Credit Card Debt Anyone?

Azexas

I've actually frozen my Visa card in water and stuffed it in the back of my freezer.

Christmas is always rough. This year I got smart about it. I looked into the rewards program through my bank for having a Debit card, my one credit card has rewards points and also my health insurance has an incentive program that allows gives gift cards for doing check ups, flu shots ..etc.. I spent $20 out of my own pocket for Christmas when everything was all said and done.

this does not solve Amazon- and on line shopping

seriously.

Not sure what you mean by that- but the gift cards that I received through the various rewards programs I then turned around and used them on Amazon and Ebay and did most of my shopping online.

AND after all that still only spent 20 bucks of my own money.

wheird

My wife and I have done this for years:

**Decide now what you are going to spend on gifts in 2014 (ie: $2000)
**Open a savings account
**Go to your HR dept and set up a split for your automatic payroll deposit (in this case, $167/mo; or about $77/paycheck if paid biweekly)

*** Catastrophic event in November costs you $2000.
***Pay CASH for catastrophic event from your emergency fund.

**Enjoy paying for all your gifts with cash!

Fixed it for you.:laugh:

Fixed again

I am liking you more and more.

How YOU doin?? :flowerforyou:

Hey there sweet cheeks, wanna see my zero based budget and hefty emergency fund?

wheird

My wife and I have done this for years:

**Decide now what you are going to spend on gifts in 2014 (ie: $2000)
**Open a savings account
**Go to your HR dept and set up a split for your automatic payroll deposit (in this case, $167/mo; or about $77/paycheck if paid biweekly)

*** Catastrophic event in November costs you $2000.
***Pay CASH for catastrophic event from your emergency fund.

**Enjoy paying for all your gifts with cash!

Fixed it for you.:laugh:

Fixed again

No, because having an emergency fund simply increases the number of emergencies that will occur. Do you even Murphy?

Touche. I have severak sink funds for various emergencies, but it is hard to catch them all. Damn Pokemon.

hananah89

you know, technically it is called "debt" until its paid off. I pay off my "debt" every month as I use my credit card for 99% of things. I get rewards and have had a credit card since I was 17 (before that law about having to be 21 or having a co-signer) because my parents said if I had a job, then I had to pay for gas to use their car. Now I have excellent credit at 24 while many my age do not.

Edit: I use Mint and have a "goal" set up so I know I have to save X amt each month. Of course it helps that I don't like spending money...
I also have it set up to get emails for bills being due and alerts from google calendar. When I get those, I send the payments right in. No waiting.

ajaxe432

Never never never carry a balance on a credit card. I use credit cards for the cash back / travel points.

This.

.

Actually carrying a small balance is good for your credit score. Keep it less than 15% of your available credit amount.

I tried that and it bit me in the butt....everything I have I own, but it knocked out a credit trail or line. I was screwed for getting a loan.

VelvetMorning

Didn't need this to be a bashing session...I'm 20 years old who wanted to treat my family for once rather then them spending all of their money on me.

When you are older than 20 and have $$ in the bank, THEN you treat your family. Until then, bake them a cake. If you want to splurge, use sprinkles.

This really isn't fair to assume that people in the early 20 range don't have $$ in the bank, which is kind of what I think you are doing.

Well, if there HAD been $$ in the bank, then there wouldn't be 2G's in credit card debt.

"When you are older than 20" implies that 20 year olds are notorious for not having money. Every single person in my social circle (20-early 30s) have their finances impeccably well done; and *usually* much better than older folks. The stigma that young people don't know what they're doing with money is very irritating.

aleism

theres this app called Check: I love it! you can add ALL your weekly, monthly and yearly bills to the app and tells you when its do, the minimun balance to pay, the balance etc!! highly recommended!!

*I spent only $300 and about $167 of it went on my card, the rest was cash ;-)

Downloading this as we speak! Have a budget, but still manage to get busy and miss actually SENDING my payments in............



I have a budget system set up for myself so I only get so much cash to spend in a week. No debit or credit cards. Locked up tightly in a safe so they are not on hand.

If you want a copy of my budget spreadsheet, send me a PM.

Basically it works like this:

Income - minus Monthly bills - minus money for savings/paying off CC (my 1500 limit always seems to be maxed out).
The remainder is what you have available to spend for the next 2 weeks (incl. groceries so spend wisely). Divided by 2 and that's the cash I pull out on Friday evening for the next week. If I have cash leftover, I just pull out enough from the bank to give me my weekly allowance (so every now and then you might have extra money sitting in your account to throw on your card or savings)
It's all auto-calculated in Excel.

I quit my job in Feb and was back to waitressing for 4 months before finding another office job. With rent, bills, and a nice big monthly car payment, I almost completely depleted my savings.

So I'm now on a budget to pay off my card and rebuild my savings.

I'm 23 and am pretty smart about my money, but 2 yrs ago I decided I wanted a new car and then life just gets in the way sometimes. Debt happens, you just need to work hard and sacrifice a little to get out of it as quickly as possible.
I used to be awesome at paying off all purchases I made on my CC as soon as I got home, using my receipts from that day.
I let it slip for like a week when I lost my debit card and used my CC for everything, and haven't fixed it yet. (That was like a year ago. )

But THAT is one my resolutions for the next year - pay off my CC and watch my savings grow again!


Also, if you are crafty in any way, maybe make something homemade next year for your family. My family is just as happy, if not happier, with something homemade than commercially bought.
Last year I made them packages of different cookies.
This year I am making cupcakes in a jar - small mason jars with some scrapbook paper decoupaged onto the lids and cupcakes with icing inside. Freezable, homemade, and DELICIOUS. And they appreciate the time version the cost.

Good Luck!

skullshank

been there, done that.
not fun.
debt-free now and loving it (except for cars and mortgage).
if i dont have the funds for it, then i can't have it.

wheird

Didn't need this to be a bashing session...I'm 20 years old who wanted to treat my family for once rather then them spending all of their money on me.

When you are older than 20 and have $$ in the bank, THEN you treat your family. Until then, bake them a cake. If you want to splurge, use sprinkles.

This really isn't fair to assume that people in the early 20 range don't have $$ in the bank, which is kind of what I think you are doing.

Well, if there HAD been $$ in the bank, then there wouldn't be 2G's in credit card debt.

"When you are older than 20" implies that 20 year olds are notorious for not having money. Every single person in my social circle (20-early 30s) have their finances impeccably well done; and *usually* much better than older folks. The stigma that young people don't know what they're doing with money is very irritating.

Are you privvy to your friends finances? Because appearances are deceiving. And most people in general suck at personal finance.

JoRocka

Not sure what you mean by that- but the gift cards that I received through the various rewards programs I then turned around and used them on Amazon and Ebay and did most of my shopping online.

AND after all that still only spent 20 bucks of my own money.

I purchase a great deal via Amazon- my cards are all in there- same with PayPal.

It's just too easy- so the physical card is practically irrelevant- I use my card for lots of things- and maybe 1-2 real applications on hand- the rest are all on line.

and nope- I do NOT have the self discipline to wipe the numbers out of the account- I'd find a way around it.

VelvetMorning

Didn't need this to be a bashing session...I'm 20 years old who wanted to treat my family for once rather then them spending all of their money on me.

When you are older than 20 and have $$ in the bank, THEN you treat your family. Until then, bake them a cake. If you want to splurge, use sprinkles.

This really isn't fair to assume that people in the early 20 range don't have $$ in the bank, which is kind of what I think you are doing.

Well, if there HAD been $$ in the bank, then there wouldn't be 2G's in credit card debt.

"When you are older than 20" implies that 20 year olds are notorious for not having money. Every single person in my social circle (20-early 30s) have their finances impeccably well done; and *usually* much better than older folks. The stigma that young people don't know what they're doing with money is very irritating.

Are you privvy to your friends finances? Because appearances are deceiving. And most people in general suck at personal finance.

Yes, I am or I wouldn't have opened my mouth on behalf of others.

Rage_Phish

Didn't need this to be a bashing session...I'm 20 years old who wanted to treat my family for once rather then them spending all of their money on me.

When you are older than 20 and have $$ in the bank, THEN you treat your family. Until then, bake them a cake. If you want to splurge, use sprinkles.

This really isn't fair to assume that people in the early 20 range don't have $$ in the bank, which is kind of what I think you are doing.

Well, if there HAD been $$ in the bank, then there wouldn't be 2G's in credit card debt.

"When you are older than 20" implies that 20 year olds are notorious for not having money. Every single person in my social circle (20-early 30s) have their finances impeccably well done; and *usually* much better than older folks. The stigma that young people don't know what they're doing with money is very irritating.

i'm gonna go ahead and say you are clueless if you think the vast majority or 20-somethings are in a great financial state.

wheird

Didn't need this to be a bashing session...I'm 20 years old who wanted to treat my family for once rather then them spending all of their money on me.

When you are older than 20 and have $$ in the bank, THEN you treat your family. Until then, bake them a cake. If you want to splurge, use sprinkles.

This really isn't fair to assume that people in the early 20 range don't have $$ in the bank, which is kind of what I think you are doing.

Well, if there HAD been $$ in the bank, then there wouldn't be 2G's in credit card debt.

"When you are older than 20" implies that 20 year olds are notorious for not having money. Every single person in my social circle (20-early 30s) have their finances impeccably well done; and *usually* much better than older folks. The stigma that young people don't know what they're doing with money is very irritating.

Are you privvy to your friends finances? Because appearances are deceiving. And most people in general suck at personal finance.

Yes, I am or I wouldn't have opened my mouth on behalf of others.

That is odd. Most friends dont share that stuff.

TallGlassOfQuirky

none here, learned my lesson early on... that hole just gets deeper and deeper if you don't watch it...

put your nose to the grindstone, knuckle up and pay it off, no going out, no splurging, get it paid off and don't go there anymore ... family will understand that you can't.. if they can't, then that's thier issue. write a nice letter or card telling them how much you appriciate them and their help. There will be plenty of time to pay back when you're on top in life.



side note, Mint is a good program, but I prefer Quicken. Main reason is that it allows me to budget for the future... for example if it is the 3rd of the month and I have a bill do on the 15th, I can input that into quicken to allow me to "pre spend" the money to see what I will have left until next payday.

from what I've found Mint doesn't allow you to "budget" like that.. Am I wrong? anyone found this.

Quicken is awesome.
That being said, a simple Excel spreadsheet can do the basics, too. I had Quicken in the past but when I was married to my ex husband and there was literally NOTHING left for me to spend on myself (including budgeting software that could make things better), I set up a budget in Excel. Simple spreadsheet with line items for "Carryover" (amount in my account at the end of the week), income, and different categories of expenses. It adds the Income to the Carryover, and subtracts all of the expenses. It puts the ending number in the next week's Carryover space, and so on. I have it set up by week through 2022 and I love it because I can easily see how the choices I make with my spending today impact things 6 months down the road (or even several years down the road). For instance, if I want to buy something nice and I have plenty in my account right now, I can add that to my "discretionary" field for the week and see that, although I may have plenty now, I am going to have a pretty lean week in March and that splurge could make a big difference. It's easy to adjust so if I spend more or less in each category, I can override the budgeted with the actual amounts. I can look ahead and figure out when I will be able to afford a better car, or when I will need to be more frugal (which is sort of a joke, because I am super frugal). I also budget a portion of my rent with each check so I don't look at my account and think I have tons to spend but then have a huge chunk taken out at the end of the month (actually, I set money aside in a separate account specifically for that purpose).

And if you can't afford Quicken, and can't even afford Office, Google Drive has a spreadsheet program. That's actually where my current budget is.

lyzmorrison

"When you are older than 20" implies that 20 year olds are notorious for not having money. Every single person in my social circle (20-early 30s) have their finances impeccably well done; and *usually* much better than older folks. The stigma that young people don't know what they're doing with money is very irritating.

Well, the 20 y/o's I know are still in college. They haven't begun their careers yet and $$ is not something they have an excess of. And the point was.....she is YOUNG. And does not have enough $$ to pay CASH, hence her original post about a hefty credit card debt. So I don't think we are talking about your friends. Obviously, they could buy us all gifts w/ cash and that's fantastic, but she can't. And when she is older than 20, then perhaps she can.

Geez.

mister_universe

Haven't had a credit card in nearly 10 years. Don't miss it in the least.

People who understand compound interest get rich from it. Those who don't starve from it.

wheird

Haven't had a credit card in nearly 10 years. Don't miss it in the least.

People who understand compound interest get rich from it. Those who don't starve from it.

Which is why I loved the stock market being down.

VelvetMorning

Didn't need this to be a bashing session...I'm 20 years old who wanted to treat my family for once rather then them spending all of their money on me.

When you are older than 20 and have $$ in the bank, THEN you treat your family. Until then, bake them a cake. If you want to splurge, use sprinkles.

This really isn't fair to assume that people in the early 20 range don't have $$ in the bank, which is kind of what I think you are doing.

Well, if there HAD been $$ in the bank, then there wouldn't be 2G's in credit card debt.

"When you are older than 20" implies that 20 year olds are notorious for not having money. Every single person in my social circle (20-early 30s) have their finances impeccably well done; and *usually* much better than older folks. The stigma that young people don't know what they're doing with money is very irritating.

Are you privvy to your friends finances? Because appearances are deceiving. And most people in general suck at personal finance.

Yes, I am or I wouldn't have opened my mouth on behalf of others.

That is odd. Most friends dont share that stuff.

Maybe your friends aren't business owners who do business with one another and have to be honest about how much they can spend on merchandise without going too far in the red. Or maybe your buddies aren't buying houses left & right, or vehicles, or dropping thousands in cash on whatever they want that day. But, hey! Maybe it's a south thing.

jenifr818

Didn't need this to be a bashing session...I'm 20 years old who wanted to treat my family for once rather then them spending all of their money on me.

Been there, done that. When I was able to afford it, it was awesome being able to treat everyone in my family. If you can afford to pay off the cards later, I'm the last one to tell you not to use them. Just make sure you pay them off, and sooner rather than later!!

Unfortunately, now that we're all having financial issues (because, well, life), we agreed this year that we weren't doing gifts for each other. The feeling of not having to spend money on siblings is AWESOME. I love them, but it just wasn't in the cards. I'll still buy my parents a restaurant gift card, because I know they like going out to eat, and $25 isn't too ridiculously much. My partner and I bought ourselves a Sega Genesis and some games as a mutual gift, because we both like the old-school video game system. I'm going to buy him about $30 worth of legos next week, because, well, he's still a kid at heart. Altogether, $100-$110 on Christmas, and everyone's happy.

TL;DR version: it's not all about the gifts. My advice to you is to treat your family this year, but don't let it become an expectation or something that has to be done every year

Rage_Phish

Didn't need this to be a bashing session...I'm 20 years old who wanted to treat my family for once rather then them spending all of their money on me.

When you are older than 20 and have $$ in the bank, THEN you treat your family. Until then, bake them a cake. If you want to splurge, use sprinkles.

This really isn't fair to assume that people in the early 20 range don't have $$ in the bank, which is kind of what I think you are doing.

Well, if there HAD been $$ in the bank, then there wouldn't be 2G's in credit card debt.

"When you are older than 20" implies that 20 year olds are notorious for not having money. Every single person in my social circle (20-early 30s) have their finances impeccably well done; and *usually* much better than older folks. The stigma that young people don't know what they're doing with money is very irritating.

Are you privvy to your friends finances? Because appearances are deceiving. And most people in general suck at personal finance.

Yes, I am or I wouldn't have opened my mouth on behalf of others.

That is odd. Most friends dont share that stuff.

Maybe your friends aren't business owners who do business with one another and have to be honest about how much they can spend on merchandise without going too far in the red. Or maybe your buddies aren't buying houses left & right, or vehicles, or dropping thousands in cash on whatever they want that day. But, hey! Maybe it's a south thing.

lol this simply shows you have no idea what their finances are like. You know the image they would like to portray of their finances, but you dont know whats really happening behind closed doors