Moving out alone, help with numbers

[ibanez19]

It was suddenly brought upon me i would be moving out to get my own apartment in October as my roommates who said they would sign another year lease decided not to. Anyhow, i was wondering if anyone would be so kind to view my numbers and if i could get help making a plan to afford a new apartment and bills and get out of 6k credit card debt. Thank you so very much!

[boosami]

Post 'em up!

[ibanez19]

My CC Cards are:
1 $1,842.93 25.99%
2 $1,790.43 29.99%
3 $711.00 19.99%
4 $506.34 19.08%
5 $1,525.73 19.80%

I make 57k Gross Annually, and about 1630$ each paycheck. I put $118 a check into 401k.

My expenses are:
Car: 379$ a month
Insurance: 205$ a month
Phone: 70$ a month
Car Gas: 280$ A month about (70 a week)
Rent: 450$ a month
ING: i put 30$ a month into a ING savings account for a rainy day, currently up to about 2k
------------------------------------

When i move, things will change a bit, my expenses will look more like:
Rent: $1360 A month + 50 for Trash, so 1410
Car 379$
Insurance: 205$
Phone: 70$
Gas: $100 A month Tops (i will be living 2miles from work and plan to bike)
Electricity: About 50$ a month i am estimating
Internet:29$ a month

I could have found a cheaper apartment, but area is not nearly as nice, and i would be much further from work, i justified the higher rent on the amount i'd save on gas.

Any help would be much obliged, if you need anymore information please let me know. My goal is to get out of debt as soon as i can, thanks again!

[boosami]

What are the limits/minimums on the cards?

How much do you spend on groceries, dining out, entertainment? What about other fixed expenses that aren't bills you pay each month?

[ibanez19]

1 $1,842.93 25.99% 2,000 limit
2 $1,790.43 29.99% 2,000 Limit
3 $711.00 19.99% 1,000 Limit
4 $506.34 19.08% 700 Limit
5 $1,525.73 19.80% 2500 Limit


Food, Entertainment, etc have been averaging about 400-500 a month. But i plan on changing eating habits, not going out as much, cutting spending where i can.

I don't have many more expenses other than that than i can think of at the moment. I have two cats, so i buy cat food every week that is about 15 including litter, prob do that once a week so 60$ a month in cat stuff, hair cut once a month for 20$, stuff like that.

[disneysteve]

Food, Entertainment, etc have been averaging about 400-500 a month. But i plan on changing eating habits, not going out as much, cutting spending where i can.

Absolutely need to work on this. There are lots of folks here spending less than you to feed a family of 4.

I don't have many more expenses other than that than i can think of at the moment....60$ a month in cat stuff, hair cut once a month for 20$, stuff like that.

"stuff like that" is what can bury you. Those "little" things that are $10 or $20 or $60 month add up to a few hundred/month before you know it.

You need to sit down and record ALL of your expenses. Not just the big recurring bills. What about car registration, insurance and maintenance? How about health insurance, copays, dental, etc.? Does your insurance amount include your renter's insurance? How about clothing? Any job-related expenses that you pay for?

Do you have to pay the $50/month trash fee? Is there an option of hauling your own somewhere? You might want to look into that.

What about finding a new roommate?

You are going to be spending more on rent than I pay for my mortgage (PITI). Seems like an awful lot for a single person.

I could have found a cheaper apartment, but area is not nearly as nice, and i would be much further from work, i justified the higher rent on the amount i'd save on gas.

Have you actually figured out the numbers for living farther from work and spending more on gas? Are you sure it is cheaper to live closer and pay higher rent?

[anonymous_saver]

How many bedrooms does your place have, couldn't you get a studio or 1 bedroom instead and save a ton of money. It sounds like you have more bedrooms b/c you thought you would have your roommates. No reason to keep those extra rooms, unless your getting new roommates.

Also, could you get rid of the car for a year or two and just take public transit? Much cheaper! This could help you pay off your debt fast!

[osadg]

WOW! That's a big budget. I wouldn't be able to support my family with a budget like that. You really should look into sitting down and seeing where you can cut expenses. The little things that you're not even keeping track of are probably adding up to a nice amount you could be using for something else. And if you've had roommates and you don't want to move-you should really think about getting a new one to help on expenses. From the looks of your numbers there are probably a few areas where you could make some pretty serious adjustments, still get to enjoy your life a little, and still get things paid! Good luck with a new budget! :-)

[tripods68]

Is there a cheaper apartments, perhaps rent a room for while? I just think your new apartment costs way too much with the debt you have. Unless, you can find a new room mate right a way. I rather see you pay off your debt first (pay off highest to the lowest interest rate) before anything else. How many years do you have left for car payments?

[red92s]

Your rent and utilities will be ~50% of your take home pay. WAY to much. Find another roommate, or rent a room somewhere.

Your rent is tripling, and you are saving $150 on gas. Pretty tough to "justify" the apartment based on on gas savings if you ask me. If you could ditch the car altogether in the new place (which would save you almost $875 a month, not including registration and maintenance), you'd be much better able to justify the new apartment on a financial basis. I'd seriously consider moving to a cheaper vehicle regardless of where you decide to live . . . the car expenses are eating you alive!

If you could get your housing down to the $500-600 level, you could pay off the CC debt fairly quickly. If you went to a paid-off vehicle as well, you could probably do it in under 6 months.

I'm at a verrrrryyy similar income level, with similar 401(k) contributions. I've paid down about $6k in CC and car debt in just about a year, and built a $5k emergency fund, all while living a fairly "fun" lifestyle in the process. My rent ($534) and cheap car ($173 a month for 36 months) made that possible. I can't imagine trying to do it over again with nearly half my take home pay going to the landlord.

It's probably POSSIBLE to do, but not easy, and you could do it MUCH faster by scrimping a bit on your living arrangements.

[fruitbowlk]

1 $1,842.93 25.99% 2,000 limit
2 $1,790.43 29.99% 2,000 Limit
3 $711.00 19.99% 1,000 Limit
4 $506.34 19.08% 700 Limit
5 $1,525.73 19.80% 2500 Limit

Your CC Cards rates are crazy is there anyway you can get them lowered?

[red92s]

Anything you can sell to reduce the debt? Have you corrected the spending issues that created the debt in the first place? With your current rent and income, what did you spend $6k on?

[jIM_Ohio]

What is your 401k balance?

I would wipe the savings (2k) and pay off card 1. That should free up enough cash to get card 2 paid off soon. Canb you send $800 to credit cards each month?

At 57k, I calculate you should have about $11400 per year either going to 401k or to cc payments. If this number seems high, you need to cut down on other bills- $11,400 is 20% of the 57k.

Here is what I would do:
1) Contribute to 401k up to match (I assume that is the $118/check). You did not say how often you get paid (will assume 26X per year) so this is $3k per year.
2) Send $8000 per year to the credit cards. Cut whatever expenses are needed to do this.

20% of your gross pay to improve financial status is a guideline I use to make sure spending is in line with income.

This means you need to pay taxes and live on $45k per year. That is $3800/month before taxes. Probably close to $2000 net per month.

$1360 for rent is high. I rented for less than $400/month in Washington DC a few years back with 3 other roomates. You need to scale back your rental costs any way possible. Think getting this down to $800 as your primary goal.

Rent: $1360 A month + 50 for Trash, so 1410
Car 379$
Insurance: 205$
Phone: 70$
Gas: $100 A month Tops (i will be living 2miles from work and plan to bike)
Electricity: About 50$ a month i am estimating
Internet:29$ a month

The insurance on the car is killing you. I pay half that for TWO cars and my wife is not a good driver (tickets and such).

Phone+internet for $99/month is too expensive. Cut that in half.

The most important move you can make is to believe you can send $11k per year (almost $1000/month) to debt and 401k. Make this step 1 and allow the rest of things to fall based on what you can afford.

Within 12 months you will be debt free and that $1000/month can then be invested in your financial independance. $800 month for retirement and $200/month for a house type thinking. Then you will get some tax breaks and money will work for you even harder.

Seeing money work hard is better than working hard for money.

[Well Spent]

Your income is very good. There's no reason why you should have $$ troubles. It seems you just spend too much money on nonessential stuff.

The advice posted so far is good. Your CC interest rates are outrageous but the balances are so low! If you reign in your spending a bit, it shouldn't take more than a few months to pay of the CC debt.

[cipixul]

Pay your cc's as soon as possible, the ones with bigger interest first, and in the same time try to spend less and save more.