Still Broke!

NurseyBaby'05, BSN, RN · May 3, 2006

When I first started working last summer we wound up with a lot of extra money in the bank. We still in panic mode when it came to spending money. It used to be that $20 for beer and pizza could send us into the red. Now that we're more comfortable not being broke, we're less careful with our spending and are struggling. :chair: It's time for us to pull in the reins again. When you make more you spend more.

As for your credit cards. Talk to one of those non-profit debt consolidation places. They can negotiate with your creditors to lower or eliminate your interest. The cc companies set up interest so you are never able to pay off your balances. The other trick is two-fold. Live off cash while you are paying them down/off and if you do need to use one. Be sure it's on something you can pay off with your next paycheck. (Barring a major emergency, of course.) Part two: don't run them up again when you're done with the colsolidation payments. They're good for an emergency, but it's easy to get into a viscious cycle of robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Now, on the the coffee shop. Something to consider for nursing are the intangibles. Job security, job options, career development. Restaurant management does not always seem to have those. You can't do a 180 with your career with restaurant management experience. As a nurse, I can. I can go back to the office if I want. I can get a job that's easier on the body than hospital nursing when I'm old and creaky. In food service, you run your hiney off and as a manager, you are responsible for picking up everyone else's slack. Someone quits, who takes his place until a replacement is hired and trained? What will be different about your job in ten years? What else will you have learned? Probably not much. The industry has had very few major changes as long as I have been on the planet. I'm certainly not knocking the profession, but there are other things to consider in a career besides salary.

Race Mom, ASN, RN · May 3, 2006

The drawback to credit card counseling (consolidation) is that it goes on your credit report. If you are looking to get a mortgage, it hurts you as bad as a bankruptcy, sometimes worse...they want them paid off before they will give you a mortgage. Also, some of them are just out there to take your money. If you go that route, I would definately get some referals from people that have used them.

One way to get those cards paid off is to use a "pyramid" system. Pick your highest interest rate card and pay it off as quick as you can. What ever payment you used to make that monthly payment, apply "on top" of the payment for the next card (after the 1st is paid off). If you want to drop the "pounds" quick and get immediate results, pick the card that has the lowest balance first, then chose how to order the rest. You can do it, it just takes willpower and knowing that you won't have any extra money for a while. But once you start paying them off, it gets quite addicting to do!

Can you pick up one extra shift a month? If so, do it. Then apply ALL that shifts money to the one credit card you are tackling.

grinnurse, RN · May 3, 2006

I too am just out for almost a year and am disappointed that I don't have my student loans paid down more. I didn't want to be paying on them for years. I was doing really well on doubling payments until I had to have surgery in December and now I am still playing catch up which really sucks!! If nothing weird happens, I should be caught up this next check and then can start doubling payments again. When I look at my salary, I make 3xs as much as I ever had and I could kick myself in the butt for not having saved at least a little in case of an emergency!! That won't happen again!! I got so excited from not being totally broke I went wild:eek:

Tweety, BSN, RN · May 4, 2006

I wouldn't be disappointed that you still have debt after one year of working, after all you were in college for 7 years.

I'm lucky, when I make more money the amount of income tax seems to be about the same percentage (which is way too much) but it doesn't erase any gains I make or "throw me into a higher tax bracket" (whatever that means). I know this is true for some people, but not for me because when I make more money, I make more money (and pay more taxes). Perhaps because I don't have the benefit of dependents. Anyway, that's me and this thread is not about me.

Good luck to you. I'm sorry that 7 years of college isn't paying off for you. Hopefully it's an investment in the future and one day it will. It's tough these days though with inflation, gas prices, etc. etc. etc. I don't feel like I'm getting ahead either.

LaVonneRN · May 4, 2006

Well, I have been a nurse for almost a year now and I just realized something, I am still broke! I thought surely after a year of nursing I would have all of my nursing school debt payed off. Nope, still working on it (and I'm just counting credit cards, not loans). It turns out, nursing really doesn't pay very well. I ended up with 7 years of college, 2 Bachelor degrees, and not enough income to support a family. Hmmm, it turns out they just take out more for taxes. I make almost what I made managing a coffee shop when I was 17! Ohh, and then I am forced to take care of drunks who take an ambulance in because they can't afford a cab, and then have the nerve to tell me "I don't care, medicaid will pay for it" No you !@#$%^&* it's ME that is paying for it. Sorry, I'm a little bitter. Ssometimes I just feel like our society has it set up so that the lower middle class will never get ahead. I don't have enough political knowledge to know who to blame.
Is anyone else still broke? If not, how long did it take before you paid off your nursing school debt?
Just very discouraged and feel like I will never ever get ahead.

YEP...

STILL BROKE. :crying2: It has been about 1 year for me too. I just keep thinking that it will get better. I am so glad that I like my job and love being a nurse. If not I would have run to work at the coffee shop a long time ago...good to know that pay is the same :eek:

Good luck to you,

LaVonne

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · May 4, 2006

Hey, I've been out of school for almost a decade and I'M still broke!!

As my hubby and I are fond of saying, when we made $13,000 in a 'good' year, we had nothing; now that we're pulling in five times as much annually, we STILL have nothing.........only more expensive nothing. :lol2:

It seems to be a rule of human nature that our 'needs' always expand to accomodate---or in many cases, exceed---the available funding. Way back when, we made do with one car, a three-bedroom apartment, and the occasional dinner at Mickey D's and a drive-in movie.........now, we couldn't possibly live without two cars, the 4-bedroom 3-bath house, the six TVs and an equal number of DVD players, the three stereos, the computer, the Internet..........:imbar

HeatherLPN · May 4, 2006

I paid off my cc debt in 3 months, then started working on my school loan. I'll have that paid off in June--4 months. I have a few other bills and a car payment. I'm doing it in a very nonconventional way tho--my ex is letting our kids and I stay with him while I do it and save for a house. We get along good now, the kids are taken care of better and are provided for better than I could have on my own right now, and it helps both of us out financially. I've picked up a few household bills for him b/c he's paying off a loan, and I don't have rent or a mortgage payment. There are times I want to wring his neck, but overall, it's working out for us. Probably b/c we both know it's temporary :lol2:

Lisa CCU RN, RN · May 4, 2006

Um, is it just me or aren't there about a million ways to get nursing school loans paid off?

HRSA will pay 60-85%of them off for two-three years service and Perkins loans will be forgiven if you work in certain occupations (nursing).

Almost every hospital I know of will pay off a certain amount of your loans and the VA will give you a certain amount each month to pay them off.

I don't have all the details right in front of me, but I have a plan to have all my loans paid off after I graduate using these resources.

LaVonneRN · May 4, 2006

Hey, I've been out of school for almost a decade and I'M still broke!!
As my hubby and I are fond of saying, when we made $13,000 in a 'good' year, we had nothing; now that we're pulling in five times as much annually, we STILL have nothing.........only more expensive nothing.
It seems to be a rule of human nature that our 'needs' always expand to accomodate---or in many cases, exceed---the available funding. Way back when, we made do with one car, a three-bedroom apartment, and the occasional dinner at Mickey D's and a drive-in movie.........now, we couldn't possibly live without two cars, the 4-bedroom 3-bath house, the six TVs and an equal number of DVD players, the three stereos, the computer, the Internet..........:imbar

:yeahthat:

LaVonneRN · May 4, 2006

Um, is it just me or aren't there about a million ways to get nursing school loans paid off?
HRSA will pay 60-85%of them off for two-three years service and Perkins loans will be forgiven if you work in certain occupations (nursing).
Almost every hospital I know of will pay off a certain amount of your loans and the VA will give you a certain amount each month to pay them off.
I don't have all the details right in front of me, but I have a plan to have all my loans paid off after I graduate using these resources.

I think most hospitals do pay off your loans...but at my hospital it is only if you are planning on going back to school to get a higher degree. So unless I go back I am SOL. :uhoh3:

jenrninmi, MSN, RN · May 5, 2006

Um, is it just me or aren't there about a million ways to get nursing school loans paid off?
HRSA will pay 60-85%of them off for two-three years service and Perkins loans will be forgiven if you work in certain occupations (nursing).
Almost every hospital I know of will pay off a certain amount of your loans and the VA will give you a certain amount each month to pay them off.
I don't have all the details right in front of me, but I have a plan to have all my loans paid off after I graduate using these resources.

What is HRSA? And when the husband is already pulling a 6 figure income while I was in school, getting a loan was very difficult. No, I don't feel broke. The only bills we have are mortgage, school loan, utilities and insurances. It's nice.