40-Year-Old Can't Afford To Survive | Financial Audit

my name is Dominica Titus I am 40 years. old in Austin Texas and this is. financial audit. well thank you for coming on here so. this is a follow-up episode you don't. need to have watched the previous. episode to watch this one because this. is going to be any other Financial. outages like you know all of the. financial audits but to give just a. little bit of context we had a. conversation last time uh we talked. about the family Dynamic how you and. your husband don't share finances at all. things are very separate they're like. incredibly separate and uh you have.

experienced homelessness in the past. with your kids that was very traumatic. and you know trying to not replicate. anything like that in the future but. there was definitely spending addictions. things on Amazon just multiple multiple. a day and just draining the income in. Endless amount of debts to pay off. so that was the background previous yes. how are we looking today what what how. do you feel the last six months or so. has progressed um so there was a huge.

upswing for a while there I landed a job. before I was a contractor and I was not. doing that great but um I landed a. full-time job with about a fifteen. thousand dollar raise in income per year. however there have been a couple of. setbacks I had a total hysterectomy I. had um. a couple of Hit and Run car accidents. that I had to deal with and my husband. lost his job two months ago oh no she's. up just some of the layoffs that we're. seeing um something like that yeah. something like that okay well what's. your current job um I work for the state. so it's a it's an office manager job and.

it's 40 hours a week two days remote. it's a it's a great situation for me. Healthcare everything I needed but I. wasn't finding before hourly or salary. salary what's your salary 54. 54. cool. but of course this is coming to now a. single household income yes but last. time again you guys split it in very. weird ways yeah so just remind us of how. it was operating versus how it's. operating now in terms of these so um. I'm the primary Breadwinner I have been.

always in my relationship and so I was. paying all the bills and then he would I. guess pay me back for portions of those. um after the last audit we went home and. I broke it down by numbers and he ended. up paying about 40 of our household. bills and oh okay so it turned out that. I just wasn't aware of how much he was. helping but it still wasn't a set or. reliable amount and it was kind of a hey. can you cover me can you spot me I never. had to pay him back but it was more of a. first me than you so um yeah so I guess. it kind of set us up for him losing the.

job because not a whole lot changed. other than that I had to pay a little. more towards everything so. how is the marriage holding up. um I mean our marriage is surprisingly. well I guess there were a lot of. comments and questions on the last video. about that but um I feel like our. marriage as far as a relationship is. good but um we're having more talks. about finances and that's been a little. bit of a. tumultuous situation I'm just trying to. figure out where we both stand and how. much we're willing to give to the other. in terms of leeway I guess so is it.

giving to each other though or is it. giving to the household well um I think. part of it was that we weren't. communicating about finances we can talk. about everything but money because I am. hard-headed and I'm a spender and he. just didn't want to have a fight with me. so if you don't want to have fights with. me hit that subscribe button because I. am trying to get to 500 000 subscribers. and thank you to everyone who has. subscribed so far so there was an. upswing and then obviously there were. some things that happened but in terms. of the debt in terms of some of the. spending and stuff like that have we.

made progress or things happening so I. deleted the Amazon App after that. episode good and it has remained off my. phone good um there are still some. Amazon purchases yes but I literally. have to log in I don't say logged in. like I have to go through the steps and. make conscious decisions to get into the. app which yeah with my I'm still sober. by the way I hear in six months thank. you and like that's kind of what I. learned with my addictions is I need to. really work for it if I want it so I sit. there and things would sit in my um cart. for a while and they're definitely not.

so much Splurge splurges as they were. before like I wasn't buying unnecessary. furniture for the house or things like. that um I know you saw some Amazon. purchases a lot of those are again. subscriptions for like household goods. but I also had a big work event recently. that I had to buy some things for for. myself it was um sign in to buy like a. whole outfit I know it sounds silly it. was a it was like a it's a I don't know. how to describe it without are you. telling me you didn't have any outfits. not no because I have lost weight so I.

haven't had so. so yeah I can I can actually tell you I. didn't um and it was uh my son's. birthday was right after his job loss my. ex-husband's their husband's oops job. blast and um. so I. stupidly did some I know you noticed. some after pay financing and yes you did. which I mean that which I've done so. well too I had done so well it didn't. what about Targets on debts. um let's see I had a credit card debt I. think that I've been paying down every. month at like three to four hundred.

dollars I buy some collections as well. um yeah there was a. stupid collection where I forgot to pay. my daughter's clarinet rental and so I'm. catching up on that and returning the. instrument because she actually quit. band. um uh let's see I don't can't remember. what else there was I think that was the. primary one was a music instrument we're. gonna look into where your financial. situation says stands today in terms of. like a score zero out of ten of your. personal finances what would you say you. are. stupid I do pain.

phone coverage when you could just take. 15 minutes to get cell phone coverage. with mint mobile for as low as 15 a. month I partner with them for that. specific reason use your money in a. better way so make sure you go to. mintmobile.com forward slash Hammer. let's use our money in better ways love. you let's get back to the episode. so like a four four yeah okay 10 being. the best four yeah yeah I think last. time it was I did there wasn't scores at. that time but it would have been pretty.

much a one so you think you've improved. by three points. um yeah I think I don't know. you see it but I feel it all right well. let's do this thing then let's jump into. the monies I have two checking accounts. here. okay so in this first one we started. with 873 but we ended with 113. are. there automatical draws on this. um yes there's a card that makes me okay. well that makes me very nervous and a.

insurance payment things that are. automatically taken it's a car payment. okay so there are other debts than just. a credit card okay so. yeah that makes me very nervous. especially in a household with two kids. two kids a husband with no job in. questionable Finance relationship ending. with 113 makes me a little nervous with. automatic withdrons if people are. perfectly down to the scent budgeting. that makes you know I'm not nervous and. they're manually paying things that. makes me nervous in your situation. another thing that makes me nervous all.

these green things if we're making. progress the green things so why are we. clearly if there are debts to pay off. that are bad and we talked about. budgeting did you actually follow a. budget did you I created a whole. spreadsheet and well it's clearly you're. not doing it then right I'm leaving the. amount of money I need to leave in there. and I'm living paycheck to paycheck so. my idea of budgeting is not correct yet. not living can you check the paycheck. you're spending so much on just crap. that's not patreon.

closing to leave paycheck to paycheck. but not in the way where it's like. forced to no because again Jimmy John's. and after paying 52 and after pay of 22. we're after paying I thought we were. Beyond this right weren't we beyond this. we were paypaling Etsy and Pluckers a. very expensive 103 ring monthly bills. audible kalarna we're clarineteen for. twenty twenty four dollars who knows how. many of the payments there are there. Spotify and Suma and parking and.

paypaling out and Disney plus and. donating to Kut ten dollars if we're. living paycheck to paycheck are we. donating ten dollars in Amazon we're do. we're going back to Amazon I thought we. were just deciding we were never gonna. do it again in McDonald's and after. paying after paying after pay by the way. of which were 32 dollars 45 dollars. thirty dollars and Chlor enough fifty. dollars Little Caesars Marina's kitchen. oh guess what there's another page with.

green lines green lines equal purchases. you do not need to do water lies tapioca. Mexican super maid and Cinna Cinemark. Movie Club and Little Caesars and going. to a bakery in Half Price Books and. Amazon Prime video and Green Mesquite. and text tag which is tools you don't. need to take tolls and uh Apple Bill. Apple Bill Apple bill after pay a firm a. firm what are we doing a firm at this. point with where we know we've been. where we're trying to get and where we.

can't budget if you can't afford it you. can't afford it we're doing a firm for a. hundred and thirty nine dollars in. Amazon Marketplace and McDonald's and. Marshalls and air trampolines and. Cinemark and Cinemark in tipioca and. circuit uh or Cricket that that's for my. crafting business. do we need to be crafting paycheck. paycheck. and Chick-fil-A 35 in McDonald's and. after pay after pay after pay after pay.

Netflix. uh and transferring I'm peacocks it's. for peacock and Sally Beauty and Dairy. Queen again another page look how many. green lines. oh okay. Corona. my fcm 75 meta pay something children in. bed ropicon farm and Waterloo ice house. we're obsessed with that place then. Amazon and Amazon and Tapioca And Five.

Below and PayPal and Jason's Deli in. Moody Center and Mariana's afterpay. Google storage Amazon Marketplace Amazon. Apple wag pet dirty Martinez okay fun. fact out of all these purchases here. easily 80 85 to 90 percent of them are. things you do not need you are not. paycheck to paycheck that is bull don't. we don't vote here that's not.

paycheck to paycheck that is choosing to. put those purchases over actually paying. off debts actually living actually. saving actually investing we are. choosing to be paycheck to paycheck you. are not in the literal sense pay to. paycheck correct okay okay thank you so. why'd you say that come on oh that I. don't know that because I'm literally. spending all my paycheck till the next. paycheck I guess yeah you were just. spending it it's bullsh money this is. bullet spending this is insane this is. crazy and we have that's been off of we.

have car payments if we have all these. things if what's your retirement account. look like today. um God I just started it in January or. December that's your only retirement. account ever remember I think I told you. the last one I ended up cashing out the. only other one that's right and you're. 40. so we have no retirement so the best. two years of your life for compound. growth are complete or two decades of. your life for compound growth are. completely gone you're starting. retirement you want to make sure you're. actually able to retire so that your. kids are not forced to take care of you. as a responsible parent right so we're. putting Pluckers above all that stuff.

which is a wings place and we're putting. that above retirement and taking care of. ourselves we're taking that above having. an emergency fund and taking care of. ourselves we're putting Pluckers above. paying off car debt credit card debt and. all these other financing things instead. of taking care of ourselves so I feel. like. maybe some mental progress was made but. financially have we really what's. awesome and that we can celebrate is. that you are a year and a half sober or.

whatever the exact thing is that's. incredible but again the same. conversation I think some of the. addictive personality has been put on. eating out constantly has been put on. all these different shopping things I. always speak about mental health here. and therapy have you sought out a. therapist I am starting this week. actually good is it because of the. health insurance no no actually no it's. uh I'm just changing therapists I had. the VA before and I've decided to change. things out because good I have been. going down mental health-wise so oh why.

why is that. well now I just you know the whole job. situation and all that just it's a lot. of a lot of pressures in life absolutely. and that directly impacts mental health. that and we're nothing without our brain. so as life stuff surrounds us and it. gets more and more complicated more and. more uh you know hard in general I will. say like I wish I could show you more. months because there were a couple. months where I really was like paying. the bills and I had savings and we've.

ended up going through because of the um. job loss but so it's the job loss you. think that has affected most things here. financially speaking I'm not going to. put it all on that because obviously I. still had I have these habits that are. still. affecting us but it's definitely. um. exacerbated the situation is just. instead of stopping what I was doing. it was it's continued so yeah yeah oh if. we know we're in a position where we're. just not going to pay for things why are.

we taking care of all these why are we. doing all these finance options. if you know you can't purchase why are. you still purchasing and that was for a. few a few months after our last visit um. it was if I can't find out right I can't. afford it and in the last couple months. just so what changed I know we have the. job change in terms of maybe some. savings and stuff like that but what. changed in terms of the mentality of. okay well now we're gonna start. financing things again now we're gonna. go out to eat like every day again like. what changed I don't know.

do you think you've just lost some. discipline did you get off the track I'm. probably oh well I know I did I mean. even like going to the gym stopped you. know like multiple things that I was. doing to take care of things stopped so. yes. and that's part of the reason I didn't. seek out um. to change my medicines and to go to a. different doctor okay. so I'm thinking you're bringing in about. after taxes and everything and health. insurance about 3 750 a month something. like that okay you don't have child tax.

credits as well of course but okay. we have another checking account to look. at. [Music]. you are bullying yourself with these. purchases there is a better balance in. here of 850 but Apple bills and this is. this is what upset me this is within. this is just pending within a day Amazon. Amazon Amazon Amazon Amazon. for Amazon purchases this is something. we were trying to deal with last time.

so it just it scares me that even if. progress was made that I couldn't see. we're back to where we were and that's. unsustainable and that is scary for the. rest of your life. Etsy Prime video. PayPal and out Prime video takorito. PayPal PayPal after pay after pay after. pay come on these are like 50 bucks each. and Dairy Queen in Amazon and Amazon. Apple bills Cinemark movie.

this crap is adding up. so we're just spending so much money and. we can't do that we can't afford that if. we have practically zero dollars in. retirement what's in your savings. um currently like 275 we headed up to. almost 3000 but. it's gone so. okay. and then what we've added up here is. in terms of different subscriptions and.

stuff you've done 233 dollars within. that uh oh eight hundred forty dollars. of going out to eastbending 840 of your. three thousand seven hundred fifty. dollars that are you know back gas 280. so lots of you know stuff driving. onto driving it's closer to four. thousand we thought we saw four thousand. dollars hit your payroll so our answer. to send that so an extra 250 dollars and. I was guessing after pay Corona or firm. your payments 754 dollars is what you've.

paid towards that stuff and those will. be done this month and. I'm gonna say it again I'm gonna stop. using them but. and then Bridge cross big thing there. 558 as well that's the car payment and. then wag pet donation 303 it was it you. can't do that you can't do I want you to. give so much but you can't do that now. when you can't even give it to yourself. you can't even give your own retirement. and savings 200 in the savings we cannot. be donating.

donate eventually we can't now it's not. a thing. do you still have Credit Karma on your. phone. um. I don't know I don't have an account. because it sent me an email the other. day go ahead and look it up and download. it if you don't have a. oh yeah okay between well 600s. High 500s. well. a payment history of 14.

okay remind me the student loan thing. 41 missed payments. oh yes because I just wasn't working for. those two years or a year and change so. um I am paying every month to. but it's a very small portion of those. in an IRS debt that I'm still paying. towards so. what. how much is owed to the student loans. yeah like 38 still 38.

000 what's your minimum monthly. um I think I worked it out towards 75. twice a month so 150. it's it's barely. shipping at anything because actually. it's just shipping at nothing. um God I can't remember I just. I can't see on here you couldn't get. your statement. um. I I might have it but I don't I don't. have it on me but I think. well yeah no progress is being made on.

these with missing and stuff U.S. Department of Education they started. garnishing wages no because you're. you're currently on time with the. payments but we're just not making any. progress we want to pay these off as. soon as we can because I can tell it's. gonna be like. usual student loans it's like minimal. monthly payments but what um. yeah and then you're missed right now on. the instrument the instrument. instruments. so what are you doing with it pain pain. like I'm actually turned it yes because. I still owe a balance from when we had.

it in our possession. why don't you 861. mind you that fast food that the food. going out. could have covered this entire thing. yeah so why are we even doing this again. that's where I get that's where I get a. little upset at the spending. what's the monthly payment on this thing. the instrument is 56 a month. you know the interest. no because they're just asking me to pay. back what I'll.

okay. of Education yeah these These are. terrible negative six percent paid. negative six percent paid negative five. percent paid negative four percent paid. negative three percent paid number four. percent paid negative six percent paid. oh no no that's right. Bridgecrest. car. oh. sorry for the vocal fry I'm still. getting over something in my throat. doesn't feel like anything but yeah I'm. just like look fine.

uh okay three percent paid off. what is the car again. what is that I'm sorry what's the car. that's a Honda Civic Accord. yeah 2015. okay. is it worth twenty one thousand dollars. it only had 38 000 miles on it when I. got it and so. yeah. okay well we can look. twenty one thousand when'd you get it. in January my car you just got it my car. broke down no.

what. what was owed on the last car. so we've gone we've gone further into. debt is what I'm hearing so from last. time we were making product if you you. you've one and it's 75 months nothing to. do it 75 months. I'm making double payments on it but not. anymore since he lost his job so I mean. I made four payments in two months it. doesn't even matter.

ment for your oh. just wait on this you have to know the. interest rate on this yeah it's like 21. percent. are you sure it's 21 because they think. it's 24 maybe it's 24 okay 24 loan you. went and signed up for a 24 loan. no okay so uh. okay okay okay this is blowing my mind. right now we're further in the hole. we've gone worse we've gone worse you've. seen probably some of my other videos we.

had a conversation how could we possibly. if you're trying to get into a right. situation four months ago four months. ago after our video was already done. well within a few months before that why. would we go get a 20 one thousand dollar. loan at 24 how is that did someone talk. you into did was the husband are like. okay where were we I need to know how. you did this or else I needed a vehicle. that yeah but why'd you do this why did. you not go get a crappy five thousand.

dollar car I don't even care that a. mechanic like says is drivable and will. get you somewhere safe and it's from. like the mid 2000s for a while while you. saved up some money a bit at least or. ten thousand dollars at with a loan of. like this interest rate because your. credit score is really bad. but what did you just say over twenty. thousand dollars on a 2015 card that's. probably not worth that I don't know we. can look up but why. if there's no why then what that. immediately screams to me and this is.

not to be rude but what this immediately. screams to me is that you're doing this. until you're 70. over and over and over and over and over. again no progress If this just happened. halfway after between now and the last. episode we recorded with you. please there has there has to be some. why. okay fine why did you not get a 10 000. car I. I could not find financing to get a ten. thousand dollar one and I only had three. thousand in hand that doesn't make sense.

you got financing for a twenty thousand. dollar one which I I tried different. um Credit Unions they didn't help me I. tried different financing options then. did you look at personal loans and stuff. as well yes so okay I went through my. bank I went through who approved you for. this bridge Crest was the. um that's the financing company at the. auto place yeah or uh carvana yeah okay. why don't you get a ten thousand dollar. car at carvana they would it would not. go through for a ten thousand dollar. Finance I I tried different did you go. to other dealerships yes I I mean right.

here in Austin and that was the national. one and then there was another one who. wanted to put me in a different it. wasn't going to be any it was there I. mean they were just it sounds like they. were just refusing you to get you they. wanted a higher sale. they were using the leverage of you. needed to finance to them to get that. so I mean I wasn't there I I don't know. I haven't seen all the loans but it kind. of blows my mind that I mean this is a. predatory loan like you could if you.

could get this for this you could get it. for ten thousand I wasn't there I. haven't seen the whole situation but. there's no way that doesn't make sense. in my mind yeah unless I'm missing. something I'm always happy to learn. something but this doesn't make sense. this is predatory. almost six hundred dollars almost six. hundred dollars for six years. that's bad good news is you lost weight. since the last time we talked but I. gained weight so you can yell at me for. that okay I'll leave you for this you.

yelled at me for that. okay all right. I'm scared I'm like what do we do from. here can we make a budget will you. actually follow a budget like. all right again this this might sound. rude and some people have found this. rude but I'm gonna say this just to put. things in to perspective for you as a. parent and I am not a parent but we can. talk about this from an economic point. and responsibility point. if we are going further into debt if we.

are choosing to eat out and go do these. things that are fun and we are not. contributing. as much to paying off the debts and then. eventually retirement so that you can. have a full place to retire equals. irresponsibility. because what are you doing in that. situation when you're choosing food and. new cars at twenty thousand dollars with. a predatory loan over these. responsibilities you are saying that you. are forcing your children to then take. care of you when you're in your 70s.

because you have nothing saved up and. have to rely on Social Security if it. even exists at that point that's what. you are choosing now do you understand. that does that make sense yes okay like. that yes okay have you ever thought. about it like that. no okay well maybe that's what we need. to hear right now so that we can do what. is right and overcome it because you had. a fire line under your butt and this is. what scares me every single time is he. had a fire a little about for a couple. months but then a setback will happen a.

little setback will happen a setback. will happen even a major one like a car. thing and I do understand that. but. we can't let that derail our entire life. we need you to be able to take care of. yourself. whatever the husband does he have any in. retirement for you both. no. has he been applying for jobs like as a. full-time job. okay what's what what job did he have. um he was a retail manager.

a retail manager but retail's hiring. like crazy. I mean he's. just I'm helping him put in the job. application is he not willing to take a. temporary job of working 15 an hour in. retail just to make some money for 40. hours a week I. he has not gotten callbacks I don't I. don't know I'm we're both okay he's. applied at like grocery stores and. things like that I have a place my. friend used to work at a place of retail. she has a better job now but they call. her like almost every other week because.

they're like we need people to work come. please work here just a couple hours a. week and I have another friend who does. work in retail she's you know uh younger. sister of one of my friends here and you. know she's a friend and they're giving. everyone raises to stay there because. they're desperately trying to retain. people because so many people are. leaving and then they have a hard time. hiring people if you looked around. Austin I'm not saying he can get a. retail manager position right now that. might be the harder one to find but we. could at least get him something where. he's bringing him money because there's. a family to take care of he's only. taking care of himself and he just wants.

to you know if he's not willing to. sacrifice and go down to a job he might. seem he might feel is beneath him like. okay fine whatever that's you I mean I. would still you know slap him around a. bit but with the family aspect of it we. got to bring be bringing in something. okay so we can make progress does he. have debts. um no I mean he's got his car he paid. off or all right um. no I mean he doesn't have credit card he. doesn't have good. um no so no.

can you do something for me that I think. might help lock your credit. lock your credit so you can no longer do. a firm and all that crap so you can't. apply for credit okay I didn't I mean. you can you can you can unlock your. credit and then you can do it but again. you talked about those barriers making. things harder for you is a way to help. and again this is something that I think. when you deal with your actual. mental health with your therapist you'll. actually find better Solutions because. that's not you know something extreme.

like that's always. the last few years I need to work in. extremes like if I need to if that's. what it takes to stop my spending then. that's what I do lock your credit so you. can't apply for credit. I personally never used it from all this. stuff I'm hoping it's not a way that. since you're approved before they'll. just approve you without looking just. need to quit it like period so you do. you do you keep spending money that you. don't have and then we get down to what. was it like 28 in there or something. like that in the checking account the. other checking account is a little. better but I mean.

so with the way I framed it if I lay out. a budget will you actually follow it. yes because that's again like I need. that structure I need that you have to. in mind you if you don't. you are saying. I'm putting I'm putting the burden of my. entire life on my children. in a way because it's a choice once you. at least acknowledge that that's a. possibility and then you are choosing to. do other things then you are choosing to. be irresponsible in a way might not feel.

like in the situation like oh I haven't. been to McDonald's you have a little. swipe. in real. ity in the grand scheme of things it is. being irresponsible. okay. so let's work on a budget this is gonna. be hard because this is for a household. of four with one income right now he. needs to just go over 15 bucks an hour I. don't care he needs to go to Whataburger. and get like for 12 an hour just needs. to bring in money while he's applying. for jobs he wants is because there are. people we need to be taking care of. there are situations we need to be taken. care of did you have a conversation with.

him about a combined income. um. I think we no we like glossed over it. and it's just not. it's not he wouldn't do it I don't think. I don't want to do it why. I don't know but we need the combined. income going to goals paying off debts. faster paying for the collective. household bills not your bills my bills. your bills my bills and we need to be. collectively saving for retirements. obviously they're an individual. retirement accounts but we need to be. able to be doing things as a couple do.

you guys not see like a future I'm. curious like how do we do you know we. have those silly discussions where like. oh when we retire we're going to move to. Wyoming type crap but right now we're. not going anywhere because we'll be. working until we die yeah but if like. why even have that conversation if we're. not doing our goals together right. and that's yeah I need to just I don't. know if it's I don't want him to see my. accounts or. does he know about this stuff.

when we had the conversation last time. he wasn't aware how much I was spending. he just assumed that I was taking care. of things like I had always done see. aware now. um probably not no. we should be having monthly. conversations about the budget you. should be on the same page with budget. well in the real world what you should. be is it should be combined if you have. a combined household budget and we. should be including whatever income he. might have should be going towards. paying off your debt and then get in a. household emergency fund instead of.

yours his but I can't do that. and it doesn't sound like you're willing. to do that have you considered couples. therapy. we've talked about it yeah do it like it. sounds like other things are great. in the relationship and that's fantastic. but this might be a worthy conversation. happening with a couple's therapist so. you guys can meet goals together we're. just not getting there right now and I'm. scared I'm scared. oh you're such an incredibly nice person.

and I don't even know your family but I. want you guys to do so well I mean it. would be weird if I didn't first of all. but I really want you guys to do well. and because of that I have that anxiety. like in my bones for you guys so I'll. lay out a budget for the single. household income. but if you don't follow it if we keep. going down the same paths. then we're not retiring. we're dropping down on the Walmart floor. when we're 90.

our parents or our kids are helping to. pay for our rent. when we're older. my mom's still working here so don't be. like that. okay let's see minimum death debt. payments mind you also your minimum. monthly debt payments. for your take home. is 20 percent. and they're all bad debts none of these. are debts that are you know contributing.

anything like uh primary residence it's. not like a mortgage or anything like. that this is all crap also didn't you. say there's a credit card you're still. paying off the one that we talked about. last time it was at like twelve thousand. dollars I'm just paying at it what. what's Odana now um I think it's down to. like. there's a lot of it what goes to. principal. I think it's only gone down like 1200. so what's it two. um oh geez they're like eleven seven. eleven no that's one ten seven I think. is what the last balance was oh geez.

well in that interest rate has to be. what 20 30 I think it's maybe that's the. one that's 21 that's why that number. stuck in my brain oh and what's your. minimum monthly payment on that thing. um. paid 300 at it all right that's probably. like 60 because credit cards they wanted. to give you a low minimum monthly. payment so that you're paying out. forever. okay so I mean now the credit it's. really bad. well yeah it's a high debt for your. income. 30.

000 38 39 uh basically forty thousand. there forty about forty thousand dollars. in bad debt for fifty four thousand. dollar income. so probably about eight hundred dollars. minimum monthly payments but obviously. we have to pay more on the. terrible credit card than that what's. interesting is oh. [Music]. what's your rent what you're fully taken. care of now 18 and change so a month oh.

no it's fifty percent of your income is. rent fifty percent of your income that's. unaffordable how many rooms is this uh. two just two when is the lease up. um oop June and not June I don't know if. you can find below that really for two. bedrooms you guys might have to move to. like the outskirts though. this is I mean that's unaffordable and. he just needs to get a job now we need. to get that to thirty percent max of the.

household income utilities and internet. when does that all come out to um. internet and most utilities are included. in the rent so I end up only paying. my light bill which is like 120 a month. okay car insurance. um 220 a month. you're paying for his now too aren't you. yep how much is that that's the 220. oh. yeah okay. so the household sustain survive toilet.

paper toothpaste all this stuff could be. 150 bucks get the name brand cheapest. crap you can or not uh you know the. store brand whatever it's called 150. because I already feel like we're. overextended food for four people this. is gonna suck you you're just gonna it. has to be four to five hundred groceries. you have to chop the Sheep yes you can. well yeah but you eat out also like. everything yeah I hate it but when I. when I do a whole week grocery shop I. can keep it between 120 150 because I do.

buy like in large packages of meats and. things like that so we freeze a lot um. we'll say 500 but we might have to just. force that down to 400 is no one starves. that's the rule obviously no one stars. and we want it to be relatively healthy. and I know but we skip things like eggs. right now you don't need to be doing. eggs where things where inflation have. gone insane when we. Ramen for kids every once in a while. peanut butter jelly sandwiches stuff. like that Pleasant no but we've got to.

get through the other side of the tunnel. first. before we can be having wagyu steaks for. dinner. okay gas you spent a lot on gas there. you spent hundreds and hundreds and. hundreds and hundreds of dollars on gas. and I thought it was only doing like 35. a week. I don't know what well what about him as. well um well he's not driving anywhere. right now okay so you think 35 a week is. what you can do. 140 we'll call it a month. so again out of the four thousand.

dollars. you have budgeted. your minimum monthly budget in order to. survive basic survival is three thousand. seven hundred thirty dollars. and that's living on the edge. essentially. basically feeling like you're living in. poverty in this situation. except for having a relatively nice. place and car so I guess not. I guess that didn't really make any. sense but 270 is what you have left. We're not gonna make progress on 207.

dollars. We're not gonna get anywhere with that. so this is why the household income. needs to be combined he needs to bring. in 15 books an hour or 40 bucks a week. with no vacations he needs to make 30. 000 a year doing that I mean you know. and taxes but it won't be very many. taxes. that needs to happen and even with like. the co-pay for your therapy I mean this. is gone now probably 270 bucks. I don't know what your health insurance. looks like I have an HSA. well yeah yeah it's that I have good.

coverage and I don't pay out of pocket. for my. only just his I don't know how to. explain it but um I ended up signing up. to wear a certain amount of my income. goes towards that account and I only use. that for medical so that's not even like. that just okay so that's before you four. thousand okay so this is the reality of. the situation that budget has to be. followed to a team he needs to bring. money we need to have a collective. household pile and then the answer needs. to just be paid off immediately actually.

no no what you need to do because it's. three you need to save up four thousand. dollars as quick as you can. and in this situation in this situation. four thousand dollars just to get. started. it's gonna take a year in a few months. and that's just so you get started so. you can have a slight emergency fine. because right now one thing happens to. you then what happens to the household. it's screwed so what this four thousand. dollars would do would get you to one. month of survival on your minimum budget.

right now you're living in the scariest. position possible so. with your lovely 2015 whatever. I'm sorry to tell you this we see the. kids a little less because you're. driving ubereats every single night I. just started Mr cart it's a car okay I. made like 400 on a weekend one weekend. okay yeah so whatever one makes more. money and then maintenance and gas maybe. that's why your gas was a little higher. you know maybe a split between instacart. and a split between ubereats I know.

ubereats does relatively well in the. main part of Austin. and around campus you're working until. you're passing out and it's so much. easier to tell someone that than do it. it's so much easier to just have those. words you know complicated airflow then. go do things. but it's kind of what's necessary. because right now you're never gonna get. to uh. that four thousand dollars and only then. do we pay off the instrument and then we. pay off the. uh credit card and then we pay off the.

car and then we have student loans with. this with the amount of debt that's. there at forty thousand dollars plus. that four thousand dollars you need to. save up and then Plus getting to a 20. 000 emergency fund. takes 232 months. or 20 years 20 years so you're 60 then. you haven't even touched retirement so. that's what it's like with this so he. needs to go work any job right now I. don't care what it is I don't care what.

it is then you guys need to combine. household income I'm not even doing it. as a suggestion anymore it needs to. happen and you he shown this video. because this should be scary because you. can't be 60 before you start. contributing to retirement that doesn't. make sense you should be considering. retirement around 59 and a half if. you've done well. and. so he needs to get that other job he. also needs to go get another job on top. of his other job then probably another. job on top of that other job for his. other job then you need to get a second. job or you need to be driving new breeds.

and essentially you just really uh meal. prep for the week and your kids eat that. and then you can help them with their. homework a little bit but other than. that you're working you're working. working because without working. that's all maybe try to find yourself a. better job as well eventually. I just did a wake up instacart and I. didn't get to see the kids hardly at all. and that's the hard part but that's the. sacrifice if you can go bring 30 000. home that a year and you guys have a. combined household income and you start. tackling this it changes the whole story.

it changes the story maybe you're out of. this situation in two to three years. versus 20. in terms of having a fully funded. emergency fund because the steps from. here is saving up that one month. emergency fund for you and paying off. the debt probably smallest to largest. you could do Avalanche you could do the. car first because the interest rate's. insane then the credit card then the. student loans in the instrument that. doesn't no I would get up the instrument. out of the way and then maybe do that. but either way. another thing I might do and this.

absolutely you probably hate this and. want to do it I don't know what the. value of the car is. but. through Credit Karma what you'll see is. guaranteed personal loans where they. basically guarantee you you'll get. approved for the person alone. or they will give you money. like a compensation for not getting. approved. look into that just look into that it's. gonna be a crappy person alone but not. much crappier than the car thing you. have you might need to sell the car get.

a personal loan pay off the car and. whatever you have left in the personal. loan five to ten thousand hour card that. you take through a mechanic and get the. sign off that this will be safe for you. and your family to drive around in and. it will last at least five years. that might be something you need to do. because 24. with a. 558.75 month repayment 21 200 2015 car. we don't do that that's insane that. makes no sense so we might need to get I.

don't know what the value of this thing. is check the value. if you have to borrow an extra two. thousand dollars in order to pay it off. that's worth it and then you put that in. your debt snowball or debt Avalanche. that personal loan. to pay this off. that's something I would highly consider. take a look at that that shaves. actually year maybe an extra six months. off this whole situation. but you got to follow this budget will. you follow this budget I will. he follow his budget because this kind.

of includes him. yes I mean we don't have an option any. longer. couples therapy please please please I'm. not joking no I know I know do it this. income has to be combined or else. the reality is again I've already said. it but I'm going to say it again. neither of you are returned you're never. gonna have a paid for a car again. because you'll just keep borrowing until. the next car is paid off because this is. this is six years and maybe the car. breaks down or something happens within. then then you have to go borrow for. another car maybe you still have debt on. this car at this time maybe his car.

breaks nothing saved up so he has to go. borrow for a car the student loans are. never paid off 150 a month with interest. recruiting the credit cards never paid. off sixty dollars a month with 21. interest. you know maybe the instrument's paid off. and then you guys have nothing to retire. you guys are working into your 90s. just trying to survive and your kids are. paying for your life and. that's that's what this looks like if we. don't follow the budget we don't work. constantly and that is it.

it's hard because this is just all. negative there's like there's nothing I. can say that's optimistic and I'm sorry. I'm sorry is that your phone no I know. and when I got the email from you I was. like why couldn't I'd be able to give. him better news. [Music]. um. but let's find a light at the end of the. tunnel the light at the end of the. tunnel is. if in six months we have another. follow-up and you show me that this has. been followed for six months's budget. that you are working seven days a week.

and that he has gotten a job. and that progress is being made on this. debt again this turns from 20 years to. two to three to four to five years and. that is manageable then there is a life. to be lived there is contributing like. 30 to retirement. because we've got to play catch-up we. have to maybe even 35. but you're able to also go out to eat at. that time and do things that you want to. do maybe we're saving up for a house. even there's a life there.

it just it it's the it's the temporary. sacrifice now and two years it's gonna. feel like a long time three is going to. feel longer for even longer five even. longer but if you guys go crazy. legitimately crazy. there's also and I haven't recommended. this and I'm recognized because I'd. rather work and get out of things but. there is also the conversation of. bankruptcy student loans won't qualify. under that. but. I mean you'll probably lose your car and. it'll be hard to qualify for you know. getting into a place to rent in the.

future I mean that's like the last Last. Resort because it'll just be turmoil on. your family it'll be hard but that's. something that's in the conversation but. if the choice is Pluckers and bankruptcy. exactly and working hard and working all. the time or bankruptcy. lots of work yeah no God in Me I know I. do you do I believe in you what I'm. nervous about is we have the. relationship thing we need to have that. conversation we need to do that stuff. you need to be brave enough to do that.

brave enough go to go to a couple. therapy I'm proud of you brave enough to. go to personal therapy starting next. week that's incredible that's incredible. you're awesome for that. you are awesome for always taking care. of your kids getting out of hard. situations in the past getting into a. two-bedroom and making sure they're. always on there's always food on the. table you are awesome for that you want. to spoil them and take them out to eat. you are awesome for that let's just get.

to the point where we're even beyond. that. by temporary sacrificing maybe how old. are they I'm 17 and 13. okay perfect old. enough to be able to sit down at the. table and have the conversation okay. we've lived beyond our means mama's. gonna be cutting back so that Mama can. retire and you all don't have to worry. about me. this is good you should be cheering for. this okay guys we're on the same page. cool high fives all around you know. maybe like man I want some McDonald's. but we're like. um.

you don't have to pay for my living. attire uh versus your large side of. fries. I mean I'll shove McDonald's down my. throat all day so I get it but. it's important to us and. always says to make sure that your plate. is full before giving it you know I know. he said something along those lines. where he he's got a better understanding. of things and good I love that I love. that. and then your kid I know you talked. about wanting to pay for college next. time and stuff like that it's not in the. picture yeah it's the for the first kid.

at least you might be able to help cash. for the second but what the first kid. should do and I know we talked about. different options and I'll say the same. thing I said last time. if he just goes to Community College. here or just applies for every single. scholarship in the world but if he goes. to community culture Austin Community. College everyone I know at Community. College that I uh talk to here it's so. cheap for people living in Austin you. can cash flow it you can cash flow. working part-time it's incredible. incredible the resource we have in this. city that's why my property taxes are. essentially murder but.

at least it benefits that yeah so that. might be an option you're just not going. to be able to help at least for the. first one second one maybe if you guys. go crazy and get out of this and start. contributing to retirement now and get a. fully funded emergency fund get out of. debt maybe you can help cash flow but. that's what we're looking today. I want to hear you talk about what the. future looks like tell me what you're. going to do what do the next years look. like what are you gonna do what does the. relationship look like. um so yes couple therapy um.

yeah um. I just gotta cut the unnecessary. spending. and I know it even when I spend it I'm. like. don't do it um. the next year looks like a lot of work. um. I just gotta get. focused. the good news about work is. there's a reward for it and the reward.

for this. is that you guys are going to have a. great life when you work in sacrifice. I believe in you guys. I'm equally nervous. don't let a setback. throw you back this time stay strong be. in communication with me and then take. advantage of the different therapies and. I think you guys can do this no matter. how hard it is I know we can I know I. can't yeah.

and there's three things for fun I'll. say that as well go to Zucker have a a a. packed picnic. go to the go to the beaches and stuff. like that I'm a little rocky but no it's. Pleasant. okay any final thoughts and lock your. credit as well. no I mean it so brain to see it again so. maybe it'll stick this time so for. dominga give her some love in the. comments below I mean we got to give her.

all the support and lift her up it's. gonna be so hard but you have this you. have this now I'm gonna give you a. hammer Financial score you thought it. was four out of ten. spoiler it's not gonna be a 4 out of 10. so let's break down the category. spending I mean it was drastically. overspending everything was green. outlined and zero 10 debt. one thing we forgot to talk about was. that IRS debt because I didn't see it on. the credit but you owe them and they are. scary and now there's probably no money. left over so that's what's bad but with. the IRS Denton with collections it's as.

bad as it can get 0 out of ten. retirement there's nothing zero out of. ten emergency fund there's nothing zero. out of ten real estate there's nothing. zero out of ten obviously the Aggregates. down to a hammer Financial score 0 out. of ten hey you like five dollars I like. five dollars you open an acorns account. in the link in the description below I. get five dollars you get five dollars. everybody wins make sure to follow my. Instagram and Twitter thanks.