Finances!! Im about to be screwed, what should I do?

Question

My house payment is way more than my husband and I can afford. It is around 50% of our income. I do not work, and I have tried getting a job, but it is hard while doing full time school, and by the time I pay for gas Im not bringing in anything. Im tired of being stressed over this. We have a car payment too, but we owe more than what it is worth, so I dont think we can do anything with it.

What can we do?

I still want to maybe find a part time job, but it takes time around here. What should we do in the meantime?

Answer 1

most important is home and car payments then go from there if you have credit cards s***w 'em just save those to and change your phone number so you do not get calls all thetime

Answer 2

You said it yourself. You can't afford the house. Therefore you need to sell it. You need to find housing that you CAN afford.

Answer 3

Is taking some tenants an option? I know that roommates are not ideal to live with but if you can get somebody to rent a room that would help relieve you some. Make sure you have a lease agreement which stipulates you can kick them out if they disrespect your house and privacy.

Another option might be for you to go to school may be part time or even take a semester off to do some odd jobs and boost your finances.

How long have you been at the house? Is your credit good enuf to be able to refinance? What about refinancing on the car? Refinancing a car is not an ideal situation but if you can do it and lower your monthly payments so that you dont default that might help save your credit from being dinged and improve your cash flow.

Your situation is ruff really, but you gotta make some sacrifices somewhere. You might need to sell the house and may be get something you can afford so getting your credit dinged right now might hurt you in the long run.  

Answer 4

When I couldn't find a job that would pay enough to cover daycare for twins, and let me have any money leftover for bills. I started looking online for stuff I could do from home and found some great places.  I have made a list of places that I have used (only free ones), I know they're all legit because I don’t list them until I've been paid by them. I do have survey sites listed; only the ones that I know for sure work. The 2nd place I listed is totally different. You design and run your own jewelry web store. You don't buy inventory or anything; you make commission from the sales. Nothing to lose by looking, it’s free. You can see my list and details on these places at http://tinyurl.com/homeoffice  

Answer 5

First of all, I think , you should sell the house and the car.  Even though you are upside down on the car, it will still cost you less if you sell it sooner, so that you get more for it, and then pay the difference.

A house payment should never be more than 25% (principal & interest) up to 33% (principal, interest, taxes, and insurance) of your take home pay.  Otherwise you become , as you have learned, "house poor".  If you can't get a "real" part time job and you can't find one than make a flyer listing the work that you will do.  You can run errands, babysit, dog sit, clean houses, tutor other students, mow lawns, weed gardens, almost anything. Once you start and get a good reputation, you will have more work than you can handle.  Have a garage sale and sell stuff you don't need on eBay.  As far as the rest, here is a plan for you.  If you work the plan, the plan will work for you.

1. Make a budget. Make the budget a week before you get paid. A budget is not a punishment! It is a tool which will free you from ever having to worry about money again. Put everything in your budget. Especially those annual, biannual, or quarterly bills like car registration, insurance, etc. Give every dollar you are going to bring home the name of where it is going. Add an "emergency fund" category to your budget for 25 dollars and save up until you have 1000-1250 dollars. Your emergency fund will help keep you from getting into new debt because of an emergency. If you can, set up a direct transfer to a savings account for your emergency fund. That way it moves automatically and you don't even have to worry about it. You must cut your spending and live on less than you make.

2.First get current on all of you debts and make no more late payments. Stop using your credit cards immediately. Do not take on any more debt. Credit cards are like quicksand only the death is much slower. Make a list of all of your debts in order of highest interest rate to lowest interest. Use cash only for your spending from now on.

3.Pay the minimum due on all of your debts and then put your extra money towards paying off the highest interest one first. After you get that one paid off, you put the money you were paying on debt #1 (the minimum payment and the extra payment) towards debt #2. That will pay debt #2 off faster. When that is paid off, you put all three payments towards card #3 and that one will be paid off pretty quickly. As an example:

To start :

Debt #1 (highest interest): minimum payment+ extra payment

Debt #2 (middle interest): minimum payment

Debt #3(lowest interest): minimum payment

Debt #1: paid off

Debt #2: minimum payment from Debt #1+ Minimum payment from Debt #2 +extra payment

Debt #3: minimum payment

Debt #1: paid off

Debt #2: paid off

Debt #3:Mimimum payment from card #1+ minimum payment from Debt #2+ minimum payment from Debt #3+ extra payment.

That way, you will get them all paid off, on time, and pay the least interest. It will also help towards rebuilding your credit since you will no longer have any late payments. This works no matter how many different debts you may have.

4. After you get all of your debts paid off, add to your emergency fund until you have 6-12 months of income saved up. Put that emergency fund money into a liquid money market fund or into a Bank of America no-risk CD so that if you need the money you can take it out without penalty.

5a. When you have your emergency fund in place, add a category for "fun" to your budget. Save for a holiday, a vacation, a big screen, or dinners out, whatever goal you want. Remember to enjoy your life.

5b. When you have your emergency fund in place, start saving for your retirement. Join the 401(k) plan at work and contribute the maximum. Your employer probably matches at least part of your contribution so why give up free money. Open a Roth IRA and contribute the maximum on a monthly basis. If you start saving for your retirement now, you will probably retire a millionaire.

5c. When you have your emergency fund in place, start saving for your next car. Only buy cars, or other things that depreciate, with cash. Save up for a nicer car. That way you get the interest instead of paying the interest.