thats what I was thinking...my wife and I spend way less than that on food, clothing, entertainment. I
Going by your numbers: +4000/month take-home income -735 car -550 credit card (is this the minimum payment?) -150 insurance -1200 rent and associated bills -250 student loans ------------------------- +$1115/month Where is the rest of this money going? Seems to me like she doesn't need to get rid of the car at all, although she's obviously paying too much.
She needs to check and see if she can get better Car Insurance or pay it in the 6 months at a time . .. . Simply Put she might have to Do the Dave Ramsey and kill off the smallest bill she got .. then the next one .. then the next one so . . . Paying he insurance in bulk may free up moneys next month Doubling up on the Student loans or the credit cards or something Rocket River
Well the car is only worth the $21,500 but she could've gotten things which might inflate the cost a lot more than it could've add at to the value (read: DVDs and LCD screens, navigation system, rims). It's also very common to have things like a $3K in warranties or what not added to it. If she's as bad as her finances would indicate, she might've bought a new car every few years, and if she has bad credit, most of her early payments would be interest and the principal wouldn't be paid down as much. So that when she trades the car in, she still owes a lot of money on her trade in which is likely to be rolled into the current financing of the car.
I would check the real principle she owes on the car because the math doesn't seem right to me. Also, if she got jacked on the interest, they probably got her on the credit insurance also. You may be able to refinance the car or trade it on a more reasonable car. Some car dealers will work with even when you are upside down on the car.
why is Phoenix so expensive? Isn't that a major sprawl? Anyways got to be more to the story? Maybe she goes out alot? You can spend a 100 bucks a night at some places.
There's always the option to have a roommate after her lease is up. Although the rent may be the same or a little more, the bills can be split in half there.
