Debt Dumpers - 2015

[gracie1]

Well, I ordered another Christmas present today - I'm making pretty good progress! And all the beginning paperwork was signed today for the refinance. Wow - I didn't realize how expensive closing costs were!!! I mean I know it takes time and work but my goodness. I know something's on there will come off and it's on there just in case like the structural engineer but it's still crazy and a lot more than what was initially estimated. Guess it's hard to estimate until they got the fees from my attorney as well.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

Got one of those calls you never want, from the high school vice principal. My son was in his office, his iPhone and cash from his wallet stolen out of his gym locker, which apparently are easy to break into. The phone is still not registering on Find My IPhone so it's still turned off (plus it's password protected anyway). We think maybe it'll be dumped or sold. Fortunately we have insurance so I need to call and file a claim, and pay a deductible that is a fraction of the price of a new phone, thank goodness. DS is understandably upset and partly bc he's not sure how much was backed up to the cloud. We have an issue in the house sometimes where his and my phones toggle between wifi and cellular data, and it won't let us back up wirelessly. I told him that is the least of it; he can rebuild his pics and contacts etc with his friends' help. We are still paying installments on the phone, so that will continue. Also need to call tomorrow if it hadn't been located thru the Find app to turn off data just in case it is eventually turned on. Whoever did this got about $40 cash too but luckily he didn't have all his money in his wallet.

That call stopped my heart...at least he wasn't hurt, shot, whatever goes on at school these days from the news reports.

Thank goodness he's okay. As you said, it could have been much worse. I hope the thieves turn the phone in when they realize it is password protected.

 

[bcwife76]

I've always kept a "party box" -when I found sweet deals on toys- I bought them and into the box- when a party came around DDnow11 would go to the box and select a gift- Superstore, Toys R Us, even Costco discount stuff to good deals- I don't think I ever paid more than $5 for $20-40 presents.

That's a really good idea, something I think I should now implement!

 

[bcwife76]

Got one of those calls you never want, from the high school vice principal. My son was in his office, his iPhone and cash from his wallet stolen out of his gym locker, which apparently are easy to break into. The phone is still not registering on Find My IPhone so it's still turned off (plus it's password protected anyway). We think maybe it'll be dumped or sold. Fortunately we have insurance so I need to call and file a claim, and pay a deductible that is a fraction of the price of a new phone, thank goodness. DS is understandably upset and partly bc he's not sure how much was backed up to the cloud. We have an issue in the house sometimes where his and my phones toggle between wifi and cellular data, and it won't let us back up wirelessly. I told him that is the least of it; he can rebuild his pics and contacts etc with his friends' help. We are still paying installments on the phone, so that will continue. Also need to call tomorrow if it hadn't been located thru the Find app to turn off data just in case it is eventually turned on. Whoever did this got about $40 cash too but luckily he didn't have all his money in his wallet.

That call stopped my heart...at least he wasn't hurt, shot, whatever goes on at school these days from the news reports.

Well that's just crappy!!! I'm so sorry, your poor DS - to think that one of his classmates would do that.

 

[momtosam]

I get my commission from direct sales I do on the side tomorrow so I'm immediately buying some Christmas gifts with it so it doesn't get spent on anything else. Those will be my first purchases so far this season.

 

[Ava]

I've always kept a "party box" -when I found sweet deals on toys- I bought them and into the box- when a party came around DDnow11 would go to the box and select a gift- Superstore, Toys R Us, even Costco discount stuff to good deals- I don't think I ever paid more than $5 for $20-40 presents.

That's a great idea! My DDs are only 6 and 2 so we have many years left of giving toys as birthday gifts. I do occasionally put things away to regift but having a larger supply would be good, especially since we're still at the age where most kids invite the whole class to their parties.

So, I had my initial call with my financial planner from LearnVest last week. (I mentioned it a few pages back, my company is offering the service as a free benefit to employees so I decided to take advantage of it.) She was very nice and non-judgemental about our financial situation, which I appreciated and alleviated one of my "fears" about seeking any kind of professional financial advice. However, the budget she came up with that includes a debt repayment plan and plan to build up our emergency fund hinges on us increasing our monthly available funds by $300-$500, either by reducing fixed expenses or bringing in additional income. We can't really reduce our expenses any further - we went through that exercise a long time ago - so now we're looking at ways to bring in some consistent additional income. I say consistent because we do sometimes have additional income - I do focus groups, my wife sells things online, etc - but its not a consistent monthly amount. I would love to be able to accomplish this through a work-at-home job that I can do in the evenings and/or on weekends, but the idea of finding legitimate positions and applying is daunting. Has anyone here had a part-time job working from home & can recommend their company?

 

[Eureka]

That is awful!! It's sad that you can't trust anyone anymore. Did they call the police out there?

The school has a resource officer (someone from the county sherriff's office) who took a report and handles it so we don't need to file a separate police report.

 

[OhMari]

That's a great idea! My DDs are only 6 and 2 so we have many years left of giving toys as birthday gifts. I do occasionally put things away to regift but having a larger supply would be good, especially since we're still at the age where most kids invite the whole class to their parties.

So, I had my initial call with my financial planner from LearnVest last week. (I mentioned it a few pages back, my company is offering the service as a free benefit to employees so I decided to take advantage of it.) She was very nice and non-judgemental about our financial situation, which I appreciated and alleviated one of my "fears" about seeking any kind of professional financial advice. However, the budget she came up with that includes a debt repayment plan and plan to build up our emergency fund hinges on us increasing our monthly available funds by $300-$500, either by reducing fixed expenses or bringing in additional income. We can't really reduce our expenses any further - we went through that exercise a long time ago - so now we're looking at ways to bring in some consistent additional income. I say consistent because we do sometimes have additional income - I do focus groups, my wife sells things online, etc - but its not a consistent monthly amount. I would love to be able to accomplish this through a work-at-home job that I can do in the evenings and/or on weekends, but the idea of finding legitimate positions and applying is daunting. Has anyone here had a part-time job working from home & can recommend their company?

I think to find a legit work at home job, you need to be in some sort of industry and then get a position to work at home. We recently moved and I am seriously thinking about putting a voucher in everyone's mail box and walking dogs. Everyone has a dog and they are in the homes all day and not walked, even at night, owners just let them outside. I get home at 1:30 and I could walk 10 dogs easily in a day.

 

[bcwife76]

Well Murphy paid us a visit today

Yesterday we noticed our dog was peeing a little in the house. She's older (14yrs) so we just thought maybe we weren't taking her out enough. Thought we'd just keep an eye on it for a few days and see what happens.

Well today she kept peeing on the floor every 20 minutes. Poor dog didn't even seem to know it was happening, she'd stand up and pee would just drip out of her! Despite me taking her for a long walk this morning after I took the kids to school and letting her out in the backyard every 30 minutes after that it still continued. My poor floors (we have hard wood, not carpeting at least). By 1pm I thought I couldn't let it go any longer so I called our vet (only 2 blocks away) and got her an appt for 3:30.

Most likely culprit is a UTI - blood test, urine test, antibiotics and our bill today was $309 They should have the results back by Friday (it's a holiday here in BC tomorrow).

Other scenarios include hormonal imbalance, diabetes, kidney stones or just the fact that she is OLD and is losing function. My poor pup

So anyway, I gave her her first antibiotic as soon as we got home and she chomped it down like a trooper. My neighbour gave me some pee pads as well and we'll just have to contain her to our main floor (top floor where all the bedrooms are is carpeted) which she won't be thrilled about at nighttime.

Crossing my fingers that when the results come in it is a UTI and not something more serious. Plus now she really needs a bath as her back end smells just lovely

 

[dayvewc]

Well Murphy paid us a visit today

Yesterday we noticed our dog was peeing a little in the house. She's older (14yrs) so we just thought maybe we weren't taking her out enough. Thought we'd just keep an eye on it for a few days and see what happens.

Well today she kept peeing on the floor every 20 minutes. Poor dog didn't even seem to know it was happening, she'd stand up and pee would just drip out of her! Despite me taking her for a long walk this morning after I took the kids to school and letting her out in the backyard every 30 minutes after that it still continued. My poor floors (we have hard wood, not carpeting at least). By 1pm I thought I couldn't let it go any longer so I called our vet (only 2 blocks away) and got her an appt for 3:30.

Most likely culprit is a UTI - blood test, urine test, antibiotics and our bill today was $309 They should have the results back by Friday (it's a holiday here in BC tomorrow).

Other scenarios include hormonal imbalance, diabetes, kidney stones or just the fact that she is OLD and is losing function. My poor pup

So anyway, I gave her her first antibiotic as soon as we got home and she chomped it down like a trooper. My neighbour gave me some pee pads as well and we'll just have to contain her to our main floor (top floor where all the bedrooms are is carpeted) which she won't be thrilled about at nighttime.

Crossing my fingers that when the results come in it is a UTI and not something more serious. Plus now she really needs a bath as her back end smells just lovely

I'm so sorry to hear this for you. You might want to look into "doggy diapers". You can get some that are reusable/washable and that will make it a bit easier. Hope it isn't anything worse than a UTI.

 

[bcwife76]

That's a good idea, I'm heading to the store in the morning to get more mop cloths, if she's still peeing on the floor tomorrow I'll go to the pet store and see if they have any doggy diapers!

 

[dayvewc]

That's a good idea, I'm heading to the store in the morning to get more mop cloths, if she's still peeing on the floor tomorrow I'll go to the pet store and see if they have any doggy diapers!

Here, they keep them on the same aisle as the pee pads. There are a couple of different kinds and sizes. Hope everything turns out well!!

 

[bcwife76]

Here, they keep them on the same aisle as the pee pads. There are a couple of different kinds and sizes. Hope everything turns out well!!

I'm happy to report she's already doing much better today. She had a couple more pee accidents last night around dinner time. Then last night we did allow her to sleep upstairs (better for her poor legs to sleep on carpet instead of the hardwood floors downstairs and we just know she would refuse her bed half the night) so we put pee pads and towels down. She had a small accident sometime during the night and that's been it. She's not peeing outside nearly as frequently, she's taking her pills like a trooper and she's drinking a 'normal amount of water.

 

[gracie1]

Well Murphy paid us a visit today

Yesterday we noticed our dog was peeing a little in the house. She's older (14yrs) so we just thought maybe we weren't taking her out enough. Thought we'd just keep an eye on it for a few days and see what happens.

Well today she kept peeing on the floor every 20 minutes. Poor dog didn't even seem to know it was happening, she'd stand up and pee would just drip out of her! Despite me taking her for a long walk this morning after I took the kids to school and letting her out in the backyard every 30 minutes after that it still continued. My poor floors (we have hard wood, not carpeting at least). By 1pm I thought I couldn't let it go any longer so I called our vet (only 2 blocks away) and got her an appt for 3:30.

Most likely culprit is a UTI - blood test, urine test, antibiotics and our bill today was $309 They should have the results back by Friday (it's a holiday here in BC tomorrow).

Other scenarios include hormonal imbalance, diabetes, kidney stones or just the fact that she is OLD and is losing function. My poor pup

So anyway, I gave her her first antibiotic as soon as we got home and she chomped it down like a trooper. My neighbour gave me some pee pads as well and we'll just have to contain her to our main floor (top floor where all the bedrooms are is carpeted) which she won't be thrilled about at nighttime.

Crossing my fingers that when the results come in it is a UTI and not something more serious. Plus now she really needs a bath as her back end smells just lovely

My dog has had uti's a few times. It's horrible - would take her out to pee and she would be walking back in the house and just start peeing all over again. Hope she gets better soon!!

 

[stayhomemom77]

Poor little doggie. Hope she continues to improve!

 

[bcwife76]

The vet called this afternoon to say nothing came back in the blood tests and that the urine tests showed low levels of something (which I can't remember because I'm awesome like that ) He thinks she has bladder incontinence but I told him her symptoms have nearly 100% cleared up since she's been on the antibiotics?? So apparently if this happens again we are to take her straight in and he'll have to be put her on meds for bladder incontinence for the rest of her life. Yeah, that doesn't sound very budget-friendly so we'll see what happens.

 

[Gena001]

BCWife76:

Bladder incontinence... not a UTI? I'm not any sort of a doctor, but I had a UTI myself on our recent trip to WDW. This may be TMI for you all (apologies), but when Ihad mine, I phoned Turner Drugs before I even phoned my doctor. They had an OTC medicine delivered to HS before 11 AM and by 2 PM I felt so much relief!!! By 5 PM I was back to my old self. Your dog's symptoms & resurgence seem more like a UTI to me than a bladder incontinence. (Sure would be cheaper, too, I think, in the long run.)

 

[Gena001]

So, it's been a while since I've been on line...a couple weeks? I had to read through nearly 2 pages to catch up. Seems like everyone has had a lot going on.

Our washing machine appears to be on the fritz. My very able bodied hubby thought we have a hole in the line if we fill it up over a "medium" load. So, now no large loads. My DIL's sold their house and gave us their machines so I'm waiting to see when hubby will move the "new" machine to the basement.

DD16 is at WDW right now w/ school. She's on yearbook staff and there is a big publications convention (yearbook, newspaper & broadcast journalism) at the Dolphin today & tomorrow. We had decided we couldn't send her because we just had a trip in September and this trip was $850. As it turned out, 3 different kids couldn't go and lost their non-refundable $100 deposit... so her teacher offered her the trip at $450. We decided we could put $100 a week to the trip. They are staying at the Dolphin & on Thursday they went to US for the day. She hasn't phoned home, but from her Instagram posts, she's having a blast. One said "I love this place and never wanna leave." I'm sure being there w/ her friends helps in that department!

I'd really like to get her a DSLR camera for Xmas... I'm watching the sales locally as well as Craigslist. If we got her that one gift and it was the ONLY gift she received, she would be very happy. Now, DD6 would be a different story...maybe a few smaller things.

DD16 went to take her driver's test on Monday , but she arrived 5 minutes too late to take the last test of the day. Grandad was w/ her and going to let her use his car. She drives my van, but I'm not sure it would pass the pretest... the emergency brake cable won't release and since it's an automatic I never use the emergency brake. Isn't that part of the test before you go out on the road? I've asked DH to look at it this weekend, because I could take her Wednesday. I must admit I'm being selfish and not really anxious for her to get her license. We have AAA insurance and the rate wouldn't increase by much at all, but I just don't want to increase any of our bills...

Finance wise...I'd love to refinance our house with our current noteholder, but they won't do it because we had a couple late payments. So we just keep chugging along. I just wonder how 10 years ago we owned 2 houses and paid out $500 more in house payments than we currently are and we were still able to enjoy going out to eat once a week, purchase clothes, hubby could buy stuff for his classic auto project. Now we never go out to eat unless we have a coupon or gift card and rarely enjoy a movie out (around here the 1st show of the day is the cheapest). We had satellite TV then, too. I guess the satellite didn't cost as much as it does now.... the only extra bill I picked up was our cell phone. Maybe our health insurance costs more? We do have one additional kid... And our income was less. I just don't get it!

 

[Gena001]

How do I delete the countdown banner? Please send me a direct message and then I'll return to delete this post....

 

[gracie1]

Well Murphy paid us a visit today

Yesterday we noticed our dog was peeing a little in the house. She's older (14yrs) so we just thought maybe we weren't taking her out enough. Thought we'd just keep an eye on it for a few days and see what happens.

Well today she kept peeing on the floor every 20 minutes. Poor dog didn't even seem to know it was happening, she'd stand up and pee would just drip out of her! Despite me taking her for a long walk this morning after I took the kids to school and letting her out in the backyard every 30 minutes after that it still continued. My poor floors (we have hard wood, not carpeting at least). By 1pm I thought I couldn't let it go any longer so I called our vet (only 2 blocks away) and got her an appt for 3:30.

Most likely culprit is a UTI - blood test, urine test, antibiotics and our bill today was $309 They should have the results back by Friday (it's a holiday here in BC tomorrow).

Other scenarios include hormonal imbalance, diabetes, kidney stones or just the fact that she is OLD and is losing function. My poor pup

So anyway, I gave her her first antibiotic as soon as we got home and she chomped it down like a trooper. My neighbour gave me some pee pads as well and we'll just have to contain her to our main floor (top floor where all the bedrooms are is carpeted) which she won't be thrilled about at nighttime.

Crossing my fingers that when the results come in it is a UTI and not something more serious. Plus now she really needs a bath as her back end smells just lovely

Okay - did you send Murphy to visit me? How weird is it that after I posted about my dog having uti's before on your post and then she contracted some kind of bacterial infection? I called the vet yesterday afternoon and they took her in last night - she doesn't technically have a uti but has bacteria and swollen "lady parts". Sound gross and is gross!! So at the tune of $301 she is on two medications and has to have another urinalysis test in two weeks. The test showed that she was full of white blood cells and very few red ones to fight off the infection. The plus side is even though she just started the meds last night she seems to be doing much better already!!