Get Into a House or Buy a Newer Car?

[Unregistered]

i feel that the details need to be given in order to get the proper situation out there...


it's daddy and me and 8 month old baby. currently in a 2/1 apartment at $860/month. we have 14k in consumer debt, our credit cards are maxed out (i wasn't working for 6 months), no savings, etc. So long as we give 30 days notice to current landlord, we can move out.

we're looking at houses tomorrow (to rent) and because of our $ situation, we cannot get into a house ($1200-$1350/month + utilities) AND get me a newer car (used for $17k-$25k, $2k of that for down payment). in all honesty, we'll probably have to wait until 2015 to do either, but i'm optimistic... we both have good credit (mine is 675 and daddy's is 670 i believe). no evictions, no bankruptcy, etc. just bought daddy a new car in August (his was older than mine and had no AC ! we're in FL !). his car is $20k with 0% APR for 5 years.

i have a 2001 SUV that's a gas guzzler (18mpg at BEST) and poor quality- something breaks down with it every 3-4 months and i hardly drive it 10-15 miles a day. it was a hand-me-down car and it's paid off. Kelley Blue Book says it's worth $800. the shocks are bad on one wheel and it makes noise constantly as i'm driving. the gas tank stops every 5 seconds (literally) as i'm pumping because there's something wrong with it. clock doesn't work, radio sometimes has an error message when i go over a big bump, if i turn the radio off it's impossible to turn back on, the steering wheel is crumbling from heat exposure, the paint job is splotchy really badly cause of the heat and sun exposure, and in general i hate it. insurance on it is $77. i'm over 25 so my insurance will not be too much higher on a newer car. daddy's is $115 for just his and so when we add me, we will prob get a discount.

i've asked my family and friends on FB about this too, but what do you think we should do ? there's no room to do daycare here and there's no laundry in the apartment- it's in the clubhouse. pain in the butt to try n do laundry with a baby like that so i just go to my mom's 5 minutes away and spend a day there doing laundry. it wears me out!

[Unregistered]

the SUV has 160k miles on it, btw

[Thriftylady]

I personally would not take on more debt with cards maxed out and such. I would start saving up for a new car, but would not take on more debt in your situation.

[Thriftylady]

And I should add no need for repairs to cost a fortune. If you have a technical school near you call the automotive department there. Most times they will give you free labor (you pay for parts) so the students get experience. Yes you have to sign that you won't sue them if something goes wrong (ex they break a part and you have to buy another), however instructors are there teaching the kids and that has only happened once in my experience and my son was going to school there in a different program. They did something to his rear axle, but they had another one laying around that the students had been practicing on so he got one with newer parts than the one they broke and his became the practice one. Win win . They may have your vehicle a little longer since they have other classes to take and can't work in it all day every day, but well worth it to me.

[KidGrind]

I view vehicles as a luxury. Your family already has a new/newer car in the family. You haven’t expressed a need for another car. You’ve only expressed a want.

I would hold off of purchasing another car. I would drive the clunker until the wheels fell off, then I would arrange to have the newer car when my partner is at work. Unless he delivers pizzas, it is highly unlikely he will need his car during work hours.

[itlw8]

you have 14000 in cc debt ??? You can not afford any of that right now. You need to stay where you are and take the $400 you want to pay in extra rent and pay off those cc . YOu need to cut expenses and increase income to get out of debt before you even think about another new car of a bigger home.

start saving that baby emergency fund of 1000 snowball that debt and cut the expenses to the bone.

That means no eating out, cut cable and all those other wants that are not needs.

As far as the laundry stop collecting a weeks worth do one load a day. Or go to a laundry mat and do all at one time in several washers. GEt a weekend or evening job so Daddy can watch the baby. And really you could use just one car if you are both not working. You can get ahead in a very short time if you work on it.

[Controlled Chaos]

Check out Dave Ramsey. Get out of debt, then buy everything with cash. We follow his advice 90% of the time. It has really helped us get out of debt, build some savings up etc.

[LysesKids]

Can I ask a ?... if OP wants to do childcare so bad, what is stopping her from watching just one or two kids just a few hrs here and there (space is a BS answer IMO)... I watched 3 kids in an apartment for 2 years; unless you live in a county where you must be licensed for even one child ( yes FL has some where you can't work without a license, some areas however, you can, so it's worth a look), date night babysitting might be an option - I did it in a small 2 bdrm with my teenage dd and my now Ex back in 2006.

Your laundry can be done onsite instead of at mommas house. If there is public transport, sell the car and use it if the car is that unreliable to drive... grocery shop after daddy gets home. With your debt, you don't have options on getting either a car or a house - Neither is more like it

Dave Ramsey's ideas can help, but you have to be willing to forgo what you consider needs because they are really wants (like cable TV and eating out...); Heck, I actually draw a nice childcare clientele because I don't have a TV or Microwave.

[daycare]

Sorry for this sounds rude but how in the world do you get that much credit card debt living in an apartment.

I would cut up those cards, work on paying them off. Work odd jobs, care for 1-2 kids at a time if you can. Cut expenses, sell stuff on Craig's list.

If you pay down the cards you can improve your credit. 700is a good score that will get you the best rates. It seems like your debit to income ratio is too high. You will end up with a car loan at a higer interest rate and therefore be in even higer debt.

If you don't work why do you need another reliable car.

For years we had one really good realizable car an one piece of junk. I worked from home and didn't transport so I didn't need the vehicle. I waited until my husband was home to use his car to get what I needed.

Don't save for today to spend tomorrow.

[TwinKristi]

Yeah, believe me... Get out of debt. Save money. If you want to do daycare set up a time line with savings and deadlines. Having a new car is 100% a luxury and the way our media and society has found a way to cripple people.

[daycarediva]

you have 14000 in cc debt ??? You can not afford any of that right now. You need to stay where you are and take the $400 you want to pay in extra rent and pay off those cc . YOu need to cut expenses and increase income to get out of debt before you even think about another new car of a bigger home.

start saving that baby emergency fund of 1000 snowball that debt and cut the expenses to the bone.

That means no eating out, cut cable and all those other wants that are not needs.

As far as the laundry stop collecting a weeks worth do one load a day. Or go to a laundry mat and do all at one time in several washers. GEt a weekend or evening job so Daddy can watch the baby. And really you could use just one car if you are both not working. You can get ahead in a very short time if you work on it.

Sorry for this sounds rude but how in the world do you get that much credit card debt living in an apartment.

I would cut up those cards, work on paying them off. Work odd jobs, care for 1-2 kids at a time if you can. Cut expenses, sell stuff on Craig's list.

If you pay down the cards you can improve your credit. 700is a good score that will get you the best rates. It seems like your debit to income ratio is too high. You will end up with a car loan at a higer interest rate and therefore be in even higer debt.

If you don't work why do you need another reliable car.

For years we had one really good realizable car an one piece of junk. I worked from home and didn't transport so I didn't need the vehicle. I waited until my husband was home to use his car to get what I needed.

Don't save for today to spend tomorrow.

I would make it a priority NOT to move (increase expense) or buy a newer car (increased expense) until your debt is paid off. If you can, cut everything AND put the difference between a house and apartment (several hundred based on your estimates) towards the CC debt.

I would absolutely max myself out (legally) in daycare kids and use ALL of that money to put towards debt.

Cut ALL unnecessary expenses.

you're (imho) living well beyond your means.

[itlw8]

Many new moms start doing childcare with one or 2 children. If the going rate is $100 a week that would be $400 you could put towards your debts each month. in 10 months you would have paid $4000 of that debt. 2 children $8000happyfacehappyface

[Unregistered]

you have 14000 in cc debt ??? You can not afford any of that right now. You need to stay where you are and take the $400 you want to pay in extra rent and pay off those cc . YOu need to cut expenses and increase income to get out of debt before you even think about another new car of a bigger home.

start saving that baby emergency fund of 1000 snowball that debt and cut the expenses to the bone.

That means no eating out, cut cable and all those other wants that are not needs.

As far as the laundry stop collecting a weeks worth do one load a day. Or go to a laundry mat and do all at one time in several washers. GEt a weekend or evening job so Daddy can watch the baby. And really you could use just one car if you are both not working. You can get ahead in a very short time if you work on it.

I'm a start-up provider and haven't begun doing daycare yet. I work full-time overnight as a janitor to bring in more $. My mom watches the baby between our shifts 3 times a week. next month we're coming into more $ and it'll be easier to knock down bills.

FL is really expensive for the basics ($1100 for rent, utilities, groceries, etc) and we're a young couple, i'm a college grad and daddy did 2 years of college. we don't live even remotely extravagantly and i try and cook most meals. i buy quality food but it just seems like the $ slips away each month. our son has cost us a lot of money from clothes to toys to his crib... nearly everything we own is good-condition used, but it still adds up. we have $25 internet, no cable tv, don't hardly leave the house. just watch Netflix streaming for $8/month which is a real bargain.

[Unregistered]

it's tough being young and making minimal wages for your education and experience. i get paid $9.93 an hour and daddy gets $15.69 an hour. his job is non-traditional hours and his schedule right now is noon-10pm.

the main reason we're in so much debt right now is because i was going to do daycare at my mom's house but then something happened and i couldn't. was going to start in Feb this year- that was my plan. so then i decided to do it in my apartment. the prospective families i interviewed... never heard from them again. and i believe one of them reported me to DCF for doing daycare in my apartment... so then i wasn't working for 6 months PP (when i WANTED to start at 2 months PP). so we were living on daddy's income alone ($2300/month with $1100 in necessity, baseline expenses plus baby supplies, baby formula, diapers, wipes, gas, etc and i was buying used daycare supplies off Craig's List because we were going to get into a house in July 2014 but that didn't happen either...).

we were trying to be as frugal as possible but it was hard to manage it. some months we barely scraped by, with no help from our families. earlier this year we were down to $11k in personal debt (with help of tax refund) and we wanted to keep it going. then all hell broke loose.

i'm not looking to get a new car, just a newER car, like 2009 or newer. idc if it's the latest and greatest, i just want a safe car for my son to be in and something reliable that can get me to work right now while we're saving $.

our apartment is too crammed for me to do daycare here, honestly. that's why we were waiting to get into a house. there's not much room to move around in, especially for young kids.

[LysesKids]

it's tough being young and making minimal wages for your education and experience. i get paid $9.93 an hour and daddy gets $15.69 an hour. his job is non-traditional hours and his schedule right now is noon-10pm.

the main reason we're in so much debt right now is because i was going to do daycare at my mom's house but then something happened and i couldn't. was going to start in Feb this year- that was my plan. so then i decided to do it in my apartment. the prospective families i interviewed... never heard from them again. and i believe one of them reported me to DCF for doing daycare in my apartment... so then i wasn't working for 6 months PP (when i WANTED to start at 2 months PP). so we were living on daddy's income alone ($2300/month with $1100 in necessity, baseline expenses plus baby supplies, baby formula, diapers, wipes, gas, etc and i was buying used daycare supplies off Craig's List because we were going to get into a house in July 2014 but that didn't happen either...).

we were trying to be as frugal as possible but it was hard to manage it. some months we barely scraped by, with no help from our families. earlier this year we were down to $11k in personal debt (with help of tax refund) and we wanted to keep it going. then all hell broke loose.

i'm not looking to get a new car, just a newER car, like 2009 or newer. idc if it's the latest and greatest, i just want a safe car for my son to be in and something reliable that can get me to work right now while we're saving $.

our apartment is too crammed for me to do daycare here, honestly. that's why we were waiting to get into a house. there's not much room to move around in, especially for young kids.

Believe me if DCF had been called because you were doing childcare in your apartment you would have known... did you even check the law for your county before considering start up? BTW, there is a good chance you won't even make 8/hr when you first open and you have to take into account self employment taxes, insurance, food and everything else out of what you charge... What happens if you get the newer car and then can't make the payment? What happens if you get the house and then not enough daycare clients to cover bills?

You are already in too much debt to try and take on more, that's what we are all trying to get thru to you.