Intro - Looking for all the advice, support, info you have!

BlinkMe182 · July 2014

Thanks,

I'm for sure going to look into the envelope planning and that tracker app..

You guys are really helping me feel motivated- I am excited to share all this with H. He and I thankfully are very much on the same page, and I think he will appreciate the advice and thoughts I'm getting today.

jlaOK · July 2014

Your take-home pay seems low. Do you get a big tax return each year? If so, change your W4 to have less taxes taken out each month.

BlinkMe182 · July 2014

jlaOK said:

Your take-home pay seems low. Do you get a big tax return each year? If so, change your W4 to have less taxes taken out each month.

I'll have to look into that.. My take home is about 1300 bi-weekly, and I'm Salary at 50,600. I do pay Short Term, Long Term, 401k, I'll have to see any other deductions.

My H did change his deductions this year as we had to pay in $2,000 for 2013, so as of April he is taking an extra $75 per check to taxes.. I'll have him double check when he is claiming.

jlaOK · July 2014

BlinkMe182 said:

jlaOK said:

Your take-home pay seems low. Do you get a big tax return each year? If so, change your W4 to have less taxes taken out each month.

I'll have to look into that.. My take home is about 1300 bi-weekly, and I'm Salary at 50,600. I do pay Short Term, Long Term, 401k, I'll have to see any other deductions.

My H did change his deductions this year as we had to pay in $2,000 for 2013, so as of April he is taking an extra $75 per check to taxes.. I'll have him double check when he is claiming.

If you get paid bi-weekly that could explain the shortage. You'll get 2 "3rd paychecks" a year which will help with dept repayment.

cbee817 · July 2014

BlinkMe182 said:

Good to know that is high for car insurance. We haven't shopped around for that in YEARS...

Any ideas on places to go? or where to start looking? I am not well researched in this, and I have my hesitations on the whole internet dealers, like The General.. or Progressive.. or Geikko.. I'll take advise on that for sure.

I also didn't mention our home owners insurance is escrowed into the mortgage as well as the property taxes.

I know Progressive uses your credit score to get you a rate- if it's not great, they'll recommend you to other companies with their rates. We use Liberty Mutual for car and home owner's- I get a discount through work and multi-policy.

Even with a scheduled c-section, you only get 6 weeks? I thought it was a mandatory 8 weeks for c-sections. What if you dropped DD to 2 days a week at day care? That would still save a lot, keep her in some sort of routine, and give you some alone time with the baby.

ToastieSimons · July 2014

I've been in your shoes. We were 18k in debt as of Oct 1. We are now at 3k. This last bit is the hardest to pay off. Last year DH's company did a bonus program that they decided not to continue and we had our tax return. So big chunks of money in one shot.

But, the biggest thing for us was getting rid of all cards. We rarely use our debit anymore. Cash only. This way you have a physical reminder in your face of how much you have to spend. With debit it's just like credit, you don't see it so you don't feel it.

For us, making a budget, meal planning, and stopping buying random things was our ticket.

Personally, the medical debt would be the last I would pay. Not the $500, but the rest. Start paying them $10/paycheck. If they take you to collections or court over it as long as you're making a good faith effort to pay meaning you haven't ignored them etc they can't do much. My uncle passed away with lots and lots of medical debt and my aunt refused to file bankruptcy. She paid them every week, $10 here, $20 there, etc. It took her about 20 years and she finally finished paying it off. They took her to court 3 or 4 times. The judge looked at her income, her bills, her payments, etc and said tough luck. She was making a good faith effort and they just have to wait.

hoffse · July 2014

ToastieSimons said:

I've been in your shoes. We were 18k in debt as of Oct 1. We are now at 3k. This last bit is the hardest to pay off. Last year DH's company did a bonus program that they decided not to continue and we had our tax return. So big chunks of money in one shot.

But, the biggest thing for us was getting rid of all cards. We rarely use our debit anymore. Cash only. This way you have a physical reminder in your face of how much you have to spend. With debit it's just like credit, you don't see it so you don't feel it.

For us, making a budget, meal planning, and stopping buying random things was our ticket.

Personally, the medical debt would be the last I would pay. Not the $500, but the rest. Start paying them $10/paycheck. If they take you to collections or court over it as long as you're making a good faith effort to pay meaning you haven't ignored them etc they can't do much. My uncle passed away with lots and lots of medical debt and my aunt refused to file bankruptcy. She paid them every week, $10 here, $20 there, etc. It took her about 20 years and she finally finished paying it off. They took her to court 3 or 4 times. The judge looked at her income, her bills, her payments, etc and said tough luck. She was making a good faith effort and they just have to wait.

Just a word of warning - your aunt's situation has virtually no bearing on the OP's situation. She may live in a different state or she may encounter a judge who is creditor-friendly (plenty are).

Please don't suggest to people that there's nothing creditors can do if you make a good faith effort. There is PLENTY they can do.

brij2006 · July 2014

As for shopping insurance rates, Google "Independent Insurance Agent" in your area. They can look at multiple companies at one time and give you the best rate for both your home and your auto insurance. Also have them quote your homeowners even if you have it in escrow. The agent and the bank can work together to get that part figured out, but it could save you more on both your auto premium and your monthly mortgage payment.

MommyLiberty5013 · July 2014

If you aren't upside down on the truck loan, you could sell it and buy a car for a few thousand dollars. See it as a way to get from point A to point B and nothing else. Get your kicks from turning your finances around - not the wheels you have! Getting rid of the truck will also probably help cut your auto insurance rates.

When you do buy a used vehicle, be sure to have it properly inspected by a reputable mechanic of your choosing. And get a Car Facts report. Inspection points to consider are listed on the Car Talk website.

Xstatic3333 · July 2014

I totally agree with PPs about the suggestions on truck, phones, and fun budget, etc. Making our own lunches has saved us a huge amount of money! I have to physically do it for H, but that's ok:)

Regarding your student loans-have you spoken to your servicer about switching to an income-based repayment plan for now? Those aren't always popular on MM boards and blogs because they cause you to pay more interest over time, but in your situation it could help you get your loan current. I believe they do consider other debts, and they definitely consider family size. My H, then BF, switched to one when we was in trouble with his loans. I'm not sure how behind he was, but he was definitely behind. Lots of phone calls that he was very cagey about. They wrapped his built up late payments into the first few months of repayment. Now, three years later, his credit score has totally recovered.

One thing about Income Based Repayment and Pay As You Earn is that if your income is low enough relative to family size, they will even set your payment to zero. You won't want to stay on this plan for 25 years-you'd pay ridiculous amounts of interest. You could use it, though, to get current on your SL and knock out some of your smaller debts and the 2nd mortgage, which would be my priority.

Xstatic3333 · July 2014

Also, in case you're concerned you make too much for these programs, my H and I have nearly identical income and SL debt levels to you guys, but no kids, and H can still get about $100 knocked off his payment. It would be more if Sallie Mae had considered my loans with another servicer (they are supposed to, but technology failed and we just didn't push it). We're keeping him in the program as long as possible because his loans are crazy low interest, and mine are at 6.8%.

Congrats on the coming baby too! How exciting!

formerlyGDaisy09 · July 2014

Everyone here has good advice. I'm going to agree that you should get rid of H's truck...i'm of the opinion that unless you own a farm or work some kind of construction job there is absolutely no reason to own a truck (gas guzzling, inefficient, vehicles that they are). If you need a truck for "home projects" you can rent one from Home Depot or UHaul for cheap. I'd look into getting H a certified pre-owned smaller car that is fuel efficient. Debending on how old the truck is (I'm assuming less than 5 years given that you're still making payments) if he has $10K left on the loan you can probably get $10k-15k+ for the trade and get yourself pretty much all the way towards owning a reasonable 4-door sedan...there's an extra $300-400/month and you'll save on gas.

definitely call around about car insurance.

look into lowering your cell-phone bill

work on cutting what you spend on entertainment. H and I have a budget for entertainment, we keep our whole budget in a google doc so we can each access it where ever, and hold eachother accountable for plugging in what we spend. once our entertainment budget is gone it's gone and we do nothing fun (at least that costs money) for the rest of the month. I feel the same way you do, that buying lunch at work, or a coffee etc. counts as entertainment not grocery, it took about 2 months for H to realize that he was blowing our entire entertainment budget because he kept buying snacks during the day...he quickly gave that habit up.

BlinkMe182 · July 2014

This is a TON of great advice and ideas.

Thanks everyone!

H and I will be working hard, having lots of talks and I'll keep you posted as we move ahead. I plan to hang around this board a while to keep myself motivated- and join the discussions/ continue getting advice.

uncreatedsnow · July 2014

I don't love Mint.com it didn't mesh well with my thought process. I wrote everything down for a while then once I got the hang of it switched to a spreadsheet.

I've been selling random stuff on those Facebook yard sale sites. It's hit or miss, sometimes you have a great week others nothing. Last week I sold $170 worth of stuff in 2 days, but I was moving so really pushing to get rid of stuff.

I'm definitely a HUGE fan of the envelope system. It's worked WONDERS for me. And going from debit card only to cash only was a HUGE change for me, but it's been key. It's hard to get rid of cash, I HATE breaking a $20 lol

als1982 · July 2014

We use mint.com but only for a broad overview of our entire financial situation. Otherwise we track to the penny using an Excel spreadsheet.

The cash system is good if it works for you and you aren't capable of using credit cards wisely, but we have been able to responsibly use credit cards to our advantage and have earned several hundred dollars in cash back and thousands of dollars worth of travel in the past three years we've been together.

We also get $150 every other week to be spent no questions asked, this would include things like coffee or lunches not brought from home, but also includes our individual clothing purchases and H's sports season tickets.

MommyLiberty5013 · July 2014

Another idea I have is regarding hair cuts and nail and/or waxing services as well as highlighting or dying.

A few years ago, every 3 weeks, DH was spending $18 for a hair cut. So in one year that was $312. I was spending $20 every 3 weeks for eyebrow waxes, that was $346.

I bought a $20 Sally Hensen at-home waxing kit from Target (no microwaving, it comes with its own warmer that you plug in) wax refills are about $12, but they last 5-6 months or more. And, I taught myself how to wax my own brows. Also, by buying our own razor from a beauty supply store, for $50 (we got the Peanut), with various heads, and watching how to cut men's hair on Youtube, I now cut DH's hair for him.

Right there, that's about $660 annually in savings. If you get your hair and nails done, either stop those services or learn to do it yourself. Now, I still get my hair cut professionally, because it literally isn't something DH or I could do...and that's $60 every 6 weeks...I love AVEDA salons and that's my little treat!

For easy meals, use a lot of crock pot recipes and make things that can be frozen and thawed/reheated. Try Cooking Lite for some ideas.

BlinkMe182 · July 2014

MommyLiberty5013 said:

Another idea I have is regarding hair cuts and nail and/or waxing services as well as highlighting or dying.
A few years ago, every 3 weeks, DH was spending $18 for a hair cut. So in one year that was $312. I was spending $20 every 3 weeks for eyebrow waxes, that was $346.
I bought a $20 Sally Hensen at-home waxing kit from Target (no microwaving, it comes with its own warmer that you plug in) wax refills are about $12, but they last 5-6 months or more. And, I taught myself how to wax my own brows. Also, by buying our own razor from a beauty supply store, for $50 (we got the Peanut), with various heads, and watching how to cut men's hair on Youtube, I now cut DH's hair for him.
Right there, that's about $660 annually in savings. If you get your hair and nails done, either stop those services or learn to do it yourself. Now, I still get my hair cut professionally, because it literally isn't something DH or I could do...and that's $60 every 6 weeks...I love AVEDA salons and that's my little treat!
For easy meals, use a lot of crock pot recipes and make things that can be frozen and thawed/reheated. Try Cooking Lite for some ideas.

____ STUCK IN QUOTE _____
H get's a hair cut for weddings/funerals.. maybe 3 or 4 cuts a year- not exaggerating. at $14 a pop.. so he's good.
I USED To get my hair done every 6 weeks, but it has probably been 2 years since I've done that. I haven't had nails, waxing anything in over 2 years... We are pretty low maint. on that kind of stuff!
Now, I spend about $50 every 6 months on a cut/color/style from a girl friend. and that is about it..
We've always been pretty low maintenance on that kind of stuff. But that is the type of thinking I need!!

CuriousKiddosMama · July 2014

Gdaisy09 said:

Everyone here has good advice. I'm going to agree that you should get rid of H's truck...i'm of the opinion that unless you own a farm or work some kind of construction job there is absolutely no reason to own a truck (gas guzzling, inefficient, vehicles that they are). If you need a truck for "home projects" you can rent one from Home Depot or UHaul for cheap. I'd look into getting H a certified pre-owned smaller car that is fuel efficient. Debending on how old the truck is (I'm assuming less than 5 years given that you're still making payments) if he has $10K left on the loan you can probably get $10k-15k+ for the trade and get yourself pretty much all the way towards owning a reasonable 4-door sedan...there's an extra $300-400/month and you'll save on gas.

definitely call around about car insurance.

look into lowering your cell-phone bill

work on cutting what you spend on entertainment. H and I have a budget for entertainment, we keep our whole budget in a google doc so we can each access it where ever, and hold eachother accountable for plugging in what we spend. once our entertainment budget is gone it's gone and we do nothing fun (at least that costs money) for the rest of the month. I feel the same way you do, that buying lunch at work, or a coffee etc. counts as entertainment not grocery, it took about 2 months for H to realize that he was blowing our entire entertainment budget because he kept buying snacks during the day...he quickly gave that habit up.

Please, Please, Please come tell my DH this! All I have been hearing about for a while is I need a truck. And I'm like really- for the 3 times a year we may use it. Ugh.... I think I have heard the last of it for a while since we are finally crunching the numbers on a mortgage, but still.

vlagrl29 · July 2014

Keep all your receipts this month and add up every penny. Put it into categories on a spreadsheet and you will at least have a start of where everything is going. I do this every month to make sure we are keeping in check with everything.

formerlyGDaisy09 · July 2014

Vikingsfan 71713 said:

Gdaisy09 said:

Everyone here has good advice. I'm going to agree that you should get rid of H's truck...i'm of the opinion that unless you own a farm or work some kind of construction job there is absolutely no reason to own a truck (gas guzzling, inefficient, vehicles that they are). If you need a truck for "home projects" you can rent one from Home Depot or UHaul for cheap. I'd look into getting H a certified pre-owned smaller car that is fuel efficient. Debending on how old the truck is (I'm assuming less than 5 years given that you're still making payments) if he has $10K left on the loan you can probably get $10k-15k+ for the trade and get yourself pretty much all the way towards owning a reasonable 4-door sedan...there's an extra $300-400/month and you'll save on gas.

definitely call around about car insurance.

look into lowering your cell-phone bill

work on cutting what you spend on entertainment. H and I have a budget for entertainment, we keep our whole budget in a google doc so we can each access it where ever, and hold eachother accountable for plugging in what we spend. once our entertainment budget is gone it's gone and we do nothing fun (at least that costs money) for the rest of the month. I feel the same way you do, that buying lunch at work, or a coffee etc. counts as entertainment not grocery, it took about 2 months for H to realize that he was blowing our entire entertainment budget because he kept buying snacks during the day...he quickly gave that habit up.

Please, Please, Please come tell my DH this! All I have been hearing about for a while is I need a truck. And I'm like really- for the 3 times a year we may use it. Ugh.... I think I have heard the last of it for a while since we are finally crunching the numbers on a mortgage, but still.

Seriously...we've rented the Home Depot trucks a few times to haul stuff home for a project, it's $20/hour plus gas...they have a daily rate too. but when you just need to haul a bunch of stuff home $20-40 is so much better than car payments/insurance etc. on a truck.

CCinLove · July 2014

I actually don't think your car insurance rate looks high. Less than $1200 a year for 2 cars new enough to still have loans on them sounds about right to me. You should definitely shop for lower rates, but I wouldn't get my hopes up about dropping this expense by much. Car insurance is dependent on what you drive, where you live, your driving record, how far you drive, what your coverages are, etc. It is totally irrelevant what anyone else pays.

IMO, what's killing you is the car payments. You're spending almost as much on your cars as you are on your mortgage! Maybe more when you factor in registration, inspections, oil changes, and repairs (none of which are listed in your budget, by the way).

Along those lines, your budget is missing plenty of the little expenses that are budget killers, like the car expenses noted above. Medical co-pays? Gifts? House maintenance?

You guys make a good income. How much is H's overtime? You can get the debt under control if you are prudent with your budget. And I disagree with blowing off the hospital bills. The hospital didn't make you wait 20 or 30 years for the treatment you needed, so you shouldn't take that long to pay them even if you could. That debt needs to be prioritized just like the rest of it.

short+sassy · July 2014

I'll admit, I was surprised at the "car insurance is really high" responses. Car insurance rates vary DRASTICALLY on where people live. Even within my city, car insurance rates can be double from one zip code to another zip code that is right next to it. Definitely shop around, it doesn't hurt. But the amount you are paying might be par for the course for where you live. For example, I have a great driving record...only one car...over 25...and my car insurance is $205/month. When I've shopped around, I've found a few carriers that are like $185-$190/month, but they have all been pretty much the same. And I like my current carrier (Progressive) and have been with them over ten years...so I choose to pay a little more rather than switch. I also notice that you keep referencing your husband's income as "without O/T". Does that mean he typcially receives O/T? I agree you shouldn't include it in your main budget vs. bills, especially if it varies. But, at the same time, if this is extra money that typcially comes in each month, I suggest talking to your husband about how to best allocate this "bonus money" so to speak. Same with the two months out of the year when you get a "third" paycheck due to being paid bi-weekly.

blondie42107 · July 2014

cbee817 said:

BlinkMe182 said:

Good to know that is high for car insurance. We haven't shopped around for that in YEARS...

Any ideas on places to go? or where to start looking? I am not well researched in this, and I have my hesitations on the whole internet dealers, like The General.. or Progressive.. or Geikko.. I'll take advise on that for sure.

I also didn't mention our home owners insurance is escrowed into the mortgage as well as the property taxes.

I know Progressive uses your credit score to get you a rate- if it's not great, they'll recommend you to other companies with their rates. We use Liberty Mutual for car and home owner's- I get a discount through work and multi-policy.
Even with a scheduled c-section, you only get 6 weeks? I thought it was a mandatory 8 weeks for c-sections. What if you dropped DD to 2 days a week at day care? That would still save a lot, keep her in some sort of routine, and give you some alone time with the baby.

I had two c-sections. My work didn't care what type of birth I had because I had zero maternity coverage. I did use FMLA which is unpaid and only guarentees that I wouldn't lose my job (I qualified for FMLA, some small companies don't have to offer it and some employees don't qualify for it). I used sick and vacation time until it ran out and the remainder of my "maternity" leave was unpaid.

Daycare can be tricky. Most daycare centers or even in-home daycare require that you pay regardless of attendance. So if the poster has to pay either way, it might be helpful to keep the older child attending.

Sisugal · July 2014

Car insurance rates a linked to your FICO score, where you live, your driving record and the value of your vehicle.

blondie42107 · July 2014

I also agree with the auto insurance - what others pay is irrelevant. Age, driving record, location, type of car, etc all play a role. Another big one is living in a "no fault state" or not. I would still price around because you might find a better deal.

House insurance can be worth a look as well. We purchased our house in 2007 and we had our insurance agent re-run our house. It dropped $200/ year with no changes to our policy. We have home and auto with AllState and have had zero problems.

We pay $150/month for two smart phones through Verizon.

Our internet/phone is $65/month. I have a strong desire to have a home phone with having children.

The truck payment is high IMO. I would really look at getting a cheaper vehicle.

Your electric and natural gas surprise me a bit. Now that winter is over our bill has dropped a ton. I know this will depend on type of home and square footage. However we've only turned our AC on to know that it works and to clean it and change the filter. Otherwise it hasn't been that hot so we just don't use it. I know the budget plan can help during high cost times but you might want to consider dropping that. You'll be able to see the changes you make each month.

Our entertainment budget is pretty low. We usually do things with our kids so that can be a trip to the zoo ($75 annual family membership), library, park (we have two super close to us), nature park (short drive and FREE - also has a splash park in it -FREE). We occasionally attend some minor league baseball games but those are pretty darn cheap as well and if we go to a promoted family game - concessions are pretty low cost as well. My in-laws give us gift cards for our anniversary, holidays, etc so that's what we use when we go out to eat for the occasional date night. We also do movie and popcorn after the kids are in bed.

You can really do a lot if you are willing to buckle down.

FabulousMrs.P · July 2014

It sounds like you are on the right track. As the ladies told you, I would start keeping all receipts and keeping track of where every cent goes. You would be surprised how much the little stuff adds up! Once you do that for a month, you can sit down with your hubby and figure out where you guys can cut. Entertainment can be whittled down as the other posters suggested. Also, I don't know if you shop sales/use coupons but I can sometimes save some money on groceries that way.

strickland8052 · July 2014

Welcome! I think you have gotten some pretty good advice. Definitely shop around for car insurance, cell phone, and internet service. Do some research to see if you or H can get discounts at various places through your employer. Our employer has an entire webpage devoted to discounts at various insurance companies, cell phone providers, hotels, etc. By using that and shopping around, I dropped our cell phone bill from $170 to $90 a month and our car insurance from $150 to $120.

Intro - Looking for all the advice, support, info you have!

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