Quote:
Originally Posted by karen_in_nh_2012
 at the bolded! Holy crap, you make it sound like $4,000-$5,000 in credit card debt is not a big deal. My credit card debt is literally ZERO. I have a couple of cards that I use each month, sometimes >$1,000 in a month (since I use one card for almost everything), but I pay them off in full every single month, absolutely no exceptions.
Years ago when I had a lot of credit card debt I made myself make a budget with a separate line item called CREDIT CARD INTEREST. When I saw that I was spending $100 or more (sometimes MUCH more) on credit card INTEREST CHARGES in a month, that was enough to make me change my ways!!
As for your HELOC: if you can't use it for what you originally intended, remember, you don't HAVE to use it. As at least one other poster has said, just because you have the line doesn't mean you have to spend it. It is NOT "free money"!!  |
4k-5k in cc debt is a big deal to me. I have family members that think otherwise but that's them. I don't want to be in debt my whole adult life and I plan on retiring without even though that's 30 years away. I remember a few years I didn't have any cc debt, car payments, or other major debt. All of my extra money was going to savings and before I bought my home it was a lot. That's why I was able to buy my home (maybe a 1or 2 year too late but still). Sometimes, I wish I was still living in an apt with the amount of savings I had because I haven't been able to recover the savings amount I had then. I was saving btwn $800-1000 a month at least for at least 15-18 months. I was getting steady overtime as well so all of the extra money went to savings.
Right now, the job I have now doesn't pay as well as my previous job and I don't get much overtime even though I working harder than I did before. For about 3-4 years, my wages haven't gone up even though I'm doing more work and taking on more responsibilities at work. So that's why I've thinking a changing course with my life. In about six months to a year from now, I'll have a totally different living situation more than likely.
In regards to the heloc, I won't use more than I need. Just looking for input. Right now based on the responses, I'll focus it towards to repairs and improvements.
Thanks.
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