Debt...and bills....

This post was originally one about the main reason we've been holding back on having another baby. MONEY....

We have a lot of debt that we have been trying to snowball to get rid of. I'm not afraid or ashamed of our debts, just something to learn from in our young age. I'm VERY proud we don't have credit card debt. Most of it is for cars and college loans. (which are legit) Our monthly debt payments are:

1. $332.00--- our 2006 car, which probably was a mistake for us to buy a NEW car but it's also been great to travel with and to have the security of a warranty ($6,900 left to pay and the loan is supposed to be paid in April of 2012, which I hope to have paid off sooner)
2. $130.00---our minivan we had to buy a couple years ago when our other older car died (we're trying to pay this one off before it dies with over 100,000 miles...) We owe less than $2700 on this thing!!!
3. $52.00---college private loan of mine (only $1390 left)
4. $52.00---college private loan of my hubby's (only $172 left)
5. $74.00---vet bill from our pug's surgery 2 years ago ($650 left)
6. mortgage ($1702 a month) and our big school loan ($142.00 a month) ---these will not be snowballed anytime soon.....

So if you know anything about snowballing your debt (and if you don't-do some quick research), we will soon have debt #4 and 5 paid off. (which is $126 towards the next snowball) Then we can work on #2 and 3. Paying off all four of those debts would "save" us $308 a month. This doesn't seem like a lot now, but that's a week and 1/2 worth of daycare, plus just less debt!

But is this enough? Our total net pay we make each month is around $5,000. Our debt monthly bills (minus mortgage) cost us about $800. Then add our high mortgage and our total monthly payments are now $2500. HALF OF WHAT WE MAKE!!! That doesn't even account for our electric bill (about $115), cable/internet ($167), cell phone ($98), car insurace ($157), quarterly water/sewage bill ($230), and quarterly life insurance ($45). Our total bills and debt payments are around: $3000 a month. (geesh!)

$2000 left, right? Kind of. Subtract daycare ($520 a month), plus groceries (about $425 a month), gym membership ($44), gas (who knows), eating out, and other expensives...That leaves less than $1000, especially when you subtract the "other expensives" and unforeseen costs of daily life.

We cut it close every month and only have about $3,000 in our savings account. (which would be devastated with one unforeseen house or car cost) Scary.....

Typing all our debt and bills makes me reconsider some of the payments we make that we can lower, especially the cable/internet! But the other bills, I don't think I can do anything about.

I'm doing the snowball thing with whatever money we have, trying to change/break some bad spending habits (like eating out), using coupons and sales, and cutting back on things (like not enrolling my child in dance class that cost $44 a month and ending my gym membership in Sept.). Not having Allie in dance is killing me, though, as our neighbors with a girl her age is going to participate this year.

Does anyone else have any suggestions? I really want to get OUT of debt, SAVE more money, yet maybe add another little one into the mix! Am I crazy? I mean, people with FAR less money than we have have multiple kids.

HELP!