House of 1,000 Pennies

Ugh...things have been rough. I have been dealing with dr's appointments and tests. Things seem to be getting better medically, but I have not been doing well financially. I have just been functioning. Getting through. Bare minimum of everything.

I hope I can get my focus back and get out of my funk.
I will try to post more soon.

What is the best amount to have in savings? $1,000? 3 months worth of expenses? More? Less? I've heard so many different things.

Does anyone do cash? Thoughts on keeping savings at home? Or half and half?

How do you stay motivated? I'm so far from having this all paid off, so that doesn't seem to motivate me.

I have found myself in somewhat of a depression. Although I got the news that I do not have a brain tumor, there are some other issues that will have to be checked by a neurologist. I have some stress and anxiety from this. I am having a hard time with the loss of my dog. Even though I knew this day would come, I am incredibly sad. I am just not coping with everything well. So I spent money. Money that I don't have. I'm ashamed. I can convince myself that we need more food or that we need something for the house. I am needing to eat a little different diet, so I did have to buy some things but I got too much. So now I have to sit down and figure out the aftermath. With the vet bill and our regular expenses, I didn't have anything extra so I am dreading even looking at it. I need something else to help me feel better. Exercise is not an option right now. No garden this year. Can't concentrate long enough to read. I'm open to some suggestions.

Well, we had to unexpectedly put one of our dogs to sleep. He had congestive heart failure and took a turn for the worst. He was suffering and it was what we had to do. It cost $135. I'm so sad. Hoping time makes it hurt a little less.

I have to have an MRI (on my brain). I'm nervous. Financially its ok because I have already met my deductible from my ankle injury. But my mind is swimmy as I type this.
Prayers and positive thoughts are appreciated.

I am trying to take all of the advice and comments I get with a grain of salt. I have been told I don't make enough money. I have gotten messages that I am not responsible. I was told I'm not committed. It makes it hard.

We got paid today. We had several things to pay:
Car insurance
Dish
Loan pmt
Netflix
Internet
Filled up my car with gas

Hoping I can do some research to lower bills on my lunch tomorrow.

Ugh. It is just a lot.

Timeline on some of the debt:
Wells Fargo - They offered a settlement. They will take $400 some odd dollars and allow us to pay $79.58/ month. So we could pay that off in about 6 months.

Car Loan = 14 months
Loan = 17 months
Care Credit = 12 months

On our mortgage, that is our mortgage, insurance, and taxes. Its at 4% interest.

I had to take some money from our savings to finish paying our taxes. Its down to $426

Other budget issues:
I haven't found a cheaper cell phone plan yet. I talked to a couple of other providers and it only changed about $20. I am not sure if $20 is worth changing for.

We only have 2 internet providers in our area and the other one is satellite. Our neighbors have not had much luck with it so we have stuck with the other provider. There are only 2 plans. We have the cheapest that is $66.48 and then the rest is taxes and fees so its $95-$99 a month.

I saw someone talk about doing a food inventory, so I am going to try that. Maybe I can see how many meals I can make out of that and stretch the budget.

With me recovering from my surgery/injury I can't really work a second job. I'm still not driving. So maybe I can find something I can do from home.

So, I am spending too much. I am going to list my budget below but....I looked at our statement and we are spending so much money on FOOOOOD! Ordering in and drive thrus! Plus groceries. I have to get a handle on this. Especially since we have debt repayments now. But I broke my leg/ankle in 3 places a few months ago and damaged ligaments. I had surgery and am just now able to walk and cook and work. But sometimes at the end of the day, I don't want to cook! So what do y'all do when you don't want to cook? Sometimes I am just too fatigued to stand anymore.


Income = $4000 total after taxes and insurance

Mortgage = $1225 - includes insurance and taxes
Car = $400
Insurance = $153 for 2 cars with full coverage
Electricity = $285
Water = $115
Trash = $76-$80 Dumpster service
Dish = $99
Netflix = $15
Internet = $95 Trying to find cheaper service
Cell phones = $165
Gas for cars = $200 (aprx $50/week)
Groceries/Food = $160
$250 = misc or savings - includes dog food
Debt = $781 eek

My expenses total $4019 which is $19 over my income. I can fix that. But what about Christmas? And I am trying to build an emergency fund. That is what I need, right?

Hi! I'm Raquel. I'm feeling a little vulnerable. I stumbled across this site, gathered all my information, tried to settle my nausea, and hit update. I finally got my head out of the sand a few weeks ago. Unfortunately we got a rude awakening when we received court documents regarding a debt. What a sinking feeling. I thought to myself, I better do something about this before I get 10 more. So, I put all of our debt on here. As of last week, we have payments set up on all of these except 2. The one with the court hearing and the personal loan that we have not been asked to pay on.

My work requires that I contribute to retirement. (403b) We are required to contribute at least 2% and they put in 5%. I do the minimum 2%. And we have $604 in savings as of recently. We wanted to build up an emergency fund.

Can't wait to read everyone's stories and learn some new things.