Chipper me up

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-02-2008
Chipper me up
5
Mon, 08-04-2008 - 5:47pm

So I got my first paycheck from my second job that I took (I worked again last night actually!) and it was $38 and change.


For some background on me I was hiding debt from my DH and taking this second job gave me a great sense of pride to know that I was making steps to change our debt and help rebuild the trust in our marriage. I wanted to make sure that all income from my second job got chunked to our c/c debt.


My dh told me that he thinks we should really re-build our e-fund. Right now its about $350 and I agree but I'm sorta bummed that my $$ won't go towards the c/c right now. I know that's dumb b/c the $38 IS going towards something completely necessary but still.............

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-14-2008
In reply to: beepsmomx2
Mon, 08-04-2008 - 7:35pm
By building up your e-fund, you will prevent yourself from using your CC in the future. I know I really need to build an e-fund. I won't go into circumstances here, but I am choosing to pay down my credit cards before I do an e-fund. I do have some money in GICs that I could cash out if necessary, but I would loose the interest. I would much rather have some plain old cash on hand as an e-fund. Therefore, I feel like I am doing stuff a bit backwards. By building up your e-fund you are taking control. And for that I congratulate you, and you should congratulate yourself!





iVillage Member
Registered: 12-04-2006
In reply to: beepsmomx2
Tue, 08-05-2008 - 2:19am
Would your DH be willing to split the earnings from your second job? That way you could be putting money toward your credit card (and feeling like you are making progress) and also building the emergency fund too.
Lyn

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2006
In reply to: beepsmomx2
Tue, 08-05-2008 - 11:50am

Good job!

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-25-2003
In reply to: beepsmomx2
Tue, 08-05-2008 - 1:10pm

I think it's great that you've gotten a second job. This will build up your savings and bring down your cc balances nice and steadily. I hope you don't make the same mistake that I did - I took on extra work to pay down debt, and somehow that money disappeared into our day-to-day needs.

Maybe you can compromise on the e-fund vs. cc debt goals. For example, one paycheque could go to the efund, and the next as an extra payment to the cc. I agree that an e-fund is important, but it's hard, especially at the beginning, to focus on it when you can see your cc balance and you just want to attack it. It does help to have an efund though, because it's even more demoralizing to have to put something on your card when you've just gone to all of the effort of paying a bunch off, and then suddenly you need several hundred dollars in car repairs.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2005
In reply to: beepsmomx2
Tue, 08-05-2008 - 2:48pm

Think of the E fund rebuilding as your insurance policy against adding to the balance on the cc.