Debt just keeps on growing!! Need help!

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-24-2005
Debt just keeps on growing!! Need help!
11
Wed, 06-22-2005 - 6:27pm

Hello all~


My name is Kim and I am 28

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Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 06-22-2005 - 7:16pm

Hello Kim and thanks for posting.

All my best,
Danni

Avatar for mymartes
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 06-22-2005 - 10:50pm

I want to welcome you to our board.

Danni pretty much summed it all. She has given you great advice/suggestion. At this point, I don't have anything to add. Just wanted to welcome you.

Hang around, this board is great.

MYM

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2005
Thu, 06-23-2005 - 12:45am

Kim,

Welcome. I'm fairly new here, too, and this board is great. The people here are supportive, non-judgmental, but tell it to you straight! It's just what I need. I hope to "see" you here more.

~Denice

Lilypie Baby Pic
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Thu, 06-23-2005 - 8:21am

Danni said it all. She's a wise woman.

I especially want to emphasize the point about your mortgage. You are not alone in having used equity to pay off debts and then ended up back in cc debt again--this is what happens to most people who do that. It's also how a lot of people end up losing their homes, because after a certain point the debt burden becomes too great and they end up unable to pay their mortgages.

As Danni so clearly put it, the only good way to get rid of debt is to pay it off slowly while developing good financial habits. Believe it or not, even people who win lotteries or other large lump-sum monies nearly always end up financially in the same place in a few years--because winning the money doesn't teach them anything about managing it.

I can think of only two things to add:

Track your spending--take a month or two and write down every penny you and/or dh spend, including the quarters you drop in vending machines, etc. You will probably be floored at the amount of money you throw away on things that are essentially meaningless to you. This can be a fairly painless way to "find" extra money in your budget.

Check out a book--Mary Hunt is my favorite debt author. Others on this board love Dave Ramsey, Suze Ormann, Jerold Mundis (and others that I'm missing?). Any of them will help you a great deal in your journey toward personal wealth.

And I second the motion that you will have a FAR easier time of it if you and your dh are on the same page.

Good luck and keep coming here for support.

Blessings,

Heather

Avatar for cl_beckymk
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Thu, 06-23-2005 - 8:29am

I wanted to welcome you to the board.

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-24-2005
Thu, 06-23-2005 - 8:47am

Thank you all for you advice!!


DH and I are on the same page - we both want to get out of debt BUT we both dont want to sacrifice every luxury while doing it.

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Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 06-23-2005 - 10:31am

Hi Kim.

All my best,
Danni

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-24-2005
Thu, 06-23-2005 - 12:40pm

Hi Danni~


My dog is a boxer/yellow lab mix actually.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Thu, 06-23-2005 - 12:58pm

Sounds like you're on the right track. Keep working it, and that debt will gradually go down. I am a big fan of the school that says repaying debt shouldn't necessarily mean putting the rest of your life on hold.

Sometimes, people wait so long to start repaying debt, or they hit extraordinary circumstances, that require them to take extreme measures and they *do* have to put their lives on hold for a bit (we put our lives on hold for about two years until we could finally tread water without the risk of a wave drowning us), but it doesn't sound like your situation is that dire.

Stick around here for lots of encouragement and inspiration.

And I wanted to add that my dh also charges things for work which he then gets reimbursed. I was SO glad when we finally got one of our ccs paid off completely so that we wouldn't be paying interest on his charges each month. Now that that card has a zero balance, he can charge on it, and as long as it's paid off right away, we do not accrue interest.

Sounds like it might be a good idea for you to focus on one small-balance card to get paid all the way off, so you can do that too.

Thanks for joining us. Take care,

Heather

Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 06-23-2005 - 1:14pm

Ahhh - Boxer/Lab.

All my best,
Danni

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