Lazy Pays Well

A few years ago, I was in favor of most of the low-income tax breaks and programs. I volunteered with programs that served low-income families, and saw how much those programs helped.

Lately I'm much more cynical. It bothers me that I work a full-time job, and have to pay to subsidize the "lazy" lifestyle choices of others. We have friends and family who have decided to have one person stay at home (some with children, some without), and who live on a single income.

Because of that, they fall below the cut off for many programs. They qualify for earned income tax credits, several state tax credits (for helping offset housing & utility costs), food benefits (food stamps and WIC), and state-subsidized healthcare.

At tax time, they are getting tax credit refunds of $5-10k! Meanwhile, we're having to pay in way more than that, and that's after working hard all year.

In some ways, it makes me want to save up and pay off everything (house & all), beef up the retirement account, and then quit my job. Without any bills, we'd be able to comfortably live on Hubby's income, and we'd also qualify for many of the tax credits and programs. Plus I'd be able to do whatever I wanted with my time: sleeping in, volunteering, reading, exercising. We'd save money by not having the additional vehicle expenses relating to commuting, not having to maintain a professional wardrobe & continuing education expenses, I'd be able to coupon & shop for grocery sales more aggressively, and I'd be able to trim other expenses (like eating out) from our budget (because I wouldn't be too tired to cook).

Maintaining momentum

Hubby & I are having a difficult time maintaining momentum with the debt repayment.

While we haven't added to credit card balance, it's been going down very slowly. It seems like we'll charge $250 (for things like gas or books) and then we'll pay off $500. At our current rate, that last $5,000 is going to be around for a long time! In reality, we're hoping that it'll be gone by the end of the year.

We have been able to save over $5k for a down payment on the new car... but the new car will only add to our total debt. We'll have to budget for additional monthly payments of $400/mo, which will definitely slow down the credit cards.

On the student loans, we've been making the minimum payments on one and have deferred the other. We currently have over $47,000 - I know that's not going to get paid off with only $100/mo being applied towards principal.

We've basically diverted all the extra money in our budget towards miscellaneous items. About 40% is "blow money", 40% is short-term savings (repairs & renovations), and 20% is entertainment (eating out & vacation).

If we really focused and stayed "gazelle intense", we'd be able to knock out the credit card AND other car loan in maybe 6 months time. Instead it'll take a year. The other debts - the future new car loan, student loans, and 2nd mortgage - will end up taking 10+ years (when they could be gone in 5). I know it, I see it in black and white, but I just don't care anymore.