Debt Dumpers - 2015

[Ava]

We've been doing YNAB for about 3 weeks now and probably the most helpful thing so far is seeing exactly how many different things we spend money on! Being forced to categorize everything you buy is pretty eye-opening.

I'm anxious to be able to do my taxes because if my refund is similar to last year, it should be enough for our one-month buffer. Once we've got that I feel like we can really get going on paying down our debts. I also get paid weekly, so to start off I've been budgeting every week after I get paid. Once we've got the buffer in place we can start budgeting monthly, which will be nice.

 

[Ratpack]

DH and I are finally going to face this "black cloud of debt" this year- TOGETHER! We are going to begin Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace classes this week. We know about the snowball plan..but we really need to do this together to keep each other accountable. We have ALOT of issues to deal with, as well as CC debt and 2nd mortgage debt. We can do this- will take time and TRUE dedication!

 

[saraschoening]

Our debt includes our mortgage which is $1600 a month (for the rest of our lives.. or so it seems lol) and our truck which is $600 per month. We don't have any credit card debt but we also don't have a savings right now. My DH works full time but I stay home with our DD, she has ADHD and I home school her. Our total bills (mortgage, natural gas, hydro, insurance, home insurance, car, internet) come to just under $2800 per month. DH commutes 1 hour to work by bus as we only have the one car so that is $200 on top of our bills. We have just under $1000 left over every month. I am hoping that we can try and either do the 52 week savings challenge or just aim for $50 a chq. But it may be hard as everything just keeps going up in price... food is so expensive here, we are on an island and right now a gallon of milk is just over $6 CND and its still going up. So we will have to see. I may have to get a job at night.. part time once DH is home from work. Good luck to everyone this year. I honestly do wish everyone the very best and hope that you all reach your goals... you all deserve too

 

[gracie1]

Our debt includes our mortgage which is $1600 a month (for the rest of our lives.. or so it seems lol) and our truck which is $600 per month. We don't have any credit card debt but we also don't have a savings right now. My DH works full time but I stay home with our DD, she has ADHD and I home school her. Our total bills (mortgage, natural gas, hydro, insurance, home insurance, car, internet) come to just under $2800 per month. DH commutes 1 hour to work by bus as we only have the one car so that is $200 on top of our bills. We have just under $1000 left over every month. I am hoping that we can try and either do the 52 week savings challenge or just aim for $50 a chq. But it may be hard as everything just keeps going up in price... food is so expensive here, we are on an island and right now a gallon of milk is just over $6 CND and its still going up. So we will have to see. I may have to get a job at night.. part time once DH is home from work. Good luck to everyone this year. I honestly do wish everyone the very best and hope that you all reach your goals... you all deserve too

Welcome! Since you mentioned that you have $1000 left over each month - maybe start off saving $100 a month into a separate account. Then start to increase it maybe to $125 a month. How much longer do you have to pay on the truck? maybe instead start paying extra on the vehicle to get it paid off faster to free up that additional $600 a month.

 

[tikitorie]

DH and I have set up a pretty strict budget for ourselves along with some lofty goals to aim for this year. For the past 3 weeks we've been right on track including setting money aside for our 52 week savings challenge and a small amount in our savings account. We have a long way to go, but each week there is such a feeling of satisfaction when things go as planned. This past weekend both of my boys had plans for the day, which left me and my daughter on our own. This is usually when we hit the stores, movies or both! Determined not to spend any extra money, we spent the day cleaning her room, doing our nails and making friendship bracelets! Determined to see this through...Hopefully it gets easier as time passes. Good Luck to all!!!

 

[EpiStitch]

Hi everyone! I usually don't do a good job keeping up with these threads, but I'm really trying harder this time.

I usually just try to track paying down part of my student loans......which I'm trying to pay off in 5 years and I'm a little over 1 1/2 in already.

This time, I will be tracking that as well as trying to pay off my credit card by the end of this month, trying to keep up the 52 week saving challenge, going an entire month without eating out, and starting to save $5000 to go to Rio next year!

I realize that's a lot to tackle all at once, but I only have about $1000 left on my credit card and I already haven't eaten out since 12/31!!

I've also already saved the first 5 weeks of the 52 week challenge since I get paid twice a month instead of every 2 weeks.

Good luck everyone!!

 

[Eureka]

Hi all, just in case anyone else here has a Discover card: I got an email recently saying now you can cash out reward points for a statement credit for any amount. I think it used to be at least $50. I have made two separate redemptions totaling almost $60 since then. I used to use our points to pay for Amazon orders or order restaurant gift cards which is nice for the holidays, but would rather put it toward the balance right now since I don't have any major gift-giving coming up.

I also cashed in points with my AT&T Universal card for a $10 statement credit. Again, not a ton, but every little bit counts.

 

[PrincessKymm]

I have my baby EF done!!!

I filed my taxes using turbo tax and got the accepted email yesterday. Once that is received I will pay off my car, my financed furniture at 0% interest, my new tv's at 0% interest, plus 3 small credit cards and will have enough to go get the new cell phones I've been putting off. My battery doesn't last more than 3 hours and I am sick of being plugged in all the time. My moms phone keeps having weird issues too since I pay for her phone each month I will get her a new one too. My son may or may not end up with a smart phone. He's proved he can take care of it and be responsible BUT he got into a lot of trouble at school yesterday so this makes me want to keep him off a smart phone. He's at a tricky age so I'm undecided still. At least I have time to decide and shop.

The hard part is saying no to a disney trip. Last year was just awful except for my disney trip so I want to escape again. I've been toying with the idea of going just me and DS for my birthday and only doing a 4 night stay. The other option is to do a weekend somewhere warm with another adult and it's hard to say no to that as well. It's hard to say no to either of these, especially since it's crazy snowing right now! I just want to go on a vacation! I am planning a trip for next year with my mom and my son and the good news is my best friend may join us! I have to pay for everything so I should just stay home this year and save money for my trip next year.

Great plans everyone!!!! So motivating!

 

[MikL99]

I'm in this year! I have 4100.00 of credit card debt to pay off. My plan is to have it payed off by July 31st. If i can do that then i will be able to save that amount each pay and have a great vacation in Disney world in 2016!!

 

[gracie1]

I have my baby EF done!!!

I filed my taxes using turbo tax and got the accepted email yesterday. Once that is received I will pay off my car, my financed furniture at 0% interest, my new tv's at 0% interest, plus 3 small credit cards and will have enough to go get the new cell phones I've been putting off. My battery doesn't last more than 3 hours and I am sick of being plugged in all the time. My moms phone keeps having weird issues too since I pay for her phone each month I will get her a new one too. My son may or may not end up with a smart phone. He's proved he can take care of it and be responsible BUT he got into a lot of trouble at school yesterday so this makes me want to keep him off a smart phone. He's at a tricky age so I'm undecided still. At least I have time to decide and shop.

The hard part is saying no to a disney trip. Last year was just awful except for my disney trip so I want to escape again. I've been toying with the idea of going just me and DS for my birthday and only doing a 4 night stay. The other option is to do a weekend somewhere warm with another adult and it's hard to say no to that as well. It's hard to say no to either of these, especially since it's crazy snowing right now! I just want to go on a vacation! I am planning a trip for next year with my mom and my son and the good news is my best friend may join us! I have to pay for everything so I should just stay home this year and save money for my trip next year.

Great plans everyone!!!! So motivating!

You must've done very well with your tax refund!! Way to go on being able to pay everything off with it! .
I am still having some car troubles so hopefully nothing major happens. And still waiting on tax documents to come in the mail so I can get mine done! I Would love a refund but am hoping to just break even at this point. When I left my job in April I didn't carry any health insurance from May through December so I'm pretty certain I will be penalized unless my accountant can get it exempted.

Everyone on here is doing a fantastic job and you should all be proud of yourselves!!!!

 

[saraschoening]

Welcome! Since you mentioned that you have $1000 left over each month - maybe start off saving $100 a month into a separate account. Then start to increase it maybe to $125 a month. How much longer do you have to pay on the truck? maybe instead start paying extra on the vehicle to get it paid off faster to free up that additional $600 a month.

Thats a really good idea.. I actually mentioned that to my husband.. the $100 and then moving it up from there. I was also thinking of working a few hours per week. I have a degree is business admin.. so I can do books from home and I also went to school for nails.. so I could also do that..

Our truck.. i believe will be paid off in 5 years? it's a newer loan and I am sure once it is paid off we will get another car. It can be hard with only one car especially due to where we live.. we have very limited public trans

thanks for the ideas!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Yay! I'm happy to say we are done paying on our orthodontist! Both kids went into braces on the same day (MLK Day 2013) and our last payment was exactly 2 years later.
We were able to cut our medical FSA account from $5000/year down to $1500 this year. So it's a little more $ back in our pay but since it's now being taxed, what used to be $96 per week to dh's FSA account, only turns out to be about $50 as net pay. My net pay is only $25 more.
So altogether it's about $150/month extra.

 

[tikitorie]

Yay! I'm happy to say we are done paying on our orthodontist! Both kids went into braces on the same day (MLK Day 2013) and our last payment was exactly 2 years later.
We were able to cut our medical FSA account from $5000/year down to $1500 this year. So it's a little more $ back in our pay but since it's now being taxed, what used to be $96 per week to dh's FSA account, only turns out to be about $50 as net pay. My net pay is only $25 more.
So altogether it's about $150/month extra.

So happy for you! Can't wait to say that myself. My son and I both got braces the same month 2 years ago. We have 1 more year on our interest free payment plan. I'm hoping to pay 1 off with part of my husbands' bonus this spring and double up payments on the other to speed it up.

 

[bcwife76]

Only 4 more months of preschool tuition and then my youngest goes to Kindergarten! After consecutively having 2 kids in preschool for the past 4 years (and having the tuition go up every year!) I'm happy that we'll have $185 less going out each month come June!
Also our universal child tax benefit (basically free money from the government of Canada that all parents are entitled too) is going up so for us that means an extra $120/month starting in July.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

So happy for you! Can't wait to say that myself. My son and I both got braces the same month 2 years ago. We have 1 more year on our interest free payment plan. I'm hoping to pay 1 off with part of my husbands' bonus this spring and double up payments on the other to speed it up.

I wouldn't mind getting them myself after seeing how perfect my kids' teeth are now. Dh could use them too. No chance of that happening with one starting college in the fall.

Only 4 more months of preschool tuition and then my youngest goes to Kindergarten! After consecutively having 2 kids in preschool for the past 4 years (and having the tuition go up every year!) I'm happy that we'll have $185 less going out each month come June!
Also our universal child tax benefit (basically free money from the government of Canada that all parents are entitled too) is going up so for us that means an extra $120/month starting in July.

It's nice to get a little break. That's very generous that the govt does that for parents in CA. Here, if your child needs special ed they qualify for free preschool through the hometown school district but if you have to pay, it's probably that much ($185) per week. When my youngest was in day care, it was $150/week. He is now 14. What a relief it was when he finally started school.

 

[yupikgal]

Paying off Discover card in 3-4 months, yay! It started at $7500, and now it's down to $1680. It's not our only cc debt, but it feels good regardless! I like to take things one day at a time, I can't forsee the future, but I do know that our daughter is getting married this summer, thankfully they are wise and aren't extravagant with their planning. Also, he has savings, and is paying for things too. I'm looking forward to the day we can celebrate with no debt here!

Everyone is doing great...just....keep....swimming!

 

[gracie1]

Paying off Discover card in 3-4 months, yay! It started at $7500, and now it's down to $1680. It's not our only cc debt, but it feels good regardless! I like to take things one day at a time, I can't forsee the future, but I do know that our daughter is getting married this summer, thankfully they are wise and aren't extravagant with their planning. Also, he has savings, and is paying for things too. I'm looking forward to the day we can celebrate with no debt here!

Everyone is doing great...just....keep....swimming!

That is fantastic!! it really makes you feel good when you see the balance getting smaller and smaller - and then when you make that final payment you need to do a happy dance

 

[bcwife76]

We pay our mortgage twice a month. Our mortgage payments were an odd amount and I like even numbers lol so I upped our payments, not by a lot but just a bit and by doing this we shaved nearly 2 years off the amortization! woohoo!!

 

[OhMari]

Paying off Discover card in 3-4 months, yay! It started at $7500, and now it's down to $1680. It's not our only cc debt, but it feels good regardless! I like to take things one day at a time, I can't forsee the future, but I do know that our daughter is getting married this summer, thankfully they are wise and aren't extravagant with their planning. Also, he has savings, and is paying for things too. I'm looking forward to the day we can celebrate with no debt here!

Everyone is doing great...just....keep....swimming!

I wish my dd was the same. Her venue was $8,000. I have only $3,800 to go.
Plus I gave her $300 towards her dress, I made a downpayment to the caterer. I think I am getting off pretty easy. My sister's daughter got married 3 years ago, and they spent over $30,000-insane.

 

[yupikgal]

That is fantastic!! it really makes you feel good when you see the balance getting smaller and smaller - and then when you make that final payment you need to do a happy dance

Thank you!! It sure does. I will definately do a happy dance when that day comes!!