New to board and frustrated

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
New to board and frustrated
8
Thu, 01-06-2005 - 6:09pm

Hello,

I am new to this board and I am unsure of what to do next. I know I have put myself in the situation I am in but now I do not know how to get myself out. Virtually ALL of my bills are past due..some a month, some 2 or 3 months. I have gotten to the point that if I pay all of my bills I have nothing left between pay periods. When I completed my budget, I found that my expenses are more than my income.

What got to me today, is one of the bills that was 3 months behind, I actually made a partial payment on in December and I checked my bank account and the check had not cleared. The person (who was very rude) received my check but was going to return it because it was not the full amount due. I asked her why she would do that and she said it was there policy to return partial payments. I have never heard of a company that did that and wanted to ask any of you if they can do that. I do not know how to catch up my bills other than taking a part time job which I have no problems doing but I would need one that I could work during the week because I already work on the weekends with this job.

So I do not know what to do....please any advice that you have would be appreciated.

Pat

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2004
Thu, 01-06-2005 - 8:51pm

The first step is figure out how to get your expenses to be less than your income.

Do you have cable? Cancel it or reduce it to basic cable (I have heard the most basic is $10 per month, but I cancelled mine all together so I don't know). If you have a cell phone, cancel your home phone (I pay $12 per month and only have it for emergencies, no voicemail or any services, and if I did make an outgoing call I'd pay per minute, but I don't make any). If you don't have kids, just plan on living off cereal and pasta for a couple months. Don't buy your lunch on the go, always pack one and take it with you. Call and get a quote for car insurance and see if you can save money that way (I just switched from Geico to AAA and it will save me $540 per year). Getting a part-time job is a great idea, but these are things you can do today to start reducing expenses.

Once you have your expenses less than income, then you will have a little money each month to catch up on bills. Once you do this, you know you can pay everyone the current charges for this month. So for example, if you are behind on your electric bill, pay the current month charges now and worry about the back charges later. Go through yours and make a list of who you owe, how much, when it's due and how behind you are. Then prioritize them. Try to pay as many past due amounts as you can, catching one bill up at a time. Don't send 1/3 of the past due to three different people, send the whole past due amount to one (this will avoid the partial pay problem you encountered, I don't know why some companies do that).

Here is a link to my budget spreadsheet if it helps:
http://messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=iv-mljournal&msg=1861.9

This is all the first step. Once you get the income to expense ratio fixed and prioritize your bills, then you will be ready to start a small emergency fund and paying down any debt. You can do this!

Photobucket

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-26-2004
Thu, 01-06-2005 - 9:20pm

I had a credit card company (of all things!) do that to me once. They absolutely refused to take anything but the full amount. Go figure. I cancelled them, but we were in a position where we could do that.

I agree with the second poster - try to stay rational and prioritize the bills you have. It *is* possible to get things under control, but you have to be willing to stop some poor habits you might have. That's where we always get caught up. :)

Good luck!

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-30-2003
Thu, 01-06-2005 - 11:38pm

Hi, Pat, welcome here. I can tell that this all feels overwhelming and scary right now, so just remember to breathe!

One of the things that I do know (from real experience) is that you have to (read that again, lol) have to have to take care of the BASICS first. By this, I mean, pay the rent/house payment; buy food (nothing too fancy); pay utilities; and the car payment/gas for the car. Even though this runs counter to everything you've ever heard, this is the first step. If you can do this, then you can start to deal with everything else. Will those creditors scream? Yup.

To get everything current, you said you'd get a second job. That's a good plan! Also, selling anything/everything you can on half.com (books, movies, music, games, etc) or ebay (darn near everything), you may be able to get a good start on it all.

If I were in your place (and I have been), I would write every debt down-it's not a whole bunch of fun, but needs to be done. Once you do that, you'll begin to see where to begin. Prioritizing the bills is good-pay the basics first, then figure out how to do the rest. Do stay in contact with the creditors, even when all you want to do is bap them with a big stick. ;)

If you're behind on the utilities, can you ask to be put on a hardship plan? Or get assistance somehow?

Some of the resources that I have used to help me are a couple of books that I tend to recommend over and over just because they explain things much better than I can do in one post. One, by Jerrold Mundis, is good nuts and bolts about how to go about digging yourself out of the hole. The name of that is "How to Get Out of Debt, Stay Out of Debt, and Live Prosperously." He details how to deal with crabby creditors (which that woman totally sounded like!) and how to build a good plan. The other plan, which my DH & I have followed for over a year now is "Financial Peace Revisted" by Dave Ramsey. He's good at explaining a 'pro rata' budget, which is basically how to pay everybody you've got to pay with the money that you have.

I know that if you keep posting, others may be able to help you too. Hang in there-it's scary now, but it does get better!

~Lisa

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Fri, 01-07-2005 - 10:51am
Thank you for your advice. I am sitting down saturday to 1. declutter my house and then figure out what I can cut out. I have not kids so my food bill will be cut drastically. A big problem is that I spent sooo much going out to eat. Pat
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Fri, 01-07-2005 - 10:58am
Thank you all for your advice....I will definitely be sticking around this board. For me, I am single with no children so I really do not have anyone to talk to about it without feeling embarassed or feel as though they are judging me.
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-04-2004
Mon, 01-10-2005 - 5:24pm
I am single with no kids also, I have a boyfriend who understands, but most of my friends and family are all much better off financially speaking than me, so I can understand your feelings of not having any one to talk to about this. That is what's great about this board, there is no judging and you get lots of helpful support! Welcome and stick around, I'm sure you will enjoy it here!
~leanne

~leanne

deciding to be happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect, but that you had decided to look beyond the imp

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-07-2005
Mon, 01-10-2005 - 10:58pm
Well, first of all, please be aware that you are not the only one going through this-money problems are embarrassing and I can attest to going through some tough times too- I am single, like you, and I know married people that are worse off than me. I even know someone who lives at home with mom and pop , and is worse off than me. Both of my sisters, who arent single, make more than me and haven't been in the mess I've been in either so I certainly don't go to them for anything. I have just learned over the years, to pay bills on pay day, and get it over with. I do money orders sometimes, that way the money is already taken from my account and I dont have to worry about a check clearing at the wrong time-always keep the receipt to the money order until the bill gets posted to your account. I also get gas and grocery shop right on pay day or the day afterwards and get it over with. Use coupons, take advantage of cheaper grocers like Walmart SuperCenter or Costco- and buy in bulk! You can save literally $15-$25 on a single visit using some common sense when you shop. Also, do what the others on here mentioned- cancel stuff you dont need , even the gym membership, cable, AOL, quit eating out, stuff like that. A home phone isnt necessary either unless you go online,, but again, you may have to use the computer at the library for a while. If you have credit accounts that are delinquent, I would write your creditors and see if they will SETTLE-alot of times,, they will settle 25 cents on the dollar, except you may have to pay the entire amount of the settlement up front-but this is always an option.Also, contact Consumer Credit Counseling Service- i used them several yrs ago and what a difference it made- they work with creditors to stop accruing interest, and you pay everything in one smaller payment- it used to be completely free of charge but now they charge a small amount per creditor,, like $6. I was also able to buy a house shortly after using them so CCCS does save your credit.Also, get a second job for a little bit- getting out of the house will probably make you feel better and you will be suprised as to how many other people had to work a second job for a while- I did it. The department stores are always hiring and theyre usually the most flexible for part time, also try the want-ads to see if there's any evening or weekend work available. If you own your home, consider re-financing to get some cash out and pay off what you can. If youre lucky enough to have good credit, consider a consolidation loan from the bank,, pay off what you can and try and salvage your credit-each 30-day late brings your score down, like 15 points,, and each starts to add up after a while. I may end up having to get a second job since I just moved into a new house, and my house payment is alot higher than what I'm used to. I will re-fi when I can but in the meantime, I'll have to deal with it. You have to be patient and know that there is light at the end of the tunnel.. just be patient,, reduce your spending.. cancel stuff you don't need, and work a second job for a while. After a couple months or so,, you'll be able to see some difference.Good luck
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Tue, 01-11-2005 - 8:54am
Thanks Leanne. Pat