Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Let's Talk About The Finances

A post where Mysti actually talks about debt....amazing!!!  February got away from me updating here.  I was too busy dealing with snow, cars, showings, and all of the regular stuff.  As a whole, everything sort of trucked along.  The car situation certainly had an impact though.

(I have no idea why the spacing is so funky in spots.  It looks fine in edit mode, but goes wanky in publish mode.  I tried to fix it...I gave up.  Yes, it looks like poop.  I know.  But today....I am just letting it go!)

A quick run down:


Retirement Loan:   $12,409.40


I really hate that we had to adjust the terms on this when G-man left.  I feel like we are making no progress, despite paying $221 every 2 weeks.  I loved the totals DROPPING.  Now they just sort of jump off the curb.  But March is a 3-paycheck month for G-man, so that means an "extra" payment.  And by the end of March, we will have dropped below 12k....I do love those "rollover" payments where we are in a new "thousand."



Student Loan:        $22,151.10

So boring.  We make a payment....we make another payment.  One more payment and we are in a new "thousand" though.  But we are still a year away from a milestone...under 20k!





Credit Card:          $10,816.96

*sigh*  The aftermath of the car.  The car was about $1,800, although I am waiting on $100 refund for the towing from the insurance company.  Mother-in-law generously donated some to the cause, and we pulled everything we had available in the car maintenance fund.  Add in interest each month.  I am hoping that this little Murphy ordeal is the last one for a while.  I am toying with pulling a little bit from here and there to put a few hundred more toward this right now.  And we have a 3-paycheck month in March and April (for me).  I am just sort of seeing what I can do.  We also have some other bills coming up in a few months (Water, trash, car taxes in July), and I need to make sure we have those payments too.  I am really struggling to take it from EF.  I know that this is why we have an EF (and ours is currently at $3200), but I just have a hard time actually using that money.


Mysti's Car:           $4,700.00


We are closing in on this one being 2/3 paid off.  At 102,000 miles, something was bound to happen....I can't be upset that something happened...it just should have been fixed from the get-go, and I am convinced that we had work done that didn't need to be done.  Tangent over.

  



G-man's Car:         $3,275.00


I really hate that the interest rate is so high on this loan.  Monthly payment (before I throw a few dollars extra in to make it a round number) is $127...and about $27 goes to interest!!  But chip, chip, chip.





Med/Dental:          $0.00


We applied for financial assistance for Bossy's supplies, and are still waiting on approval.  So that is just a wild card.  Orthodontics are being paid for out of Bossy's medical trust, so no impact on our budget.  We have a FSA for co-pays and such ($2,500).  I have some upcoming tests, so again...no budget hit at this time.  I also need to get new contacts, as mine have been discontinued.  That will mean a $75 fitting fee...and looking at the prices of other contacts...I have a feeling we will be spending a little more this year.





So...we are down a measley $1,231.74 since January 1.  Stupid car.

I hate this part....too far away from a victory, so tension runs high.  And the hardest part of it for me right now....the move.  We have to save cash for the move (which we have).  Once I finish the taxes (ugh)...we will have close to $8,000 set aside for the move.  Yay us!  But $8,000 is also almost 75% of the credit card....or pays off BOTH cars.  Or pays back 2/3 of the remainder of the retirement loan...which then would be paid off at the end of the year.

I know that this is move is the right thing....I know it is.  But I am ready for it to happen and let us really start to move forward. 


18 comments:

  1. nothing to say that is helpful, sorry. Just keep plugging along......

    Actually thought of something. If the car payment interest is so high. Why not pay that off and "borrow" the money for the moving that charges less interest?

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    Replies
    1. Borrow from where? Our lowest CC is 9.24% vs 9.99% on that loan (which is considered a personal loan). If we get into moving it from one card to another...we deal with transfer charges and the lower rate is only for one year....and we probably would be able to pay it off that fast.

      Suggestions?

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    2. told you I had nothing helpful to say...LOL

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  2. What kind of cars do you have? I can't tell from the photos, but I have had bad luck with American cars. They seem to need a lot of repairs, and they don't wear as well or last as long as Japanese/Korean (Asian, I guess) cars.

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  3. Can you borrow any more from the 401K (or whatever it is actually called), or is that "maxed out"? The reason I ask is that since you are paying interesting on credit card debt and car loan debt, it would do two things if you borrowed all you could from that and paid all you could to the consumer debt:
    1. Reduce your monthly payments (I realize you'd have to pay back to the retirement loan, but it would probably be a smaller payment, with "interest" to yourself)
    2. Kill the interest that you are paying to the credit card and car loan companies.
    Even though you'd have less in the retirement accounts, I think the savings on consumer debt payments and interest would be worth it.

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    Replies
    1. We can't borrow more for consumer debt until this loan is paid in full for 60 days. We can take another loan for house (down payment or closing) purposes if we wanted to.

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  4. Down is better than up!

    And I know how ya feel with that extra $8k. It's hard to decide how to spend extra $. I have debt I'm paying off, but I tucked my entire tax return/bonus (over $4k) into my savings for my dream vacation to England 2016. Call me crazy, but my gut instinct tells me now is the time to take this trip, i.e. no kids, I have the PTO, etc. I keep putting it off, saving one day when I have more $. The fact remains, I'll probably always have some sort of debt. So in the meantime, I'm working super hard to pay down my debt. The goal is to have category 1 of my snowball debt paid off before my trip. And the trip will be fully funded in cash. It's the method that works for me, even if other people would put that savings towards debt.

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    Replies
    1. I wish this 8000 truly was extra....but it needs to go toward the move.

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  5. Just remember, your situation is temporary. Remembering that helps when I feel stuck in a funk. :-)

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  6. I agree with makingcentsofitall.....down is better than up.

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  7. Oh and why not wipe out Gmans car loan and then start using the pymt money to build up the EF again?

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    Replies
    1. Because if we wipe it out....we don't have a safety net. It would take us 2 yrs to build it back. And we don't know what our cash flow situation will be in the coming months.

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  8. Mysti honey I feel your pain. I work and work and hardly see a dent or so it seems to me. I also love the roll over place #'s. It is the little things that have to keep us going. Actually it is you that keeps me going when I think about it. If you can do it I can do it! Thanks for just being there.

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  9. You are making progress. You do have the money set aside for the move and that is a huge accomplishment. The sooner you can get away from the high cost of Connecticut, the better. If you just redirected the amount you're paying for oil after you move, you will be out of debt in no time.

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  10. Mysti, will you qualify for a mortgage on just your husband's income if you do not find a job right away? Is the 2nd job Gman is taking for that reason?

    Hopefully you will find something quickly.

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    Replies
    1. Yep...we already qualified on his salary alone. The 2nd job is for all the misc stuff we aren't able to save toward on his straight salary right now because we are paying the high cost of living here

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    2. That's good. Sounds like life will be much more manageable when you move, financially at least. I hope the move happens soon for you.

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