Debt Dumpers - 2015

[ruadisneyfan2]

Don't engage. No IS a complete sentence.

I agree. I wouldn't even answer the phone.

Facts:
1. He keeps promising to change but doesn't.
2. He keeps using you/sponging.
3. He's a drain on your budget.

If you answer the phone when he calls, you need to make a decision. You either want him in your life or not. If so, you need to then accept that you'll be supporting him until the end of time. (or longer) and you would then be agreeing to those terms.

If you don't want accept those terms, then don't answer the phone.
It's not like you didn't give him multiple "second chances".

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

That's kind of what I was thinking. Especially since paying off the cc will defer any interest to May, so I'd have 2 months to (roughly) to get it paid off again. I was just asking to see if anyone could identify some other option I missed.

And and ecv is "electric convenience vehicle". I have bad joints, particularly knees, from my time in the Army. It is physically impossible for me to walk the parks, so I rent one to be able to manage the parks.

By the way, thank you for your service for our country.

 

[DisMom829]

Been a successful 2 months! Have $80 balance left on cc, student loan down to under $2K, and got a healthy refund from DS's orthodontist. His braces were $4900. They estimated my portion when they put them on, I paid it in full and they gave me the paperwork to file on DH & I dental ins. I filed dental ins, paid remaining not covered by ins. That was in August 2013! It was a great surprise to open an envelope today and see a check for a little less than $900!! I think I'm going to hold on to that for DD's Ortho bill. I fear she's going to have to get an arch appliance & space maintainer soon.

 

[gracie1]

Been a successful 2 months! Have $80 balance left on cc, student loan down to under $2K, and got a healthy refund from DS's orthodontist. His braces were $4900. They estimated my portion when they put them on, I paid it in full and they gave me the paperwork to file on DH & I dental ins. I filed dental ins, paid remaining not covered by ins. That was in August 2013! It was a great surprise to open an envelope today and see a check for a little less than $900!! I think I'm going to hold on to that for DD's Ortho bill. I fear she's going to have to get an arch appliance & space maintainer soon.

You are doing great! I love getting unexpected reimbursements - doesn't happen much! I had a lot of dental work done in 2013 and the dentist actually called me in 2014 to say he noticed I paid twice for one of the fillings that he didn't want to charge me for and gave me almost a $300 credit. You don't find that with many! Of course he knew he was going to make it back in the X-rays. Lol.

 

[gracie1]

it may sounds simplistic but today I, following the whole knowledge is power philosophy, tallied up all of the money I sent to credit card companies in the month of February and compared it against the amount my credit card debt went down.

GASP! Is all I have to say.

If facing down those numbers aren't a kick in the butt - I don't know what is.

I know what you mean! I think of all the money spent in interest all those years - man I could've saved a lot!

 

[SirDuff]

Don't engage. No IS a complete sentence.

Very much this!

Actually I said this to a friend yesterday (about something totally different). Picked it up from the DIS.

 

[DisMom829]

You are doing great! I love getting unexpected reimbursements - doesn't happen much! I had a lot of dental work done in 2013 and the dentist actually called me in 2014 to say he noticed I paid twice for one of the fillings that he didn't want to charge me for and gave me almost a $300 credit. You don't find that with many! Of course he knew he was going to make it back in the X-rays. Lol.

She will definitely be making it back on DD, I have no doubt! LOL

I know what you mean! I think of all the money spent in interest all those years - man I could've saved a lot!

This right here. "All the money spent in interest" is what got my booty in gear finally. I figured it all up at the end of the year. It was the kick to the gut that I needed to be more motivated this year and to stay on track. Now If I could just find the dedication I need to get back to couponing. I used to be the person that people dreaded to see in Wal-Mart & CVS. My two binders in tow (1 for food, 1 for everything else), my neatly planned out lists, my local store flyers for price matches with their little post-it notes on the front, even had my DD learning the ropes. My favorite cashier at the local CVS was at the counter the other day when I picked up a script, she said she missed my DD & I. I absolutely love CVS when they send out the 20 or 30% off entire purchase emails. Stacked with coupons, and in-store bucks, that really added up to a great savings some trips.

 

[yupikgal]

I'm so proud of everyone in here! Although there are some events coming up that prevents us from moving faster with our debt smackdown, I will forge ahead with baby steps nonetheless! Trying to figure out if I want to attempt debt consolidation, we keep getting mail from various companies promising to give us a "loan" to pay down our debt, wow how the heck do they know we have it? Some of it is from the companies that we already have debt with (Discover, Sears, etc.) not all of it is debt consolidation, some are 0% or low interest transfer offers. It's so hard to decide what to do? Have any of you done the "lump all your bills into one amount" thing? I'm not sure if we have the option of paying it off early, some are showing a certain amount of years such as 3-6. Help?

 

[disneyguy4life]

Joining in for the first time. My wife and I are expecting our first kid Aug 27, 2015. We are wanting to pay off Credit card debt and previous medical bills before the baby comes. Once I am done with school in July I may consider getting a PT job to finish off the rest. Any suggestions on how to get started, change that mental mind frame from spending to saving, or setting up a budget? We are really looking forward to being debt free by the end of the year... at least with none baby stuff. Let the good times roll!

 

[gracie1]

I'm so proud of everyone in here! Although there are some events coming up that prevents us from moving faster with our debt smackdown, I will forge ahead with baby steps nonetheless! Trying to figure out if I want to attempt debt consolidation, we keep getting mail from various companies promising to give us a "loan" to pay down our debt, wow how the heck do they know we have it? Some of it is from the companies that we already have debt with (Discover, Sears, etc.) not all of it is debt consolidation, some are 0% or low interest transfer offers. It's so hard to decide what to do? Have any of you done the "lump all your bills into one amount" thing? I'm not sure if we have the option of paying it off early, some are showing a certain amount of years such as 3-6. Help?

I have done personal loans through my bank and transferring to 0% interest cards. Check to see if the balance transfers are free with the 0% interest. Sometimes they are but a lot of them will charge about 3% on the total balance you are transferring. If it's a large amount your transferring or from a high interest cc then more than likely you will be saving in the end even with the transfer charge. But - make sure that you are able to have that whole amount paid off before the 0% runs out or you will then start paying interest. Some companies will prorate the interest back to the beginning and some won't but you need to keep that in mind.
With a personal loan which you can do with your bank or maybe even a cc company like discover the interest is sometimes around 12-13% but you will have the same amount of payments each month and will know your payoff date. So that is something to think about.

 

[gracie1]

Joining in for the first time. My wife and I are expecting our first kid Aug 27, 2015. We are wanting to pay off Credit card debt and previous medical bills before the baby comes. Once I am done with school in July I may consider getting a PT job to finish off the rest. Any suggestions on how to get started, change that mental mind frame from spending to saving, or setting up a budget? We are really looking forward to being debt free by the end of the year... at least with none baby stuff. Let the good times roll!

Congrats on the baby!! If you have time - I recommend reading all the threads from debt dumpers 2014. Most people put together a spreadsheet which has their total income and then list all your bills. Some people decide to pay off the smallest bills first and some choose the higher interest ones to pay. In order to pretty much snowball it you would focus just on one bill and pay as much as possible and pay the minimum amount on the rest. Once that is paid off then you take that amount and put towards the next bill. Also not sure if you have a savings account with your emergency fund but it's also recommended to save $1000 so when Murphy hits you have the cash and your not having to use credit.
It all sounds like a lot which is why I recommend going back to the 2014 thread which may help. Some people also buy ynab and things to put their budget in but I never did that. You just got to get in your head that you want to get out of debt with the baby coming!
Please feel free to ask as many questions as you want - no one is here to judge - we've all been in the same boat!!

 

[disneyguy4life]

Congrats on the baby!! If you have time - I recommend reading all the threads from debt dumpers 2014. Most people put together a spreadsheet which has their total income and then list all your bills. Some people decide to pay off the smallest bills first and some choose the higher interest ones to pay. In order to pretty much snowball it you would focus just on one bill and pay as much as possible and pay the minimum amount on the rest. Once that is paid off then you take that amount and put towards the next bill. Also not sure if you have a savings account with your emergency fund but it's also recommended to save $1000 so when Murphy hits you have the cash and your not having to use credit.
It all sounds like a lot which is why I recommend going back to the 2014 thread which may help. Some people also buy ynab and things to put their budget in but I never did that. You just got to get in your head that you want to get out of debt with the baby coming!
Please feel free to ask as many questions as you want - no one is here to judge - we've all been in the same boat!!

Gracie1 thank you for responding and the encouraging words. It is thrilling and terrifying all at the same time with a baby on the way. We have managed to pay off one of my wife's credit cards already and are working to pay of a small debt to my school. It is nice to know I am not alone in my efforts to pay it all off. I'll take a look at the 2014 thread and see what I can find there. Thank you!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Hi all and welcome disneyguy4life

I just paid off dh's Discover card!
I opened it back in the summer with a 0% x 12 months deal. The 0% was set to expire in July but I was very hopeful all along to pay it off before then.
Since the topic of doing a BT was just raised, I did pay a 2% transfer fee but in the long run it was still cheaper than the interest I was paying before. I'm glad it's paid off early but I couldn't have been 100% sure that would happen so I'm still glad I did it.
Now I'm moving on to the next one. A 0% that expires in November.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

 

[dayvewc]

Hi all and welcome disneyguy4life

I just paid off dh's Discover card!
I opened it back in the summer with a 0% x 12 months deal. The 0% was set to expire in July but I was very hopeful all along to pay it off before then.
Since the topic of doing a BT was just raised, I did pay a 2% transfer fee but in the long run it was still cheaper than the interest I was paying before. I'm glad it's paid off early but I couldn't have been 100% sure that would happen so I'm still glad I did it.
Now I'm moving on to the next one. A 0% that expires in November.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

WAY TO GO!!!!!

 

[Dentam]

I just paid off dh's Discover card!
I opened it back in the summer with a 0% x 12 months deal. The 0% was set to expire in July but I was very hopeful all along to pay it off before then.
Since the topic of doing a BT was just raised, I did pay a 2% transfer fee but in the long run it was still cheaper than the interest I was paying before. I'm glad it's paid off early but I couldn't have been 100% sure that would happen so I'm still glad I did it.
Now I'm moving on to the next one. A 0% that expires in November.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

Congratulations!! I have a 0% card set to expire in June that I'm aiming to get paid off and two others that expire in the fall. If my house sells this spring it will really help me to meet these goals! *Just keep swimming - perfect!

 

[gracie1]

Hi all and welcome disneyguy4life

I just paid off dh's Discover card!
I opened it back in the summer with a 0% x 12 months deal. The 0% was set to expire in July but I was very hopeful all along to pay it off before then.
Since the topic of doing a BT was just raised, I did pay a 2% transfer fee but in the long run it was still cheaper than the interest I was paying before. I'm glad it's paid off early but I couldn't have been 100% sure that would happen so I'm still glad I did it.
Now I'm moving on to the next one. A 0% that expires in November.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

That is great!! That is exactly why I had done the balance transfers even with fees because you still saved so much in the end!
Another thing - sometimes if you open a new card to transfer a balance they will do a free transfer.

 

[dreamer03]

Hello. This is the first time ever reading this thread. 2015 is a big year for my family of five. We have decided to start dumping some debt. I am proud to say, I paid off our first of nine cc today. Wish us luck. I am hoping for many more. Positive vibes from good people go a long way!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Hello. This is the first time ever reading this thread. 2015 is a big year for my family of five. We have decided to start dumping some debt. I am proud to say, I paid off our first of nine cc today. Wish us luck. I am hoping for many more. Positive vibes from good people go a long way!

You can do it! If I can, anyone can. The debt I paid off last night was #8!

 

[gracie1]

Hello. This is the first time ever reading this thread. 2015 is a big year for my family of five. We have decided to start dumping some debt. I am proud to say, I paid off our first of nine cc today. Wish us luck. I am hoping for many more. Positive vibes from good people go a long way!

That is great! Welcome to this thread. You can also go back and read the 2014 thread which may give you some help if needed.
It's great to see how everyone is doing and the new joiners to this thread!! As you will see reading back through previous posts - we are all in this together and I believe this is the most supportive group!! Most importantly no one is judge mental! Feel free to ask for advice and we all chip in our two cents!

 

[Dentam]

Hello. This is the first time ever reading this thread. 2015 is a big year for my family of five. We have decided to start dumping some debt. I am proud to say, I paid off our first of nine cc today. Wish us luck. I am hoping for many more. Positive vibes from good people go a long way!

Woohoo! Congrats on paying off your first cc! I'm hoping to give you all that same update soon! Just need my house to sell! The weather is not cooperating at the moment to get it on the market though. Patience, patience - I have a hard time with that, ha!