Expenses. I'm paying $420 a month for my car. My student loans are in forbearance until February. They're normally $200 a month.
I work part-time and take care of my two-year-old son. If I worked full-time and put him in daycare, I'd lose half my income. My jobs are on an as-needed basis but I make between $2-400 a week.
I'm married and my spouse pays for the apartment and utilities. He's bad with money and tends to rack up debt unless I handle the finances. I've come home to the power turned off or cell phones being turned off. We've caught up on all of the debts he accrued and I paid off all of my credit card debt.
Unfortunately, the bills were in my name so my credit score dropped from 750 to 515. I've gotten it back up to 600. I do not have any credit cards at the moment and was trying to hold off on getting one until I got my overall debt to less than $30,000.
There's $3,000 in savings. It's meant for my son and any incidentals he needs. I try not to spend the money unless it's an emergency, like my car breaking down.
Making about $1000 a month, I pay for my car, gas, groceries, cell phone, and put money into savings here and there. I never have enough to pay extra on my car loan.
What should I be doing to help pay off my $20,000 car loan and $30,000 student loan?
When I call about refinancing, different people offer me different amounts. The car loan they can't do anything about. The student loan payments I can get as low as $180 or as high as $300. It usually depends on the representative I'm speaking with.
To answer a few commonly asked questions:
I work in childcare and need to transport kids in my car throughout the week to activities. This requires having a larger car that can fit multiple car seats. Furthermore, my spouse and I share one car. This prevents us from selling it.
The area I live in is not terribly affordable but it's where we work and live. Daycares average $2,000 a month. There are no family or friends available to watch our son for an affordable price.
I also do housekeeping and pet sitting. My son comes along when I'm watching kids if his father isn't available to watch him. I don't bring him along when I'm housekeeping because he's young and doesn't understand how to be gentle with things.
As for my spouse, he doesn't believe in scrounging and saving like I do. He feels if he earns his money and pays his bills, he should spend the rest as he chooses. I don't agree with this philosophy but trying to see eye-to-eye on the subject leads to arguments. Initially, we did share expenses but that led to frustration. Now, we share some expenses while we divide others.
Submitted August 20, 2018 at 09:12AM by tactfulvulture https://ift.tt/2nQVZAd
