Debt Dumpers - 2018

[DisneyMandC]

Trying to dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge Murphy this week. My car's steering wheel has been messed up for a while now making a clicking noise when I turn it. I had checked with my mechanic a while ago and he said it was safe to drive and would be about $350 if I wanted to fix it, so I said no thanks. This has recently turned into a full blown metal on metal rattle. It doesn't affect the actual steering or safety of my car, it's just incredibly noisy. I found out today the part to fix this is $5, and it's really a very basic fix, just time consuming since you have to pull the dash apart. My best friend's dad is a mechanic and agreed to fix it for me this weekend for $75! I bought the part on Amazon today and will happily give him the cash Saturday.

Unfortunately, I woke up this morning and the alarm for our septic tank was going off. It's done this before and righted itself, so I'm hoping it does that again. I washed clothes, ran the dishwasher, and power washed our patio yesterday, so I'm hoping its just overloaded right now. Everything online says to give it 48 hours before taking any other action so as long as it's off by Wednesday morning then it will be ok.

 

[Alexle2007]

You must be in Maryland like me. Although we don't live in Montgomery County, so we don't get the Jewish holidays off. We call "Spring break" "Spring weekend" now. Lol.

Ha, I am in MD but nowhere Montgomery County. I’m up in Carroll County, a mile below the MD/PA line. I think a lot of our neighboring counties also get the off- Baltimore, Howard. Before we would just pull DS out to extend it so we could travel but it doesn’t work so well when his 7th grades are already counting towards his high school GPA.

 

[piccolopat]

Yes, I think this is the reason for the high quotes I have been getting. Cost of living is higher in my area, combined with a dearth of contractors and they can garner high labor rates.

You might try asking the contractors for a lower rate if you schedule this during the coldest part of winter when a lot of contract work slows down (at least a little). Since your daughter is still very young, you can also think about doing the rough in electrical and plumbing now and wait on the rest.

 

[Alexle2007]

That's bizarre. I'm in VA and we start after Labor Day and finish right around June 15 every year. We don't get Jewish holidays off, but a week for Easter plus a variety of other half days/holidays.

It just sucks since we typically like to go away but that’s difficult with only 4 days and, of course, they are the most expensive days to travel. Some of the counties have compensated by making the snow days that they could take away but my county always does the snow days at the end of the year and if we don’t use them the school year ends early.

 

[Eureka]

Ha, I am in MD but nowhere Montgomery County. I’m up in Carroll County, a mile below the MD/PA line. I think a lot of our neighboring counties also get the off- Baltimore, Howard. Before we would just pull DS out to extend it so we could travel but it doesn’t work so well when his 7th grades are already counting towards his high school GPA.

Down here in Charles County many people have never met a Jew (it confused my coworkers when I moved here 20yrs ago that I was Jewish and DH was not) so getting the holidays off would never be a thing here.

We may have been up near you last week for a cross country meet. I know we were very close to PA, I think it was Parkton?

 

[Eureka]

It just sucks since we typically like to go away but that’s difficult with only 4 days and, of course, they are the most expensive days to travel. Some of the counties have compensated by making the snow days that they could take away but my county always does the snow days at the end of the year and if we don’t use them the school year ends early.

Va used to be after Labor Day...basically the two states flip flopped when we started going after Labor Day. When we went to the beach with our friends who live in Falls Church (we went to Delaware, so sorry Gov Hogan, no more money spent in MD, lol), their son would get out around June 20something whereas we were often done before the 15th.

 

[Eureka]

Spendy day today. $29 for iPhone battery. $33 for a bigger drying rack bc the repair guy can’t come for a week (although the scheduler said the appt would not cost me since they were out here less than 90 days ago). $8 for dinner while I waited for the phone repair. And $35 to bring home desserts from the Cheesecake Factory. Ds15 loves that place, it was in the mall I was at, there isn’t one less than an hour from our house, and after making appointments and having a busy day at work, I wanted a treat.
I’ve been wanting a nice, good drying rack for a while though so not a waste.

 

[Alexle2007]

Down here in Charles County many people have never met a Jew (it confused my coworkers when I moved here 20yrs ago that I was Jewish and DH was not) so getting the holidays off would never be a thing here.

We may have been up near you last week for a cross country meet. I know we were very close to PA, I think it was Parkton?

Were you at Hereford High in Parkton? Right off of 83? We are west of Parkton just below Hanover, PA, home of Utz potato chips. (Although DS prefers Martin’s.) We almost had a house built in Parkton had NV Homes not lied to us. Good thing we read the covenants when we got home so we could cancel our build and get our $100 deposit back.

 

[Eureka]

Were you at Hereford High in Parkton? Right off of 83? We are west of Parkton just below Hanover, PA, home of Utz potato chips. (Although DS prefers Martin’s.) We almost had a house built in Parkton had NV Homes not lied to us. Good thing we read the covenants when we got home so we could cancel our build and get our $100 deposit back.

Yes! Huge invitational there. Pretty area.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Schools here start the 2nd week of August and end sometime at the end of May. Our "snow days" are usually to cover when it gets to icy since snow is a rare thing. I don't think it even snowed at all last year, other than a day or 2 of flurries that never stuck.

 

[jen7233]

Trying to dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge Murphy this week. My car's steering wheel has been messed up for a while now making a clicking noise when I turn it. I had checked with my mechanic a while ago and he said it was safe to drive and would be about $350 if I wanted to fix it, so I said no thanks. This has recently turned into a full blown metal on metal rattle. It doesn't affect the actual steering or safety of my car, it's just incredibly noisy. I found out today the part to fix this is $5, and it's really a very basic fix, just time consuming since you have to pull the dash apart. My best friend's dad is a mechanic and agreed to fix it for me this weekend for $75! I bought the part on Amazon today and will happily give him the cash Saturday.

Glad it'll be fixed for cheaper!

And $35 to bring home desserts from the Cheesecake Factory. Ds15 loves that place, it was in the mall I was at, there isn’t one less than an hour from our house, and after making appointments and having a busy day at work, I wanted a treat.

Love Cheesecake Factory!

 

[Tygerlilly]

We've been trying to finalize our guest list for the wedding. At first estimate we figured about 150. Now that we actually typed up the list, added spouses/kids/significant others, and figured which of those people would most likely not actually come (all family lives out of state and some will definitely not be able to come), we're looking at just under 100 people. I'm so happy about this. Lol. Our mock quote for venue/catering/alcohol/rentals/cake at 150 people was $11,000, so having 50 people essentially off the list is going to drop that number fairly significantly.

I've also been dress shopping and the price of dresses hurt my brain. $800 for one that I'd say is one step ahead of basic. I haven't loved any of them I tried on. So I went online, found a reputable retailer, a dress I love!, and am making custom changes to it with my exact measurements all for.... $560 including shipping! I won't need many, if any, alterations and it's exactly what I want and customized to me. I'll be ordering just after new years so it can hopefully be done nice and early.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

I wish I had gotten life insurance when I was 30 lb lighter and only 29 years old. According to some quotes, to get the best rate, I need to loose 28 lbs, which I won't be able to manage before my birthday in November. The rate is literally double between my current weight and 30 lb lighter.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I wish I had gotten life insurance when I was 30 lb lighter and only 29 years old. According to some quotes, to get the best rate, I need to loose 28 lbs, which I won't be able to manage before my birthday in November. The rate is literally double between my current weight and 30 lb lighter.

That seems absurd. Is this through work or an independent policy? I'd definitely shop around. We got DH a policy earlier this year before he turns 30 next month. We got ours through Farm Bureau, so not sure how applicable that is to anyone else, but I'd say definitely look around if you haven't already.

 

[DnA2010]

We've been trying to finalize our guest list for the wedding. At first estimate we figured about 150. Now that we actually typed up the list, added spouses/kids/significant others, and figured which of those people would most likely not actually come (all family lives out of state and some will definitely not be able to come), we're looking at just under 100 people. I'm so happy about this. Lol. Our mock quote for venue/catering/alcohol/rentals/cake at 150 people was $11,000, so having 50 people essentially off the list is going to drop that number fairly significantly.

I've also been dress shopping and the price of dresses hurt my brain. $800 for one that I'd say is one step ahead of basic. I haven't loved any of them I tried on. So I went online, found a reputable retailer, a dress I love!, and am making custom changes to it with my exact measurements all for.... $560 including shipping! I won't need many, if any, alterations and it's exactly what I want and customized to me. I'll be ordering just after new years so it can hopefully be done nice and early.

When I was dress shopping it def made my head spin! What I did was figure out which dress I wanted, then I found it as a sample sale. I had actually found it second hard and it would have been even cheaper, but it sold to the person ahead of me.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

That seems absurd. Is this through work or an independent policy? I'd definitely shop around. We got DH a policy earlier this year before he turns 30 next month. We got ours through Farm Bureau, so not sure how applicable that is to anyone else, but I'd say definitely look around if you haven't already.

I have looked around a bit. It seems that USAA (independent policy) has the lowest rate that I can find and they are the ones quoting double for my current weight versus 30 lbs less.

 

[Alexle2007]

We've been trying to finalize our guest list for the wedding. At first estimate we figured about 150. Now that we actually typed up the list, added spouses/kids/significant others, and figured which of those people would most likely not actually come (all family lives out of state and some will definitely not be able to come), we're looking at just under 100 people. I'm so happy about this. Lol. Our mock quote for venue/catering/alcohol/rentals/cake at 150 people was $11,000, so having 50 people essentially off the list is going to drop that number fairly significantly.

I've also been dress shopping and the price of dresses hurt my brain. $800 for one that I'd say is one step ahead of basic. I haven't loved any of them I tried on. So I went online, found a reputable retailer, a dress I love!, and am making custom changes to it with my exact measurements all for.... $560 including shipping! I won't need many, if any, alterations and it's exactly what I want and customized to me. I'll be ordering just after new years so it can hopefully be done nice and early.

That's terrific! I actually went to David's Bridals when I was dress hunting since I needed a small size and was swimming in everything I tried on at the other bridal shops so nothing looked good. Best decision! Besides the bustle, I didn't need a single alternation. Even the length was perfect with my heels. Best decision I made. Although my mom and sister were upset since I did it on a whim with a friend so they weren't there for the selection.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

When I was dress shopping it def made my head spin! What I did was figure out which dress I wanted, then I found it as a sample sale. I had actually found it second hard and it would have been even cheaper, but it sold to the person ahead of me.

The moment I saw my dress, I knew it was the one I wanted to get married in. I waited until it went on clearance at BHLDN and then ordered. It dropped another $200 less than two weeks later, so they gave me the refund for the price difference. In the end, I got it for 60% off retail.

 

[Eureka]

I got my dress at David's Bridals too. It was on sale, $300 plus I think $100 for alterations. Yes, it was 21 years ago but even back then I didn't want to pay more than $500 and even that sounded like a lot.

Edited to add, probably closer 22 years ago now since we have been married 21 years!

 

[jen7233]

I've also been dress shopping and the price of dresses hurt my brain. $800 for one that I'd say is one step ahead of basic. I haven't loved any of them I tried on. So I went online, found a reputable retailer, a dress I love!, and am making custom changes to it with my exact measurements all for.... $560 including shipping! I won't need many, if any, alterations and it's exactly what I want and customized to me. I'll be ordering just after new years so it can hopefully be done nice and early.

That sounds like a good price for a dress. I don't know for sure what they cost as I had a beach wedding I just had a summer dress and DH shorts. And my first marriage was a Vegas wedding, lol

I wish I had gotten life insurance when I was 30 lb lighter and only 29 years old. According to some quotes, to get the best rate, I need to loose 28 lbs, which I won't be able to manage before my birthday in November. The rate is literally double between my current weight and 30 lb lighter.

I got my current policy right after giving birth by about a month or so. When they weighed me, I was overweight, and my cholesterol levels were insane, over 300 no kidding. I got my policy with USAA. I just took it, because I felt I needed some sort of life insurance and was disappointed in my health levels. Anyway, ten years later I asked USAA to readjust my policy to negotiate price, and I went through all the medical stuff again and this time I had a cleaner bill of health with normal weight and normal cholesterol levels, and my rate quoted was adjusted down, even though I was older.