Welcome, mrskringle! So glad to have you join us. Each of us have a different but similar story so don't be ashamed. You'll find lots of support and guidance here. Since everyone's situation is different, find a way that works best for you. I'll share my answers to the questions you asked:
First question, do I also include our monthly bills (ie water, electric, phone) in with debts or is that a separate budget as they are constant? What works for you?
I keep track of those monthly bills separately. I use Microsoft Money to keep track of when the bills are due and the approximate payments monthly.
My second question, what is a realistic time frame?
Again that is going to depend on your situation. Since your DH is in the military I make the asumption that the income that comes in, is the same month after month. So, either the total income coming in needs to increase to meet your debt free goal or the expenses going out need to decrease. There are alot of calculators that you can access on the internet that can help you determine how long it will take you to become debt free. I like www.bankrate.com We did a debt consolidation loan (with a huge help from my brother who let us use a CD as collateral) and we will be debt free in 5 years. Had I continued to make only monthly minimum payments it would have taken us nearly 28 years to pay everything off. I didn't want to be collecting my Social Security check and still paying on credit cards.
My third question, do you follow a workbook or computer program budget? Do you journal your purchases?
As I mentioned, I use Microsoft Money, again personal preference. I do not journal my purchases; I do keep track of our spending using Money. One thing that has helped me curb spending is I do NOT carry cash. I can spend it without know *what* I bought. (DH can do this 10 fold and not know where it went) So I use my debit card to help me not spend. There is something psychological for me that if I have to enter my PIN number or sign my name I think "hmmm, do I really need to do this???" IF only that thought would cross DH's mind! LOL
Glad to have you here. You've made a huge step by posting here!
I'm relatively new here too, but definitely not new to spending & accumulating debt. I started with the Compulsive Shoppers Board and have migrated to this one now, as well.
About your questions:
(1) <>
** I do include these in my debt-to-income spreadsheet, which is what I use to calculate how much I have to snowflake. But I don't list them in my day-to-day expense log, which is what I use to list miscellaneous expenditures outside of my fixed costs.
(2) <>
** I am looking to pay off the rest of my credit card bill in a few months. But I also have a $15,000 car loan. And the biggest one yet, are my grad school loans which total $80k. Those need to be paid off in 30yrs. So as you can see, I will be indebted for a very long time :(
(3) <>
** I created a very rudimentary spreadsheet which shows me how much I can snowflake on any given month. I do journal my daily expenses on the "Compulsive Shoppers" Board (vis a vis our Daily Challenge section), as well as log them in a notebook diary. I've been thinking of buying MS Money, but I don't know how disciplined I'll be to actually update it.
Welcome, and congrats on deciding on getting things under control before your dh retires. My Dh just retired last year and sadly we were not as prepared as we should have been - we weren't bad, but could have been better.
How I set up my "sheet" I have a section for credit cards and a section for regular monthly. My goal each month is to pay off the monthly bills first and then put extra on the credit catds (1 target card) and then also try and put some into a savings/emergency fund. I think the rule of thumb is to have 3 - 6 months of your bills (I do monthly bills) in the savings. Right now I am very far away from that - but I do have a small savings/emergency that if I dip into it, I try to build it right back up to my {{minimum}}
Also, not sure which branch of service you are - but in the Navy they have a program called Personal Financial Management (PFM) at the Fleet and Family SUpport Center - you might want to check into that and see if they can offer any help with setting up a budget.
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First question, do I also include our monthly bills (ie water, electric, phone) in with debts or is that a separate budget as they are constant? What works for you?
I keep track of those monthly bills separately. I use Microsoft Money to keep track of when the bills are due and the approximate payments monthly.
My second question, what is a realistic time frame?
Again that is going to depend on your situation. Since your DH is in the military I make the asumption that the income that comes in, is the same month after month. So, either the total income coming in needs to increase to meet your debt free goal or the expenses going out need to decrease. There are alot of calculators that you can access on the internet that can help you determine how long it will take you to become debt free. I like www.bankrate.com We did a debt consolidation loan (with a huge help from my brother who let us use a CD as collateral) and we will be debt free in 5 years. Had I continued to make only monthly minimum payments it would have taken us nearly 28 years to pay everything off. I didn't want to be collecting my Social Security check and still paying on credit cards.
My third question, do you follow a workbook or computer program budget? Do you journal your purchases?
As I mentioned, I use Microsoft Money, again personal preference. I do not journal my purchases; I do keep track of our spending using Money. One thing that has helped me curb spending is I do NOT carry cash. I can spend it without know *what* I bought. (DH can do this 10 fold and not know where it went) So I use my debit card to help me not spend. There is something psychological for me that if I have to enter my PIN number or sign my name I think "hmmm, do I really need to do this???" IF only that thought would cross DH's mind! LOL
Glad to have you here. You've made a huge step by posting here!
Susan
<ahref="http://www.TickerFactory.com/debt/wJLmWvM/"><imgborder="0"src="http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/t/wJLmWvM/debt.png"></a>
I'm relatively new here too, but definitely not new to spending & accumulating debt. I started with the Compulsive Shoppers Board and have migrated to this one now, as well.
About your questions:
(1) <>
** I do include these in my debt-to-income spreadsheet, which is what I use to calculate how much I have to snowflake. But I don't list them in my day-to-day expense log, which is what I use to list miscellaneous expenditures outside of my fixed costs.
(2) <>
** I am looking to pay off the rest of my credit card bill in a few months. But I also have a $15,000 car loan. And the biggest one yet, are my grad school loans which total $80k. Those need to be paid off in 30yrs. So as you can see, I will be indebted for a very long time :(
(3) <>
** I created a very rudimentary spreadsheet which shows me how much I can snowflake on any given month. I do journal my daily expenses on the "Compulsive Shoppers" Board (vis a vis our Daily Challenge section), as well as log them in a notebook diary. I've been thinking of buying MS Money, but I don't know how disciplined I'll be to actually update it.
Hope this helps!
~Claire
Welcome to the board, I'm glad you stumbled across us.
Becky
CL of 4th, 5th & 6th grade Scoliosis
Welcome to the board MrsKringle!
Thank you Susan for all your input.
~Mrs. Kringle
Thank you Claire for sharing your experiences.
~Mrs. Kringle
Hi Becky!
~Mrs. Kringle
~Mrs. Kringle
How I set up my "sheet" I have a section for credit cards and a section for regular monthly. My goal each month is to pay off the monthly bills first and then put extra on the credit catds (1 target card) and then also try and put some into a savings/emergency fund. I think the rule of thumb is to have 3 - 6 months of your bills (I do monthly bills) in the savings. Right now I am very far away from that - but I do have a small savings/emergency that if I dip into it, I try to build it right back up to my {{minimum}}
Also, not sure which branch of service you are - but in the Navy they have a program called Personal Financial Management (PFM) at the Fleet and Family SUpport Center - you might want to check into that and see if they can offer any help with setting up a budget.
Thank you for sharing your tips.
~Mrs. Kringle
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