In 2018 I finally got a job paying a living wage.
Currently making 60k living in Chicago with my fiancee and a roommate
I had a real rough time in my teens to mid 20s in terms of life and finances, and racked up a ton of unpaid bills.
Now that I have finally gotten back on my feet and am doing pretty well in life and work I want to tackle my problems around money in 2019.
I just went through any and all old bills I had and current credit reports to get an idea of where I stand.
It's a mess plain and simple.
It's a ton of medical debt and bills that went unpaid. No Credit debt.
My rough total is about 64k. One of those is a huge medical bill that is 38k. I have already submitted the paperwork for financial assistance for this
Id say personal debts (to actual people) is around 3k
Everything else is medical, unpaid cell phone/cable/internet, and a couple big things (unpaid rent from an eviction 9 years ago and a few others things)
I'm terrible with money; I know I am. I want to do better. I want to break the cycle of where I come from and pay my obligations. It's hard to know where to begin, and it's all very confusing to be honest.
For instance, the original thing that prompted me to post this was I have all these debts, but I only have 5500 that shows on my credit report.
What happens to all these other debts?
I have a million and 1 other questions. I'm trying to build the 1k in savings that Dave Ramsey talks about, and then start to snowball the debts, but I don't know which ones to focus on, and to be frank am fearful to do it.
Any help would be appreciated greatly. I really want to change my life around money as it's been one of my biggest causes of anxiety and stress. I make more money than ever, but still live less than paycheck to paycheck.
I see the posts about people maxing out 401ks and IRAs and I can't even fathom getting to that place.
Thanks for helping to motivate me to change my life around money.
Tl;Dr I am terrible with money, and made a huge mess of my life in the past. Trying to clean it up
Submitted January 06, 2019 at 12:00AM by thedelorean89 http://bit.ly/2VzUhmr
