Here's a little more of an introduction than the Autor Info area to your right.
My name is Casey a.k.a. MunkyButt. I'm 19 years old, and I'm engaged. Me and my fiance (Stephanie) have been living together since May of 2006 and have acquired some credit card debt. We live with room mates in a house we really can't afford. And we have 3 dogs.
The reason I'm here
I'm here to A. Get advice from others and B. Help others in what I've found out/learned. I'm going to try to update everyday, but that may change.
Credit Card No. 1
Capitol One
I owe them around $150. I've had the account balance down like $5, but I forgot to pay it one month, and didn't have the money other months. This one is going to be the easiest to pay off.
Credit Card No. 2
Orcard Bank Master Card
I just recently got this card to help out with Stephanie's two credit cards. Low limit so it'll be easier to pay off. I owe them right at $300.
Those are the two cards that I have in my name, but this is a joint thing so here are Stephanie's cards
Credit Card No. 3
Wal-Mart
This is a store card. And what a store to get credit for! Lol. Ok she/we owe right at $1000 on this card. This one is gong to take us the longest to pay off, because of the amount owed and our jobs.
Credit Card No. 4
Chase Student Visa
She/we owe $500 on this card. And it's going to keep going up until we can come up with $250 to pay the min. payment (yes we've let it get that far behind).
My plan to get out of this mess
So far we've managed to pay off 4 credit cards (you read that right, we had 8). Now time for the last four. My goal is to have all of these payed off by April of 2008. Unreachable goal? I hope not. Pluse in all of this were trying to save up for a down payment on a mobile home, and save up for a wedding, yeah lots to do in a little less than 6 months time.
So now you have the gist of my current situation...Well, no you don't, I forgot the cell phone, $900 owed to T-Mobile, because someone likes to text, not gonna name names *caugh*Stephanie*caugh*.
Now...I've hit a bump in the road, I/we have a grand total of about $2,900 worth of debt. I've given us right at 6 months to get this paid off. I make about $1,100 a month and she makes right at $1,000. Wow, our debt is more than we make a month combined...that sucks. Oh yeah, back to the bump in the road.
I DON'T KNOW HOW TO FIX THIS!!!
Here we go.
October 13th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
October 13th, 2007 at 01:08 pm 1192280939
October 13th, 2007 at 02:57 pm 1192287477
It sounds like you have made some good progress so far, paying off 4 cards already.
It's good that you have made up a list of exactly what you owe.
To pay off the remaining cards, you will need money, and that will mean increasing your income and/or cutting your expenses.
The cutting expenses part can be done more immediately. If you aren't already doing it, start keeping track of every penny the both of you spend. Once you have done that for a month or so, start seriously looking at where you can cut back. Create a budget if you haven't already done it. Be sure to involve Stephanie in the process; it won't work if it is one-sided, it has to be a plan you both agree on. [For example: You can't just say "no more texting" but perhaps you two could agree on whether you would cut out texting or cut the cable, just for example.]
Then, think about ways you could increase your income, whether by doing a great job at work and earning a raise, or by working extra shifts, or by taking a 2nd part-time job.
My 3rd piece of advice would be to add an Emergency Fund to your list of goals. My personal opinion is that having an EF is more important than paying for a wedding or buying a house.
Good luck to you and be sure to keep us posted, ask for suggestions, and share what you have learned!
October 13th, 2007 at 08:45 pm 1192308338
Thanks
October 13th, 2007 at 10:57 pm 1192316238
October 14th, 2007 at 01:52 pm 1192369966
October 14th, 2007 at 05:37 pm 1192383457
October 18th, 2007 at 02:38 am 1192675085
Heres the sad part. We have a family of 5, two dogs, a cat, a mortgage on a lovely 4bedroom 2 bath home in the burbs and a car payment. And my husbands monthly income is around the same as you and your fiance have!