Reply to Earning Well but Drowning in Debt...how to dig out?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here. First of all, we are NOT in DC. We are not far from DC but do not have easy access to metro. Second, we have three kids in two different locations. Even with two cars, drop off and pickup from daycare / aftercare is stressful as can be and we often run right up to the 6pm deadline even when we leave at 5pm. Figuring out how to take public transport back and forth from two locations with Jobs just isn't realistic. So selling cars is not an option. It would be great if we could get by on one car. But we cannot.

We do run around a lot to activities in evenings and on weekends. We do not shop at Whole Foods as a PP suggested. Try giant, shoppers, and occasionally trader joes if we need RTH foods for an especially busy work week. We do tend to get carryout and some delivery 1-2x per week. We have a restaurant night one night per week. [b]DH travels a lot for work so when he is away and I am flying solo with the kids doing two drop offs and pickups and working a 9-10 hr day, I do give myself the luxury of not having to cook an extra night. [/b]

We do have two elderly dogs in addition to the three kids. Dogs predate kids. So we have dog walking we pay for each month and extra expenses there for food.

Honestly, I am grateful to those who post helpful and positive comments instead of the "oh you shouldn't have had three kids and bought a house." Well thanks a frickin lot for those genius comments. What do we do? Give two kids up for adoption and live in a box down by the river?

We certainly are not going to sell our home, which is already too small, and move our kids into an even smaller apartment in a crappy school district in DC with even higher taxes! [/quote]

I agree with you about the unhelpful comments about having thee kids (it's not like you can give one away even if you wanted to) but the bolded is a luxury you cannot afford with major credit card debt. You have debt because you live beyond your means. Your means does not stretch to include take out at the moment. Sorry but it doesn't. Cook a bunch of meals on Sunday and then freeze. Eat slowly over the course of the week. No you will not want to do this but this is the kind of thing you can afford to do.[/quote]

+1  Also, loosen up on your definition of what is an acceptable dinner.  When DH is out of town and I feel too tired to cook, we may just have sandwiches or scrambled eggs or even cereal for a night.  It's fine, really.  Blowing money on takeout when you are drowning in debt is not fine.[/quote]

You can also do frozen pizza for a fraction of the cost of take out.  It's not as good taste-wise, but it's actually probably better for you.

DH and I aren't in your financial situation, but when we first started real jobs out of grad school and were working crazy hours, we realized we were doing take out a lot.  The cost and the added fat etc of restaurant food was really adding up.  We took some time to check out super easy frozen options (or boxed meal options) at Trader Joe's, and just made sure to always have a stock at the ready.  It's 8 years later, and we still do that.[/quote]

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