International Region, Women in Red Racers

[el1504]

UPDATE

EL1504[2]: 02/08/2011 $3578.63 (3/19/2010 $6,751.42 IU62)

Not a great update but at least it went down. It would have been better but an unexpected trip to the Vet cost us dearly and while I put aside $ every fortnight to pay for such trips our dog seems acident prone so it never seems to build up very high!

[Minnesotagirl7]

Shoutouts!

Thrifty- Congrats on the new BF! And nice update, over $22k paid off!
Moody- Great update! That’s more than $9000, gone!
Kiwigirl- So glad you decided to join us! When you’re ready, just post a tagline with your debts and you’ll be official! The format is:
Name: start date starting amount (start date starting amount starting page #)
The numbers outside the parentheses will change when you update your debts.
bubbleepink- Welcome again and happy racing! Next time you update, please include your tagline. It just makes it easier on us volunteers. Thank you!
2007DH- Congrats on the job! Nice and steady with your updates, great work!
ffinbc- I’m not sure if it will help, but I'm adding you back to our smileys list. Now you can see them whenever you want!
EL1504- Down is down, nice work!

[Minnesotagirl7]

Smiley update!!!

=$100, ;D=$500, =$1,000, =$5,000, = $10,000, = $25,000, = $75,000, = $100,000, =$200,000, = Location Needed

debtheaven[4]: 2/5/11 $3,935 (11/25/2009 $11,500 I257) ;D
alicesfreedom: 1/7/11 $13,588.34 (9/2/2009 $24,275.73 I226) ;D
bubbleepink: 2/5/11 $38,278.27 (4/17/2009 $38,278.27 N178, IPT7)
financiallyfreeinbc: 12/24/10 $0 (1/5/2010 $28,343.05 IU13)
EL1504[2]: 1/20/11 $3,578.63 (3/19/2010 $6,751.42 IU62)
Idawngirl: 1/13/11 $10,426 (1/4/2010 $27,993 IU10) ;D
InDebtYogini: 1/31/11 $7,082.15 (9/19/2001 $14,490.83 N559)
MoodyManitoba: 2/7/11 $176,552.44 (2/12/2009 $185,805.93 IU113)
Psychobabbler: 12/22/10 $19,324.69 (4/1/2010 $22,653 IU68)
Thrifty_in_mtl: 2/3/11 $179,107.38 (1/6/2009 $201,231.48 IU142)
Writer88: 1/4/11 $0 (12/21/2006 $27,917 IU51) ;D
ZsDebt: 1/30/11 $43,542.68 (1/7/2010 $59,198.18 IU16) ;D

NEW MEMBERS
IWillDoThis: 12/13/10 $68,069 (12/13/2010 $68,069 IU159)

[financiallyfreeinbc]

Minnesota- I love you!!! Silly but true that the smileys mean a lot. Thanks so much for keeping them up!

[bubbleepink]

Thanks for the advice.

Debt - We do not have combined finances right now, but when we buy a house we will combine, and we will each participate 1/2 off the DP.

FFinBC - What is your definition of financial stable? As I mentioned, we are looking at doing this at the earliest summer 2012, most likely later than this since we want to move back to Toronto to live. We are currently living and working in Alberta. Is there a "minimum amount" that you would recommend we get our debt down to (aside from the $0.00) before we get into a mortgage?

ldawngirl - I understand what you're saying. I think I am of the opposite view, I would rather have a house first then get married (a few years later). We are looking at duplexes so that there is the potential of having renters. Obviously. I know that having renters is not guaranteed income, and in some cases causes more trouble then it is worth. Again, these are all ideas at this point, because we wont be buying for at least a year.

Minnesota - Thanks for the reminder! When I went to add my tagline to my spreadsheet, it was actually right there. I forgot to copy it! Sorry. I moved it up so I won't forget it next time.

[financiallyfreeinbc]

bubbleepink- I completely understand your desire to be in a home of your own but financially stable means paying off your debt. I would say have at least 3/4 of your debt paid off (that would leave you with about $20 000 in debt) still able to make your debt repayment schedule and able to pay a mortgage/property taxes/closing costs etc.

I suggest you and your fiancee crunch numbers seriously... especially since you are going from very little tax in AB to way more tax in ON. You might even think about getting crazy serious about repayment, look at areas you can cut (our areas were eating out, camping trips, coffee at Starbucks, books, movies etc) and get your debt down as fast as possible...

The goal is getting debt repaid in about 3 years to avoid debt fatigue; for you that would be $26 666/year for the whole shot or ~$ 20 000/year ($1548.36/4 weeks) if you don't include the no interest loan from his mom.. i don't remember the exact figure) I would totally wait until I was at least down to owing only his student loans and you have practiced putting away the cost of your mortgage payment/taxes (estimated, minus your current rent) (see about getting preapproved, find a duplex listing in the area you want and and use an online calculator to figure out your payments... don't forget taxes! You'll have to find out how much those are)

I know this may seem overwhelming but if you are serious about a house in so short of a time and getting out of debt, you need to be brutal looking at your goals/crunching those numbers. There will be nothing worse than getting into a house and having absolutely no money.. not even for neccessities. You will also have to consider what jobs you have, what you will have in ON and how much you will make there. Too, I know the rules have changed for first time home buyers so you might not even qualify for a mortgage until you have a significant amount of the debt paid off.

Again, try the tough love of Til Debt Do Us Part. It is hard to swallow when people tell you that you should postpone your goals but if you come out the better for it, you will be happier, I think.

[ldawngirl]

UPDATE

ldawngirl: 2/8/11 | $9,884 (1/4/10 | $27,993 | IU10)

$18,109 (64.7%) paid off

Four digits! Woot! I feel like now things are really going to pick up steam on this puppy!

I made a call to my bank and changed the interest rate on the loan from variable to fixed. In the short term, my interest goes up slightly, but I know the rates are going to rise, rise, rise over the next year, so I figure I'd better bite the bullet and get as low of a rate as I can now without playing the guessing game. Thankfully it's not so much higher that it's going to change when the loan is paid off.

Otherwise, things are humming along well. We had a bunch of things to pay for at the end of 2010 and in January (Christmas, vet visits, necessary household items, etc.), but now it's quiet, so we're able to start saving again. Thankfully my sister, who is also getting married this year, has decided that an old bridesmaid dress that I had from a wedding years ago is a-okay to be worn at her wedding, so I get to save $200 or $300+ not having to buy a new dress. And best of all, it still fits (I was a bit worried!).

[ldawngirl]

Questions to toss out there - I'm crazy anal (as I know others of you on here are!) and I like to plug in my numbers, figure out where I'm going to be in a month, 3 months, 6 months, etc. But now that I've done that over and over again, there's really no calculating or figuring out to be done. However, I still feel that urge to calculate and figure - any recommendations on what I can do instead? I know saving seems to be the most obvious, but I want to hold off on doing those figures until after the wedding and when DF is out of bankruptcy. (If his income over the nine month bankruptcy period is too high he has to keep paying for a longer period of time, which changes things completely). Any ideas on how to keep my calculator buzzing or my mind active with this stuff? (I read a million blogs already).

Also, as for DF's bankruptcy, we're trying to think of ways to build up his credit again. I know a secured credit card is one way to go, but rather than shell out $500 or $1000 to that, I was thinking he could see about getting a very small loan from the bank. Something like $2000 or $3000 that can be paid off over a few months. Just to build up his credit. This way we may pay a bit in interest, but it's easier on the wallet than dishing out a chunk of money that we won't get back for 1.5-3 years. My concern with doing the loan is how it might affect my credit history, as I would most likely have to co-sign for him to get it going. I'm the one who pays the bills and handles the finances, so I know the loan will be paid and he won't default, but will it have an impact on my credit history to be a co-signer in any other potential way? I'm the one with the good credit rating, so I don't want to hurt that trying to get his up and running again. Or if you have another idea as to how to rebuild his credit, it's much appreciated!

[debtheaven]

Bubblee
If you keep separate finances for now I think you're doing everything you should be. You should just keep paying off your SL as fast as you can, and your DF should keep paying off his car as fast as he can. If you have only your car loan and he has only his Mom loan by the time you buy in 18 months, you'll be in a much better position!

You could end up saving more and having extra money to throw at the debt, or you could end up buying a less expensive house, or a duplex. So for now I'd concentrate on getting those paid off. Remember that the less debt you have when you buy that house, the happier and more relaxed YOU will be! You're doing great! Also, although a duplex and renter can be a PITA, if you are smart about it and get good tenants at the outset, it could be great for you financially.

[debtheaven]

EL
You are getting there, slowly but surely! That is great!

Idawn
YAY for four digits!!!

I wish I could help you with the questions on rebuilding DF's credit, but I think you'll have to wait for a fellow Canadian to give you the right advice!

However, I still feel that urge to calculate and figure - any recommendations on what I can do instead?

Sometimes when I feel that need, I pretend to win the lottery! I use different numbers depending on how much I win that time. Crazy, I know, LOL!

ETA: These days I "spend" the 25K we are getting from the sale. Of course it's not quite enough to pay everything I wanted to (the 9K "consumer loan" I just took out (6K "earnest money" for the purchase and 3K rental property taxes), the 4K car loan and the 11K rental reno loan and 2K to pay the current rental account overdraft (mainly the first lot of special assessment bills).

Since 9 + 4 + 11 + 2 = 26 (and not 25), that keeps me entertained for hours LOL!

ETA 2: Idawn I know you mean 2011 in the first date.

[ldawngirl]

Whoops! Thanks for that catch DH. Wouldn't it have been nice if I HAD paid off that money in a month?!

I often do the same thing when I know I have freelance or insurance money coming in. You know, how much will go to this, how much goes to that. That's what's been keeping me entertained in a small way. But it's not quite the same. I don't buy lottery tickets... I guess I could figure out what I'd do if my parents won the lottery! haha

[bubbleepink]

FFinBC - Thanks again. I was looking for real numbers, and 3/4 seems reasonable. BF and I are both teachers who moved to Northern Alberta to work because there are no teaching jobs in Ontario (I searched all over the province for 2 years after graduating). We have decided that the amount of money we make here and save here is something that we are not willing to give up unless we can go back to Toronto and area and work in the public sector. We hope that 2 years of teaching experience in a harsh secluded climate (working with natives) will give us a leg up on the competition and get us something at home.

LOL @ Starbucks! The last time I had Starbucks was the sample at Walmart 2 months ago! (I know this was an example but it brought up good memories.... ) We live an hour away from a REALLY small town so our entertainment budget is wrapped up in our cable bill which is split 5 ways (20 bucks a month each), then dinner or lunch once every two weeks when we make the trip to "town". I don't think there is anywhere to cut there, but I will discuss with him and figure it out! Luckily we live with a roommate who is also paying down debt and saving all this pennies so we often will skip big dinners out and opt for something cheap so that we can save money. Our view with eating out is that we do it once every 2 weeks it is not that bad (compared to what we would be spending if we lived in a city with all kinds of choices).

"Again, try the tough love of Til Debt Do Us Part. It is hard to swallow when people tell you that you should postpone your goals but if you come out the better for it, you will be happier, I think."
This is very true, but I don't pose Q's to the WIRR because I am going to like what they have to say! I post because I want the opinions of others who have been here, and who are here with me. I too, do not want to end up like my friends who are in the "house/kid/husband works construction but we buy now pay later because we have no money" boat. Thanks again!

[bubbleepink]

debtheaven - Thanks for the advice! I think that is what we are going to do, for now. I was able to up my SL payment without hurting my automated savings/payments/etc.

[bubbleepink]

ldawngirl -

Feb 8, 2011 18:26:10 GMT -5 ldawngirl said:

...I often do the same thing when I know I have freelance or insurance money coming in.

What do you do freelance?

[ldawngirl]

Feb 8, 2011 20:55:04 GMT -5 bubbleepink said:

ldawngirl -

Feb 8, 2011 18:26:10 GMT -5 ldawngirl said:

...I often do the same thing when I know I have freelance or insurance money coming in.

What do you do freelance?

I'm a writer, so I do various freelance writing for magazines, smaller companies and such.

[debtheaven]

I don't buy lottery tickets...

Idawn I don't either lol! It's purely a mental / daydreaming / calculation exercise.

The papers came in for me to go on my DH's complementary medical insurance. (Well they came in about two weeks ago. My bad.) So today I sent a registered letter cancelling my policy. It may take them a month or two to register it (legally they must but they never rush it). Once they do I'm going to put that 150/mo into a college acct for DD. I may open an ING acct so the money doesn't just "disappear".

My half of DD's college will cost me 350/mo for three years (12 months a year) starting in the fall, if she goes to the most expensive college (our first choice but she takes the entrance exam next week). I may have to use some savings or even take out a loan later on down the road but because of this, I can get a head start!

[writer88]

Mazal Tov on the local job, DebtHeaven. Awesome news! And you're 3 weeks left from winning your race. Totally cool

[writer88]

Yikes, You ladies are on a roll! Turns out I've missed a whole bunch of updates. (Freelance deadlines kept me awol).
Good going, gals!

[financiallyfreeinbc]

DH- 3 Weeks?? That is awesome!! I'll buy another bottle of champagne!!

[alicesfreedom]

A quick update:

CC1 204.74--------------- 0.00
CC2 1,065.69-------- 336.50
PLC 5000.00---------0.00 This may go up as we have a couple of bills coming up.
PLC 10,813.88------10,488.88
Total DEBT---- 10,825.38

$10,825.38 11/02/2011 (9/2/2009$24,275.73 I226)

[debtheaven]

EL
Sorry I missed your great update! Getting closer every day!

Alice
You are SO close to another zero! Well done!

Fingers crossed for my win in three weeks! However, the money we are "skimming" from the sale will NOT be enough to pay off the three loans I wanted to pay off AND pay for this year's special assessments. So I'm still trying to figure out the best thing to do! I change my mind every 15 minutes LOL. But it is a good problem to have!

[bankergurl]

Here is the $100K updates as of 2/13/11! Amazing updates as usual, total paid off this week was $19,127.20!!!!
- 1 returning member, lizziect from the Midwest!
- Congrats to tkdblkbelt28 from the Midwest for paying off over $25K!
?? Who will be the first graduate from the $100K list in 2011 ??

notmsnmoney.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=wir&thread=2929&page=1

[debtheaven]

Still going round and round LOL.

[bubbleepink]

Ok. NEW PLAN: Right now DB and I live in Northern Alberta. We drove my car out here from Toronto, and we left DB's car in Toronto. It is parked in his fathers garage, he still pays for the car payment and FIRE and Theft insurance. We are thinking of selling both cars and buying one SUV (to share).

Ideally, we are looking at a used suv for about $15,000.00 (the ones we are looking at) - we want something newer because we have to drive back to Toronto this summer and back to Alberta in September. Again, in a perfect situation, we want to be able to just trade my car in (use that as a DP) and owe about 5 or 6 thousand dollars (to finance / or not). We would obviously have to combine insurance, which we already talked to his insurance guy about.

We started to talk about this today, and the only problem I see right now is that when we are home for the summer we don't live together (in fact we live about 30 km apart). Please point out the things that I am not seeing.

[ldawngirl]

Bubbleepink - This all largely depends on how much you can get for selling/trading in both of your vehicles. Chances are the value of the car is less than what you owe, so you'll end up still paying some on the car loans after they've been sold. One thing to keep in mind is that often selling the car will get you a better price than trading it in. What I'd recommend is looking at similar vehicles being sold and find out what they sold for, or look at the book value price. Based on those, figure out how much you could get and compare to what you owe. Chances are you'll end up saving money at some point, since you're going from 2 vehicles to 1, but it may not wipe out the car loans completely.

Another thing to consider is that you could just sell one car and keep the other. You could put the money you're paying on one loan to the other and pay it off very quickly. Buying an SUV is harder on gas than cars, and if you're driving from AB to ON, this should definitely be a consideration. If you're only driving home and back in the summer, why do you need an SUV? The weather is good, the roads are good and you'll save a ton of money on gas with a regular car. Even in the winter, an SUV is not necessary. I live in MB and I can say without a doubt, an SUV is not a necessity. A car with the proper tires and maintenance would be fine in the winter.

[Minnesotagirl7]

Shoutouts!

Idawngirl- Congrats on being under $10k, that’s awesome! For your calculating/figuring dilemma, not sure if it would work for you, but how about figuring out when you’ll hit certain milestones? Percentage paid off, a certain dollar amount, etc.? And DH’s bankruptcy – I don’t think co-signing will affect your score, only if there are problems with the loan.
2007DH- Good news about DD and college! I’m jealous of your “problem”!
Writer- Nice to hear from you!
alicesfreedom- Great update - amazing progress since your last one!!
bubbleepink- I hope the plan with the vehicles works out!

[Minnesotagirl7]

Smiley update!!!

=$100, ;D=$500, =$1,000, =$5,000, = $10,000, = $25,000, = $75,000, = $100,000, =$200,000, = Location Needed

debtheaven[4]: 2/5/11 $3,935 (11/25/2009 $11,500 I257) ;D
alicesfreedom: 2/11/11 $10,825.38 (9/2/2009 $24,275.73 I226)
bubbleepink: 2/5/11 $38,278.27 (4/17/2009 $38,278.27 N178, IPT7)
financiallyfreeinbc: 12/24/10 $0 (1/5/2010 $28,343.05 IU13)
EL1504[2]: 1/20/11 $3,578.63 (3/19/2010 $6,751.42 IU62)
Idawngirl: 2/8/11 $9,884 (1/4/2010 $27,993 IU10)
InDebtYogini: 1/31/11 $7,082.15 (9/19/2001 $14,490.83 N559)
MoodyManitoba: 2/7/11 $176,552.44 (2/12/2009 $185,805.93 IU113)
Psychobabbler: 12/22/10 $19,324.69 (4/1/2010 $22,653 IU68)
Thrifty_in_mtl: 2/3/11 $179,107.38 (1/6/2009 $201,231.48 IU142)
Writer88: 1/4/11 $0 (12/21/2006 $27,917 IU51) ;D
ZsDebt: 1/30/11 $43,542.68 (1/7/2010 $59,198.18 IU16) ;D

[debtheaven]

Minnesota
Thank you! Her entrance exam for our (my?) first choice is tomorrow. Fingers crossed! Karma to you for all you do!

Bubblee, I like Idawn suggestion that you sell one car. But, I got the feeling that maybe you need an SUV where you live, rather than for the summers? Not sure. I also agree whatever you sell, sell privately, don't do a trade-in, you'll get more money for it.

Other consideration: if you both go home for the summer, does either one of you have access to a car if share one car?

We used to have two cars, one regular car and one "old beater - seven seater" but that's because DH doesn't commute by car. It was really convenient to have that second car though. We are again a one-car family (it does save a lot of money!) but that's because DH commutes by bicycle, and we live together all year round ... I can't imagine sharing a car with somebody I don't live with full time, unless you have access to another car and / or great public transport.

[debtheaven]

i

[Minnesotagirl7]

debtheaven- You sneaky little devil! I came back to re-read and comment on your post, and its gone!