Feeling Hopeless w/Debt

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Registered: 03-26-2003
Feeling Hopeless w/Debt
23
Thu, 08-25-2005 - 3:13pm

Well...i'm so bummed out and still pissed at my husband for the van. He picks it up today. He'll have to charge it because the money we have saved has to be used for the construction on the house.

Our debt looks as follows:

First usa (.99% till 12/05) Balance: $5,114.98
MBNA (0% till 2/06) Balance: $10,777.79
Citibank (12%) Balance: $6,441.13
Timeshare (13%) Balance: $3,831.99
Student Loan (mine-5.05%) Balance: $7,401.15
Student Loan (his-8.25%) Balance: $10,040.64
MBNA (22%) Balance: $2,500.00 (Added today for Van repair) I think I'll focus on paying this one off first.

TOTAL: $46,107.68

Just needed to post. Our debt has been going up instead of decreasing. Feeling very discouraged.

Thanks for reading.

MYM




Edited 8/25/2005 3:17 pm ET ET by mymartes
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-19-2004
Sat, 08-27-2005 - 12:00am

Hey~~ we are about an hour from Pittsburgh, PA!! Not sure about the Poconos, but it's pretty reasonable to build here. The 2 story we want (1750 sq ft with 3 br, 2.5 bath, 2 car garage) runs $123k base price. The property tax will be high though ($5K-$6K)because it's brand new~~ but you know all the PA S.T.O.P. commotion going on ;)

Thanks for the info! We will have city water, bBut I will definately tell DH the other details. I was hoping the builder would have an inspector included ;( Didn't know about the electric either! Can't they pee in the grass?HAHA!!!

Thanks again! NIcki

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-30-2003
Sat, 08-27-2005 - 12:28am

Here's to another knot in your rope...

I, too, have moments of despair like this. When I was just putting together my August snowflake post was certainly one of them. I keep thinking that we sure haven't moved much of the mountain this year, until I was flipping through the notebook that I keep with the snowflake totals. At the start of 2004, we owed $17,319 (probably more, lol) more than we do right this minute. Try and go through your numbers- I *know* you're going to see an improvement!

How about I throw a bunch of cliches at you to help get you excited about it all again? :D

*You eat an elephant one bite at a time.
*We sell crockpots around here, not microwaves.
*You can do this!
*You are NOT your debt.
*Go, Fight, WIN!

*\o/* *\o/* *\o/* <-----all of us on the DSG board cheering you on!

Hang in there-I know it's not fun.

~Lisa

Avatar for mymartes
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Registered: 03-26-2003
Sat, 08-27-2005 - 1:01am

Nicki,
I thought the same w/the portable potties. We also have to pay for the dumpster.

Our cost on the house was $157K. However, when you see the standard stuff, you'll want to upgrade some things. In addition, we changed the floor plan to the basic house. (that increased the cost). We paid for a generator to be installed. During the winter months, power goes out w/the snow storms. Last winter many areas had no light for a month due to an ice storm.

Our house is over 2400 sq. feet. It's a three bedroom, 2 1/2 bathrooms, 2 car garage colonial. I just love it. I know it's all worth it at end. We have over 1 acre lot. There was no way, we would have found this much house and land in New York. The house alone in New York would have easily cost us $500K.

MYM

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Registered: 03-26-2003
Sat, 08-27-2005 - 1:04am

Lisa,
Thanks. You're too funny, girl. LOL

I know it's gone down drastically, since I first came to this board. Our total debt was $60K. $40K was credit cards alone.

It just seems that the total is slowly creeping up.

MYM




Edited 8/27/2005 1:10 am ET ET by mymartes
Avatar for mymartes
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Registered: 03-26-2003
Sat, 08-27-2005 - 1:08am

Nicki,
Forgot to add......the township inspector has to come. Also, the bank has an inspector coming to see construction as well. However, you'll want to hire your own inspector to oversee construction. (He's the one who would be looking out for you.) The bank inspector is for the bank purposes. The township/city (whatiever) is looking that construction is up to code.

MYM

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-19-2004
Sat, 08-27-2005 - 1:09pm

Thanks again~ that's not a bad price for your square footage. We are trying to keep the size down because of the property taxes.($500 a month taxes for 2000sq ft!!We have 2.2 acres) I figure it will be up to $145K with upgrades, excavation, hookups etc....

Our assessor just gave us the name of a township inspector she said we HAD to have. Are you paying for all of those extras out of pocket or did you add an allowance to your loan for expenses? I don't know where we'd pull all of that suprise money from. We don't even know if we should try to sell our house first or stay here during construction~~ but then we wouldn't have a good downpayment and 2 mortgages,..... or have to find a place to live for 6-8 months!!

I'm glad you love your home and yes it will be well worth it at the end!!!! I just have to tell myself that too....;)

Nicki

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Sat, 08-27-2005 - 7:57pm

Hi Mym,

Hope you're feeling better. I can hear your frustration and anger. Boy, it still makes my blood boil when dh does dumb things financially (like the stupid job expenses he's supposed to be reimbursed for, but that it has taken more than a month for him to pay back, and therefore that are accruing interest on our credit card--grrrrrrrr!!!!).

I hope you will talk to him about this, and that he will listen.

Let us know how things pan out. As for getting out of debt--you have worked so hard, and things will get better for you. Just keep plugging, hon. ;)

Many blessings,

Heather

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Registered: 03-26-2003
Sat, 08-27-2005 - 10:45pm

Girl,
We are paying as we go. We do have a construction loan (we are paying the interest on that now). Once construction is finished, the construction loan gets converted into the mortgage. (I think that's how my husband explained it)LOL

We are building in a private, 24hr. secured community. We had to paid county/township taxes already for this year, and now we have to pay school taxes by sept. 30th.

It's alot when you are building a new home from the ground up.

MYM

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-19-2004
Mon, 08-29-2005 - 1:56pm
You do know that Pennsylvania passed a school tax abatement for 2 years to anyone BUILDING a new home?! YOu have to apply with your school administration building from what I hear. That is going to save us around $8k!!! Check into it !!!!!!
Avatar for mymartes
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Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 08-29-2005 - 6:15pm

Thanks for the info. I'll definitely look into it.

MYM