Spanelli8706's Personal Debt Cutters Thread

[Spanelli8706]

Debt Cutters

How much debt do you need to reduce?

$22,049.14 (not including mortgage-one goal at a time)

How did you get in debt?

new baby, husbands unpaid taxes, cc's for new house

You've accrued debt. What are the main factors that keep you from reducing it now?

Time

Have you created a budget?

Not a strict one

List your top 5 budget busters?

eating out, Husband's "good deals", spoiling kids, visiting family in FL

What is your plan to get out of debt?

focus on one debt (cc) at a time, set monthly goals

List your debt with balance, monthly payment, and interest rates.

Rooms 2 Go: PAID OFF
Rooms 2 Go2: PAID OFF
Ashley Furn: PAID OFF
Best Buy: PAID OFF
Citi CC: $7,400.00 (0%int til March, $105 min);
Chase: PAID OFF
Grandma: PAID OFF
Med Bills: PAID OFF

How much will you try to reduce your debt by this year?

$20,000 (at least)

What kind of support do you need from fellow Debt Cutters to help keep you on track?

motivation and help me stay organized

[Spanelli8706]

I have a plan in my head to pay off the majority of our debt this year. It just takes time for it to play out. The Medical bills are from the delivery of our daughter in December. I plan to pay them off in full once our new Health Savings account is opened. We have enough being transferred into it from a previous HSA account that will take care of the balance. The hospital will take off 20% of the balance if paid in full, which is why I haven't paid on it yet. The $1000 loan from my Grandma was to help me finish school in 07'. My scholarships were 100%...but didn't cover summer courses and I wanted to finish my degree during the summer because I would be traveling out of state in the fall that year. Long story short, I graduated and finally made it a priority to pay her back. I plan to take $1000 out of March's paycheck and pay her at Easter. All of the store credit cards are 0% interest until at least 2012, but I'd like to pay them off by the end of 2010. The Chase card is what we use monthly, but we recently had to buy new tires and a few other minor emergencies. I put all refund money and extra cash at it currently. The Citi card is what we put the balance of my husband's back taxes on to settle with the IRS two months ago. It has 0% interest until September. We are still working with an attorney to get some of it back. So I pay the minimum on it now, since it is yet to be determined and have decided to pay on everyting else first. I did not include our mortgage. If I accomplish paying all of this debt down by Jan 2011, I will then focus on the mortgage. We do have a small emergency fund. I contribute $200 into monthly. I also have a small savings account in FL where my parents bank. It's a huge hassle to even touch, so it's just there.

I moved to Louisiana with my husband. His family is here. My family lives in FL. We generally drive to see them at Easter, once over the summer and either at Thanksgiving/Christmas. So, that's one budget buster. My husband has made a full 180 and is into savings/deals/sales. However, that isn't always a good thing. He happens to find "good deals" frequently. lol.

I'd really like to pay everything off so we can focus more on enjoying our kids and going and doing fun things...instead of having the shadow of our debt following us. We finally settled with the IRS for DH's issues (before we were married) after two years, so we're headed into the right direction and it is (for the most part) in our hands now!

[Spanelli8706]

Used some extra cash and Paid off Ashley Funriture. Plan to Pay my Grandma off at the end of the month.

[Spanelli8706]

Paid off debt of 1000.00 to Grandma.

Paid minimums on other debts/cc's.

Plan to work on our Rooms to Go card with the balance of $1461.00 now...those buttheads have changed our terms and are now charging us interest on a No Interest, No Payments card. The Interest rate is 23.9% and it began as of February, apparantly. They said it went into affect when the new credit card laws took place and we didn't opt out in time... nso we are stuck. I don't know. But that will be the next debt I am going to try to wipe out by the end of May if not sooner.

And as far as the Medical bills, the transfer of our HSA accounts went through, but we still have to wait 7-10 days before we can use the debit card to pay off those bills. So, I am really hoping to pay the $4,460.21 in med bills by the end of March. I am a little impatient...:hectic1:lol.

[puakinikini]

You are doing great! Keep up the good work - you are well on your way to meeting your goal.

I would see what you can do to fight the Rooms2 go bill that seems wrong to me. The new CC bill is supposed to keep card companies from doing shady things like that. Even if you are not successful, I would go to the salesperson at Rooms2Go and the manager and I would tell them that they have lost your business. I know they do not have power over the credit lines, but it is important to provide them feedback about how you are treated as a customer.

[Spanelli8706]

Our HSA finally funded and we were able to use it. So, I paid $4,115.61 to the hospital to pay that debt in full. I still owe my OB's ofice $344.60 and will try to pay that next month.

[Spanelli8706]

I decided I'd rather pay off a card (instead of only part of the R2G card). So, I paid off the R2G2 card and put a $400 chunk on the R2G card. I hope to pay the remaining balance on it next month...

I made all other minimum payments.

[Spanelli8706]

Sold some clutter on Ebay. Paid $344.60 to pay off Med bills. Paid $230 on R2G.

[neelia]

Gotta love ebay! Whenever I'm short on bills, I put a few things on ebay to make up for it!

[Spanelli8706]

Gotta love ebay! Whenever I'm short on bills, I put a few things on ebay to make up for it!

We moved in 2008 and I tried to eliminate clutter BEFORE we packed everything and lugged it across 4 states...but my husband had an excuse to keep several things he NEVER USES...so two years later.... we have done some negotiating and he is finally on board to de-clutter. Ebay has become my friend. Haha. (our compromise is I will start budgeting to include fixing up his antique car...aka money pit... AFTER all debt is paid off, excluding the house)

Unfortunately, his veterinary fees are due this week and we literally just received 7 OLD Dr bills this week from 6-9 months ago that total over $400. So, I am going to pay all of that off in full now instead of adding it to our existing debt and go back to paying more on the CC's at the end of the month. Ugh.