Debt Dumpers - 2016

[Dentam]

Well, the smart phone saga continues. Or actually ends, as it turns out. I ordered it online from Walmart last week after the craziness of going to the store in person and being told they don't carry it. So... never got an email saying my order had been shipped, or any email at all after the order was confirmed. Checked my order on their website an hour ago and it turns out they canceled it last week the day I placed it. Never sent me an email telling me this of course. So... no more Walmart for me. I hadn't been into one of those stores in years and really never want to go to one again. It's just an unbelievable lack of ability to communicate with their customers. I was told a third party actually runs their website. Who knows why the order was canceled but I'm fed up.

So... I looked into remaining in the dark ages and adding a land line with long distance coverage to my internet service. By bundling the two, I get a rate that is only $5 more a month than what I am now paying for my internet, and that rate is good for three years. So that's what I'm going to do! It will save me the $50/month smart phone bill plus the price of buying the smart phone. I'll have to buy a phone for my house but that shouldn't cost nearly as much as an iPhone. I will still have my work cell to carry with me in the car in case of emergencies but all my other calls will be from or to my land line.

I consider this a win even if I won't be joining you all in the land of new technology. I feel like a grumpy old lady at this point!

 

[edk35]

I have NOT checked out the Capital One Account as far as adding accounts, but I do want to do that when I get some time. THANKS WOW WOW WOW as far as your sytem goes. I will have to reread this a few times. Thanks for taking the time of breaking it all down.

Were you able to see how? If you click on the Summary tab it lists all of your accounts. At the bottom of the list it says something like "Add another Capital One account". Including kids accounts we now have around 14.



Here's how I've been paying down debt. It's a little long but stay with me....
Dh and I get paid biweekly on opposite weeks. So every week is pay day for one of us.
I created a Word document and I list each paycheck for the month (usually 4 of them) and each one's estimated amount. Beneath each paycheck, I list the bills to be paid with that check (based on their due dates) and planned transfers to savings. Not just debt but also water, electric, cushion for checking acct, etc. Anything leftover goes toward our SWA visa which is what we use for most purchases.

Our first bill that I attacked was our overdraft protection for our checking account. It wasn't the smallest balance but it was a ridiculous interest rate and the next 2 bills had 0% promotions and all 3 were roughly similar balances. I usually paid $25 biweekly with my pay to the OD protection. In the past I got no where doing this because I kept adding to the balance!
This time I scraped all I could and made a vow to never add to the balance. It was slow going but made progress. That first bill was the hardest!
Once that was paid off, I attacked the Sears bill. That was $25 min. paid on Week #2 each month. So on Week #2 I still paid the usual $25 Sears payment but then on my biweekly paychecks when I would have paid the OD protection payment in the past, I now sent those to Sears also, as if I were still paying the OD protection. I guess I could have just paid $75 to Sears as one payment but I'm a visual person and substituting an old bill with a new one was how I saw it. It also kept my checking account a bit more even keeled, no large up & down dips.

Then once the Sears bill was paid I moved on to the Amazon bill. That min was $75, paid from Week #1 pay. Then on Week#2 when I would have paid the Sears bill, I now put that $25 to the Amazon bill. Then changed my biweekly $25 from Sears to Amazon. So Amazon was getting $150/month but I would send it as 4 separate payments, at the same time when the old bills were due. They don't mind as long as they get their min each month.

Then just keep going down the list of bills. Some weeks my snowball is less than $200. Some weeks it's $800. All of that $800 was once paid as a multiple smaller bills that are now $0!

I find this works much easier if you pay your bills online, whether you pay through your bank's bill-pay feature or directly through your credit card's website. If I was making a single monthly payment by check and snail mail it wouldn't work for me. Also when I kept the font all black, my Word document started looking like a CF full of numbers so I color-coded each week. Purple for Week1 paycheck and bills, Orange for Week2 pay, Green for Week3, Blue for Week4. Then when we start a new month I copy and paste from the previous month and just change the dates to the new month. I keep the old stuff so I can refer back at any time.
This also makes it really easy on those few times per year where we get 3 paychecks per month to designate them toward the snowball. (I make those red so they really stand out on the page!) Those paychecks have NO bills listed under them so unless I overspent on my regular monthly SWA card, it all goes to the snowball. I can only chuckle to myself when coworkers say it makes no difference whether there are 2 or 3 paychecks per month. I know for certain, if I'm diligent that 3rd pay can make a huge difference!

When you asked about using the Capital One checking acct here is what I used to do...
Whatever bills were paid off and now part of the snowball, I'd transfer those amounts to my Cap One checking just to get it out of our regular checking account. I'd schedule in advance for it to occur on payday so that it wouldn't be hanging around making our checking account look fat. Then I'd schedule the bill to pay from my Cap One checking.

After a while I realized it simply added another step of banking and added a couple days to when I can schedule a snowball payment.
Now, as an experienced snowballer, I can view my paystub online at work 2 days before payday, I then schedule bills to pay online the day before payday. Then on payday when I drink my morning coffee, I see that my paycheck went in and snowball payment went out. It's very satisfying & motivating.

Sorry this is so long but I cannot emphasize enough how easy it is to follow as long as I don't overspend with everyday expenses such as groceries, gas, occasional restaurant, etc.

Good luck and hope this helps.

 

[edk35]

We have 30 year term policies. $500k on me and $250k on DH, who also has $50k through work. It costs us $100/month, which I use DH's quarterly bonus for, but we bought it thinking if something happened to me, it would go toward daycare/nanny for the kids. We went high on me because I had already been diagnosed with skin cancer. It was my one shot of getting a policy with normal rates. Two weeks after we got the policy, we found out the skin cancer returned. Even though it won't kill me, insurance companies would hold my frequent bouts against me.

If you consider it, don't think of it just for burial costs. This is a budget board after all...how will your surviving spouse survive without your income? Easily - no kids, sell the house, downsize with no problem? Or hard - daycare, house, i.e. the expenses don't change but the income does? That's what we bought it for - income replacement. Having enough to pay off your mortgage should be your base number, but think about what else you need the money to do.

Edited to add: We didn't get policies on the kids. We have cemetery plots already (bought with a coupon!) and could cover the burial costs. God forbid something should happen to them, but it would affect us emotionally, not financially. So we skipped life insurance on them.

Most people are underinsured and think all they need is burial funds. Not the case. You explained this well!!! People don't think of mortgages, income replacement, taking extended time off from work, medical bills.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Eureka is right, usually there's a grace period. I know mine was 6 months after graduating, so he would maybe have to make a couple payments, but they would go back to inactive once he started a semester in August. Or he could start with summer classes in May and not have to make any payments.

This part I wasn't sure of.
Hopefully in 6 months he's back to his confident old self but I admit I'm clueless in that area.
Time will tell.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Thank you all for your kind words & encouragement.

 

[PrincessKymm]

It was too good to be true....Murphy has come for a visit!

Thankfully I've got a plan in place already and some awesome family and friends. My car decided today to "hesitate" when accelerating. I thought I had somehow bumped my gear shift into neutral! I pulled into a parking lot to check for a leak but didn't see one so I drove to a friends house to make her drive with me and in turn she made her husband drive with me too. So I wasn't crazy but her hubby noticed if I drive really slow and carefully (not my style lol) I should be ok for getting home. So I called an old coworker that used to be a mechanic at a GM dealership and he recommended a place not too far from home. They are open until 6 tomorrow! I'm still in training so I can't miss work.

My plan is to drive very carefully to drop DS off at his cousins house, drive very carefully to work, then drive very carefully but somewhat quickly to the transmission shop and ask them to look at my car. Call my dad, get a ride home and borrow my sisters leased suv that is sitting in my parking lot because it's over the miles for their lease. I offered to pay for the miles I use so I don't have to pay for a rental while my car is being looked at/worked on. Don't worry, DS's cousin agreed to keep him overnight so I could deal with the car and this way he has a bonus sleepover with his family. Win win!

If the amount of work totals over $5k I'm just going to go car shopping. I'll have my sisters car to use for a little bit so hopefully I can either trade in my car and save up some cash or just save up for the repair. This shop does 6 month free financing tho so I will try for that if it's under $5k for the work. I figured if I could get it financed I could at least pay it down if not off and then put the remaining balance on my credit card and pay that off ASAP.

So I'm halting my snowball and will apply the tax return to my car and figure out my Disney trip money. Really really hoping I can still apply the balance for Disney ($1520) and then use the rest ($960) for the repair and I still have my $1k EF so technically about $2k for this repair is already saved.

I own my car and the Kelly blue book is only $3100-4500 depending on how I sell it so I figure if it's over $5k it's not worth it. Might as well have a payment again and not have to worry about repairs. Grrrrrr!!!!!!

 

[Dentam]

What type of car do you have, @PrincessKymm? My car did this a bit last year and again a couple of weeks ago. I turn it off, then restart it and it goes back to normal. I looked it up online and it seems I'm not the only person with a 2001 model of this car (Pontiac Sunfire) that has had this issue. I forget what they said the issue was, but it would be a relatively simple fix it sounded like. I'm planning to get a new to me vehicle soon though so am not willing to put anything into this one unless it really gets bad. So far it's been perfectly fine since its last episode a couple of weeks ago. Fingers crossed for both of us that our cars hang in there for us!

 

[PrincessKymm]

What type of car do you have, @PrincessKymm? My car did this a bit last year and again a couple of weeks ago. I turn it off, then restart it and it goes back to normal. I looked it up online and it seems I'm not the only person with a 2001 model of this car (Pontiac Sunfire) that has had this issue. I forget what they said the issue was, but it would be a relatively simple fix it sounded like. I'm planning to get a new to me vehicle soon though so am not willing to put anything into this one unless it really gets bad. So far it's been perfectly fine since its last episode a couple of weeks ago. Fingers crossed for both of us that our cars hang in there for us!

I have a 2009 Chevy Cobalt with 61,000 miles on it. I'm hoping it just needs fluid or maybe a flush, something simple. I really hope it doesn't need anything major! But thanks for the vote of confidence it might be an easy fix. A phone diagnosis isn't the same as someone actually touching it lol.

 

[Dentam]

I have a 2009 Chevy Cobalt with 61,000 miles on it. I'm hoping it just needs fluid or maybe a flush, something simple. I really hope it doesn't need anything major! But thanks for the vote of confidence it might be an easy fix. A phone diagnosis isn't the same as someone actually touching it lol.

That's not too many miles and not all that old either. I wasn't trying to diagnose it, but hope you have someone you trust who can. I'd definitely try to keep it around since it should have a lot more life in it - hopefully!

 

[Eureka]

This part I wasn't sure of.
Hopefully in 6 months he's back to his confident old self but I admit I'm clueless in that area.
Time will tell.

Believe me, when the loan company wants their money, they will send out several reminders telling him when the grace period is over. Lol.

 

[momtosam]

Our crappy furnace is acting up again, but we MAY be dodging Murphy as a friend of friend thinks he has the part we need (he does HVAC). We should find out tomorrow!

 

[scdak]

I am feeling good this morning - I just paid off my Sams Club CC and put a little more money in my savings account, I am 1/3 of the way towards my goal for my emergency fund!
I also changed my mind about going out shopping today and decided to stay home and get some housework done...........so I saved a lot of money today! I still have to go shopping to stock up on some things I am running out of but it won't be today, and it will only be for the items that is on my list when I do go!

 

[dayvewc]

This part I wasn't sure of.
Hopefully in 6 months he's back to his confident old self but I admit I'm clueless in that area.
Time will tell.

I can tell you it takes a LONG time to recover from depression. You should definitely see improvement within 6 months, but don't be surprised if it takes much longer.

 

[reginaastralis]

No, the idea is you set aside half a payment twice each month or make half a payment if it's a bill that allows you to, such has a cc. In the end you're supposed to blow less cash on impulse buys because you're putting your money toward payments (I think, lol).

I'm a few pages behind, but this is something I think we're going to try. My boyfriend is a server, so we always have cash on hand, but we aren't doing a good job planning ahead. So it's always like "Shoot! It's the 4th, and our cellphone is due tomorrow" sort of thing around here (something we are trying to get better at, I swear!) ... But we are going to start dividing our bills weekly, and then paying each week.

 

[stayhomemom77]

Okay, time to do an accounting now that January is finished.

My 2016 goals:

#1- Save $15,000 for the house down payment
#2- Save $2000 in the Curveball fund (car expenses and such)
#3- Save $4000 in the emergency fund

I have $600 so far for the house down payment. I have been working first on the emergency fund and then on the curveball fund so the house money is going to start slow but should start building quickly come April. Also most (if not all) of the income tax refund will go towards the house. I don't expect to be able to file until the first week of March though as companies here have until the last day of February to send out their statements and the ones we deal with often take full advantage of that timeframe. But I'm excited to know it's coming!!

I have $600 so far in the curveball account. I should be at the $1000 mark by the end of February. Then I will just set aside $100 a month for the remainder of the year and focus on beefing up the house down payment account.

I have the full $4000 in the emergency fund. I did work on this in the fall of 2015 as well, so I have more than a month's worth of living expenses now saved. I will leave this for now and begin growing this to two month's living expenses in 2017. For now, the other two goals are the more important ones.

 

[gracie1]

It was too good to be true....Murphy has come for a visit!

Thankfully I've got a plan in place already and some awesome family and friends. My car decided today to "hesitate" when accelerating. I thought I had somehow bumped my gear shift into neutral! I pulled into a parking lot to check for a leak but didn't see one so I drove to a friends house to make her drive with me and in turn she made her husband drive with me too. So I wasn't crazy but her hubby noticed if I drive really slow and carefully (not my style lol) I should be ok for getting home. So I called an old coworker that used to be a mechanic at a GM dealership and he recommended a place not too far from home. They are open until 6 tomorrow! I'm still in training so I can't miss work.

My plan is to drive very carefully to drop DS off at his cousins house, drive very carefully to work, then drive very carefully but somewhat quickly to the transmission shop and ask them to look at my car. Call my dad, get a ride home and borrow my sisters leased suv that is sitting in my parking lot because it's over the miles for their lease. I offered to pay for the miles I use so I don't have to pay for a rental while my car is being looked at/worked on. Don't worry, DS's cousin agreed to keep him overnight so I could deal with the car and this way he has a bonus sleepover with his family. Win win!

If the amount of work totals over $5k I'm just going to go car shopping. I'll have my sisters car to use for a little bit so hopefully I can either trade in my car and save up some cash or just save up for the repair. This shop does 6 month free financing tho so I will try for that if it's under $5k for the work. I figured if I could get it financed I could at least pay it down if not off and then put the remaining balance on my credit card and pay that off ASAP.

So I'm halting my snowball and will apply the tax return to my car and figure out my Disney trip money. Really really hoping I can still apply the balance for Disney ($1520) and then use the rest ($960) for the repair and I still have my $1k EF so technically about $2k for this repair is already saved.

I own my car and the Kelly blue book is only $3100-4500 depending on how I sell it so I figure if it's over $5k it's not worth it. Might as well have a payment again and not have to worry about repairs. Grrrrrr!!!!!!

My car did this as well - only when accelerating. Did it for about 7 months and then stopped. Had put it in the shop twice while it was occurring but couldn't find out what was wrong with it and it wasn't the transmission. I was certain it was because I had a car that the transmission went up in and it felt identical. Then it stopped for about 5 months and then it would happen periodically so I just deal with it. Has only happened probably three times since October of last year. It's wierd how it doesn't do it all the time. Mostly seems when it's really cold - I even did a tune up thinking maybe it was a spark plug or wire but they still didn't find anything wrong. So I'm just going to keep driving till something happens! Good luck! I hope it all checks out okay!

 

[reginaastralis]

Because we like to be difficult, we are completely changing our plans for this year.

Initially, we were going to apply the snowball method to get rid of our two credit cards, and then work on paying down my boyfriend's car. Well, because we're crazy (and it's such a good market right now where we live) we decided to jump ship and buy a house. We need this move, and I was trying to talk him into it for two years, but now that it's happening it's really scary!

So we paid off our credit cards to give our credit a nice boost, and are working on saving as much as possible while we find the "perfect" house. Then we're going to bump our savings a bit to try to fund a month or so of wages, since I know what home ownership can bring. Then, after we're comfortable with the payments and such, we'll go back to paying off my boyfriend's car. His loans are going to be due come December, so if we could start throwing money at them too, asap, I'd feel better about everything.

 

[hollybearsmom]

I made a deposit that started our emergency fund. It's small, but it's a start!

 

[gracie1]

I made a deposit that started our emergency fund. It's small, but it's a start!

Congrats!! It doesn't matter what size - it was a deposit!!

 

[gracie1]

Because we like to be difficult, we are completely changing our plans for this year.

Initially, we were going to apply the snowball method to get rid of our two credit cards, and then work on paying down my boyfriend's car. Well, because we're crazy (and it's such a good market right now where we live) we decided to jump ship and buy a house. We need this move, and I was trying to talk him into it for two years, but now that it's happening it's really scary!

So we paid off our credit cards to give our credit a nice boost, and are working on saving as much as possible while we find the "perfect" house. Then we're going to bump our savings a bit to try to fund a month or so of wages, since I know what home ownership can bring. Then, after we're comfortable with the payments and such, we'll go back to paying off my boyfriend's car. His loans are going to be due come December, so if we could start throwing money at them too, asap, I'd feel better about everything.

Buying a home is scary and fun!! Congrats!