Debt Dumpers 2020

[jackers]

I haven't checked in yet for 2020, but I just finished wrapping up final 2019 numbers and popped them over into my 2020 spreadsheet (I always keep a look of prior year to keep myself in check), updated a few budget numbers and am ready to go.

2020 Financial Goals:
Pay off my car – final payoff currently scheduled for June (current balance at $12,800). 21 months instead of 6 years, so saving thousands in interest.

After car is paid off, I will roll car payments over to my mortgage to start chopping away at that. I am years away from a payoff, but the plan is to have my 30 year mortgage paid off in 10. I realize this may appear odd to not just do shorter terms to begin with, but I like to have my required monthly payment be as small as possible, in case something unforeseen happens.

Max out 401K contributions.

Begin contributing $50/paycheck to my HSA – both DH and I both work for companies that contribute money to our HSAs annually so neither of us have been doing so up til now. But braces and an ER visit last year wiped out mine, so I want to beef mine back up.

Contribute $2500 to DS14’s 529.

Continue to grow savings – I’d like to get this built up to having a full 12 months of expenses saved – currently we are at about 6 months. That won't happen this year, but that is the long term goal.

2020 Personal Goals:

Have a will drawn up – my husband and I, despite being in our 40s with 2 kids (one out on his own) and lots of assets to our name, have not done this yet and really need to (please no lectures).

Get back into running and lose enough weight to fit back into clothes that are in my closet. I’m not going to set specific numbers on this one. I just want to feel better about myself. It’s sad what I let happen in 2019 after being so successful in 2018.

Read more and spend less time on stupid iPad games (I’ll still play “smart” iPad games – LOL)

Vacation plans – have money budgeted but no specific plans made as of yet.

 

[jen7233]

For my WDW peeps....we're currently booked at all star music and im wondering if it would be more beneficial to book at pop? I see that pop has the skyliner which would be beneficial on our epcot day. We don't plan on going to HS. I know nothing about WDW transportation, but from research i know that busses take quite awhile, especially for the value resorts. Pop would be a little more than $100 more.

I've never stayed at either. But, if I had a choice of those two I'd likely choose the skyliner just to have an alternate transportation option. As long as I also liked the Pop room and grounds.

 

[jackers]

Double posting to say:

For those of you still in full debt dumping mode and feeling overwhelmed... just don't give up. Have a budget and plan in some way that you can document (I use Excel) and keep track of progress. And yes, you may have setbacks (of both the controllable and non-controllable kind), but just stay focused and adjust the plan as necessary.

I was in that place when I started my journey 11 years ago, with 5 figures of credit card debt, school loans, a personal loan, one income (DH was SAHP), and young children. I set a 2.5 year plan to wipe out the "little" debt (would still have the mortgage) and the big thing for me at that time was to not use credit cards at all for anything. I went on a cash only basis. It literally meant scrounging change to buy a jug of milk before payday on occasion, but it really got my mindset in the right place on living within our means. I got all the debt paid off, and was able to start making headway in long term financial plans like savings, retirement plans, taking vacations, and replacing ancient cars, etc.

A decade has made a world of difference for us financially (promotions and raises and DH working full time) and things are "easy" for us now and we no longer worry about how much the check is going to be for dinner out, if the gas bill is going to be ridiculous from a bitterly cold month, and I no longer mentally add up my groceries in my cart. But I still am extremely diligent about my spreadsheet, staying on top of things, paying the credit card off every week and making sure we are focusing on the future and not just the present. It's a long road, but well worth it in the end.

Hope 2020 fairs well for everyone!

 

[MantaRider]

Finishing up Decembers budget right now. I went over again, but that was expected with medical bills and Christmas shopping. I'm finding it hard to keep on track but I'm excited for 2019 to be done and over with!

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Can I just say I am so happy to see this thread going year after year? I started one in 2013 and never thought it would keep going!

 

[tinan]

2020 Financial Goals:

• Change Mortgage from 30 to 15 year
• Pay off 1/3 of our debt
• Pay off May cruise
• Pay off November Disney trip
• Save for Disney trip by purchasing gift cards

2020 Personal goals

• Gradually increase walking up to 15 miles/day
• Lose at least 50 pounds over time with smaller goals set initially
• Overall eat healthier adding more vegetables to my diet
• Reduce screen time
• The highest priority goal - Reducing overall stress

 

[crazycatstacy]

In not budget news, I ordered the new Aristocats Dooney and Bourke this morning. I LOVE Aristocats!

 

[AmyAnne]

2020 Personal Goals:

Have a will drawn up – my husband and I, despite being in our 40s with 2 kids (one out on his own) and lots of assets to our name, have not done this yet and really need to (please no lectures).

Not lecture (and not a lawyer so I'm not sure about the specifics) but I think you can do something yourself as a stop-gap measure that a court would consider should something happen to you and your husband. Of course, a fully legally valid will is what you want (which you know), but I do think you can write up something on your own that would have some effect.

 

[pblack]

Happy new year y'all! I hope everyone had a safe and happy new years eve.

Logged into my husband's student loan account today to see what is still owed and its so nice seeing its down to $1633! This should definitely be paid off in March. It was a nice boost this morning to see it.

 

[rosegoldmonorail]

happy new year! i'm so oddly excited to start my budget! with the holiday and also coming down with a sinus infection, i'm only gonna get two shifts this week (as long as the infection goes away...) which isn't the greatest, BUT i do have some christmas cash i need to deposit, plus i have money from mercari and swagbucks coming in this week, so it worked out!

 

[Newcastle]

Happy new year to everyone! I have been following the Debt Dumper threads for a while now and understand that ideally, in order to reach your financial goals, a combination of spending less money and bringing in more income (whenever possible) is a favourable approach. I have noticed that some posters indicate that they plan on putting several thousands of dollars towards debt each month and I’m sincerely wondering how one does that. I make a decent income but I definitely don’t have thousands of extra dollars in my budget every month, even if I were to adhere to a strict budget. Am I missing something? Is there a strategy that people are using to be able to pay off such a large amount of debt every month?

 

[DLgal]

Happy new year to everyone! I have been following the Debt Dumper threads for a while now and understand that ideally, in order to reach your financial goals, a combination of spending less money and bringing in more income (whenever possible) is a favourable approach. I have noticed that some posters indicate that they plan on putting several thousands of dollars towards debt each month and I’m sincerely wondering how one does that. I make a decent income but I definitely don’t have thousands of extra dollars in my budget every month, even if I were to adhere to a strict budget. Am I missing something? Is there a strategy that people are using to be able to pay off such a large amount of debt every month?

I think it just comes down to people having a high enough income to do that. Our income every month allows us to sock away about $4000/month, more if we really tighten our discretionary spending. We are a one income family of 4 in a high cost of living area, but my husband makes a very good salary.

 

[npatellye]

2020 Financial Goals:

• Tuck away the savings from preschool finishing into the fun money savings/slush fund beginning in September (youngest kid will finally be out of preschool for good in June). That $15k a year savings will go far next year!
• Save for Disney (meals, APs, and DVC fees) by purchasing gift cards each month
• Pay off all of DVC contract 1 and contract 2 (purchased direct in December 2019 and sitting on 0% credit card until 5/2021)

2020 Personal goals

• Eat cleaner
• Cut out soda
• Lose at least 20 lbs by May
• Reduce screen time
• Reduce overall stress
• Coupon
• Buy less stuff (I’m looking at you, Amazon Prime!)
• Cut down on the toys we gift our kids and switch to unique experiences. Instead of piles of Christmas gifts, they will get a late November a trip to WDW plus tickets to MVMCP.

 

[RamblingMad]

2020 Financial Goals:

• Change Mortgage from 30 to 15 year

When I purchased my home in November 2019, I barely saw any rate improvement from 30 to 15 year. The mortgage rate curve had mostly flatten. Are you seeing it steepen again? Have you priced out 5/1 or 7/1 rates as well? I know some folks at work that have 7/1 mortgages with 3% interest rates. That's far better than the 3.875% interest rate that I'm paying. And after rolling my proceeds from my previous home into this one, I'm pretty much paying it down at a 20 year payment amount.

 

[RamblingMad]

Happy new year to everyone! I have been following the Debt Dumper threads for a while now and understand that ideally, in order to reach your financial goals, a combination of spending less money and bringing in more income (whenever possible) is a favourable approach. I have noticed that some posters indicate that they plan on putting several thousands of dollars towards debt each month and I’m sincerely wondering how one does that. I make a decent income but I definitely don’t have thousands of extra dollars in my budget every month, even if I were to adhere to a strict budget. Am I missing something? Is there a strategy that people are using to be able to pay off such a large amount of debt every month?

As you get older, you'll have opportunities to make more money. I think, that's what you're seeing.

The problem you're going to run into is the same one I did. When you're young and folks around are willing to use debt to purchase assets they cannot really afford, the price of those assets go up. If you try to do the right thing, buying what you can afford, you'll find you get a whole lot less for your money. Getting your head around this tough.

This is particularly true today with low interest rates. Debt is cheap, which is driving up asset prices. This is specifically hitting home costs in states with low taxes. Basically, if you live below your means during this period of time, you'll be living in areas, where you're making 2-5x as much as the median household. Basically, you're neighbors took on more debt than they could afford, and folks making as much as you have also taken on more debt than they could afford.

And this creates a crazy dynamic. Check out the movie: Keeping up with the Jones. I could easily influence my neighbors to go into bankruptcy by spending within my means in the areas where I have lived. Right now, our household income is about 3x my neighbors' median for the zipcode I live in. This leaves me a lot of extra cash each month that I invest. And I still paid more for my home than I wanted too.

 

[StacyStrong]

Yesterday I set up my 2020 savings spreadsheet. I close out and start a new one at the end of every year. I also spent the time to make a real monthly budget for the first time. Fingers crossed it goes well. I’m sure it’ll be a learning experience to get the numbers right and stick to it.

 

[MermaidLagoonResident]

I've been lurking since the summer and am ready to jump fully in!

Backstory- young 30 something, living in a large Canadian city, work in the service industry.

I've never felt like I've had bad spending habits but that they could get better. For 8 years from the last year of university till last year I worked at a major retailer. I tried to keep spending in check while at work, but there were definitely clothing items that were purchased because with my staff discount I was "saving so much money" on them. And some purchased happened because fellow co-workers/clients/etc were excited about the piece and I didn't want to miss out on the item. Also in that environment it was so easy to "not have time" to make lunch and instead go to the food court, where lunch would come out to around $15/per meal.

Last December I left that job and while still in the service industry, I am no longer in retail and since then I've started to take baby steps towards better money habits.

In the almost year of my current job I have packed a lunch every day and have not bought food while out at work. I've been tracking in my planner no spend days and keeping track of what categories ( retail, groceries, etc). My husband and I also set up a joint prepaid credit card that we've been trying to use for household items instead of our old method of it all equals out of who buys what eventually. I've been using my personal prepaid credit card account for my day to day items and having things paid for in the moment instead of adding it onto my credit card.

We did a WDW trip in Feb, focused on the Princess Half weekend and I think technically speaking our "you pay this one, Ill pay the next one" method did not work out well for me at all and I ended up with a lot more of the expenses going onto my cc. I was the one who wanted to do the trip and was running the races and etc, so it is what it is. Last spring after leaving my old retail job, starting to settle into the new job and post WDW I had $14,000 on my cc. I honestly have no idea how it got so high, I've always managed to pay it off and then yo-yo back and forth but not this time.

So at that point I had a line of credit offer from my bank and I used it to fully pay off my cc. I had been working at chipping away at it and also keeping my cc cleared off but then decided to turn my RunDisney one and done experience into the Castle to Chateau Challenge (in one calendar year you run a half marathon at WDW and at Disneyland Paris) and I am glad I did. It was a fantastic, amazing trip and I did the whole thing solo and that trip will be a cherished memory but I hadn't quite set enough money aside and had also signed up to do Princess race weekend again ( oops…).

Anyways! All this to say my cc got a little higher than I could pay off with one pay check. And my husband was saying I should have just cleared the cc again using the line of credit but after paying off so much of it, it just felt like a step backwards to add money back onto the line of credit.

But I did a good job shopping smart for Christmas gifts this year and after it was all said and done I currently have $130 left to pay off on my cc and my line of credit is at $9,500. So progress!

A couple months a go I received a promotion and a raise at my job so my current plan is to put minimal $500/per pay check onto the line of credit, continue to use the prepaid cc, and keep my cc at a range that can be paid off in one pay check.

My Princess half race weekend round 2 is coming up in February, I currently have $1,700 set aside, aiming for $1,900 plus roughly $600 in Disney gift cards that I've earned using a points program. ( these numbers are all Canadian, the conversion to USA will knock those numbers down a bit but hopefully not too much). So far the race registration, flights and resort deposit is paid for, the budgeted money will cover food, merch and the rest of my resort stay. Originally it was going to be another solo trip (husband wasn't interested ) but as a last minute addition my mom is coming with me! Theres a little bit of wishful thinking on my end that she'll tell me not to worry about the rest of my half of the hotel room haha.

In November we found a really great flight deal and with a pair of friends bought tickets to go to Japan in September 2020, so I also need to figure out how much money to aim to save for that trip. I am currently thinking if there is any money in the Disney fund after the February trip to have that start my Japan savings.

Ok! That was a lot! I'll make a separate post with just my goals for 2020

 

[RamblingMad]

I’m trying to wrap my head around going on vacation while having credit card debt. What rate are you paying on that $9500 of remaining debt?

 

[MantaRider]

I’m trying to wrap my head around going on vacation while having credit card debt. What rate are you paying on that $9500 of remaining debt?

Sometimes you just need it to stay sane, even while paying on debt. I have 9k in a 401k loan, but we are doing two trips this year and planning a move. Life must go on even while saving to pay off debt

 

[MermaidLagoonResident]

2020 Financial Goals:

• Pay off cc -currently at $130, pay day is Jan 9th, this will be done then & keep it within a range that can be paid off in one pay check (under $500 is what I am currently thinking)
• Pay off line of credit - currently at $9,500. Aiming to take $500/per pay check minimal towards paying this off
• continue to pack food for work and not buy lunch out
• Save money for Japan trip ( $ amount tbd, will update once number has been researched)

2020 Personal Goals:

• 1 group fitness class per week
• declutter living space, aiming to take 400 items out of our space (clothing, books, dads***, etc etc).
• eat cleaner/ cook more at home

Those are the majors I can think of right now!

*** this was suppose to say dvd's but autocorrect got me! hahaha