Debt Dumpers 2024

[Matty B13]

yeah, i'm not into a savings system where to participate i have to buy or subscribe to a certain consumer product. some people are comfortable with this concept as well as on-line banks but i like a local brick and mortar i can walk into.

Completely understand, unfortunately our local bank only offers CD's or savings accounts with rates under 1%. We keep an emergency fund with them, but spread out our "Saving" money to Apple Savings and an investment account.

 

[barkley]

Completely understand, unfortunately our local bank only offers CD's or savings accounts with rates under 1%. We keep an emergency fund with them, but spread out our "Saving" money to Apple Savings and an investment account.

same-our emergency fund gets terrible interest b/c i want it easily accessible and liquid. i snagged these cd's as 'just in case'. most of the decent cd rates around us recently have wanted $5K-$10K to open and it's hit or miss if they are offering (these days) much in interest. if i have some funds i want to do a cd with i'll see if anyone has a decent rate at the amount i want to plunk down but if not i can use these to at least get over 4%.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Tax return was finally approved and set to deposit on the 6th, which means we'll be able to take our trip to see my grandma and go to my cousins baby shower! I'm planning our route and stops and trying to find some fun things to do as we go. I'm thinking we stop at St Louis and do the zoo there and also Indianapolis and do the zoo there before we get to Pittsburgh. It breaks the car ride up into nothing longer than 5.5 hours each leg which will help a lot with the kids.

We'll be in Pittsburgh from the 19-24. We have the baby shower on Saturday the 23rd. So that leaves us 4 days to play around. Thinking the zoo, science museum, maybe something else. Luckily we have zoo and science memberships here so we get pretty decent discounts on admission. I'm also going to see which restaurants up there do "kids eat free" deals at restaurants. Our hotel has free breakfast.

 

[princesscinderella]

Tax return was finally approved and set to deposit on the 6th, which means we'll be able to take our trip to see my grandma and go to my cousins baby shower! I'm planning our route and stops and trying to find some fun things to do as we go. I'm thinking we stop at St Louis and do the zoo there and also Indianapolis and do the zoo there before we get to Pittsburgh. It breaks the car ride up into nothing longer than 5.5 hours each leg which will help a lot with the kids.

We'll be in Pittsburgh from the 19-24. We have the baby shower on Saturday the 23rd. So that leaves us 4 days to play around. Thinking the zoo, science museum, maybe something else. Luckily we have zoo and science memberships here so we get pretty decent discounts on admission. I'm also going to see which restaurants up there do "kids eat free" deals at restaurants. Our hotel has free breakfast.

No trip to Pittsburgh is complete without eating at Primanti Bros. I’m glad you are getting to see your Grandma

 

[CinderEmma94]

We may be taking a trip across the country for my Grandmother's birthday later this spring so I am trying to save everything I can so we aren't going into more debt for the trip.

We found out that my husband is getting a nice bonus this year (in the next couple of weeks) so we are definitely taking the trip! Bonuses apparently can be common in his field but he spent so long working for startups that the possibility of getting one wasn't on my radar at all and was a very welcome surprise. The company he works for currently does yearly raises and bonuses so we are experiencing that for the first time!

Whatever is left after we fund the trip back to CA will be split between our 10 year anniversary trip to Europe next spring and debt.

We are aware of the taxes are are already planning for it in our calculations

 

[Tygerlilly]

No trip to Pittsburgh is complete without eating at Primanti Bros. I’m glad you are getting to see your Grandma

We are absolutely eating at Primanti Bros!

 

[Tygerlilly]

Got tax return this morning. It was about half of what I was expecting, so I'm waiting for a letter from the IRS to see why. Still a good chunk so I paid all our monthly bills for March, put some money back for DD6's birthday next month, and we still have more than we should need for our PA trip. When we get home, we'll figure out where we want to allocate the leftover. I'm tempted to just get our condo booked for our fall Disney trip so that that's one expense I don't need to worry about.

I was thinking about my grocery budget now that we have the beef in the freezer. I was so focused on that I forgot about the local CSA I joined. Got the second payment for them sent over. So we will have weekly fruits and veggies straight from the farm also. I'm basically going to need to buy only the basic items. I'm hoping to source as much as I can from the farmers market and sales from local stores. I'm making an insane goal of getting my grocery budget down to $150 for the month for our family of 5. We'll see how it goes!

 

[barkley]

I'm making an insane goal of getting my grocery budget down to $150 for the month for our family of 5. We'll see how it goes!

the challenge will be with dairy products on this number. b/c i buy so much meat/non perishables on sale and stock up my actual rotating month to month grocery costs can be pretty low but it's really come to my attention over the past 6 weeks with my oldest (due to some work trainings) living with us 5 nights a week and our increased use of milk and such just how much these products have increased in price. i'm lucky and live in the land of super long dated out dairy (stuff in my fridge-milk included-has a use by of 5/15/24) but absent those kinds of products it's not like you can buy on sale and stock up.

if you can figure a way to keep the dairy price low i think you have a good chance of being near your budget.

 

[Tygerlilly]

the challenge will be with dairy products on this number. b/c i buy so much meat/non perishables on sale and stock up my actual rotating month to month grocery costs can be pretty low but it's really come to my attention over the past 6 weeks with my oldest (due to some work trainings) living with us 5 nights a week and our increased use of milk and such just how much these products have increased in price. i'm lucky and live in the land of super long dated out dairy (stuff in my fridge-milk included-has a use by of 5/15/24) but absent those kinds of products it's not like you can buy on sale and stock up.

if you can figure a way to keep the dairy price low i think you have a good chance of being near your budget.

We have a chain that sells A2 milk (which my oldest can drink with no adverse issues) and they fairly often run deals for 2 gallons for $6. We buy most other dairy products at Sam's and I feel like at the least, the bricks of cheese are a fantastic price compared to even Aldi.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

Where do you shop? Meat at our grocery store never, ever goes on sale. In fact, I don't think they ever put food of any kind on sale outside of maybe chips. But milk, cheese, bread, eggs, meat, anything like that never, ever goes on sale. We shop at Walmart, for what it's worth. Buy the grated cheese, a 12-count of eggs, a lb of HB meat every week, a small thing of milk every week (that gets tossed out after being in the fridge for 3-4 days, etc. We just can't ever find anything on sale. Of course, we don't eat fruit, and I buy the frozen veggies 1-2 bags per week (wife doesn't eat fruits or veggies).

the challenge will be with dairy products on this number. b/c i buy so much meat/non perishables on sale and stock up my actual rotating month to month grocery costs can be pretty low but it's really come to my attention over the past 6 weeks with my oldest (due to some work trainings) living with us 5 nights a week and our increased use of milk and such just how much these products have increased in price. i'm lucky and live in the land of super long dated out dairy (stuff in my fridge-milk included-has a use by of 5/15/24) but absent those kinds of products it's not like you can buy on sale and stock up.

if you can figure a way to keep the dairy price low i think you have a good chance of being near your budget.

 

[afan]

Where do you shop? Meat at our grocery store never, ever goes on sale. In fact, I don't think they ever put food of any kind on sale outside of maybe chips. But milk, cheese, bread, eggs, meat, anything like that never, ever goes on sale. We shop at Walmart, for what it's worth. Buy the grated cheese, a 12-count of eggs, a lb of HB meat every week, a small thing of milk every week (that gets tossed out after being in the fridge for 3-4 days, etc. We just can't ever find anything on sale. Of course, we don't eat fruit, and I buy the frozen veggies 1-2 bags per week (wife doesn't eat fruits or veggies).

Milk doesn't go bad that quick. The store should have milk with a best buy date of at least a week but generally more. I bought a gallon of 2% at our kroger chain this past Sat that's best buy date is the 12th, that's 10 days and it's good or a few days past that. There's also weeks where the 1/2 gallons are on sale and 2 are less than buying 1 gallon, Walmarts not going to do that.

It's really a better option to look at your local grocery ads and see where the sales are or even price match what you buy at Walmart and a grocery store. The grocery stores will also have coupons in their app to help save. I've saved almost $175 so far this year and that's mostly buying for 1 person plus I save a dollar on every gallon of gas on one fill up a month which is over 10 bucks. I only fill up once a month and get most of the fuel points from buying gift cards.

I generally stick with our kroger chain, but we also only have 2 options of major chains here. I shop at Safeway solely when they have something I need on a good sale. Or when we want cake by the slice, they have a better bakery.

There's lots of ways to save money on groceries if you take a bit of time to figure out who has better prices and then like 10 to 20 min to look at the ads and the coupons on the app each week when doing your list.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Walmart does mark down meat, you just have to find out when they do it. Ask the meat manager when they typically do their markdowns, it's most likely in the morning when they're trying to get the stuff that's close to sell by date off the shelf. Granted, that may not work for you with your fear of sell by dates.
Buying blocks of cheese and shredding them yourself is usually cheaper. And I feel like it stretches a little more. I buy sharp cheddar and use less than a mild cheddar because the flavor is stronger so I won't need as much.
If you'll only use milk for 3 days before you throw it away, just buy smaller containers. Then you aren't wasting product or money.

 

[barkley]

We have a chain that sells A2 milk (which my oldest can drink with no adverse issues) and they fairly often run deals for 2 gallons for $6. We buy most other dairy products at Sam's and I feel like at the least, the bricks of cheese are a fantastic price compared to even Aldi.

dang-i pay over $4 for LESS than half gallon (they had big signs over a year ago educating customers that the main brand here were no longer half gallons-they cut the volume by about 5 oz).

Where do you shop? Meat at our grocery store never, ever goes on sale. In fact, I don't think they ever put food of any kind on sale outside of maybe chips. But milk, cheese, bread, eggs, meat, anything like that never, ever goes on sale. We shop at Walmart, for what it's worth. Buy the grated cheese, a 12-count of eggs, a lb of HB meat every week, a small thing of milk every week (that gets tossed out after being in the fridge for 3-4 days, etc. We just can't ever find anything on sale. Of course, we don't eat fruit, and I buy the frozen veggies 1-2 bags per week (wife doesn't eat fruits or veggies).

meat-one of our local stores or safeway usualy has some kind of sale going on with meat each week. i stock up when it's a very good deal so i might only be buying one meat per month but it's b/c i've got others i purchased on good sales prior months.

canned/boxed goods-primarily walmart BUT i will look at local store ads before i go to see if someone has an item i'm looking for as a lost leader. if it's something i use repeatedly (like boxed cous-cous, mac and cheese...) i also check amazon b/c while i might have to buy a pack of 8 or a dozen of something sometimes it's a huge per item discount.

 

[piglet1979]

Where do you shop? Meat at our grocery store never, ever goes on sale. In fact, I don't think they ever put food of any kind on sale outside of maybe chips. But milk, cheese, bread, eggs, meat, anything like that never, ever goes on sale. We shop at Walmart, for what it's worth. Buy the grated cheese, a 12-count of eggs, a lb of HB meat every week, a small thing of milk every week (that gets tossed out after being in the fridge for 3-4 days, etc. We just can't ever find anything on sale. Of course, we don't eat fruit, and I buy the frozen veggies 1-2 bags per week (wife doesn't eat fruits or veggies).

We go to Giant Eagle and Marc's each week. We tend to buy our meat when it goes on Sale at Giant Eagle. Marcs tends to be cheaper with some stuff and Giant Eagle with others. About once a month we go to Aldi's as well.

So my grocery bill, I think, is going to double for the next few weeks. DD has been having some digestive issues and we saw the gasto. Dr this week and on top of doing some test, he put her on an elimination diet. So no gluten, dairy (wants her to only have almond milk), soy, high fructose corn syrup and many other things. After a few weeks we can start to add stuff back in. Most of it isn't to bad. It is the no gluten. That stuff is expensive. My mom has celiacs so she told us to go to Whole Foods. We went last night. They do have a huge selection of GF stuff but I spent almost $50 on about 6 items. We are really hoping that it is not celiacs and is something more simple. We have done all of the lab work so now it is just waiting. She did say that after 24 hours being on the diet, she was feeling better.

 

[AJollyHoliday]

We go to Giant Eagle and Marc's each week. We tend to buy our meat when it goes on Sale at Giant Eagle. Marcs tends to be cheaper with some stuff and Giant Eagle with others. About once a month we go to Aldi's as well.

So my grocery bill, I think, is going to double for the next few weeks. DD has been having some digestive issues and we saw the gasto. Dr this week and on top of doing some test, he put her on an elimination diet. So no gluten, dairy (wants her to only have almond milk), soy, high fructose corn syrup and many other things. After a few weeks we can start to add stuff back in. Most of it isn't to bad. It is the no gluten. That stuff is expensive. My mom has celiacs so she told us to go to Whole Foods. We went last night. They do have a huge selection of GF stuff but I spent almost $50 on about 6 items. We are really hoping that it is not celiacs and is something more simple. We have done all of the lab work so now it is just waiting. She did say that after 24 hours being on the diet, she was feeling better.

Do you have an Aldi near you? I am GF and we use oat and almond milk. Aldi has great prices on GF items and they have a really good selection!

 

[barkley]

We go to Giant Eagle and Marc's each week. We tend to buy our meat when it goes on Sale at Giant Eagle. Marcs tends to be cheaper with some stuff and Giant Eagle with others. About once a month we go to Aldi's as well.

So my grocery bill, I think, is going to double for the next few weeks. DD has been having some digestive issues and we saw the gasto. Dr this week and on top of doing some test, he put her on an elimination diet. So no gluten, dairy (wants her to only have almond milk), soy, high fructose corn syrup and many other things. After a few weeks we can start to add stuff back in. Most of it isn't to bad. It is the no gluten. That stuff is expensive. My mom has celiacs so she told us to go to Whole Foods. We went last night. They do have a huge selection of GF stuff but I spent almost $50 on about 6 items. We are really hoping that it is not celiacs and is something more simple. We have done all of the lab work so now it is just waiting. She did say that after 24 hours being on the diet, she was feeling better.

i'm so sorry for your dd. we went through this with our youngest-elimination diet, lab work, finaly scoping procedure. ultimatly we learned it was a type of migraine and he's been on a very low dose preventative med for several years which has helped tremendously.

best wishes to her/you-hope you get some difinitive and easily treatable results.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

I am up for buying blocks of cheese and grading. But my wife says that's too much extra work to shred every time we need it (we use cheese just about every meal). Plus, pre-shredded seems to stay fresher and last longer. And I do buy the smaller container (1/2 gallon) of 2% milk our store carries.

Walmart does mark down meat, you just have to find out when they do it. Ask the meat manager when they typically do their markdowns, it's most likely in the morning when they're trying to get the stuff that's close to sell by date off the shelf. Granted, that may not work for you with your fear of sell by dates.
Buying blocks of cheese and shredding them yourself is usually cheaper. And I feel like it stretches a little more. I buy sharp cheddar and use less than a mild cheddar because the flavor is stronger so I won't need as much.
If you'll only use milk for 3 days before you throw it away, just buy smaller containers. Then you aren't wasting product or money.

Yea, I know the use by date is usually farther out, but I'm just weird like that. I won't it use it more than a few days after I buy it. Just the way I am. I'd never, ever use it past the use by date that's on it. And we do buy 1/2 gallons. I'm not sure they make smaller versions of 2 percent. Where do you check for coupons./sales? Just the local newspaper? I know they used to put out ads each week, not sure if they still do.

We have a Walmart that is like 2 minutes from the house. There's an Aldi just down the road. Went in their once, and I felt like I was buying groceries at the dollar store. There's also a Kroger about 10-12 minutes away. I might give that a try, even though that's kind of far to be traveling with cold items.

Milk doesn't go bad that quick. The store should have milk with a best buy date of at least a week but generally more. I bought a gallon of 2% at our kroger chain this past Sat that's best buy date is the 12th, that's 10 days and it's good or a few days past that. There's also weeks where the 1/2 gallons are on sale and 2 are less than buying 1 gallon, Walmarts not going to do that.

It's really a better option to look at your local grocery ads and see where the sales are or even price match what you buy at Walmart and a grocery store. The grocery stores will also have coupons in their app to help save. I've saved almost $175 so far this year and that's mostly buying for 1 person plus I save a dollar on every gallon of gas on one fill up a month which is over 10 bucks. I only fill up once a month and get most of the fuel points from buying gift cards.

I generally stick with our kroger chain, but we also only have 2 options of major chains here. I shop at Safeway solely when they have something I need on a good sale. Or when we want cake by the slice, they have a better bakery.

There's lots of ways to save money on groceries if you take a bit of time to figure out who has better prices and then like 10 to 20 min to look at the ads and the coupons on the app each week when doing your list.

 

[afan]

Where do you check for coupons./sales? Just the local newspaper? I know they used to put out ads each week, not sure if they still do.

The store app or website. It's very easy now.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

Thank you. I will check out the website. Not much on apps. I try not to be on my phone other than to make/receive calls.

The store app or website. It's very easy now.

 

[piglet1979]

Do you have an Aldi near you? I am GF and we use oat and almond milk. Aldi has great prices on GF items and they have a really good selection!

Thank you. We will check them out. We have one close and usually go once a month.

i'm so sorry for your dd. we went through this with our youngest-elimination diet, lab work, finaly scoping procedure. ultimatly we learned it was a type of migraine and he's been on a very low dose preventative med for several years which has helped tremendously.

best wishes to her/you-hope you get some difinitive and easily treatable results.

This is very interesting. She has been having migraines now for awhile too. We couldn't get into the neurologist until May. This will be something I will bring up when we go.

We did get back some of the tests and she doesn't have celiacs, a thyroid issue or something else (the test is testing something about a tumor). So all good so far. Still waiting on a few tests.