PP here - another good idea is to commit to not spending any extra money during the week.

Good luck - it sounds like you are committed to making this work, so good for you!

Several times I have committed myself to not spending any money for a week, outside of rent, recurring bills, and gas. This includes skipping trips to the grocery store and going out to eat.

Most of us have way more food in our pantries, refrigerators and freezers than we would ever eat in a week. By the end of the week you may have to get creative, but it can be fun coming up with new meal ideas that are outside of the box from what you typically eat.

Credit karma says my score is 695. I think that's okay, right? Not great? I had one late payment years ago But my bank said they were going to take it off... I don't know if that happened though, because it still says 99%

-How's your credit score? How well this works totally depends on YOU, but I had a lot of luck moving money around... got one new card with a 0% balance transfer offer. Moved enough onto that card, that we paid it off with 0% interest. Then Old Card #1 offered a 0% transfer... so moved money from Old Card #2 to #1. Etc. It became a shell game of knowing which card had the best offer and how much we could realistically pay within the time limit.

We were masters at that while we had credit card debt, but I think the banks have made this a lot more difficult to do lately. Lots of one-time balance transfer fees of 1% of the balance, for instance.

OP, I sympathize. DH and I have BTDT... we ran up close to $10k in cc debt once I got out of grad school. NO clue how it happened. But after we bought a house (how we did that... ugh) I realized that something had to change. Some thoughts:
- One thing that caused US to use our cc, was the old "oh gosh, rent is due, and the cable bill, and we don't get paid til next week... we'll just put it on the cc." Etc. That adds up. Figure out what your bare-minimum fixed expenses are (ours are mortgage, utilities, car payments, 529 contribution) and how much all that totals every month. Then save, save, save really aggressively until you have that much saved up (just one month's worth). Put that $$ in a SEPARATE checking account which is not linked to a debit card, and have that same amount taken out of your paycheck and direct deposited to THAT account instead of your "main" one. Set everything up on auto debit. This means you are paying all the bills that come in Jan, with money you deposited in Dec, etc. So that portion of life is fixed, accounted for, and taken care of. I generally log on and cruise transactions on this account once every couple months, b/c I get daily text updates on balance, and after a while I had a good sense of "where it should be." Note: round UP on expenses and round DOWN on income. Every few months I find $100-$200 extra money and transfer it back to the main account. Feels like free money!

- What's the most likely course-of-life emergency to happen to you? Lose your job, get hours cut, washer dies? etc. Save until you have something, anything, set aside. Start with a goal of $1k, then move on to 1 month's expenses, 2 months, etc. This means when something happens (illness, dead battery, baseball through a window) you don't have to whip out the cc.

-How's your credit score? How well this works totally depends on YOU, but I had a lot of luck moving money around... got one new card with a 0% balance transfer offer. Moved enough onto that card, that we paid it off with 0% interest. Then Old Card #1 offered a 0% transfer... so moved money from Old Card #2 to #1. Etc. It became a shell game of knowing which card had the best offer and how much we could realistically pay within the time limit.

Good luck OP, it really sucks at first but you will feel so much etter as soon as you start to see that balance trend downward!

I swear by the Dave Ramsey baby steps. It is not a scam I swear! You can download his podcast free every weekday. He wAlks people through the 7 baby steps and I think it's very reassuring to have a specific path to follow. Op I really think you can do this! Check out his website - it has all the info listed on how to follow his plan. You don't need to spend a dime.

During my student days I would annualize the cost of a potential habit, its much more easier to leave out a habit once you know end of year figure. E.g. getting a cup of tea at Starbucks for $2 (their cheapest offering) Mon-Fri, x 22 working days a month x 12 = $528. The same thinking lead me to dilute my orange juice 50/50 with water.....which, once you got used to it, did not taste that bad. Small things add up. Best of luck.

Thanks. I teach in a title 1 school and will be eligible for some amount of forgiveness after 5 years of payment- unfortunately that hasn't started yet. I need to see how much I need to pay to qualify.

It is definitely like dieting- portion control!

If you are a teacher and are planning to stay a teacher, look into the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program on your loans. THey can do an income calculation in terms of how much you can pay, and after 10 years of it, your loans will be forgiven... Just a thought on it.

I'm not sure what your proposed budget is based on, OP, but for it to be realistic, you really need to look at what your budget actually is right now, and for the past 3-4 months. Then you will be in a position to identify areas you can cut, and to figure out how deeply you can cut.

For the first couple of months on your new budget, you should really go completely cash only as much as you can. Get a bunch of envelopes, and write "Groceries," "Restaurants," "Entertainment," etc., and pull out enough cash for the month for each category. When that envelope is empty, you're done with that category for the month. That will help you really see how much you're spending, and will help you internalize "wants" vs. "needs."

It's like dieting -- it's more mental than any way else.

To save on groceries, you can make a menu for the week and make one trip to the store, buying only ingredients for what you need. It is ok to substitute ingredients if you find something on sale, but make sure you only substitute and don't add anything.

I buy lots of chickpeas, beans (white, black, kidney & pinto), and eggs as a cheap source of protein. I prefer to keep the fresh produce and skip the expensive meat. I also eat whatever I had for dinner for lunch the next day. It is easy to grab the container of leftovers on my way out the door to work and I avoid wasting food.

OP here. Thanks. I thought 200 for food (groceries) was already indulgent- it's just me. I spend a lot more than that now, but I don't really need to. I just buy what I want, and honestly don't use everything before it goes bad. Something else I need to work on. I like having a variety of fresh produce on hand. I think I need to work with more frozen or be better about spoilage.

Food budget seems really low. Just make sure the budget is realistic. Also include your debt minimum payments. Once you have that figured out, you can determine how much you can increase your debt payments.

It is good that you have a little extra for misc/shopping as things do come up. You might want to increase that a bit as well if your budget seems too tight. The important thing is that you spend less than you earn, and that you can stick with it.

Try it out for a month and track what you spend, then adjust as needed.

Ok, so how does this sound in terms of budget? OP here.

From take home:

(Transportation taken out of checks)
650 - rent
80 - utilities
200 - savings (will probably cut this one I get savings a bit higher)
35 - cell
200 - food
50 - eating out (i spend way more than this now, so not sure this is a good goal for myself...)
100 - entertainment (probably spend less now...) depends
100 - health (so toiletries, random co pays, etc)
50 - miscellaneous

1440. that would leave me about $1,000 left over a month. clearly im not anywhere close to this now...

Another one for cash only. I am working my way through twice the amount of debt you have. Other things that helped me:
1) if there are places you are more likely to spend unnecessarily, stop going there're altogether. For me that was the mall and restaurants. Even when I was trying to save I'd meet a friend for "just one drink" which would inevitably turn into three plus appetizers. Now I try to meet my friends for something free/fixed cost so I know how much I'll spend in advance and don't go over. This has given me more money each month to put towards the debt, plus it's kind of fun to challenge myself to find new activities
2) mindful grocery shopping. I cut coupons, buy store brand when I can, and really cut out the amount of extras I was buying - didn't need the box of granola bars every week or to try the new flavor of BBQ sauce until the old bottle was empty. Check my cabinets before I go to see what I've already got and always meal plan.
3) cut the cell phone plan. I'm now saving $60/mth off my old plan and that savings goes directly to pay off debt
4) sell your old stuff on eBay. I made about $200.
All these are small savings but they add up over time. Good luck, OP. I know how hard it can be