My wife and I have gotten ourselves into a disaster.
Here is the high level summary:
Average monthly take home from salary: $7,450 (after min matching 401k contribution, health insurance, and taxes)
The debt:
- Fed Student Loans (between spouse and I) - $490/m ($85,500 total)
- Private Student loans (between spouse and I) - $600/m ($41,700 total)
- Private Loans (four) - $1800/m (13% apr) ($54,000 total) (holy fucking shit we fucked ourselves with irresponsibility #1)
- Credit Cards (seven) - $1300 (22%) ($50,000 total) (holy fucking shit we fucked ourselves with irresponsibility #2)
Debt: $231,000, min monthly payments $4,190
- House - $1,250/m (owe $160k, worth $200k)
Debt with house: $391,000, min monthly payments with house $5,440
The bills:
- Electric $200 (average)
- Water $90
- Cell phone $120
- Internet & Cable $190
- Car Insurance $160
- Gas $110
- Food $800 (family of four)
- Auto fuel $40
Total bills: $1,710
Net:
$7,450 - $5,440 - $1,710 = -$300
We're adding to our credit card debt monthly and that assumes no unexpected expenses, co-pays, etc.
I work full time from home. My wife is raising our kids. Our oldest is in grade school our youngest starts kindergarten next year. My wife has a four year degree as do I. I do some moonlighting which brings in about $400/m currently at a rate of $30/hour (not included above in my income total) and I am hoping to expand that to about $1000/m if I can find an additional 2-3 clients to work with nights/evenings. Even with a more robust moonlighting roster we will be adding debt when any 'unexpected' bills come up during the year (car repairs, etc).
What do I do? I know I can work at Target (or the equivalent) for $13/h on nights/weekends. That would bring in about $800/m after taxes I believe. I am actively reaching out to prospects and consider $30/h to be the low end of my rate ($50-75 is my goal). My wife can work half days next year after kid goes to school.
I've sold every toy I own; no gaming systems, hobbies, etc. I only own my laptop for work. My wife has about $2000 of remaining hobby/collection things we are selling. We've been selling off random things for $5-10 at a time as we clear out our basement, find old kid toys, some furniture pieces.
Tell me I'm missing something, there is a strategy to follow, or I am somehow (currently) being stupid/irresponsible. I am all ears and my feelings cannot be hurt.
Edit also we own one small car, paid off, worth about $6k
Submitted September 14, 2019 at 09:18PM by financialdisaster09 https://ift.tt/2I64eTu
