A Break Down in Monthly Bills

A snap shot of what my monthly bill look like

This is a breakdown of my bills for the month of April to May:

As you can see I have two car payments (Jeep and Jewel) that take up most of my monthly income ($730.85) and you add the bike into that and its $824.39.

A loan that I took out about a year ago to help pay down debt. Its a loan through my bank with a lower APR than the credit cards I had. The original loan amount was $4000 and I have made quite the dent in it for now. The only problem with this loan is that I had to stop making payments on it for a while.

Greater W., Amazon, and Best buy are credit cards that I use rarely. I had the Greater W. paid off last year till August when my entire family decided to go on a vacation and like an idiot I overspent what I had set aside and used the credit card to help out. Amazon was used mainly for diabetic supplies for my wife like needles, test strips, and lancets. Best Buy is just self explanatory, I liked my gadgets and gizmos and spent money I didn't have.

Dental is a credit loan I had to get to help pay off some dental work I had done in May last year. I went in with a tooth ache and they basically told me that I had six wisdom teeth that needed to come out, plus one more that needed to come out due to the overcrowding from the wisdom teeth. So they set me up with an appointment and a few weeks later I was over $8000 in more debt.

State farm is for the three vehicles and life insurance for me and my daughter.

Verizon is for four lines at twelve gigs of data. Also to add too it I have two more lines for tablets that I was talked into that were "Free." I am learning now that free doesn't always mean free in the long run.

Now for the big one...Disney. Disney is my Disney Chase credit card. One of those cards that you earn points on everyday purchases. Well it was great. I used it and paid it off at the end of every month. At least that's how it started. It was almost like a snowball for me. I would end up losing more every month. Spending way past what we could afford. The hole never seem to have a bottom to it. Month after month of just making weekly payments of what I could  for that week but not paying anything on the bottom line. They would boost my limit and I would reach for more every time. Even paying hospital and doctor bills with it. As you can see now I topped it off at a high number of $16,292.79. Fun thing about this card, ALL that DEBT and ALL the INTREST I have paid into it, I could of taken my family to Disney. Sadly my points are only around 900, that might just give us enough for a day down there.

So as you can see I have an uphill climb to make...wish me luck...

Starting it all

Ok, so I have struggled on how to start this blog, but simply put this is my blog about getting my family out of debt. I am done being in debt and a slave to my creditors. Bills pile up month to month and just when you think your getting ahead, your back to square one. My family currently sit at close to $80,000 in debt. Not much to show for it either.

Life itself isn't bad though. I have a wonderful wife and two kids. The youngest (Felix) was just born in January.The oldest kid (Felicity) is 9 and currently in the 3rd grade (btw I don't remember 3rd grade homework being as hard as it is). My wife and I both have jobs and we make a living. We all live with my parents in a small 3 bedroom 1 bathroom home, so at least we have a roof over our heads.

So your probably wondering though, with no house payment or utility bills how are we not doing well. To be honest, it hasn't been a easy. I was married once before. The first wife ended in divorce after about two years. Although that marriage ended with some debt it did give me my first child Felicity. I do have custody of her and as of right now I don't see a lick of child support. Anyways, fighting for my daughter and the marriage itself brought some debt. Over the next couple of years I met my current wife, Alisson. We got married July 31, 2013 and by August 1st Alisson was in the hospital almost in a diabetic coma. As everyone knows with hospitals comes more debt. Then to top it all off we have been bad with our money. Going on vacations, loans for cars, and the obvious credit card. Basically, money management hasn't been the best of what we do, but I will dive into all that later.

Now its time for the "fun" part. I started this blog to track my progress and to prove to myself and any one else who thinks its impossible. Keeping track of everything I hope will make me accountable for any actions. Every receipt, bill paid, and budget will all be kept though this blog.

Where is all this coming from? I was walking down the book isle of Sam's Club when I came across something I could even say life changing. I picked up the book The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. All it took was for me to read the front inside cover and I was hooked in a way that I never thought I would be by any kind of book. I don't normally read, unless its a road sign or a quick article in a magazine, so for me to read any kind of book was a big deal. I bought it and read it over the next month or so. Everything Dave Ramsey laid out in his book makes it seem so easy and with all the success stories in the book it made me feel as if I could do it. Needless to say, I am going to follow his plan step by step from saving to budgets. One day I want my family to be a success story and with this book I'm sure we can do it.

I will do my best to keep this blog up to date every chance I get. I also pledge to do the best I can to get out of debt as fast as possible. I plan on being accountable for any of my actions and spending. Finally I am going to succeed no questions asked because I don't have failure in my eyes. I hope anyone reading my blog will either take something away they learned or encourage and be excited to see me get out of debt because I am just debt tired.



Daniel


If you want to purchase Dave Ramsey's The Total Money Makeover which I highly recommend do so here: www.daveramsey.com