Debt Dumpers - 2013

[yupikgal]

Hi Christine, Your loan has been cleared to close! Congratulations! [/B] I am so excited I am shaking. lol My pre-walk through was yesterday. A lot of stuff to fix on their end, but I was assured that it will be done.

I just need to say THANK YOU TO EVERYONE! Y'all have been through this with me from the beginning and helped me through my rough days and helped me stay positive. I close next Tuesday and move on Wednesday. I will post a picture of me and my family when we move. I might not be on here much this coming week....need to finalize packing and do the utilities stuff! Y'all are the best support team!

CONGRATS!

 

[crazycatstacy]

Congrats on moving in!! Whoo hoo!!!

 

[bababear_50]

I am busted again
One and only toilet we have needs to be replaced,service call just cost me $203.00(Visa) to clear plug and he is saying another $500-$600 to put a new one in. I called my son's father and he and the boys are going to buy one this Sat and try installing it.I sure hope they are able to do it.
This is why I really need to get an emergency fund in place.
Oh well $200.00 less to spend on Christmas I guess,sad,,,,sad.
Mel

 

[bababear_50]

As for me!!!! I JUST now got the email that states "Hi Christine, Your loan has been cleared to close! Congratulations! I am so excited I am shaking. lol My pre-walk through was yesterday. A lot of stuff to fix on their end, but I was assured that it will be done.

I just need to say THANK YOU TO EVERYONE! Y'all have been through this with me from the beginning and helped me through my rough days and helped me stay positive. I close next Tuesday and move on Wednesday. I will post a picture of me and my family when we move. I might not be on here much this coming week....need to finalize packing and do the utilities stuff! Y'all are the best support team! [/QUOTE]

Congrats Christine sweetie
you deserve this so much!


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Hugs Mel

 

[Eureka]

I haven't been around much but we've been plugging away.
The bad news - my fridge died tonight.
The good news - I had the cash to buy a new one.

I was doing the 52 week savings plan (but backwards) so I had over $1300 in the savings that I used for the fridge. Now I just need to replace that money by Feb for our WDW trip. Thankfully DH gets his bonus in Dec.

Great news that you can buy it with cash!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Now that you have your husband on board, he is moving forward. lol Yea for being almost done with Christmas shopping!



I'm so sorry about your fridge, but so glad you had the emergency money! awesome savings plan!

As for me!!!! I JUST now got the email that states "Hi Christine, Your loan has been cleared to close! Congratulations! I am so excited I am shaking. lol My pre-walk through was yesterday. A lot of stuff to fix on their end, but I was assured that it will be done.

I just need to say THANK YOU TO EVERYONE! Y'all have been through this with me from the beginning and helped me through my rough days and helped me stay positive. I close next Tuesday and move on Wednesday. I will post a picture of me and my family when we move. I might not be on here much this coming week....need to finalize packing and do the utilities stuff! Y'all are the best support team!

Yay! That's great news! You must be so relieved and excited at the same time! Moving is a lot of work but it's so nice once you get settled in and it feels like home. I'd love to see some pics when things aren't so crazy busy in your life.

I am busted again
One and only toilet we have needs to be replaced,service call just cost me $203.00(Visa) to clear plug and he is saying another $500-$600 to put a new one in. I called my son's father and he and the boys are going to buy one this Sat and try installing it.I sure hope they are able to do it.
This is why I really need to get an emergency fund in place.
Oh well $200.00 less to spend on Christmas I guess,sad,,,,sad.
Mel

Ugh! I hope they're able to get it done for you.
Too bad you're not closer to us or I'd send dh over. He's very handy and does lots of side jobs like that without gouging people. Of course he doesn't have the overhead that a regular business would either.

Good luck everyone! Keep plugging away! Baby steps...

 

[momof2gr8kids]

Bumping this up - it was way down on pg 3!

Hope everyone is staying on track with their budgeting and no extra debt at Christmas.

I mentioned before dh got some back pay so that's helping us out with Christmas and more for our savings. He also just got a different temporary rotation at his work which will result in an extra couple hundred on each pay cheque. I hope it lasts for a bit! Either way it helps us out over Christmas and with things like winter tires, new winter jacket and boots for dd, etc.

The new year will see a revamp of the budget and more going towards savings and debt reduction.

I don't get a chance to post very often, but I'm usually checking in every couple of days. Keep up the good work everyone!

 

[zy144622]

I'm still on track to Not creating new debt but not doing as well as I would like at paying off old debt. Had a big mess with Citi Bank making a mistake and we are going on 90days of working on a correction. Dec 4th my next statement posts and should reflect final corrections.

What happened with Citi Bank you may ask?
Back in May I did a balance transfer for 0% on the same card that had another offer expiring. I paid off the expiring offer a week or so before the transfer but during the same bill cycle. Well the system applied my payment to my new balance transfer and moved the expiring offer to standard purchase to accrue interest! Not good!!! I didn't catch it at first because I thought there would be some interest of the balance transfer fee. Well 2 months in a row I made sure to pay more than enough than the fee but interest keep coming...that's when I spent some time digging into my statements to figure it out. The hardest part was getting someone at Citi's call center to listen to me and LOOK at the statements. 3 people gave me the "your crazy we don't make mistakes you offer expired". Then of course when I get someone who agrees with me, sees the issue, is dumb founded as to how it happened, has never seen this before and stated this was a huge coaching opportunity and system issue...he drops the ball and fails to fix anything! First rounds of calls was over 2 hours to do it all again the next month when my statement posts WRONG again...lol so when called this month I only had to fight through 1 rep to get a supervised to pay attention. She to tried to brush me off but I made it clear I wasn't stopping until she looked at the numbers. She got and was just as surprised at the last guy. She has however changed my balance to a 0% offer and credited the interest fees I paid so far...dec statement will be tell the truth!

 

[jenny105]

We're gonna have a 2014 debt dumpers thread right? Cause I've gone overboard for Christmas lol.

 

[momof2gr8kids]

We're gonna have a 2014 debt dumpers thread right? Cause I've gone overboard for Christmas lol.

I'm sure there will be. I can't be the only one who can't pay off debt in just a year! LOL

 

[AlohaNow]

Hello!

I have powered through this entire thread from Day One over the past few days and am so ready to join! Last week I read DR’s TMM and we have decided to begin a zero-based budget, which is a new way of thinking about things for me. Any ‘leftover’ money we had I would just hoard, because I always felt it would be needed for something unexpected next week. And it usually was! I have used Quicken for years and have a separate ‘budget’ spreadsheet, but I realize now that I just plugged in numbers after the fact and did not actually and actively ‘budget’. Duh! So we will go on a slightly tweaked TMM, looking more at interest rate than total amount owed for each debt. (After years of reading Money magazine, I just cannot agree on the interest rate not playing a role. Sorry Dave R!)

It is a difficult time to start this, with the holidays coming. But I have my spreadsheet all set up and will use November and December to perfect my categories and get some true numbers, and will truly begin the plan in January. My full-time job utilizes a compressed work week, working Mon-Thurs, so part of the plan is to find a ‘Friday job’ to boost income. My two boys will not be happy with this new arrangement (they like sleeping in a bit later and the baked goods that await them at end of day), but I see no way to get out of the hole we are in without boosting income. My husband’s checks vary with hours worked and commissions earned, so I get a surprise every two weeks. Sometimes a good surprise, sometimes a bad surprise!

I love the support I see on this thread. People typically do not mention what they do for a living or how much they make, but only their steps toward becoming debt-free. You wonderful people have already taught me that Every. Little. Bit. Counts. And that many of you are obsessed with Jon Bon Jovi.

I would like to list out our transgressions, but at this point will just say that our $25k+ in total cc debt is depressing enough. It is killing me and I see it as an insurmountable obstacle. This will be a years-long struggle and we already feel that we have cut things back so much already. But it is time to really grow up and make some adult decisions about things. I like to get on an airplane at least once a year and simply must accept the fact that this will no longer happen. You bet your sweet bippy that a paid-in-full-in-advance vacation will be the reward for all this!

Sorry ‘bout the long post, just wanted to introduce and again say thanks for all the great advice here!

 

[*Flower*]

We have all walked in your shoes to a certain extent- I can tell you that at one point we were over $60,000 in cc debt.

We (I) had to wake up and smell the coffee too- DH was spending with champagne tastes and a water wallet. No beer for him LOL, we could only afford water!

But perseverence helps a lot, and we're now out of debt totally, no more mortgage or car payments........ and our retirement account is growing a little at a time.

We ALL can do this- if we put our mind to it, but you have to want to do it for YOU and your family. Nobody else can make you do it... you have to want it for yourself and your own peace of mind!

Good luck to you, and take one day/bill at a time.

 

[SpaceGirl]

As for me!!!! I JUST now got the email that states "Hi Christine, Your loan has been cleared to close! Congratulations! I am so excited I am shaking. lol My pre-walk through was yesterday. A lot of stuff to fix on their end, but I was assured that it will be done.
I just need to say THANK YOU TO EVERYONE! Y'all have been through this with me from the beginning and helped me through my rough days and helped me stay positive. I close next Tuesday and move on Wednesday. I will post a picture of me and my family when we move. I might not be on here much this coming week....need to finalize packing and do the utilities stuff! Y'all are the best support team!

Christine

WOW I miss a few days and look what happens, you should be either a HOME OWNER now or will be any minute. Wishing you all the luck in the world on your new adventure. Can't wait to hear all the details.

 

[SpaceGirl]

We're gonna have a 2014 debt dumpers thread right? Cause I've gone overboard for Christmas lol.

Jenny

Well.... I not only have gone overboard with Christmas Shopping but the Ship has sailed away, I'll be here in 2014 until I get back on track.

I am almost finished shopping only a few gift cards left to purchase and cash for another person. Then the wrapping begins.

Beckie

 

[crazycatstacy]

Jenny

Well.... I not only have gone overboard with Christmas Shopping but the Ship has sailed away, I'll be here in 2014 until I get back on track.

I am almost finished shopping only a few gift cards left to purchase and cash for another person. Then the wrapping begins.

Beckie

I was excited to find in my Christmas stash that I had bought a ton of gift bags on clearance last year so wrapping has been painless for me so far!

 

[SpaceGirl]

WELCOME AlohaNow

Yes it's true some of us do enjoy Jon Bon Jovi, he's going to visit at Gracie's house Christmas Morning we are all going to meet at her house.

You did pick a rough time to start but anytime is good to take back control of your finances.

Good Luck we'll be here for you.

 

[SpaceGirl]

I was excited to find in my Christmas stash that I had bought a ton of gift bags on clearance last year so wrapping has been painless for me so far!

I love wrapping the gifts, big bows, etc. everyone says they hate unwrapping their gifts because they are so beautiful. They also hate me because I use so much tape they have to fight to get them open.

The tape comes from watching my Mother go in before Christmas and opening all her gifts early but no one being able to tell because she was so good at sneaking them open....NOT MINE. This is also why I can't use gift bags. It's great that you found yours and they are already paid for...

I want to do something different this year with my wrapping, trying to decide just what.

 

[momof2gr8kids]

I love wrapping the gifts, big bows, etc. everyone says they hate unwrapping their gifts because they are so beautiful. They also hate me because I use so much tape they have to fight to get them open.

The tape comes from watching my Mother go in before Christmas and opening all her gifts early but no one being able to tell because she was so good at sneaking them open....NOT MINE. This is also why I can't use gift bags. It's great that you found yours and they are already paid for...

I want to do something different this year with my wrapping, trying to decide just what.

Switch up the tags. LOL I've done that with the kids a few times. A week before they are poking and prodding and shaking trying to guess what something is under the tree, then Christmas morning the tags are switched back. (You have to have a code somewhere on the package so you know who it's really for! LOL)

 

[gracie1]

WELCOME AlohaNow

Yes it's true some of us do enjoy Jon Bon Jovi, he's going to visit at Gracie's house Christmas Morning we are all going to meet at her house.

You did pick a rough time to start but anytime is good to take back control of your finances.

Good Luck we'll be here for you.

Yes, Bon Jovi is supposed to be under my tree Christmas morning. I told him all he needed was to put a bow on and I would be happy I told my mom we should fly to Australia where his next concert is I am happy I did get to see him twice this year, and if he comes around next year I will be back. This past concert he pulled one of his fans up on stage - it was her 200th concert to see him. I know she must either get a free ticket or huge discount, because to sit in the pit section is between $700-$1300 per ticket.

You all are making such great progress!! I will be back on the thread in 2014 as well. Even though my debts will technically be my mortgage and home equity loan - I just love this thread and support!! I am still plugging away at the dentist, and even though I put it on my charge to earn rewards, I have been able to pay it off as I go along. Of course this is dipping into my savings, but atleast I am not paying interest.

I plan to start a new spreadsheet for next year, and am thinking of opening a separate savings account that will be my vacation account. This way it will be separate from my other account.

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

I guess I'm joining the party. I married at 19 with no debt, but got to assume my husband's college loans and small CC debt. I then managed to tack on student loans of my own (grad school). The CC debt grew. Then the mortgage, and my desire to have a new car every 2 years (hey I live in the Motor City, just doing my part). We got sucked into the lure of having a rewards CC that we did a good job of paying off every month, until the little things came up, and a small balance was carried. Well somehow that small balance now stands at $30k!

I've read Dave Ramsey, and watched some of his videos. I've googled. I've cried, lol. We're obviously far from TMM people, but some of his ideas I do want to try and incorporate into our attempt to attack our budget/spending.

My husband and I both have good jobs (he's a CPA, scary right, and I'm a well paid teacher, though my salary has gone backwards the last 5 years). We make more then enough (especially when I read on pintrest about people living w/ 4 kids on 1/4 our combined salaries).

There are things were aren't willing to give up (the house, the cars (I have a 2014, DH has 2011). My 4yo son plays soccer, my 8yo daughter is on select (travel) soccer. But we need to get better with our spending. We should not be in the debt we are with the money we make.

We took a good step (for us) last night in opening up yet another CC. I know, right, we shouldn't be getting another CC at this point in our journey. But we have an Amex carrying an $18k balance w/ 20% APR. This CC is 0% for 21 mos on balance transfer. After one month we'll have recouped the balance transfer fee in interest alone. So while it's another CC, it's a smart move for us. We'll be able to have more money go towards paying down balances each month!

Anyways I'm looking forward to joining this group and hopefully tackling this debt. Despite my desire to still have my things....I do want to get out of debt (truthfully, we make enough to have both).