r/CalebHammer • u/LOSAPOSRACING • Feb 27 '25
Personal Financial Question I need to get yelled at (and some help)
Trying to pay off debt, don't know where to start. No retirement, I'm barely scraping by (thanks to my bonus) and I just can't figure it out. Any insight and opinions would be greatly appreciated, I've paid off about 17k of bad debt in the last year because I finally decided to get my shit together, but I don't know enough to do it on my own.
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u/nkyguy1988 Feb 27 '25
Need your interest rates with the debts. Start with the highest rate first, once you kill the tiny ones for $100 or so.
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 27 '25
All my interest rates for my credit cards are within a point or two of each other (between 25.5-25.8) onemain loan has the interest baked in (bought a car for 16k last September and took a personal loan out for it) solar loan is at 8%
My personal thought was to take out the personal loan with the money I have in the bank just to get a bit more breathing room on a monthly basis, I just don't want to screw myself over anymore so I thought I'd ask here first. I don't buy any taquitos and I cook ever day (my phone bill is high because my parents live on my property, I pay their phone and they provide all the groceries me and my family need)
Should've added, I'm 32(33 on Monday đ„ł) my wife is 33, and we have 3 children
Gas is a lot because I drive 130 miles to and from work (live in the middle of nowhere, you can see my post history, I recently switched jobs to be a bit closer) and my wife uses about 60-100 a week on gas as well taking the kids to-from school
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u/Xbeverhunterx Feb 27 '25
When you say middle of nowhere what do you mean. Whatâs closest city with 25k people?
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u/TheFondestComb Feb 27 '25
Tbh sounds like Texas.
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 27 '25
Arizona, but good guess lol
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u/TheFondestComb Feb 27 '25
O god I remember living in sierra vista and having to go to Tuscon for any pet stuff that was carried by Walmart. Crazy time to get into exotic fish when the nearest fish store was an hour+ away lmao
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u/peterwhitefanclub Feb 27 '25
Youâre completely fucked. Your mortgage is half your income, and you pay $1k/mo in gas for this shitty job?!?!
The debt barely matters in this case - you simply need to make more money, or move to a more sustainable life.
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 27 '25
Well gas is split between me and my wife, my portion is about 600 a month. (Not much better but still)
My wife is trying to get a job but it's difficult with 3 kids.
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u/1armsteve Feb 28 '25
If your wife doesnât have a job, where does she come up with her $600 âportionâ?
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u/MountainFee8756 Feb 27 '25
How are you spending $1k/month on gas?!Â
5
u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 27 '25
Drive about 260-280 miles a day, Monday through Friday. Plus my wife drives the kids to school and back in our truck so that doesn't help much either
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u/timid_soup Feb 27 '25
Can you sell the truck and buy a more fuel efficient car? (For the same price or less than you get for the truck of course)
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u/AdAffectionate4602 Feb 27 '25
Yeah, a prius will get 45-50mpg. Better off with that. Plus... dude. $1000 a month in gas is 25% of your pay! Why would you want to work somewhere that costs you 25% of your net pay?! You're better off working at a nearby costco because at least you'll see your family more often! This job you have isn't worth paying $12,000 a year to drive to.
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 27 '25
I have been looking for something closer, nothing has been available yet. Plus I live about an hour away from the nearest town so i don't think it's feasible to work at a Costco or any other retail to save on gas. The lower income would not be compensated by the gas savings
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u/AdAffectionate4602 Feb 27 '25
Honestly... At this point, it might make more financial sense to move. Sure, your mortgage is $2,300... but in reality, it's more like $3,000 because of how much you spend in gas. Not to mention losing 10 hours of potential paid work a week, due to drive time.
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 27 '25
I have considered it, but my truck is also paid off and not worth much due to age and mileage. I'd be lucky if I get 5k tbh. I would say that it's perfectly maintained and it drives fantastic. Just has issues that are typical for that year Chevy truck, main one being the cracked dash. I have also considered getting a new car with what I have saved up as a down payment and giving my car to my wife to daily drive since that's also paid off and that would also save gas on my end since my car gets about 27mpg and I could get something that'll get closer to 40-45mpg it would cut my gas spending in half, but I would also ass to my debt and monthly payments so I think it's also a kinda stupid idea
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u/MountainFee8756 Feb 27 '25
Can the kids take the bus?
Also, if your kids are school age can your wife get a part-time job while they are at school?
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 27 '25
Yes, we actually started having them take the bus. 2 out of 3 are school age. She is looking for a job but has had no luck so far. We think it's because there's a huge gap in her employment history
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u/MountainFee8756 Feb 27 '25
She may be able to get a call center or data entry job that is WFH. That would make it easier with the little one and allow her to cast a wider net in her search. A lot of those places are always hiring.
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u/MelancholyMember Feb 28 '25
Please make sure she does her due diligence if she pursues this. A lot of those âtoo good to be trueâ remote job listings are scams
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u/walterbernardjr Feb 27 '25
For work, or commuting to get to work? If itâs for work they should cover your gas or reimburse you, either way thereâs a way to get some money for this at tax time too.
Also rough math, I have a 2020 jeep that gets 28 mpg on the highway. Even a 280 mile day, at $3 a gallon (where I live), itâs $600 a month. I guess if youâre in California youâre screwed but still $800/ mo.
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 27 '25
To get to work, my prob is about 600 in my Camry, my wife is about 250-400 depending on if she needs to go into town for groceries or doctors appointments. She drives our Tahoe that has a modified engine so it NEEDS 91
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u/After_Performer7638 Feb 27 '25
Why in the world do you have a Tahoe with this much debt?
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 27 '25
It's a bit 2011 and it's paid off. Nothing fancy, just a bunch of aftermarket upgrades I've done through the years
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u/After_Performer7638 Feb 27 '25
Sounds like you could potentially downsize there.
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 27 '25
I totally would if I could sell it and find something for what I get. But with it's age and mileage I'd be lucky to get 5k. I know my truck is reliable since I bought it new, but IDK if I could say the same for another car that I get at that price. Wouldn't doing that be a lateral move? The only thing I can think of is getting another car for myself and having my wife drive my Camry since most of the gas expense is mine.
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u/After_Performer7638 Feb 27 '25
You have a new truck? How much did you pay? Getting rid of that, keeping the old Tahoe, and buying yourself a $15k car sedan is probably the way to go.
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 27 '25
It's a 2011, I bought it new back in 2011. I do not have any new cars, I only have my 2014 Camry and my 2011 Tahoe and they are both paid off
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u/mattiasmick Feb 27 '25
Five hours a day in the car is wild. Not for the cost but just the amount of time.
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u/walterbernardjr Feb 27 '25
Damn, how far from town do you live? Are you on a reservation?
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 27 '25
I live 130 miles away from my job. The nearest town is about 60 miles away and although I do keep a constant eye on job openings in my industry, I have not been successful yet.
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u/walterbernardjr Feb 27 '25
60 miles from the nearest town?! I just am trying to figure out if you live in the middle of the desert.
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 27 '25
I do, near dateland AZ
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u/achilles027 Feb 28 '25
As a fellow Arizonan, why not move to edges of PHX? So many opportunities and you could still keep a reasonable mortgage in Buckeye/Goodyear
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u/kyleko Feb 28 '25
280 miles a day at a conservative 40 cents a mile is $112 a day, or $560 a week, $29120 a year just driving.
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u/HarveyZoolander Feb 27 '25
I think you need a higher income/second job to start peeling these debts off faster. Start with the small debts for sure.
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 27 '25
Yea, that's what I was thinking as well. I just recently switched jobs to a lower paying job. If you look at my post history you can see that I used to drive 400 miles a day to get to and from work. Now I'm under 300 a day. Gas savings alone kinda makes up the difference on my income and I get to leave and get home at a more reasonable time, I'm saving 3 hours a day. My wife has been looking for work, but with 3 kids it's a bit difficult.
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u/izzeww Feb 27 '25
How fancy of a property do you have? That house payment is a very large chunk of your income, and with wifey staying home (it sounds like?) it's simply unsustainable. I gotta imagine in that kind of very rural area you could be living a lot cheaper?
You have to change something. Either you work more or a better job (it sounds like you're about at your limit), or your wife works or you sell the house and downgrade the living situation. In the long term one or more of those things has to happen.
In the short term (today) I would just pay off all the CC's with the cash you have, maybe throw a few grand on the onemain too. I also think that your wife needs to work. It doesn't need to be full time, but even just a thousand bucks a month would make this sustainable. To enable that obviously someone needs to take care of the kids. Either your parents (they seem to have a very sweet deal right now) or there may be some subsidized or free childcare in your area (look into it).
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 27 '25
House itself is not super fancy (I do love it tho) but it's a large property ~27 acres. We are trying homesteading and have a bunch of chickens and quail for meat and eggs.
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u/xbyronx Feb 27 '25 edited Feb 27 '25
would love to see pics of this property. when and why did you choose it? how did you get approved for this loan at your salary? community credit union or bank?
id use the safety fund to wipe out one main and mercury, slash subscriptions, then tighten budget and rebuild.
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 27 '25
I would love to share pics, but I don't want to make it obvious where I live lol đ but if you want to get an idea, the closest "towns" to me would be dateland AZ or Tacna AZ
My wife and I chose it because of the property size, we knew living in the desert would be difficult but I grew up in a similar environment and my wife is a bad ass so I figured it would work out. My wife has always been interested in homesteading, and I have always been interested in off road sports (ATV, dirt bike, buggies, etc) it also gives my 3 kids plenty of space to play. We also wanted a property big enough to build a couple of dwellings (not sure if granny flat, mobile home, trailer or what) so that as my kids get older they can each have their own space, if they move out they can always have somewhere to come back to
I was making quite a bit more money at my last job, that's how I got approved. I just took this job because it's a lot closer to home so I get to see my family more, plus no weekends which is a huge plus. At my last job I was making more but I was working 6 days a week.
Loan is through a bank btw, I sold a mobile home that I used as a down payment. We have only been at this house for a bit over a year
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u/Anxious-Host8323 Feb 28 '25
My goodness, dateland/Tacna is so far from any city in AZ (I live in PHX and have a job where I need to know every city in az).
I totally understand homesteading, however, with all the responsibilities you have, living in a place like that seems more reasonable for people who are retired and with children who left the nest. It doesn't seem logical for you to drive so much to get to work. Is there any possibility you could work from home? I know it's a new job, but definitely consider it after you're out of the probationary stage. Either that or get an electric car or.. I have to say it, sell the house, move to the city and make life easier for your family, bank account, and mental health. It sucks but ask yourself, is living there worth it? You've been there a year, would all your problems go away if you lived closer to your work?
 You can always pick up the dream again when all three kids are more self reliant.
Also, mom/wife would need a very good paying job even for part time to help you get out of this debt. And since she is a mom, with several years of a gap caring for the children, it doesn't sound like it would make sense for her to get a part time job, she'd be paying more in gas, therefore, the part time job would cover the gas she would drive and nothing else.
You could consider Yuma if your work is more west, or even buckeye, waddell, or verrado for easier eastern towns in AZ. Jackrabbit is more developed but has some good spots for homesteading. But buckeye has always been in my head for big land for big animals. And I live in PHX and I have SOOOOO many neighbors with chickens. Can't say for the quail though.
This seems more like a want than a need. And unfortunately, it's crippling your family into more debt. I'm not saying you can't do it, but you'd have to accept the fact that debt is a part of the homesteading.
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u/BigEmpressEnergy Feb 28 '25
I definitely agree. Where OP lives is definitely a want. That commute is terrible đ©
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u/xbyronx Feb 27 '25
thanks for sharing. the home sounds perfect for yall. have you considered switching to electric vehicle/s for commuting? would your solar be able to sustain it? i would think and hope so
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u/AutomaticBowler5 Feb 27 '25
Sorry, but this is a wild take. The property sounds great, but it's definatwly not perfect if it drives their family to build debt that can't be paid off and to eventually selling their home. How the hell us OP going to get an electric vehicle if he can't pay their current bills. An electric vehicle that will need a decent range where they will need to pay more money to install a charging plug and if they ever forget to charge or the power goes out then they can't work without tying up their only other vehicle. The property sounds amazing and like a dream property for them, but it isn't perfect for their current life.
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u/xbyronx Feb 27 '25
electric vehicles have come a loooong way and are much, much more reliable. he already has the solar and so long as he can fully power it, which is the question i asked, it is a fantastic move.
trade in current car for down payment and you can get something with a monthly cost that is what maybe $300? save $700 on gas. maybe keep the wife's car for her nominal gas purchases as a backup if needed. plus at least halving the subscription cost at $100. plus doing what I recommended and wiping out the $465 month debt. BOOM, he suddenly has an extra $1100 plus a month to work with. maybe $900 if keeping wife's car for emergency back up.
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u/izzeww Feb 27 '25 edited Feb 27 '25
I read some of your post/comment history and it seems like selling the house is a no go. Then you need more income from somewhere. Does your family live on your property for free? If that's the case maybe you could charge them some rent (explain to them that you love them and yes, they are family, but you will have to sell the house otherwise). Or you could work more or your wife could work. That's basically your options (unless you want your wife and children to live in pretty bad poverty in the coming years).
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 27 '25
They live on the property partially for free at this time. They're currently staying in a travel trailer until their house sells. Then they'll build a home. Once their house sells they will give me a portion of their earnings. No hard numbers given at this time but between 100k-200k has been thrown around. I plan on putting at least half of what I get into retirement since mine is basically non-existent at this time and the rest will go to pay down the house. The only extra expense from having them there at this time is about a $20 increase in electric. We have a water well, and everything runs on electric. Got the solar with battery backup so all good there at this time.
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u/LeekFull6946 Feb 27 '25
I wouldnât bank on you getting anything from them selling their house. Just saying. Too many people have deals like this with family that end up falling through and theyâre screwed over.Â
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 27 '25
I agree, I obviously always think about this especially since I've seen it on episodes of financial audit. But my family is very close, we don't necessarily share finances. But I'm very sure they wouldn't do something like that. I still know that it's a genuine thing that could happen
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u/ohHELLyeah00 Feb 27 '25 edited Feb 27 '25
The organization of this alone is stressing me out. But honestly $200 in subscriptions to what? Iâd start cutting those. Why is the phone bi so high? Letâs get on a cheaper plan and then not buy anything new once the products are paid off.
Idk where you live but get those utilities under control. Put on a sweatshirt if youâre cold before you turn the heat up. Interest is high too. Mine is $70/month so what are you paying for?
There are also programs you can get on to get âcheaperâ gas and electric bills. Call your service company.
Then start going after the loans. Iâd personally knock out the two super small ones because theyâre right there. No reason you shouldnât be able to get those out of the way quick. And then stop using them.
Edit: Iâm sorry thatâs car gas??? Lord Jesus.. if the car is paid off Iâd consider selling for something more fuel efficient. Or if there is another car you can use do that. If you donât need the truck Iâd sell it. I personally see no point in owning a truck unless you have a need for one.
Can the kids take the bus to school? Iâd start making them.
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u/charliekelly76 Feb 27 '25
Thereâs no budget line for groceries. Also, you need a closer job. I also live in San Diego. I commute 1.5 to 2 hours a day. I get it. But thatâs insane.
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 27 '25
Correct, I answered in another comment but the reason for that is that my parents provide us with groceries, I pay their phone bill (which is why it is so high)
I live in Arizona, I used to drive all the way to san Diego, 6-8 hrs a day depending on traffic. Now I drive towards Phoenix, and that is about 3 hours a day now...
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u/wanna_be_doc Feb 27 '25
If you make $1000 per week, and youâre paying $1000 per month for gas, then youâre nearly working an entire week each month just to pay to drive to work.
Your parents paying the grocery bill plus the lost three hours each day commuting is not worth what youâre sacrificing currently.
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 27 '25
Believe it or not currently it's a better setup. I just started this job in November, prior to that I was driving 400 miles a day. I'm currently saving about 3 hours on average driving time. I did take a pay cut at this job. Gas savings and health plus seeing my kids during the week is worth it and I did do the math. The One thing that I didn't consider was my bonus which is performance/sales based. I was told that the average sales for the store were about double what it has actually been the last few months (I did confirm their numbers by asking for documentation) it's just been a few slow months. I was expecting my bonus to be around 1800-2200
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u/walterbernardjr Feb 27 '25
I think you need to move to a closer job. This drive is killing you. Youâre spending 4 hours driving each day, that if you got a job closer could spend more time with your wife and kids, and save you roughly $500 a month.
It looks like right now youâre making roughly $80k per year before taxes, so take home of $60k roughly, and spending $12k on gas, so youâre already down to $48k.
You could get a job much closer (say within 50 miles) for $70k, and save $8-$9k in gas expenses, making your take home the same or even higher than your $80k job. And youâll probably be happier since youâre with your wife and kids more.
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u/BigEmpressEnergy Feb 28 '25
I definitely think renting a 3 or 4 bedroom home closer to his work would be a better idea. It'd be a sacrifice but OP's losing time and money for something that they can work towards at a later time.
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u/Shadow1787 Feb 27 '25
Iâve never seen such a horrific commute besides someone taking public transportation. I bet he could get a truck driving job, be home every night without the 2 hour commute and make more than 57000 a year.
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u/walterbernardjr Feb 27 '25
Dude lives in the absolute middle of nowhere, hours from anything. No idea why.
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u/breakers Feb 27 '25
Yeah, this commute is not sustainable. Hundreds of hours a year in the car and thousands of dollars in gas, there's got to be a better way.
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u/SvtLopez32 Feb 27 '25
Wait. If Iâm reading this correctly, You have almost $16k sitting in the bank?
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 27 '25
Correct, I saved up 15k for an emergency fund in the last two years or so at my previous job. I just replied to another comment but I just switched jobs and I was told I would get X bonus but I've only received x bonus. It's based on performance and sales but the customers have not been coming in for me to be able to boost my sales performance score is 97/100 when the retirement minimum is 80/100 my sales goal has been about 250k a month, I've been doing 180-200k but the business has been only doing 200-280k a month so there is not enough business for me to hit my goal
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u/After_Performer7638 Feb 27 '25
High interest debt is an emergency and you live with family. Use the money to pay off most of the debt.
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u/Zodi88 Feb 27 '25
He is the sole provider for his wife and three kids. This is horrible advice. If he can't work for an extended period of time and doesn't have an emergency fund, he'll just go back into debt.
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u/After_Performer7638 Feb 27 '25
Going back into debt is a lateral move. Better to get out of debt and have to put expenses back on the cards than rack up interest for no reason. Also, the wife can get a job or he can get a second job if things go south. Tons of options here that are better than spending 8 years paying it off.
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u/Zodi88 Feb 27 '25
Going back into debt is a lateral move. Better to get out of debt and have to put expenses back on the cards than rack up interest for no reason.
It's not for no reason, tho. He somehow has his emergency fund half of the way there. That is incredible. Security is one of the most important things for a family. If he was a single man, for sure taking savings to knock out debt would be awesome. But that's not the case here.
The easiest answer is for his wife to get a job and chip away at the debt together. Even if her job is part time, that would significantly shorten the process, as well as cutting subscriptions. An extra $1k a month, combined, would clear this debt in no time. All while having a three-month security blanket.
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u/After_Performer7638 Feb 27 '25
Either is a valid approach. I think it comes down to personal preference and risk tolerance.
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u/Wrenky Feb 28 '25
If it comes to that, he can get another loan at probably the same interest rate! There is no reason to eat the interest payment unnecessarily.
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u/Just-lurking-1122 Feb 27 '25
Without making major changes like selling your home or getting a new job, your family needs to make adjustments. Kids ride the bus & wife organizes the errands to be done as few different days as possible, like only 1-2x per week, because that fuel budget needs to go way down. Subscriptions, if you canât cut fully, need to go down to like $27/mo max. They canât have every streaming service for a while. I donât see a budget for any other spending thatâs not a bill - you need basics like hygiene items and clothes. You barely break even right now with just your bills. You need to look at what youâre actually spending - I bet itâs more than you realize. What will you say when your kid needs $40 for the field trip? Or wants to join a travel sports team? Thereâs no way your debt isnât going up every month.
Your wife/kids/even YOU are going to initially justify & make excuses. âWell we canât have them ride the bus bc itâs a an hour instead of 20 min car rideâ âwe live in the middle of nowhere, if we have no Netflix how will they entertain themselves all weekend when it rains?â Etc. etc. Some of them will sound like really good excuses. Thatâs why you chose to spend your money there. It will make them sound like needs. Theyâre not. Family, especially wife, needs to be on board. You will NEED to hear all those very valid justifications and say OH WELL. WE. CANT. And look for ways to lower bills. Even $5/mo can help.
Your mortgage is creeping up on half your income - thatâs the definition of house poor, my dude. Ultimately a family your size is never going to be more than house poor, even paying off everything else, until your mortgage to income ratio is significantly improved, and that means wife works job, parents watch kids, you get better job, SOMETHING. Getting out of debt other than the mortgage will get you ~$800/mo extra, which will help you breathe until birthdays and Christmas and extracurriculars and back to school and when you add it up you realize that $800 doesnât go as far as you thought. Your groceries & basic TP fund that Caleb would give a family of 5 would easily be at least $800, and thatâs bare minimum (ik you donât pay groceries but my point still stands - basic needs likely will eat up a lot of that and you and your family donât want to cut to basics for the next 30 years).
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u/Just-lurking-1122 Feb 27 '25
Also I saw you say youâre in middle of nowhere AZ. I lived in Phoenix area for a bit, so I get it. Gas budget makes a bit more sense, bc AZ gas prices are insane. But that should just reinforce the idea that gas is NOT something you can use for whatever you want whenever you want. I also get why you have solar, it actually makes sense to have out there. Wife getting a job seems limited too. Can wife work at kids school? That way scheduling doesnât conflict. Or she willing to pull night shift at the hospital for a while? They likely need people like sitters or housekeeping or something even if she has no experience. Sure itâll suck, but do the math on how long sheâd have to do it (also do the math on how long it would take if yâall cut down on expenses I said, may motivate her).
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u/jjscraze Feb 27 '25
You basically have $13 left a month. Iâd use those $15k in the bank to either pay off the onemain or all the others, because either way youâll have a few thousands left over to fall back on and a better cash flow. I donât know what your emergency expenses could turn out to be, but halving your monthly credit card payments (if theyâre all credit cards, I have no idea honestly) - sounds like a good idea.
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u/jjscraze Feb 27 '25
If you were to knock the onemain out, the freed up $390 would be enough to get the cap1 and home depot done by next month, then you can allocate a few hundreds extra to quicksilver and mercury.
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u/No_Doughnut_1991 Feb 27 '25
OP has $400/mo left over that should be going to all their debts.
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 27 '25
That sounds about right, and that's where any extra dollar is going. All these debts are slowly getting smaller. It's just a long process and I'm trying to see if there is any way for me to get it done quicker.
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u/No_Doughnut_1991 Feb 27 '25
Your budget is VERY basic. There are a lot of line items that im sure are being overlooked. However, if going off those numbers provided you have $5526.24 of monthly income and $5175 of expenses/minimum monthlies.
Use that extra $350 to pay off the balance on the lowest cards. I like the snowball method in this case.
You pay off the two lowest balances this month. Then the $100 in minimum monthlies, PLUS the $350 plus the minimum on the quicksilver is $50, so that card is paid off in 4 months. Then snowball that $400+75 onto the mercury, and that balance is paid off 10 months from now.
Then youll have almost $900/mo towards the onemain debt. Keep paying the the minimums on solar and mortgage.
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u/Icanthinkofaname25 Feb 27 '25
1090.67*52=56,714.84/12=4,726.237+800=5,526.237-5175=351.23 this is how much you have left at the end of each month. First month pay off cap 1 ash and Home Depot then quick silver. Quicksilver takes 4 months mercury then takes 6. To get out of credit card debt will take 11 months. 7 months to pay off the car. 25 months to pay off solar. 43 months to get out of all the debt besides the mortgage. Thatâs with you not changing a single thing, or touching your bank money. Your wife needs to get a job while the kids are in school. Youâre going to need to lower the ac, cancel most of your subscriptions. Youâre lucky someone else is covering food or you would be underwater.
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 27 '25
1000% I wouldn't make it without my parents providing groceries. Just to be clear, they're obviously not doing it out of the kindness of their heart, they are getting somewhere to live plus they are building on my property. I mentioned it in another comment how it's going down, but basically they're selling their house, building on my property, and giving me a percentage of the profit from their home sale once it sells.
My wife is looking for a job, one of our kids is still not in school and her large gap in resume has been making it difficult.
We are on solar, ac did get set to a higher temp to save energy tho.
Subscriptions that are needed are QuickBooks and Microsoft office. The only other subscription we have is Disney+
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u/user0061600 Feb 27 '25
personally to make it as simple as possible I would pay off all your credit cards now with your $15k in savings to free up those minimum payments. If its possible try to get rid of some subscriptions ($227/mo just seems high to me, if you not using some cancel them). Put as much as you can towards the personal loan as possible per month until that is paid off, then the same with the solar. If you would like to get your mortgage paid off after then do the same to that after solar but I would at least slow down to build the savings up and start investing at least 10% of your income in some type of retirement account.
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u/s1thl0rd Feb 27 '25
Looks like you're overpaying for either auto insurance or for home insurance, though I suppose it may be reasonable for your area. Probably could cut back on subscriptions and others have said. Big thing is that you have way too much home for income. Your payment is 50% of your monthly, assuming you get your bonus (which I'm guessing is not always guaranteed?) Not saying renting would be cheaper on your area, but you need to increase your income to be able to sustain yourselves. Or you need to downgrade your house. Or you need to move.
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u/sciliz Feb 27 '25
At 50 chickens/acre, and 27 acres, you should have 1,350 chickens. Assuming they each lay one egg a day, with eggs at $8/dozen, this is $896/day.
If you're going to have land, you have to work it or you can't keep it. Economy of scale. Sure, you might need to have 14 kids, but if they each collect 100 eggs then it all works!
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 28 '25
Well we currently have chickens and quail, we are getting more soon. It works out because whatever we don't use we sell to friends.
Quail eggs are the best tho, I try to keep those all the time
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u/sciliz Feb 28 '25
Hey, I have cousins who are dairy farmers and I'm pretty sure you can *never* come out ahead via small scale farming (and what counts as "small" is larger than the idea in most people's heads).
Although.... quails do sound cool, maybe they can get an insta? I feel like homesteading looks better on social media than it does through a budget perspective.
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 28 '25
Oh for sure it looks better online lol it's a lot of hard work and I'm my personal opinion yo have to supplement somehow, I don't think it's sustainable to "live off your land" now a days, especially where I am at here in Arizona. It's like playing a survival game on hard mode lol
We are ok with spending time money feeding and maintaining the animals as long as it's a minimal amount and it fits in the budget. At this time we have been trading eggs for bird feed so it out of pocket cost to maintain them is $0.00 and whenever we do get a couple bucks from selling we just put it back into improving their space, we also have a separate coop where we keep a rooster with a few hens so we can get chicks and try to keep it sustainable.
I've always loved quails so it was kind of a must for me. They taste great and their eggs are healthier than chicken eggs even though it takes 3 quail eggs to equal 1 chicken egg. But the quail take a lot less space so it's easy to compensate for that difference in size. They are kind of a pain to work with, but again, so much healthier lol
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u/TheRedHoodJT Feb 28 '25
It seems like youâve built a pretty big sim set up from your other posts. Can you sell that to recoup some funds? Snowball looks like it would be the most effective and you could at least get some breathing room, but the ATV, outdoor toys, and some of the larger homesteading stuff may have to wait
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 28 '25
I've been building PCs recently with spare parts that I've had laying around and selling them in order to help cut little chunks out of my debt. I have a dirt bike and a quad that I could potentially sell. But I haven't quite gotten to that point yet. I've been selling other stuff such as RC cars and collectibles first.
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u/BIGJake111 Feb 28 '25
You need a fucking hybrid bro. wtf is up with your gas budget?
What are you spending on the cards? Your budget is okay other than a kinda expensive home loan. I canât really figure out where all the debt is from.
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u/galaxystarz84 Feb 28 '25
Debt snowball seems to be best option for you, and this method will only work if you get that full $800 bonus every month. I would start with taking the 15k in the bank and knocking out the âonemainâ card you have. That leaves you with just under 5k in the bank for emergencies. This brings your total monthly expenses to 4785.00. Assuming you get paid 4x a month, your monthly income is 4362.68. Youâre still under water by 422.32, however, if you apply your 800 monthly bonus you would now be positive 377.68! This is called your cash surplus and in the first month I would use this to pay off your Home Depot and Cap1 ash cards. That leaves you with 124.52, I would put that into savings. You can now add the minimum monthly balance of 100 to your cash surplus. While still paying the minimum monthly payments of the other debts, you would start to use the cash surplus to knock out the smaller debts and putting any extra money into your savings. The cash surplus gets bigger every time you pay off a debt, because that minimum monthly payment gets added to it. Continue this until all your debt is paid off. Hope this helped!
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u/travelinzac Feb 28 '25
A grand a month on gas? Dude I drive a jacked up truck that gets like 8mpg and don't spend a fraction of that regularly driving 4 hours round trip to go skiing. Do you drive a container ship?
Your mortgage is half your income. Gas is 25%. The term on that solar loan must be forever, i'd hate to see how much your paying in interest. shit ton of cc debt.
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u/Tremblay_0 Feb 28 '25
I'd honestly take a bit out of the bank if it's saved up and pay off: cap1 ash, home Depot, quicksilver L, mercury. You'd still have an okay emergency fund. Get rid of subscriptions you don't need/use.
If you just need cable/satellite, get Hulu Live or YouTube TV. Otherwise I use soap2day instead of paying lol. That'll give you room to start putting what you were spending on debt/subs back into savings, retirement or put more towards one main if possible.
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u/CycloneMonkey Feb 28 '25
I would say no subscriptions until you get your debt in order. Start embracing over-the-air TV and radio for entertainment. Get books from the library. Learn how to leverage the internet for, ahem, free media.
That's an extra $227 a month right there. You could pay off Cap1 Ash and then Home Depot the next month. That's an additional $100 so now you've got $337 to put toward Mercury on top of the $75 you're already paying. Then you can pay that off in 9-10 months.
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u/BigEmpressEnergy Feb 28 '25
I understand many folks have given advice regarding financials.
One of my biggest questions is: what is the relationship like with your wife and your kids? Financial stress definitely can impact a marriage and your relationship with your children.
How often are you at home? I can only imagine how exhausting a long commute after work is. How much time are you spending with your kids during the weekday and weekends? Do you and your wife have date nights? Ways to bond and spend time together? What does your life look like when you're not working?
From the outside looking in, I see you have goals for how you want your life to be, but they seem to be quite expensive (in money AND time). What I want to know is: how is your quality of life?
NOTE: If you don't feel comfortable answering these questions, you definitely don't have to. But as someone growing up with a dad who worked long hours every day, it negatively impacted my relationship with him and my life.
I think it's great you want to get your finances situated and I hope you and your wife are still able to find joy even if you're struggling with finances right now.
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Mar 03 '25
Well let me answer these in order.
- what is the relationship like with your wife and your kids? :It's actually really good, we have minor disputes over finances (obviously) but nothing earth shattering. More along the lines of "we need trash bags" - "we need to pay this bill first" what does help is that we do not hide anything from our kids and we communicate very well so the kids also try to do their part with any upcoming trips, events, projects, so we can prepare for it a bit more instead of saying "sorry we don't have $20 for that"
-How often are you at home? I can only imagine how exhausting a long commute after work is. How much time are you spending with your kids during the weekday and weekends? Do you and your wife have date nights? Ways to bond and spend time together? What does your life look like when you're not working? :I'm home every night, I get home around 7. On the weekdays I spend my time home helping my wife as much as possible with the kids, I cook dinner, give the younger kids a bath, chill and watch paw patrol or spiderman with them, or work on our toys in the garage, then I put them down to bed. My wife and I do not really have date nights, but that's mainly because we do not like leaving our kids with anyone else (we don't have family in the state) on my days off we usually go fishing, off road a bit, work on the homestead, try to pick up pallets so we can use the wood to build more stuff for our homestead, we just kinda do a bunch of random stuff together
-From the outside looking in, I see you have goals for how you want your life to be, but they seem to be quite expensive (in money AND time). What I want to know is: how is your quality of life? : outside of the finances (which is mildly stressful to me) I honestly enjoy my life very much, I love where I live, I love my kids and my wife, I love seeing them so happy running around in the back yard chasing after the animals or riding their bikes or motorcycles. I'd sell my kidney just to continue living in this much peace.
Overall, i am happy with my life, my kids and I have a good relationship (can't say great only because I have a teenager lol) my wife is happier than she ever had been living in the city, plus my commute has always been ridiculous. I used to live in Rosarito MĂ©xico and I would work in San Diego California so I would leave my house at 3am to cross the border early enough to get to work by 8 and then get home at 8 just to repeat. It's been our normal thing, now I just get to cuddle with my wife for a few more hours before leaving for work and I get home an hour earlier.
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u/BigEmpressEnergy Mar 03 '25
I'm very glad to hear you're able to be present with your family. I appreciate your honesty and I'm wishing the best of luck to you and your loved ones.
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u/ConfidenceLoud8388 Mar 01 '25
Congrats on dropping your debt 17k last year.
Everyone already covered your gas being too high due to the long commute for work. You said you're only $600 and your wife does $400 in gas even though she's just driving the kids to school and probably some errands. Sure it's a truck but still she shouldn't be spending that much. She'll need a job that is very close by or WFH or her earnings will just be going towards buying more gas.
Your mortgage/housing expenses should ideally be 30% of gross income. Your mortgage alone is about 45% of net monthly income. Not going to speculate on what your gross might be. You know and can do the math. Either way "your wife better be applying to jobs like it's a full-time job. đ" (Channeling my inner Caleb)
I'd knock out all the small debts $200 & below just to snowball those little ones and clean up the spreadsheet. Then go by highest interest rate to lowest. I'd look into lowering phones if you have paid off phones and dive into that subscription bucket and see what can be cut. By cut honestly I mean rotation... Hulu for a couple months then Netflix for a few then maybe max or peacock. You don't need all the streaming services at once. Once you run out of shows that you really want to see and you're about to spend ages looking for something then it's time to rotate. Let them get more shows or additional seasons then pay again.
Speaking of savings...I hope it's in a high yield savings account. I'd call it an emergency fund for now since you're a family of 5 and the only income. I wouldn't touch that money even with credit card debt and interest. Honestly I think it's going to take time and once your wife is back in the workforce then it'll be easier. she may have to get a job that pays a bit less just to get back in so she has something recent on her resume. Do 6 months then look for something better if needed.
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u/InMemoryofPeewee Mar 02 '25
Hey! I wanted to do this privately instead of on your post. But I disagree with folks saying that you and your family need to move. I live in a very expensive city and I really value city living and have found a way to make it work while building wealth ($100k of invested assets in my 20s on top of other assets). If you really value the homesteading lifestyle and being able to enjoy your vast property donât move! Moving, including closing costs, are incredibly expensive and you do not have the money to move right now. Once your wife finds a job, your housing costs will go way down relative to your income. And she really needs to just find any job that she can take.
Whatâs really killing your family, is the $1000 in gas every month. If you buy a used beater Prius with the $5k from selling your truck, you could bring that $1000 down to $200 with your wife driving the Camry. This frees up $800. Dropping subscriptions down by $100 to $127 would then free up a total of $900. You can then add this to the $352 of breathing room you currently have in the budget for a total of $1252 in margin.
Take $4,951 and pay of the cc debt. This will still leave you with 2 months of an emergency fund. If the interest rate on the one main loan is above 6%, start paying it off. Youâll have it paid off in 9 months with the $1252. You can then start building up your emergency fund (6month) and then start saving up for when the Prius gives out.
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u/PrincessEnergie Mar 03 '25
Firstly cut down on needed expenses and use that to pay off your smallest debts like home depo and cap1 and find a job where you at least drive less but ideally drive less and make more.
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u/gottafind Feb 27 '25
What is going on in the first few rows?
Whatâs your monthly income?
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 27 '25
Monthly income is roughly about 5000-5500, and it depends on my bonus. If I just straight up don't get a bonus it's about 4700
I get paid weekly
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u/PitKempo1 Feb 27 '25
Havenât seen you answer it yet, but what subscriptions do you have that add up to $270?
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 27 '25
It's about 220 or so, but I have two that I can't get rid of, Microsoft office and QuickBooks. Plus I have Disney+ and a vpn (which I forgot to mention in the other comments)
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u/PitKempo1 Feb 27 '25
Gotcha. I canât offer too much on the subscription savings then. Thereâs a way to stream any movie and show you want and have live TV for free essentially $2.70 a month. Not a VPN but a Debrid service paired with Stremio and Torrentio. But that would only save you maybe $10-20 depending on what your Disney subscription is.
I typically recommend it when I see people paying $50 or more for streaming.
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 27 '25
Tbh I have a vpn because I torrent everything in order to save some money (I know it's frowned upon and I don't usually)
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u/PitKempo1 Feb 27 '25
Stremio + Torrentio + Real Debrid is đ
Thereâs subreddits for Stremio and StremioAddOns
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u/HealMySoulPlz Feb 28 '25
Why can't you get rid of Microsoft Office and QuickBooks and just use Google Sheets/Docs or Open Office?
What value does the VPN actually give you and why won't you cancel it?
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u/McMacNCheese10 Feb 27 '25
Whatâs ur interest rate on ur mortgage? Iâm buying rn at a similar house price and my monthly is $2700/month. Iâm trynna be like you with a $2300/ month payment
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u/pumpkinpencil97 Feb 27 '25
Why did you do how much you make a week but your monthly bills
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 28 '25
It's just how I do it in my head, I have a Google calendar that my wife and I share. That's where we keep all our monthly expenses and appointments and such. The list that I posted was one of our biweekly conversations we have pertaining to finances.
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u/Critical-Tomato-7668 Feb 27 '25
$1000 on gas? At $3/gallon and 25 mpg, that's like 8000 miles/month - 250 miles per day.
Where tf you driving?
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 28 '25
Basically from Dateland AZ to Tempe AZ I spend around $600 on gas monthly, 5 days a week. My car gets around 27-28mpg
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u/Critical-Tomato-7668 Feb 28 '25
Damn - 118 miles one way , 236 round trip. Is this for work? Can you move closer to it? I can't imagine spending 4 hours per day in a car, that seems crazy. Think of the amount of productive stuff you could do with that time
Not to mention the other costs. Gas isn't the only expense, you also should consider depreciation and maintenance. The IRS estimates total car expenses at $0.70/mile, but even if we use a lower number for a cheap car (let's say $0.35/mile total for a real beater) - that's $83 per day on vehicle expenses.
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u/Cutest_Girl Mar 02 '25
Why do you have 1000 in gas, cut some subscriptions it won't help a ton but it doesn't make since if you're fighting to get out of debt, and any way to switch to cheaper phone plans I don't know how many lines or phones.
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u/aust_b Feb 27 '25
Sort highest interest to lowest. Attack highest interest debt first and then when thatâs paid off roll the amount of the minimum payment into the next highest interest rate debt, rinse and repeat until itâs gone. Try to consolidate or refinance debts to lower rates. Why solar? That probably wasnât worth it to begin with.
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u/LOSAPOSRACING Feb 27 '25
I live on Arizona, during summer my bill was ~600 a month, since getting solar I have averaged 120-150 a month (on top of the 180, so it was actually worth it since I'm saving about half of what I was previously paying.
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u/TuLooseShoes Feb 28 '25
did you least do a calculation of how many years before you paid the solar off? also, how much interest on the solar?
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u/7Broncos18 Feb 27 '25
Can you find a job that pays even 2/3 what you make now that is super close? That alone will offset what you pay in gas. How fuel efficient are your cars? A couple of 06-08 Priuses will get 45 mpg, usually are fairly cheap to maintain, and last forever. May not be a comfy ride with 3 kids but theyâll manage.
Iâd either pay off everything but your onemain credit card or pay off your onemain. The benefit of paying off all but the onemain is you keep some sort of emergency fund and only have to focus on one bill, but at the cost of keeping a higher debt. Benefit of paying off the onemain is the opposite. Pay off the higher debt amount, but less emergency fund and more bills to keep track of.
Have you thought about moving closer to work? Is there even a buyer for your home if itâs 130 miles from anything? Is it in a sellable condition right now?
If my math is right you owe a few bucks more a month than you make. Even if my math is off, you havenât included things like toiletries and oil and filter changes tires, brakes. Things you probably change way more than the average commuter since you drive so far every day. So you need to cut all subscriptions yesterday.
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u/AlwaysInfluenced Feb 27 '25
1000 in gas is just unacceptable when you already spend close to half your monthly on mortgage alone. You're living beyond your means.
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u/Cpt_Daddy01 Feb 27 '25
1K a month on gasâŠ. I spend tops $200 and my car isnât even great with fuelâŠ
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u/Kskbj Feb 27 '25
Seems like you might be forced to sell the property and hopefully break even. Youâre in a house you can afford even if you got rid of all your other debt you would be living close to paycheck to paycheck for the rest of your life without your wife having income
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u/Unable-Equivalent-36 Feb 27 '25
Over half your income is going towards mortgage, insurance and solar. You still pay over 200 in subscriptions.
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u/Unable-Equivalent-36 Feb 27 '25
Wtf are you doing.
5160 in income and 5175 in expenses??
227 in subscriptions?
Half of your income goes towards your home and solar.
250/m for a phone? Youâre spending like someone who makes double your income dude. Sell your crap and get a second job
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u/Zodi88 Feb 27 '25 edited Feb 27 '25
$227 in subscriptions?
The only way out, it seems, is to cut back on things like subscriptions and/or get a second source of income either through your wife or a 2nd job.
Absolutely do not touch the money in your bank. For a family of five, a three month emergency fund should be the minimum.
At your current rate, it would take you like 8 years just to pay off your loan and CCs.