Debt Advice Desperately Needed....Please!

[sk!mom]

A tank of gas, when she can barely continue to feed her family. After going on vacation, to Disney, several times this year. How is this even an option?

Has the whole country gone mad?

ITA- I do not think that the OP should punish herself or sit home feeling guilty but going on vacation when your situation is so precarious is insanity- no matter how little it will cost.

Bear in mind that they just went on vacation in March and were out of work then, as well. My DH and I are both employed yet we haven't vacationed since last June. Vacations are not an entitlement or necessary for happiness. The kind of thinking that allows you to go on vacation in this situation is in large part the root of the problem- pretend things are OK and maybe they will be.

The OP needs to start the sell process on DVC today and begin today putting in 20 resumes a day. If the contracts are worth more based on the points available, then yet another big reason to cancel. This family needs every penny.

Hugs and good wishes are great but they won't solve the OP's problems. She seems to be coming around to realizing just how dire things are but still holds on to one last vacation.

I still haven't seen the answer to my question, Is your DH taking off without pay from his new job to vacation? For me that would be another reason to cancel.

 

[dipin]

Ooh, back to being suspicious of my finacial situation because I don't agree with your advise. Anyone who does not agree with you must have ulterior motives becuase you advice is so much better than anyone else's.

I just know that no matter how well I have planned financially there is always the possiblity that something outside of my control could take it all away. So, I don't get on a high-horse about these things YMMV.

And you're the one who seems to have had a nerve touched, so much you forgot and/or denied what you wrote five mintues before about your advice being better.

I said some may want her to self-flagellate --not they all did. To use your logic you must have recognized something about yourself in my comment if you took it to mean I thought you want her to punish herself, right?

It is silly to enter into a he said she said discussion on a web forum. Everything I have said is written, as is everything you have, so no need to try to reinterpret things. People can see for themselves who it was that claimed others had ulterior motives and so on.

But instead of engaging in these sorts of useless meta discussions, why don't we get back to the issue at hand, since you've yet to address it:

Knowing now the impact of using this year's points on the value of her contracts, do YOU think she can afford this trip? If, say, there is good reason to think she might get over 1000 dollars less in her resale of her contracts because of using up the points, do you think she can afford it?

Anything else is meaningless and will be forgotten once this thread gets old.

 

[robinb]

Selling. With just the two we owe money on we could save around $500/month in payments & dues. Selling the ones that are paid off will be pure "income" to pay the other debt and still save us in dues every month. I haven't played with the numbers enough yet to see how much it will help but it will certainly lower monthly expenses by a good percentage and will pay off some of the other debt to get us much closer to our goal. Vacations are cancelled except the one in four days. I am not going to lie and say that we are not going on that one. The family decided together that we are going to move ahead with that one especially since we decided to sell all the contracts and won't be able to go back until we get our debt paid off and have a nice cushion in the bank. That could take years depending on what money we are able to make by selling our things, how long before I get a job, if my husband can find a better job eventually, etc. We just don't know how long it will take to get back on our feet and go away as a family together again so we are not letting this one pass by. Some will agree, most will not.

You know ... I'm not going to beat you up on the vacation. You probably should have cancelled 30 days ago but you didn't. A lot of things can happen in 30 days and things may not have seemed so desperate then. Now that you are inside the 31-day holding window I would say go and enjoy. I think it help you be able to face your problems better if you have a bit of quiet time to settle your mind. One thing I do want to addres: people who don't understand DVC don't understand the whole problem with points in holding. The don't what a PITB it is to use/rent out points in holding. Dipin says it's "minor" be it really isn't. With so many more members pouring in from the new mega resorts of SSR and AKV it has become very difficult to find something within the 60-day window when holding points can be used. Plus, points in "holding" are just about as attractive as no points at all, so I don't think you would get the extra $3 pp for them either.

As for your DVC contracts, are you upside down on the ones you still own on? That is, would you get as much as you owe by selling them or would you still owe more? If you would still owe more, I wonder if there is a "short sale" process where you sell it back to DVC for what you owe. BTW, I used The Timeshare Store to sell my contract and they were great. They took 10% in commission but took care of everything for me!

 

[friskykitten]

sk!mom--here is the answer to your question.....my DH is not taking the week off unpaid. That was worked into his hiring agreement. As for the March stay at the CBR it was not a family vacation that lasted a week as some may think. We (my DD and I) were there for one night while my DD was there for a school thing (not Disney but Orlando). I was glad to stay at the CBR even for the one night. It still felt like a vacation to me. Extra cost and spending? Of course, and again, I will agree that even for that one night I should be dragged over the coals at this point but it was not a week long family vacation that put us thousands of dollars in more debt. So now you know and can continue to post as I have answered your question. As I have also mentioned, I am more than willing to hear what you have to say. If it helps me or someone else in a similar situation then by all means let me know that you have some great advice for me. I am sorry that I have not been able to answer everyone but I am trying to keep up with the posting, spend time with my family on the three day weekend and go through our stuff to see what we can sell and the paperwork needed to put the DVC up for sale.

Once I accepted the reality, and that was the hard part--accepting my real situation and what needed to be done as you can see by my reluctance in the previous posts--, I am moving forward on the advice given to put us back where we need to be. If I can move quick enough, yes I should have started it 5 months ago, then I can get rid of most of the debt without going through BK or Credit Counceling to reduce what is owed. If you are really interested in how we do with the whole debt reduction thing then I will be happy to let you know where we stand after a period of time. I'm sure there more than a few of you who would like to know if we actually go through with this and how fast or slow it will take to get to where we need to be. I will be happy to keep those who are serious about it in the know as we go through this process.

 

[dipin]

You know ... I'm not going to beat you up on the vacation. You probably should have cancelled 30 days ago but you didn't. A lot of things can happen in 30 days and things may not have seemed so desperate then. Now that you are inside the 31-day holding window I would say go and enjoy. I think it help you be able to face your problems better if you have a bit of quiet time to settle your mind. One thing I do want to addres: people who don't understand DVC don't understand the whole problem with points in holding. The don't what a PITB it is to use/rent out points in holding. Dipin says it's "minor" be it really isn't. With so many more members pouring in from the new mega resorts of SSR and AKV it has become very difficult to find something within the 60-day window when holding points can be used. Plus, points in "holding" are just about as attractive as no points at all, so I don't think you would get the extra $3 pp for them either.

As for your DVC contracts, are you upside down on the ones you still own on? That is, would you get as much as you owe by selling them or would you still owe more? If you would still owe more, I wonder if there is a "short sale" process where you sell it back to DVC for what you owe. BTW, I used The Timeshare Store to sell my contract and they were great. They took 10% in commission but took care of everything for me!

I understand completely the issues with points on holding. And Ive shown on this thread itself, and anyone can go and look at any of the dvc resale sites (which I don't know the policy on linking to here so I won't), even contracts with just points on hold for this year are still more valuable than dvc contracts with no points at all. Especially when we are talking about enough points to book a grand villa this time of the year.

 

[friskykitten]

You know ... I'm not going to beat you up on the vacation. You probably should have cancelled 30 days ago but you didn't. A lot of things can happen in 30 days and things may not have seemed so desperate then. Now that you are inside the 31-day holding window I would say go and enjoy. I think it help you be able to face your problems better if you have a bit of quiet time to settle your mind. One thing I do want to addres: people who don't understand DVC don't understand the whole problem with points in holding. The don't what a PITB it is to use/rent out points in holding. Dipin says it's "minor" be it really isn't. With so many more members pouring in from the new mega resorts of SSR and AKV it has become very difficult to find something within the 60-day window when holding points can be used. Plus, points in "holding" are just about as attractive as no points at all, so I don't think you would get the extra $3 pp for them either.

As for your DVC contracts, are you upside down on the ones you still own on? That is, would you get as much as you owe by selling them or would you still owe more? If you would still owe more, I wonder if there is a "short sale" process where you sell it back to DVC for what you owe. BTW, I used The Timeshare Store to sell my contract and they were great. They took 10% in commission but took care of everything for me!

I am not sure but I don't think we are. I figured with the two that have loans we will either break even or come out with a small amount over the cost. But it will take care of the monthly bills so that would be a smart move whether we can make any 'profit' on the sale. The real money maker will be selling the ones we have paid off.

 

[Jakesmom1]

sk!mom--here is the answer to your question.....my DH is not taking the week off unpaid. That was worked into his hiring agreement. As for the March stay at the CBR it was not a family vacation that lasted a week as some may think. We (my DD and I) were there for one night while my DD was there for a school thing (not Disney but Orlando). I was glad to stay at the CBR even for the one night. It still felt like a vacation to me. Extra cost and spending? Of course, and again, I will agree that even for that one night I should be dragged over the coals at this point but it was not a week long family vacation that put us thousands of dollars in more debt. So now you know and can continue to post as I have answered your question. As I have also mentioned, I am more than willing to hear what you have to say. If it helps me or someone else in a similar situation then by all means let me know that you have some great advice for me. I am sorry that I have not been able to answer everyone but I am trying to keep up with the posting, spend time with my family on the three day weekend and go through our stuff to see what we can sell and the paperwork needed to put the DVC up for sale.

Once I accepted the reality, and that was the hard part--accepting my real situation and what needed to be done as you can see by my reluctance in the previous posts--, I am moving forward on the advice given to put us back where we need to be. If I can move quick enough, yes I should have started it 5 months ago, then I can get rid of most of the debt without going through BK or Credit Counceling to reduce what is owed. If you are really interested in how we do with the whole debt reduction thing then I will be happy to let you know where we stand after a period of time. I'm sure there more than a few of you who would like to know if we actually go through with this and how fast or slow it will take to get to where we need to be. I will be happy to keep those who are serious about it in the know as we go through this process.

Just here to wish you the best of luck, we have all hit bottom at one time or another, and if we havent yet, we pray that we never will. It seems to me that you lived as many do, work hard and try to enjoy the short time we have here on earth, most of us have used credit at one time or another, I am sure you never expected for both of you to lose your job at the same time, I cant even begin to think about how terrible it would be if the same happened to me and my dh.

It will be a slow process but I know it can be done, my thoughts are with you.

 

[snowbunny]

I think that we could coin a new phrase on these boards. Disneyholic. I think that we fuel each other. Only on the DIS are multiple vacations to Disney a year considered normal and/or even desirable. So many people stay club level at Disney but would never consider this is another location. They read about people like them doing it and think this is normal. Maybe the DIS budget board needs a 12 step program for reducing Disney spending.

This is so very true. There is a huge amount of enabling that goes on, especially regarding DVC points (more more more!).

 

[momx2]

I never claimed my advice is better than anyone else's. But it is still advice, and advice based on actual DVC information. Yours, on the other hand, are basically an attack on anyone who offered information about the real costs of the upcoming trip.


Edit:
just as an example, from one of the more popular DVC resale sites:
" Saratoga Springs 100 points : $80 per point 100 points, Mar use year. 8 points available 3.1.09, all 100 for 2010."
"Saratoga Springs 100 points : $83 per point 100 points, Dec use year. 45 points available now, (12 in holding status, 33 regular) all 100 coming 12.1.09!"
" Vero Beach 100 points : $60 per point 100 points, Mar use year. 100 points coming in 2010"
" Vero Beach 100 points : $63 per point 100 points, Mar use year. 28 points available now , 32 points coming on 3.1.09"


So as you can see, having some points available now, even if on holding status, is worth about 3 dollars per point on resale. With 650 points, you are talking about 1950 dollars. And yet you claim that those telling her not to go just want her to self flagellate... It seems to me that it is the posters who you claim are self righteous who are actually giving the best advice.

I'm not picking sides between the two of you, but just wanted to point out that while SSR may ask around $80 per point, it probably won't sale any higher than $75 or so. SSR is going for $66+, not anywhere near $80 according to the recent resales I've read about.

 

[crisi]

I do not see as people expected OP to punish herself as much as they are offering advice that she be realistic and understand that Disney is a big reason why they are now in the position that they are in.

I don't know if cancelling the trip at this point really helps or not, because I don't know enough about DVC and what the cancellation rules this late would be. I do know that a timeshare with banked points is worth more than a timeshare with borrowed points. I suspect that not taking this trip would increase the sale value of the DVC, but again, I don't know enough.

I do know that there are billions of children in the world who have joy in their lives without ever having been to disney. There are millions more who have been to Disney and never stayed in luxury grand villa accomodations.

I think that we could coin a new phrase on these boards. Disneyholic. I think that we fuel each other. Only on the DIS are multiple vacations to Disney a year considered normal and/or even desirable. So many people stay club level at Disney but would never consider this is another location. They read about people like them doing it and think this is normal. Maybe the DIS budget board needs a 12 step program for reducing Disney spending.

OP, you decided a while ago to go and you have a committment to other family. With the decision already made, you need to go and try to forget about life for a while. I hope that you enjoy your trip. Take time to relax and recharge your batteries for the fight to come. The next few years are going to be challanging.

I think that it is an addiction for a lot of people on these boards, and I do feel like a lot of the supportive posts are enabling behavior. And being a possible addiction for the OP, I think this trip is ill advised. This is not the time to feed the "Disney makes me happy" euphoria. This is a time to start valuing how much enjoyment your family gets around a monopoly board or by baking bread together.

Moreover, from an accounting perspective - her costs ARE sunk, and those costs shouldn't factor into the take/no take trip. But the incidentals are NOT sunk - and when you are feeding a family of seven on $50 a week "just" a tank of gas is a weeks worth of groceries. And honestly, who among us - even the most frugal - has completely been able to hold to no other spending at Disney - with kids? Its inevitable that a Mickey bar or pin or sunscreen or lemonade or socks (why do I ALWAYS need socks at Disney - no matter how well I pack I find myself buying socks, and for my DH its a hat - we packed THREE last trip because I told him a new ballcap would NOT enter the house) or __________ will be purchased. And once the wallet opens, the money will fly out with five kids along.

 

[dipin]

I'm not picking sides between the two of you, but just wanted to point out that while SSR may ask around $80 per point, it probably won't sale any higher than $75 or so. SSR is going for $66+, not anywhere near $80 according to the recent resales I've read about.

of course, the asking price is rarely the final price. But I don't see any reason to believe that differences in asking price will not also be present in the final price.

 

[minnie1928]

I'm sure there more than a few of you who would like to know if we actually go through with this and how fast or slow it will take to get to where we need to be. I will be happy to keep those who are serious about it in the know as we go through this process.

I would like hear how you progress on your journey. I own DVC and know that canceling a trip so close to the date is pointless. Take the time to completely refocus on what needs to be done, recharge the batteries so that when you get home you can do what needs to be done. Use the opportunity to "think outside the box". Maybe being in a different environment will spark a new idea or two.

Selling the contracts is imperative so price them accordingly.

 

[chobie]

It is silly to enter into a he said she said discussion on a web forum. Everything I have said is written, as is everything you have, so no need to try to reinterpret things. People can see for themselves who it was that claimed others had ulterior motives and so on.

But instead of engaging in these sorts of useless meta discussions, why don't we get back to the issue at hand, since you've yet to address it:

Knowing now the impact of using this year's points on the value of her contracts, do YOU think she can afford this trip? If, say, there is good reason to think she might get over 1000 dollars less in her resale of her contracts because of using up the points, do you think she can afford it?

Anything else is meaningless and will be forgotten once this thread gets old.

Thought you were through with me?


Not sure what you are talking about with the reinterpreting, unless you mean yourself?

I never advised her to take the trip or not, the only advice I gave her was to not cut the internet because I beleive it a neccessity, not an luxury, in job hunting.

As far as what she can afford, I'm not going to make that judgment for her. If she had come here 30 days prior to this trip and asked for the advice I might have said cancel the trip. But now that it's so close and she has just come to terms that she will have to sell the contracts, I don't have an opinion either way becuase there is conflicting answers as to whether she could have cancelled without a penalty so close to the trip.

I think she is taking what people said to heart and making some hard decisions and that is what she should do.

 

[Debbie Jean]

I'm not picking sides between the two of you, but just wanted to point out that while SSR may ask around $80 per point, it probably won't sale any higher than $75 or so. SSR is going for $66+, not anywhere near $80 according to the recent resales I've read about.

Exactly You can't look at what they are listed for, you need to check what they are actually selling for.

Donald is #1 has faithfully kept this list current... last update 5/24 http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1960185&page=70 First list are those that have passed ROFR by Disney, i.e. allowed to sell and at what price, followed by those that Disney has exercised it's ROFR aned bought the contract back. Dates in black are 2008 sales, dates in red are 2009. Notice how prices have steadily declined over the past two years.

Also, the contracts cited as examples above were smaller, so will sell for top dollar... if OP's contracts are larger, which I suspect they are, they will sell for considerably less... Check Donald's list for examples. In addition, if she cancels this vacation now, all those points go into holding, again not nearly as valuable to prospective buyers as banked points.

What she might lose in a contract sale taking this vacation I think will be far less than what is being projected. Even adding the tank of gas, I still think that the psychological and emotional benefit to the OP and her family to go on the vacation is definitiety worth it... they'll have the week to be together and enjoy each others company away from the overwhelming stress, coming back refreshed and ready to attack their economic situation with a plan of attack that everyone is on board with...

Totally my opinion

FriskyKitten, I hope you and your family have a wonderful time!

 

[pixie921]

If she doesn't mention "anything" I said above, how can you claim the OP changed?

I'm sorry, dipin, but you are completely confused. momx2 even tried to point this out to you as well, but you apparently missed that too.

I said THE POST I WAS REFERRING TO showed a different attitude by the OP. The statements you were quoting were made by the OP MUCH EARLIER in the thread, and her position has changed a great deal since then.

Let me break it down for you:

Post #158

Quote:
Originally Posted by crisi
I beg to differ. Your first post:


Again, harsh reality. You WERE living beyond your means. Many of us move and live with furniture that doesn't really match the house, we replace it over time without taking on any debt. Many of us own DVC, and we don't have loans for it. Many of us do manage to save as well as pay all our bills - with incomes that are more modest than "very good."

At some point you paid your credit card bills in full, but at some point your expenses increased or your income decreased or you just got behind. It happens. But one of the reasons you are taking such a hard time here and now is that your life changed months ago - or much longer than that - and you just had this epiphany that you can't afford to stay at the Poly in the last two weeks. You've been giving Cleopatra a run for her money.

I'm sure you are also getting blowback because this is the internet. And people are saying to you what they can't say to their brother in law, or their best friend from high school, their coworker, or the other people in our lives we have to keep our mouths zipped up in front of after years and years of "we just bought a new Town and Country minivan" and "we had another lovely vacation" who are now having to pay the piper, without money to pay him with. We've had several of those threads recently. And its hard to have compassion for people who have rubbed your nose in what they have for years when they run into trouble. They never seemed to feel sorry for you that you were foregoing a vacation in order to stick a little extra aside for a rainy day.

Very good points and true Crisi. It has taken this harsh but true backlash to get me to see exactly where we stand and that I need to face up to the reality and make it better. I was not accepting that what we were doing was irresponsible (sp?). A good hard slap was painful but also enlightening. The fact that I honestly thougt, in all truthfulness, that we were living within our means shows that I really did not understand where we were going and how much the fall was going to hurt. Unfortunatly, I will be hurting others with what we do IF it comes to bankruptcy or reducing our debt owed by cc companies being forced to accept less than what we owe. And that is why I sat my family down tonight and told them that we are going to be doing a LOT of things differently starting now. We discussed selling all of the DVC contracts, shutting off cable and phone but keeping internet for my job searches. (As a side note I am looking for anything, not just accounting jobs. Good point though. I thought putting in 5-14 resumes/applications a week for five months was a lot. But after reading what others have done I obviously need to step it up even more.) We are going through our things this weekend and seeing what we can sell and what to throw away or give to charity. We really don't have much that isn't well worn/used to give or sell but we will see what we can do. We might even need to cancel our life insurance policies and pick them back up once we can afford them again. But since we have children that may not be the responsible thing to do. Once we take those steps and go back over the budget to see if there is anything else we can get rid of we will see where we stand plus what else we need to do. We will make the sacrifices that we will need to make and set this right. I know I keep saying thank you to everyone but I also really mean it.

Both types of posts have helped. The negative ones are truthful based on what I have posted in the past and has thrown a nice cup of ice water in my face and made me own up to what I need to do and REALLY realize what we have done with our spending. Those blessed hugs and supportive posts have given me (and hopefully others that may be in a similar situation) the tools to get help and change where we are. Those are the posts that have kept me from falling off of the edge into an abyss. I guess what I am saying is that I am thankful for both. I may not like them all but I am certainly going to be a big girl and listen to what everyone has to say. There are valid points to each one and they each have made an impression on my choices.

This is where she acknowledged that things had to be dealt with and NOWHERE in this post did she make any of the comments you stated that she did.

Now, right after that, you posted #159:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kay1
The OP has admitted she made some poor choices but say she intends to repay her debts.

I don't want to seem to be piling on, but I think the OP is still quite a ways from really understanding her situation. I know it is hard to face reality, and none of us are immune to rationalizing mistakes, but sooner or later it is time to face the facts. Especially with debt, which can spiral out of control so fast.

Take, for example, the upcoming trip which she intends to pay with gift cards and would otherwise just cost a tank of gas: those are precisely the small mistakes that end up accumulating to a mountain of debt. Now, a gallon of gas may seem like nothing, but if you are feeding you family with $50 a week, that right there is almost a week in food. Add to that the gift cards she will be spending there, which she could be spending for food at home, and it is quickly becoming a significant expenditure. And in any case, those points she will be using are points that she will not be renting, or it will affect the price she can get for them, so even then the stay is not free or paid for.

Again, this is not to pile up or to be harsh, but when someone is at the point the OP is in, it may feel good to rationalize some luxuries, but in a dire situation with no end in sight that is not the best attitude.

Post #161:

Quote:
Originally Posted by dipin
I don't want to seem to be piling on, but I think the OP is still quite a ways from really understanding her situation.

Did you even read the OP's post that appeared right before yours? She seems like she understands things very well.

Post #167

Quote:
Originally Posted by pixie921
Did you even read the OP's post that appeared right before yours? She seems like she understands things very well.

Did you?

Because in that very same post she talks about how she is going on this vacation, since she will be using gift cards to pay for stuff and the dvc is already paid for. Meanwhile, she could be renting those points and using those gift cards at home.

And in that very same post she talks about how they had a "very good income," not noticing how if you can't save a penny, its not a very good income.

Post #175

Quote:
Originally Posted by dipin
Did you?

Because in that very same post she talks about how she is going on this vacation, since she will be using gift cards to pay for stuff and the dvc is already paid for. Meanwhile, she could be renting those points and using those gift cards at home.

And in that very same post she talks about how they had a "very good income," not noticing how if you can't save a penny, its not a very good income.

No, wrong one. There is another newer post right before yours. That is what pixie is talking about.

Post #180

Quote:
Originally Posted by dipin
Did you?

Because in that very same post she talks about how she is going on this vacation, since she will be using gift cards to pay for stuff and the dvc is already paid for. Meanwhile, she could be renting those points and using those gift cards at home.

And in that very same post she talks about how they had a "very good income," not noticing how if you can't save a penny, its not a very good income.

Why, yes I did read the post I was referring to, the one your post immediately followed. You obviously didn't. There is no mention of ANYTHING you said above. Those statements were in a post much earlier in the thread.

Make sense now?

 

[dipin]

No, because what I said was and still is true.

But I give up, truly and for the last time. Robsmon is right, and this is an addiction.

When someone is giving up on life insurance and living on 1 dollar per person a day for food, but still going to disney (even negotiating time off from the husband's new job to do so), and others actually think that this is normal and desired, it is because we've lost any semblance of rationality.

People may even argue that the difference between dvc contracts with no point and with just holding points is small, but how small is really small when people are living on $1 of food a day and giving up on life insurace? And in fact, isn't giving up on life insurance the exact same mindset that created this situation in the first place? Hoping that nothing bad happens so that the disney habit can continue?

 

[momx2]

Exactly You can't look at what they are listed for, you need to check what they are actually selling for.

Donald is #1 has faithfully kept this list current... last update 5/24 http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1960185&page=70 First list are those that have passed ROFR by Disney, i.e. allowed to sell and at what price, followed by those that Disney has exercised it's ROFR aned bought the contract back. Dates in black are 2008 sales, dates in red are 2009. Notice how prices have steadily declined over the past two years.

Also, the contracts cited as examples above were smaller, so will sell for top dollar... if OP's contracts are larger, which I suspect they are, they will sell for considerably less... Check Donald's list for examples. In addition, if she cancels this vacation now, all those points go into holding, again not nearly as valuable to prospective buyers as banked points.

What she might lose in a contract sale taking this vacation I think will be far less than what is being projected. Even adding the tank of gas, I still think that the psychological and emotional benefit to the OP and her family to go on the vacation is definitiety worth it... they'll have the week to be together and enjoy each others company away from the overwhelming stress, coming back refreshed and ready to attack their economic situation with a plan of attack that everyone is on board with...

Totally my opinion

FriskyKitten, I hope you and your family have a wonderful time!

Just wanted to say

 

[dvcgirl]

A tank of gas, when she can barely continue to feed her family. After going on vacation, to Disney, several times this year. How is this even an option?

Has the whole country gone mad?

Yes, the country has gone mad. I recognize many posters in this thread who have been around here for years. During the "boom years" many of us were saying that the "keeping up with the Joneses" was going to doom our country in the not-so-distant future. We're seeing that play out now.

 

[wall*e2008]

I think that it is an addiction for a lot of people on these boards, and I do feel like a lot of the supportive posts are enabling behavior. And being a possible addiction for the OP, I think this trip is ill advised. This is not the time to feed the "Disney makes me happy" euphoria. This is a time to start valuing how much enjoyment your family gets around a monopoly board or by baking bread together.

Moreover, from an accounting perspective - her costs ARE sunk, and those costs shouldn't factor into the take/no take trip. But the incidentals are NOT sunk - and when you are feeding a family of seven on $50 a week "just" a tank of gas is a weeks worth of groceries. And honestly, who among us - even the most frugal - has completely been able to hold to no other spending at Disney - with kids? Its inevitable that a Mickey bar or pin or sunscreen or lemonade or socks (why do I ALWAYS need socks at Disney - no matter how well I pack I find myself buying socks, and for my DH its a hat - we packed THREE last trip because I told him a new ballcap would NOT enter the house) or __________ will be purchased. And once the wallet opens, the money will fly out with five kids along.

This needs to be repeated.

Yes, the country has gone mad. I recognize many posters in this thread who have been around here for years. During the "boom years" many of us were saying that the "keeping up with the Joneses" was going to doom our country in the not-so-distant future. We're seeing that play out now.

This was even worse than just "keeping up with the Jones" but the mentality that you do not need to save and as long as you can make your minimum payments you are in a great financial position.

 

[hsmamato2]

I think Op isn't going to change anything by NOT going on the trip in 4 days- don't you lose your points if they're canceled that close to the date of travel?
I understand "change your way of thinking" but wouldn't the points be lost no matter the choice,actually losing even more $$$ than if they just got used as is?
It sounds like a situation that isn't going to pull them back from the brink no matter what they do at this point. Correct me if I'm missing something here....
*I would go,and I'm extremely careful with my money.... * as I see it,OP already spent the $$$$ for this,and can't get it back,the points will be lost,and she intends to do it cheap,like at home! what else is there?
She knows the contracts are to be sold asap,so the points are gone. As far as I know about points,and resales,those things take enough time that any points left in 'holding' would end up useless anyway to the new purchasers.
She's not filing bankruptcy,and is trying to be honorable,and dig her family out,she asked for some advice,that means advice,not a beating.....