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Hubby Helped!

September 13th, 2006 at 12:09 pm

Ok...how great is this. Last night I was going thru all my bills and my HUBBY got down on the floor and helped! Yes, this is a true miracle!We both sat there and went over everything...it was great. I must admitt I was pleased to finally break everything down in front of him and show him exactly "WHY" we have no money. I have always had a small gut feeling he really was clueless about where all the money goes.
He actually did know more than I gave him credit. He actually did have some input, and I think this is really going to work.
Here is what we came up with:
( This is per month......)

Income: 3036 monthly
Expenses:
617.34 Mortgage
430.50 Car
363.73 truck
94.00 Gas/heat
130.00 Electric
70.00 water
39.00 Cable
42.00 phone
28.90 Internet
174.50 Insurances home/car
118.00 taxes/property
350.00 gas/vehicle
20.00 RX
60.00 Dr.Bills
22.00 Union Dues
_______________

2559.97 monthly Bills

Income: 3036.00
Bills -2559.97
------------
476.03
That only leaves me with $476.03 every month for credit card debt($1736.13), food, extras and savings.........

Now we know why we are in the mess we are in! When something comes up, we go to the credit card! It looks horrible! Aghghghgh.........I need to fix this!

7 Responses to “Hubby Helped!”

  1. Ima saver Says:
    1158152283

    You can do it!!

  2. atatat Says:
    1158153692

    I know we can..it just looks sooooo close. I am going to try to do all I can to squeek out more savings on our expenses. I am going to make a huge effort to try and save on groceries(not that I have alot of $ to spend anyway). I wiah I could find a way to make a little extra cash here at home, I think that would help sooo much! I however, can not seem to find something besides Ebay. Ebay has worked well for me in the past, but it is so time consuming. I do need something to help pay for food,credit card debt and all those little extras that come up.

  3. LuxLiving Says:
    1158193796

    How soon will the doctor bill be cleared up? Is there a way to pay less to the doctor?

  4. LuckyRobin Says:
    1158200817

    You are paying an awful lot for internet. I am assuming this is dial up, since cable internet is generally more expensive. I have a local provider that is $110 for six months, which works out to under $20 a month. People PC and NetZero both have $10 a month plans.

    Cable? Do you need it? Yeah, I thought so, too but we have been cable free since mid-summer. The kids griped for about a week, but pretty much don't care anymore. We get a lot of movies and tv shows on DVD free from the library or friends. We are on the $10 a month Netflix plan for DVD's in the mail. So instead of $65 a month we just have $10 and we still see a lot of stuff, just not as soon as everyone else. We had Netflix before (but cut down to the $10 plan) so we actually put the entire $65 a month that previously went to cable into savings.

    Not sure why your electric is so high if you have gas heat. Have you replaced all your light bulbs with compact fluorescents? Do you run the heat cycle on your dishwasher? Do you run heavy wash, regular wash or short wash cycles on your dishwasher? I run short wash on all but the worst of the dishes. Do you wash all laundry in hot or warm water instead of just using hot for underwear and kitchen towels and cold for everything else (exception on bedding if you have an allergic family member)?

    Do you leave things plugged in that don't need to be plugged in (i.e. toaster, bread machine, microwave, crockpot, blender, deep fat fryer, spare television, stereo, extra clocks, etc.)? Everything left plugged in causes a small power drain, add it all up, its a lot. Do you leave your computer and printer on 24 hours a day? The only things I leave plugged in are things that would have to be reprogrammed if I were to unplug them or heavy things that I would have to move to plug back in. Do you give your laundry an extra spin cycle to get excess water out so they take less time in the dryer to dry or better yet, have drying racks to hang them on or a clothesline? You can even put clothes on hangers and hang from your shower rod to dry.

    I managed to drop my power bill by around $40 a month after making these changes. So it takes me a few seconds more to use anything electrical if I have to plug it in. That's worth $40 a month.

    Do you have a programmable thermostat on your furnace? Using it properly could cut down on your gas bill.

    Your vehicle expenses are quite high. How badly do you need 2 vehicles? Are you constantly running your kids to stuff or do you mostly stay home? If you are a runner than you need the 2nd car, but if you are not, you really don't. You can make arrangements with your DH on days you have doctor's or dentist appointments and you can grocery shop when he is home with the kids. How new a car do you need? Could you sell one car and get an older but reliable car in its place, with a much lower payment?

    It really depends on how much you are willing to do and how much you are willing to give up. You have to find what you are comfortable with. But it is also okay to be a little uncomfortable if you really want to save and get out of debt.

  5. atatat Says:
    1158232534

    LuckyRobin, I appreciate all your advice. There are alot of things you said that really do make sense! I'll try to explain some of them for our situation.
    Electric Bill: We do use way too much electricity! The bill however is for our home and our pole building combined. However, the building itself is only about $22 a month and $15 is general fee. So, our home bill is still around $110 a month. I agree we use way too much stuff, and I never really knew leaving things plugged in still draw electricity....the funny thing is "my hubby is an electrician"...lol now that's funny! I do wash about 3 loads of clothes a day. So, I average about 20 loads a week. With 5 of us, I am constantly washing. I guess I need to try and combine the loads more. I do wash on warm alot! That I do need to change. My dryer is gas..but in the summer here I use my clothes line more. I do leave my computer and printer on 24hrs, the kids leave their closet lights on all night too(yes, they have night lights too). I need to stop that..but I also need sleep(lol). I see what you are saying though. We are very lazy when it comes to conserving...but we won't be!
    Well we are on a budget for our gas, $94.00/m. In the winter we use our woodburner and so in that aspect we are ok. However, our windows are 30 years old and I'm sure that doesn't help. We have no AC but run tons of fans..again, I'm sure that doesn't help too! We have gas forced-hot water heat. So, we have no way to get AC and we can't put units into our windows because they are the type that "crank out"...real pain..but that's another entry!
    Now, the vehicle situation....that's a very sore subject with me! I have to say we deserve this one. We were in the habit of buying a new vehicle for awhile every year...it started when I was pregnant with my 2nd child. I had a monte carlo and 2 kids in a 2 door car...not happening. I went and traded it in for a Camry...I loved that car! It was fine, and guess what...pregnant. Now, there was no was no way 3 kids(2 in car seats) would fit in the back...so we went to the van. I loved that van and had it for about 2 years. It was used(as all our cars were and are) and it slowly started to literally "fall apart" so my hubby took it for work and we bought our current "ford Expedition" . So in about 5 years, I have had 4 cars. Now I am paying $430 a month because of all the "left over owed" an all the car trades after trades after trades!.....So, now her I am, we owe $7000 on it. It is a 1998, with 150,000 miles and I'm sure it's not worth what we owe. So, we are stuck. I can't see trading it in, or selling it outright. In about a year it will be payed off and I will drive this forever! Yes, I do need a second car. With 3 kids, baseball, piano lessons, dr. appointments, I am always going. 9that is why the gas budget is so high too),...both our vehicles are GAS HOGS! We are an environmentalist's worst nightmare! So, if we were to get a "cheaper" vehicle I would..but with no $ to get one, I am stuck.
    Yes, cable and internet are definately areas we can look into. We actually do need cable here. We live "in the country" and we can not get any tv without cable. I sort of need it when there is school delays, cancellations( atleast 10 a year here in the winter). We really don't watch movies, we are busy alot and really only watch news and kids don't watch tv all that much, so dvd thing really does not interest us.
    I am going however, take all your ideas and put alot to use and see where I can go with them. If you have an idea about our car sitation (my biggest problem) I'd love to know...we've actually tried to rack our brains on this one alot! Thank so much, Kristin

  6. atatat Says:
    1158276352

    "How soon will the doctor bill be cleared up? Is there a way to pay less to the doctor?"

    Well, this is a revolving-never-ending-forever growing expense I will have. My 3 year has medical problem and requires a lot of Dr. appts and procedures. My other 2 children get the occasional ear infection, sinus infection....we live in an area that is favorable for them....(sad but true). My husband has had knee scopes and actually needs a knee replacement..(he's only 35 but ex-ball player) and is putting it off, so every other year or so requires a tendon,cartlidge repair. I on the other hand am fine. I just have the stress of dealing with the insurance/bills..lol. So as for $60.00 a month..to me that is cheap.

  7. LuxLiving Says:
    1161620919

    How is it going?????????????????

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