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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You have to drop the activities. Do it now while your kids are young. Right now they are more for you than them.  As your kids get older, it will get more expensive and more tough.

We did this too when our kids were young. The activities cost us way more than just the fee. There was all the little extras like cleats, dance recital fees, and eating out on busy days.  There was also just not having time to focus on things like creating and sticking to and balancing a budget because actually those things do take time and you need to be able to focus on them especially the first year when you are really getting started.

Little things like getting coffee out each day (times x2 each time), grabbing snacks on the run, eating out, hosting other families and friends,etc.[/quote]

THIS. I have a 2 year old and we've been doing activities on weekend mornings for about a year, and I've realized the extra costs that are a side effect of the activities really add up. Taking DD to swimming, dance or other activities on Sunday mornings takes away from my time to get things done like grocery shopping, cooking, etc. I spend $ to offset the lost time (takeout, prepared foods from wegmans/grocery store, wasted produce that I didn't have time to cook, paying shipping for online shopping due to lack of time to drive to the mall, etc).  When you factor in those costs plus the materials (swimwear, dance clothing/shoes) the activities for 1 child probably take more than $300 per month from our budget. But these activities are a costly luxury and if I had signifcant debt I would suspend them until I dug myself out. We have your HHI and no debt other than our mortgage, so we can swing it, but even I am starting to question whether it's worth that much $.

I also suggest that you ID your preferred splurge areas and set a firm budget. When I was single and made about 100k I had credit card debt from my grad school days of trying to live above my means. I loved clothes at the time, so shopping was my vice. I set a firm monthly shopping budget that allowed me to pay off my credit card debt and until I had paid off the credit cards I stuck to that. It was habit forming and even afterwards I no longer felt a need to spend so much at once. So if you feel you 'need' takeout/convenience foods, decide how much you will spend on that and strictly adhere to it. I think this will work better for you than the zero-spending on luxuries/splurges that is recommended above.

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