I want to be better with my finances

[Fruitee]

--

It sounds like the OP has a good job and income so it's just a matter of changing their spending habits. Not easy! When things got tough for us my now exW still wanted the prior lifestyle that we couldn't afford and I was willing to meet some way to the middle but had no problem getting frugal; she did so moved on to a guy who better matched up. That's how life goes. If the OP is married to their lifestyle and can't see things as fluid and that it's OK to sacrifice to meet goals, then that's how things will go. They've got plenty of company in the world. We love our stuff and, oh yeah, traveling. OP, you wanna learn how to travel cheap? Ha, ha, not right now, got debts to pay off. You'll make it.

 

Yes. Without my debt I wouldnt have a worry. I would have plenty of money to use. Basically half of my monthly salary would go to expenses and rest of it I could use for "fun" and saving. Now instead of saving e.g. 300 euros per month I am paying off stupid ****.

 

Im not married to my old lifestyle anymore. Im happier with less. Right now I would just like to get rid off this debt so I could continue my life with less spending and with less stuff.

 

But thanks.

Edited March 30, 2017 by Fruitee

[Fruitee]

One final comment regarding living etc expenses. I already live in s ****ty and cheap place. I walk and use public transportation. I can eat easily 10 to 20 euro per week. I have quit lot of things. E.g. going out and smoking. I go to cheapest gym. I buy only discount clothes.

 

I need a new job with better salary as I mentioned before. Then I would have got "what I want".

 

My future plans is to travel and save money for retirement.

 

I have some insurance and stock stuff for the time Im retiring that I can sell / get money back.

 

Next two years is gonna be like hell for paying this off.

 

I dont want no man to help me or move in until I am financially stable. So in case of break up I wont be stuck.

 

No man will get access to my money. Im not paying for anything unless its returned favour.

 

I think the mental issue is seeing the long tearm goal instead of current situation. Like I said. 100 euro per month more after 1 year paying off or nice summer holiday this year in Greece. And to turn myself into a person who doesnt travel.. its difficult.

[Simple Logic]

She better stop using them but keep them open, because decreasing her credit limit will increase her debt/credit ratio and ruin her credit even further.

 

I agree, the goal is to mend the credit she has, not eliminate it.

[Fruitee]

I agree, the goal is to mend the credit she has, not eliminate it.

 

Yes I will be needing it. I cant get rid of it.

[basil67]

I have talked to my bank and there is one loan i could take to pay off my credit cards but i did the calculations and its not cheaper.

 

What if you talk with a different bank? Some banks offer honeymoon periods on loans with zero or discounted interest. Just make sure to check that when the honeymoon period ends, the interest rate is comparable to what you're paying now.

 

It would also be worth checking out of the Not For Profit sector or government agencies have people who can help with advice on getting out of the hole you're in.

[bathtub-row]

I know that even couple of euros help. But thats not still really the problem. I know how to save. Its the execution Im having difficulties with. Right now Im not buying anything. Just food and stuff like that.

 

You can probably buy Ramsey's CD's cheap on Craigslist.

 

Look, this may seem odd to you but you'd be better off calling each credit card company, canceliing your card and getting them to cut your payments by at least 40%. Tell them if they can't accommodate you, then you'll stop paying them. They have nothing to gain by not working with you. Stop living in fear of making or breaking your credit score. If you can't buy groceries and have some extra money, then something needs to give.

 

Look up some Ramsey videos on YouTube. Maybe there's something there. And btw you could cancel your cable TV and just have Netflix, or something like that. After I sold my house, I never got cable at my new place because I couldn't get DishNet and the others were really expensive. It's not that I can't afford it, it just pisses me off to pay those ridiculous prices. As consumers, we get bombarded from all directions and I'm just tired of other people getting rich off of me, off of things that cost a lot and aren't necessities.

[basil67]

Tell them if they can't accommodate you, then you'll stop paying them.

 

This will kill the OPs credit rating and then she'll have to deal with debt collectors.

 

Don't ever stop paying your debts. Refinance with a better institution, but don't stop paying.

[bathtub-row]

This will kill the OPs credit rating and then she'll have to deal with debt collectors.

 

Don't ever stop paying your debts. Refinance with a better institution, but don't stop paying.

 

I didn't tell her to stop paying, I said to say that to them for negotiation purposes. They have no hold over her except this continual fear that people have of bad credit. The truth is, if she doesn't get the situation resolved so that she's paying much less in monthly fees, she's going to implode and the disaster will have the very same effect as her refusing to pay. She needs to do something drastic to get her debts down.

[Fruitee]

What if you talk with a different bank? Some banks offer honeymoon periods on loans with zero or discounted interest. Just make sure to check that when the honeymoon period ends, the interest rate is comparable to what you're paying now.

 

It would also be worth checking out of the Not For Profit sector or government agencies have people who can help with advice on getting out of the hole you're in.

 

It dont work like that here. Its same with all banks. There are real people in need. I dont want to take away from them.

[Fruitee]

You can probably buy Ramsey's CD's cheap on Craigslist.

 

Look, this may seem odd to you but you'd be better off calling each credit card company, canceliing your card and getting them to cut your payments by at least 40%. Tell them if they can't accommodate you, then you'll stop paying them. They have nothing to gain by not working with you. Stop living in fear of making or breaking your credit score. If you can't buy groceries and have some extra money, then something needs to give.

--

And I'm just tired of other people getting rich off of me, off of things that cost a lot and aren't necessities.

 

I dont have cable. I only have regular tv thats for free and Netflix for free too.

 

I dont understand how that 40 % cut off works. But Im not stopping payments. Stopping them would be dumb.

 

Not everyone is able to save per month.

[Fruitee]

I didn't tell her to stop paying, I said to say that to them for negotiation purposes. They have no hold over her except this continual fear that people have of bad credit. The truth is, if she doesn't get the situation resolved so that she's paying much less in monthly fees, she's going to implode and the disaster will have the very same effect as her refusing to pay. She needs to do something drastic to get her debts down.

 

Well if I lose my creditability (pun intended) I wont be able to get even phone or insurance. So it is a real thing and takes 3 to 5 years to get papers back in order.

[bathtub-row]

Well if I lose my creditability (pun intended) I wont be able to get even phone or insurance. So it is a real thing and takes 3 to 5 years to get papers back in order.

 

Hate to tell you, but if you don't get them to work with you getting the payments lowered, you're going to find yourself drowning. And all that fear you have about bad credit will become a reality. They've got a chokehold on you and you need to negotiate with them to loose their grip.

[Fruitee]

Hate to tell you, but if you don't get them to work with you getting the payments lowered, you're going to find yourself drowning. And all that fear you have about bad credit will become a reality. They've got a chokehold on you and you need to negotiate with them to loose their grip.

 

Well It wont come as long as I am able to pay my monthly fees. But here banks handle that stuff and when I spoke to my bank they said I could take the loan or just keep paying.

[bathtub-row]

Well It wont come as long as I am able to pay my monthly fees. But here banks handle that stuff and when I spoke to my bank they said I could take the loan or just keep paying.

 

When a person lives on the financial edge as you are right now, something is going to eventually give. You keep looking at things in terms of what you won't or can't do, as though you have no say, no control. As long as you continue to think along those lines, you'll be correct -- you have no say and no control. They hold all the cards and you're at their mercy.

 

The next option is to work a second job or start selling things. But if you have another "unexpected" expense come up - and you will - you'll be right back where you started because you can't sustain the hit. I hope it all works out for you.

[Fruitee]

When a person lives on the financial edge as you are right now, something is going to eventually give. You keep looking at things in terms of what you won't or can't do, as though you have no say, no control. As long as you continue to think along those lines, you'll be correct -- you have no say and no control. They hold all the cards and you're at their mercy.

 

The next option is to work a second job or start selling things. But if you have another "unexpected" expense come up - and you will - you'll be right back where you started because you can't sustain the hit. I hope it all works out for you.

 

Look man I cannot stop paying right? And credit card company is not giving me discount. So what else I could do? Than just try my best to pay it off. I dont have any control over multinational corporation that gave to me this card. I can only control my own spending.

[No_Go]

Yeah, cutting the newest cards will do the least harm, because it will decrease the least the length of the credit history (I believe it is an weighted average of all the open line of credit that one has).

 

In my case I wanted to build credit fast, because I was new to the US - i.e. had no credit history. This was 3 years ago. I quickly got a few cards open so I have the highest possible limit - at the time it was something like 30 K. Then I used my cards consistently, paying them off practically the same day. Therefore I never exceeded using 5% of my credit limit at a time. This helped me move from zero history to high 700s in year and a half or less.

 

Other countries: I used to live in Europe before, in the countries that I've been living at similar rules would apply (low utilization, paying cards on time, length of history etc). I don't know how it works in other parts of the world.

 

That's a good point, though may work differently in different areas/countries.

 

What I did was track my FICO as I made changes to see what the changes did to the credit score. I had an old grandfathered credit monitoring service from Equifax from my loan committee days that I would update the FICO and credit report on quarterly or, lately, monthly, watching how things went.

 

As you mentioned, percentages are important. Generally, with FICO in the US, holding on to the oldest credit lines and those with the highest available helps the scoring as the ratio of utilization changes as debt gets paid. What I'm doing right now is cutting the newest credit lines in half, meaning lowering the credit limit by half, and watching the results. The goal is to phase out the newer and unneeded lines in favor of older lines and then move on to those, cutting the limits down over time. This may not be an issue for the OP, IDK, but having an aggregate of six figures out there in available isn't something I want or need and lenders don't particularly like it either. Still, as a baseline, the FiCO is well into the 800's so I'll see how the strategy works.

 

It sounds like the OP has a good job and income so it's just a matter of changing their spending habits. Not easy! When things got tough for us my now exW still wanted the prior lifestyle that we couldn't afford and I was willing to meet some way to the middle but had no problem getting frugal; she did so moved on to a guy who better matched up. That's how life goes. If the OP is married to their lifestyle and can't see things as fluid and that it's OK to sacrifice to meet goals, then that's how things will go. They've got plenty of company in the world. We love our stuff and, oh yeah, traveling. OP, you wanna learn how to travel cheap? Ha, ha, not right now, got debts to pay off. You'll make it.

[No_Go]

I know that even couple of euros help. But thats not still really the problem. I know how to save. Its the execution Im having difficulties with. Right now Im not buying anything. Just food and stuff like that.

 

I assume you're in Europe? Depending on the country you have options to cut costs of transport (eh, I remember the days when I could get anywhere just biking in NL), food (obviously no eating out, but the grocery shops have vastly different prices (e.g. another NL example: Albert Heijn is everywhere but is overpriced compared to others), rent/mortgage (get a roommate? AirBnB a room in your home?)

[Fruitee]

I assume you're in Europe? Depending on the country you have options to cut costs of transport (eh, I remember the days when I could get anywhere just biking in NL), food (obviously no eating out, but the grocery shops have vastly different prices (e.g. another NL example: Albert Heijn is everywhere but is overpriced compared to others), rent/mortgage (get a roommate? AirBnB a room in your home?)

 

I use public transportation as I have mentioned earlier. It is my only option. Other than that I walk every where. I live in studio so I cant airbnb this.

[No_Go]

I use public transportation as I have mentioned earlier. It is my only option. Other than that I walk every where. I live in studio so I cant airbnb this.

 

I used to live in a studio when I was studying but it turned to be more expensive than sharing a two bedroom with a roommate. Back then I'd cringe with the thought but in the end of the day - it wasn't too bad, and it helped me save.

 

Is moving temporarily with family an option? This will save you a chunk until you pay off debt...

 

So I'm getting the impression you pay for living+public transport+food+debt only. But you mentioned you have a shopping problem? What are you buying? Because from what you describe, you have a handle on you main expenses.

[Fruitee]

I used to live in a studio when I was studying but it turned to be more expensive than sharing a two bedroom with a roommate. Back then I'd cringe with the thought but in the end of the day - it wasn't too bad, and it helped me save.

 

Is moving temporarily with family an option? This will save you a chunk until you pay off debt...

 

So I'm getting the impression you pay for living+public transport+food+debt only. But you mentioned you have a shopping problem? What are you buying? Because from what you describe, you have a handle on you main expenses.

 

All of my family lives too far away. I need my job here. So no moving. Or if I move then I need to buy a car. And find a new job. So its a dead end. Also I dont wanna move in with anyone else because then I will be ****ed again when they decide to dumb my ass as gf or roomie. Living with bf would save me tops 100 to 200 euro per month. Maybe 150 euro per month. It would make a difference even a small one. But risk is too high. Living with roommate wouldnt probably save me any money because then we would need 2 bed room apartment and those minimun twice as expensive what I pay now alone. Also you need deposit which I dont have.

 

I used to have a shopping problem. Not anymore.

[SevenCity]

Pay the smallest debt off first rather than paying all of your creditors just a little. Give each creditor maybe 10 or 15 percent less and throw it all to the smallest debt so that you can pay that off. Then tackle the next smallest debt. If one charges a very high interest that should also be paid off sooner than those with lower rates.

 

And cut up your cards except for a versatile one that you can use in a pinch if you must but generally if I don't have the money in the bank I know I really can't afford to have it.

 

I think this is from Dave R's program. I personally take issue with it but I'm a logical guy.

 

The philosophy is to get quick "wins". Psychologically I think it might help if you are a shopaholic.

 

The correct thing to do is pay off the debt with the highest interest rate. If you have a cc with $15,000k at 20% interest, you are better off paying that first rather than the $1000 cc with 8% interest.

 

To each his own I guess.

[Fruitee]

I think this is from Dave R's program. I personally take issue with it but I'm a logical guy.

 

The philosophy is to get quick "wins". Psychologically I think it might help if you are a shopaholic.

 

The correct thing to do is pay off the debt with the highest interest rate. If you have a cc with $15,000k at 20% interest, you are better off paying that first rather than the $1000 cc with 8% interest.

 

To each his own I guess.

 

Yes its a psychological thing. Not mathematical. Its supposed to motivate people.

[BlackCherry]

Can you take a second and third job?

 

All through college I worked a few jobs at once (UK). If you can stomach it, go get a food delivery job that will let you work nights and weekends for a standard hourly rate. I did this and was able to get an extra £500-600 per month. Of course I was exhausted and pulling in 60-80 hours per week of work but if you can do something like this short term you can have a massive impact on your debt in a short period of time.

[Fruitee]

Can you take a second and third job?

 

All through college I worked a few jobs at once (UK). If you can stomach it, go get a food delivery job that will let you work nights and weekends for a standard hourly rate. I did this and was able to get an extra £500-600 per month. Of course I was exhausted and pulling in 60-80 hours per week of work but if you can do something like this short term you can have a massive impact on your debt in a short period of time.

 

Thats what I have been thinking. But for 2nd job its 30 to 37 % of tax. And Im studying part time and working full time. So getting job for 10 euro per hour or so doesnt gonna do much. But I have been thinking about doing something. But it would have to be very lucrative for couple of hours on Sundays or something I can do from home.

[BlackCherry]

Thats what I have been thinking. But for 2nd job its 30 to 37 % of tax. And Im studying part time and working full time. So getting job for 10 euro per hour or so doesnt gonna do much. But I have been thinking about doing something. But it would have to be very lucrative for couple of hours on Sundays or something I can do from home.

 

Well even if you are getting 6 or 7 euros per hour after tax, if you do enough hours (can easily do twenty per week across both weekend days and an evening each week) that can make a significant dent in your debt. No need to do it forever, commit to six or so months and save every penny you earn. Second jobs are a great idea when you need extra cash. You gotta either reduce your spending or increase your income and it sounds like the latter is more possible right now. Why are you limiting yourself to something lucrative or just a couple hours on a Sunday?