Debt Dumpers - 2013

[Sagginit]

Haven't been on this thread for a while, but don't worry - all I've been thinking about is paying off debt! LOL

Congrats Gracie on being cc debt free. That's going to make your trip all the more sweeter!

It seems whenever I get excited about having extra $ towards debt something happens. This pay it was $400 in vehicle repairs. Yech. And we already get by with one vehicle, so it's not like we can hold off. Next pay it's new tires. Double yech.

ummm im with ya. a belt on my car is making noise. the good news is i think its the alternator belt. i had the alternator replaced in the fall and im thiking i shouldn't have an issue with the belt this quickly so hopefully my mechanic doesn't charge me an arm and a leg for it. i am holding off on making any extra payments until that is taken care of which is killing me since the subloan i have been working on is now down to $430.

oh and can i mention sallie mae lowered the monthly payment on it again since the last payment, and its now $13 a month. really sallie mae?

 

[jm0925]

Oooooo I hope you can go. I hope *I* can go someday during Xmas. My friend has been with her family TWICE during Xmas, she says there is nothing like it!

I agree! Disney at Christmas is beautiful. It is something every Disney fan has to plan on seeing one way or another. They go all out with their decorations. ;-)

 

[jm0925]

I've been a lurker on this thread for a while and just wanted to say great job to all of you debt dumpters. Reading the successes is very motivating and exciting. I can't wait till I can say I am debt free. It will be so nice seeing more of my money in the bank rather than seeing it constantly go out to the creditors. One day at a time right?

 

[ceemys]

I've been a lurker on this thread for a while and just wanted to say great job to all of you debt dumpters. Reading the successes is very motivating and exciting. I can't wait till I can say I am debt free. It will be so nice seeing more of my money in the bank rather than seeing it constantly go out to the creditors. One day at a time right?

Yes. It's hard work, but worth it! I am 100% debt free!

On another note...I am over 50% saved...almost to 60% saved for my house downpayment! I am so proud that it is getting there. It seemed so hard to do when I started with $200. I have 6 months to get to my goal and at the rate I am going now, I will have it done in 4 months. This includes the downpayment and the 1st year home insurance premium. This will leave us money to buy bedroom furniture. I found a Kittles outlet store for our bedroom furniture and their prices are about 70% lower than the prices at the other store. So after the down payment is 100% done, I will be paying cash for our bedroom furniture also. I like the idea of paying $100 for each bed frame versus $500 for each for my daughters rooms.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

OP here. It's been a long time since I updated.

We had a miracle happen. A debt that we anticipated having to start paying for got closed out. I won't go into to details, but this is a huge weight off our backs.

I also got a raise and DH got a promotion. I couldn't ask for anything more.

We have had to pay for some things for the baby and the house that have taken our excess income. However we have not had to use debt to pay for the unexpected expenses, and we have not dipped in to savings.

Our big thing is sticking to a budget. It really helps us when unexpected things pop up.

 

[gracie1]

Yes. It's hard work, but worth it! I am 100% debt free!

On another note...I am over 50% saved...almost to 60% saved for my house downpayment! I am so proud that it is getting there. It seemed so hard to do when I started with $200. I have 6 months to get to my goal and at the rate I am going now, I will have it done in 4 months. This includes the downpayment and the 1st year home insurance premium. This will leave us money to buy bedroom furniture. I found a Kittles outlet store for our bedroom furniture and their prices are about 70% lower than the prices at the other store. So after the down payment is 100% done, I will be paying cash for our bedroom furniture also. I like the idea of paying $100 for each bed frame versus $500 for each for my daughters rooms.

Congrats on having your debt paid off You are doing a fantastic job saving your down payment for the house. That was the best feeling when I bought my house over 6 years ago. Of course I paid off my cc with the financing, and then ran them up again like a dummy, but I am debt free now

 

[gracie1]

OP here. It's been a long time since I updated.

We had a miracle happen. A debt that we anticipated having to start paying for got closed out. I won't go into to details, but this is a huge weight off our backs.

I also got a raise and DH got a promotion. I couldn't ask for anything more.

We have had to pay for some things for the baby and the house that have taken our excess income. However we have not had to use debt to pay for the unexpected expenses, and we have not dipped in to savings.

Our big thing is sticking to a budget. It really helps us when unexpected things pop up.

Sounds like a big weight has been lifted for you! Congrats on the raise and your DH promotion. I just received a promotion but no raise
Sounds like you are doing a great job sticking to your budget as well! Used to I would just buy it regardless, and now I am very conscious of whether or not I need it. I actually find myself putting things back

 

[ceemys]

Sounds like a big weight has been lifted for you! Congrats on the raise and your DH promotion. I just received a promotion but no raise Sounds like you are doing a great job sticking to your budget as well! Used to I would just buy it regardless, and now I am very conscious of whether or not I need it. I actually find myself putting things back

Well, that sucks! lol I've been there. 1st time "Lateral promotion", I was told. Then about 4 years ago, I was promoted, but no pay increase. I had to wait until my annual review which was almost a year. Maybe that will happen to you. Just do your best and hopefully you will get that raise!

 

[BeachLove]

I finally got my parents on track to paying of their debt. Had to come up with charts to show them how much interest they are paying. Plus what they'd end up paying in the end. Showed them how much in late fees are being charged. Told them to pay the high interest store cards first. Then at least minimums on the other cards with the lower rates. It was just such a huge eye opener for them. It was just ridiculous that each payment they made didn't make a dent in the debt. They are just people where the 0% for 12 months(or 24 months etc.) just doesn't work. Once the end date hits you get stuck with all the interest from the past. AND I'm keeping my hands out of my wallet and not bailing them out this time. I'll continue to send them groceries and other basic items and that's' it. Just had to share- I have been trying to get them back on track for a year. Plus they are both actually excited about having one credit card paid off soon. Its a miracle!

 

[PrincessKymm]

After finally getting child support again I've decided to do Dave Ramsey's total money makeover and I'm officially more than halfway to baby step #1!!! I've been working a ton of OT to make up for the drop in income and after talking with my DBF he agreed to help me by lowering my share of the bills by $200 if and only if I apply that money towards bills and show him proof every month I'm doing so. I can't wait to show off my baby emergency fund at the end of the month! I will have my credit cards paid off (ran back up thanks to no child support) in less than 3 months and then I can start on a very important medical bill and my city taxes. By the end of summer I will only have the bills that are in collections, my car, and my student loans. By the end of July next year I will only have the largest collections bill and my student loans left. My guess is ill be debt free in 3-4 years! This doesn't include any overtime or any raises i may receive nor any larger tax refunds (except for next years refund) that I may receive that can go towards debt. It feels great to have over $500 in the bank. It makes me wonder how good it's gonna feel when I have $1k!!!

 

[danielle79]

After finally getting child support again I've decided to do Dave Ramsey's total money makeover and I'm officially more than halfway to baby step #1!!! I've been working a ton of OT to make up for the drop in income and after talking with my DBF he agreed to help me by lowering my share of the bills by $200 if and only if I apply that money towards bills and show him proof every month I'm doing so. I can't wait to show off my baby emergency fund at the end of the month! I will have my credit cards paid off (ran back up thanks to no child support) in less than 3 months and then I can start on a very important medical bill and my city taxes. By the end of summer I will only have the bills that are in collections, my car, and my student loans. By the end of July next year I will only have the largest collections bill and my student loans left. My guess is ill be debt free in 3-4 years! This doesn't include any overtime or any raises i may receive nor any larger tax refunds (except for next years refund) that I may receive that can go towards debt. It feels great to have over $500 in the bank. It makes me wonder how good it's gonna feel when I have $1k!!!

My guess is that you already know this if you are following DR, but when it comes to settling the debts that are in collections, he would advise that you save in cash, let's say 20% of the total debt then call the collector and offer what you have in cash because the collection agency bought the debt for pennies on the dollar so they will definitely settle for less than the total, start very low and make sure you get a letter in writing from them that it is settled and paid off so they can't come back a year from now and say you still owe them. I have never personally done this but DR advises on this weekly on his radio show and I'm pretty sure he writes about it in one of the books, I have read them all so I forget which one!

 

[Malakaiii]

Home from our mini-vacation to Las Vegas and back on the savings train! Thankfully we found a few ways to cut costs while we traveled so we didn't bring a lot of debt home with us!

Now to distribute some money to savings (nearly at the $1000 mark!) and onto the Visa. I was also able to switch our Visa to a low-interest card so that's a huge plus!

 

[xCourxCorex]

Submitted my payment to close out my smallest school loan - payment should clear by Tuesday!! Then three left to tackle.. and I got the Sallie Mae rep to just roll over the monthly payment from this smallest loan to the next smallest one, almost doubling the amount I pay each month! Yay

 

[PrincessKymm]

Submitted my payment to close out my smallest school loan - payment should clear by Tuesday!! Then three left to tackle.. and I got the Sallie Mae rep to just roll over the monthly payment from this smallest loan to the next smallest one, almost doubling the amount I pay each month! Yay

That's awesome!!! Congrats!!! We call sallie Mae a not so nice name in our home so it's always fun to hear when people start kicking her to the curb. Great job!!!

 

[xCourxCorex]

That's awesome!!! Congrats!!! We call sallie Mae a not so nice name in our home so it's always fun to hear when people start kicking her to the curb. Great job!!!

Thank you! I despise Sallie Mae lol. The online payments are impossible to figure out (seriously it's 2013 how do you not have an option for a one-time payment that doesn't interfere with an automatic debit??)... and then one time, I mailed a check with specific instructions to put it only towards that one smaller loan... what do they do ? Equally disperse it to all four.
I cannot wait until she is out of my life for good

 

[Cobern]

Submitted my payment to close out my smallest school loan - payment should clear by Tuesday!! Then three left to tackle.. and I got the Sallie Mae rep to just roll over the monthly payment from this smallest loan to the next smallest one, almost doubling the amount I pay each month! Yay

I finally paid them off last month! I am still enrolled in college but I am only taking classes I can afford. Good job!

 

[Malakaiii]

Whoot!

I always seem to forget about our child benefits each month... so that always feels like surprise money that I totally haven't planned for!

Topped up our Emergency Account so it's at $1000 now! Going to put another $200 against our Visa.

 

[gracie1]

You guys are all doing such a fantastic job

 

[beansmom]

we've paid off our citicard mc and our business credit this month.

we are really coming along.

 

[gracie1]

we've paid off our citicard mc and our business credit this month.

we are really coming along.

Great job!! You are really coming along!