So unsure what to do! help!

[thsee]

Hello. I live in Tx with my parents, boyfriend, 3 dogs, a cat, and a ferret. My boyfriend owns a house we are trying to sell. We're hoping to profit $4000 at the most. Our plan is to move to Colorado or somewhere in the Northwest, buy some land(atleast 3 acres) build a dome home on it OR just get lucky and find a house we like w/ some land. I have a student loan which cost us $80 a month, plus a credit card that cost us $100 a month but will be paid off in less than 2 years. Our plan WAS to buy a travel trailer, save money and find a home. Well turns out that isn't going to work so well. My truck can't pull a trailer,so we would have to buy another truck putting us MORE behind on our budget, if they're going to be lived in they're going to cost over $15,000 (our budget for the tt). My boyfriend makes about $300-$500 biweekly. I do not have a job but am going to go to school in Jan. We have $400 in stocks saved up. Then we have another $400 saved up in cash.. plus another $150 for the camper (that we're probably not going to buy now). He's also saving money for flight school.(he wants to buy a plane eventually that's ANOTHER situation). What is the best way for us to get what we want? Would it be possible to rent a house somewhere and still have money to save? I know there's probably alot more info I should put up here but I'm not sure what all I should put. Please ask questions if you're willing to help. I'm only 21 and want to get a house we love and try to be debt free by the time I'm 45.

[minnie1928]

Hello. I live in Tx with my parents, boyfriend, 3 dogs, a cat, and a ferret. My boyfriend owns a house we are trying to sell. We're hoping to profit $4000 at the most. Our plan is to move to Colorado or somewhere in the Northwest, buy some land(atleast 3 acres) build a dome home on it OR just get lucky and find a house we like w/ some land. I have a student loan which cost us $80 a month, plus a credit card that cost us $100 a month but will be paid off in less than 2 years. Our plan WAS to buy a travel trailer, save money and find a home. Well turns out that isn't going to work so well. My truck can't pull a trailer,so we would have to buy another truck putting us MORE behind on our budget, if they're going to be lived in they're going to cost over $15,000 (our budget for the tt). My boyfriend makes about $300-$500 biweekly. I do not have a job but am going to go to school in Jan. We have $400 in stocks saved up. Then we have another $400 saved up in cash.. plus another $150 for the camper (that we're probably not going to buy now). He's also saving money for flight school.(he wants to buy a plane eventually that's ANOTHER situation). What is the best way for us to get what we want? Would it be possible to rent a house somewhere and still have money to save? I know there's probably alot more info I should put up here but I'm not sure what all I should put. Please ask questions if you're willing to help. I'm only 21 and want to get a house we love and try to be debt free by the time I'm 45.

If I'm understanding your numbers correctly...you have a big income problem. You state that you are not working, but that you will start school in Jan. That gives you several months of potential employment. Based on your boyfriend's income, is he working FT? If not, have him look into getting a second job to supplement his existing job. Pay off the debts as soon as possible to also free up some future cash flow.

[disneysteve]

Let's try this:

List your total monthly income.
List your total monthly expenses.
List your debts with the outstanding balances, interest rates and minimum payments.

From what you've said, I get the impression your are not doing things in the right order. You should be working on getting out of debt first, before you start worrying about buying a house.

How are you paying for school? Why isn't your boyfriend working full time (I'm assuming someone making 10K/year is not working a FT job)?

Why do you have $400 in stock?

Lots of questions. I think posting the income, expense and debt info will give us some info to go by.

[thsee]

My Bf is working part time cause that's all he can find around here. I cannot find a job. Mc D's won't even hire me. I am still trying though gotta call a guy tomorrow and send a resume soon. We live in a town with 6000 pop and basically only oil field jobs which he already had but got laid off from. Monthly income is about $800 depending on how many hours he gets. Monthly expenses are $35 for a storage unit, $100 for student loan, $100 for credit card, pay my mom $100 a week for rent so $400 for rent( this actually IS cheaper than living at our own house cause this includes food for us and our dogs... washing clothes.. etc) Then I guess I would say around $100 for random stuff. Obviously we need to cut out the random stuff we've been trying.. but not doing so good. The credit card is actually for a Tempurpedic bed. We have a 0% interest rate on it as long as we pay it off by sep 2012... if I continue to pay $100 a month I'll have it paid off 6 months ahead of schedule. The minimum payment is $71.13. Still owe $1697.69 on that. Then my student loan I still owe $8955.11 in principal. My current interest rate is 9.29% and minimum payment is $86.71. My parents are paying for me to go to "school" in jan.(I'm just getting a certificate in wind energy that will take 2 semesters... then possibly going for an assiociates but I hope to do that in another place). The $400 in stock is for the future house. THe plan was build that up (it started up as $250) then with the extra $400 I have saved up put that into a high interest savings account so it could build money. I should also mention we are renting the house we own. With only $35 profit. We should be renewing the lease soon but I'm afraid we'd only be able to raise it $30 more dollars without anybody running away... We had a hard enough time to get these people to rent our house and we CAN'T afford to pay a $385 house payment (that we're not living in). We're desperatly trying to get it sold but we've only had one offer and it wasn't even enough to pay off the loan. We would of been $4000 in the hole.

[cptacek]

why do you have a storage unit? Get rid of that stuff or move it into your parents.

Take back the bed? Or sell it to someone else and use the money to pay off that loan.

[jpg7n16]

Sounds like you have a lot of ideas of what to do - but no picture at where you want to ultimately go.

You'll get a certificate in wind energy, then an associates degree for who knows why, and you've been going to school for what? Your BF has a low paying job, but might go to flight school, and has an idea for a plane.

And with all these ideas about where to live, what to do, you don't have a clear picture of the future.

So figure that out first. Then we'll help you get there.

What do you want to do with your life?
What does he want to do with his?
Are you going to get married?
Once you figure out what you'd like to do, where can you live to do it?

[ferriwinkle]

if you can't get another renter for the house, live in it, you are already paying $400 a month to your mom, so rplace that with the $385 mortgage if you have to. Sell the stocks and take money and put to the credit card balance. I agree with cptacek, sell the bed or try to take it back, use the proceeds to pay of credit card, and if you need to use some of the $400 in savings to buy a new cheap bed. get a paper route, sell stuff from your storage on ebay or craigslist, or a garage sale--and get rid of the storage unit immediately. get creative, maybe you have to drive or take a bus a few hours for work, but you need to get some positive cash flow if you want to pay off your debt and achieve any of the goals you have mentioned.

[thsee]

Well we're keeping the storage unit... we have stuff in there we want to keep and there's no where else to put it. We want to KEEP that stuff. We have a couch and furniture in there. So when we DO get our house we don't have to buy furniture later on.. we already have it. We'd have to have the storage unit ANYWAYS so it's going to end up saving us money. We're NOT going to go live in the house maybe you didn't read it but it IS SAVING US MONEY. We're paying $400 a month for FOOD, A HOUSE TO LIVE UNDER, WASHING CLOTHES, UTILITIES... now when we lived in our house we had to have $2000 a month... so yeah it would be ridiculously STUPID for us to move back into our house. I'm not getting rid of the bed cause then I WON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO SLEEP ON. Plus I already made it this far in the payments and I WANT that bed... or else I wouldn't of bought it it'd be VERy retarded to go and sell it.

Well I particulary DON'T wanna get my associates.. my dad is the one pushing for that. If I can get a good enough job with the cert I'll stay with that.

The plan is I'll go to school for the 2 semesters.. possibly 3 TOTAL to also get a cert in solar. Then we're going to go to Colorado try to find our place to live(what town we like and can get good jobs in). Use the STOCK money PLUS the money we are saving for a GREAT down payment on the house. My bf needs about $1500 more to do his flight school. ... not sure exactly what he's going to do with that.. I've been telling him you need to find a way to make sure it's going to profit you in the end.. not just a nice thing to have. We have PLENTY of stuff to sell on ebay and craigslist like a truck, car, and a $10,000 bbqer but I've been trying to sell that stuff since March (his father passed) and had people "buy" it but then they back out of it before I even get to talk to them... they just email and "nevermind I don't want it". We're actually wanting to go work in this factory in Ouray,co... but that's if we can get the jobs.

I guess I'm looking for more of how do I pay off my student loan fast? I know you're not supposed to do it "fast" but I don't wanna be still paying this 13 years from now.. I might be stuck with it though.

[thsee]

SO basically do I send the $100 a month and say $x goes to principal? Would that get it done faster? Cause I AM paying more than the minimum.

[cptacek]

Weird. I don't have a Tempurpedic and I have a bed to sleep on. It didn't cost me $1700 either. And I don't use offensive descriptions either.

[minnie1928]

Use the STOCK money PLUS the money we are saving for a GREAT down payment on the house.

I'm going to address this issue and the Student Loan at the same time. You mention that you are paying 9% on the SL, but that you are saving for a home as well. If you truly want to earmark the money for a home, it should not be in stocks...they are too volatile, unless you plan on deferring your purchase for 5+ years (which doesn't sound like your plan). Not to mention, $400 isn't going to make a difference as far as a down payment goes. Take the $400, cash it out and apply it to the principal on your SL. No, forget that...use it as a start to a baby emergency fund of $1000 dollars. Once you have that, then focus all your attention on that SL and pay it off. I say this because saving money for a house in a "high interest savings account" isn't really possible in this economy. A "high" rate right now is 1.50%, IF you can find that! Why save money to earn 1.5% when you could pay down debt costing you more than 9%?

Then, do some research in the areas you are looking to move to. How much house are you looking at buying? Keep in mind that you will most likely need/want at LEAST a 20% down payment for the house. I think you are SEVERAL years from being able to purchase a house.

This advice is also based on your comments that the bed will be paid off before the 0% interest expires. If you sense that may be an issue, then use the $400 to pay down the bed first.

Also, realistically look at this...how long will it be until you are able to pull the contents of the storage unit out? At what point will you have paid more in storage fees than what you would pay to replace the items if you sold them now (net of sales proceeds)?

[disneysteve]

We'd have to have the storage unit ANYWAYS

I'm not getting rid of the bed cause then I WON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO SLEEP ON.

Why must you have the storage unit? If you sold all the stuff that was in it, you could get rid of the unit and save $35/month and have the cash from selling the stuff.

If you sold your overpriced bed, you could buy a cheap one. Or you could sleep just fine on a $50 air mattress from Target.

I can see where this thread is going. If you really want advice from folks who are winning with money and who are successful in their lives, you've come to the right place. If, however, you are just looking for folks to reinforce your current habits, you've come to the wrong place.

If you want to pay off your student loan faster, you need to either increase income or slash expenses. You have lots of stuff to sell. Sell it and use the money to get out of debt. Stop saving for a house until you are debt-free. I agree with minnie that you are probably several years from being able to think about buying a house. You need to get out of debt. You need to sell your current house. And you need to save up a 20% down payment.

[thsee]

Ok well say we have the storage unit for 2 more years. That would be $840. Now to buy a new couch w/ love seat, coffee table, and 2 end tables... that would cost more than $800. Plus there sentimental cause they were his fathers. Not to mention a lawn mower that's in there..tools... things we will need once we're living in a house again that I don't feel like buying all over again so I can go man... I had one once but now...

I COMPLETELY agree the bed is overpriced but I already have it paid for. Plus it benefits my well being. I know you guys probably won't believe it but it does help me and my partner's back pain.

Thank you all for your answers and sorry to waste your time.. I'm going to start a new thread to ask about my student loan cause no one can seem to understand what I'm asking.

[Seeker]

My Bf is working part time cause that's all he can find around here. I cannot find a job. Mc D's won't even hire me. I am still trying though gotta call a guy tomorrow and send a resume soon. We live in a town with 6000 pop and basically only oil field jobs which he already had but got laid off from. Monthly income is about $800 depending on how many hours he gets. Monthly expenses are $35 for a storage unit, $100 for student loan, $100 for credit card, pay my mom $100 a week for rent so $400 for rent( this actually IS cheaper than living at our own house cause this includes food for us and our dogs... washing clothes.. etc) Then I guess I would say around $100 for random stuff. Obviously we need to cut out the random stuff we've been trying.. but not doing so good. The credit card is actually for a Tempurpedic bed. We have a 0% interest rate on it as long as we pay it off by sep 2012... if I continue to pay $100 a month I'll have it paid off 6 months ahead of schedule. The minimum payment is $71.13. Still owe $1697.69 on that.

Then my student loan I still owe $8955.11 in principal. My current interest rate is 9.29% and minimum payment is $86.71.

My parents are paying for me to go to "school" in jan.(I'm just getting a certificate in wind energy that will take 2 semesters... then possibly going for an assiociates but I hope to do that in another place). The $400 in stock is for the future house. THe plan was build that up (it started up as $250) then with the extra $400 I have saved up put that into a high interest savings account so it could build money. I should also mention we are renting the house we own. With only $35 profit. We should be renewing the lease soon but I'm afraid we'd only be able to raise it $30 more dollars without anybody running away... We had a hard enough time to get these people to rent our house and we CAN'T afford to pay a $385 house payment (that we're not living in). We're desperatly trying to get it sold but we've only had one offer and it wasn't even enough to pay off the loan. We would of been $4000 in the hole.

Why are you paying on a student loan while you are still planning to attend college? Apply for a deferment from whomever is the lending agent on your old loans.

Deferments may also be granted based on the sole inability to find employment.

Again, check with your loan lenders.

[Seeker]

Ok well say we have the storage unit for 2 more years. That would be $840. Now to buy a new couch w/ love seat, coffee table, and 2 end tables... that would cost more than $800. Plus there sentimental cause they were his fathers. Not to mention a lawn mower that's in there..tools... things we will need once we're living in a house again that I don't feel like buying all over again so I can go man... I had one once but now...

I COMPLETELY agree the bed is overpriced but I already have it paid for. Plus it benefits my well being. I know you guys probably won't believe it but it does help me and my partner's back pain.

Thank you all for your answers and sorry to waste your time.. I'm going to start a new thread to ask about my student loan cause no one can seem to understand what I'm asking.

IMO Storage Units are a complete waste of $'s. They are filled with items that do not have a place in your current lives, and somehow you expect them to have a place in your future lives? Sorry, but usually the items left in Storage are rarely used when you finally do have the "space" for them.

Tools and smaller than furniture items, you can always find space for, if you really wanted to keep them. But furniture subject to heat, cold and not too isolated from nature's fluctuations, tends to disintegrate when not cared for.

Regarding your student loan, why such a rush to pay that off when "income" is the major problem the two of you face? I understand that you'd like to get rid of the interest (extra dollars) you pay on this, but you seem to have a multitude of priorities without the income to concentrate on any one of them.

I think you should sell absolute everything you are not using; do whatever you like with the money, but anything not being used now, is not worth the money outgo to "save."