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For all the "cut the cable" bandwagoners, you don't get $45k in CC debt by having cable and a cell phone...
But you cut to the bare bone to get out of it.
Look -- we've never done the credit card debt thing. So I can't talk about that, true -- but when we started out, we faced some hard times. Hubby was unemployed in 1983 in Pittsburgh PA, when steel died and took practically everything with it. When we moved out here in 1984, we had 3 thousand dollars to our name. And we were taking a chance, because we didn't have anyone to fall back on here.
But where we left was just AWFUL and there was no future there. We found an apartment (there went a big portion of our 3K) and hubby was working and I was looking for work. We had NOTHING. NOTHING. Our stuff was coming... and we had to pay for that -- and we had borrowed two plates and utensils, a pot to cook in and we had no curtains.
And it was Christmas time. Christmas day I walked to a payphone to call my mother and sister and spent the rest of the day crying my eyes out -- no tree, no dinner, no presents, hubby working a double shift because he got double time.
But it gave me strength and determination.
Our neighbor gave us have his newspaper after he was done. I took that paper and folded it accordion style and TAPED it to the tops of the windows. Curtains! In the bedroom I used the color funny pages.
After I got a job in early January... I took my first paycheck to the bank and then I went to the cheap fabric store, found some pretty remnants cheap, and stitch witchery and made real curtains, with an iron. For about 12 bucks.
We used a little tv and an antenna for a year. We budgeted, and we saved and saved and in 1987 we spent our first Christmas in our own home.
And it all started because we didn't throw up our hands and give up.
There are times in life that life is hard. But the bad times make the good times sweeter. And it angers me that this woman would rather work her husband to death so she can keep yapping on the phone and watching tv and sitting on her butt, and that he's such a henpecked nit that he lets her.
I agree with wheelsup. When you get to a certain point, saving $100 a month will not put a dent in it.Bankruptsy might be the only option. As far as downsizing to a cheaper place, that could be a problem because if you own a house, there is no gaurantee it will sell. So you are still trapped.
Cutting cable and phone won't even pay the interest on his debt. If he was paying 0% interest it would take 19 years to pay it off with that cut. That isn't the solution. Sometimes the "bare bones" isn't enough.
This story sounds familiar, I believe the OP has posted the same story before.
To me the first thing is that you've got to get your wife under control. Sounds like a lot of people they want all the fun but none of the responsibility that goes with it. I would agree at the moment that it's cheaper for her to stay at home during the day, but she's either got to step it up at night or the weekends and stop spending. As wheelsup said, $45K debt doesn't come from cellphones and cable.
To me there is no quick fix, rather I'd accept you'll have it tough for a number of years and that's just the way it is.
This story sounds familiar, I believe the OP has posted the same story before.
To me the first thing is that you've got to get your wife under control. Sounds like a lot of people they want all the fun but none of the responsibility that goes with it. I would agree at the moment that it's cheaper for her to stay at home during the day, but she's either got to step it up at night or the weekends and stop spending. As wheelsup said, $45K debt doesn't come from cellphones and cable.
To me there is no quick fix, rather I'd accept you'll have it tough for a number of years and that's just the way it is.
It is. The OP could not get his wife under control in March nor can he now.
I just read through his posts -- he's not really looking for advice, he's venting.
Which is fine by the way.
Just keep in mind any advice he's been given he doesn't take. He posted about doing CCCwhatever -- and one person read it and said he thought it was a bad idea. Advice not taken.
Already posted about this situation before, got lots of advice, none taken.
So let him vent, and we can commiserate. Because it really does suck for him and a whole lot of other people, and the world is a scary place right now. And if posting here, and putting this out to the world maybe helps him get a grip on what's going on, then good for him.
Nor will he if they do the BK.
They will be in the same mess again in another year...
If he divorced her then her financial squandering would be her own issue .
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