How do you make money?

[englishteacha]

I'm sorry you are having money troubles. My advice is much like what has already been given. Cancel your Disney trip, sell DVC if you have it. Cut expenses like crazy. Looking for fun? Only do things that are FREE. Take your kids to a playground, go to the library, listen to audiobooks together (from the library!). Cut extra services: cell phone options, voice mail and caller ID on home phone (get a cheap answering machine), TV (you can live without cable or satellite. If you have a sat. contract, reduce down to one bare-bones receiver so you don't get hit with lots of cancellation fees). Eat at home!

DH and I learned a lot from the Dave Ramsey program. See if your library has the books to read. He has some good, down to earth advice.

Perhaps you can take on a part-time job for the holidays. Could you babysit? Could you tutor? Do any of your area schools or rec programs need advisors for clubs or athletics? I run the drama program at my school. It's not a lot of money, but it helps with Christmas and vacations.

 

[mom2meiko]

i should also add that while i knew our money situation was tight - i was in the dark as to how truly bad it was until this weekend. there is a lot for me to digest and i'm working through it as quickly and rationally as i can.

 

[Blue.Fairy2]

the 1-800-flowers jobs are only in the following states by the way.

Must be a resident and live in the following states: Delaware, Illinois, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Montana, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Virginia



OP

My husband and I have been in the antique business over 25 years and I would be happy to help you value the antiques you have and want to sell, at no charge, and no I do not want to purchase them so nothing in it for me(said this before I got attacked by some of our DDisers for taking advantage).

Just PM me or email me at the email in my profile. I will need to see pictures of course.

You may not need to sell as much as you think to get you out of your dilemma.

 

[mom2meiko]

i just checked out the 1800 flowers site as well. thanks for that but i'm in MA so it's not an option for me. (i may mention it to my mother in NH though!)

blue.fairy - thank you so much! we'll take some pics and send them to you in the next day or so! i really appreciate your kindness!

 

[MickQuinn]

I think setting priorities is the #1 step.

Food, house, insurance, transportation to job, etc...


You will be teaching your kids a valuable lesson about the difference between a "need" and a "want".

I also recommend Dave Ramsey's book. But find it at the library. Avoid stores as much as possible. It's as bad as bringing an alcoholic to a bar... don't create temptation.

 

[Blue.Fairy2]

i just checked out the 1800 flowers site as well. thanks for that but i'm in MA so it's not an option for me. (i may mention it to my mother in NH though!)

blue.fairy - thank you so much! we'll take some pics and send them to you in the next day or so! i really appreciate your kindness!

you are very welcome.

 

[neatokimmo]

I would recommend going to

http://www.livinglikenooneelse.com/forum/index.php

and going to the budget section. Let them tear apart your income, your expenses and they will help you figure out what to fix.

 

[DMickey28]

3. thnot exactly sure how it went down but basically dh either got bad advice or (more likely) misunderstood the advice given to him by a rep at our mortgage company. ultimately he ended up "missing" a mortgage payment because he thought he was told that would make them work with him to lower our monthly rate. (makes no sense to me but i wasn't involved at this point.) when he called after the "missed" payment it was an entirely different story than he had thought and they put us onto a repayment plan that is completely beyond what we can afford - about an extra $1000 per month! if we can manage to make the payments and get this taken care of, we should be back to normal payments and a far more managable money situation come feb. we just have to get by until then.

I am lost. How could missing ONE mortgage payment result in a repayment plan of more than $1000 a month on top of the regular payment. That's gotta be a huge mortgage. Obviously you didn't have the "missed" payment money in the first place to make the payment right?

Do NOT take the trip. Sure it's not costing you a lot but regardless it's going to cost you more than $500 total and that's money that can be used elsewhere. It's also costing time out of work. Plus daycare costs that you probably still need to pay even though DD won't be there.

 

[james'mommy]

If OP owns DVC selling it probably doesn't make sense. It is most likely financed and the OP owes more than it's worth.

 

[Teacher03]

I know you really want to go to Disney, but cancel the trip. You will not have fun if you are worried about losing your house. And no matter how much of a budget trip it is, you will spend money that you wouldn't spend at home. You have to change your way of thinking; Disney is just not a logical choice for you right now.

Whatever you decide, I hope things turn around for you quickly.

 

[mb168]

i should also add that while i knew our money situation was tight - i was in the dark as to how truly bad it was until this weekend. there is a lot for me to digest and i'm working through it as quickly and rationally as i can.

If this is your situation then you still may not know the whole story or may be in denial. You don't need to impress or justify anything to anyone here or your friends, your family is number 1 and you have all the warning signs of someone in trouble. You knew money was tight before you even booked the trip and still planned it with extravagant extras. Now your bff is paying your family of 5's airfare there and you're still thinking you can pull this off and not impact your issues. Go back and read your own threads for the last 3 months and ask yourself that if this was your bff, would you still be urging them to get further behind by doing this and even further enabling them by buying the airplane tickets for 2 famlies?

 

[quentina]

SInce you just had a little one, how about taking on 1 child to do private babysitting. I paid a friend $150.00 a week for 3 days of childcare. It was cheaper than the local establishments...she provided food/snacks etc.

 

[mb168]

If OP owns DVC selling it probably doesn't make sense. It is most likely financed and the OP owes more than it's worth.

Paying the Stupid Tax and breaking even or even selling it at a loss is still better than paying a monthly note on it and MF's at roughly $5/point just to get out from under it.

 

[ajk912]

When there are money problems, you have to do either one of two things (or both):

You have to earn more or spend less.

Obviously, since you both work full time and DH has a part time job, unless you can switch to a better paying company your earning potential is probably pretty much maxed out. Unless you can get a PT job, but with that family load that sounds like burnout waiting to happen.

Which takes us to spend less.

You already ditched most of your extras, so all you have left is your house. Make sure you don't have the wallet killers as well- do you eat out a lot? Daily coffee run? Too many blockbuster movies or beers at the bar? Those add up FAST. Otherwise, with only one car payment, no phone..it's your house that's killing you. So you either do it now or later..it's time to sell your house and find something smaller/more affordable.

Unless, you can earn more (see above).

 

[2TxAgs]

I'm gonna put on my Suze Orman hat here....


Wake UP! Wake UP! Wake UP!

I'm sorry, OP, but it seems like you have a DVC lifestyle but only a Values budget. You
are doing your children a disservice by creating a lifestyle you cannot sustain. Your expenses are only going to increase as your kids get older - music lessons, sports teams and equipment, multiple child and then adult tickets for future WDW trips, drivers ed (my personal current big expense), etc.

You need to get a handle on your spending NOW - first things first. As was stated by a PP - food, shelter, transportation, SAVINGS FOR YOUR FUTURE, savings for your kids college - all of these should be in good shape (relative to your age and your kids' ages) before you start talking about Disney vacations. You've taken 5 or more trips to WDW in the last 7 years. Time for a break. I don't buy the 'my kids are only young once' response that some people make - if you can't afford it, you need to stay close to home and make memories at the beach or the lake or the local swimming pool, with home movie and game nights, etc.

I wish you luck. When working your way out of your current situation, look for a long term change in the way you spend/save, and then you won't be having this same discussion next year.

TxAg

 

[quentina]

thanks everyone! i really do appreciate the advice - even from those few of you who came across as a bit judgmental. i probably would be thinking the same thing - how can you do a disney vacation when you are afraid of losing your home!?!?! trust me, i get it and can't truly justify it except to say the disney trip is costing us nothing but food and since we are sharing a dvc with our friends, we can eat in more often than not. (we were going to cancel it but our bff's bought our airline tickets for us because they didn't want to go without us, we have left over passes from our last trip that we will use, the kids go for free, dd will share our meals, we won't need a car rental, etc.) we already know we won't be buying any extras during the trip - it will be the cheapest disney experience we've ever had.

we are both working full time and dh actually has a 2nd part time job as well that he took on when all of this began.

we both have work issued cells - we dropped our personal cells already. we have the basic cable package no movie channels, dvr, hd or anything like that.

we stopped our trash pickup ($40/month), carwash ($26/month), we've never had lawn and snow service, etc.

i have made 2 changes to increase my paycheck by claiming 1 instead 0 on my W-4 and i used to purchase an extra week of vacation for 2% of my salary and dropped that as well. (the vacation purchase change won't take effect immediately but it's in my near future.)

i think we have 3 things that have really put us over the edge...

1. we now have our dd in daycare 2 days a week. my father used to watch her for us but can only watch 1 of the kids and the baby is easier for him and would cost more for daycare. we don't have anyone else that can/will watch her for us when we work and we have modified our schedules as much as we can to only place her 2x a week. we also use the daycare at dh's work so we get a discount there too.

2. i had to have emergency dental work that wasn't covered by our insurance and that cost us quite a bit of money that we weren't ready for. i actually haven't finished that process because we can't afford the rest of it right now - hopefully i won't end up losing my tooth.

3. thnot exactly sure how it went down but basically dh either got bad advice or (more likely) misunderstood the advice given to him by a rep at our mortgage company. ultimately he ended up "missing" a mortgage payment because he thought he was told that would make them work with him to lower our monthly rate. (makes no sense to me but i wasn't involved at this point.) when he called after the "missed" payment it was an entirely different story than he had thought and they put us onto a repayment plan that is completely beyond what we can afford - about an extra $1000 per month! if we can manage to make the payments and get this taken care of, we should be back to normal payments and a far more managable money situation come feb. we just have to get by until then.

My friends did a mortgage modification and she also was required to be 30 days late. She stated that the mortgage company will not work with you unless you are late. I will add that she did end up having to get a lawyer because the MC was jerking her around. If you go for a modification, save all receipts and have detailed records...this is what saved her.

Her mortgage went for 9% to 3% (I imagine there was some credit issues) prior and her payment was cut in half. The lawyer worked out a plan with her to pay him.

Good luck and I am going to be the only one that says go on trip.....however.....as soon as you get back, sell your dvc.

As someone who has been where you are, with a detailed plan, it does and will get better. We are now CC debt free and to be honest, it is a wonderful feeling!

 

[Jeninindy]

Wow....."the trip isn't going to cost us anything, just food."

The reality is - You are behind on your mortgage - that disney food budget should be going to catch up on the mortgage.

How you can consider a disney vacation when you have just come to the realization that you cannot afford your bills, is just astounding. While it sucks, you have to come to grips with the reality of life - disney is not important. Disney will still be there when you able to afford a trip.

I understand your hesitant to let your friends know you are unable to afford the trip, but if they are true friends, they will understand.

If you both are working full time, have a part time job and are not making the bills - there is no room for vacation right now. Go post your budget on the site recommended, but be prepared for real critique's of your budget.

 

[sk!mom]

Your post is astounding! How can you even consider a trip when you are in such serious financial crisis?

Letting your friends buy your plane tickets has made the situation worse. If you cancel now, they're out the tickets and have no place to stay.

You need drastic cuts. If your budget is as barebones as you say, then selling DVC is your only option. It doesn't sound as if you could ever afford it anyway. Even if you only make enough to pay off the DVC loans, you will be out from under the payments and maintenance fees.

Selling your house will likely be difficult and slow in this economy but you probably need to start that process, as well. It sounds as if it is more house than you can afford.

 

[debf]

DH and I both work full time.We also have a side job of cleaning a doctors office once a week.We complain about it every week but we have been doing it now for 12 years. We make enough to pay a car payment and that's exactly what we do with our pay. It takes the two of us about 1/2 hr to get the job done.Sometimes a little longer. Maybe you could look into something like that.Good luck.I know it's tough.

 

[redrosesix]

Obviously, you haven't told your bff everything about your situation -- it doesn't matter that they're paying for your tickets, the food at the airport alone is outside your budget.

I popped into this thread because we're doing everything we can now to save. We had planned to buy DVC (which we can afford) but opted to buy a TS outside of WDW when we lucked into a great deal. And the only ADR we're planning is Sci-Fi. We just refi'd our mortgage to a longer term to cut the payments down to almost nothing. And on top of that, I'm looking at getting a 2nd job.

OP, you need to live in the real world -- all of the advice I've read on this thread is right. You are in denial, and things are really a lot worse than you think.

You need to downsize your house, sell your DVC, find any other work you can do. Money problems can be a temporary issue if you bite the bullet and change your priorities.