My Debt Blog

I think my wife is realizing that I can’t manage everything for the both of us. Last week I showed her what it takes to keeps us moving forward. She knows we have bills but really didn’t take the time to even look at them, yet alone realize that we’re paying almost $300 to keep the lights and gas on. I reminded her that while my income alone is enough to operate our house and pay all the bills, it only provides just enough left over for gas and groceries. Going out to eat, buying expensive clothes, and other wants are lifestyle choices that I can’t pull off alone. I believe in a way her new job will become our bailout plan. She got the job!

We are very happy and this week she gets to go in 2 days to work with the teacher she will temporarily replace for the remainder of the year. Her pay rate is much higher than I thought it would be and she will essentially make the same amount in those 2 days than working an entire week at her former job. When she works two full weeks, her income is very close to what I bring home from my salary. The old song We’re in the Money from the Great Depression era comes to mind. I think a large amount, nearly 2/3 of what she will bring home could pay off debt.

I also think she needs to take responsibility for the debt she ran up on her store cards that we paid off earlier this year. These things could be gone early next month and there would still be a lot left over. After that I’m not sure what the next debt to focus on would be because I recently did a balance transfer to a card with 0% for 12 months. The other account is my old BoA card that I debated draining an IRA to clear a few months ago. It would be nice to get rid of either of these quickly since the debt on them is relatively old and inhibit our progress moving forward. The other major debt to tackle is her massive student loans coming due.

Our bailout plan is relatively simple when it comes down to the basics. Take a bunch of money we earn and use it to pay down our debt. The most important thing is to make sure lifestyle doesn’t get out of control so we can have that lifestyle when we can afford it later. The seasons are changing and my stress is changing into a renewed energy to keep at it. Thank you to my readers for your encouragement.

Comments(15)

My wife got a call from a school last week from a school that had a long term substitute teaching position available. They set up the interview for last Friday and she told me things went well and they would let her know either way this week. She finally got called back yesterday evening by the principle and they want to talk to her about the position. After many months of applying to just about everything, she will finally get to teach this year. I have no idea about specific details on pay and all that, but it will be much better than what she’s currently doing or even doing nothing for that matter.

I have done some basic calculations and she will essentially double her income with this new position. The key of course is to effectively use this increased cash flow to reduce debt. She also has some student loans that require payments going forward. Most of these are being held off right now so if we can reduce the credit card debt quickly first, it’ll be easier to make the payments on the student loans. My stress level is reduced to say the least, but until it’s in the bank we can’t be for certain.

As I said earlier this week I have been showing her the bills this week. She really wasn’t aware of what we were paying each month because I usually just take care of the bills. The next step is for us to sit down and actually pay the bills online together. I think we’re making progress but it takes time to get on the same page. While the income levels for September from her just starting her current job will get us through, when she transitions to the new job, October will see a big impact.

I’ve said in the past if we used the bulk of what she makes her student loan debt will be wiped out much quicker than making the regular payment. The credit cards have been reduced from what they used to be and we’re getting them paid down. Some new debt has wiped out past progress, but even in the year our debt is still down. I want to keep the debt levels going down instead of being increased. Looking back at the juggling act I was doing last year while she was student teaching, it was very stressful. This news is a big step forward for the both of us.

Comments(11)

There was a hurricane down in Texas this weekend, but up north near Chicago we were getting rain for three days straight. Flooding was the major worry because some areas were getting 8 inches an hour. My sump pump rarely stopped and I’m happy my basement is still dry. We didn’t go anywhere in the rain though given gas was $4.35 and the checking account was dry. I got paid today which is a huge sigh of relief.

So where do we go from here? Tonight I’m going to put some stuff together to outline a plan of action. Instead of myself paying the bills this week, I’m going to have my wife pay them with me. She needs to know where it is going and what we have left after the bills are spent. I’m tired of trying to come up with a plan to get us out of debt when it never seems to make the least bit of difference in the end. We also don’t have her regular check to work with yet, so spending needs to be reduced during times like this. I think she won’t receive her paycheck until the end of the month, which is going to be difficult.

I’m getting tired of the people advocating we get a divorce. Most of this advice is probably coming from people who have been divorced or have seen what can come from a divorce. Financial responsibility isn’t something everyone is naturally born with. As we grow up we learn behaviors, typically from our parents, on how to do things such as money management. I don’t think my wife is in a clinical depression either. It’s a slump that we go through and resort to stupid things to pick us back up. We’re getting through the rough patches, together.

Thank you to all the people that understand what we’re dealing with. I read the articles that were posted but haven’t shown them to my wife yet. These might be brought up over time because I’m still trying to get her on board with looking at our finances together. It’s obvious that I cannot get us out of debt alone, because the progress I make gets wiped out. Every year it seems our debt grows beyond what it could have been by this time the previous year. Obviously this trend line cannot continue or we will never be able to get out. Sometimes I casually ask her what we could do with an extra $700 a month. That is how much we put towards the payments every single month. The eye opening effect doesn’t seem to last though.

No word yet from the interview she had last Friday. I’ll post something when she finds out whether or not it panned out.

Comments(8)

I was in a really down mood last week, but this week I’m hanging in there. This coming Monday is the middle of the month of September, and it couldn’t come sooner. There is a calming effect something basic as payday gives me. We have the money to pay the bills and make it to the next month. Most of the time my stress level doesn’t go up until the end of the month and beginning of the next month. This is when the spending needs to be tightened but lately it has not.

Something that frustrates me about this blog is the wide range of comments. If I could control what my wife does, what does that make me? Taking away her credit cards doesn’t change habits someone has become accustom to doing. I’ve talked with her about her spending, especially regarding clothing, and it doesn’t make a difference. Looking at the past three months, she has spent over 1k we didn’t have to spend on clothing alone. It’s not like I don’t want her to feel like she cannot spend our money, it’s the amount and value for the money. I asked her she’s to figure out a way to afford her lifestyle if that’s what she is going to spend money on.

The reason I bring this up is because she is starting to look at the account balances online now. I told her that I did a balance transfer to another credit card which is why the balances are high right now. She thought I had been saving a bunch of money on the side and since she needed new clothes it was there to use. We were not on the same page regarding this financial move that was going to save us money. The balance transfer was probably the biggest mistake I could have made without intending it to be. I essentially enabled her to go spend a bunch of money we didn’t have, shifting her old debt, and the new card still has a balance.

We really need to get on the same page here when it comes to the money stuff. The only problem is when I bring it up, she doesn’t want to talk about it since I deal with the money. Some have suggested I let her pay the bills so she knows where the money goes. This might have to happen so she is aware of what has to get paid before thinking about new shoes. Someone once said “Champaign taste on a beer budget” which doesn’t change overnight. We didn’t get into debt overnight, so it’s going to take time to get out.

Regarding a divorce, I have addressed in the past that this won’t be happening. Money should never be the reason to terminate a marriage. This blog is biased because I’m the only one who works on it and I want to get us out of debt. The last time I asked her to help contribute, she doesn’t want to deal with backlash from comments. She doesn’t even take the time to read it anymore. Consider her situation for a moment though. After going six figures in student loan debt, certified to be a teacher for 9 months now, and not becoming a teacher when school starts. Her way of handling depression is shopping because it makes her feel good to have nice things. We all deal with depression in different ways and sometimes they are expensive.

Comments(30)

I haven’t posted much lately because I don’t know what I can do anymore. My wife has been home for three weeks and finally starts a job on Monday next week, but it will take time to see that first paycheck. Money is just being spent left and right, on a lot of things we don’t need. I’m doing my best to keep our credit card balances from going up, but have failed.

About a week or so ago I did a balance transfer to a 0% card for 12 months. The money I transferred has paid off one of our higher rate cards, and the remainder was going to clear the high rate store cards. That extra $500 got spent on who knows what. I didn’t tell her about the balance transfer either, so if that money wasn’t in the account, we would be $500 in the hole right now. Now I don’t know if I should balance transfer more money to pay off these store cards or just keep chipping away at them each month.

She got her last paycheck from her prior job and wanted to cash it instead of contributing to our account. That did not sit well with me because I use my paycheck to pay bills and then some, and she would like to go buy new clothes for her job. Fortunately she put her paycheck into our account, yet bought new clothes using her credit card. I’m trying to dig us out of a hole we’re both in and it keeps filling back in.

We’re going to have to start dealing with her private student loans in coming months. Even with her having some income, half of it must go to this bill to keep them happy. These things cannot be put off for years and months on end without making effort to pay them back. I’d like for us to use the amount of money she is going to have to start paying to clear off smaller debt such as her store cards which together carry a $500 balance. If we can handle that I think the student loan payment will be possible.

Comments(24)