Question

Soooo I am completely new to all of this. My hubby and I both work government jobs and our pay isn’t great but we scrape by. Our rent is very high and we get paid twice a month. Sometimes my paychecks fluctuate due to the way the weeks fall. We both have credit card debt (probably total of $12k-13k combined), vehicle loans (15k combined), I have student loan debt, we both have medical bills in collections, the typical monthly bills of insurances and phones and rent and utilities and gas etc etc. and honestly struggle with even figuring out what to eat. literally I am so paralyzed by it all that I just don’t grocery shop because I can’t figure out a plan and then I just don’t eat, because. there’s nothing in the fridge. We both are shift workers which makes it extra hard to meal plan and figure out what to cook and when. It’s a mess. I have an iPad and Apple Pencil so I could do the digital thing that people are talking about in other posts but I don’t even know where to begin because I feel like I just get so overwhelmed even trying to figure anything out that it’s easier to just ignore it even though I know that’s a bad habit to be in. Can anyone help? ‍♀️

Answer 1

Can you do the federal loan forgiveness program since you work for the govt? I know my payment is much lower and in the end I'll only end up paying about 1/2 to 3/4 of what I owe.  

Answer 2

Do you need help setting up your budget and meal plan? If so you can PM me and I can help put it all together if you want. I have a list of dinners i rotate in also.  

Answer 3

Get a piece of paper or use your iPad and make a list of everything you need to do. Make a meal plan, write out your budget, list all your debts, etc. And then just pick one thing and do it until it’s done (or it’s all you can do at this point). Then move onto the next thing. Having all this stuff that you need to take care of is very overwhelming so just break it down and take it one thing at a time. Same with debt. Pick one thing and work on it until it’s paid off and then onto the next one. Also I do find it helpful to have a Pinterest board or something with recipes so I can just pick things from there and not have to search for new things all the time. Good luck!  

Answer 4

I would get a cheap calendar for now and just list from 1-31 on a sheet of paper the bills expected in the month. I would review all bills from last three months but ideally you want to also account for annual bills that’s are coming up. Once you have that in front of you I would lay it out on a table and do a high level review and see what patterns you find. I would review what drives any purchases. Is it convenience, stress, angry in the moment, tired, a day of the week and being near a particular place, do you have exposure (walking by stores, email box full of marketing crap, catalogs in the mail, points rewards cards, coupons driving you spend, etc. ) What makes you want to give up is that this is a change in mindset which is THE hardest possible thing we can WILLINGLY put ourselves through. You may also be thinking you are in a bigger hole or rut but when you break it down you start to see a possible way to get out. To cut back and to change. There are a ton of things you can do, read, or view. I think analysis is the priority. Face it and do something about it. Change is not easy. Wishing you lots of luck. I spend very little but today was super stressful. I had to force myself twice not to therapy shop.