Debt Dumpers 2023

[disney-inspired]

End of March Updates:

2023 Financial Goals

• Don't have any credit card float - Currently I have balances on 3 credit cards but will be paying them off once all pending charges have cleared from my sinking funds. - Currently have a balance on two cards, thinking of paying them off before I start paying toward my DVC loan so I don't have to worry about them later on.
• Cash flow all vacations - Not going so well, put part of my June trip on my credit card. It is zero interest until October so goal is to pay it off before interest is accrued.
• Max out Roth Contributions - Putting these on pause I save for/pay off my DVC loan at gazelle intensity. Scheduled pay off date is 11/30/23.

Temporary Goal (?)

• I should be hearing if my offer passed ROFR and would be closing on my DVC contract in a couple of weeks after that. I've stripped my budget to really focus on paying down the DVC loan as quickly as possible. So the goal is to maintain that strict budget for these next few months.

Personal Goals

• Increase physical activity - It has been so rainy and cold, today was our first day of real sun. I'm seeing 70s and 80s (FINALLY) so I'm going to start up my lunch walks next week.
• Change eating habits - Eating is still crummy, the bad weather really impacted how I felt and led to poor eating decisions. This month's goal is to increase fruits & vegetables each day.

 

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

Well things have been up and down.

I'm VERY glad I didn't put everything down on my house that I had for a down payment. It looks like my savings will be taking a big hit this year. Long story short, I negotiated for a furnace replacement when I bought my home. The seller (flippers) grabbed an old furnace from 1998 from one of their other properties and put it in. It "looked" new on the outside (no dents, rust, etc) so it didn't raise an eyebrow during final walkthrough. Well, February I came home to as gas leak. It has a cracked heat exchanger amongst several other dangerous flaws and was red tagged by the gas company. I ended up needing a new furnace, and did a package deal for an AC and hot water tank at the same time, plus some electrical work. $25k later.....


I'm considering attempting a lawsuit against the seller since this furnace was absolutely unsafe and could have killed us (also installed incorrectly). But... I don't know. I don't want to spend any more than I've already done. Some of these were planned upgrades (like the AC and electrical) but being as I was under the impression that the furnace had JUST been replaced I definitely wasn't planning on that. I was under the impression it was possibly refurbished, but definitely not busted and dangerous.

These type situations make me cringe. I was a Realtor for a few years (left it due to awful work/life balance) and I saw many real estate deals with similar situations. I am not privy to the real estate laws and regulations in your state, of course, which can vary. With that said, in my state of Wisconsin, the real estate agent has the ability to write-in details of acceptable remedy when negotiating counter-offers and addendums. This is extremely important as this is a legally binding document once accepted by both parties. It is vital to be quite specific for the minimum acceptable replacement of high dollar items as well as the qualifications of the person completing the work. I often had other agents ask me to write their addendums after a home inspection to make sure their client was properly protected. Make sure you double check the wording of your real estate contract before spending more time and money on a lawsuit. I hope your contract will allow you to recoup the funds paid to replace the inferior furnace.

BTW--I don't trust most flippers. (I say most not all. There are exceptions.) They are out to make a quick profit by making a house look pretty. Period. It's not like the TV shows on HGTV...lol

Best of luck

 

[Tygerlilly]

*tumbles back in*

Well hello. Just back from Vegas and spending one last night with family before we start the trek home in the morning. We're making it into a 2 day trip and stopping in Kansas City for the night and then going to the zoo before heading home. It's only 3.5 hours from KC to home so it won't be too bad to drive home after a day of zoo fun.

Vegas was AMAZING. We went for an event our favorite slot channel put on. They went so far above and beyond anything we imagined. Our room was comped, we got $100 in free play each, and $100 in food/drink credits. The highlight was after a 2 hour delay and awful flight, we were in the casino for a whopping 1.5 hours before my husband hit a jackpot of $11k. They took a good chunk out for taxes. We came home with almost $7,000, which was great since we did some crazy bets we wouldn't normally do.

I've already paid ahead on all bills for the month, put May rent back, spoiled my now 6 year old for her birthday, and booked our rental home for our November Disney trip with the family.

I also got to meet my brand new grandson. Hubby is 14 years older than I am and his son from his 1st marriage just had his first little boy.

It was a great vacation! Now back to the grind and hoping to get disney done and paid for by end of summer. I just have to be responsible and actually go to work.

 

[disney-inspired]

So I have signed for two DVC contracts - one has passed ROFR and the other was submitted today. I've recalculated my savings plans to pay off my credit card first, while paying the minimum due for one contract and then snowball for the one with the higher interest. I'm going back to my DR roots with the debt snowball.

I know a lot of people don't agree with financing luxuries like DVC but the resale market is pretty freaking amazing right now so I'm going to take advantage of the discounts and I don't have bundles of money lying around to pay cash. Especially now that APs are coming back in a couple of weeks, I can see resale prices start to rally. I won't be buying an AP b/c it doesn't make sense right now, not looking to travel to WDW until next year. If it's available then, I may reconsider at that time.

I'm still filling my sinking funds and have started a new one for the DVC annual dues next year. I plan to charge them to a credit card (looking at Chase Sapphire) for the rewards then pay the CC in full with my sinking fund.

Seeing how quickly I can pay these loans off (current calculated pay off date is Sept 2024) is exciting and also is giving me more of a incentive to attack my student loans afterward.

 

[jen7233]

*tumbles back in*

Well hello. Just back from Vegas and spending one last night with family before we start the trek home in the morning. We're making it into a 2 day trip and stopping in Kansas City for the night and then going to the zoo before heading home. It's only 3.5 hours from KC to home so it won't be too bad to drive home after a day of zoo fun.

Vegas was AMAZING. We went for an event our favorite slot channel put on. They went so far above and beyond anything we imagined. Our room was comped, we got $100 in free play each, and $100 in food/drink credits. The highlight was after a 2 hour delay and awful flight, we were in the casino for a whopping 1.5 hours before my husband hit a jackpot of $11k. They took a good chunk out for taxes. We came home with almost $7,000, which was great since we did some crazy bets we wouldn't normally do.

I've already paid ahead on all bills for the month, put May rent back, spoiled my now 6 year old for her birthday, and booked our rental home for our November Disney trip with the family.

I also got to meet my brand new grandson. Hubby is 14 years older than I am and his son from his 1st marriage just had his first little boy.

It was a great vacation! Now back to the grind and hoping to get disney done and paid for by end of summer. I just have to be responsible and actually go to work.

It sounds like a very nice trip. I've been to the KC zoo, and enjoyed it. Vegas is not my thing at all anymore. Although I'ved been there a handful of times when I lived out that way. It was where I got married at 18 to my previous, but not by Elvis, yet was another cheesy place near the strip

 

[afan]

I don't consider it bad debt since the interest rate is so low, just really long debt that I've finally been able to pay more than the min on the past few years.

With today's payment I'm down to one student loan and it will go under or almost under 10k Excited to have just the one get the full payment. Still a ways to go but I'm ok with that for now and don't want to put even more money to it vs saving etc. I did the math last year and stopping my saving to pay it off didn't save me enough months for it to make sense. It all just makes me cringe at all the years I've spent at underpaid jobs, either because they can (pro sports front office) or because they were cheap and sucked (why I left).

 

[goofytinkerbell]

It's been a week. My Dad went in for surgery with less than 2 days notice, and it's been a lot. I think the recovery is going okay, but it's really just started and he's already wound up back to the hospital once.

Financially:
1. Keep the credit cards empty - DONE! Still using them and paying them off before they start earning interest. I'll have to use them quite a bit this weekend though, so hoping not to get too derailed.
2. Figure out a way to put some sort of extra on the mortgage, even if it's the $100 minimum - DONE!
3. Get some things I NEED to have (rims/tires for the car, items that need replacing at home, etc)
-I can't buy anything until I pay my property tax. My appeal for that still hasn't been addressed. And yet, I did. A couple of very small items (less than $100 total) that I really couldn't wait any longer to get. They're blocking me getting other things done.
4. Get a savings plan going for the big stuff that comes due in one lump sum payment (insurance, property tax)
-I have a tiny auto-deposit going to an account that I'll clear out to pay my property taxes closer to the due date.
I filed my income tax. Once I get my refund, I can redirect that money to my property taxes.

General stuff:
1. Make a will - DONE!
2. Continue to clear out the crap. I need to go through my clothes and that sort of thing. I got a pile done in 2022, but it really wasn't enough.
-13 items gone this week. Not bad, all things considered.
3. Look for a new job. The reason nothing has been getting done is because I'm burned out from my existing job and I'm being severely underpaid for the work I do.
-I rage applied for a couple jobs this week. Not the best way to go about things, but sometimes you need an outlet.
4. Get my passport.-DONE!
5. Knock some half-finished projects off the list. Everything from making a scarf to some jewelry. Lots of stuff has been started, but not finished. Enough already!
-Worked on 1 project, nothing completed
6. Get into better shape. I'd like to say 'lose weight', but I'd be happy to be able to run up my own steps without getting winded. The weight loss may or may not come, but it's not as important.
-Did 3 workouts
7. Spend more time with loved ones. I don't see friends/family much. I guess I really need to do #3 in order to facilitate this one.
-Met up with friends once this week
-Met up with family once this week
8. Organize my stuff!
-Sorted through some old paperwork

 

[Tygerlilly]

Finally made it home from our 2 week road trip/vegas/family visit extravaganza. I'm so glad to be home sleeping in our own beds tonight. Our next big expense coming up is Disney in November. The house is (mostly) paid for already, just waiting on the homeschool group to say registration is open for the tickets. She's hoping by June, which I like because it gives me a couple months to "save" for it and it won't feel like such a big blow when it comes time to pay for it. It'll be $6,250 for the 10 of us who need to pay for our 6 day hoppers, plus 6 "fun visits" to use at mini-golf and water parks. She said the tickets don't sell out ever, but I'd rather get them earlier so I can reserve our days.

Ready to buckle down and get the budget back under control, eat at home, and get things back in line.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Well, in 2 days things have gone weirdly sideways, but in a positive way? I think. The day we left Indiana, a house in our preferred location in the size of house we need AND in our price range. It's a fixer upper, which we're fine with. Our brother and sister in law are going to look at it today. I was speaking to my mom about it and was talking out our options and she actually mentioned giving us the full cash price and we make monthly payments back to her, skipping the banks/mortgage completely and their crazy high interest rates. I'm hoping the house is structurally okay and that the electrical is good. Everything else we can tackle as we go.

We had been discussing at length me being able to stay home with the kids, continuing homeschooling, and being able to live more fully off our land and getting back to simple living. This would make all of that happen.

 

[barkley]

Well, in 2 days things have gone weirdly sideways, but in a positive way? I think. The day we left Indiana, a house in our preferred location in the size of house we need AND in our price range. It's a fixer upper, which we're fine with. Our brother and sister in law are going to look at it today. I was speaking to my mom about it and was talking out our options and she actually mentioned giving us the full cash price and we make monthly payments back to her, skipping the banks/mortgage completely and their crazy high interest rates. I'm hoping the house is structurally okay and that the electrical is good. Everything else we can tackle as we go.

We had been discussing at length me being able to stay home with the kids, continuing homeschooling, and being able to live more fully off our land and getting back to simple living. This would make all of that happen.

sounds like a possibility for sure!

suggestion-get a tax person and an elder law attorney involved in deciding how to handle the transactions/write everything up b/c you don't want-

mom hit with gift tax

mom if in need down the line for certain medical assistance programs to be found ineligible b/c of some kind of tie-in ownership to the home (or it looking like she was trying to shelter/hide funds for the 5 year look back period)

you in a situation when your mom passes of having to scramble to repay her estate for any outstanding balance on the monies. we all like to think we will get along great with our sibs but it can go sideways real fast when parents leave the picture/money enters so if you have sibs or anyone else who would be a beneficiary of your mom you want advice from an attorney specializing in elder law and estate planning to prevent what can be an awful situation (a forced sale of a house-i've seen it happen when a parent has loaned to one of their adult children for a purchase).

 

[Tygerlilly]

sounds like a possibility for sure!

suggestion-get a tax person and an elder law attorney involved in deciding how to handle the transactions/write everything up b/c you don't want-

mom hit with gift tax

mom if in need down the line for certain medical assistance programs to be found ineligible b/c of some kind of tie-in ownership to the home (or it looking like she was trying to shelter/hide funds for the 5 year look back period)

you in a situation when your mom passes of having to scramble to repay her estate for any outstanding balance on the monies. we all like to think we will get along great with our sibs but it can go sideways real fast when parents leave the picture/money enters so if you have sibs or anyone else who would be a beneficiary of your mom you want advice from an attorney specializing in elder law and estate planning to prevent what can be an awful situation (a forced sale of a house-i've seen it happen when a parent has loaned to one of their adult children for a purchase).

Lucky for me I suppose, I'm an only child and where everything goes to. We're already deep in the process of getting all the elder law/POA things handled so when she does pass, it should be a smooth transition (unlike the nightmare I'm dealing with since my dad's death in November).

 

[crazycatstacy]

well I suppose it was too much to ask that things just go smoothly lol. My husband was going out of town for work last week and realized his pickup wouldn't start. not a big issue since he was gone all week and then I had extra days off for the Easter holiday. got it into the shop Monday and it was $3,000 to fix. Ugh. Still cheaper than a new car but sucks

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Hey Peeps!
Just stopping by, so excited our hospital surprised us with a pay adjustment of almost $5k/yr. Well, we get paid hourly so it's a $2.35/hr raise. They do this every few years to compare us to what other similar sized hospitals pay their staff. Usually for us long-timers, we're told we don't qualify for the adjustment but this time it was for all techs. Yay!

Since we're not in urgent need of a truck right now, we decided to take $10k from dh's truck fund, and put it toward our $20k goal for New Bathroom Fund. That means we'll reach that goal by the end of April and then I'll start paying back the Truck Fund. We started shopping last Saturday for shower doors, tiles, etc and unlike the bedroom project, we are disagreeing on so many things. ugh! We'll find a way eventually to work things out.

Once the bathroom is done, I'd like to do one more home project, and that's to get a sprinkler system and a new lawn. Last time, about 25 years ago, dh rented a tiller and turned over all the yard and re-seeded. Looking back at old photos, it was perfect. Since then, he is no green thumb at all. It's mostly dead, brown weeds and crab grass. I'd rather just pay a company to come, tear up the old stuff, install the sprinkler, and put down sod, and maintain it. Our neighbor's landscaper/nursery does such a nice job, and they are close to home. I think I'd start with an estimate from them.

After that, the plan is to just pack away extra toward retirement. I already have $ saved for our Panama Canal cruise in Oct if I can still manage to not use up too much vacation time. I am finally feeling 'caught up' with all the things I wanted to do in our house. We can easily get another 10 years out of our kitchen, except the floor probably, but dh can do that.

Dh has been working OT on Saturdays lately so that helps too. Luckily, things have been pretty smooth here lately.

I've been trying to stop eating junk food, candy, etc and have lost 6 lbs so far. I'm really not a weak person but it is hard.

 

[barkley]

Hey Peeps!
Just stopping by, so excited our hospital surprised us with a pay adjustment of almost $5k/yr. Well, we get paid hourly so it's a $2.35/hr raise. They do this every few years to compare us to what other similar sized hospitals pay their staff. Usually for us long-timers, we're told we don't qualify for the adjustment but this time it was for all techs. Yay!

Since we're not in urgent need of a truck right now, we decided to take $10k from dh's truck fund, and put it toward our $20k goal for New Bathroom Fund. That means we'll reach that goal by the end of April and then I'll start paying back the Truck Fund. We started shopping last Saturday for shower doors, tiles, etc and unlike the bedroom project, we are disagreeing on so many things. ugh! We'll find a way eventually to work things out.

Once the bathroom is done, I'd like to do one more home project, and that's to get a sprinkler system and a new lawn. Last time, about 25 years ago, dh rented a tiller and turned over all the yard and re-seeded. Looking back at old photos, it was perfect. Since then, he is no green thumb at all. It's mostly dead, brown weeds and crab grass. I'd rather just pay a company to come, tear up the old stuff, install the sprinkler, and put down sod, and maintain it. Our neighbor's landscaper/nursery does such a nice job, and they are close to home. I think I'd start with an estimate from them.

After that, the plan is to just pack away extra toward retirement. I already have $ saved for our Panama Canal cruise in Oct if I can still manage to not use up too much vacation time. I am finally feeling 'caught up' with all the things I wanted to do in our house. We can easily get another 10 years out of our kitchen, except the floor probably, but dh can do that.

Dh has been working OT on Saturdays lately so that helps too. Luckily, things have been pretty smooth here lately.

I've been trying to stop eating junk food, candy, etc and have lost 6 lbs so far. I'm really not a weak person but it is hard.

crazy but that's the same two projects we did last year! we redid our master bathroom (primarily the shower) as well as our front lawn (including mow strip and sprinkler system). i HATED shopping for tile but it was interesting going into a design store and checking out all the options for showers (we are pleased with the signature brand fixtures we got-dh loves the multiple sprayers). i will say that the cabinets and drawers under my bathroom sinks got the best ever clean outs-i tossed out so much when i had to clear them for the new counter tops.

 

[goofytinkerbell]

Every week has been a new "adventure" lately. This week I discovered mold (well, MORE mold) had taken over about 1/4 of one wall. This is going to end with me getting a professional in, but there's some things that need to be taken care of first.

Financially:
1. Keep the credit cards empty - DONE! Still using them and paying them off before they start earning interest. I'll have to use them quite a bit this weekend though, so hoping not to get too derailed.
2. Figure out a way to put some sort of extra on the mortgage, even if it's the $100 minimum - DONE!
3. Get some things I NEED to have (rims/tires for the car, items that need replacing at home, etc)
-I shouldn't have been spending money, but I replaced a couple of small broken items (less that $50 total). A couple of people had given me gift cards for helping them with their taxes, so it didn't actually cost me anything in cash.
4. Get a savings plan going for the big stuff that comes due in one lump sum payment (insurance, property tax)
-The tiny auto-payments are still going, but I had to clear out some of that money to put on the property taxes.
-My income tax refund came back, and I also put the full amount of that on my property taxes. I'm hoping to scrape together enough money out of my next pay to clear that bill.

General stuff:
1. Make a will - DONE!
2. Continue to clear out the crap. I need to go through my clothes and that sort of thing. I got a pile done in 2022, but it really wasn't enough.
-96 items gone this week. The mold was a contributing factor to that, but I guess I'll accept that something positive came out of it.
3. Look for a new job. The reason nothing has been getting done is because I'm burned out from my existing job and I'm being severely underpaid for the work I do.
-Spoke with a recruiter. It's frustrating when everything they have to offer in my field is contract. I can't just not have job security.
-Applied for a few of jobs, including a couple of part time ones that I might be able to do along with my existing job. I'm concerned about having to pay for mold remediation, so I need a way to make more income.
4. Get my passport.-DONE!
5. Knock some half-finished projects off the list. Everything from making a scarf to some jewelry. Lots of stuff has been started, but not finished. Enough already!
-Worked on 1 project, nothing completed (I swear, this one is getting close to complete!)
6. Get into better shape. I'd like to say 'lose weight', but I'd be happy to be able to run up my own steps without getting winded. The weight loss may or may not come, but it's not as important.
-Did 3 workouts
7. Spend more time with loved ones. I don't see friends/family much. I guess I really need to do #3 in order to facilitate this one.
-Went to visit family for a couple days (holiday weekend)
-Met up with friends twice
8. Organize my stuff!
-Sorted through some backup discs
-Went through a pile of stuff that was exposed to mold. I expect more of that to be exiting the house soon, but I can't just let it sit outside the contaminated room.
-Took everything off of the main shelf of my closet by my front door and cleaned/reorganized. Still lots to do in that spot, but I got distracted by other things.

 

[Nettlelondon]

5. Knock some half-finished projects off the list. Everything from making a scarf to some jewelry. Lots of stuff has been started, but not finished. Enough already!
-Worked on 1 project, nothing completed (I swear, this one is getting close to complete!)

You may have already done this, but once you finish off this project, is it worth ranking them almost in a "snow balling" order - the projects with the least amount of work needed, get those done and dusted so at least you can see some progress. A bit like getting rid of that little debt balance even though it has the lowest interest rate, just so there is some evidence of things improving.

That said, I am someone who did a cross stitch picture for someone's 21st birthday present and ended up giving it to them as a wedding present several years later because it needed some beads adding and then framing. When I got to it, finishing off only took a couple of evenings in front of the TV!

 

[pblack]

We are back from our cruise and while overall it was fun and we enjoyed it, I will never again cruise during spring break lol. The date wasn't my choice to begin with so I didn't have much choice in when we went. There were just soooooo many kids and first time cruisers. The amount of people we ran into that were either: rude, inconsiderate, lacking spatial awareness, etc was just astronomical. I wouldn't mind sailing on this ship again in the future, it will just definitely be during a different time of year. Since we were sailing with family, most of whom don't drink, we didn't spend as much money as we would have if we had went with friends. We had $200 OBC from the travel company we booked through (i'm actually still waiting on this since there was an error when they loaded it to our account and they're now supposed to send us a check) and $200 in gift cards from my in-laws. We only ended up spending another $200 out of pocket on the ship itself after both of those. And since I won just over $200 in the casino (big win for me, especially on a ship) it was pretty much a wash.

After our cruise we met up with my bff in downtown Disney for a few hours which was nice. It wasn't enough time, but any time is better than no time. We didn't even end up spending much in downtown Disney, mainly just lunch and treats to take home. I really wanted the Joey Chou designed jacket that just dropped, but they didn't have it in my size and it honestly felt a little cheap for the price they were asking. But then once we got home ShopDisney dropped more of the Joey Chou collection online and I may have bought the Loungefly and Dooney and Bourke wallet. Luckily my husband was fine with the $300 price tag since we didn't spend nearly as much on vacation as we normally do.

We're supposed to be picking up our new dining set tomorrow and taking our old one over to my sister-in-law. Once we get this picked up and put together I think our dining room renovation is pretty much complete. Can't wait to have it all finished and functional.

I think that's all of an update I have for now. No new progress towards any of my goals at the moment. I really need to get back into working out now that vacation is over. I feel like we have lots of little things planned in the next few months so I need to get things in order for that. Happy middle of April everyone!

 

[Eureka]

well I suppose it was too much to ask that things just go smoothly lol. My husband was going out of town for work last week and realized his pickup wouldn't start. not a big issue since he was gone all week and then I had extra days off for the Easter holiday. got it into the shop Monday and it was $3,000 to fix. Ugh. Still cheaper than a new car but sucks

I feel you. We’ve had some almost 90 degree days recently and brought DH’s car in bc the AC wasn’t working. Compressor needed replacing with some other related parts to the tune of $3k. We’ll be done paying off that car in a couple months so would like to keep it as long as possible, but ouch.

 

[jen7233]

We finally filed our taxes, we owed a massive 13k in taxes for last year. A big hit selling a mutual fund we've been saving for years for a down payment on the house, live in a HCOL as it is so housing is ridiculous, we just squeeked over 150k combined and that hit us. Helping an adult that can't afford their life, and I'm saving zero extra, so it's feeling ridiculous at this point in time. I think that coupled with I'm working full time plus overtime every single week and health-wise this isn't doing me well and taking a toll. Just nothing much more to say, just venting on getting a big hit from all sides.

 

[DLgal]

We finally filed our taxes, we owed a massive 13k in taxes for last year. A big hit selling a mutual fund we've been saving for years for a down payment on the house, live in a HCOL as it is so housing is ridiculous, we just squeeked over 150k combined and that hit us. Helping an adult that can't afford their life, and I'm saving zero extra, so it's feeling ridiculous at this point in time. I think that coupled with I'm working full time plus overtime every single week and health-wise this isn't doing me well and taking a toll. Just nothing much more to say, just venting on getting a big hit from all sides.

That is frustrating. I'm sorry. We are in a HCOL area and just now starting to save up for a down payment which will be about $250,000. I'm debating where to do that, and for now think I'll stick with our Ally Savings, although we will also have to pay taxes on that interest.