Congrats on getting the bills paid off. Kinda sucks getting rid of the classic though.

I agree but it's worth it. It's so exhilarating paying off bills when you're in the mindset!

Did some more "damage" to the bills last night. I paid off Wave, Alhambra and wiped out medical bill #6 and #7. I made updates to my first post to reflect my progress. More to come tonight.....

Fantastic job so far. Hopefully it's giving you some motivation to do more.

Keep it up!

Do you get anything taken out of your check besides taxes? The difference between your gross and net pay monthly is about $2900. If you normally get an income tax refund, perhaps you could change your withholding so you keep more money in your paychecks.

Which will cost more? Fulfilling the water contract? Or the fee (if there is one) for cancelling it?

I would definitely follow the advice you received about selling that car. I know you bought it recently, but if it's a mistake, fixing it now will be better than waiting until it depreciates further.

I know it's probably geographic, but the combination of your rent and utilities seems really high to me. $1300 plus ALL utilities in what you describe as a bad neighborhood is just nuts. Did you have a lot of opportunity to shop around before moving in? I don't know how many bedrooms you have, but for a family of four in a tight spot, you only need 2. I also don't know if you live in a house or an apartment, but apartments are usually cheaper and so are the utilities. You said your landlord is a nice guy. If he knows your situation, I'm sure he would be understanding if you needed to break your lease.

Congrats on taking control! You're going to get a lot of good feedback here. When I put up my journal, someone told me to sell my precious, precious car and I balked. A month later, I sold my car All the advice you'll get here is worth considering!

Here is what I would do :

1) Get rid of cable , get netflix for $7-10/month and buy an apple tv to link netflix and run thru your regular tv.

2) CAR -- this is expensive to have a loan for $27K . Sell the car , if you can't get enough to pay this off , wait until you can . With little savings , you cannot afford that car payment . If you can buy an old Honda Civic for $5K and run it into the ground , and use the money that you would normally use to pay for this loan , to pay down your debt .

3) Mary Hunt - Debt Free Living - is a book you need to read . I agree with the comments about your first priority is to setup a "Contingency Fund " - to have a fund that can finance internally expenses that you normally would have charged on the credit cards. Once you have $10K in the Contingency Fund , pay down the credit cards systematically and don't make any more charges on those cards -- live off of debit .

4) Once your medical bills are paid off and your credit card is paid off start the "Freedom Fund" . Take a look at your extraordinary expenses - vacation , kid extraordinary expenses , auto extraordinary , etc. And then fund this monthly and work to have a years worth of extraordinary expenses in the Freedom Fund . Once you get an extraordinary expense, transfer from the Freedom Fund , pay the bill , and then endeavor to bring the Freedom Fund up to its original balance .

Some other ideas that I think are good :

5) Setup an internet bank account w debit card linked to checking . (I use Ally for this ) Transfer your personal spending money to this account , then during the paycheck period use this Ally for your spending money - so that you don't burden with your primary or joint account with all of your lunches / miscellaneous expenses .

6) Max out the IRA Roth , and participate with 401K if you have it at work , especially if they match . First step to do the match investment on the 401K and then max out the roth , and then come back and max out the 401K .

Good luck ,

Marcopolo

I recently sold some more stuff I had laying around and I took another nice chunk out of some of the bills again. You can see my recent progress on my original post. Thanks for watching and keeping me motivated!!

Just an observation, If you're trying to repair your credit score, you should also contact the company you are paying off and get a letter in lieu of removing any negative information from your credit reports if you pay them in full. Sometimes it works out, but at least if they never remove it you have a leg to stand on in the dispute process. You can google for sample letters.

You seem to be doing great though.

I know it's not a huge deal but I was excited to see my credit score went up another 10 points this morning! Just thought I'd share. Lol