Can't take all this debt...help!

[neguy11]

Thanks for all of your replies.

Update:

I haven't found a second job yet, but have been putting out applications to movie theatre, Walmart, etc. I am going to keep looking, but in the mean time I have been selling quite a bit of stuff on Amazon (DVD's, books, video games, etc.) and have made about $200 so far. I've also gotten some overtime at work and hope to get a few hours extra each week.

Credit cards 1 & 2 were Citibank cards and I decided to opt out of the rate increase. That will leave Card 1 @ 10.99% instead of 17.99% and Card 2 @ 10.65% instead of 18.99%. This will certainly hurt my FICO score but I don't anticipate (nor can I afford) any loans for at least the next 5 years.

What did the $28,000 in credit card debt go to

A lot of it was from those balance transfer checks that I wrote to myself and used the cash for moving expenses and some travel. I moved to Florida in September and a lot of expenses were put on the cards as well as buying new things for the apartment. Also a lot of that is from small trips here and there, eating out, partying, Walmart, Target, etc.

(1) Restart your 401(k) contributions as soon as possible!

(2) I'm farily confident you could get a cheaper phone.

(3) What about pets, going out to eat, birthday gifts, or random extra costs that come up, how do you pay for these kinds of things.

(4) This one is gonna be the hard one. With that much credit card debt, I see no way out of this situation any time soon, UNLESS you sell your car. Apparently there is a decent transit system where you live Welcome to JTAFLA.

(5) I would actually INCREASE your food budget just a bit. I'd be concerned that with spending only $80/month on food, that you are probably missing some area of nutrients that you should be eating.

(1) I plan to do this soon; you are right, I HATE losing out on that match. I was just concerned about not having enough cash to pay my bills so I am going to see how February is and possibly re-start contributions in March...maybe not at the full 5%, but some.

(2) I would like a cheaper phone, but I also hate the pay the $200 to cancel! I know I can definitely get a cheaper plan but not sure what to do.

(3) No pets, don't buy birthday gifts, and don't really go out to eat much. I do have a lot of points from MyPoints, Priority Club, etc. that I can use to cash in for gift cards if necessary.

(4) I really hate the car payments and expenses, but I won't live without a car unless it is truly dire. It worked out well where I used to live, but I tried it car when I first moved here, and it's very difficult. Jacksonville is too big (whoever designed this city is a fool!) and JTA is a mess. 3 transfers just to get to work! After Bus #1 was late, causing me to miss Bus #2 and having to walk 2 miles to get to work in the nasty Florida humidity I swore off JTA for good! I do have a bike, but work has no showers and I hated arriving to work all sweaty...yuck. I think I will just try to make extra car payments. I did make myself an amortization spreadsheet so I can see how the extra payments will help out.

(5) I agree the $20 a week is hard so I will probably increase that some, but I eat pretty healthy as it is and do take a multivitamin each day just to be safe.

[tripods68]

Have you thought about consolidating your cc debts to zero interest? Transfer to zero cc until after promo expires and do it all over again.
I just hate those interest charge not being applied to the principal.

[sakigt]

Being from Jax as well I agree that mass transit sucks...unless youve got 3 hours to kill making a 20 minute journey.

Definitely a second job is in order! Good luck!

[SnoopyCool]

Do you know if I cancel the cell phone, can I port the cell phone number a to prepaid cell? I know I can't port it to a land line because it's a different area code.

Yes. I know that you can through Tracfone, so I assume you can through others.

[beenster]

i think your problem is an income problem, can you get a raise? can you deliver pizza, the only way to put a serious dent in this is to make more money and throw the extra money at the debt so you can get some breathing room cause you are choking right now.

[maclover]

when I was a student we lived in a house with 3 other guys, the place had four rooms. We all split the bills. It was cheap, paid like 300$ for rent, and like 70$ for utilities (electric, water and internet).

Maybe consider sharing a room in a house?

Is it almost time for open enrollment at your workplace? You're a young guy, are you using all the benefits that you're health insurance is covering?

I have a high deductible plan with an HSA. Premiums for me and my wife are like 160$. When I was single is was something like 70$.

[Tree0164]

Increasing the income will help however hopefully you stopped using the credit cards. Can you transfer any balance to the lower rates.

I 2nd the recommendation of read Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover.

[rizzmo]

Sounds like you already have cut your monthly expenses to the bone. Great job! I would suggest getting a roommate to lower your rent. I think the phone is fine since you don’t have a land line, but I might be alone in that opinion. I haven’t ran the numbers completely, however it looks like at your current wage sticking to your budget it will take you about 10 years to get out of debt. This would put you into your 30’s with little savings and investments.
If you have no other unlisted assets, you might want to consider Chapter 7 Bankruptcy with reaffirming your car loan (if the car is needed, it sounds like it is). This would give you $467/m to put toward your car loan. Car loan would be paid off in 10 months an could drop to liability coverage. This would give you $667/m to put toward student loan 1, it would be paid off in 4 months. Then throw $722 at student loan 2, it will be gone in 11 months. Finally, put all $784 towards student loan 3, it will be paid off in 18 months. This plan would have you debt free in about 43 months (actually sooner because of regular payments). So in about 3 years you will be able to start saving for EF, retirement, and a home. If you apply income from a second job or extra pay/raises to your debt you could be done all that much sooner.

[Uneventoast]

I know this sounds funny but see if you can eat for free some days or at least a meal or two a week. Try the food bank or a local church that has a soup bean lunch or something like that.

There are a lot of frugal websites that can teach you ways to help you save money.

[SacredFaerie]

The roommate idea is something that I would look into. It can be a lot cheaper. That's something DB and I would be doing if we actually ended up in a duty station with people we could trust to pay their bills on time and not rob us blind.

[Staceyy]

Can you do Angel Food Ministries for food?

Welcome - Angel Food Ministries

[ilr58]

Canceling Credit Cards

I see that you have shredded all of your credit cards but DO NOT cancel any of your credit cards because once canceled then the credit history from those cards are no longer on your credit report which of course is not good because the longer your credit history then the more positive affect it will have on your credit score. You probably actually want to use each of your cards at least once every couple months for small purchases and then be sure and pay them off right away so you don't carry a balance.