My Intro! Here's to saving bucketloads...

[Almond73]

I think if you worked at it you could still better your auto position by 4k to 5k by selling and replacing with a 2k car. One that gets really good gas mileage may bring down your gas requirement.

would you mind explaining this one to me? if I sell for 6K, that leaves 7K balance + 2K for replacement car. that means i'm still in the red for 9K, so i stretch the payment for how long? is that right?

What are the five debts listed as UTIL? Are those utilities? Things like electric power? Gas or heating oil? Water? Sewage? Maybe even telephone? Television?

phone, cell and electric, i was afraid of this too. they are old bills (3-7 years) that as far as i know are not charging fees. they would be first priority on repayment.

I would look to think about things this way-

You have $2680 to live on each month, plus $600 for the kids. That $600 should pay for diapers and clothes and also contribute to groceries.

$600 currently covers childcare ($515) and other child needs

$515 fopr child car is a needed expense
$418 for gas is a needed expense, can you reduce this? Have kids carpool for activities or something else. this is all my work commute now, kids are not in activities, unfortunately the money is not there right now

When you get paid set aside $536 (or $268 if you get every other week). Put this money in an account with NO atm access.

i've opened a new savings account with wamu that offers 5% and the money has no atm or withdrawal without penalty for one year! at the end of one year it is automatically transferred to your savings, if I roll it over I could have $5K in 2 years, $8K in 3 years, well over $10K in 4.

Okay all good advice, if I understand correctly, I should concentrate on one bill at a time, then continue payouts on the next bill until they're all knocked out. I can start at $200/month and work my way up to 20% of my gross pay. Look into selling the car and paying the difference, which should make my payments less than what they are? Is that right?

[Well Spent]

That's great your rent is only $200. You should try to stay there at least until you get your spending and debt plan under control and your kids get used to the new lifestyle.

Do you live in a rural area? The car expenses are high. That would be one area to examine. Also, I would pay off the two lower balance credit card bills first and close those accounts. I don't think it's necessary to have 3 CCs.