Comments on: Part 2: Some thoughts and suggestions for my friend in debt

By: Steph

Steph — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:38:22 +0000

I confess I am not sure how things work in the States living in Europe and such.
But if I would want to reduce creditcard depts the first thing I would do is to call my bank to talk about a loan to cover my creditcard depts.

I know it sounds kind of insane to get a loan to pay depts off but over here the intrest rates of a bank loan are a lot lower than those for Creditcards. It might be so in the States too. Even if the banks intrest rates are only 2 or 3 percent less it would help a lot with the amount we are talking about.

By: Sense to Save » Blog Archive » Part 3: Update on Courtney’s finances

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:57:15 +0000

[...] For a refresher on Courtney’s story, see part 1 and part 2. [...]

By: Cindy Brick

Cindy Brick — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:59:11 +0000

Courtney, good for you.. for the friend who’s being “super sweet,” I hope you’ll take her out to dinner, buy her flowers and/or some other nice thing — just to say thank you. I’m sure she would appreciate it.
Cindy Brick´s last blog ..Hijacked!

By: Christi

Christi — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 15:02:44 +0000

Great post! I’m a big Dave Ramsey fan, and we have tried to start implementing some of his tips. We have our baby emergency fund and are chipping away at our credit card. It started off at $6,000 but we have it down to $2,000 now. I should make about $550 from a consignment sale and will put that all toward the card balance, as much as I’d like to use it for doing things around the house!

We do have one other credit card, but it’s an 18-month no-interest card, so we are just paying a set amount in order to pay it off before the 18 months are up.

Can’t wait to be debt-free (less the mortgage)! Our biggest debt is my husband’s car so it seems kind of daunting sometimes!
Christi´s last blog ..Birthday on the Cheap

By: Kacie

Kacie — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:55:01 +0000

Karen — I think you meant SMALLER balances first — despite interest rate.

I think that it’s ok to target all credit cards first- – and go smallest amt. to largest since credit cards are a whole ‘nother story when you compare them to student or car loans.

By: Courtney

Courtney — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:58:17 +0000

Thanks so much! Yes, I have already sold $144 worth of old text books and wedding books on amazon.com! I was really surprised at how quickly things sold–I listed 27 books and have sold 15 in less than 2 months! I have a HUGE stack of things to sell in a garage sale my friend will be having at the end of this month. She’s being super sweet and letting us use her basement to store all of our “unnecessary” items. Cleaning the house out to move gave me A LOT of motivation to get rid of things and really was a visual image of how careless we’ve been with money!

By: Karen

Karen — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:42:45 +0000

I do think Dave’s plan is smart, but I’ve always disagreed with his suggestion to pay off larger balances first. I know for some people it can keep you motivated, but when I was working the snowball, I focused on higher interest debts first, especially if you have VERY high interest debt like store credit cards.
Karen´s last blog ..Endlessly waiting

By: Kacie

Kacie — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 04:47:01 +0000

Yeah Whit — I’ve gotta be careful in thrift stores, too. It’s easy to spend too much there! So for shopping-lovers at thrift stores, be sure to set a max dollar limit, and be content with leaving with nothing.

By: Whitney

Whitney — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 04:26:02 +0000

Finding the motivation is half the battle, she’s already shown an open and willing attitude by emailing you for help.

I, too, have a problem with coveting. If you do find yourself in a store, Courtney, I’ve found that something that really helps me is to carry it around with me in the cart, and at the end of my store voyage, I ask myself if I really need it, it’s a lot easier to answer ‘no’ if I’ve had some time to think about it.

A word of warning about thrift stores— sometimes it’s easy for me to think I can go overboard in thrift stores because I’m in a thrift store, and then I end up with a bunch of stuff I don’t really need, having spent money that could have been better spent elsewhere. I love thrift stores, I shop there the majority of the time these days, but it’s easy to develop that frame of mind if you’re not vigilant about it, at least at first.

GOOD LUCK! It may seem overwhelming at first, but it is certainly doable, especially if you start with baby steps and work your way to the big stuff. Also, Kacie, I love your idea about the inspirational message wrapped around a debit card, I’m gonna have to try that :D