how to get above water with 12.5K in credit debt?

[Anonymous]

No offense, but I'm surprised this post is still going on, and ppl are going to extremes....Ain't 'that' hard?

Other than... Yes the T-Mobile is high for 2 folks but ppl 'waste' on that all over the country, the car notes are too high but again not crazy out of whack for the crazy numbers of today...

I will say it for the last time ( on this thread) it's about budgeting and OTHER spending...NOT this stuff we're seeing listed here

You guys are falling for the banana, chasing red herrings ...This isn't how the OP and his girl got 12k in debt on those CCs...simply scraping by on under $75/wk for food, yeah right?

Birth may have been at night but it wasn't LAST NIGHT!
Ppl constantly under count what the freak they spend...again I'm not trying to be offensive but like a alcoholic seeking help you gotta call him out when he swears it was just '2 beers' yeah whatever, man I can smell it on your breath dude...

What I'm saying is IF the numbers disclose are ALL the 'real' numbers AND as my man said 'his girlfriend's ENTIRE INCOME' is in play

I stand by what I said earlier...Where's the 🔥?
His income handles everything we see and according to, dude she CLEARS an additional $1000 every two weeks that's $2166 per month available income!

That's almost $2200 bucks a month AFTER all listed expenses are paid at their CURRENT levels...Ok let's pretend they shave 10% due to over priced insurance and/or phone carriers add back in a few bucks for actual FOOD
Because, I don't believe for a second single people with no kids,with jobs, that pay for car notes, cell phones and cable freaking eat for $10 a day

Sorry doesn't make sense, again sometimes 💰 just seeps out our pockets w/o us paying as much attention as we think and then we'll say 'oh that was JUST a few dollars'

But the OP and his girl aren't at the food bank, their combined income is actually pretty decent by American standards....As a matter of fact for a h/h of only TWO is above middle class, especially with only a $1400 mortgage...that's less than 25% of NET h/h income, Net!

The new home owner likely is just a little overwhelmed and emotional about some of the typical OVERSPENDING that a LOT of new homeowners do
Their credit is ok so they grab new cars buy stuff for the new home etc etc etc

Next thing they know, they've got a mortgage, a couple of car notes, prop tax and a bunch of stuff and here comes the bills and their hair's on 🔥 with concern

No huge deal, just take a breath ( 'could' things have been handled differently, yeah but so what) this is fixable and it's manageable w/o resorting to water and peanut butter sandwiches...the income is here, as I said earlier, many folks don't have the means, this couple has the means they just need to commit the will...The 💰 is right there, as he said her ENTIRE check 'can' be used to pay debt...bottom line, just pay 'da lady😇

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
What I'm saying is IF the numbers disclose are ALL the 'real' numbers AND as my man said 'his girlfriend's ENTIRE INCOME' is in play

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I understand what you are saying but the OP never said the GF's income was in play just that she took home 2K/m. Maybe the OP does not think the GF should be responsible for the CC debt, maybe they are afraid to ask the question, who knows. There is a reason theOP has not answered the question about the GF when they have answered the other questions posed in the responses.

Bottom line is if the OP does not want to ask the GF to use her income for the CC debt the GF should be asked to cover living expenses if she is not already. Can we even say She anymore???

Either way, the OP is not in a dire situation, they are not going backrupt, they are just having a hard time dealing with the reality that some choices need to be made. And with a new house it is even more important to get the debt and bills down in the long term. Owning a home is not a fixed cost and a savings is a must or you will find yourself in a world of hurt at some point. CC debt like this just makes it worse.

[MrsCHX]

Slightly off topic:

I've had kids for forever and they're practically adults now. What are two single people spending MORE than $75 per week on at the grocery store. To buy what?!?

[Anonymous]

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@MrsCHX wrote:
Slightly off topic:

I've had kids for forever and they're practically adults now. What are two single people spending MORE than $75 per week on at the grocery store. To buy what?!?

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Whole Foods vs Aldi or Walmart vs Kroger. 

I used to live by a hispanic family with 2 kids (one was my girlfriend at the time - I was a kid too then) that could live on $20 a week in groceries (back in the 90s). The things they could do to stretch a dollar amazed me and still does to this day. They ate better than most of us too. 

[Sk323i]

solid response.

my name is the name on the mortgage and on the auto loan. 

My GF is the one who is rebuilding her credit.

She would give me all of her money every month to allocate as I see fit -- however I try to be very conservative and only ask her for what is immediately needed - which most of the time is a couple hundred at a time to cover a bill that is due when I am inbetween checks or to pay for grocies under the same circumstances. 

I try to let her retain as much as possible, so she can continue to pay off her debts. 

[Anonymous]

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@Sk323i wrote:

solid response.

my name is the name on the mortgage and on the auto loan. 

My GF is the one who is rebuilding her credit.

She would give me all of her money every month to allocate as I see fit -- however I try to be very conservative and only ask her for what is immediately needed - which most of the time is a couple hundred at a time to cover a bill that is due when I am inbetween checks or to pay for grocies under the same circumstances. 

I try to let her retain as much as possible, so she can continue to pay off her debts. 

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Depending on how "serious" the relationship is I think both of you need to sit down and make a plan using both incomes. If it is indeed serious then your debt will affect both of you. She does not need to pay your debt but contributing to the HH bills will help you pay yours down.

Better yet, combine the debts, bills, and income and make a plan for it all and do it together.

You are not as bad off as you feel. Theere are plenty of people out there who live on what you have left over per month......

[Bman70]

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@MrsCHX wrote:

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@Bman70 wrote:

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@Sk323i wrote:

Cox - Cable / Internet	$120.00
Electric	$60.00
Gas	$100.00
Tmobile	$180.00
City - Sewer	$60.00
Pest Control	$30.00
Gym	$120.00
AAA Insurance	$220.00
Gas for 2 Cars for 1 Month	$300.00**
Food for 1 Month	$300.00
Dental	$130.00
TOTAL	$1,620.00

 I'll just provide another perspective on the budget.. 

You can get a dental cleaning I think for around $100, and it's recommended every 6 months. That would only be $200 per year. If you got more serious work to do, you could look into more insurance (most make you wait 30 days before any procedure after opening the policy). 

Gym.. 24 Hour Fitness and some other gyms have extremely cheap memberships, in the $20 range. That or cancel it and jog near home if possible. 

Shop around for insurance, try raising the deductible from say $250 to $500, or $500 to $1000. Even if you saved $100/mo, in 10 months you would cover a $1k deductible in savings. 

Your food is low! Good job. I have a hard time hitting near that. 

You have Gas listed twice on there (once for one car, once for two cars?). 

Cable.. I cut out cable TV when I was paying off some balances, and just never reinstated it. So I pay about $60/mo for high speed internet only from Comcast. 

My Verizon cell bill is about $47, just unlimited talk and text on a prepaid plan (no contract). $180 seems way high for cell service. 

 

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The first gas is a utility...for their house. 

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Oh doh, just realized that might be what he meant. 

BTW, you need to offer a class on food shopping! Lol. With just me and one 19 year old it's hard to stay under $500. And I cook a lot and shop Smart & Final, Sam's club etc. not Whole Foods 

[Anonymous]

1) If you read the post the OP said his girl's entire check was available, I didn't make it up
It only makes sense because it seems they live as a couple, didn't he list TWO cars?

Didn't we see TWO Credit One cards? This was presented as a FAMILY of 2 and if there are 2 incomes and 2 ppl SPENDING, well 2 adults need to be paying that ish back, simple as that!

2) When, I say FOOD I'm speaking of the expenses towards FEEDING one's self....This again speaks to the ISSUE of what ppl actually SPEND per month.

I say What's you cost? They say $300 ( including, like a poster above thinking groceries only)
But I meant how much TOTAL 💰 is being spent on EATING...including groceries, restaurants, take out etc this is why I said add in what they 'really' spend eating and drinking coffee and
Big Gulp etc (not that anything is wrong just that, that money has to be accounted for and frequently it's part of the 'forgotten' expenses)
It's just a difference in the definition of Food 'cost'

Again, I think many old timers are belittling the nature of the bf gf dynamic of today...In the past the commingle happened after marriage, today adults play HOUSE w/o the ring ( no judgements ) so it only makes sense to "see" them as a pair, again especially if the made the bills together and ACT like a pair

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't cancel the gym unless you are not using it or can substitute workouts at home.  Body health should be a high priority.

130 a month for Dental is pretty high.  1dental.com has $100 a year savings plan that saves you around 50% on all dental needs.  Cleanings and checkups are cheap.  And even if you need the occasional dental work down the road or something it's still cheaper that way than 130 a month.  Although way later in life you'd probably want to get real dental insurance again.  I'd go in for a checkup first and make sure everything is kosher before cancel, like if need wisdom teeth removed or something.  The key here is to find a good dentist with high ratings in a middle class area since their prices are way better than rich areas.  Just my opinion, do what's best for you though.

With your GF's income included you are ok man.  You guys just need to combine everything and get it all figured out.  If you can pay down to like 60% then I would try and get in with NavyFed or Penfed and get on the phone with the loan officer and ask for a nice limit so you can BT everything at 0% APR.  Then you will be golden. 

If you guys are eating out, I would stop for a while.  And 300 per month for 2 people at home is already cutting thin.

Lots of good info in this thread.  Also selling stuff is a good idea, there's always stuff to sell around people's houses.

[Anonymous]

OP is all of the credit card debt your gf's?

Also, I don't think you need to cut the expenses. You could downgrade cable, but I don't see the point.

You need to see where your gf is spending money. One thing that was helpful for me was using an app that told me what I was spending money on and setting a budget with it. I use Mint, but there are other applications that will do the same thing.