Hi friend ❤ new subbie here! I know it’s so hard to be so vulnerable especially about debt. We are here to support you. I completely understand the feeling you’re feeling specially with a bunch of different debts. Also have to agree attorneys are so expensive. Had to learn that the hard way at the beginning of last year. Can’t wait to finish paying it off. Excited to watch your journey!
I retired at 35 years old last year 2023. I drop out of college in 2008 without any student loans debt. Most of my job I have pay minimum wage. I rather have a job pay low wages rather than $240k student loans debt because it make me sleep better every day.
Our windshields and tires have cost a lot thos last year too. Im gonna add a date night to our budget too. Weve never done that but it sounds fun and we can finally afford ot since we're not in debt and house paid off. Im shocked by big spenders like y'all but its very interesting and makes me think we can afford to spoil ourselves more than we do. We tend to be jn the opposite extreme and savedvup coolege funds for 3 kids way in advance. Not saying you are bad for not having that yet. You have a baby! I think you can do that though with your better income now. Love your honesty even if it shocks some people online to hear the high spending.
Mo for family fun have you tried to find some free things to do? Also we have a Sam’s Club Plus membership and for every $500 we spend we get $10 back to use on purchases or to help pay for renewal of our membership
Kudos I use a printable calendar and write down each paycheck when we are paid and then I write down when each bill is due. It lets me know when something is due no surprises. You are doing great
Hi my hubby and I have both have new iPhones every due date witch is on the 22nd I go and pay an extra $15 on each phone on top of the bill it adds up quickly
You would be money ahead to pay off the @2k on the airline 0% interest over the phone bills; ypu will be charged the full interest on the entire amount if you dont pay on time. You would be money ahead paying down any of the interest bearing accounts. You would gain good will paying off one of the $500-$600 personal or family loans over date nights, $200/ month gas station foods, $600/ month eating out, paying off Iphones, and so on. Remember Dave Ramsey's snowball method does not take interest into account. It is about gaining enough cashflow to be able to pay off debt, gaining psychological support for stsyingbwithin budget znd paying off debt, changing spending priorities such that paying off debt and staying out debt is possible.
A number of things food and grocery happened in 2020 as restaurants of all types shut down. Many people complained about the increases to thier grocery volumes and also costs. Dont stress the extra @$18 spent on groceries because it was off set by @$550 in eating out. But, do try to hone 5ge grocery spending down over the next couple of months.
The first budgets are more often than not pretty loosey goosey as you figure out what you are actually spending, remember or are reminded of forgotten items, or as in the subscriptions look at some of the budget line items and ask yoir self "what in the world!". Of course as you hone the budget into some level of predictable smoothness, life hapoems, the bill profile changes, etc..
Off camera, i would love for you to use one of the assorted free budgeting sheets (or create one) to list all your original subscriptions. BUT i would love you to use a form that will enable the addition of s7bscriptions you forgot; they seem to pop up once per quarter, biannually, annually, or because you simply forgot. Of course you want the cost and also the frequency. You want to be able to add up the monthly cost. And because you are in the process of reviewing, assessing, and cancelling subscriptions you need to determine how you will indicate this; a straight line through a line item woks pretty effectively. You might even want to keep,a soread sheet fike ormoage dedicated tomsubscriotiins which you can update monthly for a while. It can take 1 to 3 months to actually get out of paying for a subscription and hence the monthly updates for a while.
In the world of budgeting, the terms are "budget" or "projections" for your estimated costs and allocations. Then you hace "actuals" for the amount actually spent.
Have you called your health insurrance company to find out if they cover ambulance rides? Often ambulance companies dont bother tomfike a health indurrance claim and rather, bill the patient directly. If ypunare fovered, some insurrance companies will reach out to the ambulance company directly. Else, with paperwork will reimburse you. As if it isnt complicated enough, sometimes they will pay a claim 9nnthe remaining balance directly, assess what you actually owe, and pay younthe difference based upon what ypuvecalready paid. If you haventvzlready, check with your insurrance company.
It is VERY common for the types of "inaccuracies" you found when writing the first debt confession. Off camera, go back to the sheet in this video to add comments documenting the oddities in the numbers such as "1st bal after Feb pymnt".
PLEASE as the year goes on, add the paid dates on your original debt confession work sheet. Then, when you do a year end (after Dec '24 payments) or a 1 year (@Feb '25) begin with the 1st debt confession sheet from Feb '24. If it were me at the end of this first year, I would create 2 seperate work sheets. The first work sheet dedicated to the debt fully paid off. If the @$128k student loan payment doesnt completely kick your budget to rice and beans 7 days a week, i expect to see a number of debts completely paid off during the 2024 because you have a number of smaller debts. The second work sheet with only the remaining active debt accounts at the time the work sheet is created. I happen to like the format of the sheet you selected for your first debt confession to be used as an annual debt summary of the debt going foreward. With its paid column, it enables a quick and easy update during the year too; simply write the date paid off date in when it occurrs. I suspect that you will be able to pay off enough individual accounts in 2025 to count too.
Once you feel comfortable, consider adding a car maintenance sinking fund for oil changes, new tires, any unexpected issues like a new windshield. I was on vacation in Hilton Head and this happened to me, i thought we got shot! So scary! I had enough in my car maintenance S.F. to cover the cost. I put $40 a month, it adds up fast
