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Need some gameplan advice for paying down my debt

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Gunnar419
Valued Contributor

Re: Need some gameplan advice for paying down my debt

I hadn't see the Thanksgiving thread when I posted above. While I still think there's absolutely no harm (and maybe plenty of good) in occasional self-indulgence with a credit card, I have to agree, LS: you've got a problem to overcome. Been there, done that. Best of luck on both the impulse control and getting the debts down.

 

Thank heaven for the wise & supportive MyFico family.

Message 51 of 91
LS2982
Mega Contributor

Re: Need some gameplan advice for paying down my debt

Went from being confident to just down in the dumps and depressed about it. Makes you feel like a failure at times.

Not gonna let this beat me, I had my fun now I have to do the right thing and pay it back which I have absolutely no problem doing. I had a problem. My solution now is to take pride in seeing this big number down slowly and slowly every month.




EQ FICO 548 3/3/16
Message 52 of 91
Gunnar419
Valued Contributor

Re: Need some gameplan advice for paying down my debt


@LS2982 wrote:

Not gonna let this beat me, I had my fun now I have to do the right thing and pay it back which I have absolutely no problem doing. I had a problem. My solution now is to take pride in seeing this big number down slowly and slowly every month.


Big thumbs up for you!

 

Funny how credit behaviors -- all kinds of behaviors -- can become a little (or a lot) addictive). For years I carried balances on my cards and assumed I always would, so adding a little here and there seemed like no big deal even when I didn't need the things involved. More recently, I've started aggressively paying everything down. And now the "paydown challenge" has become addictive in and of itself. I find I don't even want to charge a $10 monthly insurance payment on my (formerly) go-to card because that would put me $10 further from my goal!

 

Message 53 of 91
Epcot
Valued Contributor

Re: Need some gameplan advice for paying down my debt

That's the right frame of mind. You have a good goal ahead of you. Smiley Happy We'll be here for you, you can do it!

Starting Score: EQ 717 EX 724 TU 736
Current Score: EQ 849 EX 835 TU 841
Message 54 of 91
stormb28
New Contributor

Re: Need some gameplan advice for paying down my debt

LS,

You are NOT a failure, you made bad decisions, we all do. It DOES NOT define you as a person. Use this as a learning opportunity.
Message 55 of 91
QueenofReinvention
Contributor

Re: Need some gameplan advice for paying down my debt


@LS2982 wrote:
Went from being confident to just down in the dumps and depressed about it. Makes you feel like a failure at times.

Not gonna let this beat me, I had my fun now I have to do the right thing and pay it back which I have absolutely no problem doing. I had a problem. My solution now is to take pride in seeing this big number down slowly and slowly every month.


Don't beat yourself up...as you can see, there will be plenty around to offer you "tough love." YOU recognized an issue. YOU posted it on a public forum for support, so with that, I do not think you are a failure; I think you know/knew what you need to do, and you are working to do it, and by posting it here, you are holding yourself accountable, because TRUST ME, there will be some who will hold your feet to the fire on this and will (in essence) almost MAKE you post updates.

 

I can't offer anymore sage advice than what has been offered. You know that you want to have this debt paid off by the end of the year, and you know how much you make and what expenses you could (temporarily) cut out between now and the end of the year to throw money at your debt. It's not easy ... trust me, I know. When I got my tax money, my first instinct was to "treat myself" to the Tiffany & Co purse I wanted, but guess what... I didn't, I paid my Barclay's card off (and in the process they auto CLI'd my acct from $350 to $1050); I also paid off my Orchard card, and I saved $750 in my ING account. I have more stuff I'll start paying off again in March, and, as I've been since 2008, I'm living small, and not incurring any additional debts, and just keeping everything together. Were it not for a second business I launched last year (web designer costs, website, hosting, logo designs, etc), I wouldn't even have most of the debt I have now, but I made a calculated risk to start another business, and so far, in a nominal way, it's paying off already. I sacrifice a lot, because I made poor decisions in the past, and as the expression goes, "I made my bed hard, now I have to lay in it."

 

Good luck to you, and know that there are those rooting for you to be "90% debt free" by the end of the year. **As a side note, I am a Broncos fan, and while that game was tough to watch, it was something I predicted at the beginning of the year. I told my friends that the Broncos wouldn't be in the SB in 2013; it was hard for me to even make that prediction in August of 2012, but I did. Unfortunately, I was right...Sigh...I love FOOTBALL!

Message 56 of 91
LionLaw
Frequent Contributor

Re: Need some gameplan advice for paying down my debt

LS: I'm sorry to hear of your trouble.  18K is a lot of CC debt for anyone to deal with, and paying it down is going to take more than optimism and determination; you're going to need a plan.

 

Before anything else, you NEED to put together a budget.  Figure out exactly how much you have coming in every month, subtract out your fixed costs like rent/mortgage, minimum loan payments and other regular bills, and you'll see how much you have to work with every month.  This is the figure you'll be dividing up between your monthly spending and your debt reduction.  If you live very frugally, you should be able to make significant progress on your CC debt.  18K will take a while no matter what, but you have to do it, and with a sound budget in place, you'll be able to see exactly how long it will take you.  There's plenty of software out there that can help you figure this stuff out--my personal favorite is mint.com--but I still like to sit down and figure out my monthly ledger by hand.

 

The trick will be learning to live frugally.  If you've racked up that much debt, you've no doubt grown accustomed to living beyond your means.  Now, you're going to have to learn to live not only within your means, but to pay down this debt, you're going to have to live BELOW your means for quite a while.  That's going to be a hard adjustment to make.  Eating out will become a scarce luxury.  You won't do any shopping except at the grocery store.  Non-essential travel will become non-existent.  You should cancel your cable/satellite TV service and pick up an antenna for yor TV instead (I recommend gomohu.com); that's an easy way to save $100 a month.  But while the transition will be rough, after a couple months you will get used to living on your new budget, and you'll wonder why you ever spent so much money on stuff you didn't really need.

 

Like everyone on here, I wish you the best of luck.

Message 57 of 91
snowkitty
Established Contributor

Re: Need some gameplan advice for paying down my debt

LS, don't beat yourself up about it. Like with anything else, you've admitted you have a problem on your hands and you've opened up and told others about it. That's a great first step....more than most people would do. Just chalk it up to a learning experience and pay it down as you can. Once it's done and over, you will think twice before you get in this situation again. We've all made mistakes and gotten into debt trouble before.....I mean that's how most of us got here right?
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Message 58 of 91
QueenofReinvention
Contributor

Re: Need some gameplan advice for paying down my debt


@snowkitty wrote:
LS, don't beat yourself up about it. Like with anything else, you've admitted you have a problem on your hands and you've opened up and told others about it. That's a great first step....more than most people would do. Just chalk it up to a learning experience and pay it down as you can. Once it's done and over, you will think twice before you get in this situation again. We've all made mistakes and gotten into debt trouble before.....I mean that's how most of us got here right?

Touché for sure!

Message 59 of 91
navigatethis12
Valued Contributor

Re: Need some gameplan advice for paying down my debt


@snowkitty wrote:
We've all made mistakes and gotten into debt trouble before.....I mean that's how most of us got here right?

No.

Message 60 of 91
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