***New*** Then and Now Thread...

Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
***New*** Then and Now Thread...
16
Mon, 05-02-2005 - 2:32pm

Okay - at Heather's request (excellent one, I might add), let's all take a bit of time and write down our stories once again.

All my best,
Danni

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iVillage Member
Registered: 06-04-2004
Mon, 05-02-2005 - 3:28pm

What a great idea! I love reading others stories, it really helps to motivate me! My debt came for living WAY beyond my means for way too long, always picking up the tab whenever I wanted to go out and my friends said they couldn't afford it! I always had new clothes! All kinds of stupid things that I have learned a lot from. I have been wanting to pay everything off for a really long time, I just didn't know how on my income, it seemed impossible!! Well, last November(?) I found iVillage and right away found this board, I was reading everything online that I could about money and somehow it brought me to this board, thank GOD!!! I have learned so much from then to now and am really proud of the progress I have made! Paying off my debt has become a new hobby for me, surprisingly, one I really enjoy! I love watching that balance continue to go down every month, and I am really enjoying the progress I see on the snowflaking board! I started here in November with over $19000 in debt, started out at over $25,500 in March of 2004, now I am down to $14500.63 to be exact! I am now paying over $1200/month toward my debt, so I am seeing huge amounts of progress each month, not mention just making better general decisions about money and how I spend it! I feel really good about where I am in relationship to money now and how I deal with it, and I have all of you to thank for that!

~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: 03-27-2003
Mon, 05-02-2005 - 4:22pm

I have come so far in three years!!

Then:
I came to DSG about three years ago, around September 2002. I was not at my deepest, darkest point--that had happened six months earlier, while dh was out of work and we were packing up boxes to move in with his parents in an attempt to rescue ourselves.

Fortunately, dh found a job at the very last moment, and we managed to pull it together just enough to avoid moving in with family.

By September 2002, I had a job waitressing at a bar, and dh was working at a job making 28k a year. Both jobs stunk. We had moved out of our duplex into a cheap apartment, refinanced our car, and sold bunches of stuff. We were beginning slowly, painstakingly, agonizingly, to crawl our way back to the light of day.

$33,500--that's the number that we were in debt, not counting our car. We also owed a few small debts in regard to our move. I know others here have more debt than that, but when you consider that our main income was only 28k per year, it was pretty intimidating.

At that point, I was still getting calls from creditors wanting to know when I was going to pay them. I managed to work out payment deals with some of them, and others I managed to get caught up by pooling tips from a few late nights, or with the proceeds of things we sold.

I found this board and thought it was the greatest thing ever, and wished I'd found it earlier. I started tracking our target debt on the refrigerator. Other than the calls and stress, the hardest thing about life then was that with an 18-month-old, apartment life was rough. Nowhere for him to play outside (I would spend 5-6 hours a day at the park, so he could get his exercise), no neighbors to visit with, nowhere we could even walk with his plastic coupe.

Our credit rating was in the dump. Way below average, and I wasn't even receiving credit offers in the mail--no one wanted to loan me money, not even the loan sharks.

Now, three years later:
Dh's income has grown steadily, after the first tough 14 months of 28k. He's had two promotions. After the first promotion, I quit my icky job and we planned (and had) another child.

To make a long story short, we now own a beautiful home with an awesome back yard, a swingset and a playhouse for the boys, and a patio with grill and furniture for us. Our debt is still around--$20,300. Paying at our current rate, with no snowflakes or snowballs, we will have it completely paid off--as well as our car--in three years.

However, I now run a business out of the house and if that continues to go well, we could have the debt paid off as early as April of next year.

In addition, because we are also saving money, we now have a nice cushion in our savings account, some retirement and education savings, and, all told, a net worth that is several thousand dollars into the black.

Our credit rating is well above average, and I receive outstanding credit offers in the mail (in fact, I take advantage of the 0% transfer offers to keep part of my debt at 0%--the rest I owe to my dad, so I don't mind paying him the interest).

We are still very careful with our money. I think back to the days when we would take a trip to WalMart and think nothing of dropping $20 or $30 for a cute hat or a neat gadget. I cringe now! I can't imagine doing that.

But on the other hand, we now have money set aside for nearly any contingency, and it feels great to be able to tell someone, "Sure, I'll get you $500 in cash this afternoon." I did exactly that today--we hired a neighbor to do some body work on an old car we purchased recently. We budgeted everything very carefully, saved money, and had the cash in the bank to hand him as a down payment. The remaining $500 for the job is already in the bank too.

We pay cash for absolutely everything. I wouldn't even consider financing something now. I can't imagine wanting to have to pay for something after its newness has worn off. We've purchased a new dishwasher, a "new" used stove (it's a top of the line model--would have been $1800 new, we paid $400), a car, a grill, a week at the beach, plane tickets, and many other "big-ticket" items with cash. It feels so good!!

Never again with the credit cards! :)

Heather

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-16-2004
Tue, 05-03-2005 - 9:48am

I love your story Heather!!! Very inspiring......!!! Keep it up! How did you learn to get out of debt? Did you read something or go to a seminar? **HATS OFF TO YOU**

~Lilac

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Tue, 05-03-2005 - 10:35am

Ahhh... Thanks! One of the books that was really influential for me was Mary Hunt's "Debt-Proof Living." I loved Hunt's "been there done that" humility, and the systematic method for not only getting out of debt, but staying out of debt and saving for the things that happen along the way.

When I think about it, so much of what I do is based on her ideas. One thing that always caused us problems in the past, even when we could meet our monthly obligations, were "surprise" expenses--unexpected tax bills, car repairs, medical bills, etc. Hunt points out that these are only "unexpected" because we don't plan for them--but that they are in fact inevitable. And she outlines a method for saving for each category of expense, so that they become a monthly budgeted item, and that when they occur, the money is already there for them. This has been a major stress saver, and although it seems counter-intuitive (because it actually increases the amount of money sent to "bills" each month), it actually frees up a lot of money for us--because we're not always scrambling around to pay something "unexpected," or spending money frivolously in a month when nothing "unexpected" has come up.

I still go back to old ways of thinking from time to time. Recently, road debris flew up and cracked the car windshield. For about half an hour I stressed out, worried and fretting. And then I remembered: the money for the windshield is already set aside. We didn't know it was for a windshield, but we know roughly how much we spend on auto repairs each year, and we save for them. As soon as I remembered that nice little chunk of "auto repair" money sitting in a savings account, I relaxed and stopped worrying. No biggie. Life happens. :)

Giving to charity is another big part of Hunt's plan. We're not yet at the 10% number (we're working toward it, but will probably not be there until after our debt is paid), but even at the 2% that we started at, and the 5% that we're at now, it's incredibly freeing. I can't believe how rich it makes me feel to write those checks each month, and see the good that our hard work is doing in the world. I don't say that to pat our own backs, but because I want people to know that giving money to charity is worth more than the money itself.

As for the initial hard work of just getting caught up and back on track to even begin, I think we kind of fumbled around and eventually just figured it out. I *wish* someone had helped us with that--it would have happened a lot sooner. I even remember looking around for a resource to help with that--I wanted someone to come in, look at our numbers, and tell us what to do. But all the "financial advisors" assume that you already have your finances in order, that you just need help deciding where to put all the extra that you are saving each month. So we just had to blunder around until we figured it out. Hitting rock bottom helped. :)

Sometimes, I think I'd like to do the kind of financial counseling that I wished for when we were so desperate. Unfortunately, it would require all kinds of training, licensing, and liability insurance and what-not, not to mention I'd probably have to work through an agency or whatever. But I just really want to help people who are where we were, I want them to know that it can be done, even as desperate as things seem for them.

Anyway, that's more than you probably wanted to know, and more than I had intended to write. Thanks again for the kind words. :)

Heather

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-16-2004
Tue, 05-03-2005 - 10:55am

I still commend you for your efforts!!! I read it and it made lots of sense and I'm happy about it. Thanks very much for your advice and I'll check out the book. You could always be my fiancial advisor ;-)

~Lilac

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Tue, 05-03-2005 - 11:01am

I'm pretty sure you can find something by Hunt in your local library. And feel free to email me if you want--my address is heather at careyhead dot net (take out the spaces and use the symbols for "at" and "dot").

Heather :)

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-09-2003
Tue, 05-03-2005 - 11:56am

I only log on every mth or so now, but for some reason I looked today, I wanted to go back and view where I started from in 2003. Then I saw this post and thought I might as well process this information on the site, then I can look back in a few years to when I really started to make progress.

Back in 2003 I was devastated that my husbands student loan went to collection, three kids, family income less than 30,000 a year. No where to turn. until i found this site

here goes my list:

1- visa - 500
2- ossap - 6000
3- ossap - 6500
4- trailer - 3000
5- ossap - 1000
6- cost us every dime to live each mth - maybe 100 extra/mth

Today - 2005

1- visa -- 500/ now owe 0!!!!
2- ossap - 6000/ now owe/0!!!
3- ossap -- 6500/ now owe 5700
4- trailer -3000/ now owe 1300
5- ossap - 1000/now owe 700 --------this ones is next to be paid off!!!!!
6- new loan 2500 to move in november 2004/ 550 remaining --- check next week makes 0!!!

I got a great job in november, but had to move to new city - to do it had to borrow 2500 from a very extremely kind friend - starte paying her back in february when my husband found a job in the new city too (his unemployemnt just got us by with my new wage)

Next week she is going to cash the final check for 550 that I sent her and she is paid back entirely.

I put my other debts on hold except the bare minimum until I paid her first.

my goal is to be debt free by september - I think we can do it now.

I actually have made it a lifestyle to pay off debts, it's great. I never thought I would feel that way.

We'll probally make about 50-60,000 this year, which two years ago would have felt like a million, kid of does today. bought the kids new shoes last week and for the first time in years didn't have to budget them in or do without the rest of the week to do it.

It can be done, I thank god for the opportunity to learn how to do this, and wish it didn't take a boulder to fall on my family to smarten me or my husband up.

Really want a dishwasher, and minivan, but absolutly am not getting one yet - I'll keep washing dishes til I am debt free thank you and as for the minivan, I'll keep loading the three kids into the back of the car until there are no more debts. cramped but no payments to make.

thank you so much for this site, I would have giving up years ago if I hadn't had the information to learn from...Michelle

Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 05-03-2005 - 12:44pm

The debt that I came to this board with is not the same debt that I am working on today, but I am applying the principles that I learned here and tackling this new debt with gusto!


The debt that I am paying off today is debt that I learned about just a couple of weeks after getting married in 2003.

All my best,
Danni

Avatar for mahopac
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-24-1997
Tue, 05-03-2005 - 2:53pm

DH & I have struggled with debt for most of the 13 years we've been parents. There was one lovely month in 2000 when our debt was completely paid off, and then it started building again. After the tech stock crash of 2000, some changes in my industry and company reduced my income in 2002 to just 1/3 of what it had been in 2000, and our lifestyle didn't adjust fast enough. Plus, we had a third child.

We've done 3 significant things:

1. Reduce spending. We really reined in everything we could do and still keep a reasonable standard of living for the kids. I said no to our usual beach vacation because it requires we fork over $1000 during each of the two toughest months of the year for us.

2. Reduce credit card debt. When I decided to take control of the situation 12 months ago, we were up to over $50K in credit card debt, with rates ranging from 13.9% to 27.99%. I got us onto a DMP with CCCS, and now our rates are 5-13.9%. We have reduced our debt by $8000 over the last 10 months. We still have over $40K to go, but if we *just* stick with our plan, we'll be out of CC debt in 4 more years.

3. Increase income. I decided to make a career change within my firm to a higher-paying job with longer hours but far more income potential. I will gross about $12K more this year than last, and next year should be another $16K on top of that. DH went back to work at a camp last summer, with no pay but the kids went free (and it is the best & most expensive day camp in our area). This year he was hired in a much more senior role and will make $3000 on top of the kids going free - not bad for 8 weeks' work.

Our next step is buying a home. We have been renting the same house for 10 years and never had the wherewithal to buy it. Now we are in a situation where we can. I'm hoping that by July 1 - the date that we made our first payment to CCCS - we will be homeowners!

Kelly

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-27-2005
Tue, 05-03-2005 - 6:14pm

I do not know the number i started with, in spring 2002.

It was 25k, for sure, including a payment on a taurus I hated.
I honestly do not know how much i owed.

I cut off everything that could be cut off, I sold everthing that
could be sold.

2 years later, I am at $7400 total debt.

I will be paying cash for a used boxster on ebay in spring 2006.

and i am never going back into debt, i'm gonna smoke the tires at every light LOL

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