17k is ridiculous even for 2 months. You need to be realistic. This is why you have so much cc debt. What is your husband doing when someone else cleans your house?
Pay off ccs 1&2 with your first months excess.
Then split the remainder between debt payoff and a travel fund. It isn't all or nothing. I agree that you should take advantage of where you are, but you have a shit ton of debt.
I'm guessing that when your consolidation loan payments start you're going to be looking at $500+ a month. That will cut into your travel plans a lot.
If/when your husband gets a job, you can readdress lots of travel. You at least need to scale back your plans. How about one or two cities for shorter.
You also need to look into exactly what is in collections and arrange payment plans for that.
Looks like $17,500 on direct subsidized and unsubsidized and sub/unsub Stafford Loans and potentially forgiveness of Perkins Loans, but those are typically only given for $5,000 a year. However for service starting after 2004 (which I assume yours is? maybe not?) you need to teach special ed or secondary school math/science in a high need area to get the $17,500.
Are you looking at a different type of forgiveness program? Also note that for this to apply you need to teach in a low income school, so you would need to make sure that you can get a job and keep it.
Not trying to be picky... it's just that we are navigating the same things now too.
17k is ridiculous even for 2 months. You need to be realistic. This is why you have so much cc debt. What is your husband doing when someone else cleans your house?
Pay off ccs 1&2 with your first months excess.
Then split the remainder between debt payoff and a travel fund. It isn't all or nothing. I agree that you should take advantage of where you are, but you have a shit ton of debt.
I'm guessing that when your consolidation loan payments start you're going to be looking at $500+ a month. That will cut into your travel plans a lot.
If/when your husband gets a job, you can readdress lots of travel. You at least need to scale back your plans. How about one or two cities for shorter.
You also need to look into exactly what is in collections and arrange payment plans for that.
Yes, we need to do that. We just want to work on the CCs first and then move to collections.
DH does need to get a job. There is a virtual Egypt job fair tomorrow actually that he is attending. He is actively looking for work here and has been since we got here. Also, just fyi, we are only taking out SLs for him for the cost of tuition. Nothing extra. His school is also relatively cheap.
Others have given good advice but I just want to reiterate that you have been consistently living way above and beyond your means. You seriously have the problem of champagne dreams on a beer budget...you can't afford any of the things you posted!
and as a teacher, after 10yrs of paying on time, my SL debt is forgiven.
Don't you have to be teaching in a title I or low-income school in the US for that to work?
I think it just has to be a not for profit, but I am guessing it is a US non-profit. Why would the US government want to reward someone for working outside of the US? I don't think this program would apply unless the OP moved back to the US.
Don't you have to be teaching in a title I or low-income school in the US for that to work?
I think it just has to be a not for profit, but I am guessing it is a US non-profit. Why would the US government want to reward someone for working outside of the US? I don't think this program would apply unless the OP moved back to the US.
yah, the program would only work/start once we moved back.
You keep saying how you don't want to be frugal and you want to experience things now. That is fine. The problem is, you can't experience *everything* now. Or you can, but you're going to be paying for it for a very long time.
Your dream was to live abroad and teach? Great, you took on $120k of debt to make that happen. Enjoy it. The attitude of needing a house cleaner, 2 international vacations a year, etc for "mental health" just sounds entitled and a little out of line with the financial situation you've created for yourself. You have $150,000 in debt (and an income disproportionate to this debt), no mention of retirement savings, and a 31-year-old husband who is accruing more SL debt for a BA. I'd just be careful because as fun as some of these things may seem right now, you do not want to be playing catch up forever. Catch up is definitely not good for mental health.
I only said we didn't want to be frugal about that one trip because we want to experience it in a certain way.
We want to be frugal in our budget so that we can afford to take nice trips in the long run. I also don't have an attitude of needing a housecleaner. I said early on that, yes, we should get rid of that. It is not needed.
Also, if you were living in Cairo, you would understand the "mental health" need of getting out every now and then. It is an overwhelming city and sometimes you need to get away. And yes, for mental health. But I did say, we could do a much cheaper trip for $1000....or even less if we shortened it and it would still get us out and away for a few days. I said we "wanted" to get out of Egypt. We don't "need" to get out of Egypt, but we do need to get out of Cairo if only for a 3-4day trip to the red sea.
Also, I didn't take out $120k to be a teacher overseas. I took out student loans to become a teacher and make a life for myself. I didn't have parents to pay for my schooling or to even advise me on not taking out too much. I was young and I wanted to go to college. And if that meant taking out loans that had high interest rates, it didn't matter to me. Getting a degree did. I was going to college one way or another. Now, sure I realize that I should have been smarter about it...
"You have $150,000 in debt (and an income disproportionate to this debt)," welcome to the life of a teacher. yes, my debt is too high, but even if it wasn't higher than it should be, it would still be at least $80k.....and if I was in the states, my income as a teacher would be significantly less. When I taught there I was bringing on $2400/mo.
I can see you were not actually interested in advice.
I'm sorry you grew up poor without parents who could model responsible spending/saving. I did too.
"Also, I didn't take out $120k to be a teacher overseas. I took out student loans to become a teacher and make a life for myself. I didn't have parents to pay for my schooling or to even advise me on not taking out too much. I was young and I wanted to go to college. And if that meant taking out loans that had high interest rates, it didn't matter to me. Getting a degree did. I was going to college one way or another. Now, sure I realize that I should have been smarter about it..."
You have entitlement issues. You need a wake-up call more than you need a budget. Many people don't have parents who pay for their schooling or advise them, that doesn't mean that they take out $120k in student loans to be a teacher. Plus you admitted that a lot of it was for living expenses. You had to know the expected income. You are approaching living overseas the exact same way. I'm young, I want to travel. I want a new wardrobe, blah blah...
What is your h studying? Also what is his student loan debt?
-Cut Housecleaning - Savings of $100 -Cut Food/Eating Out/Ace - (I think we could realistically bring it to $400) - Savings of $200 -Cut Hair/Nails - I can easily cut out nails, but DH needs haircuts, and they are only $5, and I can't go without getting my roots done....I just can't, flame away)-bring down to $50 - Savings of $40
-Monthly savings of $340
Pay off CC 1 and 2 in two months, leaves another $200
So that's an extra $540, on top of the $1029. Total of $1579 excess each month.
Then there was advice of splitting that into general savings, travel savings, and debt pay off, which would be $525 to each.
I had a teacher friend who traveled during summer breaks to Europe, Asia, etc. and backpacked. She was in her late 20's early 30's. $17K is too much. What about traveling all over Asia? You can backpack/travel there for much, much cheaper than you budgeted for Europe.
I only said we didn't want to be frugal about that one trip because we want to experience it in a certain way.
We want to be frugal in our budget so that we can afford to take nice trips in the long run. I also don't have an attitude of needing a housecleaner. I said early on that, yes, we should get rid of that. It is not needed.
Also, if you were living in Cairo, you would understand the "mental health" need of getting out every now and then. It is an overwhelming city and sometimes you need to get away. And yes, for mental health. But I did say, we could do a much cheaper trip for $1000....or even less if we shortened it and it would still get us out and away for a few days. I said we "wanted" to get out of Egypt. We don't "need" to get out of Egypt, but we do need to get out of Cairo if only for a 3-4day trip to the red sea.
Also, I didn't take out $120k to be a teacher overseas. I took out student loans to become a teacher and make a life for myself. I didn't have parents to pay for my schooling or to even advise me on not taking out too much. I was young and I wanted to go to college. And if that meant taking out loans that had high interest rates, it didn't matter to me. Getting a degree did. I was going to college one way or another. Now, sure I realize that I should have been smarter about it...
"You have $150,000 in debt (and an income disproportionate to this debt)," welcome to the life of a teacher. yes, my debt is too high, but even if it wasn't higher than it should be, it would still be at least $80k.....and if I was in the states, my income as a teacher would be significantly less. When I taught there I was bringing on $2400/mo.
I can see you were not actually interested in advice.
I'm sorry you grew up poor without parents who could model responsible spending/saving. I did too.
you didn't give any advice. you just flamed. I responded.
Also, I am not using my past as an excuse. I just gave it as information to help explain where I got where I am. I realize we need to have a huge shift of our habits of spending and our mentality around it. I haven't denied that.
I had a teacher friend who traveled during summer breaks to Europe, Asia, etc. and backpacked. She was in her late 20's early 30's. $17K is too much. What about traveling all over Asia? You can backpack/travel there for much, much cheaper than you budgeted for Europe.
You are right. It's unrealistic with our finances they way they are.
We should pay off our CCs, collections and private SLs before we save for a large trip like that.
You keep saying how you don't want to be frugal and you want to experience things now. That is fine. The problem is, you can't experience *everything* now. Or you can, but you're going to be paying for it for a very long time.
Your dream was to live abroad and teach? Great, you took on $120k of debt to make that happen. Enjoy it. The attitude of needing a house cleaner, 2 international vacations a year, etc for "mental health" just sounds entitled and a little out of line with the financial situation you've created for yourself. You have $150,000 in debt (and an income disproportionate to this debt), no mention of retirement savings, and a 31-year-old husband who is accruing more SL debt for a BA. I'd just be careful because as fun as some of these things may seem right now, you do not want to be playing catch up forever. Catch up is definitely not good for mental health.
I only said we didn't want to be frugal about that one trip because we want to experience it in a certain way.
We want to be frugal in our budget so that we can afford to take nice trips in the long run. I also don't have an attitude of needing a housecleaner. I said early on that, yes, we should get rid of that. It is not needed.
Also, if you were living in Cairo, you would understand the "mental health" need of getting out every now and then. It is an overwhelming city and sometimes you need to get away. And yes, for mental health. But I did say, we could do a much cheaper trip for $1000....or even less if we shortened it and it would still get us out and away for a few days. I said we "wanted" to get out of Egypt. We don't "need" to get out of Egypt, but we do need to get out of Cairo if only for a 3-4day trip to the red sea.
Also, I didn't take out $120k to be a teacher overseas. I took out student loans to become a teacher and make a life for myself. I didn't have parents to pay for my schooling or to even advise me on not taking out too much. I was young and I wanted to go to college. And if that meant taking out loans that had high interest rates, it didn't matter to me. Getting a degree did. I was going to college one way or another. Now, sure I realize that I should have been smarter about it...
"You have $150,000 in debt (and an income disproportionate to this debt)," welcome to the life of a teacher. yes, my debt is too high, but even if it wasn't higher than it should be, it would still be at least $80k.....and if I was in the states, my income as a teacher would be significantly less. When I taught there I was bringing on $2400/mo.
LOL @ "welcome to the life of a teacher"....being a teacher has nothing to do with needing $120k in student loans, or even $80k in student loans. I would love some teachers to chime in on this post and tell us all about how they were required to take out "at least $80k" in student loans.
If you did stupid things when you were younger, great, but don't blame it on the teaching profession.
I only said we didn't want to be frugal about that one trip because we want to experience it in a certain way.
We want to be frugal in our budget so that we can afford to take nice trips in the long run. I also don't have an attitude of needing a housecleaner. I said early on that, yes, we should get rid of that. It is not needed.
Also, if you were living in Cairo, you would understand the "mental health" need of getting out every now and then. It is an overwhelming city and sometimes you need to get away. And yes, for mental health. But I did say, we could do a much cheaper trip for $1000....or even less if we shortened it and it would still get us out and away for a few days. I said we "wanted" to get out of Egypt. We don't "need" to get out of Egypt, but we do need to get out of Cairo if only for a 3-4day trip to the red sea.
Also, I didn't take out $120k to be a teacher overseas. I took out student loans to become a teacher and make a life for myself. I didn't have parents to pay for my schooling or to even advise me on not taking out too much. I was young and I wanted to go to college. And if that meant taking out loans that had high interest rates, it didn't matter to me. Getting a degree did. I was going to college one way or another. Now, sure I realize that I should have been smarter about it...
"You have $150,000 in debt (and an income disproportionate to this debt)," welcome to the life of a teacher. yes, my debt is too high, but even if it wasn't higher than it should be, it would still be at least $80k.....and if I was in the states, my income as a teacher would be significantly less. When I taught there I was bringing on $2400/mo.
LOL @ "welcome to the life of a teacher"....being a teacher has nothing to do with needing $120k in student loans, or even $80k in student loans. I would love some teachers to chime in on this post and tell us all about how they were required to take out "at least $80k" in student loans.
If you did stupid things when you were younger, great, but don't blame it on the teaching profession.
that's not quite the way I meant it.
buttt that's the disadvantage of a message board. It was meant as a joke.
my income will always be disproportionate to my sl debt. but that was the decision I made when I decided to be a teacher.
Really I am just looking for advice on what I need to do to save more and the order of which to tackle my debt.
Not looking for criticism on the fact the my SL debt is ridiculously high or that my 31yr old husband is going back to school to make a better life for himself as well.
But at the same time, I didn't expect any less by putting this out there.
Kinmir, you seem upset by my post, as evidenced by quoting it later.
To be clear, I wasn't typing that for funsies or to make you feel like shit. I pointed out your high SL debt and your husband's choices re: his own education because I think you need to see them for what they are - choices that mean big sacrifices in other areas of your life. I just don't see how a $17,000 vacation fits in with the choices you made/are making. But it sounds like you are rethinking that now, which is great.
I think it just has to be a not for profit, but I am guessing it is a US non-profit. Why would the US government want to reward someone for working outside of the US? I don't think this program would apply unless the OP moved back to the US.
yah, the program would only work/start once we moved back.
Ok. So in other words - you can't plan on it. You are talking about staying abroad for another 3+ years. If you move back at that point, the 10 year forgiveness clock starts then (assuming you get a job right away, which isn't a sure thing with teaching jobs these days). So when figuring out your overall plans, you need to keep that in mind. Nothing wrong with it - just don't have the mindset "my loans will be gone in 10 years" because it's not true.
I only said we didn't want to be frugal about that one trip because we want to experience it in a certain way.
Dude. Everyone wants to experience things a certain way. Unfortunately, you can't afford to experience a $17k trip right now. Nor likely in the next few years. You do realize that kind of expensive trip is the kind of thing most people save years and years and years for, a once in a lifetime kind of thing, right? What you're talking about is the kind of trip that people skip all vacations for while they save for their huge dream trip, the kind they take for a big anniversary celebration. You are in massive amounts of debt and actively incurring more, your husband doesn't have a job, and frankly, you don't make very much yourself. You are saving nothing for your future. But you are trying to somehow justify spending over $20,000 on vacations in the next 2-3 years.
I understand wanting to take advantage of living overseas, but you will enjoy it more if you are in a better place financially. Also you are young. You have lots of time to see the world and it doesn't sound like you have a deadline of moving back to the US, so I would slow down on the travel plans until you have some debt gone.
I would do the following: Move to a $600 place- save $300 Cut the housekeeper- save $100 Cut down hair/nails to $50- save $41.
Add all of that to your $1000 surplus. I would then get out of cc debt including cc3 then pay off SL 2. 12% is super high. Then I would pay off SL 1 since it is pretty small.
What is in collections? I'm confused. You have the 120k SL debt, but are there cc or medical bills in collections?
I only said we didn't want to be frugal about that one trip because we want to experience it in a certain way.
Dude. Everyone wants to experience things a certain way. Unfortunately, you can't afford to experience a $17k trip right now. Nor likely in the next few years. You do realize that kind of expensive trip is the kind of thing most people save years and years and years for, a once in a lifetime kind of thing, right? What you're talking about is the kind of trip that people skip all vacations for while they save for their huge dream trip, the kind they take for a big anniversary celebration. You are in massive amounts of debt and actively incurring more, your husband doesn't have a job, and frankly, you don't make very much yourself. You are saving nothing for your future. But you are trying to somehow justify spending over $20,000 on vacations in the next 2-3 years.
I agree with this. DH and I plan and are saving to go to Peru in late 2015-early 2016; and that's likely going to be about $5K+. This is supposed to be our BIG trip. :-(
i would be making MUCH MUCH less if I didn't have a masters.
Ash, where we are it's not required but has you starting at a different pay level.
It depends on the state in which you are certified. Where I live you can't get a permanent certification without one, and a temporary certification is only good for a couple of years.
Where did I say $70/mo for groceries? If I did, that was like my first week here. Haha. Maybe I said if I had a falafel sandwich for every meal? I don't remember this.
We are spending too much on food. I said in an earlier post that we could drop to $400 realistically...that is a $200 savings. We don't buy imported food, except for meat. Meat is really expensive and we will only buy from reputable sources. We shop at local markets for fruits/vegetables and other necessities.
I also realize that a huge trip like we were "dreaming" about is completely unrealistic right now. It is a much better idea for us to just a have a travel savings line and do random small trips. We are now thinking for spring break to go to Rome/Naples. We have family friends there, so no accomodations and flights are $670. So we could do a 6day trip for around $1200 probably or less. Sure it's still more than a couple nights at a hotel, but that's substantially lower than a $3000 spring break trip....don't know what we were thinking there...but it will still get us out for Egypt for a lot less.
So by end of April, we could still have CC1 and 2 paid off and a short trip and then some. Better plan, or are we still crazy to take a $1200 trip?
Oh also, I do get paid USD not LE. They split it for me so I have two accounts, one for USD and one for LE, but my yearly salary is USD and when they split to LE it's converted appropriately.
-I have given up the $1000 clothing. You guys are right. That's way too much. Also, I do have a tailor that I take clothes to, to save them, but some things haven't been able to be saved. Maybe we will save $500 for the two of us. I do need some new clothes. I have only 3pairs of pants here and 2 skirts, at this point. But no, I don't need to spend $1000. I think that was just some arbitrary number we threw out and didn't actually think about.
Our spending habits do need a complete overhaul. I know this....but putting it all out there.......flames and all...helps me see more flaws. And I feel like I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel...Thanks!
Where did I say $70/mo for groceries? If I did, that was like my first week here. Haha. Maybe I said if I had a falafel sandwich for every meal? I don't remember
So by end of April, we could still have CC1 and 2 paid off and a short trip and then some. Better plan, or are we still crazy to take a $1200 trip?
October 8, when you had been in Cairo for 2 months: "if you choose to buy local, we can do our grocery shopping for about $70 for the month."
I need to go look at this. Haha. I don't know what the heck I was thinking......Of maybe my H posted this.....we both post on there.
I know it is not possible for us to do it for $70/mo unless is pasta and tomato sauce for every dinner and eggs for every breakfast. and even then.
But it is very possible for us to cut the $600 down to $400 or even maybe $350.
eta: can't go look to remind myself because blogger is being stupid and won't load
My DH and I spend less than $350 on groceries in the US. I live in a LCOL area, and I don't know anything about Cairo, but it seems much cheaper to live there. I think you could cut it to at least $350.
I didn't read your whole post...too long but I agree with most pp's. I will say though, why can't you just dye your hair back to blonde then stay blonde until you can afford to be brunette again?
I also understand wanting to experience things when on vacation. H and I spare no expense when we vacation, but if you can't afford it then you just can't afford if. Get your debts in order and rough it out until you can truly afford to enjoy the life you want.
As for closing CC1, if you've already got stuff in collections then chances are your credit is already shot. You might as well pay it off and close it if they won't waive your annual fee. Once your credit is ok again then you can open a new CC but make sure there's no annual fee next time.
I think you have a choice to make. If you are serious about your debt you need to cut back on things now. I realize that you are living in Cairo and want to enjoy yourself, but don't ask for advice if you aren't willing to listen to any of it.
Personally, I think you can live a good life in Cairo on MUCH less than you are spending now. I went to Cairo to visit my best friend a few years ago and I was AMAZED at how cheap things were. I'd start by making small changes, decide to cook at home during the week and go out only on the weekends. (Or eat that dreaded falafel sandwich for lunch!!!) Things may be different than we were there but we could eat a REALLY nice meal for ~ 20 us dollars a person. We ordered out one night and gotta ridiculous amount of food delivered for 5 from multiple places and the total bill was less than 20 bucks.
Do you speak arabic? I found that the better the arabic of the folks we were traveling with the better our negotiations went. I think putting an emphasis on developing your language skills could help save money.
I think you have a choice to make. If you are serious about your debt you need to cut back on things now. I realize that you are living in Cairo and want to enjoy yourself, but don't ask for advice if you aren't willing to listen to any of it.
Personally, I think you can live a good life in Cairo on MUCH less than you are spending now. I went to Cairo to visit my best friend a few years ago and I was AMAZED at how cheap things were. I'd start by making small changes, decide to cook at home during the week and go out only on the weekends. (Or eat that dreaded falafel sandwich for lunch!!!) Things may be different than we were there but we could eat a REALLY nice meal for ~ 20 us dollars a person. We ordered out one night and gotta ridiculous amount of food delivered for 5 from multiple places and the total bill was less than 20 bucks.
Do you speak arabic? I found that the better the arabic of the folks we were traveling with the better our negotiations went. I think putting an emphasis on developing your language skills could help save money.
We are taking advice and are already looking at and making the changes that you guys have suggested. We are absolutely going to get those two CCs paid off in the next two months, and go from there, with the advice given.
We do eat out wayyy too much and right now, as we speak, we are working on meal planning/budgeting. I have no problem eating falafel. I just meant earlier that the only way to do $70/mo is to eat falafel for every meal. I just can't do that....Haha. My lunch is really low for the budget and I don't really eat breakfast. It's dinner that kills us. Yes, eating out is extremely cheap. We can eat out quite well for $15 and really well for $25 for both of us. We just do it too much.
I don't speak very much Arabic. Just enough to get around. I really want to start lessons......but was afraid to put that out there since I am already being flamed about our spending. It may just not be an option right now. But to throw it out there, because it could very well help us with savings, it would be $120/mo for both of us to take lessons. Not too much in the grand scheme of things, but still an extra spending line.