Needing a financial advisor/planne

Get Dave Ramsay's book, Total Money Makeover. It gives you a plan to get out of debt, live on your income, and even put money away. Both you and hubby need to read it, and sign on to it.

A financial planner - IF there are any good ones in town - is quite expensive, and probably won't do what you need. Beware of the "financial planners" that are investment brokers, and insurance salesmen.

Dave Ramsay's website is:

Link

I'm a CPA and everything in the book makes complete sense, and will work, IF you follow the plan. It's the best $20 you will ever spend.

Here are aome things we did to lower our monthly expenses.
1.If you have credit card debt call them now.Some have a debt liquidation program that will get you a lower payment with a set pay off date.
2.Use pay as you go cell phones.We were spending $200.00 more or less on cell phone bills.Now it is about $200.00 every 3 months.
3.Get rid of satelite or cable that must be paid monthly.
4.Use coupons and comp ads when grocery shopping.
5. I am a big reader.I buy all my books at thrift stores and Goodwill in L'burg.They have a half off everything the first Saturday of every month.
6.If you regularly pull into fast food drive through restaurants.STOP unless you have coupons or ordering off the value menu.The price of a Big Mac and a Quarter Pounder is $3.19.
7. We switched to majic jack to eliminate our monthly phone bill.I don't love it as you musy dial the area code on local calls and it has some static in the connection which is getting better the longer we have it. Savings of about $40.00 per month.
8.We were able to raise over a thousand dollars on ebay selling things we no longer use.I also sell books regularly on ebay.
9.My husband installed a nice clothesline in our backyard.I only use my dryer when I absolutely have to.
10.I swithched from expensive laundry detergents to a cheaper brand.If you add a little baking soda to detergent it works just as well.I also use white vinegar as a fabric softener.Works great.
11.Thrift stores and Goodwill stores are great for buying clothes and household items.
Hope these suggestios help you as much as they have helped us.

Have you considered refinancing your house? For those with good credit, interest rates are low.

Good sound advice from Crusty and Blues. Dave Ramsey will certainly inspire you. Good luck to you and all the other young families reading.

George the new avatar is very becoming!!

Sally, those are great tips. Thanks for posting them.

If all else fail's file chapter 7 bankruptcy, the majority of the time you can keep your home, one or two vechilces, your IRA's are protected against bankruptcy, and most of home funinshings since the credit companies don't want them. Most lawyers charge less than $1,000 do to it and charge that before you file. This is unless the laws have change, see an lawyer, most of them do not charge for advice. And don't worry about credit, most of the time you will get new credit cards right after you file, because they know you can not file again for another seven years. Hope that helps.

Something else to consider is consulting with a debt management company such as the National Consumer Credit Counseling in Huntsville. Fee runs about $20.00 a month. You may list any unsecured debts and they work with credit card companies to get your interest rates lowered. It is best to be current with all your payments when you begin the program, then they distribute your payments to the creditors.There is one such company in Muscle Shoals, but I have heard bad things about their business. NCCC restructures your bills so you make one payment to them each month. Hope this was helpful...

Start selling meth and you will no longer be living paycheck to paycheck.You will have all kinds of cash on hand,most of it coming third party from a pawn shop.

quote:

Originally posted by Liongrl:
Something else to consider is consulting with a debt management company such as the National Consumer Credit Counseling in Huntsville. Fee runs about $20.00 a month. You may list any unsecured debts and they work with credit card companies to get your interest rates lowered. It is best to be current with all your payments when you begin the program, then they distribute your payments to the creditors.There is one such company in Muscle Shoals, but I have heard bad things about their business. NCCC restructures your bills so you make one payment to them each month. Hope this was helpful...

Stay away from debt consolidators - PERIOD!!! They are rip offs.

Get Ramsey's book or sometimes area churches have been know to put on financial help programs as well. DO NOT BUY into junk though. Ramsey's book is as much as I would pay for help with my finances.

Link

Red, I have used one of these companies several years ago, and it was a good solution for me. Had no problems with them or their service. If credit cards are the problem, some card companies have in-house hardship departments you can check into. As with anything, do some research before agreeing to a contract such as this. It is an alternative to bankruptcy.

I agree with everyone else, buy Dave Ramsey's book.

Cut up the credit cards, work on paying all of your debt off smallest to largest, and never borrow again. You'll be amazed at how much more you can do with your money when credit cards aren't getting it.

Thank you all so very much for your suggestions and input.

No our problems are not credit card debt. We do not use credit cards. My husband and I both work full time jobs and make a fairly decent wage. Somewhere, somehow we got off track with our money and in December we lost our home to foreclosure. We had to move on the 26th of December. This was devastating for all of us as we have 3 children at home also.

After we moved to a new place, (rental), we were still having to catch up on the bills at the other house, plus the bills here and we have just dug in deeper.

Our current situtation is this. We get paid every 2 weeks, not on the same week which makes it very difficult to juggle finances anyway, but we are having trouble paying our basic utilities.

We dropped our landline service months ago. We have cells phones and this is a must because we have a special needs child in the home and we must have access to a phone at all time.

We have basic cable, no news paper deliveries, no magazine deliveries. I go to Wal-mart just to get groceries, (no shopping), about twice a month. I never ever go to the mall shopping. We eat our very rarely. We are very careful with our money.

I work from home and my job requires that I have the internet in order to do my job, so that is the reason fo the basic cable and no my employer does not reimburse anything for me having the cable/internet service.

My husband gets paid this Friday and we owe, 445.00 on the heating as this new house only has electric wall units. We leave all lights off when not in use, I have cut Wayyyyy back on the laundry and will be putting up a clothes line.

Our phone bill is just over 300.00 due to it being 2 months behind.

Cable bill is due for 2 months.

Rent is due as the landlord let us pay later this month on the 20th instead of the 1st. (bless him)

I owe a payment at the bank of 264.00.

And then if there is any left over I need to buy groceries as we are down to the bare minimum around here.

I have purchased the Dave Ramsey book and read it from cover to cover and I believe it is a wonderful plan, but I have to get all my bills caught up and then start the plan. I just see no end in site. I mean my husbands check is not going to cover all of these expenses this Friday and then here we go again, back in the same boat all over again.

All we need is a just a little push. Our church has been unable to help us because the funds there are very low due to the economy and other people needing help. I have no family who can help. No banks will loan us money because of the foreclosure. Sigh. I just do not know what is to become of us.

I am not asking for a handout, just enough money to finally once and for all get our bills all caught up, which would not take a whole lot and I would be willing to pay every last penny back.

I have worked all my life as has everyone in my family, no welfare, no food stamps, no nothing, hard work, that is the way I was raised. I have never experienced this kind of poverty in my life and while I know things could be worse, for me right now this is happening to my family and we are all just beaten down from the stress of all of it. Every time a car pulls up in the driveway we wonder what they are here to turn off. It is just a living nightmare.

I apologize to anyone that this post may have offended. I am not asking for pity and I am not feeling sorry for myself. I am open to any and all suggestions. I think just being able to vent has helped a lot.

You guys are a great bunch. Thanks.

I can't offer any advice as I am swimming in that same creek...sending you hugs and prayers....

Have you tried the Community Action Agency , located on Thompson St in Florence ? They help people with housing and utilities sometimes.

I will pray your situation improves soon.

SHA:

Are both of your incomes regular? Does your home based income fluctuate? If you have a regular income, it is fairly easy to get a budget together. If you don't have one, you need to sit down and look at where your money is going. Sounds like you have already done this, at least informally; but if you really sit down and work out what your expenses are, you may find some easy stuff to cut back on.

Don't let your pride keep you from looking into food stamps and/or the WIC program. These programs are meant for people in your situation, and no one begrudges those really in need.

Go down to the utility department and talk to them. They may have a program to help with your utilities. Call the local United Way office, and ask them if any of their organizations offer help for people in your situation.

Hope things get better. CrustyWife and I have been in the week-to-week situation, so our thoughts are with you.