Most of ours were always the home payment and the vehicles, but now it seems many younger adults have a ton of debt tacked on not just from schooling but other things. Since I am in a different generation, what are some of the bigger bills besides the cars and homes that you are dealing with? I am finally thankful we are in a good place with very few bills (for the first time in our lives).
The biggest purchases
- Thread starter Andersson
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Our family is one of the lucky ones, the only bills we have to pay are the monthly utility and credit card ones. We had a good year back in '05 and managed to pay off the mortgage early. These days we prefer to save up for big purchases, instead of buying them on credit. I've seen too many people go bankrupt, to spend money I don't have.
I have to admit, after college both my wife and I had a ton of debt that we ran up just to survive school. We had student loans and debt from credit cards that we used to pay for books and necessities.
After several years of being frugal and working as much as possible, we have paid off those loans, most of the credit card debt and mainly have to worry about the mortgage and what's left of our one car note (which is almost paid off).
After several years of being frugal and working as much as possible, we have paid off those loans, most of the credit card debt and mainly have to worry about the mortgage and what's left of our one car note (which is almost paid off).
It is great when you can reach that point and we do the same. Some of the friends close to us who are a few years younger still do not understand why that is so important to us either. I think the education system failed quite sometime ago not explaining to students what debt is and how it can impact your life if you head down the wrong route.
A chunk of our income goes to the monthly utility bills (electricity, water, cable). There's also the monthly amortization for the house, the insurances (life, funeral), kids' needs, among others. We're just thankful that we don't spend much for the children's schooling as three of them are scholars in a school for the gifted. We only have to pay for our two sons' tuition fees as they go to private schools.
I paid off most of the credit card bills last year, which was a huge help. Now, we pay cash for all large purchases. I think it's good to have the credit cards in case of an emergency, which is how mine got run up in the first place, but they should not be used for extras or luxury items.
We paid our house off about 6 years ago and then used the equity in the house to take out a loan for a new vehicle, securing a much better interest rate than we could have gotten otherwise. Now, our only "major" payment is the home equity loan, but it will be paid off in just a few more years. 