Just found out the wife ran up some serious credit card debt

coming from an all cash perspective... its as silly & clumsy as using a debit card. Gratuities is about the only use for cash.

 

Where did I say it would go higher than a CC rate? I'm saying there are cheaper sources of money (one of which I gave a specific example of)

 

Eating out is an insanely easy way to spend a lot of money. $3-5 coffee's, and $12 dollar lunches add up quick. Bringing lunches to work, and dinners on the road for sports is a great way to not spend a few hundred a month you don't have to. That was an area that kept a lot of money in my account when I started paying off my debts.

Especially, if you're trying to eat healthy on the road. Healthy options for fast food hit you straight in the wallet hard.

 

This statement, the one about arguing with oneself -- successfully! --about going to chipotle, and the dude in Valencia eating a burger after the GP race, and well, yeah. Add to that mix the hurricane cone of uncertainty-certainty, and I just don't get people.

 

I hope the fuck the cards are all cut in half by now.

 

Suggest she (daughter) get a winter job if she wants to play bad enough. Then if she can raise 50% or more consider going. Otherwise good choice. Oh and YOU screwed up by being absentee also, you should tell your wife that. Also get her and the kids on board for a family solution. I think you guys are already tracking better on a bunch from what you said. One day this will be an unpleasant blip that life improved from. Good luck.

 

For me its debit at the market, cash for meals and day to day stuff as much as possible. I like privacy, and not giving the bank a cut of my burger and beer at the pub. Credit for gas because i dont trust the readers on the pumps and they do some crazy shit on debit transactions on a gas pump.

 

We go as far as to end our gas pump price on our birth date. Makes it easy to identify who got gas and where. That's a result of the wife's identity being stolen earlier in life.

 

Well you do want to kill racing....... j/k to easy to avoid.

 

Hopefully you will have some wisdom and if done correctly a better marriage for it. Far better than a car.

 

Like was stated earlier, its $45k. Thats not much. Everybody’s debt situation is different, but in this specific case. I would not panic, or make any big financial moves just yet. You have been carrying this debt for years, whats a few more months. Change your spending habits, and see how much you can actually save and come up with by not eating out, or spending money on wasteful things. After a few months of successfully doing this, then, make some financial moves and decide what the best option is.

 

I think you both need sit down at the table and do some serious financial archeology of your past 6 months-year to find out where you're spending and how much. You need to find extra money somewhere, and you need HER to come to that realization while puting eyes on all the numbers herself. I think she'll be more on board if she can see where she's making poor choices, even if well intentioned, and has a chance to do the math and see it add up over time. Incremental changes have a big impact. Just telling her she can't have this and that anymore...... I can't see that going over well......

I just got back from the grocery store to buy my "lunches" for the week. $30 for ingredients to make some sandwiches, salads and snacks. Plus a bunch of ramen, tuna, and cans of soup to have in my office for extras if I need to stay late and have dinner too. A little $0.59 ramen never hurt anybody once in a while lol..... Not eating out, and not buying prepared foods at the grocery store were one of those changes I made that stuck with me. It was a huge hole in my bucket. Essentially a car payment a month, just to eat shitty food that was convenient. Cooking at home and doing a weeks worth of meal prep is a great way to save a few hundred a month. I normally do, but didn't have a chance to on Sunday night. A lot of people really underestimate how much money they spend on convenience.

 

Ramen was for lunch. I fixed the wife the last of the taco's I made yesterday.

 

7'ish percent. You're still paying interest, but it's the combining of all the debt in one location, getting a lower total monthly payment and then attacking. If OP is making a total of $1500 a month in payments to 4 vendors, he could lump it all in a single loan and have a monthly payment due of say 900-1000. Be disciplined and continue making the $1500 payment and it gets paid off faster.

Work extra jobs and build up a extra 3-4 grand, combine with tax return if you're lucky enough to get one, and you drop an extra 7-8K payment once or twice a year and the balance will fall faster.

I am making an assumption. He mentioned his bikes would be worth around 20K and that would make a large dent in the amount owed. The total number is irrelevant, consolidate into one payment is the goal.

 

Canadian pesos...

 

I smoked a brisket on Saturday and had a nice lunch left in the fridge for myself. Wife leaves for work before I do.......Guess who got it

 

Sí. Actual lunch stuff consumed this week would probably be around $20. The rest was for the pantry items. It would probably only be about $5 in freedom bucks though. It's cheaper if I cook at home, but buying simple ingredients I can put together at work from my fridge is still cheaper than giving the deli counter $6 to make me a sandwich I can make for $1-2. Home cooked meals are also healthier, and better tasting too.

 

Reason I don't use debit card anywhere. Got hit once for 3 $5k charges and took couple weeks fighting with bank to get my money back.
Credit card for everything. I got one and wife has one. Everything is paid with it, from grocery to utility bills. Cards are paid in full every month. We end up making bunch of money.
Credit card got hit as well but that gets corrected same day and charges taken out. Just have to wait for new one few days.

 

Im picky about where I use my debit. PIN terinals only, at well known spots. Never w/o the pin.

 

Another thing the OP might have to work through is meals. Split up the responsibility for meal planning, grocery shopping and meal preparation. It is not necessarily fair to leave that all to one person unless other chores are making up for that time or one person just really likes doing that stuff.