we are sinking fast!
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| Sat, 09-18-2004 - 2:11pm |
$17,000 MC
$5,000 Visa
$36,000 home equity loan (we did a 80,10,10 loan to avoid PMI)
$1,000 med bills
$800 Home Depot (no interest until April 2005)
$300 on a same as cash card that will be paid off in November or December when it expires
$5,000 on new windows we put in last year
plus a huge mortgage
I am so embarrassed to even write down how much we owe. Good Lord - that's $65,000 dollars not including our mortgage!!!!!!! We just found out today that our mortgage payment is increasing $120 per month b/c our escrow account was short last year. My car lease is over in March and I will need a new car but I have no idea how we'll come up with the downpayment.
I am sick about this. I worry constantly. We have a good income when we are both working. Before all these med bills and daycare costs, we could afford our lifestyle and knew we had debt but could make payments and make a dent in it. Now daycare eats up $1200 a month that we used to pay towards debt and we have med bills from my delivery.
Any advice on how to survive? I don't want to file bankruptcy b/c we put ourselves in this situation and I need to get us out. I should get a bonus/severance package next month b/c my job is being eliminated and this was incentive for me to return to work after the baby was born. I am going to put that towards these medical bills and hopefully a credit card or two. I also want to save a bit for an emergency.
Thanks for listening. It was a huge step for me to admit to anyone other than DH that we have a huge, enormous, massive problems on our hands. I just can't believe we got ourselves this far in the hole.

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I have called the hospital and dr's office. The 2 dr's office I owe were so nice, 1 said I could pay $25 month till the balance was paid off and 1 said I could pay 10% until the balance is paid off. The woman at the hospital was horrible. She was so rude and treated me like garbage. I got her to agree to me paying $70 for the next 8 months to get that paid off.
It's great to see people who are actually working themselves out of debt and it is nice to know it is possible.
I have been really good about trying to buy clothes only when they are on sale. To be honest, I can't see myself ever wearing clothes bought at Goodwill or a garage sale. I would rather go to Kohl's when they are having a big sale.
I am planning joining a mom's group to have interaction with adults and other children. It is only $25 per year and I we should be able to swing that.
Thanks for the tips. I will check into that book at the library. I really need to learn to be more frugal. I grew up in and still live in a very affluent area where there is alot of excess. Unfortuately, DH & I fell into the trap and now we need to get ourselves out. It's been really hard for me to accept the depth of our problems but I've enjoyed reading all of the responses and getting ideas on how to save money and our sanity.
Have you thought about refinancing your house? Could you add that 60K+ to your current mortgage? It will probably add $400-500/month and would take 30 years but at least it would be taken care of. Just a thought.
I forgot to mention congratulations on your new baby this summer! I'm sure looking in that sweet face makes you forget about this debt problem- for a minute anyway. Have you considered watching 1 or 2 other children in your home? You could be home and make some money too. Also, I know the cost of diapers and other stuff adds a lot to your required expenses. Try this: Use store brand diapers during the day when you're changing them frequently and buy a brand name for nighttime when you only need one! (I liked Huggies and they were the cheapest name brand at WalMart) The store brand is probably OK at night but if (when) your baby sleeps 10+ hours at night, that diaper will be pretty full in the AM and better safe than sorry. Store brand wipes are OK as well. I also made baby food in the blender and froze it in ice cube trays. It was easy and saved some $. I must admit I only did that with my first child - when the 2nd and 3rd came along, I didn't have the time to whip up homemade baby food so I had my mom, mother in law and 2 sisters cutting baby food coupons for me. That helped. Ask your pediatrician for formula samples or at least coupons. They have formula reps coming to the office and should have some. When my friend had twins (after my kids were done with formula) , I saw a formula rep loading stuff in her car in the parking lot of the pediatricians office and I just went up to her and told her about my friend and she gave my 4 big cans of the Similac allergy formula! My friend was so happy and so was I! Well, that is all- I am just blabbing away! Take care!
I couldn't believe how rude the woman at the hospital was. She made feel like a complete loser b/c I couldn't pay the $800 bill all at once. The lowest I could get her down to was $70/month and she said if I wanted to go lower I would have to produce W2's and tax returns. DH has decent insurance but we had to pay 10% of everything. I had an induction, epidural, pushed for hours and then a c-section. Then was on IV antibiotics for 2 days, etc. The total bill was around 14k, luckily we just had to pay 10% of that.
Thank you for baby congrats. DD is truly a dream come true and we just love her so much! I think she is what makes me want to get out of debt so we can give her a good life.
For me: Staying at home, no matter the amount of debt I have is the best thing I can do right now for her and myself. The way I look at it is...that I spent a ton to get her, so now mellow out and enjoy it.
I know what you mean, the debt is on my mind ALOT and despite that, I too cannot wear goodwill stuff and give her clothes that have been worn. So I figure I will just plug along and be happy that I FINALLY have her. And someday all this will be payed off (I hope)That is if I can just quit buying her things!
P.S. That hospital lady sounded typical! Here you are trying to work soemthing out and what do you get? HMMM, figures..
Anyway, if you can and want to make the change and continue to stay home I think you will be happy in the long run despite the debt! I know I am NOW! :)
I am going to try saving money in many ways. I'll figure out some other ways besides clothes. I really don't want to offend anyone who does this, it's just not for me. Also, I don't mind being poor if I get to spend all of my time with her.
Alot of our debt was spent on trying to have her. Most of the m/c debt actually.
Congratulations on your new daughter too. Isn't modern medicine wonderful?
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