Debt is something that we all are, have, or will be dealing with in our lives, and it’s no secret that it can be quite the stressful experience. From stress about how we’re going to drum up the money, to the anxiety as to what might happen if we don’t can eat away at our nerves, but what about our children? How are they affected when we’re in debt? That’s what we’re exploring today. While online payday loans are available in a financial emergency, understanding how to deal with debt and how it could be affecting the little ones is a must – so read on to find out more.

How Does Your Debt Affect Your Children?

From babies and toddlers to older children and teenagers, your kids aren’t quite as oblivious to your stress as you might hope they are. The last thing any of us want is for our stress to rub off on our children, but the unfortunate fact of the matter is that it will – but is this always negative?

When we grow stressed, we may not be able to operate to our full potential no matter how hard we try and this obviously has an effect, especially on younger children. Stress can make us snappy, less inclined to spending time with the little ones and in general, completely different from how we normally operate. What’s more, a lower budget means that you may not be able to cater for the costs of school trips, socialising and they may have to go without basics when things get truly tough. As a result, a child’s mood, mental health and self-confidence could take a hit.

How Can You Deal With Your Debt?

With the above in mind, dealing with the debt you do have is vital. Stress is a natural reaction when things seem out of your hands, so it’s important to gain control where possible to help reduce stress on you, your bank account and your children. We’ve got a few tips below.

• Face Facts

First things first, you need to stop, think, and face facts. Coming to terms with how much you owe, what your income and outgoings are and what you can realistically start to pay off without risking the quality of life for you or your kids. Track down paperwork, bank statements, open up bills you might’ve been otherwise been ignoring and actually work out everything you owe. This might seem counter-productive for your stress levels, but by organising your debts and laying them out separately, you can start to tackle them individually as opposed to a large, terrifying total sum.

• Create A Budget

Remember the organisation you did in the above point? Well, now you can put it to some proper use. Crafting a budget is a great way to save money that you can put towards your debts without having to completely give up your lifestyle. While you might need to cut down on the leisure activities and swap them out for nights in or avoid the early morning coffee shop trips in favour of home-brewed alternatives, you can cut down your outgoing costs and put them where they’re needed more.

• Prioritise

When it comes to the debts you owe, you need to prioritise as opposed to trying to pay them all off at once. To do this, all you need to do is work out which debts have the highest interest rates, and start pouring your money into them instead. Of course, you’ll need to pay the minimum charges on all of your debts, but with any extra cash, aim for one debt rather than spreading it out across multiple and once that is paid off, move onto the next and so on.

Debt is an unfortunate fact of life and while it’s possible to avoid some debts, there are others we have to take on and it can often be overwhelming. While our children can be affected by our financial stress, there are thankfully plenty of ways to get your debts under control and hopefully, our points above have given you a good place to start.

My debt situation and money situation hasn’t necessarily improved since I last updated you here. Some major changes have been:

1. Open discussion about selling one of the cars.
2. Finding other items in the house to sell.
3. A solid plan to find my other half a job through temp agencies in the area.
4. When we have $1,000 saved, we will begin to snowball every penny towards our debt until we are relieved of some of this pressure.
5. After we are a bit more comfortable, we will increase our savings to cover a six-month emergency. That way, if either of us is out of work for an extended period again, we are prepared.

During the process of settling all this, one thing came up over and over: should we consider getting a consolidation loan. Of course, it would help us pay a lot of our “petty debt” in one fail swoop, but isn’t taking on new debt to pay off debt just continuing the cycle?

If you’re considering pulling out a debt consolidation loan, hear me out. They aren’t all bad all the time. They’ve helped some people out tremendously, but here are three reasons we opted out.

Say No To Consolidation Loans

There are a plethora of reasons to “just say no” to consolidation loans. You may be paying a higher interest rate for a longer period of time (even if the payment is lower). There is also no guarantee your interest rate will remain the same in many cases. Below are the three main reasons we decided not to consolidate.

1. Our Credit Scores Aren’t That Great

We are back in that spot where our credit scores aren’t that great. We’ve missed some credit card payments that have hit our credit. Luckily, we’re planning on building a life where we won’t need a credit score because we won’t be looking to take out any debts. Also, our payoff plan will slowly increase our scores over time.

2. Most Consolidation Loans Want Collateral

Many consolidation loans want to know that if you don’t pay there’s something they can hold as collateral. For me, they wanted my car – which is worth far more than I have to consolidate. That alone was enough for me to not want to move forward.

3. What Are You Learning From Taking Out a Loan?

As I chatted about in our debt update, we’ve become fans of Dave Ramsey. In general, he doesn’t “believe” in debt consolidation because it tricks people into thinking they are eliminating debt. When, in fact, you will be in debt longer by consolidating. It may impact your life in a positive way immediately but if you really want that financial freedom, we all need to learn how to be more patient and do things the “long” way. Which, in this case, will actually take less time.

Everyone’s Finances Are Different

You may be reading this saying, “But Amanda, a consolidation loan helped me and my family get back on the right track.” That is great! I’m happy for you. However, for my situation and current debt, a consolidation loan would simply elongate the amount of time I’ll be in debt. Not to mention, my other half and I feel we need this time of “discomfort” to really enjoy, appreciate, and maintain our financial freedom in the future.

After taking a look at our finances, many of our smaller debts, we could pay off in a single swoop if we made it our focus. A few of them will be paid off in the next few weeks (yay).

Readers, I’d love to hear back from you on this topic! Have you consolidated debt? Did it help or hinder your financial situation?

Read More

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Bills are still trickling in from when I gave birth last August. Our little one entered the world on August 31 and, surprisingly, I wasn’t hit with a mound of medical bills immediately. In fact, nothing started coming in the mail until late November regarding my labor and delivery bill. Here’s a look at what the out-of-pocket cost will be for our family.

The Cost of Having a Baby

While I was pregnant, I researched the cost of having a baby and posted about it here on the blog. For a lot of people, it is shocking when the labor and delivery bill arrives and it is five figures. The average amount most women pay to give birth in a hospital is around $40,000. That’s if everything goes perfectly. Additional drugs or other medical intervention will cost more. For instance, I was induced and required medication for induction. This meant my pharmacy cost while in the hospital was higher than average, but we will look at a break down of the bill below.

There are plenty of other costs to giving birth in a hospital. Many people don’t consider what they’ll eat while they are there (and trust me, hospital food isn’t it). In fact, during COVID, some of the hospital’s services, such as food delivery, aren’t completely available. On top of that, you may be in the hospital longer than you think. My stay started Monday afternoon and we didn’t leave until Thursday morning. Some hospitals may charge parking during that period of time. Be sure you are prepared for that.

Some of these unexpected costs may throw people for a loop, but what really shocks most couples is when the labor and delivery bill arrives.

The Labor and Delivery Bill

The dates I was in the hospital were August 30 through September 2. When the bill came from the medical center where I gave birth the total came to $26,250.40. Thankfully, my insurance is covering $23,548.85 of that. However, that still leaves me footing $2,701.60 of the bill. Here’s a break down…

• Labor Room/Delivery: $17,630
• Room and Board Private (one bed): $4,416
• Pharmacy: $1,772.45
• Anesthesia: $908
• Special Charges: $243
• Laboratory: $1,281

As mentioned above, I had to stay in the hospital a little longer than most mothers when they give labor. So, my room and board and paying for the labor room is a little higher than average. My pharmacy and laboratory costs are a little more expensive too. I went into the hospital because I was having trouble regulating my blood pressure. So, some additional medication was needed. Many people may pipe up and say we could’ve saved money by sharing a room too. During COVID that simply isn’t an option though, and you still have to pay the private room fees.

I honestly chuckled when I saw the bill. The most important part of labor/delivery was the anesthesiologist (that epidural saved me), but it is one of the cheapest item lines on the bill. The room, which is the most expensive part of the entire ordeal, was uncomfortable and the food was poor. At the end of it all though, we got our sweet little Chicken Nugget (her official nickname). She makes the labor and delivery bill irrelevant.

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