My debt situation/ introduction

[Sammydabullz]

Wife took a trip, and used small credit card. Balance ended up being 2652.46. Cash balance today was 13,192.04. Transferred 1192.04 to small credit card bringing balance down to 1460.42.

[Petunia 100]

Wife took a trip, and used small credit card. Balance ended up being 2652.46. Cash balance today was 13,192.04. Transferred 1192.04 to small credit card bringing balance down to 1460.42.

You're getting there!

Have you visited the blog section of Saving Advice? If you start a blog and post your progress, you'll probably get a lot of people following along, offering support, asking questions, and having opinions.

[Jluke]

Wife took a trip, and used small credit card. Balance ended up being 2652.46. Cash balance today was 13,192.04. Transferred 1192.04 to small credit card bringing balance down to 1460.42.

nice job - now pay off that small cc in the next 2-4 weeks; Yes, you're EF might dip below 12k, but you'll easily rebuild it to 12k.

[Sammydabullz]

Cash balance of 11,794.96. No transfer this time. I had several bills get paid this week.

[Randomsaver]

Cash balance of 11,794.96. No transfer this time. I had several bills get paid this week.

Cool
, the key is stay the course, Also i hope your baby is ok now,

[LivingAlmostLarge]

stay the course

[Sammydabullz]

Today, cash balance was 12,697.98. Transferred $697.98 to card, balance is down to 1187.02. the card balance grew to 1885.00 from an automatic bill payment and my wife continuing to spend. I'm doing what I can to lead by example. I've been able to plan my work lunch so it will only cost me less than a dollar each meal. My breakfast is planned so that it only cost less than 2 bucks a meal now. I'm working on coming up with a plan for my supper. Some of my wife's spending came from the cost of raising a child. It's hard to plan for the child's needs. While some of her spending came from buying lunch at work, instead of packing a lunch.

[Gailete]

Today, cash balance was 12,697.98. Transferred $697.98 to card, balance is down to 1187.02. the card balance grew to 1885.00 from an automatic bill payment and my wife continuing to spend. I'm doing what I can to lead by example. I've been able to plan my work lunch so it will only cost me less than a dollar each meal. My breakfast is planned so that it only cost less than 2 bucks a meal now. I'm working on coming up with a plan for my supper. Some of my wife's spending came from the cost of raising a child. It's hard to plan for the child's needs. While some of her spending came from buying lunch at work, instead of packing a lunch.

Is your wife and child living with you? Sounds like if all three of you are, everyone is doing their own thing especially for meals. Is there some reason why you all aren't eating together, other than lunch when you are both at work, supper should be all of you eating together unless there is a good reason not to.

[tripods68]

You should lay out all your debt in a spreadsheet so that you have some game plan as to WHEN you will be paying off each of your debt in some methodical fashion (it's that happening already, great!). Each time you pay off one credit card, consider that a BIG WIN!. Keep tackling each loan payoff strategy from the smallest to largest. With the baby being born recently it will be very difficult up with the bills coming at you if you are not disciplined and organise.

[Jluke]

You are the master of monthly payments.

Is the credit card that is actively being used the one with the lowest interest rate?

I would love to see you go closer to a 10k EF (temporarily) if it allowed you to eliminate a non-recurring bill* entirely. But I can halfway see why you won't go lower than 12k.

*one that once it is paid off it goes away entirely.


Keep us updated!

[Sammydabullz]

Is your wife and child living with you? Sounds like if all three of you are, everyone is doing their own thing especially for meals. Is there some reason why you all aren't eating together, other than lunch when you are both at work, supper should be all of you eating together unless there is a good reason not to.

We do live together and eat breakfast and supper together. Yet I agree with you, somehow we are doing our own thing. I'm hoping that by consistently paying down debt and consistently spending less will eventually help me encourage my wife to get on the same page.

[Sammydabullz]

You are the master of monthly payments.

Is the credit card that is actively being used the one with the lowest interest rate?

I would love to see you go closer to a 10k EF (temporarily) if it allowed you to eliminate a non-recurring bill* entirely. But I can halfway see why you won't go lower than 12k.

*one that once it is paid off it goes away entirely.


Keep us updated!

Actually Consistency does a better job at financial success better than a single big windfall. I will stick with being consistent in paying down debt over trying to make a giant leap.

[Gailete]

We do live together and eat breakfast and supper together. Yet I agree with you, somehow we are doing our own thing. I'm hoping that by consistently paying down debt and consistently spending less will eventually help me encourage my wife to get on the same page.

Sounds like perhaps a compromise is needed that both of you can live with so that you can eat the same meals together. You may not think of it this way, but it sounds like you are both perhaps doing the 'my way or the highway' routine. Meals shouldn't be about proving who can eat for the cheapest amount. Meals are for nourishment as well as family closeness, relaxation, sharing your highlights of the day with each other.

When married to my ex we were on a tight budget for food. The last year we were married, he would come in see what was for supper and then if he didn't want it would pull out a pan and make something else without a word to me (he generally never talked to me for the last few years). It was actually a hurtful thing that he was doing as I tried hard to stay within a budget and it was never good enough for him. After the split, I heard that within 2-3 weeks he was clipping coupons like a crazy person. Never had he given me one micro-ounce of praise for doing the couponing, rebates, refunding and going to 4 grocery stores to double coupon and to get the best deal on things so that there was enough food and other things in the house. Suddenly with me gone I guess he realized just how expensive food and toiletries, etc. were.

For some things couples have to see eye to eye, even if that means compromising a bit on each end. That means figuring out how you can both eat the same meal at dinner, as well as other compromises like perhaps going out to eat, gifts spending, etc. those things that can set up for great squabbles.

[Jluke]

Actually Consistency does a better job at financial success better than a single big windfall. I will stick with being consistent in paying down debt over trying to make a giant leap.

Is this your theory or is this something one of the financial sites (Ramsey? MMM?) has determined to work?

I can see consistency leading to success when it comes to saving and investing.

[scfr]

Today, cash balance was 12,697.98. Transferred $697.98 to card, balance is down to 1187.02. the card balance grew to 1885.00 from an automatic bill payment and my wife continuing to spend. I'm doing what I can to lead by example. I've been able to plan my work lunch so it will only cost me less than a dollar each meal. My breakfast is planned so that it only cost less than 2 bucks a meal now. I'm working on coming up with a plan for my supper. Some of my wife's spending came from the cost of raising a child. It's hard to plan for the child's needs. While some of her spending came from buying lunch at work, instead of packing a lunch.

Could you pack 2 lunches at the same time, so that your wife also has one to bring to work with her? Maybe if you made some things that she likes more than you do but eat them happily, she could see that you are willing to make "sacrifices" to continue moving your finances in the right direction. That would be a pretty sweet way to "lead by example."

Additionally, I recommend you look at some of the expenses to see if they could be cut back or eliminated. When was the last time you shopped around for car insurance? Are Amazon Prime and Netflix really necessary? Is there a less expensive internet option?

Good luck.