Debt Dumpers - 2014

[aliceindisneyland]

What are your tips and tricks to this?

Move to AZ! I sorely miss CA but we literally cut our cost of living in half!
To be fair, we moved from a 3300 sq ft house with a pool to a 1400 sq ft house (in a gated country club with several pools including a water park!) So we downsized the square footage (and the hours spent cleaning!) but upgraded the amenities.

Food is cheaper, gas is cheaper, electricity is cheaper [paid $640 in July in CA last year and this July in AZ it's $263!] Water is slightly more expensive here and car insurance is double, but once I add up all of our expenses we are paying nearly exactly half here what we paid in CA.

Besides that we sold stocks (about 6k after taxes/fees) and DH got a couple of bonuses (total around 3k).

I negotiated our small medical bill.

I paid the car off first even though it was the lowest interest rate because that freed up $400/month to pay against ccs.

We budget with 24 checks so the 2 extra checks go for vacations and Christmas. I put all of the first extra check this year into our vacation fund and we bought DL APs and paid for our trip without adding extra debt plus had leftover that will roll into this month's trip.

And I am a crazy penny pincher...except for Disneyland! But I have saved tons on our DL trips as well thanks to the gift card tips I learned on this board! I also sold several hundred dollars worth of stuff on facebook and ebay to put toward our vacation fund.

...and we have a baby emergency fund of $1500 which I put in an account that is a pain to get to - and I will get charged $12/mo if I go under $1500 so magically I found cash to pay for the small emergencies and DD's dental work. I hate fees that much.

Once we're out of debt this month we will start working toward saving 40k in 2 yrs so we can buy a 200k home without PMI. That cash will serve as our big emergency fund and if we need to break into it we will just hold off a bit longer on buying.

ETA: We started using YNAB around March. That made a huge difference because I was forever forecasting and never hitting my imaginary goals. The "budget only what you actually have now" idea behind YNAB was life changing!

 

[pryncess527]

Just realized that we are at a point where the amount we owe on a credit card is about the same amount we have in savings. While the cc interest is a lower one, it's definitely more than the interest we earn on the savings. So I'm torn with whether to use the savings to pay off the card or to just keep plugging along on both and watch the debt go down (kind of slowly) and the savings go up (also kind of slowly). What do the DIS experts think?

I've already decided when we hit that point with our HELOC, I'm doing it. I did it with our final CC last year and had no regrets.

Yes, if we have an emergency before we re-build savings, we'll have to take on debt, but I'm okay with that, in part because we'll be rebuilding savings at such a faster rate without the debt payment I don't think we'll be living without savings for very long. Perhaps this is because I feel lucky and Murphy doesn't visit me often, but I'm willing to take the chance and live 6 months with little or no e-fund in exchange for being debt free 6 months earlier.

I doubt many financial experts would agree, but frankly, I don't care!

 

[Eureka]

Just realized that we are at a point where the amount we owe on a credit card is about the same amount we have in savings. While the cc interest is a lower one, it's definitely more than the interest we earn on the savings. So I'm torn with whether to use the savings to pay off the card or to just keep plugging along on both and watch the debt go down (kind of slowly) and the savings go up (also kind of slowly). What do the DIS experts think?

We were in this position a few months ago after we got our tax refund. We decided to pay off the credit card. A bit from each of DH's checks goes into savings off the top so we are building it up pretty quickly again. Which is going to come in handy because one of our showers is leaking. Ugh.

I had the same doubts because I wanted to have that cushion but then realized it was silly to pay ANY interest on the cc when we could just get rid of it and even use some of what we'd been paying on it to rebuild savings.

 

[AlohaNow]

I just want to give up. Big setback. My son visited two different emergency rooms in one week. Thankfully he is perfectly fine now, but he hit his deductible cap and we now owe $5,000 in medical bills. After having this ‘perfect’ plan of being out of credit card debt by January.

The first trip to the ER was made from Boy Scout camp one state away. From what I’ve researched, BSA insurance would not cover this. He passed out after dinner on the last night there, so it was not directly related to any scouting activity. (Very American, right? Trying to find a way to make someone else pay.) The second time was here at home once he got back and I drove him to the ER myself. (Can someone please tell me how a five minute ambulance ride to a hospital costs $843? I fully respect all the medical professionals involved, but seriously?)

You are all my trusted cyber-friends and I’m sure many of you have had experience with medical debt. The EOBs and bills are now rolling in and I’ve heard of people negotiating for paying in full up front (which means on a credit card for us). So I guess you just call up and ask for a discount for paying now, rather than asking for a monthly payment plan? Is it that simple? I definitely plan on aging the big bills for as long as I safely can. Why should I start paying interest on this before I have to?

We say to just keep swimming, but right now I feel like sinking. Thanks for any input my knowledgeable Dis-friends.

 

[got2lovedisney]

I'd say one place for you to start is by going through your last 6 months or so of credit card bills since you charge almost everything. You should be able to go through them and get an average of how much you spend of groceries, gas and other miscellaneous things.

Good idea! I'll try that.

What kind of car do you have? Unless you have a specialty car, I would not pay the dealership $800 for a 30k maintenance check.

I have a 2012 Subaru Impreza. It's the first brand spanking new car I've ever had so I didn't even think of going elsewhere for the work. I do have the list of what the 30K maintenance entails. I'll ask my old mechanic to see if they can do it.

www.youneedabudget.com

They have a 34-day free trial, I highly recommend you check it out. The forums, http://forum.youneedabudget.com -- are also very friendly and helpful. There is a steep learning curve, or at least there was for me, but there are plenty of resources -- free classes, videos, forum posters -- to help you make sense of it.

I'll check it out!

 

[got2lovedisney]

Now I remember why I hadn't tried YNAB. It says you must have the desktop version in order to use the Android version and I don't use my laptop anymore. I'll probably signup for one of the free classes though and see what tips I can pick up.

 

[rusafee1183]

Hey all! I hope everyone is doing well in their financial freedom adventures.

We fell off the wagon a little bit lately. We still haven't been using credit cards, but we have been robbing from our categories a bit too much. We don't have money in restaurants/entertainment, so we pay for a restaurant out of our grocery money. I want a new shirt for vacation, so I steal some from the money we have budgeted for a utility later in the month that I will replenish next pay. It's just bad habits creeping in again.

We leave for WDW in a little less than 3 weeks, so I know that's why I am being like this. I want to have enough for vacation, so I am being a little too lax.

Here's hoping to a better week, next week!

 

[Monykalyn]

I just want to give up. Big setback. My son visited two different emergency rooms in one week. Thankfully he is perfectly fine now, but he hit his deductible cap and we now owe $5,000 in medical bills. After having this ‘perfect’ plan of being out of credit card debt by January.

The first trip to the ER was made from Boy Scout camp one state away. From what I’ve researched, BSA insurance would not cover this. He passed out after dinner on the last night there, so it was not directly related to any scouting activity. (Very American, right? Trying to find a way to make someone else pay.) The second time was here at home once he got back and I drove him to the ER myself. (Can someone please tell me how a five minute ambulance ride to a hospital costs $843? I fully respect all the medical professionals involved, but seriously?)

You are all my trusted cyber-friends and I’m sure many of you have had experience with medical debt. The EOBs and bills are now rolling in and I’ve heard of people negotiating for paying in full up front (which means on a credit card for us). So I guess you just call up and ask for a discount for paying now, rather than asking for a monthly payment plan? Is it that simple? I definitely plan on aging the big bills for as long as I safely can. Why should I start paying interest on this before I have to?

We say to just keep swimming, but right now I feel like sinking. Thanks for any input my knowledgeable Dis-friends.

Absolutely call the hospital and negotiate!! If you don't get what you want at first keep going up the ladder. The hospital would much much rather get paid than not paid at all or paid at a later date. If you don't want to take on debt to get the med bills taken care of ask for a shorter repayment period and higher payments, maybe, to get a discount. Then call insurance company and see if you can negotiate there as well-Especially the BSA insurance. Remember the insurance companies are there to make a profit (don't even get me started on the immorality of this when it comes to medical insurance) so the first response from them will always be "no". They count on the fact most people will not take the time to negotiate their way up through the ranks. Cannot tell you the number of times a client has come and said insurance denied their visit until they called and complained/negotiated.

 

[Eureka]

Absolutely call the hospital and negotiate!! If you don't get what you want at first keep going up the ladder. The hospital would much much rather get paid than not paid at all or paid at a later date. If you don't want to take on debt to get the med bills taken care of ask for a shorter repayment period and higher payments, maybe, to get a discount. Then call insurance company and see if you can negotiate there as well-Especially the BSA insurance. Remember the insurance companies are there to make a profit (don't even get me started on the immorality of this when it comes to medical insurance) so the first response from them will always be "no". They count on the fact most people will not take the time to negotiate their way up through the ranks. Cannot tell you the number of times a client has come and said insurance denied their visit until they called and complained/negotiated.

You might want to even talk to some of the actual service providers. I had GI testing last year and during a regular appointment my specialist asked me how it was going. I joked, saying I was feeling better until I got an anesthesiologist bill for $X (I forget the exact amount but it was between $600 and $800 because I had called the office to set up a payment plan). He said, "that's way too much,have you paid it's already?" I said I'd paid about $200 and he said not to pay any more until I heard back from him. Two weeks later, his office manager called me to say that I don't owe any more on that bill. The GI doctor called the anesthesiologist's office and asked him to write it off. Really nice guy anyway, but that upped my respect for him immensely. So, you never know who might help you out.

 

[LilacBarries]

Hey all! I hope everyone is doing well in their financial freedom adventures. We fell off the wagon a little bit lately. We still haven't been using credit cards, but we have been robbing from our categories a bit too much. We don't have money in restaurants/entertainment, so we pay for a restaurant out of our grocery money. I want a new shirt for vacation, so I steal some from the money we have budgeted for a utility later in the month that I will replenish next pay. It's just bad habits creeping in again. We leave for WDW in a little less than 3 weeks, so I know that's why I am being like this. I want to have enough for vacation, so I am being a little too lax. Here's hoping to a better week, next week!

I caught myself in this same boat. We go on vacation next month and I'm letting things slack. We have the trip itself paid for but haven't quite saved enough for the extras like souvenirs, food before and after our cruise etc.

We're still on target to have all cc debt paid off by dec/jan and I just need to keep reminding myself how good it will feel to not have those anymore.

 

[SAMCRO]

Murphy hit me this week. Just bought a house last week and get to put a new heat pump in it this week to the tune of $5k. Luckily we had a little savings left of we would be very warm for a long time.

 

[gracie1]

Murphy hit me this week. Just bought a house last week and get to put a new heat pump in it this week to the tune of $5k. Luckily we had a little savings left of we would be very warm for a long time.

Ouch! Murphy really did hit you!!!

 

[Luvdancink]

I know I haven't posted in a while. There's been a lot of medical issues in our family. I just wanted to say that I got my car title in the mail this week. Finally can say i have no car payment!! Now if I can say no student loan payment, that would be the next milestone! And we've also cancelled our cable! We are an internet only with hulu plus and amazon prime household now. I'm going to save more than 100 a month on that!!

 

[gracie1]

I know I haven't posted in a while. There's been a lot of medical issues in our family. I just wanted to say that I got my car title in the mail this week. Finally can say i have no car payment!! Now if I can say no student loan payment, that would be the next milestone! And we've also cancelled our cable! We are an internet only with hulu plus and amazon prime household now. I'm going to save more than 100 a month on that!!

Way to go on having your car paid off! I love the fact that mine is paid off (even when murphy hits me with major mechanical costs!)
Sorry to hear about the medical issues. Hope everything is ok

 

[LilacBarries]

We paid off a credit card this week! Also paid for our excursion in Nassau and have all the money saved for all the extras for our trip (tips, souvenirs, food pre and post cruise etc) Sooo excited

After a little budget meeting yesterday we are still on track to be completely CC free by the end of the year. If only we didn't have the stupid student loans.....one thine at a time.

 

[gracie1]

We paid off a credit card this week! Also paid for our excursion in Nassau and have all the money saved for all the extras for our trip (tips, souvenirs, food pre and post cruise etc) Sooo excited

After a little budget meeting yesterday we are still on track to be completely CC free by the end of the year. If only we didn't have the stupid student loans.....one thine at a time.

congrats! When is your cruise? I am sitting here pondering about booking our Disney trip for next year for Christmas.
I did book a cruise to nowhere for March 2016 (just 3 nights) for me and my parents on the new ship that will be coming out. My dad has a fear of being out to see for many days since he has never been on a cruise so I thought this would be perfect! And of course it gives plenty of time to pay it off

 

[LilacBarries]

congrats! When is your cruise? I am sitting here pondering about booking our Disney trip for next year for Christmas. I did book a cruise to nowhere for March 2016 (just 3 nights) for me and my parents on the new ship that will be coming out. My dad has a fear of being out to see for many days since he has never been on a cruise so I thought this would be perfect! And of course it gives plenty of time to pay it off

Our cruise is the end of next month- getting super excited. Did you book the cruise to nowhere on DCL? How were you able to book so far out? Didn't think any of the 2016 itineraries were out yet?

 

[gracie1]

Our cruise is the end of next month- getting super excited. Did you book the cruise to nowhere on DCL? How were you able to book so far out? Didn't think any of the 2016 itineraries were out yet?

No, we are booked on Royal Caribbean. Would love to try DCL one day though!!

 

[yupikgal]

What do you think of Discover Personal Loans in regards to consolidating/combining all cc balances and paying with one of those? None of my cc (4 of them) are under 10.5%, that is the lowest interest we have. They say they have a fixed rate, you can pay off early, etc. Anyone ever attempt to do this?

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

What do you think of Discover Personal Loans in regards to consolidating/combining all cc balances and paying with one of those? None of my cc (4 of them) are under 10.5%, that is the lowest interest we have. They say they have a fixed rate, you can pay off early, etc. Anyone ever attempt to do this?

We never used their personal loans but I did a Discover balance transfer at 0% for 12 months for dh. Then later I found it for 18 months for myself.
So now nothing is more than 4%:
Mortgage 3%
Truck 4.9%
Old Chase Sony card 3.99% til paid off