Good news, rang my private health provider to make arrangements to pay the outstanding amount and they gave me a month free which took our debt from just under $350 to $156!! Very happy and paid on the spot. That's one little debt down, woot!!

It pains me to admit this but much of my tax return was frittered away. Not on silly things but little things that we'd been putting off. My daughter needed some new sneakers for school $60. We had two medical gap payments that added up to $165.

I did however, put $150 towards our emergency fund. I've revised the efund goal to $1000 in the first instance, to give me a target that doesn't seem too far away. The efund is now at $412.

I also paid an extra $100 on the Mastercard as the period of grace on interest has now lapsed and I need to make some serious inroads on that card.

We bought a table and chairs for the kids from IKEA along with a couple of other items ($76) plus I had forgotten to budget for our haircuts (the whole family for $80).

This all totals up to $737. I just have to deal with the fact it happened and move on.

DEBTS
Private Health Repayment Paid
Neurosurgeon Bill (back surgery) $1,107.95
Fines Payment Unit $294.75
Credit Card 1 $3,499.15 - up not down
Credit Card 2 $2,722.85 - down a tiny bit
Credit Card 3 $5,436.26
Car Loan $13,886.26
Scooter $600.00
Family Loan $1,250.00 - not paying this ATM

SAVINGS
E Fund (@17-07-12) $512.21

So slow progress but progress never the less. I've set the efund goal to $1000 in the first instance. I'm hoping to get that up there in a month. Once I have that sitting there, I'll focus on the little debts then the big ones, I'd like to have some wins first up. And as I get our finances sorted, I will aim to have a bigger e fund.

I'm still working this all out but I feel a tiny bit satisfied that we are inching forward.

Welcome to GRS. It's nice to see more Australians around

While I agree with what previous posters have said about safety and car marketing, I think that at this point you may be better off sticking with the car that you know. While you owe $13k on the loan you may not be able to get that much for the car, so potentially you will be left with a few thousand on your loan, fees/taxes for the sale and purchase, the cost of the new car (around 5k for a mid 90s corolla or civic in working order, last time I was looking), plus the risk of increased repair costs if the new car turns out to be less reliable than your current one.

A better course may be trying to refinance the car loan, and possibly credit cards at a better rate (sounds like you are already looking into this). If you are in any doubt about what your credit report looks like, make sure you get a copy before you apply for anything (if you're not sure how to request a free copy, PM me or go to moneysmart.gov.au for details). It's also worth discussing your situation with the loan provider before you apply to ensure you meet the criteria as any declined applications will further affect your credit.

(Americans - please remember that our interest rates are a lot higher than yours at the moment. A standard home loan interest rate is about 7%, and anything under 6% is VERY good, whereas I see many Americans here who have 3% or 4% loans).

Goodluck. It sounds like you are coming out of a very difficult period.

What timing! Just yesterday I sent off for my credit report!

The primary difficulty with refinancing is that when we got the car loan, our income was probably double what is is now. This will no doubt make it difficult, hence why I thought I'd look at my credit report first.

If we can't refinance, I'm just going to keep working on paying our debts down then try to refinance when our situation is improved.

While not much progress can be seen, I'm really happy with where we are at. I feel I have a more in depth view of our finances and feel more in control than ever before. I know where all our money is going.

We have some major events that will hit the budget hard over the next year, the first being moving house either late this year or early next year.

The more time I put into understanding our finances the more confident that I feel about moving forward.



The neurosurgeon's bill is the same but I have paid money towards it, I just wait for the receipts from his office before I update my spreadsheet. In reality it's probably closer to $907.

When I got last month's Credit Card statment (for the card with the most $$ on it) there was a new section on it that showed how long it would take to pay the remainder off if I continued to pay the minimum amount (something like 35 years!!) and how much interest I would pay.

It also showed how I could pay it off in two years (which just happened to be my target for this card...creepy...are they reading my mind?). After seeing this and doing my calculations I have increased our repayments to just above the amount suggested. At this rate, that card will be history in less than two years, even less than that when we roll our other repayments over into it.

It's exciting and motivating to do the forward projections that show how much quicker we can pay off our debts.

It's also pleasing to see the credit card company providing that sort of information!

I don't think the credit card companies are providing that info out of the kindness of their hearts. I believe it's law that they provide that. But it's good that they provide that info.

It is law but the law is new in Australia and this is the first time I've received a statment with this on it, I found it worthwhile and interesting to read.

I've hit a speed bump.

I was preparing for a tough September, my licence is due for renewal, the car registration is due and I have one more medical bill to pay.

I thought I was prepared, it was going to be tight but we wouldn't take a hit. Then Friday arrives and in our letter box we find the water and electricity bills! The water isn't too bad and we could have managed that but the electricity is going to push us over the edge. I don't want to dip into our efund but I fear that is what we'll need to do. I guess I can take heart from the fact that we have some money saved now to help with times like these. I know some may think a regular bill shouldn't be an emergency but when it comes along at a particularly tight point, it is in my mind.

I guess the fact that I'm still smiling says that we are doing something right in our financial life and yes, it's tough but my little family is happy and healthy, for that I am grateful.

Is´nt your september the very reason to have an e-fund? If you did not have it you would pile up CC debt or such and be worse off in october. Snowball in motion. You will not though since you have an e-fund. Congratulations!

Northern Light, thank you I needed that reminder! Without the efund we would have been up the creek without a paddle.

The tough September has improved out of sight with a small windfall from Centrelink (government support) as I had over-estimated our income for the last financial year which I knew was the case but I didn't realise we'd get as much back as we did!

So I can happily report that I've paid for my licence, the car registration, my outstanding medical bill, the electricity bill plus the remaining amounts on the Scooter loan and the Fine. I've also hit our first goal for the efund $1,000. Very happy with that.

Our status is :



Two debts down, five to go. I was working on refinancing the car loan, which is why it's not listed but it appears likely that we are going to have to sell the car we have for something bigger, or should I say more seats!

It's amazing how things can turn around. Hopefully this little windfall will help us keep moving up.

When you finally have payed all this debt down - will you start up again by adding more?

My guess is the experience of winding it down to zero is a tough lesson you never forget, and act thereafter for the rest of your life.

You are on the right path.

Is this hinting at a change in your family situation?