Bored and Interested in Ideas/Advice --UPDATE

[gt7301b]

Jan 5, 2013 14:46:22 GMT -5 @kinmir30 said:

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.

I'd find the money to take lessons. (Maybe, you could trade some tutoring for lessons) I think it will help you so much if you are going to be there any length of time.

[Deleted]

Where can I get an itemized copy of our credit reports for free? What do you use?

I am working on making a list of our debt that's in collections so that we can take a realistic look at that and start making a plan. I have made a list of what I have in my records, but I want to check it to our credit reports.

eta: Oh also, isn't there like a drop off time for collections? Like after so many years, things will just disappear? Do you know what this is? I just think it might be silly to pay on something that could be very close to disappearing. We have had very bad credit for a long time. Am I way off base with this?

[LoveTrains]

I actually would agree with the money for arabic lessons. That could be useful in the long run.

[mrsfarmer]

It drops off after 7 years. Annualcreditreport.com is free for US, not sure for you?

[mollybrown]

I think you've already gotten some great advice, especially about adjusting your views about money. Many of us have impoverished backgrounds and managed to find education and success without taking out $120,000 in student loans. I would hate for a young person to read your comments and think that taking on massive debt straight out of the gate is their only option. As you acknowledge, much of that educational debt could have been avoided. I do understand and respect the sentiment that you would have done ANYTHING to get where you needed to be. You had some financial missteps, and that's okay.

Something to consider is that it will likely be pretty difficult to just fall into a teaching job once you move back to the US, especially if the economy hasn't improved a ton. It is HARD to get a teaching job in many places. I wouldn't plan on having the loans paid off by the government, at all. You need a plan for how you will realistically pay $120,000 plus in SLs back on your future salary. If your loans are forgiven, bonus, but this should not be a part of your master plan.

Good luck making the changes you need.

[Deleted]

Jan 5, 2013 16:00:56 GMT -5 mollybrown said:

I think you've already gotten some great advice, especially about adjusting your views about money. Many of us have impoverished backgrounds and managed to find education and success without taking out $120,000 in student loans. I would hate for a young person to read your comments and think that taking on massive debt straight out of the gate is their only option. As you acknowledge, much of that educational debt could have been avoided. I do understand and respect the sentiment that you would have done ANYTHING to get where you needed to be. You had some financial missteps, and that's okay.

Something to consider is that it will likely be pretty difficult to just fall into a teaching job once you move back to the US, especially if the economy hasn't improved a ton. It is HARD to get a teaching job in many places. I wouldn't plan on having the loans paid off by the government, at all. You need a plan for how you will realistically pay $120,000 plus in SLs back on your future salary. If your loans are forgiven, bonus, but this should not be a part of your master plan.

Good luck making the changes you need.

Thank you!

We would never move back unless I or DH had already secured a job. That would just further our bad financial choices. I would just resign a contract here if I hadn't secured a job in the states. I know it's not a good plan to rely on the loan being forgiven. I want to work on the private loans and the other debt first though, because I feel like the 120k loan is not "bad" debt if I am paying the monthly minimum on time. I know it will continue to grow, but if I can get the rest of the bad debt gone, then we will have extra money to put towards it and maybe a better credit score to try for a lower interest rate.

I know it's something we need to think about, but I feel like it may be a while before we are at that point. We want to focus on clearing up our credit reports first. Is this a bad mentality?

I also hope some 18yr old doesn't see my situation and think it's a good idea. Hopefully they see our struggles and realize it's a stupid idea to take out excess. Go to a cheaper school and only take out the absolute minimum. My SL debt is high because I took out excess and I went to really expensive schools. It's a combination. However, I am extremely satisfied with the education I received. Just not happy with the debt that I accrued doing so.

[macmars45]

Jan 5, 2013 9:47:33 GMT -5 @kinmir30 said:

Jan 5, 2013 9:36:30 GMT -5 vmars said:

Food and Eating Out - $500 - I know you said you can't cut this down, but try and stop eating out, that will help.
Activities - $150 - What are these? Can you stop them temporarily or cut them down? These are just random day trips around Egypt/Cairo
Ace Cards - $100 - again cut it or drastically cut it down.
House Cleaning - $100 - do you have a house cleaner? if so, you don't need one. Yes, we have a housecleaner. Yes we could could this out. It's more just a mental health thing rather than a real necessity. And it's just so cheap to have it. That's $100 for 4hrs a week of cleaning. But, yes, we could definitely cut it out
Hair and Nail Budget - $91 - get a hair cut every 6 months & don't get your nails done I get my hair done usually every 3ish months...but it's because it's dyed brown but I am a blonde, so my roots get really bad. But it's $75 every 3mo.

Your CC debt is not good & should be your 1st priority before any trips. If you save any money payoff your high interest credit cards first. Also, when does the 0% interest end? the 0% is indefinite so long as I don't miss a payment. It's there so I can pay off the debt. The card is closed and the $108 is automatically taken out

So you couldn't be blonde to save money? IMO dying your hair is a want, not a need.

[Deleted]

Ok so re-looking at the budget. I just figured out how we could pay off all of my CCdebt and our collections debt the end of the year. It's totally plausible. But then I was just thinking, what should be a bigger priority, CC#3 or SL#1? They are around the same figure, that's why I am looking at those two. I want to get rid of all CCdebt, but since #3 has 0%interest, I should probably pay off SL#1 instead of CC#3, right?

[audette]

Jan 5, 2013 11:19:32 GMT -5 @kinmir30 said:

Jan 5, 2013 11:10:47 GMT -5 @simpledog said:

Popping in to ask a question about your loans being forgiven. My H is a teacher and this is what we are using for loan forgiveness: studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/charts/teacher#teacher-cancellation

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.

Yes. That and this studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/charts/public-service#what-is-the-public

Yes, I would need to teach in a high needs school. When we move back to the US, that would be the kind of school I would teach in.

I realize it's not a good idea to bank on this plan. But, it's there.

I have no clue if it is possible, but working for a DOD school overseas might qualify for some of the student-loan forgiveness stuff, too. (DH and I are moving to South Korea tomorrow, and there is a DOD school at one of the neighbouring bases that teaches the kids of servicemembers stationed there - the people who staff the school are civilians that are employed by the DOD).

It might be an option for continuing the overseas experience while looking at loan forgiveness. Worth looking at, anyways.

I don't have much advice for the budget other than I find it hard to agree that much of any travel money should be OK when you owe as much as you do. DH and I just spent quite a bit for 2 weeks in Paris, but less than half of what you have budgetted, and we don't qualify for hostels (and our airfare was considerably more than yours will be).

[lys]

Dye your hair it's natural color and then let it grow out to all natural. Stop coloring your hair - both expensive and not good for your hair.

[gt7301b]

Jan 5, 2013 17:54:32 GMT -5 @kinmir30 said:

Ok so re-looking at the budget. I just figured out how we could pay off all of my CCdebt and our collections debt the end of the year. It's totally plausible. But then I was just thinking, what should be a bigger priority, CC#3 or SL#1? They are around the same figure, that's why I am looking at those two. I want to get rid of all CCdebt, but since #3 has 0%interest, I should probably pay off SL#1 instead of CC#3, right?[/quote
Personally, I'd want to get rid of the credit card debt. I imagine the 0% will go away at some point and if it isn't paid off you will be charged interest.

[thegooser]

I just want to say regarding travel... the airline ticket prices you mention are not much cheaper than what they would be in the US, I don't think. They may be a few hundred dollars less, but when looking at the types of vacations you're pricing out, an extra $500 in airfare is not that big of a savings to prioritize it over getting out of collections and saving for retirement. You can take that $17k vacation when you're in a better place financially, even if you're living in the US at that point.

I think you should re-focus your travel plans and make them less Westernized. Maybe Israel? Morocco? Turkey? Maybe go where the cheap flights take you? Try to loosen your grip on whatever ideal vacation you have in your mind, take 2k, and go where you can afford to go. Those can be the most rewarding trips anyway.

[Deleted]

UPDATE
Just wanted to give a bit of an update so that you know all of your advice and suggestions didn't go to waste!

The night of the op I looked through our records and pulled our credit reports so that I could get an exact picture of our debts......and made a spreadsheet listing them, the amounts and expected drop off dates so we could prioritize.

I re-adjusted our budget to reflect some of the changes discussed here. I cut our grocery budget down, cut our activity budget down. I added in a debt payoff line, a travel savings line, and a general savings line and added an extra $100 to pay each month towards SL2. When I looked at our debt plus our excess income, I was able to make a plan that will have us pay off CC1, CC2, SL1 and all of our collections debt (minus one big ticket item) by the end of the year! That was with a $400/mo travel savings and a $180/mo general savings. The general savings will increase by $200 after two months when we expect to have CC1 and CC2 paid off.

We also gave up on the idea of a big euro trip for now. And we are looking at a spring break trip to Naples where we would stay with a family friend and pay only $670 for airfare. If the accommodations fall through, we will probably stay in Egypt and just go over to the Red Sea for an escape instead to stay within budget.

Oh and we have cooked at home for the last three nights! which is a record for our time in Cairo. I am proud of that accomplishment alone! haha.

Thanks for knocking a bit of sense into us and for helping steer us in the right direction. It felt like such a relief just to "write" down all of our debts and really look at a plan to "free" ourselves.

Just made this post as a big thanks! I know you guys give budget advice all the time, so I just wanted to let you know that I really appreciated it...even some of the tough love.

[lys]

Nice job. You think you are happy and proud of yourselves now - just wait unit you have these paid off!!!

[lolo]

One other suggestion is to use xe.com for your money transfers, which might save you a bit on transferring money back and forth between the US and Egypt.

Paypal also had more reasonable fees than most banks.

[hlke]

I think the tradeoff of your travel budget vs. general savings vs. retirement savings is yours to make. But your DH is 31, and I'm not sure how long you plan to be expats. If he waits much longer on retirement savings he will be very behind.

Any chance your DH can get a job at your school? My sister was an expat teacher at an international school, and her DH taught Phys Ed with only a high school degree. Nearly doubled their income.

Where do you see yourself in five years? My sister spent five years abroad and came home with zero money saved, despite having her housing paid for, food being cheaper, etc. I completely understand wanting to travel, but it needs to be balanced with other priorities.

I think the ideas about keeping your travel more local are good suggestions. Take advantage of the cheapness/shortness of flights going East. What about Nepal? ($560 airfare per person) Dubai? ($285 per person) Beirut? Morocco? You guys are young and this should be adventure travel, not luxury travel. You are on a Lonely Planet budget. Speaking of, you can buy Lonely Planet guides by the chapter in PDF from their site. Much cheaper than buying English language books abroad.

Watch your spending when you come back to the U.S. Don't buy things just because they are cheaper than in Cairo, or because you can't get it in Cairo. Only buy things you NEED. Every item you have in Cairo you will eventually need to leave there or ship home. The cost of OWNING things as an expat is much more than just the cost of buying things.

Also don't buy things in Cario just because they seem like "such a good deal". Yes, you can get tons of cleaning for only $100 a month, but do you need it? Can you get someone who can come weekly for just $25? Or forgo it entirely. We have more disposable income than you but don't have a housekeeper.

You are definitely headed in the right direction, and it's amazing that you have a plan to pay off all your debts. Once your debts are paid off, you'll have even more disposable income, right? Think about what a great position you'll be in then.