Ken (2:56)

Well, and I'm just wondering, even with your car payment and other debt, I mean you probably only have $1,000 to do everything Lacey, of to Eat. And to pay your bills. I mean, electricity and all of it. Are you going into credit card debt every month to keep just your basics afloat?

Lacey (3:15)

Yeah, basically. And then I. The cycle is vicious because, you know, I paid the payments, and then, you know, I'm broke, you know, within a week or less after I'm paid.

Dave Ramsey (3:27)

I just want to ask the obvious. Are you single?

Lacey (3:32)

I am single. I am.

Dave Ramsey (3:34)

Why did you pause? Is there. Is there something else we don't know? Yeah, there's something there. What. What were you pausing about?

Lacey (3:42)

Well, I do have my boyfriend. I let him move in with me, but I don't know how long term that's going to be, and I don't really rely upon that. And his income is substantially less, so I don't really count.

Dave Ramsey (3:57)

Is he. Is he paying anything?

Lacey (4:00)

He does pay, you know, about 25 to 30%, but it's not enough to give me reprieve or to really make a dent in the, you know, what's on my plate. Everything's in my name and.

Dave Ramsey (4:15)

No, no, I get that. And I'm sure we would never suggest otherwise. I just. I don't know why I decided to ask that. I had an inkling. But the point is, is he needs to be. If he's the roommate, I don't care what your relationship status is. He needs to be doing more than that, Rachel. Am I right?

Ken (4:30)

Yeah. I mean, 45% in the short term, but I. But, I mean, you gotta get out of this house. Yeah, I would put this house up for sale.

Dave Ramsey (4:37)

Yeah, that's the. That's the play. Take whatever lumps you're gonna take on this. You gotta remove this.

Ken (4:41)

Yeah, and I would just go rent. Lacey, I would not be a homeowner. Your finances are all over the place. You have. So you have a $19,000 car loan. What's the. What credit card debt do you have? How much?

Lacey (4:54)

About 20,000 total. I added it up.

Ken (4:58)

Okay. What other debt is there?

Lacey (5:01)

Well, there's student loan debt. How much is that forbearance? It's about 100,000 total.

Ken (5:08)

What, you get your degree in.

Lacey (5:11)

Nursing?

Ken (5:12)

Is that what you do now?

Lacey (5:14)

Yes.

Ken (5:15)

Okay.

Dave Ramsey (5:15)

Why aren't you doing overtime?

Lacey (5:17)

Yeah, well, I. I work for private sector right now, but I do have. I'm about to start a second job to do bedside nursing.

Dave Ramsey (5:31)

Great. But by the way, that's what you've got to do. I just want to throw that in real quick. Rachel, I know interrupted, but with your nursing skill, you have got to be working like a crazy Woman right now to get the rest of this debt, forget the house part, but we've got to clean up the house and then the rest of the stuff. But you've got to. There's no life for you. You are using a very valuable skill to be making as much money as possible. And by the way, we've had. I remember a debt free screen, Rachel. It was probably over a year ago, and it was a travel nurse and she paid off hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and she just worked like an absolute maniac. So I just want to give you that. Lacy. Sorry, Rachel.

Ken (6:08)

I know you're so long.

Dave Ramsey (6:10)

What's that for?

Lacey (6:12)

How long?

Dave Ramsey (6:12)

She did it for about two and a half years. It was a short amount of time.

Ken (6:16)

Yeah, I mean, I would be looking into some creative solutions just to get your head above water. Lacey, if you. Do you know how much the house is worth right now? You.

Lacey (6:24)

That's the thing. It's worth about 385and I owe about 1,370on it because, like, much hasn't gone away. So I think that I'm gonna come out of negative.

Ken (6:36)

Yeah, it may be a little bit negative, but I would rather do that and free up $3,100 a month. Month. Now, you'll have to pay rent somewhere, but even if you can find a place for 1800. Right. I mean, like, it just. This starts to free up.

Dave Ramsey (6:49)

Well, if you're shacking up with a boyfriend, he needs to pay half. Am I wrong about that?

Ken (6:54)

No. No, you're not.

Dave Ramsey (6:55)

Okay. I just wanted to make sure.

Lacey (6:56)

It may not be long term because it's not really that beneficial to me.

Ken (7:01)

Yeah.

Dave Ramsey (7:01)

What? He's not.

Lacey (7:04)

Yeah.

Dave Ramsey (7:04)

Yeah. Well, kick him to the curb. Why do we. You're. You have no life right now. You're working so hard. We don't have time for a boyfriend. Yeah, I'd kick him to the curb. He's a. Listen, he's a financial deadbeat anyway. I know. I mean, come on. Let's be honest. Any dude worth his weight in salt would have said, I'm going to pay half, babe. Right. But no, he's. He's. He's freeloading off of you to the tune of 25%.

Ken (7:30)

Yeah.

Dave Ramsey (7:31)

Did you say major turn off?

Ken (7:32)

Yeah.

Lacey (7:33)

Yes.

Dave Ramsey (7:34)

I love that. That's great.

Ken (7:36)

Yeah. So, Lacy, that. Yeah. This house is killing you. Okay? And I know you know that, but that's exactly what I would. I would sell it, hopefully as soon as possible. I mean, obviously you don't want to be. You don't be too urgent because you don't want to like sell low. But get a great real estate agent. If you go to ramseysolutions.com and check out our ELPs, we have real estate agents all across the country. And get someone who is good at this. This is what they do. They sell houses. They sell a lot of houses. And you may take a small loss, but that is going to be so worth it because it's going to free up your income and, and then you have to start attacking this debt. But in the meantime, Lacey, make sure food, shelter, utilities, transportation is current. Don't get behind on the house. Make sure those things are current. And then you got to step up with the income and you got to pay this debt off. Yeah, you have a good 2, 3, 4 year journey ahead of you. But, but, but I think it's bright and I think your future is bright and you can do this. It's just some hard, big decisions you have to make with the house and Ken's advice, the boyfriend.

Dave Ramsey (8:34)

Sum it up. Two big decisions. We're kicking the boyfriend out and then we're listing the house. Very simple. Life's going to get better immediately. Create your free every dollar budget today. The simplest way to budget for your life.