The debt I have outstanding is killing me

[Liesje]

Omg it's so nice to read this. Student loan is totally on my back, I have two credit cards, a cell phone ... *sigh* I'm still living with my parents again which I HATE, I'm used to being on my own and it's a huge compromise.

I have TWO, count em, TWO jobs that bore me to freaking tears and neither of them are giving me enough hours. I'm thinking of working full time graveyards at a gas station just to be able to pay my bills.

*sigh*

I wanna crawl under a rock.

Yeah, I agree about the so-nice-to-know-I'm-not-the-only-one-screwed. Thank God I've been able to avoid credit cards and cell phones! The student loans are inhumance, seriously. I wonder when things will change. When my mom was in college (late 70s), it was 1/4 the price (I'm at the same private college she went to) AND it getting scholarships was so much less competative. She had like a 3.4 in HS and never did much, but she got a FULL RIDE Now you have to be class pres. with a 4.5 GPA and 485784275874 hrs of extra curriculars to even be considered.

Last semester in Econ we watched a video about a couple to had to declare bankruptcy b/c of $20,000 credit card debt. No one else in the class paid one second of attention, but I remember shrinking in my seat thinking "good God, I have more than that already and I'm only 19!!!"

Right now I spend my time working my two jobs or trying not to think about it. Last semester I got good grades in an effort to get some $$$ from the state or private grants.

If moving home after college was an option, I'd probably take it, but as it stands, my parents can't afford me anymore than I can I know they feel like shit b/c they can't help me pay a cent of any of my tuition, food, rent, books, etc. Last year, my dad wrote my uncle a really nasty letter b/c my uncle is on the Board at my college and was approving a $2000 raise in tuition. Everyone I know of that started school in my same situation has dropped out b/c of money. The other day, my advisor advised me against starting my own business b/c of my debt

MONEY SUCKS!!! doesn't it? We all need to join a support group or something...

those in debt

 

[Leeloo]

Anyone is lucky to have your parents take you back in to save and not charge for rent, utilities and food

Been there, done that, see the quote in my sig.

 

[Angela Harlem]

well here is the latest update.

suck it up and tuck the tail in between my legs and move back home with the folks for a short time until i pay the debt off and start to look for ways to buy a home.

move in with my male friends who are at this time on my nerves.
(i have no single female friends left)

post an ad on a rent site and look for a roommate.

things to think about.

Dont advertise and dont move in with the guys. You cant afford the odds of getting a crappy flatmate. Your male friends might still be pissing you off in August too. Living with the parents is a means to an end.
Sorry to sound like I'm lecturing lol. It just doesn't sound like either of these will help. You seem very focused on getting the finances back on track and living with these guys might become a major mental/emotional pain in the arse if any of you start falling out, there's the temptation to spend more when actually living with friends too and who's to say their situations will stay stable enough while yours is carefully balanced. As for the living with a stranger, there are way too many variables to go wrong. I could never do it. If you can stick it out at your parents place you might even be able to save even more than you are planning for. And unlike the others, they wont make you sign a lease!

Money is a shit. I swear.

 

[Justified]

thanks Angela, I totally agree with what you said.

 

[melon]

Welcome to America! Sure, the 1980s were high-flying, but only for the wealthy. Wages got slashed and personal debt skyrocketed. College tuition skyrocketed; in the 1970s, it was possible to work during a summer and make enough money to pay for an entire year of a private college. Nowadays, it isn't even feasible to buy a new car at all, let alone loans! Welcome to auto leases--putting money into something that ends up going right back to the company that made it.

America is a downright mess, and no one is willing to admit it. It is a downright CRIME that we have to be saddled with so much debt just to LIVE. And the worst part about it? We have become so used to it that we think it is normal.

The year 1972 was the year we had the greatest buying power, and we've backslid ever since. Of course, since then, unions have been the punching bag of both corporate America and the political parties, the Price Commission (used to regulate price increases) was eliminated, and the Windfall Profits Tax (penalized excessive corporate profits; indirectly encouraged companies to escape the tax by raising wages and self-investment) is ancient history. Now companies readily compete to see who can pay the lowest wages possible and get away with it, while gradually forcing us to pay more and more for their crappy health insurance packages. And our consolation is that some asshole stockholders get a dividend check at the end of the quarter? Fuck them.

We're now at the buying power of the early 1950s, when adjusted for inflation, and it is about damn time that we took back our nation from the elite.

Melon

 

[Liesje]

Welcome to America! Sure, the 1980s were high-flying, but only for the wealthy. Wages got slashed and personal debt skyrocketed. College tuition skyrocketed; in the 1970s, it was possible to work during a summer and make enough money to pay for an entire year of a private college. Nowadays, it isn't even feasible to buy a new car at all, let alone loans! Welcome to auto leases--putting money into something that ends up going right back to the company that made it.

America is a downright mess, and no one is willing to admit it. It is a downright CRIME that we have to be saddled with so much debt just to LIVE. And the worst part about it? We have become so used to it that we think it is normal.

The year 1972 was the year we had the greatest buying power, and we've backslid ever since. Of course, since then, unions have been the punching bag of both corporate America and the political parties, the Price Commission (used to regulate price increases) was eliminated, and the Windfall Profits Tax (penalized excessive corporate profits; indirectly encouraged companies to escape the tax by raising wages and self-investment) is ancient history. Now companies readily compete to see who can pay the lowest wages possible and get away with it, while gradually forcing us to pay more and more for their crappy health insurance packages. And our consolation is that some asshole stockholders get a dividend check at the end of the quarter? Fuck them.

We're now at the buying power of the early 1950s, when adjusted for inflation, and it is about damn time that we took back our nation from the elite.

Melon

I can't believe that the prices of tuition these days are necessary. It just seems inhumane that a TEENAGER can be farther in debt than a lot of those declaring personal bankruptcy.

Not to mention financial aid has turned into a giant double standard. You get aid based on grades/participation/etc, but those that NEED the aid barely get any b/c we're working our ASSES off starting in middle school and don't have time to drive Daddy's lexus to cheerleading practice, or devote hours and hours to being President of some club. Also, they dole out financial aid based on your PARENTS' earnings. Nevermind the fact that my parents don't contribute one cent to my education or ANY of my living expenses. Besides life insurance, I'm in no way financially attached to them. I can't even get my wisdom teeth pulled b/c I can't afford it. Yet I got rejected for a student loan because of my dad's situation (I still can't figure out why, since I got the loan last year and my dad pays the same he always had for our house and his car lease, makes the same salary, and we paid interest on the loan all year...). The FAFSA also wants Dad's financial info. What about ME? It's my fucking education and MY jobs that are paying for it ALL, dammit!

Is my dad MAKING money off me? Like, on taxes and stuff, does he get to specify that one of his daughters is a college student ? 'Cus if he is, he owes me!!!

 

[babyman]

I think having semi-small goals will help - have you heard about paying the most you can on the card w/ the highest interest rate (or alternatively the smallest balance), minimum on the rest, and then once that first card is paid off, keep paying that same amount toward the next card.

The freedom you'll feel at the end of this may be worth putting up with being at your parents for a relatively short time.....

You can do it

 

[ILuvLarryMullen]

melon

 

[U2Kitten]

Welcome to America! Sure, the 1980s were high-flying, but only for the wealthy. Wages got slashed and personal debt skyrocketed. College tuition skyrocketed; in the 1970s, it was possible to work during a summer and make enough money to pay for an entire year of a private college. Nowadays, it isn't even feasible to buy a new car at all, let alone loans! Welcome to auto leases--putting money into something that ends up going right back to the company that made it.

America is a downright mess, and no one is willing to admit it. It is a downright CRIME that we have to be saddled with so much debt just to LIVE. And the worst part about it? We have become so used to it that we think it is normal.

The year 1972 was the year we had the greatest buying power, and we've backslid ever since. Of course, since then, unions have been the punching bag of both corporate America and the political parties, the Price Commission (used to regulate price increases) was eliminated, and the Windfall Profits Tax (penalized excessive corporate profits; indirectly encouraged companies to escape the tax by raising wages and self-investment) is ancient history. Now companies readily compete to see who can pay the lowest wages possible and get away with it, while gradually forcing us to pay more and more for their crappy health insurance packages. And our consolation is that some asshole stockholders get a dividend check at the end of the quarter? Fuck them.

We're now at the buying power of the early 1950s, when adjusted for inflation, and it is about damn time that we took back our nation from the elite.

Melon

Amen to all of this! It's true, and it doesn't matter who controls the congress or the White House, they're all rich, mostly crooked, and they don't really care. Oh sure they'll say they do to get your vote but once they're in there, money talks, and they're going to cater to those who have it. Yes it's time we took the nation back from the elite, who keep us all down so the wealthiest 10% can live like kings while the rest of us suffer so much life is more of a hassle than a pleasure! Viva la revolution!