Also it seems to skip right over the $600 consolidation loan payment, so technically the budget should be $3800, but every dollar is accounted for in there.

OK, a couple of things leap out.

- Can you trim your food budget? On the Ramsey forums, singles aim for $125 a month, including health & beauty stuff.
- What is "shopping" for nearly $100 per month? Can you eliminate that?
- Can you shop around your car insurance, or raise your deductible or something?
- Can you put your student loan in forbearance while you pay off the CONsolidation loan?

Truly, the thing that leaps out at me is that a LARGE portion of your budget is going to pay for things you already bought. Your consolidation loan is expensive. Your ring payment is crazy. Your car loan drains your income.

If you didn't have those expenses, you'd be doing very well.

I would consider stopping your retirement and savings (other than getting $1500 or so in cash on hand) for 6 months, putting the student loan in deferment, and DOING EVERYTHING POSSIBLE to get the ring and the car loan paid off in that time. Then you could re-start savings and student loan payments, and get ahead.

Good luck!

Sandi

Again, I know you're not going to start listening to me, since you haven't listened (or read, rather) before, but things are only going to get better when you realize that you're in WAY over your head. You are in debt up to your eyeballs, yet you buy your GF a 6000 dollar ring? They didn't have anything cheaper that you could buy to express your love, and then tell her "we can upgrade when I get out of debt"?

You say that you didn't buy toys or cars, but you did buy plane tickets and 6000 dollars worth of something. That BOA card was down to 0, and then you ran it up again.

If you want help, and you want some accountability, you should probably post your expenses individually (phone 50, groceries 300, dining out 50, etc..), write a budget so that the people here can help you and start sticking to it.

No, I'm not married, and only have to live with myself, but I certainly wouldn't want to marry someone who can't get a handle on their own finances. You say she has debt too, but you guys are going to be in big trouble if you double the debt and double the spending.

What is it going to take to get through to you?

I agree, this could be a train wreck.

A $6000 engagement ring? Were you worried she did not love you? Is she a gold digger? Really, that might be ok if you can afford it but you clearly can't. And teh fact that you spending that much on a ring did not piss her off should probably be a BIG RED FLAG for both of you!

Sorry, typo in my previous post. Should have been "p*ss" her off

I have a hard time with people spending so much money on an engagement ring. When i was dating my now wife i had a very good job and was living at home. I had little expenses and when we went to go look at rings she did not want anything fancy and she did not want to make me go broke by doing so. I paid cash for her ring, it was 550 bucks. It is more about love then the ring.

My wife and i are in the same boat in which we are paying now for things that we bought in the past. We talked the other night and realized that we should have been smarter when we first got married and we would be in a better situation now. The key that we have realized is that we need to make the changes in our spending now so things will get better.

She should have said "Yes, once you get your debts paid off and your financial house in order!"

I don't know, maybe I'm just too practical. I know my wife would have said "No!" if I gave her $6000+ ring even if we had no debts. She woudl have seen that as a major warning of a lifetime of impulsive spending and financial strife. There is so much more you could do that would be constructive - invest it in your future, use it toward a downpayment (or principal payment) on a house...something.

Sorry Adam, I just think that is outrageous!

When my husband proposed, my ring cost less than $2000 payment you just put down - and I still thought it was a bit too expensive.

$250 for groceries? Who are you buying for? What happens when you do have to pay rent or mortgage? All of your money is already gone! How are you paying for the wedding? You have a decent income, but all your money is going on LUXURIES. Why are you spending $100 a month on eating out and another $100 on bars and alcohol and another $60 on 'shopping'?

IFL, you didn't look at his list closely. Bars & alcohol is -0-. Eating out is $63 (restaurants + fast food). Shopping was $87. Groceries were $151, not $250.

Your criticisms might hold more weight if they were accurate in the details. I agree with your overall point, most especially that when he does need to pay rent or mortgage, he's screwed with his current habits and patterns.

Sandi

Someone mentioned that $125 for groceries etc was a good target for a single person. That sounds reasonable but maybe a little low to me. But more importantly, I don't think it makes any sense at all to state a number like that. Where I live, and shopping at Walmart, groceries are very cheap. We spend about $250-$300 per month on groceries and all other household supplies. But I have visited other parts of the country where, buying the same things, we would easily pay twice as much. I've seen milk for $8+ a gallon for example...in the cheapest grocery store around.

Also, "Shopping" should not be a category. Shopping is an activity not a cost category. If you shop for entertainment call it entertainment. If you shop for clothes,call it clothes. If yo shop for therapy, call it medical...

I have no problems paying my bills at all. I have problems spending. My grocery budget is high because I eat low carb, which is a lot of meat and cheese and other expensive things. The Dave Ramsey diet of beans and rice would probably put me in a diabetic coma. The ring payment is $400 because I calculated what I should send each month to have it paid in a year before the 0% interest rate goes away. The minimum is $134 or something like that. Shopping is for video games/dvds/books/cds. I don't do it very often.

When I get married I will be selling my house. That will add $1300+ to my snowball, so I'm not worried about adding her debt and mine together.

I was curious how many months it will take be to pay off the now increased cost of my debt. By myself, with no windfalls or outside help (like a wife or raise), my $54,196.73 will be paid off in 32 months. That would be April of 2012. That assumes of course I stick to the plan, still have a job, all that. Maybe I should keep a running tab on this date to act as a motivator. Or in the case of my spending, a warning things are going the wrong way.

So right now, assuming $2000 extra twice a year, and $2000 extra for a tax return once a year, the date is:
April 2012

hopefully this works.

Not to be mean, but that also assumes you won't find new purchases to rationalize (a wedding; a house; a honeymoon; a vacation; a pet; kids)...



So, what's your target to pay each month? How are you going to do that? Can you sell things you don't use? Can you take a PT job to get the income up even more?

having a plan, and specifics, and posting them here, will help hold you accountable. As will we.

Sandi

The wedding and the honeymoon should be the only two things that may cost me. Well, I should probably plan on christmas too. Damn.

He spent 0, but he budgeted $100. All the numbers I quoted were what he budgeted :3 Presumably that means he expects to spend that much, since he's on a 0 based budget :/