Featured Gods blessings

You just don't get it. I don't have a blue ray. We never have. Yes, it's 2016 but that doesn't mean you have to have the latest or greatest. We do have an Apple TV but hubby used points on one of his credit cards to purchase it. A boom box? Nope. Don't have one. I DO have a small wireless speaker that we can use that I got free from a trade show.

It's NOT OK to once in a while buy luxury items when you have PROMISED to pay someone and you now cry that you can't pay those debts. Let's go back to see what you said:

"I can pay all my bills. I just cannot go beyond min payment so I won't ever pay off my debts."
"I am in my 3rd week of my second job. Lord willing in time I will pay down my credit cards. Student loans hardly as I do not make enough."

You DO make enough - you just choose to not pay them down because you've decided that they are not important. That your promise that when you borrow money you will pay it back does not mean anything. You are being a very poor steward of your money. Being in debt and paying it down means that you DON'T do luxuries. Nothing. Yes, it hurts. Yes, you want other things. But right now, you fulfill your promise, be a man and pay your bills.

 

I wouldn’t suggest buying a new car. If it came down to it, I’d suggest trying to do without a car if at all possible. And I don’t think that it is wise to be “balanced” in the terms you suggest here.

There are other ways of keeping up to date with the “news”, if that is important. I purchased a go-phone over a year ago (because I broke my new iPhone a week after getting it as a replacement for the iPhone I had just broke ...and I just never took the time to get another iPhone). Without service I can send and receive text over wifi, read the news, browse the internet, respond to the BB, watch shows, etc. All I need is a wifi connection. And Denver Co is replete with public wifi.

Now, don’t get me wrong. What I am telling you is not how I live, and I am NOT saying that this is what you need to do. I am just saying that you may have to “think out of the box” to remedy your financial woes.

Just for kicks, I’ll tell you what I did when I was younger. In the late 80’s I bought a new Toyota extended cab truck (I like Toyota trucks…I have a Tundra Crew Max now...made down the road from here, BTW). But I loved that truck. However, when it came time to buy tires I didn’t have the money. So guess what I did. Yep…traded it for a new one. Get that? I couldn’t afford tires but I thought I could afford a new vehicle simply because I could make the payments. Thankfully my stupidity back then helped keep me from being even more stupider than I am today because some of those decisions hurt. But if you can’t afford to make repairs on a vehicle then you can’t afford a new ride either. The decision about repairs vs. a new purchase (about which is a better use of your money) only applies to what you can afford.

If you were making over the minimum payments on a couple of low balance credit cards, you were faithful in giving, you were putting money back for emergencies, and you had the cash to buy the mac...then and only then would I agree that charging the computer "on good terms" may not have been a mistake. There is a term you may know from college - "opportunity cost". The cost of that mac was not just the purchase price but also those unrealized opportunities so that you could make the purchase.

 

No, brother, it’s the principle of the thing. It still matters because you don’t have to always be where you are now. Are you tied to the Denver area?

 

That only works if you are disciplined enough not to use credit as it becomes available. Many younger people need to, IMHO, pay off the smallest debt and close that account regardless of interest rate. Far too many people are impulse shoppers. Either way, what is needed is discipline and dedication. I've seen (and experienced) paying off one thing only to charge another. You've gotta be in it for the long run and not stop running when things ease up.

 

No, you can make more than minimum payment on your high balance credit cards and student loans. You just had an extra $235 to pay towards those debts but you spent them on unnecessary things instead. It is choices, not a "can't".

 

I'm not Don but pay off the small debts then and then start working on the larger ones. Don't have a fatalistic attitude saying "I can't pay my student loans." You can. It might take years but that's OK. You give them $50 more a month when you can and then you give them $100 more a month when you can and someday, it will be paid off.