In a Debt Pickle

We have been working to stay ahead financially for some time now, and after doing the taxes last night, I realize that we are in a huge debt pickle, and I'm wondering how to get out and stay out.

I don't mind paying our taxes as our civic duty. I've come to terms with it, and I'm trying to figure out how to save for it. That doesn't take into account the deductions we have been taking over the past few years to not have to pay our taxes. We have put ourselves in debt, and now in a pickle.

My ultimate goal is to get out of debt. I would like to work hard on paying off our house and owning it 100% free and clear without any mortgage on it or someone else having a claim to it. That would reduce the stress of life down to having to pay for insurance and food, which would leave us at ease to invest in another property that works well for us for retirement or some other form of retirement.

The problem is that we have incurred debt. It is a combination of medical stuff and other deductions we have used to get out of taxes as well as the taxes we have had to pay.

Truth be told, we are in a $46,000 pickle. If we continue to pay $1000 per month, it will take us 3.83 years to pay off. That is almost 4 years. It is a long road ahead for sure. However, we also have to start saving an additional $500 per month to be able to pay our taxes because we are not going to be taking any more educational deductions, like we have been able to in the past.

That makes $1500 per month for "debt" type payments, which is actually more than we pay on our mortgage. Perhaps, I will be able to restructure our lives so that this can become absolutely possible. I plan to live incredibly frugally and start growing a lot of my own food, which is what the laying hens and the meat chicks are all about. I also think that getting a goat would be a good idea because I would save a lot of money on dairy products.

Beyond that, though, it would mean living very frugally until we get out from under the $46,000 debt.

Taxes will continue forever, but at least we can do it without a huge debt overhead.

I just wish I had manged not getting in the pickle in the first place.

The good news is that we will not have many more medical bills for Jared now that he has been cured of UC! As long as I can manage not to have any more c-sections, hospital visits are in our distant past.