Comments on: Life After Credit Card Debt – June was a Frustrating Month

By: Denn's Debt Report

Denn's Debt Report — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:37:32 +0000

It’s always a good to hear of someone paying off credit cards. These kind of reports bring motivation and hope. I truly hope you guys are doing well. I also hope you find a new mechanic that you can trust.

By: DEBTFREEJOURNEY

DEBTFREEJOURNEY — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 22:59:30 +0000

Tricia,
It was so good to hear from you again! You continue to be such an inspiration! I have been so busy and haven’t been faithful to my daily blogging entries. I really need to get back on track……..but slowly but surely I AM paying off debt and it feels great! Keep us posted on life after paying off the debt. Thanks for checking in!

DEBT FREE JOURNEY

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:52:25 +0000

Glad you had all debts done. The going will be smoother from now on. Just remember to avoid treading that path again. Cheers!

By: Danielle

Danielle — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:49:31 +0000

Good to hear from you again Tricia. I think about you on and off. Don’t worry, in a short while, there won’t be so much out pouring of money. Good to know that you don’t slide back into cc debt though, when life does get that way.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:55:52 +0000

Actually, from reading it seems like things should be turning around, and you’ve survived another tough month. Once your family’s health is back, I expect everything else will fall into place!

By: Nicole

Nicole — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:06:49 +0000

Hey Margot, Is your cure for everything a 2nd or 3rd job? For a lot of people that’s not possible.

Tricia, Way to stay on track even when things get hard. I was just talking to my husband about how amazing it is we have made it just fine without credit cards. Not using them is a big step, you’ll do just great!

By: kev

kev — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:56:53 +0000

Hey Tricia – Good to hear from you again.

I wouldn’t sweat a rough month. Life’s little surprises don’t end when the credit card balance hits zero – they just get a little easier to deal with.

A 1,000.00 doctor bill sucks pretty hard, but it doesn’t suck as bad as a 1,000 dollar doctor bill on top of thousands of dollars worth of debt. You always have to keep that in mind.

By: Anone

Anone — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:15:51 +0000

The check engine light came on in my Honda and I just ignored it, eventually it went away, I would not worry about it, unless of course you drive an american car.

By: Another Reader

Another Reader — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:13:45 +0000

You didn’t mention the income side of the equation. Did your income go up when you took the new job? Is your husband still working full time? How are things with the business? Growing the income helps absorb the deferred but necessary spending.

By: Margot

Margot — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 05:50:58 +0000

Many good reminders of the importance of remaining vigilant about finances, debt and budgeting.

I hope that after such a long journey that you will swear off credit card debt forever, no matter what. If you don’t, you’ll end up back there given that the tone of your posting indicates this is a possibility. It’s easy to avoid the debt if you don’t give yourself the option. For example, if I was feeling like I was nearing the edge, I’d temporarily take a second or third job (or do whatever else it took) to bring me back to a financially safe place.

By: Tabitha

Tabitha — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 05:37:17 +0000

Hi Tricia! I miss reading your posts. Glad to hear that you’re still debt free. I’m super happy that you’re healthy, too! Let us know if the other blog comes through, I will definitely check it out.

By: Tricia

Tricia — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 12:47:43 +0000

Connie and Jolie – I have to chuckle about the gas cap. It was indeed the cap one time that we took our car to the mechanic. He was such a wonderful mechanic – he didn’t even charge us for that diagnosis. Alas, he retired – he knew our car the best and we miss him

So the gas cap is the first culprit to check since we embarrassingly learned about it from our mechanic LOL.

Stacey – To be honest, I miss blogging as well. I’ll still write on here at least monthly to give updates on how we are doing and whether we are still credit card debt free. I am currently talking to someone about writing on another blog on a different topic. We’ll see what comes of that.

By: stacey

stacey — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 03:19:30 +0000

Miss your entries, Tricia, but know new opportunities are out there for you and your family. Being a San Diegan like Beks, I thought I would relate to her posts more, but I think narrative is kind of addicting….she’s great, but please continue to visit your blog. You’re both inspiring. Best of luck getting through the month. June is a NIGHTMARE month for our family budget…so I understand. Keep at it!
s

By: canadian kate

canadian kate — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 01:15:41 +0000

I was out car shopping today. This time the car will be shared with my son and we’ll borrow it if we need a second car. As our share of the purchase we planned to give him the 9 year old PT to sell or trade in and we’ll help by co-signing the loan (there is no way he’d qualify on his own.)

Guess what? The cheapest we found (used or new within my parameters) was a Hyundai Accent for $14,400, all in. And they have 0% financing!!! Which makes it just under $400 a month over 36 months.

So you see, fixing your car is way cheaper than buying the cheapest new car out there and that was cheaper then buying a 3 year old Toyota or 4 year old Mazda 3.

It sounds cheap (base price was actually $9995) and I’ve spent $2200 on repairs to our second car in the past 12 months so it made sense to me to buy new.

But today I realized that $200 month in repairs is a lot less than $400 a month in new car payments. (And the car we are fixing is way nicer than the new car, which doesn’t have air or electric windows or keyless entry or a sunroof…)

By: Rob in Madrid

Rob in Madrid — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:38:06 +0000

While I updating my budget I happened upon my ‘savings plan’ for this year, needless to say it didn’t work out quite as planned, on the other hand we moved, bought a new car and paid off more debt, all cash!

By: Jen

Jen — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:33:43 +0000

Eek! I hate months like that – where the money just flies out the door. I had one recently where my car needed a over $600 in repairs! And there were other expenses I had to pay for, like getting my wisdom tooth pulled I was disappinted I couldn’t put some money away – my goal is to pad my emergency fund this year. But, at least I broke even for the month, and it looks like this month I’ll be able to save money.

It comes and goes, but it must have felt really great to be able to avoid putting anything on your credit cards!

By: jolie

jolie — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:45:28 +0000

ditto the gas cap and the engine light. Can’t tell you how many folk I know the past year who have had that light come on and it was only the gas cap not properly put back on. Two of our mechanic friends confirmed it is a common problem.

By: ConnieF

ConnieF — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:26:00 +0000

Did your mechanic mention that sometimes the “check engine” light is nothing more than needing a new gas cap? Or, in the case of my older Ford Explorer, it can be reset by some combination of turning on the lights, removing the ground from the battery for 30 seconds, turning off the lights & replacing the cable. Not sure I have the sequence exactly right, but it’s online & worked for me. Good work on your debt reduction!

By: Rob in Madrid

Rob in Madrid — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:05:52 +0000

Hey Welcome back. Over the last few months I’ve made a pet project of talking money with people I know who are debt free and generally frugal and what has surprised me is without an exception they all struggle to save money and secondly the only real difference between them and the old (in debt to the eyeballs me) was they pay for things cash where as I used to charge everything.

Secondly very few people, frugal trenches being one of them, are able to transition out of the corporate rat race to a life of voluntary simplicity

By: brooklynchick

brooklynchick — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 12:20:15 +0000

Tough month; it seems these things come in bunches, doesn’t it?

But its AWESOME and AMAZING that you had savings to cover all that!! GREAT accomplishment that these unexpected things turn up and you don’t have to put them on a card!

Congrats!

By: Nancy

Nancy — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 11:44:39 +0000

I miss your posts….you inspired me and my husband and now we’re feeling a little lost.

By: Rina

Rina — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 06:37:54 +0000

I wanted to wish you good luck – I know how you are feeling right now.