GET RID OF YOUR CREDIT CARDS so you don't keep adding to your debt. Pay off highest interest rate card first. Devote as much money as you can to getting these debts paid off.

pp thanks for great advice. started today. Felt great to take my paycheck and sink it to a cc. I am going to do this! Very determined.

Anonymous wrote:As with other PPs, I normally advise people to pay off the highest interest payment first as that will save you money in the long run, but I have one caveat. When you have one payment that you can clear entirely in one or two payments, then you can pay that one off so that you have fewer payments to track.

In this case, assuming with your $32K salary and about a 25% withholding rate, you are taking home about $2K per month. Since you have one CC at $15K, one at $12K and one at $1500, I would pay off the $1500 card, and with the remaining $500, I would pay a minimum payment on the CC with the lower interest and the balance on the CC with the higher interest. Next month, you will be down to the two high balance cards and you should pay the minimum payment on the CC with the lower interest and the balance on the CC with the higher interest. Continue doing this until that balance is paid off, then make your full $2K payment on the remaining card until the balance is zero.

An reiterating what another PP said, you need to put those cards away and not use those again until you've paid them off.

Completely agree with this advice and the example. Also, paying off a card balance in full motivates you to knock down those other balances. Good luck OP, and stay away from the credit cards.

As with other PPs, I normally advise people to pay off the highest interest payment first as that will save you money in the long run, but I have one caveat. When you have one payment that you can clear entirely in one or two payments, then you can pay that one off so that you have fewer payments to track.

In this case, assuming with your $32K salary and about a 25% withholding rate, you are taking home about $2K per month. Since you have one CC at $15K, one at $12K and one at $1500, I would pay off the $1500 card, and with the remaining $500, I would pay a minimum payment on the CC with the lower interest and the balance on the CC with the higher interest. Next month, you will be down to the two high balance cards and you should pay the minimum payment on the CC with the lower interest and the balance on the CC with the higher interest. Continue doing this until that balance is paid off, then make your full $2K payment on the remaining card until the balance is zero.

An reiterating what another PP said, you need to put those cards away and not use those again until you've paid them off.

When I was making 35k a year, I only netted 26k after taxes. If OP is making 32k pre-tax, she will probably net something around 24k and will need longer than a year's salary to pay off that 28k in debt.

OP some parts of your post make absolutely zero sense. So none of your salary goes to paying for anything involving the family/household/etc? No wonder your husband is in some debt if he is buying everything.

You say your husband doesn't know about 15K of the debt, which is over half your overall debt. Except you say he's the spender and you're frugal? The fact that you can't see you have a problem is pretty alarming and means you will probably always be getting yourself into debt because you have no accountability.

You can put 15K of your salary into paying off your debt this year? So all 32K of your salary goes right into your account and you do nothing to help with family finances? That seems pretty selfish to then demand that your husband takes care of his portion of the debt, when likely the reason he's in debt is because you don't contribute!

All of this sounds fishy

Anonymous wrote:I think you need to get a second job. With that salary and amount of debt, I don't see you crawling out any time soon. What does your spouse make?

While I think OP is a bit delusional about her debt (not taking responsibility, saying her husband is the spender not her when she has over 50% of the debt and she's hiding it from her husband) it sounds like OP's salary is not used to pay any bills or for anything involving the family, so she can put her entire salary into paying off her debt. Still not sure how she can hide 15K coming out of her salary, but it sounds like she and her husband may not be totally honest about money with each other.

I think you need to get a second job. With that salary and amount of debt, I don't see you crawling out any time soon. What does your spouse make?

Dave Ramsey stat. He's got a simple, motivating, easy-to-follow plan. You can rent his books from the library for free. Trust me, do this.

Anonymous wrote:4 cards total. should I start with highest % or amount first.

HIGHEST PERCENTAGE. but keep all minimum payments going. I'd also phone each one and see if you can get lower interest rates on any of them. You'd phone and say something like: I was noticing my credit card interest rate is X.XX% and that sounds high to me. Can you do anything about it? Truly cannot hurt to ask and every reduction, even a few notches, is going to make a big difference for the situation you are in.

Get a new job.

Anonymous wrote:Agree with PPs who said to cut up your card and use only cash. You sound like the person who has no problem charging anything because you can't see the damage on your wallet. And then it continues to add up and add up until you are in a ton of debt and saying "I couldn't possibly have spent so much. I'm frugal!".

You need to use only cash from now on so you can see where your money is going and how quickly it is going. I did this and it was amazing how much better I was at going to the mall/grocery shopping and not purchasing impulse buys.

I should add I got myself out of 10K of CC debt 5 years ago. While I am now back to using credit cards for groceries/gas/and Christmas, etc (to get the points) I use cash for almost everything else and if there is ever a time I can't pay off my credit card bill when it is due, credit cards will immediately ceased to be used.

Agree with PPs who said to cut up your card and use only cash. You sound like the person who has no problem charging anything because you can't see the damage on your wallet. And then it continues to add up and add up until you are in a ton of debt and saying "I couldn't possibly have spent so much. I'm frugal!".

You need to use only cash from now on so you can see where your money is going and how quickly it is going. I did this and it was amazing how much better I was at going to the mall/grocery shopping and not purchasing impulse buys.

Anonymous wrote:not really blaming my spouse. He is a great guy who likes big toys. I am the frugal one. Hard to believe but true. I am not here to argue, just get the hell out of debt!

Still not making sense. Frugal people don't rack up 15K in credit card debt and hide it from their spouse. I'm assuming this 15K is all yours since your husband doesn't know about it. Which makes 13K possibly all of your husband's spending. Who is the one who has a spending problem? Perhaps your lack of accepting culpability is part of why you are in so much debt.

not really blaming my spouse. He is a great guy who likes big toys. I am the frugal one. Hard to believe but true. I am not here to argue, just get the hell out of debt!