Hi, newbie here. I've made some financial mistakes that are and will cost DW and I greatly in the form of credit card debt but let's leave the past behind. Looking ahead, DW and I are committed to tackling this debt and said we will never be in this situation again. We've made great strides in reducing our overall monthly expenses to really only what we need recently, so I am happy with this. DW started working again part-time and it will accelerate the debt payments.
We are taking this one paycheck at a time and are trying to remember it's not a sprint but a marathon.
With that said, the following payments went through this week from our most recent paycheck:
CC #5 - $1000
CC #6 - $68 Min Payment
CC #1 - $64 Min Payment
CC #8 - $400 payment
Total - $1532
Newbie here
December 22nd, 2016 at 08:15 am
December 22nd, 2016 at 09:25 am 1482398700
December 22nd, 2016 at 12:01 pm 1482408061
December 22nd, 2016 at 12:05 pm 1482408345
December 22nd, 2016 at 01:36 pm 1482413765
You might consider looking for another 0% card to transfer some of those balances too. It's great that you have one already!
A lot of us here use YNAB for budgeting. It does cost $50 a year, but there are lots of free classes, and great customer support.
I'm looking forward to cheering you on!
December 22nd, 2016 at 03:30 pm 1482420603
December 22nd, 2016 at 04:57 pm 1482425840
Sunday is our most relaxed day, so it was designated for the most time consuming meal, often roasting some type of meat and baking a treat. Finally, we reviewed the food at hand in pantry/cupboard, fridge & freezer to use what's at hand.
The research says, you will reduce food costs nearly by half if you eat at home and take leftovers for lunch at work. We wanted to free up money to add to paying down debt faster. Our pact was to limit eating out to truly special, celebratory events. No quick take-away, that's full of fat, sugar, and unpronounceable chemicals. Since restaurant here jack up prices and treat people cattle-like New Years, Valentines, St Patrick, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Tourist season, Anniversary etc. we've chosen to make our dinner out celebratory plans one week in advance of those holidays. While our friends are waiting to be seated in overcrowded restaurants, with poor service, we're off enjoying an activity or experience which is much more fun.
Each time you think of a favorite, add it to the list. I used to buy lovely, expensive, mostly imported fresh vegetable each shopping expedition and threw out meal leftovers and eventually the excess that went limp and remained ignored. I know frozen vegetables have a long shelf life and are easier to portion and remain just as nutricious.
December 22nd, 2016 at 08:03 pm 1482436994
By the way, you didn't add a rate to the credit card #8.
December 22nd, 2016 at 10:52 pm 1482447140
December 23rd, 2016 at 12:05 am 1482451512
1. CC #3 with the $709 balance will be paid off when I get reimbursed for business expenses for work related travel. I will see the reimbursement on my next paycheck.
2. Agreed on the interest rates and I just got an email that one of my credit cards went up by a quarter of a percent. Yikes! This is to be expected with the fed rate increase, which is why we are on the accelerated path.
3. I do have a budget and using Mint.com over the last many months has helped me identify where our money was going and where we could cut. We cut cable/tv, have limited our eating out habits, make coffee at home with the costco size coffee bag rather than buy coffee, changed mobile phone provider's for a good but cheap plan ( I need good coverage when I travel for work plus I get $100 monthly reimbursement from work) and other little things here and there. We even cut Netflix and opted for Kodi and haven't seen a movie theater in months.
December 23rd, 2016 at 12:31 am 1482453060
December 23rd, 2016 at 02:26 am 1482459985
December 23rd, 2016 at 02:55 pm 1482504918
December 24th, 2016 at 08:34 pm 1482611657