This is a great thread.
I also am trying to pay debt & pay off our Disney vaca we are doing in Feb.
Part of the Disney trip is being paid for my my bil & sil b/c they borrowed a nice chunk of change from me awhile back, never repaid & now this is how they are doing it.

Anyway I currently lost my job so I am living on dh income which automatically has almost $300 a week taken out for child support. EeK!

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Meghan
Mommy to "Cheeks":D

Maybe we can figure out the goals for you... Can you give us an idea of the debt you have?? Is it medical bills, credit cards, car payments, etc??

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Stay at home mom to my 3 boys... ages 5, 3 & 1!

I can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

I find it refreshing that you're oh-so very joyful and you're really looking forward to the start of your new life.
With discipline and prayer you'll find it simple to achieve any goal.


Good Luck girl!

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You must be the change you want to see in the world ~ Gandhi

ok hmmm....

simple break down of the debt.

1) student loan $8000
2) credit line $5000
3) Credit cards $4500
4) other small debts $500

that's it basicly oh and

5) $ 9000 for a totally awsome 8 day time to Disneyland!!!

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I agree with the other ladies.You should sit down and make short term goals to help you reach your long one that way it does not seem so overwhelming.
I personally have not read the Dave Ramsey book but I hear nothing but good about him.I do not see to have time to read anything outside of school work stuff.Check with your local library for it.
We are paying our flexible debt(credit cards) down with a credit counsiling service.We have been doing it for nearly 2 yrs and have 4 cards paid off and one is about to be paid off.If you are interested in who we use,feel free to PM me and I can share.I like them.They have helped us and we had 10 cards with them in the beginning.Also...NO it did not hurt our credit.It just showed we were responsible enough to fix our debt.
Good luck.

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~~Sharon~~

Start by creating a budget. That way you can actually crunch the numbers and calculate if you can do it and how long it will take. Figure out ways to cut your expenses and/or bring more money into your household to speed up the process. You'll learn a lot just by reading the threads on this board!

Good luck!

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Read my Mommysavers Blog: Forget the Joneses
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This is a great thread. I really wish my library had Dave Ramsey's books!!

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Kathi - wife to Sean, Mama to Sam (6/26/02) & Grace (8/29/06)

anyone want to help me figure out what small goals people are talking a bout?

I already do the following

1)buget
2) use envelopes for eat-out, blow money, food
3)I am up to date on all my bills

so what is my next step?

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SOunds like #4. should be SAVE. Take whatever money's left and put it away, preferably in something that will gain in interest, but anything is better than spending it. Simple as that.

Dave Ramsey people (myself included) will tell you to first save an emergency fund.

$1K - it's for emergencies only - if the car blows, emergency vet appt, etc, etc - this $$ will save you from adding more debt by using your credit cards or whatever.

Then send minimum payments to all your debt except your smallest one, your smallest debt gets anythign left over, if it's $5, $50 or $500 a month, all extra debt money goes to this one debt until it's gone. Then pick the next smallest debt and send the minium + the minium from the now destoryed debt and whatever the left over $ is ($5, $50, etc).

This is called snowballing your debts.

Don't try to send a little extra on all the debts, focus all extra funds to one debt until it's gone. It's very satisflying whren you can see real progress and see those debts drop of your balance sheet.

Good luck



Here are the babysteps that Dave Ramsey recommends

Dave Ramsey - Baby Steps

0 - Pre baby step - get current on bills
1 -- $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund
2 -- Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball
3 -- Three to six months of expenses in savings
3b -- If you don't own a home and want to buy one - this is where you save for the 20% downpayment
4 -- Invest 15 percent of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement
5 -- College funding for children
6 -- Pay off home early
7 -- Build wealth and give! --- Invest in mutual funds and real estate