There's Nothing Great About This

Brought to you by the EveryDollar app. Start budgeting for free today. Kristen is with us in Madison, Wisconsin. Hi Kristen. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi Dave. Hi George. Thank you so much for taking my call. Sure. What's up? So my husband and I, we're newly married. We just finished Baby Step 1 this month. We have $45,000 in consumer debt in Baby Step 2, and as we're laying them out smallest to largest, we also have some other pretty big expenses that aren't necessarily debt, and we're just having a hard time figuring out where they should fall in our snowball. What are they? We have, so we have two vehicles. One of them we own outright. One of them we have a loan for $6,200, and the one that we have a loan on is broken down. The rear differential is completely seized up. It's not drivable. It's going to be about a $2,000 fix. We're hoping to eventually fix it and then sell it to get rid of it. Also, we bought a house at the beginning of this year, and two weeks after we closed on our house, the pipes in the bathroom burst, and so that is currently completely gutted. We don't have a shower sink. At all? Or just in that bathroom? We don't have a functional toilet. This is great. At all? That's the only bathroom we have in our house. So we've been showering at our mother-in-law's house. We've been going over there to do that. For how long? For about six months, seven months. Goodness. Yeah. She's two blocks away, which is great. She's super close. It's not great. But it's definitely a pretty big inconvenience. There's nothing great about this. This sucks. Oh, my gosh. What a mess. Yeah. And we insurance wouldn't cover it. What do you guys make? Well, that's the other part. I lost my job recently, so currently my husband is working. Y'all need to write a country song. He makes $15 an hour. We shower at my mother-in-law's, and I lost my job. Yeah. It's a lot. Wow. So what's he making? He's making $18 an hour right now. Doing what? He's a machine operator. What were you making? I was making 60K. I was a restaurant manager. Why'd you lose your job? I was working in a restaurant. I loved my job. The hours were not great. I was working 60 to 70 hours a week salary. So I took a different position in the same ... It was another restaurant manager position, and I moved over to that. It was going to be 45 hours a week, and that was salary also, so that would allow me a little more time. But a couple weeks into that, they decided that I was not a good fit, and they let me go. When was that? That was in June. Why haven't you worked since June? Well, that's the other thing. He had his driver's license suspended, and the car broke down. Why did he have his driver's license suspended? I can't believe this. It's been suspended for quite a while. He had to wait a couple years. There was a period of time. DUI? Yeah, and then for the points to fall off. He's eligible to get it reinstated now, but it's about $800 to pay all the fees for everything, and then our insurance would go up when we do that. Okay, so your excuse is you're a full-time driver for an $18 an hour guy. I'm calling bullcrap. That was a dumb idea. You make more than he makes. Yeah, and so we were able to share. We were working in the same town we were driving. Yeah, back when ... But now with him being ... Yeah. Yeah, but now with you not having a job, you used driving him as an excuse to not get a job. So get another job, girl. Couldn't you drop him and then go work, and then pick him up? Or he gets a ride, and then there's a lot of options. That's what you did before. Yeah, so we were ... I'm looking at getting ... I've been applying for jobs. There were a couple. I got to the second interview, restaurant manager positions, and they ended up really not going anywhere. But now what I'm looking at is ... What would be wrong with working 60 hours a week now? What was wrong with it then? You were broke. Yeah, it was mostly the schedule and driving back and forth and not being available to pick him up because I had to stay late to solve a problem at work. So you lost $60,000 because he didn't buy an Uber. Yeah, Uber's not available. You guys need to both be committed to 60 to 80 hours a week making $20 an hour, and you will solve a lot of these problems you have in a heartbeat. Instead, you're living in a house that's not even habitable because you don't even have a toilet or a shower, and you haven't worked since June. You guys have got to go create some money, girl. You went from 100K down to 36, and you got 45 in debt. So if we get you back to work again, we can solve this. The debt is not your problem. Your income. Any money is your problem. And you don't work much. Yeah. He needs a new job making $25 an hour, and two extra jobs making $20 an hour. And you need the 60, 70, 80 hour a week, $60,000 to $80,000 to be the restaurant manager job. And buy him an Uber if you're stuck at work. Can you wait tables in the meantime? Yes. So that's what our next plan was. I can pay $125 to reinstate my CNA. I can go take the test, but then I would be able to get my CNA license back. I'm sorry, what is a CNA license? Certified nurse assistant. And what would that pay? $25 an hour. Why would you want to do that when you can make $60? As broke as you are. Why don't you go get you some money? I've been applying for restaurant manager positions. I had two where I went to the second interview process. I've applied for more than those, but those are the ones where I was interviewed. You guys need to sit down and figure out the way on the short term, not what your dream is, but the thing you can do that is moral and legal, that allows you all to work the most hours and make the most money for about two years. So you can get your shower fixed and get your debt paid off. But you're not going to do it with all these theories and all these limitations. And you're finding all kinds of reasons to not do this stuff. Really, honestly, $50,000 solves your whole life. $50,000. You could have made that since June. If he was working overtime and you were still working. And so you really have an income. Your perception of work and your perception of income on a temporary basis needs to change. That is your issue. Because you guys need about $18. In a world where most people are making $25 to $30. No, you don't go get a CNA to make $25 an hour when you have the income potential of $60,000 to $80,000 at a restaurant. And in the meantime, until you land that, you go get six jobs. And you guys work your tail ends off. I'm fixing my freaking toilet and my shower. This is crazy, y'all. Go make some money, girl. We want you to win. But you guys spend a lot of your mental... In talking to you, there's a lot of mental gymnastics on how... Why we can't create an income. There's a lot of them. I mean, you're like a world-class gymnast. Well, I know life has happened to you. I know it has. But it's got stuck in your head and you've got this loop going. And I'm trying to force you. Even if you get mad at me, I'm doing it because I love you. I'm trying to force you to rethink your view on work. Well, every question that was... Well, there's a story behind it. I know. But at some point, we just have to put it down and do it anyways. And go to work anyways. And do the job we don't want to do anyways. Yeah, exactly. $50,000 changes your whole life. You could go make $50,000 to $100,000 more than you made in the last 12 months in the next 12 months. Between the two of you changing your view on work. That's how fast your life can turn around. And the desperation that you feel every day when you go to your mother-in-law's to take a shower will go away.