We have around $7000 (mixed CAD and USD) from two sources: $4000 on a US credit card that I have had since I was 18, and $3000 on a Canadian line of credit. We make regular monthly payments above the minimum on both of them. We have three months of living expenses in savings right now. I am unemployed and my husband is the primary wage earner. He is stably employed, there is no chance he will lose his job.
Most of the debt has come from travel back to North America to visit our families (we live in Sweden). We could actually pay the debt off completely if we wanted to empty our savings. I have very good credit and his is improving.
He will have a new job back in Canada starting in the fall. In his current job, we have not been able to travel much in Europe since we moved here — he is always working late and can’t spare the time. He is very stressed out and definitely burning out at his job and needs a holiday before he starts his new job, but I feel really nervous about piling more credit card debt (for travel and holiday expenses) on old credit card debt. He also grew up poor, so talking about money and budgeting is incredibly hard for him. He is well paid, and if we prioritized paying off the debt, with his new job we could do it in a couple of months. However, the relocation allowance we get for his new job is reimbursed; that is, we have to put up the money up front and we get it back after he starts work. The credit card has a limit of $20,000 and the line of credit is $10,000.
What should we do? What are some ways to budget for travel and holiday where I won’t feel stressed about not paying off the debt? Should we just plop the savings into the debt and have done with it? Any other ideas I haven’t considered?
ETA: we have a 3 year old kid, also
Submitted May 24, 2018 at 07:53AM by safadancer https://ift.tt/2IXXKIj
