At the end of the rope...what now?

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-11-2004
At the end of the rope...what now?
3
Thu, 09-08-2005 - 12:19pm

Is there a better way to do things?

DH and I are in so much debt. Every dime we make goes to bills and living expenses. We don't have any play money. When something comes up unexpected, like a doctor bill, shoes or clothes, etc. I freak out! All the articles you read about cutting corners here and there don't help us, because we are stretched to the brink with BILLS, not fun. Our income isn't going up and our debt isn't going down. We can only make minimums on everything.

I've read Dave Ramsey's books and I LOVE his ideas! But nothing I do seems to work. I get monthly bonuses, but they always get eaten up with an unexpected expense. I'm getting a $900 bonus (a pretty big one) at the end of next month. Well I just got 2 $400 hospital and doctor bills for a procedure I had last month that I wasn't expecting to pay nearly that much for! My student loan consolidation is about to come through - another $200 a month we're going to have to find somewhere.

The thing is, we're not late on our bills, we pay things on time (or at least within a couple of days) but when things are paid, there is literally NOTHING left. Meaning, if we have an unexpected expense at any time, we're in big trouble! I'm so frustrated! We've been paying minimums for the last 2 or 3 years and we are still up to our ears!! We just can't afford to pay any more! Our minimal savings has just been eaten up by bills I wasn't expecting.

We can't file bankruptcy. I know that's a bad choice for so many reasons and we're not even considering it as an option. Would credit counseling/debt consolidation even do any good? Would it look bad on our credit? It's not bad now, just full.

I just don't know what to do!

Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 09-08-2005 - 12:29pm

Budgeting is a function of money in, money out.

All my best,
Danni

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-11-2004
Thu, 09-08-2005 - 12:37pm

Thank you for the suggestion. I have thought about getting a second job and I realize that this would be the right time of the year to do it. One reason that is holding me back is that we have a 19 month old. I have been struggling lately being away from him so much working full time as it is.

The main reason is that DH can get unlimited over time at $15 an hour if he stays later at his 8-5. If I got a second job he would have to leave at 5 in order to get DS from sitter on time and there's no way I would make what he could at a second job. The other problem is that we are counting on at least a few hours of overtime a week just to make ends meet now, not to make a dent in debt. He's about to start a new school year for his bachelor's too, yikes.

You made a good point, however. The money in is going to *have* to increase. I have a meticulous budget (I have to!) and I have become a grocery shopping wizard =).

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-10-2003
Thu, 09-08-2005 - 1:30pm
The other thing you have to do is stop accumulating new debt. I know this is easier said than done. It took some pretty drastic measures and more than a year of effort before we could change this. Gradually you need to build up an emergency fund that you can access for those unexpected expenses. It took me saving $ 20-50 dollar/ paycheck for more than a year to gain this freedom. I would also encourage you to look into student aid, are there bursaries that you husband would qualify for???? That may be a way to increase your income.