Hi all!
I'm in a tough spot with regard to income and could use some advice-
I currently make around $42,764.22 gross. This was my 2018 total income for my primary job. I made approx. $5000 from a 10-99 side job, which I was able to get a lot of self employment write-offs for, and didn't have to pay taxes on. Together, $47,764.22 gross.
Last year, I paid a significant amount of debt off, $13,480.32. I treated it like the flaming emergency that it is, and put ALL of my extra income toward it, sometimes at my own expense (not being able to afford much food, gasoline, etc.). While I did this, I completely ignored saving any money, which perpetuated the "emergency" credit card use for things like food, vet bills, and medicine. I currently have only the below debts remaining, and can't seem to trim my budget enough not to have a negative cash flow. With my second job dying down seasonally, I'm in trouble. I put my student loans in forbearance for a year to help me get my other debts under control.
Creditor (Balance, interest, payment)
*Auto Loan - $17,847.71 - 4.95% - $295.89
*CARE CREDIT #1 - $173.60 - 0 - $86.80
*CARE CREDIT #2 - $200.00 - 0 - $40.00
*CARE CREDIT #3 - $502.00 - 0 - $83.67
*PERSONAL LOAN - $838.00 - 0 - $105.00
*Student Loan #1 - $24,561.22 - 4.88% - n/a in forbearance
*Student Loan #2 - $37,734.40 - 4.88% - n/a in forbearance
*Consolidation Loan - $4,376.35 - 10.50% - $160.65 (I usually pay $513 to expedite this pay off)
(Personal loan and care credits are for veterinary issues; they're on a no interest promotion)
My car is the biggest mistake of them all - I bought a used, cheap car in summer of 2016 that fell apart just outside of the parameters of the lemon law. It took months of harassing the dealer to get any kind of resolution, which of course was a new car with negative equity rolled into it. I took the bait because I needed transportation, and have since refinanced several times to bring the interest and monthly payments down. Unfortunately, the payments are still too high. I keep feeling like getting the "car issue" resolved will give me the breathing room I need to make my money work for me.
The original dealer has reached out to me several times to talk about a trade-in. They are offering me "$10-12k" trade-in value, with $1500 "additional trade-in assistance"... so worst case scenario, $11,500 trade-in value on a car I owe $17,847.71 on. To make this even remotely worth my while, I could try to finance a beater and deal with the negative equity, but the car would need to be $5k or under to lower my payments at all, assuming I have a 10% interest rate (what I was first offered for my last car).
What are your thoughts on how I can reduce these monthly payments? Or is this more of an income issue? Should I keep refinancing the car annually and drive it into the ground? Go for a beater trade-in? Sell it and take out a loan for the negative equity? My partner has not been supportive of the idea of not having any car, because he works in sales and is always on the road himself. He also has a car that's on it's last leg, so my newer car has become our safety net.
Thanks for your input!
**BUDGET**
INCOME
Primary Salary (NET! GROSS= $3360/mo) - $2,705.20
Commission - varies (low)
DPA - Promo Modeling - $200.00/ VARIES
Random Sales (Offer up, Misc. stuff) - varies
BestMark - Secret Shopping - varies
Postmates / Uber Driving - varies
Misc. Hustles & Gifts - varies
TOTAL TYPICAL - $2,905.20
MONTHLY RESPONSIBILITIES
Rent - $809.00
**Consolidation Loan** - $513.00 ($160.65 actual minimum)
Car Loan - $295.89
Student Loan Unsub - $0.00
Student Loan Sub - $0.00
Cell - $75.00
Water Bill - $100.00
Utility/Electric - $150.00
Furniture (Personal loan, no interest) - $105.00
Care Credit 1 (my responsibility, no interest) - $86.80
Care Credit 2 (Split w SO - $42 mo total, no interest) - $40.00
Care Credit 3 (Split w SO - $42 mo total, no interest) - $83.67
EVG Medical Bill - $1.00
EXTRA LOAN PAYMENTS (finished 8/20) - $0.00
TOTAL - $2,146.00
NECESSARY EVILS
Taxes (small buffer) - $5.00
Savings - $104.00
Health Insurance (SO Covers) - $0.00
Car Insurance - $95.00
Roth IRA - $0.00
Qapital Sinking Funds (small savings - varies, but rounded up to nearest dollar) - $30.00
Qapital Invest (small savings - varies, but rounded up to nearest dollar) - $30.00
TOTAL - $264.00
THINGS I SHOULD NOT BE PAYING!
Capital 1 CC - $0.00
Emergency Credit Card - $0.00
Amazon CC - $0.00
Kohls CC - $0.00
Bank Fees - $0.00
TOTAL - $0.00
SPENDING
Food - $400.00 (family of 2)
Gas (auto) - $60.00
Dogs - Medical - $25.00
Dogs - Food (Chewy/special diet) - $90.00
Personal Items - $20.00
Shopping - $0.00
Movies/Events - $25.00
Travel - $0.00
Misc Unplanned - $25.00
Health (medications) - $20.00
Work related purchases (varies, reimbursed) - $20.00
Donation/Charity - $8.33
Gifts - $0.00
Home Stuff - $20.00
TOTAL - $713.33
Total Expenses - $3,236.69
Toal Income - $2,905.20
TOTAL NET INFLOW/OUTFLOW - ($331.49)