Comments on: End of the Road

By: Father Sez » Archive » The Carnival of Personal Finance – 3rd Anniversary Edition

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 10:30:07 +0000

[...] Jake has reached what he calls the end of the road. Luckily one of his readers has worked out a plan that might get Jake out of the pits. It needs [...]

By: Carnival of Personal Finance #157: Third Anniversary Edition - Consumerism Commentary: A Personal Finance Blog

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:02:36 +0000

[...] Stichler from Debt Sucks presents End of the Road. Jake has run into some financial trouble, but the first commenter on this post has some solid [...]

By: Jake

Jake — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 03:02:28 +0000

Dedicated: Thanks for the helpful advice. I found out today that my paycheck is going to be $861. Don’t know if it’s going in tomorrow, or Monday, though. Unfortunately, I don’t think the plan you have so helpfully laid out will go far, as my pay is very variable. This check is from working my ass off 12-14 hours a day almost every day for two weeks. Those days are over, and I can now expect somewhere on the order of $500-600 paychecks… I think.

JudyC: Thanks for popping in! I know there are a bunch of readers hanging around that don’t comment, so always nice to see a new face that wants to talk

By: JudyC

JudyC — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:26:50 +0000

I have been reading your blog for a few months. I don’t know what happened, but “Dedicated” seems to have laid out a good plan. Please try to follow it. Good Luck.

By: Dedicated

Dedicated — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:04:13 +0000

What happened? Did I miss something? You were working and making dough, so how did you get to the end of the proverbial rope?

My suggestion (take it for what it is worth)

1. Call Sallie Mae – ask for a hardship deferral.
2. Call Comcast and cancel. Do NOT make any payment arrangements over the phone or promises – tell them you have hit a rough patch and will pay them ASAP.
3. When your check for $700 comes in – Pay rent, electric & propane – $557, use the rest for food and fuel your vehicle. If paid every 2 weeks take $143 by 14 = $10.21 is your budget by day. Don’t go over, unless the prior day you spent less. Even put that $10 a day in seperate envelopes to force yourself to live by it. NO CIGARETTES, IT IS TIME TO BE FREE FROM THE MONKEY – You CAN DO IT!
4. Next Check of $700 on 27th??? Pay Rent $500, Scooter $120 – divide rest to live on over days.
5. Next Check of $700 on 7/11?? Pay Propane, Electric (est $57), CU $165, Scooter $240 & Comcast $41 =$503. Divide rest to live on over days.

While working on plan – that you have copied on your own piece of paper and hung in your place to follow –

Call Capital 1 – Work out payment plan – be honest, agree to nothing – they will try and force you to pay the higher payments. They are the last to be paid, and you must pay, just take it out of the balance, after leaving $10 a day to live on.

Meet with mom, show her your plan and make her see you intend on covering your obligations. And then follow through!!! Be a man of your word, worth more then money any day of the week.

If you have to call credit union, do it. and tell them when a payment will arrive.

Stop talking gloom and doom, you have the power to get out of this. Even a part-time job working an extra 12 hours a week, would cover the Credit Union payments & Scooter, placing you in a position to move to debt free.

Do NOT acquire anymore debt. That will only hurt you.