Hey ladies! If any of you have been reading my blog, you know that we have really racked up the cc debt this year. I am feeling extremely discouraged right now, and really need some encouragement, if you don't mind. :) If you could, please share your debt reduction stories with me. Thanks a lot!

Jennifer,
Gripey and I were in debt up to our eyeballs in the year 2000. We made "the decision" to get out of it. We started with a $300/mo. rent check that we get for a bus. property. I started adding that to Gripey's pickup payment. Paid that off in about 4 months, snowballed that payment, the $300 rent check onto dd's car payment. Paid that off in 6 more months....etc., and so on. After 3 years we had paid off over $140,000 in debt. We paid off our house, 3 cars, a pickup, 2 business notes, all credit cards, and a home improvement loan. We did this on the money we were already making even though our business took a major downturn AND while sending 2 of our 3 dk's through college (which we were paying cash for). We ate rice and beans, beans and rice a LOT. We still have a little bit of business related debt left but hope to have it paid off in 2 years. We'll be completely free and clear and feeling absolutely liberated. Don't lose heart, stay focused, enjoy the journey.....you'll so smile when you look back on it. :hug2:

All I can add is just try to whittle away at it.
What I did was I started Mystery Shopping for extra money, and while I did not use the money to lower debt, it helped me to buy stuff and get reimbursed that I would have bought with my regular income, so it helps to get a free oil change and free gas, some groceries etc...and get a little pocket money too. HTH!

So far we paid $38k in debt in 10 months. Sold a toy, downgraded in vehicle and got on a buget.

Think what helped us the most was spending it before we got paid. A budget absolutely works!! Another great thing was using cash. Cash hurts to spend, no doubt about it. We wrote a budget, paying everything we needed to pay between paydays, and then would fund our envelopes with cash (things that we'd need between paydays like grocery money, gas money, blow money). Every penny that was left over went to debt. After that we put the checkbook up and didn't touch it til next payday. When the envelope was empty you can't spend anymore, you're done til next payday.

Also, if you don't have an emergency fund first before paying off the cc debt think you'd be spinning your wheels a lot. Our emergency fund has been at $1,000 for a year while paying down the debt. If we didn't have that all the little things that would catch you (car repair, medical, unexpected trip, etc.) will go right back onto debt and it's a cycle that's hard to break. When it's your money it makes it really hard to turn loose of that cash, which makes you know whether something is a real emergency or not. But you've got to quit digging the hole first before you can climb out of it.

Best of luck, I know how hard it is getting out of debt.

Jennifer,
Gripey and I were in debt up to our eyeballs in the year 2000. We made "the decision" to get out of it. We started with a $300/mo. rent check that we get for a bus. property. I started adding that to Gripey's pickup payment. Paid that off in about 4 months, snowballed that payment, the $300 rent check onto dd's car payment. Paid that off in 6 more months....etc., and so on. After 3 years we had paid off over $140,000 in debt. We paid off our house, 3 cars, a pickup, 2 business notes, all credit cards, and a home improvement loan. We did this on the money we were already making even though our business took a major downturn AND while sending 2 of our 3 dk's through college (which we were paying cash for). We ate rice and beans, beans and rice a LOT. We still have a little bit of business related debt left but hope to have it paid off in 2 years. We'll be completely free and clear and feeling absolutely liberated. Don't lose heart, stay focused, enjoy the journey.....you'll so smile when you look back on it. :hug2:

That is a GREAT motivational story! I think that's the dream we all have and keep plugging away at!

Thanks for sharing!

I would fund the EF first and then cut up those cards!!!
When we don't have them, we can't use them.
Credit cards are awful! They keep you stressed and bogged down!!!

We've found very creative ways to deal with financial issues without those cards.
It's amazing how creative you can be when you have to ask
"how can we do this" versus "we can't do this - let's use the cards".

For example, if you can, have a few yard sales to help whittle down that debt.
We've decluttered and zapped some debt this way.:shoot:
We also do not eat out, drive our cars only when we have to and watch our pennies like a hawk.

Take it a little at a time and let us know how you are doing!!

I'm on the same page.....trying to get out of debt.
We're not doing so good this month, we have to spend $500 EF fund on fixing his car :(
but I'm glad we have that EF fund to pay for it.
I would first build an EF fund, so you won't fall back so far when an Emergency comes up.
Then...start paying as much as you can towards debt....

Here's my story: We're still in debt and getting out of it slowwwwly....
When we first start on this journey, we were Negative at the bank all the time...average about $200 monthly on NSF fee from the bank. We were getting deeper and deeper into debt everyday......(This is about 6 months ago).
Today: We have a small EF fund build up, Paid off a small balance CC, haven't been Negative at the bank for 6 months, have a budget, and are much happier. Yes, we're still in debt and it takes times but we're much better financially and emotionally now than we were....and that's priceless.
It won't happen overnight, but don't give up.....and it will all get better...You can do this :)

Prairierose you did really well.

Two years ago hubby and I had more than $38,000.00 in debts,most of that was credit card debt.

Now we are down to just under $10,000.00 and have only 13 more payments and everything is GONE, GONE, GONE!!!!

Here are some of the things we did:

FIRST AND FOREMOST: LEARN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WANTS AND NEEDS.

1) cut up EVERY credit card we owned.
2)sought out a GOOD,NON PROFIT debt counselor.
3) have been careful not to miss or be late on ANY payments.
4)Live to a very strict budget.(our grocery budget is $100.00,for the two of us and our pets)
5) When you feel discouraged,take a few minutes to sit down and think about what your goals are,where do you want to be this time next year?
6)Write out your plans and goals on a large sheet of poster board or one of those eraseable white boards.Put it where you can see it everyday.
7) List your debts on the board too,then update the list with every payment you make so you can see where you're going.

Seek out people who have the same goals as you.Stop hanging around with spenders.Your friends can be your own worst enemy when it comes to NOT spending money.

When we first realized what we were doing to ourselves,we stopped everything,and in the process did lose a few friends.BUT here's the biggy:

IF ALL THEY CARE ABOUT IS HOW MUCH YOU MAKE AND WHAT YOU BUY OR DON'T BUY,THEY ARE NOT YOUR REAL FRIENDS.

Real friends will be there on days like this when you need a little hug and a push in the right direction.

We lost some "friends" but they were not our real friends.We gained more financial independance,and learned the difference between wants and needs.In the process of learning,we have gained far more real friends than we have ever thought we would meet.

There is alot of great motivating stories in this thread!


Keep up the great work, and do not give up ever!

For us, just not using the cards is the main thing, hard as it may be!!

Lots of good ideas. I sometimes feel like we will never get any where. But we have been adding to our EF and our change jar, slowly but surely so that is a good start. Someone mentioned cutting up cards. We couldn't do that. Our finances are tight, payday to payday type of thing. So we feel like we have to keep the cards, which we are all still being paid on, to have in case of an emergency. That is if they even had any credit on them. At this point our EF is not large enough to do much if we needed it. I had hoped to get our $300 visa #3 paid off before the year is over but that is not going to happen. Our normal pmt. on that is $10 a month and was only able to pay 10 extra on it yesterday. Kind of discouraging but I am going to keep plugging along. I am hoping after Christmas that we can start getting some where on these cards.

Lots of good ideas. I sometimes feel like we will never get any where. But we have been adding to our EF and our change jar, slowly but surely so that is a good start. Someone mentioned cutting up cards. We couldn't do that. Our finances are tight, payday to payday type of thing. So we feel like we have to keep the cards, which we are all still being paid on, to have in case of an emergency. That is if they even had any credit on them. At this point our EF is not large enough to do much if we needed it. I had hoped to get our $300 visa #3 paid off before the year is over but that is not going to happen. Our normal pmt. on that is $10 a month and was only able to pay 10 extra on it yesterday. Kind of discouraging but I am going to keep plugging along. I am hoping after Christmas that we can start getting some where on these cards.