I'm pretty much drowning in debt. I'm 27 years old and I got about 350,000 in my house that I own, about 120,000 in eight different accounts that I'm owing. And I'm just kind of trying to figure out what the best route is. I have a 401k loan, I have Dr. Bill's, I have about 8,000 IRS. I have two personal loans, one auto loan, one travel trailer loan, and then 20,000 on a credit card. Oh my gosh, okay. So how did you get here, Michael? What's kind of the backstory? What's caused all this? I think previously, I didn't make much money, and then I got a job where I started making more money. So I just started spending more, and then I think it became a habit, and then I started trying to pay off my debt, so I started consolidating debt with a loan, paying that off, or not paying it off, I consolidated it, and then rack up all my credit cards and finance more stuff, and then I consolidated again, and I probably did that two or three times. But now I'm kind of, and we're in at the edge, I would say. Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's, you're bumping, yeah, half a million dollars in debt, including a mortgage, but this, so the consumer debt is what I would probably, what I want to talk to you about first and foremost, because this is where, are you, are you behind on payments? No, I've been making payments, and I've tried a pretty much minimum and all my payments other than one loan, which I was doing the snowball before, and then I pretty much fell off of that, and I'm just kind of, I'm at a point where I'm just kind of, like, maxing out, yeah, yeah, I'm just trying to figure out where's the basic beginning first steps. Are of this, okay. That should be taken. What kind of, what kind of career are you in now? How much are you making? I'm in energy and utilities for an alignment, so I'm probably, it kind of floats depending on overtime, but the last two years, I made about 180. Wow, yeah. Income is great. There's no question you've got a good income, and you've got some potential future here. This is, this is getting control. Yeah, of you, Michael, I mean, that's what it is. I'm like, it's a, and it's a, and in your case, it is that classic example of people that have the issue, right, of debt, not controlling the behavior and thinking mathematically they can work their way out by getting into more debt with, you know, a different interest rate or, you know, trying to kind of move the puzzle pieces around, but at the end of the day, it's, yeah, it is you, and so, I mean, we can sit here for sure and kind of talk through some of this on a logistical side, but I think the head knowledge, I think you may have, Michael, you said you were doing the snowball at one point. I think for you, there just has to be this I've had it moment and you just haven't had it yet. This could be it as we're talking and where you're at currently, why you called in, but there has to be enough pain in your present situation for change to occur. And, and that's going to be my biggest thing with you that there's going to be a plan and it's going to be long and excruciating and it's going to take a lot more hours that you're going to be working. It's going to be your life is going to look a hundred and eighty degrees different than how it does today in order for you to get out of this. Are you committed to do that kind of change? Yeah, I think I am. I'm, I just had two kids, I have two hundred two. Oh, wow. I mean, I can't, I can't be living like this. Yep, totally. What's your biggest need? I know what you started the call with, but what are you really need help with? Because you, I think Rachel just nailed you really well and so what is it that you really want from us today? Well, I want, what I want for me all is to kind of help me figure out the best route. I can do this. Ultimately, what I want is time with my family. I'm sick of working, you know, sixty to eighty, ninety hour a week. So I want to, I want to get back down to forty, fifty hours a week and just be able to live on that. Yep. Yeah. Absolutely. So I love that. That's a good target. Yep, for sure. So I think Michael, you know, the debt snowball like we talked about because you listed out a lot of debts at the beginning of the call. So what I would want you to do is sit down and list all of those out, the total of them, and, and the smallest amounts, not payment, not interest rate, the smallest amount to the largest amount. So this could be in your credit cards, twenty thousand dollars of credit cards. If it's multiple credit cards, split those totals up, right? I mean per each credit card is its own debt. And list that out. And what I would say is, I think getting quick wins for you guys, Michael, is going to be huge. And I say you guys, because your wife, are you married? Yes. Yeah. I mean, your wife has to be as committed as you are in this. Where is she at with everything? She's, to be honest, like I've been, she's a stay at home mom and I've been, I would say she's more in the dark about everything. I need to be more open with her. What's your spending situation? Are you guys spending way too much or have you already started the process of tightening the belt? Um, I've, I believe I've been tightening the belt. She has been too. We still, she doesn't know. She doesn't know about it. Yeah. By the way, and the way you said that, if this were a court of law, I'd be all over this as a lawyer. You just said, I, I have, which that tells me what's really going on. And Rachel just pointed it out. Yeah. So, so Michael, I think there's two big things as we leave this call, because I don't think we're going to be able to solve all of this in, you know, one segment here on the show. But two things. I want you guys, the biggest piece is going to be the relational piece, Michael. And when you said that she's in the dark sun, you're going to, you're going to have one of maybe the hardest conversation you've had in marriage thus far. And I want you to rip the bandaid off, and I want you to be a thousand percent honest down to the penny. And she's probably going to be pissed. She's going to probably feel a level of betrayal, a probably a level of, I've been in the dark house that's been happening and I had no clue. I mean, you're going to go through some crap, but that is one of the most beautiful things that can happen for you guys. I mean, honestly, because finally it's off of your plate, Michael, I can't imagine what you've been carrying around. I mean, the amount of stress and everything has been on you. And that's not to her fault. She doesn't know, but there's going to be something up, bringing all this to the lights, Michael, for you, instead of you trying to manage everything and pay the payments and do the thing, work extra and figure it out on your own. That you have a wife and you guys can be a team in this, and it's going to be really hard, but I'm telling you, it's one of the best things that you guys can do together in your marriage. You may need some marriage counseling after this. Well, I was going to say, can we let's help them? Can let's do every dollar premium. Well, I was going to do a couple things at the end. Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm jumping ahead. Well, I'm Chris Kringle over here. No, it's just the two things. So the conversation, Michael, with your wife is really important. That's number one. As we leave this call, please do that. Number two, you need some quick wins. You had a car loan that maybe you may just need to sell the car. Get a quick win on that. Do the math. If you can't pay it off in 12 months, get rid of the car. There was some kind of trailer loan or something. If you sell that, you guys need some momentum starting, and some of the best ways you can do that is sell stuff that you have dead on. So do those things, but also stay on the line because Chris Kringle, what are we going to give you? Every dollar we're going to get you. And also, I want to line you up with one free coaching session with one of our financial coaches. This will be therapy 101. It's going to get the therapy process potentially started, but a real coach is going to walk you through how you guys walk out of this going forward. You guys can do it. Hang on the line. We'll take care of you. Create your free every dollar budget today, the simplest way to budget for your life.
