I'm in a quandry, and I don't know where to start.

[judyCST1]

Hello there. I am an employed 55 year old female, single with three small dogs. I have lived in my house for just over three years, and am becoming overwhelmed with bills, the cost of taking care of the house, and just getting deeper and deeper into debt. I used to travel for my job, and lived in a fifth wheel, quite contentedly. I want to sell my house, pay off my debts, and live in an RV full time. I am currently living in San Diego. I know I need to start consolidating all my furniture, etc., and get rid of tons of 'junk'. It's difficult because I am by myself, (poor me!). To cut down on expenses, and have a smaller payout each month sounds so great, as I can start saving some money for retirement. I have nothing saved in that regard, and quite honestly, I am one disaster away from being broke and in big trouble! I don't know if I should file for bankruptcy, or what to do. any advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance for your suggestions!

[jmtandem]

She has not provided enough information to assess the situation much beyond urging her to get help. For example, what is the house worth/what is the equity position and will it cover the debts? Or, is she barely (or worse) going to be able break even selling the home. Also important is the home mortgage amount. San Diego is not an inexpensive area and if the home was purchased within the last ten or fifteen years the mortgage could be subsantial.

Also, as others have said can she work from other places? If that is the case then making a move to another location that is less expensive might work.

And lastly, short of major medical expenses, is she willing to make ends meet and transform her spending patterns. If she sells the house, gets out of debt, but continues on the same way, she will be back in the same old position soon.

There is likely a way out without bankruptcy if there is equity in the home and a willingness to change the ways that got her into the situation.

Hopefully she follows up with us on what the pros say especially about the RV part.

[Tin_Pusher]

I think we are beginning to see a consensus of opinion 🙂

[johnwalkerpa1]

I don't really think the RV solution is the answer to your problem. Its not the most efficient way to live. There are other root problems to solve first which have been well covered by others.

One suggestion I would have is this....if your job is such that you can travel and still work, why not consider moving to a new permanent home?

If you have equity and can sell your house, maybe you can start over with a clean slate and build things up while solving root financial problems. There are many places far cheaper to live than San Diego and that might give you the extra advantage you need to get a fresh start. Try to avoid bankruptcy at all costs though if you hope to make a fresh start and make progress.

[Carb_Cleaner]

Start drinking and smoking - heavily (if you aren't already).
Troll?

[tatest]

I don't think getting into a RV will necessarily help your financial situation. For the same lifestyle, and same location, you will have pretty much the same costs.

Getting out of Southern California and to someplace with a fraction of the land values, and thus housing costs, might help, except that a job ties you to a location, and the same job in a low living cost area will usually pay much less.

Another vote for talking to a debt/credit counselor.

[rexlion]

In addition to the previous good advice, call a bankruptcy attorney who has a free initial consultation. The attorney can help you see what the consequences would be, whether you would lose your house (and any equity), whether you would have to make payments for a few years (chapter 13 instead of chapter 7), etc. This will help you to know where you stand and whether bankruptcy is right for you. Do this as soon as possible.

Your housing costs are probably pretty high in your area. A trailer or 5th wheel is probably very cheap by comparison. However, you will still have to spend for a park lot to park it on. Add that cost in to your estimates when you compare to what you're currently spending for housing.

Start having some yard sales or sell stuff on CL or something! Pare down the belongings and raise needed cash.

[K3WE]

I think there's many things that would keep RVing from saving you money.

Probably need to rent a campsite- which even at Monthly rates can be as much as a nice apartment $20/night at a state park = $600/month!

Gas to heat the thing tends to be more.

Things break and need to be fixed.

It does bad things for your gas mileage and requires you to drive an expensive, gas-guzzling TV (or you're in a gas-guzzling motor home, or you'll want a toad or something).

Food expenses should be pretty much the same...or if I use my imagination, slightly higher since, you may be pressed to buy smaller, more expesive quantities for the smaller fridge/smaller pantry.

RVing is not necessarily expensive, but it's typically not cheap either.

[Spleenstomper]

I don't see how a depreciating asset would be helpful. RVs can be money pits, especially used ones. Plus a tow vehicle? Doesn't seem like it's going to help much in the end.

[rfryer]

Your dilemma isn’t all that unusual, expenses are exceeding income. Sometimes the income is such that it’s hard not to exceed it, but in most cases there are a lot of expenses that can be eliminated or reduced and at this stage in your life you need to look hard at that. For some unfathomable reason, I wound up as a free credit counselor in my old neighborhood and helped out a number of people in financial trouble. And in every single case credit cards were the main culprit to the point I considered them an evil fostered on the people by the financial industry. So I had them bring all the data they had on income and expenses and I had them cut up the credit cards while I sat there. In all cases they had sufficient income to avoid disaster, but they had to adjust their spending to stay within it. So I think the first thing you need to do is dump the cards. Then you need to track where your money is going to see what you can reduce or dispense with. A credit counselor is almost a must, but avoid the commercial ones, there are usually non-profit ones available through some government body.

As far as selling your house for an RV, remember a house is an appreciating asset and an RV is a depreciating one. You may or may not come out ahead going to an RV, but you need to sit down with someone and go over all aspects of your income and expenses before you jump into that. I thought CloudDriver made some good points, especially about paying down the expensive debt first. Bankruptcy may be your only alternative, but that’s a last resort if everything else fails. The problem is it doesn’t address the root cause of the problem, spending habits. And you’ll be bombarded with credit offers; they know you can’t file again for 7 years. I get constant credit card offers and they don’t even get in the house, they go in the burn bag in the garage unopened. So take heart, you can overcome this, it will just take some professional help and strong self discipline on your part. Good luck.

[weathershak]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

You travel for your job. Will the employer pick up the travel costs for an RV?

Go to your bank and see if they have financial planners.

Put your credit cards in a bag of water. Put the bag into the freezer.

LOL !!!!! I LIKE THAT:B

[pianotuna]

Hi,

You travel for your job. Will the employer pick up the travel costs for an RV?

Go to your bank and see if they have financial planners.

Put your credit cards in a bag of water. Put the bag into the freezer.

[CloudDriver]

"I'm in a quandry, and I don't know where to start."

Step 1 - Stop using your credit card. If you can't afford to pay cash for an item, you can't afford to buy it. Even if you have cash, you are now in debt over your head, so you still can't afford to buy it.

Step 2 - Start thinking "survival Mode". Basic human needs are water, food and shelter. Cancel your cable or satellite TV. Get rid of your smart phone and go to a plain vanilla cell phone or a land line (whichever is less expensive). Stop eating in restaurants and buying your morning coffee. Making your own meals and coffee is much cheaper. Brown bag your lunch. Plow all the savings into paying off debt.

If you do sell the house, use any equity to pay off all of your other debts first. Putting some of the money into savings while still paying high interest on debt is just spending more money. You don't want to go into retirement living on Social Security with a load of high interest debt (or any debt at all).

Living full time in an RV, as Becky (linked above) and others are doing is a possibility. Just remember that RV's and tow vehicles are depreciating assets that require regular maintenance and eventually wear out.

[weathershak]

Some great info from someone who is doing it.

I am on my third year living in an RV, but the link above will help you better than I can. Best wishes too you.

[JayGee]

I don't mean to sound harsh but.....The habits that got you in this financial shape will follow you to whatever path you choose. You did not say your income had changed so your spending must be over your income. Change your spending habits. Dave Ramsey has some good plans that you might check out. Find a used book store or a library and read some of his ideas to reduce debt.

Have a garage sale, take that money and put it on a debt. Stop spending. Repeat.

Good luck.

[Roy_Lynne]

Sorry about your problems, but I really think you should go to those Credit Card Counselors, (the Non-profit ones, NOT the for profit ones) instead of an RV forum board to discuss your finances. They have many solutions rather than bankruptcy and years ago got my husband and I out of a mess.