Topic : Debt

I purchased another of Suze Orman's books:  THE LAWS OF MONEY, THE LESSONS OF LIFE.  On pages 108-109 she discusses Student Loans and says that if you have a couple, you should consolidate them.  

I was doing the 9 Steps to Financial Freedom and just couldn't move into Step 4 (wills & stuff) - so today, I saw this book for $6 and bought it.  I just have way too many FEARS and I'm still working on getting a good handle on what my monthly spending is. It's like, I can only do it for a little while and then burn out.   

Check to see if your local library has the book -- she even suggests a company you can contact to consolidate your other bills as well.  For me, I'm trying to raise my credit score up -- I can't believe how low it has become!  I went from the 600's to the 400's in a couple of months. 

M 

Yesterday, I sat down with my check and wrote out my check for my 1 credit card and paid it off so I could transfer a higher finance rate balance to a 3.99%.  It doesn't feel right - and I really had a hard time sitting down to do it.  But I've spent 2-3 weeks going over my options and it makes sense.  I will have lowered my finance charge by $15 a month by doing this.  I won't ever use the paid off card again because they went from a 6.5% finance rate to 12.44% since March.  The card company made it a variable credit card but they offered me a 3.99% balance transfer for the life of the transfer. 

The hard thing was not paying a penny on the one credit card because it only asked for no payment.  But I plan on making the transfer by 8/21/05 when I have worked out the remaining WHAT IFs variables.   

I even put an application in yesterday to and had to deal with all the negative self-talk I have.  I know I'm an excellent employee and that I will enjoy working closer to home and having the energy when I come home to do other things around my home.  I'm really looking forward to becoming a home maker. 

With me bringing closure to my 3 financial goals:  (1) figure out what I have coming in; (2) figure out what I have going out; & (3) begin working on getting myself out of debt  AND (4) completing 1 month of tracking my monthly spending; I needed new goals to aim for. 

I purchased Suze Orman's THE LAWS OF MONEY for $6 and I spent the weekend reading it and doing all the exercises.  It was pretty easy reading because I've spent the last 2.5 months facing my financial fears and actually had some of the work completed.  But I did find some new goals to work towards: 

(1) Keep a list of WHAT I WANTED TO BUY AND DIDN'T - that's going to help me tackle me conquering my MINDLESS SPENDING.  I found that when I asked "DO I REALLY NEED THIS", I said yes.  Now, I can try this. 

(2) I need to determine what I can give up on or cut back on.   It was a real surprise to see that when I worked out my true allocation for each category, I wasn't really happy to see what I was spending.  Like $40 for junk foods!  Especially as I'm trying to lose weight. 

(3) That I'm a liar and it's unreal.  I am a "self-liar" - that means, I tell myself lies.  And since I read that in the book, I've been hearing myself lie and I'm just so amazed with myself.  Now, I want to focus on learning to be truthful.  I still have to work out the details but I wrote out a lot of notes on 4x6 paper so I can sort thru them. 

(4) I am going to work on getting my FICO score up.  My goal is to get it back to 640 points -- I don't know why it decreased like it did in the last few months - because I've been really good at paying my bills and all.   

This is a good start.  It will take me a few months to accomplish these goals.  It took 2.5 months to accomplish the first 4.  That's okay because it's better than just sitting back and whinning that I have no money when I spend money constantly.  I can't believe what I spend money on and the daily log is working really good for me. 

Almost 2 years ago, my boyfriend lost his job. We had been renting the town house we were in from his former boss, so when he lost his job, no longer could we afford to keep living there on just my income, but we didn't want to with what had happened at his old job. So we asking his brother and sister in-law if we could move in with them. At the time my boyfriends daughter was living with her mother and only spent weekends with us. For the past 8 months she has been with us as well as my boyfriends family which also has 2 kids. So two familys in one 1800sq ft house. The first 9 months or so things were ok, but as it now, there is soooo much tenchion in this house it is about to drive me crazy!  

When we moved in, we thought me might be here 6 months or so, just long enough to get out on our feet. But one thing after another has lead us to be worse off then when we first came here. We are behind on ALL of our bills. Things are looking worse and worse for us and on top of that with all the stress that has built up in this house, we were told the other day we have to be out by the 31st of August. But with no money, and no credit I have no clue what to do.  

I need help and support from someone or something, or someone who is willing to rent out a house to us. We live in the Richmond, Virginia area and and word of advice or help that can be offered would be so greatly appreshiated.  

Thank You,  

RLD 

Today I got my Woman's Day magazine and there's an article about Mindless Spending and guess what!  I'm right on track!!!  It really does feel good to know that I'm on the right path at long last.  The example family track their spending for 1 month and saved $500. 

Then there was an article about Wyonna Judd and she came out and told the writer that her husband did a FINANCIAL INTERVENTION with her.  He showed her that all the money she had made was GONE!!  That she was financially bankcrupt.  They are living on a budget now and she wrote about how she had spent her money before her allowance came and she had to purchase gas with quarters.  BEEN THERE & DONE THAT!! 

It made me feel good because although I'm still having problems handling money, it's good to see I'm not the only one and that I'm finally paying attention and not allowing myself to just run amok anymore. 

M 

In Suze Orman's THE LAWS OF MONEY she says to check into credit counseling and then provides this info: 

National Foundation for Credit Counseling; www.nfcc.org, 1-800-388-2227 

She says they can help you with working with creditors - in the book she says they usually charge you $12 a month for their help which I think is a cheap rate.  The book was printed in 2003 so it may be a good referal to look into.   

From another who is the process of finally facing her financial fears and getting out of debt. 

Marcia 

Can you let me know what happens ..... if they were helpful or not .... I may need their services 1 day if I don't find a job before my savings runs out. 

Well, I went to the library 2 days ago and picked up 2 more of Suze's books.  One is a workbook for the 9-step program and the other is a big thick book.  I like it cause it goes into more detail about wills, trusts, T-bills, and stuff.  I'm not sure I will add it to my library -- but I can re-charge it out 2 more times so I will have it for 3 months.  The workbook is pretty thin and I do have to return to Key 4 and work thru it - but I think I'd rather wait until January when I take the Estate Planning class. 

I'm still working on accepting the idea that I can get myself out of this hole I've dug for myself.  I keep wanting to give up.  In fact, I keep thinking that getting myself financially secure is so much like me tackling my binging & overeating and lose the lousy pounds I've been hating for over 20 years!   

But I am still doing the "visualization" where I see myself paying off my debt and having an excellent savings account and a great portoflio in stocks & bonds.   The first requires me to have 8 months of living expenses as a minimum and the second requires me to understand what the heck stocks & bonds are and how they work.  But before I can do those 2, I have to get myself out of debt and that's going to take me a couple of years at least.  I have to pay off my home equity line first and that's going to take me 4 years minimum. 

I guess what upsets me about all this and wanting to throw in the towel is that it all going to take years and years!  I want it now - but I know I've not had it all my life (and I'm 52) that what's 4 more years!  hmmmm.....   still don't like waiting!  But I will cause I'd love to just NOT HAVE THESE THOUGHTS/WORK to do anymore in my life!