Menotti80

how much are you looking for?

thanks for all the responses guys. valpo, i will address some of your points/suggestions first: get on a written budget - i have used 3 different methods of tracking expenses and budgeting. Some have had some success, other have not. I will explain what I mean in a different post. But I currently do every single thing you mentioned in our first paragraph BESIDES the envelope system, which I have thought about doing several times already... SELL THE FREAKING CAR. $550 /mo for a vehicle is disgusting - i bought a car over 2 years ago. i was ok with the high payments at the time because after 3 years, i would have about 35-40k miles on my car and i would have zero car payments. and i would have that car for another 5+ years, and to me that was worth it. so i do plan on having it for a LONG time. i dont mean to offend anyone here, but i wanted my first car to be a new car that i liked. i had been borrowing cars and using my mom's car for too long. Now you've got it down to $250 /mo with the credit card debt stacked on top of it, stretched out over 5 years. That's insanity. You can't win financially with that philosophy - maybe i'm just not smart at all when it comes to $, but i dont understand what's wrong with combining the $7,000 left on my car and about another $7,000 in 2 credit cards with ridiculously high interest into one payment with a LOW interest rate. Here's how I look at it. i was paying $545 a month, and paying $100 - $200 on each card each month cause that's all i could afford. so that's $850 a month, and it's all paid off in about 2 years. now i am paying $240 a month for 5 years, and with the amount of money less i am paying each month, i will be paying it off a lot earlier than 5 years - and there is no penalty for doing so. and now those 2 accounts have a ZERO balance, and this way i am not charging anything on them cause i want to keep it that way. when i was paying $150 a month on these cards that had balances, i was still putting stuff on the card each month. the amount of interest i would have paid on those cards before paying them off would be about the same if not more than the amount of interest i will pay at landmark, which is a FIXED cost. if my logic is still flawed, please let me know. i admittingly am not the best with money, but i'm trying to learn. the bottom line in my mind is that for me, having credit card balances at zero along with a smaller overall payment each month (that is fixed), it's a lot easier not to get into more bad habits... It's too bad you consolidated your smaller credit card debt into that auto loan, it would have been a great starting point to gain momentum and get intense about paying off your debt. Now you've got a larger loan, which -- pyschologically -- is just easier to ignore or feel defeated about, easier to treat like a pet that you just feed periodically and it's bound to be around for a long time. - i understand what you saying, and i agree in general what you and others have said about knocking out small debts first, but 2 things: #1- i have tried it and i failed. i am more disciplined now, but i am at the point now where i dont need a small balance to get "intense" about paying off my debt. for me, this loan is making it easier for me because there is a fixed ending point - 5 years. and that's at the latest. with credit card balances, it could just keep going forever. i now have a plan. in about 4 years, i will have paid off my car and 2 credit cards. i also am on a plan to pay off credit card #3 (my last debt) (not counting the house) in 3.5 years. i decided to "hide" the card so i wont ever use it and i will pay $500 a month on it. and it will be gone in 3.5 years. shortly after that, i wil have paid off landmark, and i will be about to enter my 30's debt free. you guys are awesome. i hope this thread sticks around for all 4 years while i own this debt thing. getting several emails a day saying that there has been another post to this thread is a constant reminder of what i am setting out to do. and it helps - big time. i hope people continue to add comments, tell their stories, and i want this thing to become like 50 pages long. that will only make it easier for me! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

overall i agree with your grades. i would lower the grade of these players slightly: braun, coffey, hardy i would raise the grades of these players slightly" looper, mcgehee, counsell, rivera i also dont know how weeks, escobar and gamel get incompletes but nelson and duffey get grades... Player TEAM POS G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG AVG 1. R Weeks MIL 2B 37 147 28 40 5 2 9 24 76 12 39 2 2 .340 .517 .272 2. M Gamel MIL 3B 56 123 11 29 5 1 5 19 51 17 51 1 0 .331 .415 .236 3. A Escobar MIL SS 33 103 14 31 3 1 1 11 39 3 12 1 1 .324 .379 .301 4. C Duffy MIL OF 19 32 3 4 1 0 0 3 5 4 12 0 0 .222 .156 .125 5. B Nelson MIL OF 19 21 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 9 0 0 .087 .000 .000 for me: weeks and excobar get an A-, and gamel gets a C

Ionve this all gets paid off, I will be using only for emergencies...

i am not in. but, i will be watching another episode to see if i would add this show to my "series recording" list. it has potential, but the first episode was not all that good...

ollie, why would the loan suddenly be secured with my home exactly? dadofandrew, thanks for your advice!

the monthly payment of the credit card would be higher right now than through landmark... true, as the credit card balance gets lower and lower, the minimum monthly payment would get lower than the landmark payment, but i also would save a lot of money in interest in the long run...

The credit card rate is more than 3X larger than the rate at landmark. That's why I'm surprised people are saying not to try to roll it all to landmark...

i wish, but i'm afraid it will take a much bigger chunk out of that $8k

i mailed in the forms around 9/1, so i probably wont be getting the $8k till around Christmas time

thanks MH! i know that sounded backwards; i didn't mean to imply buying a house and getting engaged saves money. but cutting spending allowed me to get a ring and afford the increase cost of living...

In the last 4 months, I have been trying to formulate the best plan to buy a house and get rid of my debt at the same time. My plan is sort of working, but not well enough. Please bear with the length of this post, and if you have any advice, it would be much appreciated... Background: As of June 2009: - I have ALL student loans paid off from college (Marquette). So no large, long term debt. - I had $550/mo car payments (was 23 months into a 36 month no interest pay-off plan) - this payment was slowly killing me. it was very hard to save, and admittingly i was not cutting my spending enough... - I also had debt racked up on 3 credit cards. 2 of the 3 cards were small-ish amounts, and 1 was bigger. - I then decided to buy a house As of August 2009: - My first step was to combine the remaining 13 months of car payments and the 2 small credit card balances and refinance at Landmark. So I stretched out that money owed over 5 years and have a monthly payment <$250. - I started to cut my spending. These 2 things helped - I bought a house on August 21st, which drained any savings I had. - I also got engaged a few weeks earlier. Current Situation: - High balance and high/increasing interest on remaining credit card along with mortgage is still making it hard to save AND pay off CC with monthly payments much more than the minimum payments. Question: - Would it be a good idea to try to roll my remaining credit card balance into the loan i have through Landmark? This essentially would double my monthly payment to Landmark, but it would also mean it seemingly would make my monthly payments the same each month, and it would be easier to budget my expenses. (The interest paid would seemingly be less over the long run) - If I could do this, it would allow me to start saving for a wedding and even use the $8,000 tax credit for the house to pay for the a good chunk of our wedding and also build up some savings... - This seems to make sense for me, but why would the credit union let me roll the credit card into my current loan? When I did my original refinance, I was able to use my car as collateral because the car was worth more than the remaning balance on the car + my 2 smaller credit card balances. Adding this big credit card balance would put the amount of the loan over the value of my car... What should I do??? Any recommendations/suggestions/advice/constructive criticism would be helpful... Thanks! edited some formatting

personally, i want penny to end up with sheldon (somehow) soft kitty, warm kitty...

19, the spoiler scene you mentioned was great! when it first started unfolding, i was horrified, but it turned out to be great IMO

i watched house. loved it. the 2nd half to me was much better than the first half. there are some classic house moments towards the end...

Tres locos man sucks!

I haven't looked forward to a Season premiere like I am looking forward to House tonight. Also, the new season of the Big Bang Theory is on tonight. must see TV for me! anyone else watching either of these tonight? edit: clerified title

interesting episode... a few questions/observations: - why did nina sharp kiss the FBI boss dude? - how did nobody suspect that charlie = shape-shifter creature????? they made it too obvious for the viewer not to anticipate that (especially after several shots to the back didn't harm the creature) - i am leery of this new fbi woman. i think they are just bringing her in to make peter torn between olivia and her...

- cousins subs: get two subs, get two subs, get two subs for just. five. bucks. - all strip club ads - all law office commercials

i got really excited when i saw this thread, and then i noticed it was the one i started... lol anyways, i cant wait!!!

2 tickets to tonight's game. First one to reply that can pick tickets up (near 80th St & Burleigh) gets them Tickets are Section 423, Row 7. Face Value is $20 each. I am looking to get some money for them, but if I can't, they are yours for free!!!

I live in Miwaukee, near Wauwatosa. If you can pick them up, they are yours. tickets are $20 face value each. PM me if interested!

2 tickets to tomorrows game are FREE! Tickets to 9/5 and 9/8 games are now $10 each!

My fiance and I took her dog in this morning and had him put down. After being in declining health for months, a big turn for the worse came this past weekend. Benny had "good days" and "bad days", but the bad days were starting to outnumber the good ones. One of the hardest things I have ever done in my life. We are lucky his last day was one of his "good days"... Benny was an 8 year old Beagle, and he will truly be missed... R.I.P. buddy... http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/frown.gif http://images.yuku.com/image/pjpeg/f1535fc0925788ed47741abbbe0ceae356d5e8a.pjpg

i will be doing a lot of moving in the next 3 weeks, so i won't mind at all if it cools off significantly... at least the NFL season will be starting soon, which is why for me summer coming to an end isn't a bad thing...