Personal Finances - Help!

A lot of good ideas/plans have been posted. I really appreciate all of your comments.
Keep your chins up and never give up hope! To quote a line from "The Shawshank Redemption":

"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."

I'll tell ya what I really think, but I'd ask for a small cottage on your 100 acre land first....You're fine. There are gonna be sooooo many people in debt, they won't give a shoot about you. There will be no debtor's prison, because there will be no way any gov't can afford it. I'd say either one is a good idea. Either keep stocking or start lowering your debt. I'd probably lean towards the stocking (2/3), but still pay off debt (1/3).

none of us will be paying any bills. So save your $. Buy some more gold and silver. Like you said your credit cards are not secured by antthing so who will care at that point

http://poorerthanyou.com/2007/04/07/alternate-debt-snowball-...

Pay off one or as many as you can completely, right off the bat with the tax money. Then take all or part of the money used to make that monthly payment you werre making on those debts and start applying it to the next one in line, depending on which of the 3 methods you choose. The 3 methods are listed but they basically involve highest interest debt first method, lowest balance first method, or most annoying debt first method. I had one I got from a sister in law that used a combination of method 1 and 2. It looked at both lowest balance and highest interest and did a compromise method.

Again, you can use some of the money that you save by paying off 1 or 2 of the debts completely to furthur build your "storehouse" a little each month and the rest (read here majority), snowball onto the next debt. As you pay off each one, you can hold out a percentage to further increase what goes into the storehouse. I would concentrate most of it on making the snowball bigger first though. Read the comments in the forum below the link I provided for more idea as well. There is one that says to pay off the one with a rather low balance but a high minimum payment first. This will make the snowball bigger alot sooner. It is the "snowball effect" that really causes this to work IMO. I have known about all this for like 10 years now, but it has just recently became real popular.

Paul.

And use the some of the money saved in lower monthly payments to stock up over time and other money saved to "snowball" the credity payments. There is actually a formula for doing this. Figuring out which one to pay off first. I would guess one or both of the store cards. Look into Dave Ramsey. I think I heard him allude to it before. You would be modifying it slightly to add to the "storehouse" but the underlying principal is the same. I'll look for a link and maybe either edit this post or post it fresh.

Paul.

you need our in put. Your in better shape than most of us. I'm happy for you keep up the good work. Would love to have some survive this coming collapse. Good Luck, Hope it all works out well for you and yours. Peace & Courage Patriot

Yes, get rid of all your debt. You want to owe nothing when the SHTF.

I may not know the truth, but I know when I'm being lied to...

I think a lot of DPer's are more than a little envious. It seems to me that you are pretty well prepared for survival. What else do you feel that you need? Unless there is something critical, I would probably pay off the debt to make sure that no collectors come knocking at your door. Or maybe you can just pay down your debt more aggressively than you would otherwise while putting some of your income towards further preparations.
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You can pretty much understand Congress when you think of the Democrats as the Genoveses and the Republicans as the Gambinos. - Michael Ruppert (paraphrase)

1) Use the money for your daughters orthodontics.

2) Order you credit cards from highest interested rate to lowest and pay off the highest first, especially if that credit card company is willing to work with you. If you have been current, ask the credit card companies to lower the interest rates for the cards a couple of points.Don't ask them to drop it from 19% to 7%, but down to 15%

3) Don't under any circumstance close those credit cards once you pay them off. Just cut the card up or put it in a safety deposit box in case of a rainy day.

4) Pay on time....There is nothing worse than being hit with a $29 late fee

5) Read up on the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Know it inside and out so that if you do have problems, you know how to respond to debt collectors.

6) Fight any changes to your property tax that makes them higher or doesn't lower them. Look up similar property in your area. If their tax assessment goes down, so should yours. Start with the appraiser for your county first. They typically don't have the time to come out and re-appraise property. Then go to appraisal board if that doesn't work.

7) Reduce luxury purchases for the next two years. These are items you don't need on a day to day basis.

me. I envy you! Can I come there when the shtf? I'll sell what I have and live in a trailer in the woods behind the pond. You won't even know I'm there. I'll help with the chores. lol

im jealous, your way more prepared than I. Good job!