If you need to cut big ticket items....
1) Cut the streaming NOW.
Drop the internet services unless you work from home in a way that brings in actual cash, not just selling odds and ends on ebay and facebook market place. No netflix, no hulu. Just stop. This also cuts advertising making you feel poor, and frees up time to do things like cook from scratch and find things to sell or swap with neighbors, mend clothes, actually talk to your kids about how they won't be in sports this summer because you are broke but they will get plenty of exercise walking to school!
2) Cut car payments.
Have N+1 cars ( or more) where N=number of licensed drivers in the house? Do you owe a car payment on any of those cars? Then cut back to 1 car for whomever MUST commute to work (assuming they will start carpooling and charging the rider for the gas and a wee bit over for insurance...I rode with a colleague for a while and loved splitting the gas and insurance cost with him for the privilege of not driving daily), and 1 car to be at home IF there is a family member at home all day during the day. If there are 2 job commuters (or more) who absolutely must drive and there is NO WAY to share rides, carpool, walk, take public transport, ride a bike/scooter, or share a ride with the other family driver(s) even if it means someone goes a bit out of their way, then, you can have 1 more car.
The other car(s)? Sell, unload, get rid of. Cut the insurance to the minimum and compare premiums.
If you still must carry a car loan because you were upside down on it or whatever, find a way to pay principle ahead to keep costs dropping in the future.
3) Cut housing costs.
If you own your home but make a mortgage payment, that means the bank owns your home. Pay ahead if you can, but do not miss a payment. That will cost more. Do look at ways to cut the mortgage payment without paying less against principle. For example, if you put less than 20% down and had to add that extra insurance, check again. Likely the value of the house has gone up even if you haven't paid a full 20% against principle. If the mortgage is 80% or less than the current assessment, then you can probably drop that insurance even without refinancing. Don't ask the loan holding entity first, ask someone else. Find the assessed value on zillow or similar and argue that as the value. Check the mortgage for any other payments, fees, insurances that can be dropped. Keep an eye on the housing market including rentals in case you have to sell or just want to. An idea of cost/benefits is good to have. Maybe look into renting out a room or the garage or a spot for people to store crap in the back lot. Check with your homeowners insurance before you do that.
If you rent, can you lower the rent? You can ask. If you can help manage the property, do repairs, take on grouds maintenance or something sometimes a landlord will cut a rate for that. Look at rental listings so when the lease term is up, you can move if you need or choose to. Think about going smaller. Children can share rooms without dying. It has been done.
4) Cut food costs.
Transportation and housing are usually the big costs in the US. We don't spend a large percentage of our income on food...or we didn't pre-constant-delivery. When you check your food costs count EVERYTHING YOU SHOVE IN YOUR MOUTH (well, not everything, don't be gross). Coffee/lattes, restaurant foods, cookies and chips at the gas station, groceries, meals out, vending machine soda and candy, pastries, groceries. And yes, if you bought food, junk food, beverages to consume but end up throwing it out...that cost counts too.
Start cutting with dining out, vending machine and convenience store stuff, and the like. Cook food to take with you. This can be done! Actually, just cook a bit extra for main meals and package it up in those baggies you already own so it's ready to go. Do not buy a bunch of crap pre-packaged snacks or those godforesaken lunchables. Certainly not "uncrustables". All are vile and expensive compared to just making a sandwich or grabbing a hand full of crackers and a chunk of lunch meat.
1 loaf of bread, peanut butter or cheese and meat for sandwiches and you are ready for the week. If you want to pre-make, bag and freeze they will but nearly as disgusting as uncrustables! Youll love it!
Cook from scratch. Save money on food and medical care. I'll redo the easy basic recipes in a later post.
5) Cut interest costs.
I have been debtfree for ages now. It was a heavy lift. If you owe on multiple credit cards then that is the place to start. First...STOP USING CREDIT. Seriously. NO credit card purchases. If you don't have the money, you don't get the thing. Done.
Pay 1 card off first. Either the lowest balance (that gives a faster reward of "HEY! I paid a thing off!!!), or the one with the highest interest (takes longer, but saves more). I started with the lowest one. OK, there was only one. But I would have chosen the lowest one because that reward will keep me going. Make the minimum payment on all cards, pay over that, as much as you can each month or even every 2 weeks, on the chosen card. When that card is paid off, throw the money at the next one you want to pay off. It doesn't really matter which one, just pay them. Say you have 3 store cards (those count) and a visa and an american express. Pay minimum on all. If you find 53$/month to pay extra on one, then do that. When that 1st card is paid off you now have that minimum payment PLUS 53$ a month to put against the next card. So, if the minimum was 20$, that's 73$. Your next highest balance card you may have been paying 32$/month minimum so now you're paying 32+73 (that's 105$ for those who like totals) going there, and that 105$ will be added to the next card's monthly pay off. The amount of interest savings will amaze you.
Once the cards are paid off, get rid of that ill-advised 72+ month car loan you took out. Those can have odd rules about paying interest before principle so make SURE it goes to principle. Same with any student loans or other loans.
When the rest is paid...throw the cumulative debt payment amount (you may be pushing 1000$/month now) toward the mortgage but make sure it is goin against PRINCIPLE not prepaying interest. If you must refinance to make that happen, this is when I would think about it.
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