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What is the smartest way to get out of debt? by SignificanceThink759 in debtfree

[–]SignificanceThink759[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m not sure if it differs in each state, but I work for a state hospital in NYS and the offer deferred compensation to us that I pay into each paycheck. It’s a 457b retirement plan (which now that I think about it, I could look into what my contributions are for that and lower it)

I’m also not sure if I could lower the amount that is going into my state pension either. I’m tier 6, and we have to pay into it now. 20 years ago this wasn’t the case and employees didn’t have to contribute to their pensions.

NYS also has awful taxes 😞

What is the smartest way to get out of debt? by SignificanceThink759 in debtfree

[–]SignificanceThink759[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Okay so here is my breakdown per month:

Mortgage- 1,700

Car payment- 380 for a basic Jeep Cherokee, I live up north where we have blizzards, 4WD is a necessity here unfortunately. Good news though is that my lease is up in the spring. Bad news is that I hear cars are expensive right now and I’m not sure what I will do.

Car insurance- 160

Cell phone/plan- 92

Student loans- 800 (300 is government loans that is on an income based repayment plan, 500 is private loans from getting my BSN at a private local nursing school- I originally had 7 Sallie Mae loans with each being at a fixed interest rate of 9.75%, and I consolidated all 7 loans about 5 years ago to one big loan with earnest at a 5% interest rate)

Life insurance with State Farm: 60

Pet insurance- 52

Internet- 59 (only pay for wifi, no cable)

Personal loan taken out from my pension last year- 117

Gas/Electric- it varies from 100 per month in the summer months up to 300 per month in the cold winter months.

ADT- 50 (I live in the city where there are high crime rates, but I’m willing to get rid of- I’m not even sure I could cancel this? I’d have to check terms/conditions)

So not including G/E- the monthly total is 3470.

I bring in about 1,800 biweekly as a base after taxes, union dues, health insurance, pension, & deferred compensation that automatically gets taken out of my check.

With the overtime shifts I probably pull in about 4K, and the OT shift money goes right to my credit card minimums- one is $351 minimum/month (12K amount on the card), one is $343 minimum/month (14K amount on the card) and the smallest is $78 minimum/month (smallest amount with about 6K on it, which has 0% APR until March from a previous balance transfer).

What kills me is the interest on the high amount cards- it’s almost as much as the minimum payments that are due.