Edit 2: I'm feel MUCH better reading all of your comments and talking through it. Thanks again so much! I'm pumped! I'm hopping off of reddit for a bit, so I won't be as responsive anymore. Saving all advice that's helpful!
Edit: Only an hour posted and I've already seen so many helpful comments.
My takeaway:
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Stop spending so much on food and gas
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Cook meals at home and don't eat out
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Don't use tollways unless it's absolutely necessary
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List all services we pay for and see where we can cut some
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Call my bank and make sure the escrow withdrawals match the county tax bills
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Look to special budget and spending programs, such as Dave Ramsey
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Pay the credit cards with high interest more than the 0% interest rate cards
I think we can do this without giving up our home so I'm gonna do as much as I can before considering listing the home or going bankrupt.
I appreciate all of your advice! I'm much more hopeful and am shifting my priorities with credit card debt obliteration as a top one!
When I logged into my mortgage account and saw the increase, I immediately phoned my mortgage servicer to see what happened and it turns out they under-charged us for escrow for the entire first year of our mortgage and now we're making up for the shortage.
I'm used to maintaining a daily budget for family expenses (about 100/day)and this increase in mortgage brings us down to about 60/day which makes me feel very uneasy. We also have over 40k in credit card debt, we both have student loans and are finishing paying my car as well. This pushes us in an even tighter corner and is going to keep me from making additional payments to help pay down our credit card debt. My wife is afraid we may need to consider downsizing, but that's a tough option because houses are sitting on the market for months in our city and area now (DFW, TX).
Without having to consider selling, what would be some of my options to help relieve some of the pressure and drastic change in expenses immediately?
Could I technically contribute a daily amount to my escrow to help relieve the shortage they've described to me?
Is bankruptcy chapter 13 or 7 an option if I'm not too concerned with damaging my credit for a bit? What would these options mean for my mortgage if I want to keep paying the mortgage off and keep my home? Is that even possible with bankruptcy?
Sorry if this seems like a silly problem, I'm just looking for a little bit of guidance as we feel a little lost when we're so used to having our finances in order :/
Submitted March 24, 2019 at 09:11AM by NoMoney_PlzHelp https://ift.tt/2OoucDC
