So what brings me to this semi-anonymous blogging site?
I have a good-paying job (above the median), a house, three kids, a hefty mortgage, too much consumer credit, and less than $100 in my checking account.
My wife works -- self-employed -- but our marriage is dissolving, so we have spent the last couple of years trying to keep our finances separate.
Neither one of us can afford to buy the other out of his/her share of the yhouse's equity, so we live together in terse, slightly tense companionship.
I am perputally short of money at the end of a pay period.
I have a 401(k) -- underfunded, but it's there. (I also have two loans from it that I am paying back, so I can't depend on it for any short-term help at the moment).
I pay for the family's health insurance through work. I have life insurance so the family is protected financially if something happens to me.
I have no savings (I have a savings account, but there's 32 cents in it) and a checking account that it down to zero every two weeks.
I have about $7,000 in consumer credit (three cards) and a brand new car payment (I just replaced a 12-year-old car that had 180,000 miles on it).
I have a fair amount of deferred maintenance around the house. The basics are OK -- the roof is solid, the furnace is just a couple of years old.
But I can't do simple things like contemplate the $300 it will take to buy a new garbage disposal and get it installed. Or fix up the basement so the kids have a space away from the main floor to hang out with friends. My eldest will start college next fall and we have zero dollars saved for this.
So, that's where I've living now. It's a beautiful long fall weekend and I couldn't even contemplate a day trip out of town because I don't have the money for gas and wouldn't have any money to spend on things like food once we got out of town.
Today is The First Day
October 9th, 2006 at 08:57 pm
October 9th, 2006 at 09:11 pm 1160424711
October 9th, 2006 at 09:17 pm 1160425047
Just pick a small goal, let us know (or not) what it is..........and start chugging along! Amazingly enough, that is the essence of most of the advice here. Just start. Something. Anything. It will begin to make a difference.
Can't help you with the spouse bit. I do understand that particular fix however. I got rid of mine 20 years or so ago & have been making positive financial strides ever since. He was a definate liability.
Best of luck, keep blogging here...............
October 9th, 2006 at 09:24 pm 1160425492
October 10th, 2006 at 04:20 am 1160450407
It sounds like you have a common problem - you see your paycheck as a limit, what you have to spend for those two weeks. The trick is to set your limit quite a bit below. Its such common advice that it sounds like "well duh", but it is the way.
October 10th, 2006 at 03:29 pm 1160490568
October 10th, 2006 at 09:07 pm 1160510842
Wow, you sound like me right before my ex and I separated. Between the two of us, we had close to 300k worth of debt!
Once the loans against your 401k is paid off, I strongly recommend that you never consider it as an option. Taking out junk loans like this is bad enough, but having it levied against your future? That's... terrible.
Don't worry though. If you want to turn your financial ship around, you're in with the right crowd.
October 11th, 2006 at 06:40 pm 1160588424