1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Ways to avoid debt?

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by jakewriter82, Feb 19, 2008.

  1. Shaggy

    Shaggy Guest

    [​IMG]


    Buy it with cash, read it, don't roll your eyes at it, follow it.

    It will work. It will change your life for the better.

    Oh yeah, and don't buy new cars. Terrible investment.
     
  2. Pete Incaviglia

    Pete Incaviglia Active Member

    A friend recommended this, too: http://www.thewealthybarber.com/
     
  3. KG

    KG Active Member

    Most people are asking for at least 10 percent down right now. There is no way I can even think of coming up with that. Plus with my current credit, they would't approve me anyway.
     
  4. qtlaw

    qtlaw Well-Known Member

    My old barber (I moved a year ago) owned half the block where his shop was at $10/head.

    I used to spend more than I took in all the time and it was all about meeting payments instead of having a plan. I was such an idiot, carry balances then asking my buddy "where do I start investing my first couple of grand?" Response "pay off your debt, that's an 18% return on your money guaranteed."

    I violated every rule until I found my wife. She's the one who got me to realize, don't buy what we cannot pay cash for (other than a house). No deficit spending.

    Get a wife, seriously. Dual income was awesome; for what you spend to feed one, you basically feed two, and the rent is the same. We used her income to pay off all my debts in about two years and we've been debt free since.

    Its all about discipline. Wifey's discipline has been a godsend.

    Its not easy. But credit to you for asking and thinking about it. That's a huge step. Good luck.
     
  5. novelist_wannabe

    novelist_wannabe Well-Known Member

    God knows I've been a poor money manager, but one thing the mrs and I have done the past 10 years is always buy late-model used cars, rather than new ones. We don't buy new ones because a.) they're more expensive and b.) insurance premiums are higher. If you're in a two-car household, work it where one is paid off. It's a lifestyle choice, but it doesn't mean you have to ride around in a clunker.
     
  6. EStreetJoe

    EStreetJoe Well-Known Member

    You don't have a monthly electric/gas bill?
    I'd like to know what kind of deal you've got on utilities as a homeowner.
     
  7. John

    John Well-Known Member

    I do a lot of small things to save money where I can. The easiest: basic cable is $8 a month here and expanded basic is $50, so I'm saving $500 a year by going with the basic.

    I don't get the ESPNs or Discovery Channel or some other things I might watch from time to time, but that $500 pretty much covers my car insurance for the year. That's a trade-off I'll take every time.
     
  8. mike311gd

    mike311gd Active Member

    Credit cards have killed me. I'm doing great on my car payments -- I only owe $9,000 on my $20,000 Civic after two-plus years -- and I've never been late on my utility or rent bills. But between moves and medical bills and Christmases and birthdays and tuition payments, I've piled up about $20,000 worth of credit-card debt over the last six years.

    I usually pay twice the minimum and always kill off the change on the bill -- the extra .76 cents; not that it's much, but it's something. That helps get it down quite a bit. I picked up a second job while working in my last state, and that really helped me cut the debt down. It went from about $8,000 to less than $6,000 in four months. Then I moved, had to drop the second job, obviously, and had some medical problems sans insurance and wound up taking out some loans.

    Thankfully, though, my mom is very, very generous, loaded, retired and bored. Two weeks ago, when I told her I was in financial trouble, she told me she "needed a new project," and she didn't want to see me pay interest on my cards anymore. So she's paying off my credit cards in full within the next billing cycle, and I'll just make payments to her -- interest-free.

    Mu suggestion: Get a rich, retired mother who feels bad about neglecting you over the last decade. It'll pay off in the end -- literally.
     
  9. EStreetJoe

    EStreetJoe Well-Known Member

    But to address the main question asked in the thread...
    The advice of writing down every single thing you spend cash on or charge is an excellent starting point. It lets you see where you can cut expenses. Be it one less meal out a week or one less cup of coffee out a week, etc.
    Brown-bagging it and cooking meals at home and bringing them to work with you is cheaper (and healthier) than eating out all the time.
    If your paper has a credit union that you can join, join it. Start off by using it as a savings vehicle, throw $20, $30, $50, in there per paycheck. After a few months, go the credit union and see about getting a personal loan for debt consolidation. As a member you should qualify for one. Let them know how much you need and how long you want to spend paying it back. Then the money comes right off the paycheck each week before you see it, so you won't miss it. Only problem with this strategy is that if you decide to leave the paper before the loan is paid off you'll have to pay it off in full before you leave.
    The credit union idea is a good one if you can do it because you can either save money for a rainy day fund painlessly - have it come right off the paycheck before you see it - or use it as a debt consolidation vehicle, having the payments come right out of your paycheck before you see it.
     
  10. KG

    KG Active Member

    Mike will your mom adopt me? She doesn't have to pay off my debt, just drop some dough on a gift occasionally. :)
     
  11. Pete Incaviglia

    Pete Incaviglia Active Member

    All utilities are included in the rent.
     
  12. EStreetJoe

    EStreetJoe Well-Known Member

    ooops... misread. :-[
    Thought you were one of the homeowners, not a renter.
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page