Debt Dumpers 2021

[Eureka]

20-30 mins isn't bad at all. I'm going to crunch some numbers and see what the best way to go will be. I think I'm leaning towards staying at Universal now and driving over to Disney for the 4 or 5 days. We'll be there 10 nights, so I'm thinking with it being right on I drive, we'll have so many more options for food and entertainment on our non park days.

Plus if we can pool hop, we could go over to Cabana Bay and lounge in the lazy river!

I do agree about the rooms being nicer at Universal. At least back when we went, they hadn’t built Sapphire Falls and the one I can’t remember the name of, Neverending Summer or something like that. We stayed at Royal Pacific which was amazing. We’ve only ever stayed at values at Disney bc we never spent much time in the rooms and the kids were small. We’ve talked about maybe doing a trip sometime, all four of us as adults now, and would definitely need a bigger room. For those who know, how do moderates or deluxes compare to Universal rooms?

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

How much of a pain in the butt is it to drive from Universal to Disney? We've been debating between staying at Disney and driving to Universal for the 2 days we're going, but I looked and we would save almost $2k to stay at Universal's Dockside in a 2 bedroom room over the family suite at AsMu. So I'm kinda leaning that way. But battling driving to Disney for 4 or 5 days has me debating if the savings are worth the hassle.

Just an idea but have you looked into staying at a Universal hotel? Their original 3 resorts (Royal Pacific, Hard Rock, Portofino) are close enough to walk to the parks and a car isn't needed once you're there. The best part is that you just show your room key and get to use the Express Pass lines. It's like having a neverending Fast Pass. Once you try it, you are instantly spoiled. We will NEVER go to Universal without having the room key. They're not cheap but they do offer AAA discount. For our last trip in spring 2019, the Annual Passholder discount was around $100 off per night, making an AP purchase pay for itself for a 3-night stay. This would also make it super convenient for returning to the room for mid-day breaks.

This may have changed since covid.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I do agree about the rooms being nicer at Universal. At least back when we went, they hadn’t built Sapphire Falls and the one I can’t remember the name of, Neverending Summer or something like that. We stayed at Royal Pacific which was amazing. We’ve only ever stayed at values at Disney bc we never spent much time in the rooms and the kids were small. We’ve talked about maybe doing a trip sometime, all four of us as adults now, and would definitely need a bigger room. For those who know, how do moderates or deluxes compare to Universal rooms?

I've never been to the newer Uni hotels that don't offer Express Line access but the 3 hotels that do are all equivalent to Disney deluxe resorts. Royal Pacific has the smallest rooms and Portofino has the largest but it's also further away and not an easy walk to the parks. When we stayed at RP and HR we could request rooms with views of the parks. That's been a while; maybe they charge extra for them now. They used to list the square footage for rooms on their website.
I would highly recommend visiting the Universal section of the Disboards for more up to date info.

 

[CaleCakes]

Arrived this morning at WDW for my DDs birthday celebration! She was so surprised it took her until she saw the monorail to realize where we were. We left the house really early at 1:40am for a 5:25a flight (Airport is 65 mins away plus parking, shuttle, traveling with kids etc). Everything went smooth with the flight and DME, got to WL at 10:30 am. The 2 bedroom villa is amazing I am so glad I didn't change after my friend bailed. Have had some little bits of pixie dust here and there and we are having an awesome time. Got the room ready text at 12pm but we were already in the park.. Went to MK from 11:30- 4, rode 8 rides and had lunch at CRT. Lunch was great, ride lines weren't long for what we did (also didn't hurt we had a recovery pass from Pooh getting stuck then got pixie dust when I went to use it for PP but wasn't supposed to and the CM let us anyways! So then we used it on HM). We have been wearing our masks inside as required and haven't really bothered to take them off outside much either. One thing for sure is that the kids are sooo much less likely to put their fingers on their face or in their mouth with the mask on. And they touch everything lol. So I don't remind them they can take it off when outside .
This post has not been budget related at all lol but I'm so excited to be here I just had to share. I'll throw in that I did use instacart for some essentials for the kids, mostly veggies and snacks they eat daily so of they want pasta for every meal I'll feel a little better knowing they're also eating decent in the room.
Set up a little surprise for DD to find in the morning...

 

[Eureka]

I've never been to the newer Uni hotels that don't offer Express Line access but the 3 hotels that do are all equivalent to Disney deluxe resorts. Royal Pacific has the smallest rooms and Portofino has the largest but it's also further away and not an easy walk to the parks. When we stayed at RP and HR we could request rooms with views of the parks. That's been a while; maybe they charge extra for them now. They used to list the square footage for rooms on their website.
I would highly recommend visiting the Universal section of the Disboards for more up to date info.

Thanks. We’re not planning a trip imminently. I was just curious. I’ve gone to the Universal boards here before, but it’s a lot more detail than my current curiosity needed .

 

[jackers]

Couch that I ordered in February is being delivered tomorrow! Finally! We’ve gone without one for the past two weeks as we had a big trash pickup two Saturdays ago and it was the perfect opportunity to get rid of the old one (We have 4 a year so next one wasn’t until November). Will be nice to have something to crash on again. Hope I still like it!

What do you typically tip delivery men? I was planning on $20 each (assuming 2 people).

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Couch that I ordered in February is being delivered tomorrow! Finally! We’ve gone without one for the past two weeks as we had a big trash pickup two Saturdays ago and it was the perfect opportunity to get rid of the old one (We have 4 a year so next one wasn’t until November). Will be nice to have something to crash on again. Hope I still like it!

What do you typically tip delivery men? I was planning on $20 each (assuming 2 people).

I think that’s very generous. I don’t know what dh tips because I’m usually at work. It’s been so long since we had anything delivered.

 

[jen7233]

Couch that I ordered in February is being delivered tomorrow! Finally! We’ve gone without one for the past two weeks as we had a big trash pickup two Saturdays ago and it was the perfect opportunity to get rid of the old one (We have 4 a year so next one wasn’t until November). Will be nice to have something to crash on again. Hope I still like it!

What do you typically tip delivery men? I was planning on $20 each (assuming 2 people).

I've never tipped on furniture delivery. We hired some movers recently with their own small truck to move between our old rental and new rental place, and they added it in their bill.

 

[DisneyHardin]

Couch that I ordered in February is being delivered tomorrow! Finally! We’ve gone without one for the past two weeks as we had a big trash pickup two Saturdays ago and it was the perfect opportunity to get rid of the old one (We have 4 a year so next one wasn’t until November). Will be nice to have something to crash on again. Hope I still like it!

What do you typically tip delivery men? I was planning on $20 each (assuming 2 people).

I only tip on deliveries like that if they go above and beyond. When we bought new bedroom furniture, I asked the delivery guys to take the old dresser to an upstairs bedroom and then tipped them for doing that. When we had our washer delivered, setting it up wasn't part of the delivery price, but the guy was super nice and asked if we wanted him to go ahead and hook it all up, so we tipped him for doing that.

 

[JinxedSydney]

Budget friends! I'm moving forward with starting my own business! I was just hired for my first bookkeeping gig and have a second on the horizon. For now, this is a side hustle to help build our savings and vacation funds. I'm hoping to make it a self-sustaining job in a couple of years.

 

[Nettlelondon]

Budget friends! I'm moving forward with starting my own business! I was just hired for my first bookkeeping gig and have a second on the horizon. For now, this is a side hustle to help build our savings and vacation funds. I'm hoping to make it a self-sustaining job in a couple of years.

Well done. Another thing to think about is working with small businesses to help them with setting up their accounting software in the first place. I am talking about the kind of really basic "straight out of the box" type systems.

I did this a few years ago in connection with a local training company that offered a range of business courses to those who were thinking of going it alone. There were a couple of options around using the most popular at the time basic software systems and often people would do the course pretty successfully but then they would get back to their business (often based in the spare bedroom) and be completely confused as to how what they had learned applied to their particular set of activities and they would panic & phone the training provider. They would recommend me. I would spend an hour or so talking to them to find out exactly what they were doing, a short while setting the system up - selecting the correct general ledger codes, creating credit customer and supplier ledgers, that kind of thing - and then a short while taking them through some real transactions. After that some would be off & running and I would never see them again as they were quite happy, but a few became clients for much longer periods when they decided it was better for me to go in once a month or quarter than try doing it themselves.

It also led to me being paid handsomely by the parent company of the training provider to create dummy test papers for their students to use for revision for some of the more formal book keeping courses they did which used externally generated exam papers.

 

[sara mom]

How much of a pain in the butt is it to drive from Universal to Disney? We've been debating between staying at Disney and driving to Universal for the 2 days we're going, but I looked and we would save almost $2k to stay at Universal's Dockside in a 2 bedroom room over the family suite at AsMu. So I'm kinda leaning that way. But battling driving to Disney for 4 or 5 days has me debating if the savings are worth the hassle.

We stayed at Endless Summer/ Dockside 3 weeks ago in a 2 bedroom. We referred to the hotel as the endless hallway hotel. Worse that Animal Kingdom Jambo house. The drive was not too bad but I missed the feeling of being on property. You will pay $15a night to park + the Disney parking fees.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Fun fact: it cost me $17,853 to have a baby this year. Weirdly, I got a BCBS member discount of $16,903. So I owe $950 out of pocket for the epidural that didn't work. I've never seen that kind of discount before. Has anyone else?

Hubby went back to work tonight. We're so desperate for employees and getting people to show up, that they're offering an extra $200 a week just for working your shift, $300 more a week on top of it if you work an extra 8 hour shift, plus the normal time and a half for overtime. I still have 10 weeks left off, so he asked how I felt about him picking up 2 extra shifts a week for the next month or so. I told him to go for it for however many days and hours he wants, it's all up to him. All that money will go straight to vacation to get it taken care of and then the rest will go towards some updates to the house, car maintenance, savings, Christmas shopping, etc. Just the bonus money is an extra $2000/month and I'm not even sure where to start with the overtime. It'll be at least 16 hours if not more.

Now I just have to brace myself for a lot of "single mom" days with 2 older girls in their extra curriculars, homeschooling, and an infant who hates naps anywhere other than on my stomach.

 

[jen7233]

Fun fact: it cost me $17,853 to have a baby this year. Weirdly, I got a BCBS member discount of $16,903. So I owe $950 out of pocket for the epidural that didn't work. I've never seen that kind of discount before. Has anyone else?

Hubby went back to work tonight. We're so desperate for employees and getting people to show up, that they're offering an extra $200 a week just for working your shift, $300 more a week on top of it if you work an extra 8 hour shift, plus the normal time and a half for overtime. I still have 10 weeks left off, so he asked how I felt about him picking up 2 extra shifts a week for the next month or so. I told him to go for it for however many days and hours he wants, it's all up to him. All that money will go straight to vacation to get it taken care of and then the rest will go towards some updates to the house, car maintenance, savings, Christmas shopping, etc. Just the bonus money is an extra $2000/month and I'm not even sure where to start with the overtime. It'll be at least 16 hours if not more.

Now I just have to brace myself for a lot of "single mom" days with 2 older girls in their extra curriculars, homeschooling, and an infant who hates naps anywhere other than on my stomach.

I have not, but I did use BCBS insurance I had at the time when my youngest was born and I don't remember paying much at all out of pocket, under $100. I'm unable to work this morning with a major network issue, so finding myself on the Dis here. Plus back to school, same with the extra-curricular activities taxi time (but just one of mine does it right now), so it's a really busy time. Yes, we have a mask mandate here. I've thought about working part-time this winter, like Target or other stores locally hiring seasonal, a few hours on the weekends early mornings or night, just for extra money. I wonder how their seasonal job offers will be this year.

I have not much to comment on about budget or debt. Really, it's just boring which isn't bad, no complaints on boring, and ten years away from pensions. No rush though, not ready to be that age. Fortunate to work from home after going back to work after a few years not working. Lately, I'm not interested in new credit card or bank bonus openings, so not much to add on any bonus talk. Really, just looking at some of the latest Disney changes like Genie, and if we'll travel, when and where.

 

[crazycatstacy]

Finally heard today about our appraisal- hopefully, the first part of October! UGH, this is taking soooooo long! Still plugging along paying stuff. Bought the crazy priced Merry After Hours tickets. Still hoping for the dining plan to come back before we go in December.

 

[jen7233]

Finally heard today about our appraisal- hopefully, the first part of October! UGH, this is taking soooooo long! Still plugging along paying stuff. Bought the crazy priced Merry After Hours tickets. Still hoping for the dining plan to come back before we go in December.

that's a very long wait!

Anyone else's Walmart account have issues yesterday with strange purchases you didn't make or hear of Walmart accounts getting hacked? I went in and changed my password today.

 

[JinxedSydney]

.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Survived my first week alone with the kids with hubby back to work. We work nights, so dinner and bedtime is all me. It went as well as it could have. He goes in for overtime tonight on my shift, so I'm interested to see how that goes.
This week will be the real test. We're back to starting extracurricular activities, so we'll have dance, gymnastics, and soccer during the week now to manage. I took this season off from coaching soccer, which will help my mental state some.

I'm working on a good meal plan for the week since I'm going to be alone most nights. I want to prep 4ish days of meals at a time so I can just heat and eat in the few minutes little dude will let me put him down. It's a better option that door dashing every few days.

 

[barkley]

I'm working on a good meal plan for the week since I'm going to be alone most nights. I want to prep 4ish days of meals at a time so I can just heat and eat in the few minutes little dude will let me put him down. It's a better option that door dashing every few days

as a super quick back up to have on hand in a pinch-if your kiddos like mexican then precook ground beef w/taco seasoning. freeze in portioned microwavable containers-it takes about 1.5 minutes to heat to hot from solid frozen. i make up 8 or 10 at a time so that in a pinch i can toss it with shredded cheese on chips for nachos, in a taco shell, in flour tortilla....

i had a co-worker who would do up 10 pounds unseasoned at a time into 1 pound bags b/c she could add it to jarred pasta sauce, mix into manwich sauce, season and add to a frozen pizza....it was her go-to on busy kid activity nights.

 

[Tygerlilly]

as a super quick back up to have on hand in a pinch-if your kiddos like mexican then precook ground beef w/taco seasoning. freeze in portioned microwavable containers-it takes about 1.5 minutes to heat to hot from solid frozen. i make up 8 or 10 at a time so that in a pinch i can toss it with shredded cheese on chips for nachos, in a taco shell, in flour tortilla....

i had a co-worker who would do up 10 pounds unseasoned at a time into 1 pound bags b/c she could add it to jarred pasta sauce, mix into manwich sauce, season and add to a frozen pizza....it was her go-to on busy kid activity nights.

I actually already do this for my monthly meal prepping! I do 10lbs of taco meat at a time and 5lbs of plain meat. Cook it all up and portion them all out into inexpensive containers from Amazon. Plus once we use the container, I can toss it instead of trying to clean the super greasy things out (I hate washing greasy dishes).

I'm working on my diet to lose a little more weight, so I'm mainly trying to prep healthy stuff for me to eat for dinners. Mainly stuff the kids won't touch. Lol.