I'm 34yrs old and in the Army. I've been in for 12yrs now and have made some decent money but after getting out of active duty and goind National Guard I went from about 15/hr to 10 and haveing to pay for housing and medical. But heres the kicker. My wife got used to the money that used to come in and now my credti is SHot. We bought a 2000 Saturn SL2 new in 2000 and about 4 months later we bought our home. Well things were going ok till we demons started to take up more of her attention and not the bills. I'm fighting tooth and nail to get back on my feet financially and am now caught up with the house and only 1 month behind on the car, which will be paid off in 2007. Thats right we weent from a 6yr car loan to a 7yr car loan. I hate buying new cars!! my 88 ranger i bought for 1495 and will have it paid off in 8 months and it'll be MINE. and wond lose value unless i wreck it. But the saturn is anopther story, as we are about $3k upside down on it's value. I rea the paper and see the same car for about $5k, I still owe $8400 on this pos. Don't get me wrong the Saturn is very fun to drive but I keep thinking of what I could be doing with the money instead off dumping it down the drain.
I asked the saleman at the Saturn store why is it that i can buy a 2000 for a little more than half of what I owe on mine and he said that it's because of all the 0 down and 0% intrest rates on the new vehicles. A fellow soldier was talking about when he went and looked at a new F350. My jaw dribbled of the floor when he said that it was stickered for 60k. 60k??? thats almost what i bought my house for. WTH is so damm special about these new cars that they cost the same as a house almost??? I know all about this inflation stuff but come on ppl. 60k for a damm truck??? The only ppl how can really afford this crap are the single ppl, drug dealers, lottery winners, dual income families. We are a single income family with 2 kids.
You know what I'm very sorry for goind on so long i just needed to vent a little. and I HOPE THAT I DID NOT OFFEND ANYONE AS THAT IS NOT MY INTENTION. But i think that this ties in a little with the wally world thread. anyway I'll stop now........thanks everyone for your helpwith my truck.

 

That's why I won't buy a new vehicle. I drive a 15 year old pickup truck because it's paid for. It needs more TLC than a new vehicle, but I don't mind fixing stuff on it.

 

amen friend. yes a new car is nice but.... i still like the fact of owning a car outright... And I too don't mind working on them. The wife does. She says that i spend too much time on my truck. My answer to that is that it's MINE ...

 

I love my parents advice the best. If you can't pay cash for it you don't need it. Credit is only for the rich.

 

Maybe it's time to tell the little woman to get a job. Wouldn't hurt to cut up all the credit cards also.

I was a single parent for my son's 1 - 9 yrs of age (he's 23 now) and it wasn't easy. You learn that if you don't have the cash for that pair of shoes or new dress, then you don't get to have them.

 

that's just it she didn't spend money on herself that i could see. I think it as too much McD's and stupid crap. It doesn't help to wait till you get a shutoff notice to pay the bill.

 

Got that right. I drive a 33 year old one.

I went thru the same thing, when the 'stay at home mom' thing
soon became the 'eat bon-bons and watch Oprah all afternoon' thing,
except when she was spending money.
Carlene's right;
I owe, I owe, it's off to work she goes!

RF

 

I wish I could sell the car and buy her a used suv. I won't say what she wants for fear of being banned from this wonderful site. But we owe too much to sell it. And she does the tv thing boy does it irritate me. I get home from work and the kids are downstairs watching tv, so i kick them out to play/help me with whatever i'm doing.....

 

Keep your head above water... Unload the house if you have too... Have a yard sell...heck sell everything and only keep the bare necessities... Unfortunately credit is the only thing you can build on in today's world. You can always buy another car or house after things settle... credit takes years (I know).
My wife and I live by the motto that "if we can't pay for it we don't buy it". We do not have credit cards of any type and the only thing we owe for is our home. It's hard to do... there is so much marketing aimed at our pocket books... Nearly all of us have been there... I know all to well. Be diligent and push forward...

Oh, One last thing, The greatest part about the way I handle things... I sleep very well at night not worrying about who will come calling for money which is worth anything I might have to give up...

 

A cousin of mine went though a similar purgatory. Neither he or his wife had the personal discipline to stop spending. They each had to give up on carrying credit cards and only he carried an ATM card. They stopped using checks and arranged to pay their bills online. The credit cards were given to her mother to hold for emergency only and any time cash was to be spent, they were both involved. That meant that things like grocery shopping had to wait until he got home from work and the whole family (he, the wife, a 2 year old and a 9 month old) went. They gave up cable TV and cell phones. The dropped AOL and switched to Juno for $9 per month. He bag lunched it every day, rather than go to McD's. It took then a few years to climb out from under their credit card debt, but by that time, they were used to living frugally and the wife was able to work part time. He said it sucked everyday, not having the freedom to do even the simplest things like grab a can of soda when paying for a tank of gas, but he kept reminding himself that he was protecting his kid's futures. They're renting a house now and are still not stable enough to buy, but at least there are no "last notice" envelopes showing up. They're able to give their kids an occasional treat or weekend trip now as well.

As far as 60k for a truck, unless it would assist me in earning 4 times that amount, why bother? A $4000, '96 with 100k miles will do almost the same things.

 

Good advise here. Is there any reason your wife can't work? Or does she just not want to?

 

Just something I'v heard from a few people, car dealerships that are located near some sort of military establishment jack thier prices up, because the soldiers can 'afford it'

 

She say that she has severe anxiety, fibromyalgia,aomng other things. And yes the car lots by bases will do everything to get mil (especially young troops) to buy from them.

 

ShawnZ, they crank those prices up because they know exactly what the military make. It's open to anyone with a computer. Take their years in service and what rank they are and they're spot on. Those *******s are making a living off of the youngsters. How'd you like to have to deal for a vehicle with those odds? Then take into account they can call the commander or first sgt on the base/post at anytime and say the person isn't making payments. Off da.

88, it sounds like it's time to suck it up. Take a good hard look at what you have and what you don't need. Like someone said, dump the cable, internet, cell phone, regular phone, grab and cut all the cards except one. You can make it happen. Sit down with your lady and talk this thing through. It's going to hurt but you can always hang out with her and listen to the radio or watch the local news at night. I think we've all had to do something like that on occasion to make ends meet.

 

I keep two credit cards in case something goes wrong with one and I have to shut it down. I use the card for everything but it gets PAID IN FULL every month, no exceptions. I do not have to have a new vehicle, I just need transportation. So I buy old solid vehicles and run them until the body rots off. I do have an extra "project" vehicle tho.