Debt Dumpers - 2014

[PrincessKymm]

I made a very small extra payment to my student loans but it still felt good. I also made a payment to my credit card today and hope to continue weekly payments. As soon as we are back from our Disney trip I'm throwing as much extra money as possible at my car, my goal for paying the last payment is December 17. I can't believe how much making that one payment has improved my credit score.

I still have to call the hospital and work out a payment plan with them. I got another bill but it's only $1,150! I will take that over $3500! I could pay it off but that is pretty much all the savings I have. I'd rather not put myself back in a bad spot.

It feels so good to be making such progress! How is everyone else doing?

 

[desiree71081]

I know most of the time it is suggested that you not consolidate debt because it's just like moving debt from one place to the other. However, DH took a loan out on his 401K and we were able to pay off 6 bills and will be saving $900/month that we were previously sending to these bills. All the extra will now be going into savings!!!! So excited.

 

[xCourxCorex]

Submitted my final payment for student loan #3... when that clears I will only have one more loan left ~$4300!

 

[gracie1]

Submitted my final payment for student loan #3... when that clears I will only have one more loan left ~$4300!

Way to go!! You will have that last loan knocked out before you know it! It's a great feeling once things start getting paid off!

 

[Monykalyn]

I know most of the time it is suggested that you not consolidate debt because it's just like moving debt from one place to the other. However, DH took a loan out on his 401K and we were able to pay off 6 bills and will be saving $900/month that we were previously sending to these bills. All the extra will now be going into savings!!!! So excited.

I know that all the financial "gurus" say not to do this...but you are borrowing and paying YOURSELF back. we did this several years ago and was best thing we ever did-it let us get on top of our debt and really pay it off. We now have the 401k payed back, no cc debt, a mortgage we can easily afford on one salary and all the kids have money in their college 529's. We are also those people who drive paid off older cars lol (mine is 2001 and still going strong-Toyota 4Runner -I have taken care of my baby )
You have to do what works for you and stick with a plan! $900 is alot of money every month!

 

[desiree71081]

I know that all the financial "gurus" say not to do this...but you are borrowing and paying YOURSELF back. we did this several years ago and was best thing we ever did-it let us get on top of our debt and really pay it off. We now have the 401k payed back, no cc debt, a mortgage we can easily afford on one salary and all the kids have money in their college 529's. We are also those people who drive paid off older cars lol (mine is 2001 and still going strong-Toyota 4Runner -I have taken care of my baby )
You have to do what works for you and stick with a plan! $900 is alot of money every month!

Oh how I wish we were at the point of having a mortgage we could afford on one salary. I would love to stay home with my kids. Maybe the best I can hope for at the moment is being able to stay home with my grandkids way in the future.....

 

[yupikgal]

Hi there everyone! I need to update you, haven't posted for a while. We have only 3.5 months until our California/Las Vegas trip! Can't wait! Have until October 19 to pay off Disney pkg, which I'm on target to do. I've also been saving in 2 different online accounts, & the balance is growing fast! We've also got our annual dividends that we will take along! please don't judge me for going on a vacation while we still have debt. I've already explained the situation before. We are not going to add to the debt because we're paying everything off and saving before we go. We are not behind in our monthly obligations, pay them on time every month, we have a good credit rating. Anyway, onto more mundane things like paying off debt. I've been plugging along, working on the highest interest rate card, and then yesterday I got an offer from one of my existing cards that I paid off months ago. 0% interest till next July or a longer promotion period if we do a fixed rate of 3.99. i'm very tempted to do the 0% for a year, but I want to make sure that I would pay it off within the year. It would save about $1000 interest charges based on what we've been charged. would use it for the card with the second highest balance, because the one with the highest interest rate I've got down to where the interest isn't very much, and it will be paid off by February. I wouldn't be able to make large payments on that until I paid off the one of the highest interest rate. I'm sure that I could do that even this would mean five months of higher payments because the other one will be paid off by then. Does this make sense? I know it sounds a little confusing. Congratulations to everyone who's been making strides in your goal to be debt-free!! You're all doing great!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Still plugging away here too.
DH started his new job yesterday. Bit lower salary but nothing we can't manage, just need to tighten the free spending a bit more.
Reworked our finances again. I feel like I need to keep revisiting them so the numbers are visible and not just in my bill book.

Tuition is due soon for the 2 youngest. Trying to decide how to pay it, all at once, 2 payments on August and January or monthly. All at once would put a big bite into what I have in savings but I kind of want it out if the way. The cost is the same no matter how I pay it.

I'm also getting better at writing stuff down like car taxes, registration fees for the cars, etc. these are things we don't keep track of except for tax time. I wrote out when the registration is due for the cars so I can start planning ahead. I also wrote out on my calendar when the rv insurance was due (once a year) and I had the money set aside for 1/2, which was nice.

Oh and I canceled our wireless card. We weren't using it anymore so that saves $48 a month and DH is canceling our old email address from EarthLink which will save another $24 a month. I will snowball that into a credit card.

We have a 5 year plan now with moving so I'm trying to get all our ducks in a row now.

 

[gracie1]

You guys are all doing a great job!! I have had a bad run lately - but luckily no new debt, able to pay out of savings. I had the $1200 in car repairs and now I need a new roof on my outside building where my gym is so that's another $900. But.... I just keep looking at the bright side that it is not new debt. Just draining my savings Oh, and September will bring upon my car insurance and the property tax, so that will be another $1000 in all. Ugh..... gotta love bills !!!!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

You guys are all doing a great job!! I have had a bad run lately - but luckily no new debt, able to pay out of savings. I had the $1200 in car repairs and now I need a new roof on my outside building where my gym is so that's another $900. But.... I just keep looking at the bright side that it is not new debt. Just draining my savings Oh, and September will bring upon my car insurance and the property tax, so that will be another $1000 in all. Ugh..... gotta love bills !!!!

I will gladly trade property taxes with you. Ours are approaching $9000/year. This is for a small 3br/2ba rancher on 1/4 acre, no basement.

 

[LilacBarries]

Hi there everyone! I need to update you, haven't posted for a while. We have only 3.5 months until our California/Las Vegas trip! Can't wait! Have until October 19 to pay off Disney pkg, which I'm on target to do. I've also been saving in 2 different online accounts, & the balance is growing fast! We've also got our annual dividends that we will take along! please don't judge me for going on a vacation while we still have debt. I've already explained the situation before. We are not going to add to the debt because we're paying everything off and saving before we go.

No judgement here, we are doing the same thing.we're going on a cruise in September. We've been plugging away at our cc 's and a couple other loans for the last 4 years and a lot has happened in that time and although we haven't been able to pay it off, we haven't gotten any new debt(well except for our plane tickets, but we don't count that as they were budgeted for and already paid off, just had to jump at the good airfare when I had the chance) I don't know your story but sometimes things really are a need and not a want. For us, this vacation is need. We've been able to save all the money for it and it's such a good feeling.

Nothing paid off this month- but we went back to focusing on grocery budget and have done fabulous.last month was super busy and I got sick and our eating out got out of hand and so did the money. We're still on track to have all debt (just 2 more cc's) but our student loans paid off by the end of the year., we may even be able to pay off my one smaller student loan. All we have left four our upcoming cruise is a little more saving for incidentals.

Keep going everyone and don't beat yourself up when you have to take money out of savings for life stuff. Yes, it's sad to see the number drop but it won't cost you three or four times the original amount after you've paid for it and that's just what's it's there for, the unforeseen.

 

[Eureka]

Hi, it's been awhile since I have been here. Been a tumultuous summer, work-wise. Dh's contract was up for rebid and we just found out today they got it, so yay. He has a job still. My office has seen changes and a few layoffs, including a co-worker who did exactly what I do, and my department is changing significantly. So we'll see where that leads. I am feeling a little less tense than I had been but not completely stable.

One of our showers is leaking through the wall, so we need to get up that figured out, need to be in touch with the contractor and see what our options are and how we will pay for it. Also had to put some car repairs back on the credit card in the spring so working to get that gone. We had some other car repairs and medical bills this summer that we were able to pay free and clear, so happy about that. Meanwhile, we are still maxing out on my retirement and putting money into 529s every month, so at least our long-term future is looking secure.

Next week is our beach vacation...house is paid for, I have groceries to bring and will get some there, and have set aside some spending money. Only thing now is hoping Dh can be there for most of it and not in "contract kickoff" meetings. I feel a little bad complaining about maybe having to go without him, but it wouldn't be the same with just the kids and I. And his coworkers know he's got vacation planned, so hoping he'll just have to drive down for a day is all.

Anyway, that's it for me. Hope everyone is having a good summer and hanging in there

 

[gracie1]

I will gladly trade property taxes with you. Ours are approaching $9000/year. This is for a small 3br/2ba rancher on 1/4 acre, no basement.

I would die if our property taxes were that much!! I complain until I see how cheap it really is in my state. I have a 3 bedroom as well on just a little under 2 acres and it's around $650 a year. That is probably a laugh to most of you!!

 

[lakelandgal70]

We just shredded all our credit cards and paid everything off. It is amazing to me how much money we have now that we don't have to pay debtors. I wish we had done this long ago. What were we doing all those years?? ugh

 

[gracie1]

We just shredded all our credit cards and paid everything off. It is amazing to me how much money we have now that we don't have to pay debtors. I wish we had done this long ago. What were we doing all those years?? ugh

Way to go!! I wondered what I was thinking all those years I was paying on credit cards too.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I would die if our property taxes were that much!! I complain until I see how cheap it really is in my state. I have a 3 bedroom as well on just a little under 2 acres and it's around $650 a year. That is probably a laugh to most of you!!

Yes!

That's like my monthly escrow amount.

 

[Mickeyluver37]

I would die if our property taxes were that much!! I complain until I see how cheap it really is in my state. I have a 3 bedroom as well on just a little under 2 acres and it's around $650 a year. That is probably a laugh to most of you!!

Wow! What state is this? I can't imagine how everything is paid with so little property tax- they must get you some other way, no?

Our property tax went down a whopping $50 this year- just got the $4,600 bill this week. :/ Income tax isn't cheap either.

 

[gracie1]

Wow! What state is this? I can't imagine how everything is paid with so little property tax- they must get you some other way, no?

Our property tax went down a whopping $50 this year- just got the $4,600 bill this week. :/ Income tax isn't cheap either.

I live in Delaware. We have no taxes and apparently our property tax is dirt cheap compared to other states However, Delaware does not have a high pay scale - so to us it is a lot, lol

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We just shredded all our credit cards and paid everything off. It is amazing to me how much money we have now that we don't have to pay debtors. I wish we had done this long ago. What were we doing all those years?? ugh

I know just what you mean. All you can do is accept it as a lesson in life and move on. For me, it just hit me one day. I feel like we make decent money and should have a lot more left over to save. With a little direction, I'm amazed at how much progress we've made.

Including mortgage, truck payments, & credit cards, we've paid off almost $26,000 in debt since April 2013. 15 months total.

We are finally back to a normal month of spending and don't have to send the snowball to cover monthly expenses. Unfortunately, it's not going toward debt yet. I'm stealing some for our vacation in a few weeks then we'll get back on track with a vengeance.

I'm resisting the urge to book a long weekend visit to WDW to show ds14 the parks when decorated for Christmas which we haven't done since he was 1.5. With SWA points and renting DVC points we could fly & stay for around $700.

Vacations are definitely my kryptonite.

 

[lakelandgal70]

I know just what you mean. All you can do is accept it as a lesson in life and move on. For me, it just hit me one day. I feel like we make decent money and should have a lot more left over to save. With a little direction, I'm amazed at how much progress we've made.

Including mortgage, truck payments, & credit cards, we've paid off almost $26,000 in debt since April 2013. 15 months total.

We are finally back to a normal month of spending and don't have to send the snowball to cover monthly expenses. Unfortunately, it's not going toward debt yet. I'm stealing some for our vacation in a few weeks then we'll get back on track with a vengeance.

I'm resisting the urge to book a long weekend visit to WDW to show ds14 the parks when decorated for Christmas which we haven't done since he was 1.5. With SWA points and renting DVC points we could fly & stay for around $700.

Vacations are definitely my kryptonite.

Wow that is amazing!! Good for you. And I know what you mean about the vacations lol. I love going away lol. Have a cruise coming up next year and it is all paid for and we have a trip next week to Disney but we are using Disney gift cards for it all paid with cash! And we are using our DVC points for the trip. Funny this trip we are eating in room for breakfast instead of spending money eating out. So excited for this new way of living. Who knew you could have more money but not using credit cards? lol I knew just had my head buried in the sand