Debt Dumpers - 2014

[Eureka]

Do you have a battery charger? This weather can be hard even on a good battery; mine died during the last brutal cold snap even though it tested fine just a month or so earlier. We were able to revive it with the charger and it is once again testing just fine now. It just couldn't handle a couple days of being parked outdoors and not driving in this weather. I was SO relieved. We'd just put $1100 into DH's truck and I was having nightmares of needing to put that kind of money into mine as well.

I hope it turns out to be something relatively cheap and easy for you too.





Great job!

Well we had it towed over today. The tow guy got it started but black smoke was coming out of the tailpipe. Wonderful. So who knows, waiting for the guy from the shop to call me. I am just not in a good place today; my mom had a knee replacement yesterday (she's doing fine but I have been worried), I am trying to work with everyone home, worrying about the car now, etc etc etc

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

OK, I have been stalking so I feel like posting today. We just paid off small $490 credit card. Then paid off another $2,000 on another. So, we have 400 left on credit cards. Next comes the never ending medical bills. Autoimmune diseases totally suck our money away. But we are making some progress!

Woohoo!! Great job!
I hope the med bills decrease for you too.

 

[ceemys]

OK, I have been stalking so I feel like posting today. We just paid off small $490 credit card. Then paid off another $2,000 on another. So, we have 400 left on credit cards. Next comes the never ending medical bills. Autoimmune diseases totally suck our money away. But we are making some progress!

Great job on your cards!

Well we had it towed over today. The tow guy got it started but black smoke was coming out of the tailpipe. Wonderful. So who knows, waiting for the guy from the shop to call me. I am just not in a good place today; my mom had a knee replacement yesterday (she's doing fine but I have been worried), I am trying to work with everyone home, worrying about the car now, etc etc etc

I'm so sorry. Big hugs. At least it can start now. Maybe it just needs a tune up or clean the engine?

 

[NemoMOm]

Thanks everyone for the support!! We are trying to get there.

 

[donkeyandshrek]

So happy to post. Final payment on home improvement on the Lowes card! Exciting to mark that off my list!

 

[ceemys]

Thanks everyone for the support!! We are trying to get there.

So happy to post. Final payment on home improvement on the Lowes card! Exciting to mark that off my list!

Great job!

 

[Eureka]

Great job on your cards!

I'm so sorry. Big hugs. At least it can start now. Maybe it just needs a tune up or clean the engine?

We've been getting maintenance work done, so I don't know. Picked it up this afternoon, it started for them every two hours since yesterday and no more black smoke. Only problem is when will it not start next? So far, no money's gone into it but we have been talking about what we'll do if we need to buy soon....using emergency fund to pay off the credit card to free up money for another car payment etc. Let's hope my poor old van can old on a little longer.

 

[gracie1]

Wow!!!! Everyone is doing a fantastic job! Just look at all the debt that has been dumped!!!

 

[gracie1]

Well, took the plunge. Went through and compared everything to last year, and I couldn't find any missing documents. So, I'm pretty sure I have it all done, so I filed. I must confess, I did use my CC to file. With the ice and snow we got last week, I missed one of my shifts at my 3rd job, and my 2nd job hasn't had me work any since New Years. But, I'm getting about $600 more this year than last year on my refund, so I'm planning to pay off that CC and then snowball what I've been paying to another one. I may be opening myself up, but does anyone want to critique my plans for my refund? (Just remember Thumpers daddy, "If you can't say something nice, don't say nuthin' at all.") Total refund is about $3500 pay back my mom $500 for emergency loan late from late December, $3000 left. pay off 1 CC for about $1500, leaving $1500 (it's my lowest balance, but also my lowest interest card. It's also the only one I can completely pay off considering my next expenditure), use about $1000 for my March vacation trip ($300 for gas, $150 for memory maker, $200 for ECV rental, $150 for food [+ the $150 in gift cards I got for Christmas for table service], $200 for souvenirs) I may get some back on this, I have a couple of friends who want to go to Disney with me since I have a time-share, and I'll "charge" them an equal share for gas and an equitable cost for the room. But if they go, not for certain yet, that money will just be added to ... add/create my emergency fund $500+ any left over from vacation or reimbursements from friends. Any constructive thoughts?

I agree 100% to make sure your mom is paid off. I hate owing people and always would make sure their paid off first!

 

[crazycatstacy]

Paid off our furniture loan today! Hallelujah. Had a bad spending weekend though. I have been working different hours- working late at night and then taking Fridays off. My husband is off on Fridays-Saturdays-and goes to work at 10pm on Sundays so we have the whole weekend together. It is really nice but we went crazy spending this weekend acting like we have a bunch of money or something! Ate out a lot more than we should have and just nickel and dimed stuff all weekend.

Good news is that our daughter moved home in December (only made it two months on her own- realized it was a little harder than she thought!). She is hopefully starting a better job in a week (she works two jobs now but neither really pays much nor are they full time) and will FINALLY be able to pay us her "rent" in March. I know some people don't agree with charging their children rent but I think she is an adult and made choices to not attend college and there is no reason she can't pay $200 a month in rent for her lodging/food/etc (plus she brought a cat home and we of course buy his food, litter, etc and take care of him). So starting in March her $200 in rent will be able to go towards more debt payments!

 

[gracie1]

Paid off our furniture loan today! Hallelujah. Had a bad spending weekend though. I have been working different hours- working late at night and then taking Fridays off. My husband is off on Fridays-Saturdays-and goes to work at 10pm on Sundays so we have the whole weekend together. It is really nice but we went crazy spending this weekend acting like we have a bunch of money or something! Ate out a lot more than we should have and just nickel and dimed stuff all weekend. Good news is that our daughter moved home in December (only made it two months on her own- realized it was a little harder than she thought!). She is hopefully starting a better job in a week (she works two jobs now but neither really pays much nor are they full time) and will FINALLY be able to pay us her "rent" in March. I know some people don't agree with charging their children rent but I think she is an adult and made choices to not attend college and there is no reason she can't pay $200 a month in rent for her lodging/food/etc (plus she brought a cat home and we of course buy his food, litter, etc and take care of him). So starting in March her $200 in rent will be able to go towards more debt payments!

I agree 100% on charging rent. I charged my brother $300 a month and that included everything plus his child stayed part time. I would love to only have to pay $200 a month for everything!!

Congrats on getting your furniture loan paid off! And we all have crazy spending days!!

 

[cristen72]

It's taken 4 days but I've read this entire thread.

So many of you are doing great on your debt! Congrats!

Unfortunately I'm not doing well at all. Bad choices along with unexpected medical expenses has left us with a huge debt. At this point I'm considering talking to a bankruptcy attorney. There's more debt than there is income to pay it.

We have made cuts. Got rid of cable completely. Re did cell plans. Don't eat out. Use coupons. Pack lunches. It's still bad.

I have a retirement plan with $80k sitting in it. I know retirement money is exempt from bankruptcy. Do I declare and then save my retirement fund? Do I cash it out, pay big taxes and penalties, but also completely pay off the debt?

I know these are questions for the attorney but I wanted to reach out and ask some advice here in care others have been in this situation.

Thanks for listening.

Edited to add: You may wonder how I have $80k in retirement savings yet so much debt. I have worked 20 years for a privately owned company with an extremely generous contribution. They also pay big bucks to have it managed by an amazing investment company. In 20 years I have not contributed one dime to this plan. Every penny in the fund is from my employer.

 

[dayvewc]

It's taken 4 days but I've read this entire thread. So many of you are doing great on your debt! Congrats! Unfortunately I'm not doing well at all. Bad choices along with unexpected medical expenses has left us with a huge debt. At this point I'm considering talking to a bankruptcy attorney. There's more debt than there is income to pay it. We have made cuts. Got rid of cable completely. Re did cell plans. Don't eat out. Use coupons. Pack lunches. It's still bad. I have a retirement plan with $80k sitting in it. I know retirement money is exempt from bankruptcy. Do I declare and then save my retirement fund? Do I cash it out, pay big taxes and penalties, but also completely pay off the debt? I know these are questions for the attorney but I wanted to reach out and ask some advice here in care others have been in this situation. Thanks for listening.

Just me, I'd save the retirement for retirement. Definitely talk to a bankruptcy lawyer if you need to, that's just my rake.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Paid off our furniture loan today! Hallelujah. Had a bad spending weekend though. I have been working different hours- working late at night and then taking Fridays off. My husband is off on Fridays-Saturdays-and goes to work at 10pm on Sundays so we have the whole weekend together. It is really nice but we went crazy spending this weekend acting like we have a bunch of money or something! Ate out a lot more than we should have and just nickel and dimed stuff all weekend.

Good news is that our daughter moved home in December (only made it two months on her own- realized it was a little harder than she thought!). She is hopefully starting a better job in a week (she works two jobs now but neither really pays much nor are they full time) and will FINALLY be able to pay us her "rent" in March. I know some people don't agree with charging their children rent but I think she is an adult and made choices to not attend college and there is no reason she can't pay $200 a month in rent for her lodging/food/etc (plus she brought a cat home and we of course buy his food, litter, etc and take care of him). So starting in March her $200 in rent will be able to go towards more debt payments!

I don't think it's unreasonable to charge rent, though I did when I was the grown kid living at home.
My parents charged me $200/month and that was way back in 1990. I wonder what that is in today's dollars. For $550 I could get a 1BR apartment that included heat & hot water & had a W/D right in the unit. So I moved out. Now, $550 even seems like peanuts.


We've been swimming along. All of our snowball is being diverted so we can pay the extra car ins since ds17 will be getting his license soon. Also I'm changing the way I set $ aside for car insurance so that I won't have to divert the snowball at all next time. I was always ready for it in the past but this time it's so much higher and GEICO wants to bill my card 1 month before it takes effect. Sigh... oh well. Only 2 weeks left and the snowball goes back to paying down bills.

Last night I went on www.debtMD.com that a pp recommended. What a great website. They sort of follow DR in that you start with the smallest bill and keep minimums on all the rest then keep snowballing. What's nice about this is that it shows each month from now until the mortgage is paid off in an easy to read printable chart. Wow! If we keep at it like we are, we would have 0 debt by 2020. That's just 6 yrs from now and would pay off dh's truck and the mortgage too. Currently the truck still has 2.5 yrs left of payments and the mortgage has around 14 yrs. So sticking to our guns for 6 yrs will really make a difference!! I love this plan. I had a little homemade one but it doesn't include truck & mortgage. I love how it shows the light at the end of the tunnel.

I really hope we can stick with it though I have my doubts since ds17 will be a senior in the fall and college prices are making me ill. The thought of ds graduating with a ton of debt makes me ill too. ugh.

Anyway, we'll stick with it as long & as much as we can.
Until then, just keep swimming!!
Great job everyone!


Oh wait, I forgot to mention. Ds13 is the last one to leave in the am, a few mins after I leave for work. Well ds17, first to come home each day, tells me the other day that one day when he came home (through the attached garage door with PIN code) the smaller door leading to kitchen was wide open. Of course this was one of those 5 degree days. Ds13 must have rushed out the door and never shut it.
Also we have an indoor cat, afraid of her own shadow, but always curious about the garage. I guess it's good that it was so cold or she would have wandered around and ran outside when ds17 opened the big door. So because the kitchen was probably freezing, she was curled up in ds17's bed, as far from the kitchen as she could get. He would be a wreck if she got outside & lost.
So now my gas/electric bill is almost $600. Typically it's around $400 in winter. Stuff just never ends, but still, it could be something much worse so I'm grateful.

 

[gracie1]

It's taken 4 days but I've read this entire thread.

So many of you are doing great on your debt! Congrats!

Unfortunately I'm not doing well at all. Bad choices along with unexpected medical expenses has left us with a huge debt. At this point I'm considering talking to a bankruptcy attorney. There's more debt than there is income to pay it.

We have made cuts. Got rid of cable completely. Re did cell plans. Don't eat out. Use coupons. Pack lunches. It's still bad.

I have a retirement plan with $80k sitting in it. I know retirement money is exempt from bankruptcy. Do I declare and then save my retirement fund? Do I cash it out, pay big taxes and penalties, but also completely pay off the debt?

I know these are questions for the attorney but I wanted to reach out and ask some advice here in care others have been in this situation.

Thanks for listening.

Edited to add: You may wonder how I have $80k in retirement savings yet so much debt. I have worked 20 years for a privately owned company with an extremely generous contribution. They also pay big bucks to have it managed by an amazing investment company. In 20 years I have not contributed one dime to this plan. Every penny in the fund is from my employer.

I think you should definitely talk to a bankruptcy attorney. I don't think filing bankruptcy they can touch your retirement, but I'm not sure. I would not touch the retirement at all! You should definitely keep that!!!

 

[ceemys]

Paid off our furniture loan today! Hallelujah. Had a bad spending weekend though. I have been working different hours- working late at night and then taking Fridays off. My husband is off on Fridays-Saturdays-and goes to work at 10pm on Sundays so we have the whole weekend together. It is really nice but we went crazy spending this weekend acting like we have a bunch of money or something! Ate out a lot more than we should have and just nickel and dimed stuff all weekend.

Good news is that our daughter moved home in December (only made it two months on her own- realized it was a little harder than she thought!). She is hopefully starting a better job in a week (she works two jobs now but neither really pays much nor are they full time) and will FINALLY be able to pay us her "rent" in March. I know some people don't agree with charging their children rent but I think she is an adult and made choices to not attend college and there is no reason she can't pay $200 a month in rent for her lodging/food/etc (plus she brought a cat home and we of course buy his food, litter, etc and take care of him). So starting in March her $200 in rent will be able to go towards more debt payments!

Totally agree on charging rent. $200 is plenty low and just gets her a start on monthly expenses.

 

[ceemys]

Just me, I'd save the retirement for retirement. Definitely talk to a bankruptcy lawyer if you need to, that's just my rake.

totally agree! I would leave it alone.

 

[AirGoofy]

New to the thread and have enjoyed the encouraging posts. I found Dave Ramsey's stuff a few years ago, and it certainly made a difference. We haven't gone all the way to the envelope system and I have a credit card for gasoline purchases as I travel a lot for work and am reimbursed the following month. I do use cash for everything else. We established a budget using an excel sheet and that works for us. I am the math nerd in the house, and I log our income & expenses. It has helped us see which months have more money going out (Disney trips, taxes) to plan better.

. What's nice about this is that it shows each month from now until the mortgage is paid off in an easy to read printable chart. Wow! If we keep at it like we are, we would have 0 debt by 2020. That's just 6 yrs from now and would pay off dh's truck and the mortgage too. .

We are 6 years out on the home mortgage as well. That same year, our oldest will start college. Still, it is exciting to know that we will be debt free.

 

[gracie1]

New to the thread and have enjoyed the encouraging posts. I found Dave Ramsey's stuff a few years ago, and it certainly made a difference. We haven't gone all the way to the envelope system and I have a credit card for gasoline purchases as I travel a lot for work and am reimbursed the following month. I do use cash for everything else. We established a budget using an excel sheet and that works for us. I am the math nerd in the house, and I log our income & expenses. It has helped us see which months have more money going out (Disney trips, taxes) to plan better.



We are 6 years out on the home mortgage as well. That same year, our oldest will start college. Still, it is exciting to know that we will be debt free.

Congrats! Sounds like you've done a fantastic job getting on track I hope you stick around on this thread to offer some of your expertise in areas that helped you that may help others!!

 

[Eureka]

Paid off our furniture loan today! Hallelujah. Had a bad spending weekend though. I have been working different hours- working late at night and then taking Fridays off. My husband is off on Fridays-Saturdays-and goes to work at 10pm on Sundays so we have the whole weekend together. It is really nice but we went crazy spending this weekend acting like we have a bunch of money or something! Ate out a lot more than we should have and just nickel and dimed stuff all weekend.

Sometimes it's worth it to spend some time together. When our kids were toddlers, I worked M-Th nights til 10pm and all day Saturday while DH had a traditional schedule. We hired a babysitter and went out every Saturday night because it was our time to reconnect and actually see each other during the week.