Hi

I'm pretty new here as you can tell And was wondering how i go about making a plan to pay off my debt? Any tips, tricks, ideas would be great!! Do I post my debt/income ratios or something else?

Thanks!
Debbie

take a look at other posts - most people here list their debts and corresponding interest rates, along w/ take-home pay and anything else that would affect budgeting and spending.

there are a ton of threads here about saving money and budgeting... i've learned SO much from just this forum about saving money...

good luck!

I started by listing all of my debts and totalling it all up. It looks a lot more intimidating when it is all on one sheet of paper. I also reviewed my spending habits & cut up my credit cards so I wouldn't add to the debt while I was paying it off. I paid the minimums on the low interest debts and paid as much as I could on the higher interest debts.

Tracking my spending for a month quickly showed me where I could cut back w/o much sacrifice.

Thanks!! I will add my list, any tips or hints are appreciated and i will try them all!! If you think i am forgetting anything lmk because i might be lol

Our income is usually about $3800 a month (I say usually because we are military and it changes often)
Our bills for the month are:

$1400 mortgage
150 electric
75 propane
20 water
250 car payment
175 car insurance/gas
250-300 food
150 phone/cable/dsl
100 cell phone (dh has to have for work) <sigh>
? credit card

This is our debt (I'm being totally honest with you all, so be gentle, i haven't been this honest with my DH lol)

$6300 consolidation loan at 14.99%
800 Sears at 0% until March
1700 Well Fargo 0% until Feb
7400 ebay 5.99% fixed
3500 mypoints 1.1% until March
1600 Star 12.75%
3500 Capitol One 9.9% fixed
400 Commerce Bank 3.90% fixed

I think that's it, god i hope that it's it lol Looks so much worse written down
Debbie <~~~~ begging for help!!

Sorry, somehow it got posted twice

Debbie

well most people here advocate paying the cards w/ the highest interest rates first - which in your case would be star card.

can you cut your land line/cable? that would save some. also, look in the pinned thread for ways to cut your food budget.

what worked for me was SEEING results - paying off smaller bills gave me such satisfaction that it motivated me. but, that's not necessarily the smartest thing

do you have any balance transfer offers on ANY of your cards? you could try to BT some of your debt on a 0% offer.

that's about all i have at the moment BUT i'm sure other people will chime in here - people have great suggestions!

with a rough estimate you are left with $1000 a month to pay down your debt. I would pay the min on every card and what ever is left towards the consolidation loan. Once that is paid off in roughly 6 months move on to the next highest interest rate and so on.

I would also call all the card companies and try and negotiate down your rate. Mention you are military and play up that angle big.

I know you are right, but it never seems like there is that much left, i know i should write everything down, but must never get it all, kwim? I usually have about 1/2 to 3/4's of that leftover for debt, the consolidation loan on it's own is a little over $300 a month, not to mention all the others..... sigh I know part of the problem is i want it paid off too quickly and will send too much and then have to use them again because i am short, kwim?

Debbie

I know it's not easy to look at that list, but you are on the right track. That first step isn't an easy one, but you can regain control of your money. I would also include the mortgage & car loan as debts, with their interest rates & balances.

I have also tried to send too much to the credit card to later realize I didn't have enough money for gas, so I pulled out the credit card again. To break that cycle you have to stop carrying the credit cards for a while. First I took all of my credit cards out of my wallet & put them in my sock drawer. The extra effort to go get the card was enough to curb some of my impulse spending. Then I started using CASH to buy food & gas for the week. The feeling of handing away cash feels different from swiping the credit card & that helped me reduce my spending further.

If you can't figure out where all of your money is going, then carry around a sheet of paper & write down every single expense for a month. And I mean EVERYTHING. After a month, total it up and you will be able to tweak your budget to better match your spending habits.

Thanks! I really need lots of encouragement lol Well... if i am adding the car and mortgage that's:

about $10,000 for the car (new loan) at 8% and
UGH $175,000 for the mortgage at 6.25%
SO much debt.......

I actually don't carry any credit cards with me, other than my bank card, the sad thing is, you don't even need the card nowdays, a lot of places will look it up for you or have you write it down (I've memorized a few of mine lol) my obvious problem is will power

You're right, i need to try the tracking thing again, i will do that the next time i go out and use cash, even though with USAA there is no bank to go to around here

Debbie~







I know it's not easy to look at that list, but you are on the right track. That first step isn't an easy one, but you can regain control of your money. I would also include the mortgage & car loan as debts, with their interest rates & balances.

I have also tried to send too much to the credit card to later realize I didn't have enough money for gas, so I pulled out the credit card again. To break that cycle you have to stop carrying the credit cards for a while. First I took all of my credit cards out of my wallet & put them in my sock drawer. The extra effort to go get the card was enough to curb some of my impulse spending. Then I started using CASH to buy food & gas for the week. The feeling of handing away cash feels different from swiping the credit card & that helped me reduce my spending further.

If you can't figure out where all of your money is going, then carry around a sheet of paper & write down every single expense for a month. And I mean EVERYTHING. After a month, total it up and you will be able to tweak your budget to better match your spending habits.
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Now take them on one at a time. Set some goals, like paying off the (1600 Star 12.75%) by a certain date. How quickly can you pay that off without adding any more debt? Once you get started, your debt reduction will gain lots of momentum. Keep accurate totals & write them on your calendar each month to track your progress. This will motivate you and strenthen your will power.

A longer term goal might be to pay off all of the CC debt and the car loan within three years. Imagine how easy it will be to pay the bills when the mortgage is your only debt. You can get there if you really want to. Good luck.

Pretty much what others have said, paying down the debt consolidation loan would save you the most fastest, but paying off the Star card might give you a psychological boost if you need one. (That's a PX card right? If you use it constantly it will always have SOME sort of balance on it).

It also sounds like you've got some missing spending. If it's not the obvious (drugs and hookers), then i also recommend really trying to get a better idea of your spending.

Ironically, what worked for me is the opposite of common advice, which was trying to put most/all of my spending on a credit/debit card. That way it made spending easier to track when I got my (really long) bank statements. But if having a card makes you spendy, this is a bad idea.

I think you might be able to shave some cost off the electric and phone/cable/internet bill by lowering standards and being a turning-stuff-off maniac like your father probably was.

What's up with DH's cell phone? Can he be reimbursed for it? What about a cheaper plan? $100 is a lot for a single phone.