Debt Dumpers - 2013

[bumbershoot]

Oh my gosh, you are adorable - who writes cheques anymore? Oh sorry, checks...in Canada we spell it cheque. We also don't WRITE cheques anymore, everything is done online. We don't pay rent/mortgage/utilities with cheques, we pay online. I haven't written a cheque in years and my kids won't know what the hell a cheque is. Sorry, do I sound rude? Because you sure as hell do. Some of you Americans astound me, honestly. Cheques. *shakes head* Welcome to 2013.

I still write a rent check. My landlady had her Paypal account hacked and Paypal never was able to help her. She refuses to use anything like it. He and I use the same bank so I deposit it right into her account, but I do have to write out the check.

At the risk of driving our thread even more off topic, when did it become the school's job to teach our kids life skills? While none of us are equipped with perfection at EVERY life skill we'd like to pass along, it's our job as parents to prepare them as best as we are able. It's their job to take the education they've been provided as a base and use it to further themselves.

I think they should teach it. I wish they had taught money stuff to me. The only budgeting things we covered was how miners budgeted while working for the evil coal mines and what it was like money-wise when working for meat packing companies before unions saved them.

My mom was too busy working her rear off to take the time to teachings about money. And I believe she was using credit the way cc companies want us to use it, keeping balances and paying interest, etc. I wet off to college and then she remarried, and that man had good info about money that he taught to my brother. Never taught it to me (nor would I have listened to the new stepdad) but at least my brother got the info.

I think schools should teach it.

 

[pryncess527]

At the risk of driving our thread even more off topic, when did it become the school's job to teach our kids life skills? While none of us are equipped with perfection at EVERY life skill we'd like to pass along, it's our job as parents to prepare them as best as we are able. It's their job to take the education they've been provided as a base and use it to further themselves.
.

It's always been one of the jobs of school to teach children life skills -- ever since the industrial era when school was in large part training for factory life. One of the primary reasons this country started public education is because educated citizens are a critical part of a democracy. It's nice when parents do their job, but let's face reality -- the consumer debt crisis in this country makes it quite clear that many adult Americans don't have the tools to understand because we expected parents to teach it. So we can either insist they teach their kids, when clearly they don't get it either and continue to have our economy dragged down -- or we can make the investment in public education to ensure our citizenry has the tools needed to be a contributing member of our economy and democracy.

 

[ceemys]

WOW...Things were busy on the thread last night. Just a reminder this thread is and always has been for support and advise. Not to point at others and accuse them of poor judgment.

Thank You

Me I have still been doing that thing making the list and checking it twice.

I used my $50 gift card I won at the Disney Store to buy my littlest some Christmas presents. And I found an Amercian Girl two baby doll jogging stoller for $7! Sophia is done except for stocking stuffers. All of her presents cost a total of $9. Now Elaina will be harder. I hope to find some Itunes GC's on BF on sale.

 

[PrincessKymm]

I graduated high school over a decade ago and I thought I should give my 2 cents. In high school, my freshman year actually, I took an elective offered by my high school called money management. I remember learning how to write a check, how to budget an income we had to look up (what we wanted to be when we grew up), we were told to budget how we wanted to live. I did learn a little from this exercise but I didn't have any hard lessons like student loans and interest. None of that was explained or at least I don't remember that in class. I think it had a lot to do with my attitude and the teachers relaxed teaching style. Had I taken that class a year later when my parents divorced I would've had a different outlook. I also think we should've been assigned salaries and been taught to budget that way. I'm just now making what I thought I'd make at 21 and I'm gonna be 30 next June. If I was told you're 19 a single mom and bring home less than 20k a year learn to budget when I was 14 I'd like to think I'd never have learned all my mistakes the hard way.

I believe schools should teach money management and some basic life skills (like balancing a check book in math class instead of learning something most people won't use every day) in classes but not everyone will grasp these concepts while in class for whatever reason. I do think that even if students become a superstar check writer or investor overnight they'd have a better understanding or at least a leg up when the time to make those decisions came along.

Just wanted to give my two cents and of course I have to say great job everyone keep it up!!!!

 

[Eureka]

Just my two cents...I still write checks for mortgage and a few bills that for one reason or another I don't/can't pay online.
Yes, DH is back to work and all is good. We opened up 529s for the kids this weekend. He decided (if you recall, we decided that he was going to handle the "future"stuff and I pay the current bills) to hold off on paying the mortgage down until we get started on the college savings and he now qualifies for the 401K catch up thing because he is over 50, so he adjusted his contributions. Once we see how this all goes, we can move on to step 2. I feel better about it all now that I know how much my checks will be and I see that there *should* be plenty to keep paying large-ish chunks on the credit card.

Oh, and we decided to splurge on a Christmas present for the kids. We got tickets for the Bruins when they are here playing the Capitals. The kids have just started getting into pro sports and DS10 has been saying he wants to go to an NHL game. The game's not til March but they won't care. We are also done with Santa finally, so now we can finally take credit for the good stuff, lol. (Chanuka in our house is normally small gifts because we give one each night; Christmas has always been bigger)

 

[dtr_angel]

I'm wondering if I could ask a question for anyone that can offer advice...

We bought a (new to us) SUV about 2 years ago. It was somewhat of an impulse buy that I admit I didn't really think through. In the past year or so we had a son and I've become a SAHM for the most part so I've been looking over our budget and trying to cut where I can. We aren't strapped to make the almost $400 payment each month, but I just think the money could be better used in savings. It just seems like a lot for a car when our mortgage is under $600/month!

This is the first time DH and I haven't been able to pay the car off early. Like really early. Our first car loan when we got married we paid off in 8 months. His Jeep we paid off in less than 2 years on a 5 year loan. Since the payment is much higher on this one, we know we won't be paying it off early. We still have 3 years left on the loan. The payoff amount is just around 13,600. The KBB value for trade in is around $16,000. In a private sale it says between 17-19k. I basically just want something similar to what I have, just not a V8 Hemi and I'd like to have a lower payment each month so I'll be looking for something cheaper. This is the first time we'd be looking to buy a vehicle that we still owe on and obviously I want to trade it in. I'm not entirely sure how it works, but I'm afraid that even though its worth more than we owe, that we'd only get what we owe on it? It seems like the easiest thing to do is to just trade it in. Would we be better off selling it outright to a dealer, paying it off, and then buying something else? If we get more than we owe on it, I'd like to use the difference as the down payment on the next vehicle. Or is there another way to do this?

Sorry if this makes no sense I'm tired.

 

[dansamy]

I've never traded in a vehicle that I owed still. I would think that the value minus the loan payoff could be applied as a down. If you financed something less expensive, you could possibly come out of it with half your current payment.

 

[dtr_angel]

I've never traded in a vehicle that I owed still. I would think that the value minus the loan payoff could be applied as a down. If you financed something less expensive, you could possibly come out of it with half your current payment.

That's what I am hoping for. I definitely don't need something as fancy as what I have and would love to have a payment of $200 or less/month. I'm worried that they are just going to give me basically what I owe. If they do give me more than what I owe, I'm hoping I don't have to buy a vehicle that costs the same as the trade they are giving me because then I'd basically be starting over again. Thanks!

 

[disneyfan'ole]

Why not try to sell it privately and that would completely clear up your loan plus give you some for a down payment.

Then you wouldn't have to roll any of it back in.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

That's what I am hoping for. I definitely don't need something as fancy as what I have and would love to have a payment of $200 or less/month. I'm worried that they are just going to give me basically what I owe. If they do give me more than what I owe, I'm hoping I don't have to buy a vehicle that costs the same as the trade they are giving me because then I'd basically be starting over again. Thanks!

That's when you walk away from the deal.
Don't let them rush you into making a decision. If you have someone who can babysit while you negotiate it might be easier to think clearly. Hopefully you get a good deal but remember there's a cost for the convenience of trading in a vehicle. Chances are good they won't offer you nearly what you would be able to sell in a private sale but again it's convenient.

Also this may vary by state but keep in mind when crunching numbers you will probably have to pay sales tax on the "new" vehicle & fee to transfer your tags, reducing your benefit further in the deal. In NJ the value of trade-in vehicle is subtracted from the price of the new vehicle when calculating for sales tax. This may vary state to state.

Good luck & let us know how it goes.

 

[PrincessKymm]

That's what I am hoping for. I definitely don't need something as fancy as what I have and would love to have a payment of $200 or less/month. I'm worried that they are just going to give me basically what I owe. If they do give me more than what I owe, I'm hoping I don't have to buy a vehicle that costs the same as the trade they are giving me because then I'd basically be starting over again. Thanks!

I would talk to a dealership or two and see what they will offer you. DO NOT buy or sell or anything that day. I only suggest this because some dealers have good incentives to get rid of anything in their inventory labeled 2013 to make way for 2014 models. Talk to them, get a business card and walk away. No matter how good they make it seem on a trade or a straight buyout walk away, crunch the numbers talk it over and then decide if you'd rather list it and sell privately. If you want to talk with the dealership call the person you spoke with and ask if they can do better then make a decision. Good luck!!!

 

[momof2gr8kids]

I would talk to a dealership or two and see what they will offer you. DO NOT buy or sell or anything that day. I only suggest this because some dealers have good incentives to get rid of anything in their inventory labeled 2013 to make way for 2014 models. Talk to them, get a business card and walk away. No matter how good they make it seem on a trade or a straight buyout walk away, crunch the numbers talk it over and then decide if you'd rather list it and sell privately. If you want to talk with the dealership call the person you spoke with and ask if they can do better then make a decision. Good luck!!!

This makes me laugh thinking of me, at 21, walking into the car dealership and pointing to the car I wanted and telling the sales guy I wanted that car. Boy, I wish I had someone telling me then about wheeling and dealing. I bet he had a chuckle with his colleagues later about the easy sale. But hey, I loved that car, and I did look pretty cool in it. Haven't bought brand new off the lots since. Again, If I knew then what I know now .... LOL. I clearly remember telling my bf at the time and he said, what, you wouldn't do something that stupid. Yep. Yep I did!

 

[4HppyCamprs]

It's always been one of the jobs of school to teach children life skills -- ever since the industrial era when school was in large part training for factory life. One of the primary reasons this country started public education is because educated citizens are a critical part of a democracy. It's nice when parents do their job, but let's face reality -- the consumer debt crisis in this country makes it quite clear that many adult Americans don't have the tools to understand because we expected parents to teach it. So we can either insist they teach their kids, when clearly they don't get it either and continue to have our economy dragged down -- or we can make the investment in public education to ensure our citizenry has the tools needed to be a contributing member of our economy and democracy.

Public education was developed to create better laborers. Ones who learned from a young age to listen to a single authority and work from bell to bell (business class at Purdue). Nothing to do with democracy. At one point in recent history labor wanted to make all children wards of the state and ship them off to boarding skills to further the labor movement.

Sorry for the off topic but I have done nothing but study this for 6 years.

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[4HppyCamprs]

This is my thoughts exactly, give them a mock household with bills, a checking account, a credit card and a savings account that they need to manage. Teach them about fees the banks charge, the interest the credit card charges and the beauty of compounded interest that a savings account pays them. They would receive a paycheck with the option for overtime pay. (If they did extra credit for the class) They would learn how to budget the money coming in and going out.

My high school did teach this type of math back in 1994. It was called "real world math" it was a great class.

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[pryncess527]

Public education was developed to create better laborers. Ones who learned from a young age to listen to a single authority and work from bell to bell (business class at Purdue). Nothing to do with democracy. At one point in recent history labor wanted to make all children wards of the state and ship them off to boarding skills to further the labor movement.

Sorry for the off topic but I have done nothing but study this for 6 years.

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I haven't been doing it to the exclusion of all else, but I have spent a great deal of time studying this issue for quite some time as well, and I respectfully disagree that the purpose of education was as one-sided as you state. There have always kind of been multiple schools of thought driving education and while one I would consider labor based as indicated by changes made during the industrial era, that is not the entirety of the history. There is a great deal of evidence as to the way our founders viewed education as essential to democracy. Jefferson wrote extensively about how the two were intricately linked. Benjamin Franklin also argued for a strong public school system in the name of democracy. There is substantial historical record to back up my statements about public education having a wide range of goals from the outset, one of which is to ensure an educated democracy.

 

[pryncess527]

Why not try to sell it privately and that would completely clear up your loan plus give you some for a down payment.

Then you wouldn't have to roll any of it back in.

Ditto. You'll always get the most from a private sale, so while it can be a hassle you might start there.

If you have a CarMax in your area, you might also go to them for an estimate. Not necessarily to sell your car to them, but I think an estimate from them provides a nice floor price you know you don't have to dip below.

 

[ceemys]

How is everyone doing? I've been busy packing lately. 26 more days! I am getting an estimate for painters. Hope it isn't too much or I will have to just live in white walls for more time. I'm sick of these apt white walls.

 

[pryncess527]

How is everyone doing? I've been busy packing lately. 26 more days! I am getting an estimate for painters. Hope it isn't too much or I will have to just live in white walls for more time. I'm sick of these apt white walls.

YAY! How exciting You'll be so excited to be in the house I bet the white walls won't even bother you nearly as much as they do in the apartment -- at least not at first!

Things here are pretty good. I found out one of our cars will need a $900 service, probably around January. I hate that it will cost so much but glad to have the information now so we can plan for it between now and then.

 

[OhMari]

How is everyone doing? I've been busy packing lately. 26 more days! I am getting an estimate for painters. Hope it isn't too much or I will have to just live in white walls for more time. I'm sick of these apt white walls.

My house is mostly white walls. So is my God daughters house. Our husbands say White is Right, Ugg. I do have some color but not much.

We have been going through Parade of Homes the last 3 weekends.
I've seen some really funky colors in the homes
and then the next houses just blow me away how they color coordinated their walls and furnishings.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

How is everyone doing? I've been busy packing lately. 26 more days! I am getting an estimate for painters. Hope it isn't too much or I will have to just live in white walls for more time. I'm sick of these apt white walls.

That's awesome! Moving is such a pain but worth it once you're settled in.
Are you (or family members) even semi-decent painters? It's so much easier to paint an empty house.

We are still making good progress. Our emergency fund is complete for now & Christmas $ set aside (very small for dh & I, which is fine).
In October we paid off our Amazon card & dh's Kohls acct.
By the end of Nov we expect to pay off my Kohls acct, our Sears acct and the overdraft protection for our checking acct. I don't know how that crept up, probably just lack of being diligent. They were all 0% interest except the OD protection which is nice but fools you into dragging it out.
By my estimate we should have everything paid off by next Nov except the mortgage & dh's truck. Without the other bills sucking so much out of our paychecks, we should easily be able to pay off dh's truck extra early by tripling the monthly payments.
I'm so glad I found this thread!