Should I sell my home and downsize? Looked at expenses and it's ugly! (funds, rates)

[fatlittlepig]

U r too fixated on the house, fix your consumption mentality. With an improvement in your spending u can afford the house.

[JokerABC]

I have found my self in similar situations in the past and so have my friends. Lots of good suggestions here.

Can I ask you how you came to this stage? Did you buy this 900k+ house when you already had lots of debt? Or did the house payments take away huge amounts of money every month, and caused you to use credits cards and go into more debt?

[fatlittlepig]

I spend 40 a month for Comcast cable + Internet, no home phone line. Iphone bill is about 110 for 3 iPhones.

[fatlittlepig]

138 a month for an alarm, rip off
Those alarms are worthless
Actually what I did was buy from eBay an ADT lawn sign with stickers for 30 bucks.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by SeaNile31

Currently the LTV with the HELOC is not allowing a refi.

Possibly with a HARP refinance though you could--just on the 1st mortgage though.

Start an excel sheet-categorize everything, food, clothing, ATM cash, Starbucks, toys for the kids, eating out, etc. Make at least 20 categories and add total each category--don't put your mortgages in there yet. I bet you will quickly find where you can save money. In the mean time, pay OFF your credit cards--take money out of savings to pay off the big card then allocate equally what you have been paying on the other cards and get those gone. You should be able to do that in 6 months or less.

Sit down and write out menus for the next two weeks. Make a grocery list from those items and ONLY buy what is on the list. Be smart,,if you make a roast, make one a little bigger than you would normally eat then use left overs to take to work for lunch, make soup, etc. Plan one night/week that is just left overs night. Do NOT got out to eat until your credit cards are paid off and STOP USING THEM. Figure out a reasonable budget for groceries, gas, etc., take cash out of the bank to cover those and when it's gone, you stop buying stuff. This includes the kids' camps--they don't NEED those camps, at all. Go to the park, play on the swings, ride bikes, etc.

Just doing these things you will find all kinds of money....put those dollars back into savings. Stop making excuses. I don't know that selling your house is the right thing to do right now if you are going to take a hit on it and not have any money for a down payment on another house. Take a year, get rid of your debt and then reassess.

It also sounds like you make commission--from now on ALL of your commission money goes to pay off debt. Once your debt is gone (not your mortgage) ALL of your commission money goes into savings. That should not be looked at as income at all. If you are 100% commission, then 25% of what you make each month goes toward debt then savings.

I really think you need to meet with a financial planner, someone to hold you accountable for your spending and savings and get yourself on the right track.

[fatlittlepig]

Obviously the hard part and the biggest unknown is can u fix the wife's thinking and attitude if not its not gonna be pretty my friend.

[SeaNile31]

I haven't paid off the CC thinking I may need that cash for part of the down payment or associated moving costs.

If I had zero CC debt would that change things? Then all I would have is the 11k 401k loan balance.

As bad as the CC debt is what worries me most is the lack of savings and the mortgage and HELOC being near 6K a month. Is it really worth it??

I am 80K salary and the rest commissions. Car is reimbursed via work.

[LordSquidworth]

You need to pay off the high interest credit card.

The zero interest can sit on the back burner till you do that.

I used zero interest cards in college to make it through the winter, paying them off in the summer. I never paid them off till the interest kicked in.

[davebarnes]

Originally Posted by SeaNile31

She really wants to wait it out.

You and your wife must be 100% in sync on this.
This must happen first.
No matter what you do, you are going to make some big changes.

[SeaNile31]

I'm thinking of paying off the CC debt. Doesn't change the mortgage, taxes and HELOC but at least the CC debt will be gone. Now what we can't afford is to absorb the increased cash flow and rack up CC debt.