The whole point of cutting back spending on some things, is to free up money to pay EXTRA toward the debt, not to just keep making minimum payments for the next 10 years. This isn't rocket science. You can make more than one payment each month. When I was paying down debt, if I had a leftover $5 the day before payday, I'd schedule it as a extra payment. You need to keep better recordkeeping. You need to create a detailed budget to SEE where your money needs to go for each paycheck. Maybe all of your cutbacks on eating out are still not even enough that you can cover the rent and minimum payments. You wouldn't know for sure unless you create a budget.
Why did your mortgage go from $700/month to $2000/month? Do you have a mortgage AND pay rent?
Get material possessions out of your mind; you don't need to have anything "to show for it." What you have to show for it is food and a roof over your head. Privacy in bed and the ability to flush. This is life as an independent adult.
The "reward" comes when you log into whatever bill you're paying off and see a much lower balance. It's progress toward a goal. Then someday when debt is gone, all that "leftover" money goes into savings which can be for fun stuff.
All of these peeps talking about planning vacations are doing that after busting their a$$es for months or years and needing a tiny break. You are barely getting started, have not yet paid off a single debt or started an EF, and you want a break/reward already.
You say you're following DR but you're not at all. You have no gazelle intensity. You seem just fine with paying minimum monthly payments but that is insane and will drag it all out for YEARS longer than it has to. We didn't all follow his exact advice about what to cut out of our budget but really the only thing people have said to do differently is to put the loan shark loan at the top of your list only because it's such an outrageous interest rate. If you follow this intently, your debt would shrink.
You have been given A LOT of good advice but you making this frustrating AF.
You just had
TWO trips to WDW in 2023 with the last one just in December! What the fark!
That was only 2 months ago!!
Tell her you don't WANT to go. Would she go alone? You are enabling her by being so passive. Tell her the trip will be the reward once you pay off your debt so you could actually save $ toward a trip or whatever else you enjoy doing.
She "won't let you" create a budget.
She "won't let you" pay off the loan shark loan.
She won't tell you what the loan shark loan was for and you don't demand an answer.
Dude, does your wife keep your cojones in her purse? She is like a brick wall to any progress you might make.
Now I'm cursing like a trucker. I can't take it.