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Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: ioiooioii on September 16, 2013, 11:03:05 AM

Title: Just want some feedback
Post by: ioiooioii on September 16, 2013, 11:03:05 AM
Hello--

I recently graduated as an engineer and by living smart I only have 10,000 dollars in college debt. It was then after I got an engineering job I made all the bad decisions :()

I had a job that makes 53,000 and I met a wonderful women. We got married and she had to have a big awesome wedding and it was but it put me in debt 10,000(Cheap I know) on 20% lines of credit(So lame I know). Our parents have no money so my brother and myself paid for the wedding.

At the time we were both working good jobs and bringing in about 80,000 per year with no overhead cost really, renting out our apartment etc.

We both purchases brand new awesome cars, I purchased a very expensive awesome truck.(Notice the great monthly payment)

I hated my city job and a great job opened up in the mountains that paid 51,000 but with the possibility of moving into project management much much faster than the other job and hence a raise much faster.  So we moved up there but there is no work for my wife so we are living off of my income and I'm starting to feel the pressure. Nice thing is that we have no rent due to family own estates we are living on.

Monthly in (AT):   3,377.00
   
Auto O:   715.00
Auto D:   400.00
Food:   400.00
Wells Fargo:   400.00
Health-Anthem (B)   253.58
Gas-Truck   200.00
Phone ATT:   191.00
Auto insurance:   142.62
Gap ( C )   110.00
EDL:   100.00
Phone-Landline   70.00
Storage   60.00
Propane   100.00
BofA Credit (D)   25.00
Netflix (D)   0.00
Hulu (E)   8.00
IRA   0.00
PGE:   60.00
   
Remainder:   141.80
Weekly Extra:   35.45



So we have done this for a few months and I kinda freaked out cause there is no extra. Things will get better when she gets a low paying job for spending money and I have a few contracts that look like they will come in so I will get a raise.

Its not perfect but the way I look at it is being 50K in debt for everything is less than lots of people come out of college for a worthless degree with.

Thanks for letting me rant. Cheers
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: iamlindoro on September 16, 2013, 11:12:32 AM
Start with the AT&T $191 cost.  If this is 2 x Data Enabled smartphone packages, convert to Airvoice plans @ 30-40 per month, for a savings of $111 minimum.  Why do you also have a landline?  You could eliminate this entirely unless there's a really good reason for it.  The auto insurance also seems high-- have you considered shopping around for this, reducing your coverage somewhat, or switching to higher deductible plans?  Food could probably come down a fair amount if you're only feeding two people.

Why did you purchase such expensive cars?  You should find a way to dump one or both of these ASAP-- get someone to take over the payments, perhaps?

TL;DR:  Dump the cars ASAP for huge savings, fix cell phone/landline/insurance for a quick fix today.
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: MissStache on September 16, 2013, 11:20:35 AM

Auto O:   715.00
Auto D:   400.00

HOLY SHIT MAN!  That is way to much to pay for cars even with BOTH of you working! 
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: Miamoo on September 16, 2013, 11:40:08 AM
Hello--

I recently graduated as an engineer and by living smart I only have 10,000 dollars in college debt. It was then after I got an engineering job I made all the bad decisions :()

I had a job that makes 53,000 and I met a wonderful women. We got married and she had to have a big awesome wedding and it was but it put me in debt 10,000(Cheap I know) on 20% lines of credit(So lame I know). Our parents have no money so my brother and myself paid for the wedding.

At the time we were both working good jobs and bringing in about 80,000 per year with no overhead cost really, renting out our apartment etc.

We both purchases brand new awesome cars, I purchased a very expensive awesome truck.(Notice the great monthly payment)

I hated my city job and a great job opened up in the mountains that paid 51,000 but with the possibility of moving into project management much much faster than the other job and hence a raise much faster.  So we moved up there but there is no work for my wife so we are living off of my income and I'm starting to feel the pressure. Nice thing is that we have no rent due to family own estates we are living on.

Monthly in (AT):   3,377.00
   
Auto O:   715.00
Auto D:   400.00
Food:   400.00
Wells Fargo:   400.00
Health-Anthem (B)   253.58
Gas-Truck   200.00
Phone ATT:   191.00
Auto insurance:   142.62
Gap ( C )   110.00
EDL:   100.00
Phone-Landline   70.00
Storage   60.00
Propane   100.00
BofA Credit (D)   25.00
Netflix (D)   0.00
Hulu (E)   8.00
IRA   0.00
PGE:   60.00
   
Remainder:   141.80
Weekly Extra:   35.45



So we have done this for a few months and I kinda freaked out cause there is no extra. Things will get better when she gets a low paying job for spending money and I have a few contracts that look like they will come in so I will get a raise.

Its not perfect but the way I look at it is being 50K in debt for everything is less than lots of people come out of college for a worthless degree with.

Thanks for letting me rant. Cheers

Heck yeah MissStache . . . . ioiooioii - get rid of the car payments somehow, someway.  Get something used and cut your insurance costs as well.  $1,100/month in payments?  HOLY SHITx10!!!!

What's the $60 storage for?

What's Gap? What's PGE?  Forgive my ignorance.

No landline should cost $70/month.  Check out IP's posts/comments for cutting that down or out - and his recommendations for cell phones.

Don't know where you live or what your habits are but $400/month for food?  Do you eat out a lot?

You don't list electricity in your monthly bills.  (Is that what PGE is?)

Savings?

Eeeep!  Cheese-amoley!!!

Can't wait to see other posters responses.

You're okay but could do so, so much better.  Keep reading MMM and get wife on board with the 'sacrificing'.  It'll all be fine.

Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: ioiooioii on September 16, 2013, 11:44:50 AM
Start with the AT&T $191 cost.  If this is 2 x Data Enabled smartphone packages, convert to Airvoice plans @ 30-40 per month, for a savings of $111 minimum.  Why do you also have a landline?  You could eliminate this entirely unless there's a really good reason for it.  The auto insurance also seems high-- have you considered shopping around for this, reducing your coverage somewhat, or switching to higher deductible plans?  Food could probably come down a fair amount if you're only feeding two people.

Why did you purchase such expensive cars?  You should find a way to dump one or both of these ASAP-- get someone to take over the payments, perhaps?

TL;DR:  Dump the cars ASAP for huge savings, fix cell phone/landline/insurance for a quick fix today.

Thanks for the feed back.

1. 3 A&tt Lines are in contract, not sure how much to breach the contract. Will look into it.

2. We have a land line cause cell phones don't work at the house.

3. I think the auto is ok for two cars one being an off road. But will look into it.

4. Cant ditch the cars, underwater, brand new zero down(low interest rate though). Probably the worst decision on here but they are the best cars for our live style and last forever with great cost to own and maintenance, will not regret it once they are almost paid off.

cheers
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: ioiooioii on September 16, 2013, 11:49:54 AM
Heck yeah MissStache . . . . ioiooioii - get rid of the car payments somehow, someway.  Get something used and cut your insurance costs as well.  $1,100/month in payments?  HOLY SHITx10!!!!

What's the $60 storage for? We removing that next month,

What's Gap? What's PGE?  Forgive my ignorance. Credit cards and power

No landline should cost $70/month.  Check out IP's posts/comments for cutting that down or out - and his recommendations for cell phones. Good Idea

Don't know where you live or what your habits are but $400/month for food?  Do you eat out a lot? No, that's a high number, its more like 250, we spend the rest on odds and ends.

You don't list electricity in your monthly bills.  (Is that what PGE is?) Yes

Savings? 500 in IRA but haven't been putting anything is there sense the move, so not good.

Eeeep!  Cheese-amoley!!!

Can't wait to see other posters responses.

You're okay but could do so, so much better.  Keep reading MMM and get wife on board with the 'sacrificing'.  It'll all be fine.
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: mrpress on September 16, 2013, 12:05:01 PM
You need to be more specific with your abbreviations. What are these?

Wells Fargo:   400.00
Health-Anthem (B)   253.58
EDL:   100.00

How much do you owe on your Gap card? Are you sure you only have 50k in debt? 10k in student loans plus credit cards, plus two "awesome" new vehicles, even at a conservative 20k/each, that's more than 50k in debt.
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: Miamoo on September 16, 2013, 12:10:39 PM
May or may not be the right thing to do for you, may not work, but when I left my job several years ago (due to health problems) I called Sprint and told them I just couldn't afford the phone any more and they a.) waived the cancellation fee, b.) turned me on to a much more affordable plan for the same service.

Might be worth a try.  In my case - being unable to afford it was a 1/2 truth.  But it worked to my advantage and I don't feel toooooooo much guilt about sticking it to a huge company that'll stick it to us in a NYS.
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: Cecil on September 16, 2013, 12:14:20 PM
Start with the AT&T $191 cost.  If this is 2 x Data Enabled smartphone packages, convert to Airvoice plans @ 30-40 per month, for a savings of $111 minimum.  Why do you also have a landline?  You could eliminate this entirely unless there's a really good reason for it.  The auto insurance also seems high-- have you considered shopping around for this, reducing your coverage somewhat, or switching to higher deductible plans?  Food could probably come down a fair amount if you're only feeding two people.

Why did you purchase such expensive cars?  You should find a way to dump one or both of these ASAP-- get someone to take over the payments, perhaps?

TL;DR:  Dump the cars ASAP for huge savings, fix cell phone/landline/insurance for a quick fix today.

Thanks for the feed back.

1. 3 A&tt Lines are in contract, not sure how much to breach the contract. Will look into it.

2. We have a land line cause cell phones don't work at the house.

3. I think the auto is ok for two cars one being an off road. But will look into it.

4. Cant ditch the cars, underwater, brand new zero down(low interest rate though). Probably the worst decision on here but they are the best cars for our live style and last forever with great cost to own and maintenance, will not regret it once they are almost paid off.

cheers

1. Why do you need three lines for 2 people?

2. Can you look into a different company that would serve your house?

3. No, the auto is not okay for two cars. You're bleeding over a thousand dollars every month just for the cost of the cars, not even counting operating cost. With gas and insurance, you're paying nearly half your total income just for transportation!

4. You can always ditch them. How much underwater are you? Weigh the cost of keeping them against the cost of selling them and buying something cheaper and still reliable.

When you're in a hole, stop digging. Right now you're digging to the tune of 1115 a month.
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: Miamoo on September 16, 2013, 12:17:16 PM
"4. Cant ditch the cars, underwater, brand new zero down(low interest rate though). Probably the worst decision on here but they are the best cars for our live style and last forever with great cost to own and maintenance, will not regret it once they are almost paid off."

So, ditch some of the other stuff and apply to the car payments since you obviously love the vehicles and one might assume you'll be keeping them for many years.

Comes to mind Dave Ramsey's quote (for some reason) - "The hell with the cheese - GET ME OUT OF THE TRAP".  I still like listening to the guy.

Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: olivia on September 16, 2013, 12:25:48 PM
I know it sounds scary at first, but if you actually want to end up not in the hole, you need to make some serious changes. 

One or both of the cars has got to go-those payments are INSANE.  Even if you're underwater, you can sell one or both and worst case scenario get a personal loan for the difference.  Don't throw good money after bad.  I mean those are seriously high car payments, the cars must be incredibly expensive.  Your income is not high enough to support 2 giant car payments, and since your wife isn't working, you don't need 2 cars.  If your wife finds a job you can buy a second car then.

Regarding the phone costs, again, that's nuts.  Who is the third person on the contract?  Can you get a VoIP line instead of a regular landline?  Even if you have to pay $200 to get out of that contract you'll make the money back super quickly.
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: Miamoo on September 16, 2013, 12:42:21 PM
I know it sounds scary at first, but if you actually want to end up not in the hole, you need to make some serious changes. 

One or both of the cars has got to go-those payments are INSANE.  Even if you're underwater, you can sell one or both and worst case scenario get a personal loan for the difference.  Don't throw good money after bad.  I mean those are seriously high car payments, the cars must be incredibly expensive.  Your income is not high enough to support 2 giant car payments, and since your wife isn't working, you don't need 2 cars.  If your wife finds a job you can buy a second car then.

Regarding the phone costs, again, that's nuts.  Who is the third person on the contract?  Can you get a VoIP line instead of a regular landline?  Even if you have to pay $200 to get out of that contract you'll make the money back super quickly.

+1
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: ioiooioii on September 16, 2013, 01:19:40 PM
Can't loose the cars for a few more years,  we would be 20K underwater, I cant get approved for a personal loan for that much.

I just have to stick it out for a few years.

Some of the other items need to go. Thanks for all the advice, great to have an outside perspective.

Wish I came here a few years ago.
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: olivia on September 16, 2013, 01:56:52 PM
Can't loose the cars for a few more years,  we would be 20K underwater, I cant get approved for a personal loan for that much.

I just have to stick it out for a few years.

Some of the other items need to go. Thanks for all the advice, great to have an outside perspective.

Wish I came here a few years ago.

Why not sell the car that is worth closest to the amount you owe then?  You could even put the difference on a credit card or one of those credit card checks and then use the extra money each month from not paying the car payment to pay it off quickly.  You are not going to get ahead with car payments of $1115/month. 

Can you move back to the area where your wife is able to find work?  Could you keep your current job but telecommute?  Can your wife get a job in your old area that she can telecommute to? 
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: DoubleDown on September 16, 2013, 01:58:47 PM
How underwater are you on the truck? If you can't get out from both cars right now, I would at least try to get rid of the truck. It's costing you about $1000/month on its own in payments, gas, insurance, and I don't know how much in maintenance. Even if you would take a loss of 5-10,000 selling it now, do whatever you can to scrape that amount together, get rid of the truck, and start saving like hell on all the other parts of your budget. Buy a much less expensive used car instead, or better yet don't buy anything else if you two can share one car.

Like someone else said, when you're in a hole, stop digging. If you keep that truck another few years as you've said, you will be throwing away another $24,000 - $36,000 ($1,000/month times 24 - 36 months), NOT COUNTING FURTHER DEPRECIATION.

Compare that against losing, say, $5k right now, paying that off in a few months through aggressive saving, and being free. Then you'll be able to tackle the other vehicle within the year. Within one year, out from under those two expensive cars, you could instead put those vehicle expenses towards savings, which is half your take home pay.

Right now that truck (and the other car) owns you, not the other way around. Get rid of it, and get your life back.
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: MsSindy on September 16, 2013, 02:09:24 PM
Wish I came here a few years ago.

We all wish we came here a few years ago! 

I want to challenge you to think a little differently.  Not to keep beating you up about the cars, but a $715 payment means that you're financing somewhere around $40,000 (assuming 5 years @ 6%) - that's a lot of truck.  You'll want to look at when that crossover point is when you can sell it somewhere near what you owe on it - even if you have to take a bit of a loss (be sure to include all expenses) - So far, your responses have been somewhat on the "I can't do that because...."  - you need to think more creatively - there's always a solution.  It's just that sometimes it comes with a bit of a painful result (although temporary).

I'd also echo another poster's comment about it seems that you have way more than $50k in debt - just be sure that you're being honest with yourselves.  (not sure if the Wells Fargo is a payment or a savings account).  And start to change your thinking from "it is being 50K in debt for everything is less than lots of people come out of college for a worthless degree with" -- to holy shit, we're $50k in debt and how the hell are we going to pay it off!!  Don't compare yourself to the average consumer-driven person who thinks $50k in debt is normal (unless you want to wind up like them), compare yourself to the average Mustachian who in no way would take a cavalier attitude like that toward CONSUMER / UNSECURED debt!!
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: ioiooioii on September 16, 2013, 03:03:04 PM
Very Good Point. The cross over point not taking into account expenses is about 3 years.  However once it is fully paid off it will be worth 22K or so with 100,000 on it. Currently 12K underwater.

Your right its more like 57K for me but then with all of my wife debt that adds another 30 that I guess it mine now that I'm the money maker.

Also the Wells Fargo is all of my credit card debt (5000), the minimum payment is like 120 or something, but I pay 400 cause I hate 20%.

Thanks for the input.

Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: seattlecyclone on September 16, 2013, 03:24:59 PM
Is your automotive debt only secured by the vehicle itself (meaning that if you stopped paying the loan, would they just repossess the truck and that would be the end of it)? If this is the case, you may want to at least consider going that route for the truck. Imagine if you had an extra $700/month to put toward your credit card debt. Pretty soon the credit card debt would be gone, the vehicle loan would be gone, and you could start actually building your assets instead of just giving money to the banks every month. Your credit score would take a pretty big hit if you did this, but it seems like the last thing you need in your situation is easy access to more credit.
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: ioiooioii on September 16, 2013, 03:39:40 PM
Yes it is just secured by the vehicle itself. I have though of this, but wouldn't a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy do that effect even better(wouldn't really effect my wife, just might make my future engineer prospects harder to get). If I stopped paying for the truck they would still want the amount under water. I don't really avoid people so if I did that I would file Bankruptcy.

What I will probably do is take out a low interest family loan for the credit cards.  Try to reduce everything else I can and power out the car payments and work my ass off to get to the project manger pay grade and that will take allot of stress off (70K per year)

If that goes south and my wife doesn't get a job I guess I will have to file bankruptcy.

Thanks again to everyone for there varied input, just getting it out of my head alone as helped allot. Obviously I come from a family of poor money management, hopefully I will turn that around this generation. (off to a great start!)
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: beltim on September 16, 2013, 04:37:11 PM
Yes it is just secured by the vehicle itself. I have though of this, but wouldn't a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy do that effect even better(wouldn't really effect my wife, just might make my future engineer prospects harder to get). If I stopped paying for the truck they would still want the amount under water. I don't really avoid people so if I did that I would file Bankruptcy.

What I will probably do is take out a low interest family loan for the credit cards.  Try to reduce everything else I can and power out the car payments and work my ass off to get to the project manger pay grade and that will take allot of stress off (70K per year)

If that goes south and my wife doesn't get a job I guess I will have to file bankruptcy.

Thanks again to everyone for there varied input, just getting it out of my head alone as helped allot. Obviously I come from a family of poor money management, hopefully I will turn that around this generation. (off to a great start!)

If you can get a family loan for the credit cards, you should be able to get a family loan to be able to sell the truck.

I don't see how you could declare bankruptcy, as you have a budget that shows that you're able to pay off all your debts at the payments required.  And bankruptcy won't clear the auto loans unless you also get rid of the vehicles (according to Wikipedia; I'm not an expert).
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: ny.er on September 16, 2013, 07:32:06 PM
sounds to me like you're loath to get rid of the cars. While you wrap your head around the Mustachian way of thinking, try tackling one problem at a time. If you're getting rid of the storage unit next month, then apply that $60.00 to the credit card payment. You'll feel good about that. Then pick off the next easiest thing, maybe the phones. Obviously, having lower car payments is going to get you where you want to go faster, but you have several places in your budget that can likely be easily reduced while you consider selling them.  Good luck!
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: Mazzinator on September 16, 2013, 08:14:47 PM
Quote
Your right its more like 57K for me but then with all of my wife debt that adds another 30 that I guess it mine now that I'm the money maker.

I would say the $87k is both your debts...because you're married...regardless of who makes what money. (Unless there's some other arrangement i didn't catch)

I agree - Start with "your"easiest first, then perfect it from there.

We started with the big two. House and car. Downsized and now a one car family. And now we are working on lowering everything else. No cable, no starbucks and very little restaurants. We started about 9 months ago.

Anyways, welcome and good luck! Keep us updated with your progress.
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: ioiooioii on September 17, 2013, 03:14:38 PM
sounds to me like you're loath to get rid of the cars. While you wrap your head around the Mustachian way of thinking, try tackling one problem at a time. If you're getting rid of the storage unit next month, then apply that $60.00 to the credit card payment. You'll feel good about that. Then pick off the next easiest thing, maybe the phones. Obviously, having lower car payments is going to get you where you want to go faster, but you have several places in your budget that can likely be easily reduced while you consider selling them.  Good luck!

Yep

Cheers
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: ioiooioii on September 17, 2013, 03:14:57 PM
Quote
Your right its more like 57K for me but then with all of my wife debt that adds another 30 that I guess it mine now that I'm the money maker.

I would say the $87k is both your debts...because you're married...regardless of who makes what money. (Unless there's some other arrangement i didn't catch)

I agree - Start with "your"easiest first, then perfect it from there.

We started with the big two. House and car. Downsized and now a one car family. And now we are working on lowering everything else. No cable, no starbucks and very little restaurants. We started about 9 months ago.

Anyways, welcome and good luck! Keep us updated with your progress.

Thanks!
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: ioiooioii on September 19, 2013, 10:00:23 AM
Hello Everyone--

So I started this blog with kinda a random post that wasn't that clear and was overwhelmed by the mustachian power attacks. I uploaded a much more clear picture of my situation and I have a few specific questions if anyone wants to answer them. I have been reading around the site and its some very cool stuff that I think will effect my future greatly.

So I removed storage, switched out my iphone for a cheep phone, reduced my auto insurance and cut food cost, started driving my wifes car to work witch saves 130/mo in gas.

After reading this site more I know every one here is about used cars cause buying new is finical suicide. I understand this and if I could go back I would do it differently, however I am already committed and there is no way I would sell the truck and pay off a 12000 loan while having no truck.  That would just be eating the initial depreciation cost and reaping none of the benefits of owning a BadAss truck.

Anyway I decided that if by next year my wife doesn't have a job we will sell her car cause it will be close to the break even point by then.

She is currently interviewing for a good job next week and I am projected to get a raise in a month so I think we are doing good on that front.

Also we are currently living at a family owned property with two houses, I am working on it during the weekends increasing its value. It is currency valued at 250K and I am going to inherit it. We were paying 1500/mo in rent in SF so moving to the mountains with no rent was amazing.

OK finally my question is what should I do with our extra income?

1. Blow it at bars
2. Pay off high % credit card loans
3. Pay extra on Truck Loan
4. Put it into IRA
5. Put it into savings

My currently plan is put most of it into paying off credit cards and some in IRA

Thanks!
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: StarryC on September 19, 2013, 01:11:04 PM
I think this is the standard plan.
1) You have no "extra income."  All income needs to be used wisely. 
2) You need an emergency fund of at least $1,000.  It would be better to have at least 1 months expenses, which appear to be about $3,000.  I would save up $1,000 as soon as possible by. .  .
3) Decreasing your cell phone bills- $120 a month is still a lot.  Decreasing your food bills, especially if your wife is home with no children she should have plenty of time to shop wisely, learn to cook, and do things like soak dried beans, bake bread, etc. Decrease the internet if possible: $50 seems like it could go down to $30 with a call to the provider.  I think you can squeeze at least $100 more out of your budget this way.  If you can increase your family income, that would be better, but do this stuff now. 
4) After you have $1,000, then pay off the credit cards, hard.  I'd start with the Gap card because that needs to be cancelled and closed.  Gap has nothing you need to buy on credit, that's for sure!  However, you might want to start with the B of A card to pay it off in just 2 months.  If you can pay off an additional $715 a month, you have roughly14 months of paying off credit cards ahead. 
5) At that point, I'd get the emergency fund up to $3,000 (2 more months of saving)
6) Next up would be the car at 5.9%. ( 26 additional months at about $1,765 paid each month)
7) Then I'd up the emergency fund to 3 months expenses, (3 more months of saving)
8) Then the school loans.  (By that point your "debt payoff fund" will be almost $2,000 a month, so the school loans should take 5 additional months). 

The $42,000 truck at 6% interest is really what is hurting you the most, and the thing that you could most easily get out of.  By the end of that loan you will pay about $8,000 additional for the privilege of making payments. 
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: ioiooioii on September 19, 2013, 01:51:35 PM
I think this is the standard plan.
1) You have no "extra income."  All income needs to be used wisely. 
2) You need an emergency fund of at least $1,000.  It would be better to have at least 1 months expenses, which appear to be about $3,000.  I would save up $1,000 as soon as possible by. .  .
3) Decreasing your cell phone bills- $120 a month is still a lot.  Decreasing your food bills, especially if your wife is home with no children she should have plenty of time to shop wisely, learn to cook, and do things like soak dried beans, bake bread, etc. Decrease the internet if possible: $50 seems like it could go down to $30 with a call to the provider.  I think you can squeeze at least $100 more out of your budget this way.  If you can increase your family income, that would be better, but do this stuff now. 
4) After you have $1,000, then pay off the credit cards, hard.  I'd start with the Gap card because that needs to be cancelled and closed.  Gap has nothing you need to buy on credit, that's for sure!  However, you might want to start with the B of A card to pay it off in just 2 months.  If you can pay off an additional $715 a month, you have roughly14 months of paying off credit cards ahead. 
5) At that point, I'd get the emergency fund up to $3,000 (2 more months of saving)
6) Next up would be the car at 5.9%. ( 26 additional months at about $1,765 paid each month)
7) Then I'd up the emergency fund to 3 months expenses, (3 more months of saving)
8) Then the school loans.  (By that point your "debt payoff fund" will be almost $2,000 a month, so the school loans should take 5 additional months). 

The $42,000 truck at 6% interest is really what is hurting you the most, and the thing that you could most easily get out of.  By the end of that loan you will pay about $8,000 additional for the privilege of making payments.

Thanks for taking the time to write that up, cheers
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: marty998 on September 19, 2013, 03:08:11 PM
Ok I'm curious.

ioiooioii.

Is there a hidden binary code message in there??



Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: ioiooioii on September 19, 2013, 03:35:51 PM
Ok I'm curious.

ioiooioii.

Is there a hidden binary code message in there??

of course!
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: N on September 19, 2013, 05:16:38 PM
yolfer and IP Dale has posted a great calculator you can use to find out the cost of breaking your phone contract.
http://www.techmeshugana.com/tools/wirelessroi.html

I adjusted how I used my phone, and we went from 2 smartphones with unlimited everthing for 120$/month to Airvoice for my husband myself, and nettalk duo for our home line, for a total of about 20$/month. My cell plan is 10$ a month, my husband uses approx 6-7$/ month and our nettalk is 30$ a year. We use wifi for data, I do my long calls on the homephone. It took me a while to change how I talked on my cell, but now I usually have leftover time at the end of the month!

As long as you have debt, you dont have any "extra" money, from a strictly MMM point of view.
I would pay off as much consumer debt, as quickly as you can. Credit cards first.

Reduce spending in all other categories, as far as possible. All remainder to debt. I would not be surprised, if after a year or two of concentrated MMM frugality, your view on the car/truck ownership changes and you might rethink your ownership of those particular vehicles. You dont want to budge on them now, but that may change in the future.

Dont take on any more debt. Dont spend more than you have allotted in your budget. Do without. Question all purchases. Dont take spendy vacations, buy expensive clothes, or take up costly hobbies. 
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: thepokercab on September 19, 2013, 09:30:23 PM
Quote
yolfer and IP Dale has posted a great calculator you can use to find out the cost of breaking your phone contract.
http://www.techmeshugana.com/tools/wirelessroi.html

I adjusted how I used my phone, and we went from 2 smartphones with unlimited everthing for 120$/month to Airvoice for my husband myself, and nettalk duo for our home line, for a total of about 20$/month. My cell plan is 10$ a month, my husband uses approx 6-7$/ month and our nettalk is 30$ a year. We use wifi for data, I do my long calls on the homephone. It took me a while to change how I talked on my cell, but now I usually have leftover time at the end of the month!

I'll second the cell phone change.  A few months ago we were on Verizon with a family plan.  Almost $200.00 a month. I finally had enough. We ate the cancellation fee and went to PTEL mobile where we're now paying about $20.00 a month on a pre-paid plan (10 bucks per phone).  We had iPhones and while there was a bit of early withdrawal we don't even miss them now. I also got a google voice number and use that as well.  We've more than made back our cancellation fee, and now I can't imagine paying more.   
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: cats on September 19, 2013, 10:26:10 PM
I think you've already gotten some great advice, one thing to add: have you guys looked at the breakdown of your energy (gas/electric) use over time to see if there is anything that could be pared down there? We are pretty energy conscious, but my BF got really serious about logging into PG&E and looking at our hourly energy use for a few weeks, and it was pretty enlightening.  We realized that for us, turning on the oven was a huge energy spike, so we then tried a month where we used the oven no more than once a week.  It shaved several dollars off our bill (which was only about $15/month to start with--I bet you could easily find $10-20 to cut out in a $60 bill!). 
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: NWstubble on September 20, 2013, 12:30:52 AM
Quote
started driving my wifes car to work witch saves 130/mo in gas.
Quote
That would just be eating the initial depreciation cost and reaping none of the benefits of owning a BadAss truck.
Quote
Anyway I decided that if by next year my wife doesn't have a job we will sell her car

Face punch! Lose the emotional connection to the truck and realize it is part of what is sinking you. Look, you realized by driving your wife's car it saves you money in gas, perfect. Now if you get rid of the truck your insurance and registration will go down, payments will go down, gas bill will go down...see how that works?

In case you missed it the first time:
Quote
The $42,000 truck at 6% interest is really what is hurting you the most, and the thing that you could most easily get out of.  By the end of that loan you will pay about $8,000 additional for the privilege of making payments.
Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: StarryC on September 20, 2013, 11:09:31 AM
Maybe another way to look at the truck situation.  You may have thought, when purchasing, that the truck was priced at $42,000. 

But it isn't.  That truck's price, over it's life is $42,000 + $8,000 interest + $130 additional monthly gas (x60) (over a better mpg car) + $100 a year insurance premium (This is a low estimate on my part) x 5 years.   

So the truck's price is: 58,300.  Would you have paid nearly $60,000 for the truck if you'd have known?  Are you willing to pay an additional $46,000 to keep the truck? 

If you sell the truck today, you will get $30,000 back (I think that's what you said, right?).  You will also get to not spend $8,000 in interest, $7,800 in gas, and $500 in insurance.  So, you will save/regain $45,800.   Then you will spend an additional $8,000 (just for example) on a perfectly acceptable vehicle.  You could, over the next 5 years, have an additional $37,800 by selling the truck today.  You could be out of debt more than 19 months sooner.  Instead of 45 months, you'd be at closer to 2 years!   


Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: ioiooioii on September 24, 2013, 10:49:35 AM
Quote
started driving my wifes car to work witch saves 130/mo in gas.
Quote
That would just be eating the initial depreciation cost and reaping none of the benefits of owning a BadAss truck.
Quote
Anyway I decided that if by next year my wife doesn't have a job we will sell her car

Face punch! Lose the emotional connection to the truck and realize it is part of what is sinking you. Look, you realized by driving your wife's car it saves you money in gas, perfect. Now if you get rid of the truck your insurance and registration will go down, payments will go down, gas bill will go down...see how that works?

In case you missed it the first time:
Quote
The $42,000 truck at 6% interest is really what is hurting you the most, and the thing that you could most easily get out of.  By the end of that loan you will pay about $8,000 additional for the privilege of making payments.

Your funny, the emotional connection to the truck is the main "value" of the truck.

I am now considering selling the truck after immersing myself in mustachianess, however I will not sell it for a year or so until it is close to its value and hopefully got my off road rocks off enough.

Title: Re: Just want some feedback
Post by: ioiooioii on September 24, 2013, 10:50:48 AM
Maybe another way to look at the truck situation.  You may have thought, when purchasing, that the truck was priced at $42,000. 

But it isn't.  That truck's price, over it's life is $42,000 + $8,000 interest + $130 additional monthly gas (x60) (over a better mpg car) + $100 a year insurance premium (This is a low estimate on my part) x 5 years.   

So the truck's price is: 58,300.  Would you have paid nearly $60,000 for the truck if you'd have known?  Are you willing to pay an additional $46,000 to keep the truck? 

If you sell the truck today, you will get $30,000 back (I think that's what you said, right?).  You will also get to not spend $8,000 in interest, $7,800 in gas, and $500 in insurance.  So, you will save/regain $45,800.   Then you will spend an additional $8,000 (just for example) on a perfectly acceptable vehicle.  You could, over the next 5 years, have an additional $37,800 by selling the truck today.  You could be out of debt more than 19 months sooner.  Instead of 45 months, you'd be at closer to 2 years!

True!! and I am now considering it, I don't feel trapped anymore. Thanks guys!