Comments on: Mooving (The extra o is because I’m in WI) http://www.financingyourfamily.com/2007/08/29/mooving-the-extra-o-is-because-im-in-wi/ Family Finance, Saving Money, Getting out of debt Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:23:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2 By: mark http://www.financingyourfamily.com/2007/08/29/mooving-the-extra-o-is-because-im-in-wi/#comment-374 mark Wed, 29 Aug 2007 19:29:31 +0000 http://www.financingyourfamily.com/2007/08/29/mooving-the-extra-o-is-because-im-in-wi/#comment-374 David, thanks for the input! I'm just trying to weigh my options right now, I have about $10,000 available to me through credit cards, but if I don't have to use the cards I will not. I'm looking at another unsecured loan like we took out after our wedding (that one's almost totally paid off). The way I figure, if we pay it all off we will be able to get another one without having multiple payments. That's the route we will probably go. David, thanks for the input! I’m just trying to weigh my options right now, I have about $10,000 available to me through credit cards, but if I don’t have to use the cards I will not. I’m looking at another unsecured loan like we took out after our wedding (that one’s almost totally paid off). The way I figure, if we pay it all off we will be able to get another one without having multiple payments. That’s the route we will probably go.

]]> By: David Robarts http://www.financingyourfamily.com/2007/08/29/mooving-the-extra-o-is-because-im-in-wi/#comment-373 David Robarts Wed, 29 Aug 2007 16:16:36 +0000 http://www.financingyourfamily.com/2007/08/29/mooving-the-extra-o-is-because-im-in-wi/#comment-373 A year ago my wife and I moved 300 miles for school. We had some difficulty finding a place to live and ended up about 20 miles from the school (we had hoped to live within biking distance). We knew financial aid would come and had some money saved up, but my wife was still looking for work. We decided to let our credit card float us for a short period of time. The payments before and after our move were minimum payments even though we were putting many everyday expenses and all our moving expenses on the card. That left us plenty of cash on hand for the deposit in initial rent. Within a few weeks of moving, we received financial aid and my wife started a full-time job. We were able to pay off the balance on the credit card over then next couple of months and have been doing fine since. The interest we paid on the card is significantly less than the value of the rewards we earned by using the card for many expenses over the year. We just completed a local move and are now within walking distance of the school - this time we were able to pay all moving expenses out of pocket so we're on our way to saving more money and hope to reduce dependence on student loans. Mark, we don't know the details of your situation. You seem to be worried that you might not have enough without additional debt. It certainly would be better to borrow some money rather than risk NSF fees and similar costs. The cost of borrowing money for a short time is pretty small and I'm sure you have the discipline to pay it back as soon as possible. Avoiding additional debt when possible is smart, but using debt carefully to take advantage of opportunities (like your pending career move) is also wise. If you choose not to increase your debt before your move do you have credit cards or similar financial tools that you could use to float your family for a month or two? Perhaps you could even apply for a new credit card and use the promotional 0% APR period to float some of your moving expenses for a short time at no cost. You usually can't put rent or deposits on a credit card, but you could use it for the cost of physically moving as well as some of your everyday expenses for a month or two. A year ago my wife and I moved 300 miles for school. We had some difficulty finding a place to live and ended up about 20 miles from the school (we had hoped to live within biking distance). We knew financial aid would come and had some money saved up, but my wife was still looking for work. We decided to let our credit card float us for a short period of time. The payments before and after our move were minimum payments even though we were putting many everyday expenses and all our moving expenses on the card. That left us plenty of cash on hand for the deposit in initial rent. Within a few weeks of moving, we received financial aid and my wife started a full-time job. We were able to pay off the balance on the credit card over then next couple of months and have been doing fine since. The interest we paid on the card is significantly less than the value of the rewards we earned by using the card for many expenses over the year. We just completed a local move and are now within walking distance of the school - this time we were able to pay all moving expenses out of pocket so we’re on our way to saving more money and hope to reduce dependence on student loans.

Mark, we don’t know the details of your situation. You seem to be worried that you might not have enough without additional debt. It certainly would be better to borrow some money rather than risk NSF fees and similar costs. The cost of borrowing money for a short time is pretty small and I’m sure you have the discipline to pay it back as soon as possible. Avoiding additional debt when possible is smart, but using debt carefully to take advantage of opportunities (like your pending career move) is also wise. If you choose not to increase your debt before your move do you have credit cards or similar financial tools that you could use to float your family for a month or two? Perhaps you could even apply for a new credit card and use the promotional 0% APR period to float some of your moving expenses for a short time at no cost. You usually can’t put rent or deposits on a credit card, but you could use it for the cost of physically moving as well as some of your everyday expenses for a month or two.

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