Haven't posted in awhile... update....

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-07-2003
Haven't posted in awhile... update....
4
Thu, 11-03-2005 - 11:57am

I haven't been around for awhile, so I thought I'd pop in to say hi. :)

In September I officially paid off my Visa - the one that fueled my compulsive spending problem and was maxed at $5500 with a 19.5% interest rate for about one and a half years straight. In early 2003 my BF offered to carry my then balance of $4800 on his own low interest PLC to save that interest that was killing me, and $200/month later, it's finally gone. :)

Now I am piggy-backing the Visa payment onto my smallest student loan, which started at $5000 back in 1996, and is now down to $1400. At $300 a month, it will be gone by February. Yeah! Then it's going to be $500 a month all onto my biggest debt - the $16,000 government student loan. If all goes well, I'll be debt-free by early 2009. Sounds far away, but hey, it's already almost 2006!

As for some other news... I'm engaged! The wedding is set for September 30th, 2006. We are unfortunately paying for this ourselves, as neither of our families are in any position to help us. But we are keeping everyhting small, and we are not putting ANYTHING on credit. Nor am I taking away from my steady $500 per month debt payments. We are having only 45 guests, and are doing a simple lunch reception at $18.95 per person rather than an all out dinner and dance. No limo, no DJ, no fresh flowers (silk is fine with me), no video, and no honeymoon. But I am honestly okay with all that - showing people how much money I have (or don't have) is not my reason for getting married. :)



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Registered: 12-05-2004
Thu, 11-03-2005 - 12:14pm

Your small wedding sounds a lot like ours. I had one attendant, so I told her what color the wedding was going to be (red/white for Christmas), and just told her to buy a dress that she would wear again. I didn't want her to get stuck with something just hanging in her closet for years and waste money on it. So she picked a beautiful red gown that she planned to shorten later to go out dancing with her husband. It was perfect! We asked family members to bring their cameras and camcorders and they did. We have a beautiful album of pictures and a Wedding Video that cost us nothing. Our reception was held in my parent's home, and other than the small $40 wedding cake, everything was made by my Mom, myself, and one of her neighbors. My Mom and I made the cold dishes the day before the wedding, and her neighbor made the hot dishes the day of the wedding and brought them into my parent's home before we arrived for the reception, so everything was waiting for us. Very inexpensive. :-D

We had 2-liters of soda for drinking (which we'd stocked up on during sales in the weeks before), and we only had a few bottles of champagne (just a $3.99 bottle type), and we only filled the little plastic champagne glasses with enough to make a toast. It saved us oodles of money. :-D

When we left the reception, we didn't go on a honeymoon. We just drove over to the next town to our new apartment, quickly took all the decorations off the car, and that was it. We picked up the wedding gifts at my parents' house the next day, and by Monday, we were back at our jobs and going on with our lives together. :-D

I wish you the best in your marriage! It sounds like you will have a huge amount of your debt paid off by then. :-D

Pat :-D

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-07-2005
Thu, 11-03-2005 - 12:29pm

Hooray for you! Congratulations on the wedding! We did about the same thing! We went to Vegas! Wedding was $300 with a video. Silk flowers, 2 attendants, cheap simple and tons of fun! I've always said that my wedding day wasn't my most important day, it's the next day that's the most important. Because planning a wedding is easy compared to planning a marriage!

Good Luck!

Michelle

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 11-03-2005 - 1:15pm

Congrats on all fronts!


DH and I got married in Vegas, and we had a beautiful wedding with 21 guests in a gorgeous garden.

All my best,
Danni

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-12-2004
Thu, 11-03-2005 - 1:43pm
Hi, unicorn21. Congrats on your wedding plans and keeping it simple and memorable, and inexpensive. When DH & I got married, we had an outdoor wedding at a local landmark that had a buffet-style luncheon at the restaurant. Since DH has large family, they had to fly out, get hotels, etc. Same with my family. We didnt spend much, as we didnt have a lot of $$$$, and we had to pay for everything. Sooo... 1) Friend who had design business made my dress and veil. 2) DH friend did the photography/video thing. 3) Bridesmaids all wore semi-formal dresses, same color, style of their choosing. 4) Contacted local college for string quartet to play wedding march. Fabulous music! 5) Another friend who did cake decorating on the side made my cake. Looked professional. 6) Mary Kay consultant friend did my make-up and hair. 7) Got flowers at a discount. 8) Went to a party-city type place and made up the wedding favors ourselves. They have everything there----nuts, candy, cake toppers, etc. 9) Splurged on jazz band and Mexico honeymoon. It can be done on a shoestring budget. Whiz.