What am I doing wrong?

amother

Fri, May 30 2014, 11:07 am

Just a quick background:

My husband has been unemployed for about a year. He didn't get unemployment because he was self-employed and I worked as much as I could, but my job is seasonal, so it didn't bring in a lot. Either way, we have now $30,000 in credit card debt because bills had to get paid, food had to be put on the table, and tuition and rent had to get paid. BH, my husband got a new job in which we started out making very little. You can imagine, though, that after not receiving any paycheck for a year, we were thrilled with the little we were making. We managed to put very little on the credit card each month, making due with the amount we had. Slowly, each month, the business did better and we started making more and more money, but each month is the same story, the money gets used up. I don't understand how we were able to manage on, let's say, $5,000 a month and now that we are making $7,000 (made up figures), we don't have any extra money and it's all spent. Granted, my husband has to travel for his job and we spend close to $1,000 on gas and $450 a month on tolls, but still, the money keeps on disappearing. There are always expenses popping up, whether it's having to do a root canal, buying my children summer clothing etc. It's like I can't catch my breath. I was so looking forward to the time when we would finally start to be able to pay off our debt and save, but at the rate we're going, it doesn't look like it's ever going to happen. This month, we made a couple thousand more than the month before and now my account is at zero. Waiting anxiously for payday. What are we doing wrong?

I did take a look at our expenses and they are all normal activities, nothing unusual. Gas, food, clothing, household necessities etc. I do coupon and spend very wisely, but it's not helping. Any ideas??

amother

Fri, May 30 2014, 11:23 am

smiledr wrote:

I don't have any advice but check out kosher on a budget - she writes about how she eliminated her 30 k in debt. And if ure spending 1500 on transportation a month u need to reeval this job situation - I commute 120 miles a day and my gas and rolls don't even come near that. Will his job cover any of it?

Thanks smiledr. I think I read her blog a while ago and she mentioned that she had money that came to her, or was saved up somewhere that helped eliminate a lot of her debt. That just isn't the case here. I don't have money saved anywhere, nor do I have anyone offering to give me money. And we did know about the traveling expense before taking the job. After a year of no work, we decided it was worth the expense, and as I said, the income keeps growing each month, it's just that the expenses seem to do that as well.

suzyq

Fri, May 30 2014, 11:55 am

I've always found that you spend what you have. What you need to do is pay towards your debt FIRST. As soon as money comes in, pay a specified amount towards your debt. If you can do it automatically from your bank account, do that. Then you will make do with what you have left - you admit that you were fine with less a month or two ago, you'll be fine now if you don't have in mind that the money is available. That's how we save - we have money automatically taken out of our bank account and put into savings, and then we deal with what's leftover.