Tuesday Thoughts?

Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tuesday Thoughts?
18
Tue, 02-28-2006 - 9:55am

It's Tuesday - hopefully we're all mostly off to a great start this week - so here are some questions to get your money thoughts flowing.


1.

All my best,
Danni

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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-25-2003
Tue, 02-28-2006 - 5:41pm

I didn't have a magic number - I think it was when I realized that I HAD to work 2 jobs to keep everything current.

Our debt has gone up - we have added student loans, as well as added cc debt due to our wedding and a couple of trips. After this second trip is over, there will be no more charging.

I don't think I will ever be comfortable again with any amount of debt. I need it to go down to zero.

I think I just have to remember that 10 years from now I will not be sitting here still in 30,000 worth of debt.

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-17-2006
Tue, 02-28-2006 - 5:44pm

My threshold for indebtedness was when my cc bill was teetering at the 12k point. I had kept vowing it would never get above 2K, then 5 and then 10...

I needed a reality check. I needed to put some limits on us and on ME since I'm the one entrusted with the family finances.

Even with an unexpected emergency ( what the cc was INTENDED for ) I managed to squeek us under the 11k mark this week and pay off a medical bill I forgot was coming for another 270.00. YAY!

We still have a mortgage, but thats not a big emergency, its way cheaper than what most pay for rent and the interest is at 5.5 or thereabouts. It would be great to wipe that clean, since we did have it payed off at one point, but one step at a time!

I'm even saving up change to put toward the cc bill and any weekly allowance "leftovers", go back in the bank to pay off the cc until its GONE!

JDH

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-07-2003
Tue, 02-28-2006 - 7:13pm

1.

Pumpkin

&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Tue, 02-28-2006 - 7:42pm

No magic number for me. I knew we were getting in deep just didn't realize how much so as soon as I had my son (part of the debt was the medical costs associated with gestational diabetes and I really focused on staying healthy and not on money for a while) we pulled in and refocused.

I'm at right around 43,000 right now. What is so scary for me is how much of this was accumulated in about 9 months. Seriously, April 2003 we had a car loan of about 15,000 and 1 student loan for 8,000. By January 2004 when I took stock we still had the car loan, had a second mortgage (started at about 20,000), a mortgage, CC debt of 12,000, I had a student loan of 5,000 and DH had a student loan for 5,000. We also had another child, a house, and a completely remodeled bedroom.

Despite running up all the debt I don't think I ever thought of myself as having a high threshold.

Taleyna

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-06-2003
Tue, 02-28-2006 - 8:22pm

I too would say that I don't have a set number...I actually become debt free on this board in June 2004 for the first time, and that feeling was amazing.
Then my former husband and I bought our first house and bit by bit, we ended up with nearly $12K in debt!
I took on the debt instead of splitting it with the STBX in order to not pay out any equity...not like there was anything much built up less than one year into the mortgage.

I'm just under $11500.00. It's much slower paying off the debt this time since it just my income and I have to pay all my living expenses for myself. But I will pay it off, that I am motivated to do!

I really hate cc debt and after I've paid it off, I hope to never have the need or lack of resources to ever get into this situation again. For me there is no "comfort" level with debt.

Kassandra

Kassandra

"It is said that life has its peaks and valleys.  The challenge is to accept them equally and experience them

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-05-2004
Tue, 02-28-2006 - 8:38pm

My magic number was 10K. My balance had been higher than that at several points in the past few years, but it was at 10K when my husband found out about it, and I finally stopped hiding things and keeping the stress all bottled up.

My current credit card balance is 5,700K, and that is my new threshold. LOL! I couldn't wait to see my balance that low, and not one day after I saw it online, I thought to myself, "Uh-Uh...No way....I've got to do something about that balance to get it lower". LOL! I suppose that each new, hopefully lower, balance will become my threshold until my debt is completely gone. :-D

Pat :-D

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-12-2004
Wed, 03-01-2006 - 2:38am
Hi, Danni--Good question. I dont think there really is a "magic number" or threshold. I think it depends on your risk tolerance, naivette, lack of awareness of financial matters, the siren song of advertisements for cc's, and perhaps an unfortunate series of events--i.e., unexpected medical bills, outrageous interest rates, tax bills, layoffs, etc. I think the clincher was over $60 in debt (at least), not counting taxes, medical bills, mortgage, etc. That was enough. Even $500 is enough madness. It makes me think about selling the house and moving into a condo or cheaper area, so that we can get out of the debt (mortgage debt) faster. 2) Debt is now about $30K, (combined), BUT there are no more back taxes, etc. 3) Magic number? For me, it has to be less than $5-10K (not counting mortgage). Usually, there is some kind of (medical) debt. Whiz.
Avatar for endomagazine
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-09-2004
Wed, 03-01-2006 - 6:50pm

Hello,

I became aware of our debt when we bought our first house five years ago. The mortgage payment has always "bothered" me, because it takes such a chunk out of our income. We did pay off our credit cards (but not car loan & student loan) before we bought the house, but our credit card debt crept back again. It was so easy to purchase furniture and pay it off slowly. My DH's income grew, so I was sending twice the minimum on these purchases, but still not paying it off quickly enough. Three years ago I took over all of the household finances, which made paying off debt easier. I set up a budget, which we hadn't had. I've posted on this board for about a year.

The magic number was $108,000 mortgage and $41,000 in credit card debt, car loans, and student loans. Now we have an $88,000 mortgage and $36,000 in credit card debt. I focused on paying down the mortgage for a long time before realizing that our credit cards were growing over time. One day, a minimum payment check bounced and I paid an overdraft fee. That day, I made a commitment that we weren't going to live paycheck to paycheck. I began paying down our debt.

We have paid off our car loan, paid off our student loan, and paid down $12000 on our mortgage since 2004. Now, the credit card debt, which goes up and down depending on our income, will be gone and stay gone in 2 years or less.

My parents wonder why I'm "worrying" about the mortgage and bills so much. I'm not worrying.. I'm planning how to get rid of them! We can pay our bills. That's not the issue here. I want to have fewer bills!

Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke

Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke

Geeks on Tap: Mission Accomplished

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