Day 9: Make Time to Manage Your Finances

Day 7: Make Time to Manage Your Finances

The one thing that I need to do is make time to manage my finances. I am trying to sit down and finish the whole budget thing, but it is taking longer than I thought. The other thing I really need to work on is our emergency fund. I had to take my car in twice this month to get work done for about $350. I had planned to put about that much into our emergency fund, since we made a little more last month. So much for that. The one thing I am glad we did was pay off about $200 on the lowest credit card, but we put it right back on with the second car problem. So no momentum so far in getting this first card paid off. We only have about $400 on it, so it should get paid off within the next 3-6 months depending on how much we can make then. That will be a good day!

So to finish this thing off, I think I will commit to trying to sit down every sunday night for at least a few minutes to try and rectify our budget.

Back to work: busy work and Day 8 - Stop using your credit card!

Day 8: Stop using your credit cards

OK, I am finally sitting down and getting through some of the stuff. It has still been kinda crazy around here, with the short vacations and getting ready for school and starting soccer and.. and.. and...I could go on. Anyway, I have been pretty good about not using our credit card these last two months. I did have to use it to get some gas right before I got paid this last week, but I made a payment to the card the day I was paid, so I feel OK about it. I think if I know I can repay the card within the week, I will feel good if I have to use it. Since we had only $10 in our bank account, and I have to drive about an hour each way to work, well, you get the idea. Gas is not cheap! Although I am thankful that it has gone down lately.
I think I had a belief in my head that using my credit card made me seem important. I would use it to go out for dinner, take clients to lunch, buy gifts, etc. These things are nice if I could have afforded them on my own, but I never paid it back. Even if I expense the lunch, when I got the check from work I would have to pay bills with it instead of pay back the money I borrowed. I still realize that we have to be able to pay our bills, but we are trying our hardest not to use those pesky cards.
I do believe I have to analyze my spending some more. I know there are things that we buy at the grocery store or on the go that we really don;t need. We also have a budget that we made, but we need to sit down and go over it for this last month so we can find out if it is working. The good news is I did receive a decent commission this month, but next month is not looking so good, so we may be back to trying to struggle to make the payments. I am hoping we can put more down toward our emergency fund with that extra money. All is in God's hands, and I am trying to be wise with what he has given me!

Starting the emergency fund and budgeting

I made my first extra payment to the my smallest debt this last Wednesday! I think it is kind of rewarding to pay off a debt and then move to the next one. Frugal dad - one of my blogs on the right did some math that showed paying off the smallest one didn't always save the most money. He also made the point, though, that paying off an entire credit card could motivate you to get through the process faster. I believe that to be true as I try to pay off my debt. It feels good to work toward a simple goal of paying off the smallest one first and then address the bigger and more difficult ones as you have achieve bigger debt payoffs. Anyway, we are on our way.

We also have the budget in place to go forward. We sold off a mutual fund this last month in order to help pay for our mortgage, but I think it should also be enough to fund our emergency fund for now. That will help us not to use any credit cards as we try and get rid of the debt.

There is also one last thing, we are coming up on the start of school and obviously we need to buy new clothes and school supplies, etc. We have been able to save a little bit by getting some uniform hand-me-downs from a neighbor, and my wife ran across a killer sale where she only spent 6 dollars and bought a ton of supplies(my mom also helped us out)! We will see how far that goes, and hopefully it will be enough so we can continue to try and decrease our spending.

Day 7 - Snowball your payments and Dave Ramsey

Day 7: Snowball your payments

Day 7 - Snowballing your debt, is a good time to start talking about the Dave Ramsey total money makeover. As NCN talks about his day 7 of his ways of reducing debt, he is referring to what Dave Ramsey likes to call snowballing your debt. What he means is to start with your smallest debt and begin paying that off while making minimum payments to your other debts.

Here's a little of what mine looks like:
I have 4 credit cards, one with $450, one with 3900, one with 7700 and one with 11,000. On my lowest credit card with $450, I will pay about $50 per month for 9 months to pay it off. During that time on my other cards I will pay minimums of about $75, $150 and $250. When the first card gets paid off I will add that first payment to the second lowest debt to start making a $125($75+$50) payment. When that is paid off I will add that payment to the next lowest debt to make a $275 payment. As you see the payments get higher and the time to pay off the debt gets shorter. I believe it will be a great motivator.

I am hoping to pay off that first one soon and we will see how the snowball will work!! I am going to try and put any extra money I have into our debt. I already lowered my input into my 401k about $250 per month, so I am hoping that will help. I am also selling some things and getting a emergency fund started. We are getting what Dave Ramsey calls "Gazelle intense"! Hoo-Raa!

Craziness and a Budget

My summer is officially busy. I did not think that I would not be able to sit down and write something for the last two weeks, but here I am at five-something in the morning doing just that. I am usually off to work by now, but I have a dentist appointment this morning, so I could get a few minutes in. It seems like since we left for vacation back on the 9th, we have had something going on every night! I can't complain, though. We were invited to do some very nice things without spending any money, so it was a blessing.

We were able to write up a budget in the last two weeks that has really been an eye opener for me. It looks like we are about $800 over budget every month. We really need to push that number down, and I am looking for a part time job that will help. My wife is also trying to work a little more than she has. She doesn't work much as it is because she is a stay at home mom, but I think we are realizing that needs to change a little. Hopefully I can find something part time that fits around my schedule and that can help us get over the hump!! I am going to continue writing about the 33 ways of reducing debt while also commenting about Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. I will also update the job and budget situation. Until then, everyone can just mail me small unmarked bills dirctly to my house...

Vacation Time

I just got back from Lake Tahoe this Monday, and it has been crazy. I will be continuing the 33 days and also blogging a little about Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. A friend of mine gave me the audio book, so I have been listening to it when I can. It is pretty motivating, so I will comment soon on all of it! As for the vacation, we kinda spent a little, but we had to sell some stuff to pay our mortgage anyway, so that helped with the vacation.
Some other news regarding buying stuff and losing it: During our girls birthday party, I was pushed in the pool with our digital camera and my cell phone in my pocket . I was a little upset, but what could I have done? That those things aren't worth anything anyway? Well, maybe a little. I am not mad about it, just another gadget we need to buy...eventually...again. Both seem to be broken, so we will be saving for one or maybe getting one for a present next Christmas... Anyhow I must get to bed, I have to get up early for work!! Speaking of work, I am kinda looking for a part time job to work after my existing one....God is always good.

Day 6 of 33 - Reducing Debt "Share your story"

Day 6: Share Your Story

Sharing my story is what I am doing right now. I am so glad I did this because it has helped us to get the ball moving on reducing our debt. We have talked with good friends, found good information and started to take action against our debt. Since I have started blogging this, we have created a (temporary)budget, consolidated our credit cards and kept up motivation to continue the struggle.

I am really fortunate to have great friends and family. I am currently trying to find a part time job in order to get back in positive territory with our finances. I am pretty picky when it comes to jobs, so it may take a little while. I have to be picky because I work a pretty demanding sales job about 10 hours a day. Anyway, I will continue to share my story and hopefully my success with getting out of debt!!

Day 5 of 33 - Reducing debt "Eat out Less"

Day 5: Eat out Less

How much could we save if we all didn't eat out?? How much could we give to organizations that deserve it??

This is a pretty simple one for me to respond to because we do not eat out anymore. At all. Maybe an occasional treat for the kids, or a special dinner for anniversary, but nothing else. Of course this has to come on the day I scrounged up $3 to go get a Double Double from In-n-out because my family just left me for a few days. Worth every penny. Literally. I will be joining them tomorrow in Lake Tahoe. Hopefully it will not be as hot. I think it was 110 degrees here today. Caliente Hot.

One small step for debtkind...

This afternoon I made a decision on consolidating my debt and applying for a 0% credit card. It lasts for 15 months and get this - no transfer fee! I consolidated the two larger cards ($10k and 8.6k) and still have the smaller one to pay. Since it is the same company as the one who offered the 0%, we cannot put the smaller one on there. Pray that we get approved, because I'm sure our debt to income ratio is pretty high. Credit card companies are well known for accepting just about anyone, so I'm pretty sure they will accept us. Hopefully that will lower some of the monthly payments we are donating to the conglomerates.

Some of our friends came over tonight and gave us some good stuff to go over. Dave Ramsey's total money makeover on audio book. I will be driving up to Tahoe later this week, so I will be listening to that on the way.

We also decided that we will be making a plan to try and reduce debt. I read in a blog last week that posting the plan helps you put it into action. We talked a little about our plan - but now we need to post it in the house and put it into action. By the time we get back from vacation this week, I will have hoped to have a plan for the next few months together and posted in our house. As for the 33 days of reducing debt, I hope to post a little while on vacation, but we'll see!

4th of July and Day 4 of 33 - Reducing debt

This is the posts of 4's! Before I get into day 4, I have to say, by opening up this dialogue with many of my friends this last week or two, I am very blessed. My friends and family have been very supportive and willing to help out. I am looking forward to spending the latter half of this week(4 days) in Lake Tahoe with my family and being able to relax a little. I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. God Bless America!!

Day 4: Extra Payments, Extra Deposits
This is a simple process of making extra payments to your creditors and yourself. NCN tells us in this blog to just try and make an extra payment to your creditor. Here it is in his words: "Remember, most creditors base the amount of interest they charge you on your daily balance. So, get those extra payments in as soon as you can, and you’ll reduce your monthly interest charges." I never looked at it that way. Less interest=less debt.

I have been contemplating two things right now, and whatever step I make wil be the plan we use to eliminate the debt.
#1: Go with a credit counseling agency and pay them an extra fee to help lower my payments, or...
#2: Transfer my balances to a 0% credit card for 12 months and pay the $90 one time fee on each transfer. 3 cards=$180 max.
I am curious about anyone's experience with this. I have never done either one of them. Please let me know what you think by posting...

3rd tip from NCN - Sacrifice

Day 3: Sacrifice

Sacrifice has been a part of our lives for probably over a year. When we moved in to our new house 2 years ago, we had the extra income to sustain going out to eat with friends and "date nights". Actually we didn't, but we were living like we did. As my income started to drop, we didn't address the debt that started to accumulate.

Sacrifice is needed now more than ever, and we are trying hard to eliminate anything and everything in our lives that we do not need. Here is my list of things we have eliminated:
Netflix, Daily Newspaper, date nights, eating out, coffee, sports leagues and the gym membership. We never had cable, although we could get rid of the basic cable antenna that we pay for. Another thing we have yet to get rid of is Tivo. I still think the issue is not having enough money every month to pay the bills. Maybe there is a way around that, but I haven't seen it yet.

2 ways to reduce debt - from NCN blog

I will be posting my thoughts and my intended actions on the blog "33 days of reducing debt and saving money" posts in order to help myself and possibly even others. Although I doubt anyone really reads this except my wife - Hey, she hasn't even subscribed yet! Busted online! Anyhoo, here it goes.

Day 1: Eliminate Fees
The main point in this blog is to check all of your bills and accounts to make sure that you don't need the things people like to charge you for. I don't think I have too many of these, but it is a good exercise to double check and make sure. I could check around on pricing out some of my services like car insurance. I'm sure there are some annual fees that I have on some accounts that I miss. I need to start working on my budget anyway, so I will have to take out my bills this last year and check for fees!

Day 2: Brand Disloyalty
Are you basing your purchases on price and value or habit and repetition? We are very habitual when it comes to insurance or doing our taxes. When it comes to dispensable products, we buy whatever is on sale, therefore we eat whatever is on sale! His final words were: Why are you using the products and services that you are using? Are you making fiscally responsible choices? I believe that we are now, it's just that even when you are being financially responsible, you can't make up for lack of income, which is where we are.

I have to go mow the lawn, so I will be back to finish later. :)

How to Save Money and Reduce Debt in 33 Days - from NCN

This just posted on ncnblog.com's site. I am going to try and read and blog on it as much as I can. It is 33 days of reducing debt and saving money. Look for some comments later today!

Setting up a budget

My sister from Oklahoma who I haven't seen for ever has been in town the last two nights, so I have been busy. My nephews - one who lives in Germany and the other in Oklahoma are also here. So was my cousin from Valley Springs. We had a great time tonight just hanging out. We are hoping to get to Germany to visit my nephew before his contract is up - 2010 - which leads me to this blog(A short one, because it is late and I have to get up very early). We need savings to travel, and that is not possible without a budget.

Here is my topic - budgeting. I have never done it, and although I strive to, it never gets done. A friend of mine emailed and said they would help us with this debt, so I am looking forward to starting the budget process. I had a discouragement reading an article the other night. It said that on average, your housing should be 25-35% of your overall budget. Right now, our housing is over 50%. Do I just need to make more money? Should I turn this into a money making blog? Maybe one day it will be, but realistically, somehow we need to make more money to get back in the black.

If you have any comments, I am open to suggestions!

It's a sign! MSN has article on "The plastic life" & I go public

Today I opened up the Internet and there it was... "The Plastic Life". Four links popping out at me on the screen! 24 tips for beating debt here - http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/ManageDebt/Your5MinuteGuideToManagingDebt.aspx
I took it as a sign that this is the right time for me to do this. I have been wrestling with the fact that I need to let all my friends in on this so they can help us be diligent through all of this. I am a little embarrassed by the fact that I have all this debt, but mostly I guess it is pride getting in the way. So be it. I will let everyone know. That is the reason to do this right?? So I will post my new blog on facebook tonight. My next blog I am going to try and post some goals so I can be accountable.

2 places for good financial advice + 1 more

I just have been searching around this whole blog thing and have found 2 good sites that apply to me and another that is interesting for debt purposes.

No Credit Needed - has a great little ebook and in depth articles about being in debt. I like his story, it is similar to my reason for starting this. He has a family and was fed up about being in debt. Thus the debt blog was born. Cheers to NCN. I love it.

Money Blue Book - I emailed this guy and he responded right away and gave me some great info on helping me start a blog. I also read his article on using wholesalers for eBay. As Yoda would say, Informative this one is. I am a sucker for eBay. Good money research on his site, check it out.

Another interesting one is Blogging Away Debt- It is very encouraging to see where this person has been and where she is going with her debt. She is very open with her finances and I wish I had the discipline to do the budget like she does. Good stuff.

I am going to be reading all of these frequently and hopefully getting out of debt!

Dad in debt

OK,
I am admitting I am in debt. I think the best place to do it is out in the open where everyone can read it. I am hoping by doing this I will stop procrastinating and do something about it! I am a born procrastinator. All through college I did all my assignments at the last minute, finishing in a flurry of typing out pages and the glory of finishing at all hours of the day. I am really close to the last hour of my debt. I still have a tons of credit left on my credit cards, but the monthly payments are getting hard to face and we skipped our first one last month(not intentionally). I will always be looking for advice, and hopefully soon will see success and be giving some of my own. I do believe in God and know He is wanting my obedience to be financially responsible, so the only way I know how is to pray for help and not hide the fact I am in debt! This actually feels kind of good. How about that, a therapy session and the starting point of getting out of debt! Good times...

OK, here are the juicy details. I am married with three children, twin 7 yr olds and a 4 yr old boy. My beautiful wife of 10 years is a stay at home mom who works part time mostly doing payroll and research for our friend's small business. We just built a house 2 years ago and are trying our darndest to pay the mortgage every month. I will go into that later.

Our biggest problem financially right now is our debt. We have three credit cards with balances of about $3000, 8000, and 10,000. OUCH. The two highest ones are the ones we use to buy groceries and gas because we use our checking account to pay our mortgage and bills online. It seems like a constant vortex of debt that wont stop until we do something... what that is, I'm not quite sure. I would like to cut up the credit cards, but in reality, we need them to keep our house. But somewhere it will become impossible to stop the cycle, and we will lose our house. We have cut back on almost everything there is. Newspaper, cable, movies, going out to eat, buying coffee, etc. You name it, we don't have it anymore. It would also be hard to sell the house because we may not get enough to cover the actual mortgage on it (About $360,000/or $2500 per month).

Please let me know if you have any suggestions!! :)
I will try and continue to post my ideas and thoughts toward this...

Dad in debt