We got out of consumer debt that was just over 100k in 18 months. Our income is about 100k higher than yours, but we do have an AuPair so our childcare expenses are pretty high.

The key is we have a pretty low mortgage due to living in Loudoun county. A crutial piece of info missing is what's your housing expenses and equity? Because people telling you to pack your lunch are really good missing it. Packing lunch won't dig you out of this.

What we did was went through every single bill and figured out ways to lower it, we then tracked ALL spending each month and each month fought to lower it. We removed our kids from travel sports ( they survived). We not only paid off the debt, we now have a quickly growing cash savings. We are up to 40k in cash now.

I suspect the OP got 2 newish cars because the ones they had was really high in mileage, and simply ran it's course. The other theory is they got new cars when kids came into the picture. I do agree with the person that said they shoudl have got a mini van to begin with, and especially with the gas prices today.

As others said, bring your lunch in. I see people eat out every day, usually fast food. 10 years ago, most meals would be $5. Now, they are closer to $10. I go out one day a week for lunch, otherwise, I bring mine in and make multiple meals out of one thing.

Yeah, 285K is a lot of money for this area, and the other thing the OP can do is download Quicken or Microsoft Money, download all your transactions from your bank for the last year (or two) and categorize everything. Yes, this will take a few hours. Then, look at your spending, you will probably find other ways to cut corners.

Anonymous wrote:(not a huge amount by DC standards, $285k HHI.

Anonymous wrote:We did the online Dave Ramsey course, it was $99. Both you and your husband need to do the course together. Alternatively, buy Dave Ramsey's book and listen to his podcasts.

His plan is very simple and he makes so much sense and has a great delivery.

Even better is to get the book from the library.

I would check out You Need A Budget. I could never stick to a budget until I found this software/system.

We live comfortably on less than that. Many things need to change.

We did the online Dave Ramsey course, it was $99. Both you and your husband need to do the course together. Alternatively, buy Dave Ramsey's book and listen to his podcasts.

His plan is very simple and he makes so much sense and has a great delivery.

Best way is to get rid of the debt as soon as possible by cutting out anything you can, i.e. cut cable or cell bill if you have that and put the money on the debt instead. When debt-free pay yourself first - so increase your monthly 401K contribution so you don't even receive the money.
Do you need two cars? If you can make do with one, sell the other and pay down debt.
Good luck to u.

Dave Ramsey has an excellent plan for getting out of debt. Even for HHI families.

OP you need a real budget. A real budget with all expenses over the course of the year. Car maintenance, house maintenance, dr bills that are unreimbursed. If you aren't doing a childcare flex account then you should be.

Without seeing your complete budget I can't make more specific suggestions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Check out mr money moustache.

I never got why anyone recommends that site. It reads like it should be named how to live dirt poor and be a millionaire. Someone on there once wrote he had two toilets. One he peed in all day and only flushed once a day, the other was his poop toilet which he lined with a garbage bag, used it then put in a dumpster. To save money on water. He had a wife and two kids living there also.

To OP, until you budget meaning write down needs vs. wants and pay down your debt, you will never be debt free. Your HHI is more than enough to handle your pay downs. Start with the small bills then tackle the larger ones. Get rid of that credit card until you get your debt under control.

You, husband, sit, figure, make it work. It's not that hard.

Good luck. If we can do it, you can.

That's funny about mmm. However I can see how reading the site could really help someone who has NO clue about finances or how to save money!

Well, I suspect your car payments too high and probably your mortgage too. If you want legit advice, you need to post real figures.

Anonymous wrote:Check out mr money moustache.

I never got why anyone recommends that site. It reads like it should be named how to live dirt poor and be a millionaire. Someone on there once wrote he had two toilets. One he peed in all day and only flushed once a day, the other was his poop toilet which he lined with a garbage bag, used it then put in a dumpster. To save money on water. He had a wife and two kids living there also.

To OP, until you budget meaning write down needs vs. wants and pay down your debt, you will never be debt free. Your HHI is more than enough to handle your pay downs. Start with the small bills then tackle the larger ones. Get rid of that credit card until you get your debt under control.

You, husband, sit, figure, make it work. It's not that hard.

Good luck. If we can do it, you can.

I would recommend signing up for Mint (mint.com -- it's free), and then linking it to your bank and credit card accounts to help you start breaking down your spending. You'll need to put in some work to double check Mint's classifications of everything, but it'll be a good starting point. Then look at your spending for at least the first six months and see where your money is going. It's easy to sign up for a bunch of kid activities when it's just a couple hundred dollars here and there, but then you add it up and it annualizes to $4k a year, and you realize how obscene it is. Or how much you're spending on clothing when your kids don't wear half of what's in their closets. Or what you're spending on groceries because you buy everything at Whole Foods rather than Giant. Or how much you spending on take-out because you buy lunch every day at work and get it twice a week for dinner too. Once you see where all of your money is going, you may find some really obvious areas to cut back and free up a few hundred dollars a month to put toward your debt. Use that to work on paying off your credit card debt as quickly as possible, and then go from there.

Also remember - you did not get all of the debt at once - so make a reasonable plan for getting out of it - and celebrate your success!

Target your credit card debt first and set a goal. I am going to pay down $15K in credit card debt this year! This will be through: eliminating children's activities through 2016, bringing lunch every day for the remainder of 2016. On days when I can not bring lunch I will have a simple lunch of soup or chili at a deli.

We will do a staycation or a budget vacation this year.

We will not use credit cards for the upcoming year - only cash for all purchases (another great way to think about the $ you are spending).