Debt Dumpers - 2019

if it's like our local universities the mandatory fees add up pretty quickly. the basic fees run $500 a term (mandatory no matter what classes you take) then depending on what classes you are taking you could end up with additional fees (dd had lab fees, additional technology fees and a myriad of others for individual classes that were on top of the tuition).
It just gets me thinking of the many costs to think about one day, not just tuition.
 
Oh man, I just looked at my goals that I made last December. Can we say "not even close?"

But, we have had a lot of fun and made some amazing memories leading up to my husband's year away in Japan. He just left last week. :( Our Vegas weekend was THE BEST WEEKEND OF MY LIFE. We just spent three glorious nights at the Grand Californian for a family staycation, and have gone out to eat at all my husband's favorite restaurants in a sort of marathon of dining out. Tomorrow, I head to Great Wolf Lodge with my kids, sister, and nephew for 2 nights and that will be the last "hurrah" of spending for awhile.

Now it's time to buckle down for the rest of the year, and I'm going to update my goals right now, as a sort of mid year reality check.

Pay off remaining CC debt and incur NO MORE. $3500 to go.
Busted. New CC debt of $9270 due to deciding to use a balance transfer to free up a few thousand dollars for expenses related to husband's move to Japan. It's 0% for 18 months, so the payments will be $515/month. A combination of factors led to necessitating this.

Increase my Roth IRA contributions from $100 to $500 per month. I will start this in April.
Haven't started this yet, but will start in September.

Save $35,000 by end of year. I will be opening an Ally Savings account in January to earn my 2% interest.
I opened the Ally account and should be on track to save $12000 by the end of the year, and our new goal is to have $50,000 by September 2020, which is doable.

Pay in full for our Disneyland AP renewal at the end of August. I plan to use my income from my part time spring scoring job to accomplish this goal. Who knows what the prices will be but I am estimating $4500 for 4 Signature passes.
So, my part time spring job was a bust this year. I only made about $2500, which has already been spent. On the bright side, we only need to renew THREE signature passes this year, at a cost of $3747 with Maxpass added. I don't know yet if I will pay upfront or continue to put a down payment and finance using monthly payments. Probably going to just pay for them upfront, but we will see.

Lose 20-30 pounds. 10-15 is probably more realistic, but I'm aiming high here. Why not?
I lost 5 pounds and have been holding steady there, which is something, but not where I want to be. But again, we've been eating out a TON and traveling and just overdoing it, so now that I'm basically just cooking for me (my kids don't eat my food), I can get serious about weight loss for the rest of the year. My new goal is to get down another 10 pounds by year's end.
 
Oh man, I just looked at my goals that I made last December. Can we say "not even close?"

But, we have had a lot of fun and made some amazing memories leading up to my husband's year away in Japan. He just left last week. :( Our Vegas weekend was THE BEST WEEKEND OF MY LIFE. We just spent three glorious nights at the Grand Californian for a family staycation, and have gone out to eat at all my husband's favorite restaurants in a sort of marathon of dining out. Tomorrow, I head to Great Wolf Lodge with my kids, sister, and nephew for 2 nights and that will be the last "hurrah" of spending for awhile.

Now it's time to buckle down for the rest of the year, and I'm going to update my goals right now, as a sort of mid year reality check.

Pay off remaining CC debt and incur NO MORE. $3500 to go.
Busted. New CC debt of $9270 due to deciding to use a balance transfer to free up a few thousand dollars for expenses related to husband's move to Japan. It's 0% for 18 months, so the payments will be $515/month. A combination of factors led to necessitating this.

Increase my Roth IRA contributions from $100 to $500 per month. I will start this in April.
Haven't started this yet, but will start in September.

Save $35,000 by end of year. I will be opening an Ally Savings account in January to earn my 2% interest.
I opened the Ally account and should be on track to save $12000 by the end of the year, and our new goal is to have $50,000 by September 2020, which is doable.

Pay in full for our Disneyland AP renewal at the end of August. I plan to use my income from my part time spring scoring job to accomplish this goal. Who knows what the prices will be but I am estimating $4500 for 4 Signature passes.
So, my part time spring job was a bust this year. I only made about $2500, which has already been spent. On the bright side, we only need to renew THREE signature passes this year, at a cost of $3747 with Maxpass added. I don't know yet if I will pay upfront or continue to put a down payment and finance using monthly payments. Probably going to just pay for them upfront, but we will see.

Lose 20-30 pounds. 10-15 is probably more realistic, but I'm aiming high here. Why not?
I lost 5 pounds and have been holding steady there, which is something, but not where I want to be. But again, we've been eating out a TON and traveling and just overdoing it, so now that I'm basically just cooking for me (my kids don't eat my food), I can get serious about weight loss for the rest of the year. My new goal is to get down another 10 pounds by year's end.
That's hard when they go but hopefully the year will be so busy it speeds by.
 
Did our budget this weekend for the upcoming month. If things weren't coming up we would be making some progress. I guess not charging is progress but I would like to be able to see the balances going down! I think after August 1st there is nothing else coming up major so provided murphy doesn't visit we should be good.
 


Did our budget this weekend for the upcoming month. If things weren't coming up we would be making some progress. I guess not charging is progress but I would like to be able to see the balances going down! I think after August 1st there is nothing else coming up major so provided murphy doesn't visit we should be good.
I don't think I've got anything major after Aug 1 either, but something always has its way to pop up unexpectedly. I think Aug for me means back-to-school supplies and small amount of clothes/shoes shopping for kids, fall registrations for activities, then nothing until Christmas shopping time and car insurance semi-annual bill due. Hope yours stays that way though, no big after Aug expenses and no surprises!
 
Had to pack up for evacuation for a fire on Friday about 30 minutes after getting home. I got our main stuff packed and ran to my parents to help them. Was doing fine until my dad announced, "I'm not leaving." I've attached a pic that doesn't do the proximity justice. We could feel the helicopter as it came by with its water buckets. Our houses are fine--we were blessed with amazing pilots and a wind that shifted away from us.

What I learned was this: we can evacuate our list in 5 minutes or less. And I'm okay with leaving so much behind. This has helped me realize that it's time to pare down around the house. Yes, I'd like to sell things on FB MP or Ebay, but I don't want the hassle, so I'll start getting donation piles out more often. There are a few collections that I can put up on FB or Ebay and just be happy with the amount of money I receive.

My budget may be busted, my debt may fluctuate because I'm dumb and overspend, but I'm getting there. Even if it takes a wildfire to help me learn.
 

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If any of you are contemplating a Target Red card or debit card, they're running a $40 off of $40 purchase for signing up! If you sign up for a debit card, it is NOT a hard pull on your credit. I'm going to use it to make my purchase(s) and then probably cancel.
 
Had to pack up for evacuation for a fire on Friday about 30 minutes after getting home. I got our main stuff packed and ran to my parents to help them. Was doing fine until my dad announced, "I'm not leaving." I've attached a pic that doesn't do the proximity justice. We could feel the helicopter as it came by with its water buckets. Our houses are fine--we were blessed with amazing pilots and a wind that shifted away from us.

What I learned was this: we can evacuate our list in 5 minutes or less. And I'm okay with leaving so much behind. This has helped me realize that it's time to pare down around the house. Yes, I'd like to sell things on FB MP or Ebay, but I don't want the hassle, so I'll start getting donation piles out more often. There are a few collections that I can put up on FB or Ebay and just be happy with the amount of money I receive.

My budget may be busted, my debt may fluctuate because I'm dumb and overspend, but I'm getting there. Even if it takes a wildfire to help me learn.
That's scary but glad ok.

If any of you are contemplating a Target Red card or debit card, they're running a $40 off of $40 purchase for signing up! If you sign up for a debit card, it is NOT a hard pull on your credit. I'm going to use it to make my purchase(s) and then probably cancel.
Darn, already have a Target debit. I use it quite a bit and won't cancel as I like my small 5% and it's the one time I use a debit vs. a credit card, the only store. I could do the other card, but...
 
I just saw on Target's website that today only they are offering 5% off Target e-gift cards. I don't know if that will double with the 5% the Target Red Card gives.
 
I spent just under $200. My wish list order only totaled about $140
Oof- I wish I could have done that... I spent over $700. "My name is Thiabelle and I have a problem with Hallmark Ornaments"

Is the dining plan and housing costs you list for the semester or the year?
That is for a semester. I, too, think it's crazy high for what she gets but I'll be honest- my freshman and sophomore years on my campus were some of the best years of my life and I want to ensure that she at least gets that chance. I am very hopeful that she gets into a sorority when she rushes (OMG it's less than a month away!!) and they were very clear about how to get a refund if the sorority has a mandatory meal plan.

She will have additional fees that's for sure. The best is the extra $93 for an online class. Really? Then there are random fees for classes like $1.73 for Chemistry. So weird.

This was a quick checkin- just got back from Universal. Had a great time... Hagrid's is amazing!! Time to do laundry :laundy:
 
Was on hold for over 2 hours to try to add the new discounts to our December trip and nothing was available. Part of me would obviously like a discount even if it meant moving to Pop instead of French Quarter, but the other part of me is excited to stay at French Quarter as we keep booking there and then talking ourselves out of it and switching to Pop. Must be meant to be this time...Maybe it means I'm going to win the lottery and won't need a discount! HA!
 
Oof- I wish I could have done that... I spent over $700. "My name is Thiabelle and I have a problem with Hallmark Ornaments"

I think if I had spent $700 my DH would have killed me lol. He tolerates my couple hundred during ornament premiere, and then my discounted purchases after the holidays. (I say tolerates, because I know he's secretly thinking "do you really need all these ornaments?" He's not as big into holiday decorations as I am.) Funny enough though, this first batch I picked up included 2 ornaments for him.
 
I just saw on Target's website that today only they are offering 5% off Target e-gift cards. I don't know if that will double with the 5% the Target Red Card gives.
It appears no. I tried using my target debit as payment, and got to the "place order" part, and it didn't also take an additional 5% off. So just 5%. Still not bad I guess. I didn't see anything interesting on Amazon Prime yesterday, and nothing really about this Target sale this week. Although, I should have downloaded school supply lists maybe and worked those. Oh well. I don't want to think about back-to-school just yet.

I did realize after writing about what upcoming budget items between now and end of year, that I also have two birthdays for kids and an anniversary to plug in there, too! Then, may need to make a 2020 hotel reservation, and watch for the Southwest flight release date announcements for when they will release flights after Mar 2020.
 
Was on hold for over 2 hours to try to add the new discounts to our December trip and nothing was available. Part of me would obviously like a discount even if it meant moving to Pop instead of French Quarter, but the other part of me is excited to stay at French Quarter as we keep booking there and then talking ourselves out of it and switching to Pop. Must be meant to be this time...Maybe it means I'm going to win the lottery and won't need a discount! HA!
But...Pop will have the trams up and going so it'll be a madhouse! The atmosphere at FQ is lovely. DH and I visited it in December and thought it'd be a fantastic place to getaway.

Closing in on another $25 in Swagbucks. Just wishing, like @crazycatstacy that I'd win the lottery. I don't even play it, but I'll dream.
 
the only decent thing i found for prime day was an offer to buy a $25 gift card and get a $5 credit to your account. i figure that equates to a 25% bonus on the purchase so it was worthwhile to grab one to use both for a future necessary purchase. other than that it was all electronic stuff i have no interest in.
 
I had no interest in anything on Prime day, so no purchases. DS just had a bday, so money spent there but minimal. Did not end up being able to take advantage of the discounts that Disney just dropped either, paying less with what I have booked so that was a non issue (of course I was up and checking before dawn's crack to make sure!). Just paid off another small bill thanks to DH working some overtime - now adding saving to have our driveway repaired and sealed before winter hits. We were on the fence about this, but after inspecting it this weekend, we really can't let it go another winter or we'll end up having to replace it. Things just keep coming up!
 

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