Overwhelmed, need to vent....

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-21-2004
Overwhelmed, need to vent....
3
Sat, 02-26-2005 - 8:50am

I've been lurking here for a while...reading all your posts and learning from many of them. We are in debt. Almost 20k in credit cards, then a home equity line of credit, and I won't even discuss the college loans we have.

My concern right now is the credit cards. Our student loans are on a payment plan, at an amount we can afford each month. The same with our Home equity line.

Our credit cards debt just doesn't seem to go down. We will make some headway, and them bam, something happens and we need to charge something. I thought that what I would do for this month, and next month is pay just above our minimum payments, and put that extra money in savings. That's one of our problems, when something happens, we have no savings to access. So this month I was able to put 800.00 in savings. Next month I'm hoping for a bit more. We have money coming in next month...(taxes, dh's bonus), but we are putting that away for ds's preschool tuition.

It's so frustrating. Dh and I make a decent income...it just seems we can never get ahead. Dh desperately needed work clothes...so we put another 200.00 on the credit card last night....grrrr...He needs them...so I'm trying to put it in perspective.

Thanks
Kazmama

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-10-2004
Sat, 02-26-2005 - 3:24pm

Welcome to the board!

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-06-2005
Sat, 02-26-2005 - 4:37pm
I agree 100% with everything ratha_ivy said!
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iVillage Member
Registered: 02-14-2004
Sat, 02-26-2005 - 9:00pm
The best way to stop accumulating debt is to try to set a "cash-only" budget and work with that. If you need clothes, are there consignment stores around you, thrift stores, or even Ebay? Are there farmer's markets or flea markets to load up on fresh foods at a fraction of the store price? What can you live without? Can you do without cable and cell phones for awhile? Anything you cut makes a difference. Its hard to save for school expenses. Can you earn extra money with side jobs, like doing surveys or mystery shopping?
Good luck!