anyway

.
Good idea. I feel this was a smart move given your debt costs.

We had a big refund last year, so i adjusted my W4 to cut into that. My wife was working until the baby was born and we moved for my job.

How much did that add to your paycheck? How much was your refund?

It should have added around your refund divided by 12.

[Incognito815]

We did the one car thing, but if you have one car and it broke down you're hosed. I definitely want to pay my car off this year.

There will be extra money at the end of the month which we will definitely apply to the smaller balances.


Adjusting my W4 did increase my weekly take-home by about our tax return divided by 52.


We're looking for alternatives to reduce our meal costs without sacrificing quality of food. Where's the cheapest place (typically) to buy meat by the pound? A farmer's market? Wal-mart?


I will look to see if we can reduce our internet to a slower plan if one is available, and our cable to fewer channels. That might be an acceptable compromise for the wife.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Part of it is how much they pay for things like health insurance. Sure $3k take home on $51k seems low, but it could also be the family portion of the health insurance premium is high. You should be paying like $0 federal income tax with standard deduction $10k, personal exemptions $11k, and child tax credit.

[disneysteve]

Where's the cheapest place (typically) to buy meat by the pound?

I have a suggestion. In addition to looking for cheaper places to buy meat, start incorporating more meatless meals into your diet. It is cheaper and healthier to do more vegetarian cooking. There are zillions of great recipes available online for free.

[sblatner]

I follow a website called www bloggingawaydebt com. You might want to read it and see if you can learn anything. This gal just started blogging a couple months ago (after taking over for someone who paid off their debt). She has had lots of good posts on what she is learning while trying to pay off her debt. I think her enthusiasm will be contagious.

I agree with the others that your problem is income, not really expenses. Even if you could net a few hundred extra per month, that would help the situation. I can't remember if you said how old the child(ren) is but if your wife could babysit a few hours a week, that would really help. Maybe she could dog walk...I have friends who do that and they make pretty good money and get exercise at the same time!

I would love for you to get rid of all the low card balances. I think if you had fewer debts to worry about, it would be less stressful. People have different opinions on paying off low balance cards first or high interest rate cards first. High interest cards might save you interest but getting rid of balances might make you feel better.

Also, not sure if you track all of your expenses or not. I keep track of every penny we spend and I love to be able to analyze what we spend money on. Makes it easier to cut back if you know where the money is going.

Good luck and keep us up to date.

[disneysteve]

I would love for you to get rid of all the low card balances. I think if you had fewer debts to worry about, it would be less stressful. People have different opinions on paying off low balance cards first or high interest rate cards first. High interest cards might save you interest but getting rid of balances might make you feel better.

I am generally a supporter of paying the highest interest rates first because that will save you the most money and get you debt-free the fastest, but this is one of those cases where I'd lean the other way.

OP has 16 separate debts and very little breathing room in the budget. Eliminating a couple of the smallest debts would accomplish a few things. It would make the overall task look less imposing because the list would shrink. It would free up some cash flow to give OP some breathing room in the budget as there would actually be a little surplus each month. Part of that surplus could then be used to start building a small emergency fund while the rest gets snowballed toward the other debts.

[DebtFree&Broke]

Federal Financial Car 1 $4,352.00 29.99% $227.44
Capital One Car 2 $10,781.26 9.08% $255.00
Chase 1 $181.83 23.24% $20.00
Chase 2 $411.00 23.24% $20.00
Sams 1 $828.28 22.90% $38.00
Capital One (A) $176.31 17.90% $15.00
Citi $1,459.67 16.49% $34.51
Capital One (S) $429.00 0.00% $25.00
Sams 2 $338.09 0.00% No Minimum payment?
Sallie Mae 2 $2,767.89 9.500% $105.40
Sallie Mae 1 $4,587.52 9.500% $63.19
Nelnet $9,550.63 9.15% $125.00
Ed Financial $1,144.82 7.25% $50.00
AES $18,252.41 6.98% $133.69
MyEdAccount $18,267.31 6.88% $165.70
Chase SL $5,887.13 6.75% $45.22
Total Debt $79,415.15


Income $3000/month
Car Insurance $208.00
Verizon $100.00
Rent $640.00
Renter's Ins $12.42
Electricity $90.00
Water $25.00
Gas $120.00
Food $300.00
Cable $100.00
Debt (Minimum) $1323.15

Household Expenses total $1596, so you have $1400 for debt payments every month.

I found a debt snowball calculator to figure out how fast you can be debt-free. (google debt snowball calculator)

No Changes (Highest Interest Rate First): 71 months and pay $19,648 interest, but it will take you 10 months to pay off your first debt.

No Changes (Smallest Debt First): 72 months and pay $20,293 interest, but you will pay off your first debt in only 3 months!

Increase income or cut budget by $300 a month (Highest First): 56 months and pay $14,579 interest, Pay Car 1 and Chase 1 off in 8 months

Increase income or cut budget by $300 (Smallest First): 56 monhts and pay $15,400 interest, but have Capital One 1, Chase 1, Sams 2, Capital One 2, Sams 1, and MyEdAccount payed off in 7 months.

Sell both your cars and purchase 2 $2,000 cars w/ (worst case) 29.99% interest on each car and current car payments (Highest First): 58 months and pay $12,889 interest, You'll have Car 1, Car 2, and Chase 1 payed off in 8 months.

Sell both your cars and purchase 2 $2,000 cars (Smallest First): 59 months and pay $13,198 interest, you'll have Capital One 1, Chase 1, and Sams 2 gone in 7 months.

Cut budget by $300 and sell both your cars and purchase 2 $2,000 cars (Highest First): 46 months and pay $9,911 interest. Both cars payed off in 5 months. Within 8 months you'll have 7 loans gone!

Cut budget by $300 and sell both your cars and purchase 2 $2,000 cars (Smallest First): 47 months and pay $10,289 interest. You'll have Capital One 1, Chase 1, Sams 2, Chase 2, Capital One 2, and Sams 2 payed off in 5 months.

You will save over $9,000 in interest and 2 years of loan payments by finding an extra $300 and replacing your cars w/ ones you can afford. Like disneysteve said, I think you should pay the smallest debt first, it will only cost you 1 month and $378 but you will feel the pressure from the debt lift faster. Just keep paying $1,700 a month to your debt until it's gone forever

[breathemusic]

Since your wife is a SAHM, does she do much couponing? I know you were asking about the cheapest places to buy certain items. The best thing you can do is look at the weekly circulators for your various grocery stores, CVS, walgreens, etc and shop the sales plus coupons. If you don't get a paper to get coupons (if you do cancel that crap and get your news online where you're already paying for it) then ask anyone you know who does get the paper if they use the coupons and if you can have them.

I know a lady who is a SAHM and she does some of that extreme couponing type stuff and gets all her toiletries, cleaning supplies, etc for pennies, if not free. You don't have to do like on TV where they end up with 1000 bottles of dish soap, but you can at least get some of your stuff for free and make a small difference in your budget.

And I think the suggestion of babysitting is a great way for your wife to potentially be able to bring in a little income but not have to get a commuter job. Just watching 1 other child would make some money without being too difficult (as opposed to taking on a ton of kids) and she could even watch more if she thinks she can handle it.

[PetMom]

Disney Steve I used that phrasing as my opinion "if that is the only entertainment then that is not so bad". I did not write anyone here stated it was bad nor was that intended as an implication. But that literally means nothing else for entertainment (which should be a very strict budget category).

Where that idea of keeping cable messes up is when people buy a DVD or go out to eat at all or go to a movie.

Forgot to add going to the libary for free entertainment and especially so for a stay at home parent (on Saturdays if they give up the other car).

With all or our tips and opinions and how we navigated budgeting they decide how they are going to do things. They may want to drop it or minimize it and use your tips of free Hulu shows, etc...

Each of us chooses what works and what doesn't.

Years ago we got out of debt and an ef while keeping full premium cable - but were strict with other entertainment costs.

[Redraidernurse]

Full premium cable is a luxury. Drop it and spend more time going for walks, reading books, playing family board games, cooking fun meals together, etc. Not owning a television is one of the best decisions our family ever made.

[auron]

I'm thinking about using my employers tuition program to pursue a second bachelors degree (I have a BSME, I want to pursue a BSEE.) to defer my student loans and possibly benefit from scholarships.

From one BSME to another, don't go back to school for a BSEE. It doesn't help your job marketibility at all (in terms of salary or ability to do your job). If you really don't like ME then maybe go get an MSEE with the company benefit. Another engineering undergrad degree simply won't change much.