Getting out of debt...

[LeoFenderBender]

Steps for getting out of debt:

Principle #1) Spend beneath your means - until you can do that, you will ALWAYS be in debt; if that means getting a better job, a second job, a useful skill, or cutting back on expenses the end result is still the same.

2) Pay off one debt at a time - make minimum payments on others, and focus available cash on one debt at a time; when the debt is paid off, concentrate on another until they are all gone. No need to focus on interest rates, just pay the lowest balance off and get rid of it - you'll be rewarded by your own progress. The additional cost of interest over time will be negligible and will more than adequately pay for the good feeling of progress you will feel by getting rid of debt one at a time.

3) Only have one credit card - get rid of all department store, gas cards, and other revolving accounts - have only one ONE Visa or MasterCard and keep it under your watchful eye.

4) Don't run up balances again - self explanatory.

5) Whenever you find yourself in a rut of debt again, you are violating principle #1.

 

[morf]

And next time, you'll be that much more careful, and there will be no more debt for you!

Hopefully!!!

You could shut off your internet access!

Parents pay for that one

Move out of France. I just visited Paris 2 weeks ago and good lord everything was sooooo expensive. Good old midwest, where everything is like 5 times cheaper.

No doubt, but thats out of the question for the moment, I need to finish my studies.

First dibs on Morphs Rocco Edition

I've been deep into debt twice in my life. Once due to a divorce, once due to a sickness in the family and HUGE medical bills. It's not fun and it's life changing. Everyone's situation is different and deep down inside, you probably already know what you have to do. I just worked more hours and lived like a hermit. If you can get out of debt without ruining your credit, that will certainly help in the long run. I wish you the best in working your way out of this situation.

LOL @ Diggler

I'm NEVER selling that baby... they'll have to find me in the mountains where I'll be living like a hermit with my sheep before they take my bass!

Good luck. It seems to take as long as it took to get in to get out.

Yes I think its actually going to take that long.

Let me know when you start doing this Morf, I know I can find some buyers.

LOL. You know buyers interested in old boxers with piss stains on em? lmao

I would consider going to a debt counselor (not necessarily a consolidator) or a family member/friend who you can trust and who you know is good with finances and get their advice

No need, I just need to take an interest in my own finances

One thing in the OP really surprises me. How in the world is it possible to not know you've ben on a huge debt for 70 days??? I check my bank account balance at least once a week on the internet, but once a month would be the absolute minimum. You pay your bills once a month, don't you? And if you haven't paid a bill, they send reminders. As said, this REALLY surprises me. I just don't get it.

Thing is, I really could care less. I have thrown away pretty much all bank letters which I left unopened. It's a bore, I hate it. Yes I am a child I know

Your plan needs to be on paper, you need to be able to visualize the ending and how you will get there.

Done and done. If I sell all I have for sale I should be out of debt in a couple of weeks.

The worst thing you can do (and the reason they will send you nasty letters) is if you ignore them, and pretend its not happening.

Ian

Thats exactly what I had done up until now. I called them today, and aside from the threats etc, they gave me extra time to come up with the money.



BIG THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!!! I really appreciate the support.

 

[louieeadg]

Goooooooo morf!

 

[Tomis17]

Only buy things you have cash for. If you fall into the slippery slope of financial trouble it could ruin your life very quickly. Selling your music gear is a start. I would even go farther by selling your main axes also. Music is a hobby, your life is a priority!

 

[stedtale]

Hopefully!!!


LOL. You know buyers interested in old boxers with piss stains on em? lmao

I know all kinds of people. I know you...right?

 

[Vandelay]

We recently got out of debt after several years. Our situation never got critical -- we were just carrying more debt than we were comfortable with. So I sold some equipment, cashed in a couple of small investments we had made, did little things like switching our cell phones to prepaid instead of a plan -- anything to elminate a monthly bill. And mostly we just used a lot more restraint with our shopping. Even with all that, it still took longer than I thought it would. But as someone else posted, it helped to pay debts off one at a time. For example, once we finished paying off a car loan, we had a lot more money per month that we could throw at another debt, etc.

My roommate makes money by selling her used panties on Craigslist to pervs. They pay up to $60 a pair. NOT something I would do, but it shows creative thinking!

C'mon, this is TB: no pics, no roommate panties sales.

 

[Bryan316]

Stop doing extracurricular activities. They burn up beer money, dinner money, gas money and party money.

Watch more TV for a while and camp out at home, stop buying sh*t you don't need (I gotta talk to my anime-collecting friends...) and don't spend money buying more bass gear.

Start spending time practicing bass and learning songs, instead of participating in extracurricular activities that suck up loose cash. Billiards halls and superfast gokart racing used to be a couple of addictions of mine.

 

[disenchant]

C'mon, this is TB: no pics, no roomate panties sales.

Your computer screen ain't big enough. She's a BIG girl.

I'm not kidding when I say they are larger than my computer screen!

 

[hbarcat]

I was in a similar situation. The wife went nuts with the credit cards in the year before she left and I had no choice but to pay off nearly all the debt myself or else go bankrupt (she didn't have any money or a job).

I'm out of the hole now after setting up a payment plan with the credit card companies (tell them that they need to waive the over the limit fees and outrageous interest rates or else you won't deal with them and they get nothing!) and sticking to it. I also cut my expenses to the bone; I unplugged the TV and cancelled the cable and internet, stopped buying pre-processed food and started making all meals from scratch and brown bagged it at work. I stopped going out to bars and restaurants and limited the mumber of miles I drove, and I eventually moved to a cheaper place. All of this also makes for more hours available to spend more time with my daughter, or practice playing bass or read.

Some of these frugal habits are still with me, but I hang out with people who usually aren't living large themselves, so it's easy to do, and I now have a bit of money for things I want (like music equipment) as well as need.

One thing I've never had to worry about paying for is a car, because I've always bought older used cars and paid cash and I will probably never buy one on credit to get stuck with monthly payments.

It just takes smart budgeting, hard work and time.

 

[Baryonyx]

Steps for getting out of debt:

Principle #1) Spend beneath your means - until you can do that, you will ALWAYS be in debt; if that means getting a better job, a second job, a useful skill, or cutting back on expenses the end result is still the same.

2) Pay off one debt at a time - make minimum payments on others, and focus available cash on one debt at a time; when the debt is paid off, concentrate on another until they are all gone. No need to focus on interest rates, just pay the lowest balance off and get rid of it - you'll be rewarded by your own progress. The additional cost of interest over time will be negligible and will more than adequately pay for the good feeling of progress you will feel by getting rid of debt one at a time.

3) Only have one credit card - get rid of all department store, gas cards, and other revolving accounts - have only one ONE Visa or MasterCard and keep it under your watchful eye.

4) Don't run up balances again - self explanatory.

5) Whenever you find yourself in a rut of debt again, you are violating principle #1.

+1

Sound advice, especially rule #1!

 

[MJ5150]

Way to go buddy. Make sure you keep this thread alive and let us know how you are doing along the way.

You said it....two weeks, so we want to see a debt free Morf by the 3rd of September.

-Mike

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Steps for getting out of debt:

Principle #1) Spend beneath your means - until you can do that, you will ALWAYS be in debt; if that means getting a better job, a second job, a useful skill, or cutting back on expenses the end result is still the same.

2) Pay off one debt at a time - make minimum payments on others, and focus available cash on one debt at a time; when the debt is paid off, concentrate on another until they are all gone. No need to focus on interest rates, just pay the lowest balance off and get rid of it - you'll be rewarded by your own progress. The additional cost of interest over time will be negligible and will more than adequately pay for the good feeling of progress you will feel by getting rid of debt one at a time.

3) Only have one credit card - get rid of all department store, gas cards, and other revolving accounts - have only one ONE Visa or MasterCard and keep it under your watchful eye.

4) Don't run up balances again - self explanatory.

5) Whenever you find yourself in a rut of debt again, you are violating principle #1.

+2, that is great advice. I can say that I used to be obsessed with getting high end boutique basses, however, when I looked at my income and expenses, and I especially looked at the fact that I generate no income from playing, I tossed that idea aside, and I honestly don't regret it. I would much rather play a $300 bass and rest easy, than buy a $2,500 bass that I might have to sell to fix my transmission.

 

[NKUSigEp]

So I received a letter form my bank today stating that my bank account had been in negative (big number) for over 70 days now and they will come to my house to take my stuff unless i fix it ASAP.

So I started selling all I could like crazy, all except my two main basses and hopefully it wont get to the point where I have to sell them!

How did you get out of debt? How did it work out for you? Let me hear your stories and cheer me up!

Take a look around you and figure out what you absolutely need, and then what is superfluous. Your two main basses should probably turn into your ONE main bass. First step in erasing debt is to increase your cash flow. Second step is to decrease your cash expenditure. Third is to eat ramen noodles and bologna sandwiches for as long as it takes to get you out of debt!

 

[Stanley Design]

I always take out loans, always have at least one on the go at a time for a few grand. I have spent somewhere along the lines of 10,000 to 15,000 dollars on gear the past....couple years? I owe 250 dollars on my last loan and plan to pay it off thursday, and I just recently got a new one for 2,000 which isn't too much money a month. The 2,000 dollar loan is costing me like 260 dollars interest over a 1 year term.

What you need to do to be able to get to where I am (lots of cool stuff with no debt and sweet credit rating) is this.....

-Live like a hobo. Wear crappy clothes until they literally rot off of you, then keep sewing them back together with other clothes you get out of value village and salvation army dumpsters.

-Eat at the soup kitchen. Don't act like you're too good for that, their food is pretty good sometimes and if you actually go you'll see that the majority of people eating there are very wasteful of their portions. As long as you eat everything you're given noone will say a word. Saves me a decent amount of money if I'm downtown and hungry, 10 dollars onto my debt.

- If you go to Wendy's or MacDonalds, scrounge some fries off tables and fill up an empty fry cup. Take it to the counter and say "I just went through the drive through and these fries are cold". They will immediately give you nice fresh fries no questions asked.

-Drink really cheap and strong liquor and buy it in bulk or make your own. In Canada booze is really expensive, a 12 pack of beer is $20. And at the bar a bottle of beer costs $5 no matter what dive it is. Make your own rum then turn it into moonshine, sell it to your buddies and drink the rest. Money in the bank. Don't go to bars.

- Don't smoke, it's doesn't do anything to you except drain your wallet.

- When you're at parties, drink all your booze really fast, then really late at night when the quart is wearing off and most people are passed out, scrounge for scraps in empty bottles and drink it no matter how gross.

-If you are going to a bar to see a band or something, go early and help the band load in so they will put you on the list, no cover charge and maybe a free drink.

- No haircuts, or get friends to cut it for free.

- Work lots of overtime at your job, if possible go in an hour early every day or stay an hour late every day or both. You get used to it and that's 5-10 hours at time and a half every week, and 10-20 a paycheck. It really adds up.

- Automatically drain your bank account/paycheck onto your credit card as soon as it's deposited, keep a specific minimal amount as your cost of living in your bank account.

- Have all ages parties at your house and get bands to play, then charge people admission. $5 a head to see a couple sweet bands. Then give the bands some gas money and such.

There are so many ways to pay off debt. Living like you are the lowest class in society may not be as fun as living it up, but in the end, you have more to show for it, and have nothing to pay for it.

 

[MakiSupaStar]

Ugh, it annoys me when people act like only stupid people get into debt. Anyone can get into debt, through things that are or are not your fault.

When I got divorced I was saddled with ½ my ex’s credit card debt because like a dumbass my name was on some of the cards and he was a spendaholic.

I managed OK for a while with the high payments, but then I lost my job. I got behind on payments. I ended up freelancing for about 2 years, which meant I had a job for a while but then would get let go (as freelance work depends on work available) all while looking for a permanent position.

I put all my credit cards in one of those programs that I USED To make fun of. I thought they were for irresponsible people who couldn’t figure out how to mail a check on time, or people who didn’t know how to budget. But I DO know how to budget, I have been managing all my finances on excel spreadsheets for 10 years now. Once you start missing payments those credit card companies just take you down a spiral and you can’t ever get out.

My parents keep saying I’m irresponsible with money, but I keep pointing out you can’t pay bills with money you don’t have, and it’s not like I ever spend it on anything I don’t need. I’ve been living on Ramen noodles for 2 years now.

It takes quite a bit to get out of debt, and a lot of work when you want to play. I work 4 jobs, my main job, freelance video editing, teaching gymnastics and my own cheerleading business. I had to get a roommate. The trick is to work smarter, not harder. Sometimes I put in 12 hour days. You just do it, y’know?

My perfect credit is destroyed and I’m close to foreclosure on my house, but somehow I just keep plugging away and you stay afloat. If you just keep chugging along you’ll make it out. Sometimes you have to think creative. My roommate makes money by selling her used panties on Craigslist to pervs. They pay up to $60 a pair. NOT something I would do, but it shows creative thinking!

Good luck. It seems to take as long as it took to get in to get out.

That was YOUR roommate. I thought it was a mistake. Like someone had sent me camping gear accidently. Her underwear was so big that it could have been a tent.

 

[morf]

Only buy things you have cash for. If you fall into the slippery slope of financial trouble it could ruin your life very quickly. Selling your music gear is a start. I would even go farther by selling your main axes also. Music is a hobby, your life is a priority!

Absolutely no way.

I know all kinds of people. I know you...right?

LOL. I'm not such a freak though, and I wont sell my underwear lmao.

Way to go buddy. Make sure you keep this thread alive and let us know how you are doing along the way.

You said it....two weeks, so we want to see a debt free Morf by the 3rd of September.

-Mike

I will keep you guys updated! I already sold my iPod, a SX bass, a DOD Bass overdrive pedal and some concert DVDs, so its going steadily well! Still a long way to go but we're getting there

Take a look around you and figure out what you absolutely need, and then what is superfluous. Your two main basses should probably turn into your ONE main bass. First step in erasing debt is to increase your cash flow. Second step is to decrease your cash expenditure. Third is to eat ramen noodles and bologna sandwiches for as long as it takes to get you out of debt!

LOL. You know what put me into debt in the first place? Buying my Godin Zeta Z1 bass. Now I'm in love there is NO WAY I can sell it, or my Conklin. These two are staying no matter what

 

[IanStephenson]

- Don't smoke, it's doesn't do anything to you except drain your wallet.

- Automatically drain your bank account/paycheck onto your credit card as soon as it's deposited, keep a specific minimal amount as your cost of living in your bank account.

You are a freak Todd ;-)

However these two are good...

I totally disagree with the guy who said interest rates don't matter...

Credit cards can charge you up to 30% (even the so called interest free ones if you don't follow the fine print!). Your bank is probably charging you less the 10%, even for a straight overdraft. Well organised loans even less. Any debt is bad, but the easier it is to get the cash in the first place, the more they charge you for it. It's very easy to put stuff on a store card - they let anyone do it, then charge you heavy for it (30%). Compare that to a mortgage - bitch of paperwork, not everyone can get one, but you can pay as little as 5%.

You wouldn't pay $30 for a beer you could get for $5. Why pay $300 per year on a $1000, when you could be paying $50?

Draining your cash out of your bank (where it's just sitting) to pay of cards (which are HURTING you) is v. good. Worst case you put SOME of it back on the cards at the end of the month, but if you don't screw it up you can win big time.

Ian

 

[louieeadg]

Alright morf, check this out...

1-Sperm banks...you get paid to do something you probably do a few times a week anyway

2-Donate Plasma...its just the jelly part of your blood and you can do this once a week.

3-Def. walk when you can...if it means leaving half a hour earlier for work, its better than wasting gas...and healthy!

4-Just bum cigs off of other people under the guise of "I'm quitting so I don't buy them anymore." I've been milking that one for about 6 months now.

5-Start a drinking business. Make little business cards and leave them at bars. "Drinking Buddy for hire" Put your phone number up there and tell them if they buy your drinks, you'll drink with them so they don't have to drink alone. This one worked for me for about a month...I couldn't handle drinking 5 rum&cokes during my lunch break 4 days a week.

6-Designated driver service. Just hang out on weekends and you can make 50 euro off of one drunken person if you play your cards right. This only works in areas like where I live when there's only one taxi that operates after midnight.

7-Find a sugar mama! Preferably one that is married and loaded...most of them are freaks anyway and know more than the women your age. Not a bad deal.

Good luck.

 

[morf]

Alright morf, check this out...

lmao, you deserve a fitting response:

1-Sperm banks...you get paid to do something you probably do a few times a week anyway

Twice a day. Keeps the wrist fit for bass.

2-Donate Plasma...its just the jelly part of your blood and you can do this once a week.

Hmm, not my thing, at least not for money.

3-Def. walk when you can...if it means leaving half a hour earlier for work, its better than wasting gas...and healthy!

I do that already

4-Just bum cigs off of other people under the guise of "I'm quitting so I don't buy them anymore." I've been milking that one for about 6 months now.

Yes I'm squeezing my parents for that

5-Start a drinking business. Make little business cards and leave them at bars. "Drinking Buddy for hire" Put your phone number up there and tell them if they buy your drinks, you'll drink with them so they don't have to drink alone. This one worked for me for about a month...I couldn't handle drinking 5 rum&cokes during my lunch break 4 days a week.

LMAO. Now there's an idea.

6-Designated driver service. Just hang out on weekends and you can make 50 euro off of one drunken person if you play your cards right. This only works in areas like where I live when there's only one taxi that operates after midnight.

Wouldnt work around here

7-Find a sugar mama! Preferably one that is married and loaded...most of them are freaks anyway and know more than the women your age. Not a bad deal.

Ah yes, this one is a good one... any girls here rich?

Good luck.

Thank you

 

[louieeadg]

Don't rule prostitution out either...