Hi everyone thanks for reading. I'll try to keep this non-personal but I'm a bit shaken because my family's future just changed a lot. Here's a run down of the debt my wife is dealing with:
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Her debt:
~100k in student loans. Mostly federal so they cannot be bankrupted.
~20k in credit card debt.
~10k in car loan
My debt:
~4k in auto loan
~6k in student loan
Credit cards are used for rewards and are paid in full every period.
Our debt:
~170k house payment. It's worth about ~200k so there's some equity.
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A year ago my wife and I had a serious talk about finances. We created a mint account where all our information could be seen in one place. After seeing what we were up against she said she would take extra shifts to start paying down the debt. She took the extra shifts and I assumed everything was going alright.
Today she told me that she's accumulated more credit card debt and she's closer to 30k in the hole now.
Here's a link to the spreadsheet I created to try and wrap my head around everything. It's emotional around here so there's still some information I need:
My plan is as follows:
- Avalanche method
- I signed up for 3 credit cards. They all have zero balance transfer fees and 0% APR for 15 months. We might be able to swing 15k onto those cards. The plan is to only transfer what we can realistically throw at it in a year's time.
- We're calling credit card companies to re-negotiate rates for cards that don't get transferred.
- Possibly renegotiating her car payment, not sure.
- Using unbury.us to keep our ideas realistic.
| Expense | Amount Due | Balance Owed |
|---|---|---|
| Mortgage/Escrow | 1810 | 170000 |
| Groceries (150/week) | 600-700 | - |
| Auto Gas | 60-80 | - |
| My car payment | 215 | 4000 |
| Her car payment | 240 | 10000 |
| Her student loan A | 250 | 57437 |
| Her student loan B | 165 | 21218 |
| Her student loan C | 150 | 34123 |
| Her student loan D | 358 | Payments done AUG 2020 |
| Auto/Home insurance | 120 | |
| Garbage | 75 | |
| Water | 75 | |
| Verizon | 165 (3 phones) | |
| Natural Gas | 80 | |
| Electric | 80 | |
| Comcast | 45 | |
| Martial Arts for son | 110 | |
| Lunch money | 40 | |
| Netflix | 15 | |
| Hulu | 10 | |
| Medication | 30 | |
| My student loans | 125 | |
| Trumpet rental for son | 25 | |
| Daycare for daughter | 1000 | |
| Guitar for son | 100 | |
| Gymnastics for daughter | 55 | |
| Hair cuts | 50 | |
| Road Tolls | 80 | |
| XBOX live | 10 | |
| Amazon monthly cost | 41 | |
| Total going out | ~$6850.00 |
| Her monthly income (Nurse) | $3800 (after insurance) |
|---|---|
| My monthly income (Teacher) | $2600 |
| Incoming monthly child support for son | $800 |
| Total coming in | ~$7200.00 |
| My savings | 5000 |
| Her savings | 100 |
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I'm sorry if this is too much information, I'm dealing with a lot of feelings right now and want to keep a level head so I can preserve my family's future. I know there are many expenses that we can let go of, but I wanted to give you the full picture since this is all so fresh to me. I'm looking for ideas to start making headway on the credit card debt.
We live in Illinois. If you need any other information please let me know. Thank you for your time, it means the world that you're taking time out of your day to read this.
Submitted July 13, 2019 at 10:44PM by FlushingMoney1985 https://ift.tt/2jODuho
