I just took a good hard look at my credit card bills and realized I am in deep water. I am able to make my payments for this month but it leaves me with very little money for the next two weeks. I don’t have to make a car or insurance payment for three months so that will help. I have a trip planned with the air-fare paid for coming up. I’m going to look into couch surfing for that so I can avoid the expense of a hotel room.
I don’t have much in possessions that I can sell at most I could get maybe 1,200.
I have already started looking for a weekend job. Working nights after my job is not a possibility. I am just depressed now and in the past I handled depression by eating or shopping and I REFUSE to do either now. I dug myself into this hole and I can get out.
i had debt problems too and so do many people
cut up the cards
feel good that you are correcting your mistakes
still leave yourself some room to have fun
just be more responsible than in the past
I am not looking for financial advise. I know I have to spend less than I make. I know if I stop spending frivolously I can bust through my debt. I bring home about 1100 every two weeks. That’s enough to pay for my car, car insurance, and 2X the minimum monthly bill. As I pay off the cards I will apply that to other cards.
If I cancel the trip I will not gain much money back, the flight and hotels were paid with points. The only out of pocket expense is food, gas, and car rental. My federal return is more than enough to cover all that.
Recognizing this is the first step. However, unless you find a better way to handle your depression, you’re going to keep falling back into the same patterns. Believe me, this is coming from someone who spent decades using eating, and later shopping, to handle emotional issues. I know you are working on minimizing expenses right now, but anything you can do to address the primary problem, which is depression, is going to serve you best in the long run. Even checking out a good book on dealing with depression from the library might help.
In the short term I wish you luck, and can only advise not to fall deeper into depression if you are not able to stick perfectly to your goals. Feel good about the fact that you are recognizing your immediate problems and addressing them.
All the more reason to cancel the trip. You’re not just throwing good money after bad, you’re throwing good money after none. That refund should be going toward existing debt.
I agree in a sense that the refund should go to existing debt but this trip was something that I was planning for a while and looking forward to. An opportunity to do this won’t come up again. I may have someone who wants to go with me and will cover the car rental and gas. That just leaves food. I feel if I don’t go it will make me extremely depressed.
Tuesday I will call a psychologist my health plan suggested and see if he is taking new clients. His office is closed today.
I’m glad you’re seeking help. Depression related to money woes is common and getting treated/getting your head on straight will only HELP you tackle the money woes head on.
I think you should go on your trip. Live for today. Like you said, it’s all you’ve got left. Make it work.
Good luck, MannyL, and have fun on the trip (not too much, though)!
Know that you are starting what will likely be a long, often difficult journey. My wife and I made the same journey and it took several years. It’s too easy to say “I’ll put “X” on the credit card today and pay it off when “Y” happens”, only to find out “Y” a’int going to happen. Looking back, though, it was one of the best things we ever did - well worth every sacrifice.
Manny, I was just thinking about you the other day. One of my friends is going in for weight loss surgery and I realized I hadn’t seen you post for a while and wondered how you were doing.
Even though you say you are not looking for financial advise, you clearly need it. You wouldn’t be in this situation if you had the kind of grip on it that you think you do. For a plan of action, do Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps. With his method, you see results and as the results snowball, your motivation grows. It’s not only willpower, it’s tactical moves. His Financial Peace University classes are now being taught in schools, minus the Christianity, because they teach people how to handle money, stay out of debt and save for their future. They have 9 week classes all over the tri-state area, and the cost is $93.00. You could also use his website and listen to his daily podcast to get started, but the classes make you accountable to someone, and most people tend to make better choices when they are being held accountable.
