Debt Dumpers - 2014

[OhMari]

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!!

I live in a low income state, yet Wisconsin is the third largest for taxes.
We are building a house in a township and saving $4,000 not building in the city. Our property taxes are still going to be around $6000.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I live in a low income state, yet Wisconsin is the third largest for taxes.
We are building a house in a township and saving $4,000 not building in the city. Our property taxes are still going to be around $6000.

We in a township, not a city and it's not helping.
I work in Philly and their taxes are way lower than ours. They pay around $2000/yr. I still wouldn't move there because their public schools are pathetic and the city does an awful job at snow removal. Some streets they never get to at all and suggest residents all chip in and DIY. On top of that, parking is a joke and creates wars between neighbors.
No thanks. I love our happy little home.

 

[aliceindisneyland]

Since January we have brought our debt down from $22,000 (mostly ccs with the last 6 months of our car loan and a medical bill) to $2,500!
And during that time we took 2 trips to DL - one staying at DLH and one buying 4 APs - and spent about $700 at the dentist - and moved.

We're going to DL this month but I will still have all debt (including trip) paid off by the end of August!

I love the cost of living in AZ!

 

[gracie1]

Since January we have brought our debt down from $22,000 (mostly ccs with the last 6 months of our car loan and a medical bill) to $2,500!
And during that time we took 2 trips to DL - one staying at DLH and one buying 4 APs - and spent about $700 at the dentist - and moved.

We're going to DL this month but I will still have all debt (including trip) paid off by the end of August!

I love the cost of living in AZ!

That is fantastic that you were able to pay all that off in 8 months!!! You should feel extremely proud of yourselves!!!!!

 

[got2lovedisney]

It's taken me a while but I've finally gotten through this whole thread! Lots of great information and encouragement, so glad I found this!
A little about me: Household consists of me, DBF and DD. I don't carry any CC debts, only the car $6K and the mortgage $23K. If I run short of something, it goes on the list and I buy it (groceries, household products, pet food, etc.) I charge everything and pay it off. Use cash minimaly and the only place I use my debit card is Aldi. Extra money left over from my check is left in the checking account until something comes up and I have to use it. I have my vacation/emergency fund in ING.
Now I have a dilemna. I've been told that my position is being eliminated Nov 14th. (I'll be given 26 weeks severance.) I'm mostly concerned about a 401K loan balance of about $10K which I took out to help bail my DD out of HER debt. I had been putting a bit into ING and the rest into my checking but I've recently flipped that to put a bare minimum into checking to cover the bills* and the balance to ING to try to build up the most I can to repay the 401K loan and not get hit with a big penalty. Enter Murphy: I just had to buy a new washer last month, tires this month and the dealer says my 30000 mile service will be about $800! Oh and I just remembered that my car insurance will be up for renewal late November so that'll probably be another $600 I have to come up with.
*My biggest problem is that I don't have a "budget" and have really no clue as to how I should start one. I know about my mortgage, car payment, electric, water, cell phones, internet but couldn't say for example, how much I spend on groceries or gas. I know I have to document everything so I can see where the money goes but I can't seem to figure out how to start. Suggestions, please! And thanks for letting me rant!

 

[ski_mom]

It's taken me a while but I've finally gotten through this whole thread! Lots of great information and encouragement, so glad I found this!
A little about me: Household consists of me, DBF and DD. I don't carry any CC debts, only the car $6K and the mortgage $23K. If I run short of something, it goes on the list and I buy it (groceries, household products, pet food, etc.) I charge everything and pay it off. Use cash minimaly and the only place I use my debit card is Aldi. Extra money left over from my check is left in the checking account until something comes up and I have to use it. I have my vacation/emergency fund in ING.
Now I have a dilemna. I've been told that my position is being eliminated Nov 14th. (I'll be given 26 weeks severance.) I'm mostly concerned about a 401K loan balance of about $10K which I took out to help bail my DD out of HER debt. I had been putting a bit into ING and the rest into my checking but I've recently flipped that to put a bare minimum into checking to cover the bills* and the balance to ING to try to build up the most I can to repay the 401K loan and not get hit with a big penalty. Enter Murphy: I just had to buy a new washer last month, tires this month and the dealer says my 30000 mile service will be about $800! Oh and I just remembered that my car insurance will be up for renewal late November so that'll probably be another $600 I have to come up with.
*My biggest problem is that I don't have a "budget" and have really no clue as to how I should start one. I know about my mortgage, car payment, electric, water, cell phones, internet but couldn't say for example, how much I spend on groceries or gas. I know I have to document everything so I can see where the money goes but I can't seem to figure out how to start. Suggestions, please! And thanks for letting me rant!

I'd say one place for you to start is by going through your last 6 months or so of credit card bills since you charge almost everything. You should be able to go through them and get an average of how much you spend of groceries, gas and other miscellaneous things.

Good luck! And I'm sure you can do this. It sounds like you are used to not spending your entire pay check each time anyway. If you become just a little more conscious of your spending, you'll probably be able to make a lot of headway!

 

[gracie1]

It's taken me a while but I've finally gotten through this whole thread! Lots of great information and encouragement, so glad I found this! A little about me: Household consists of me, DBF and DD. I don't carry any CC debts, only the car $6K and the mortgage $23K. If I run short of something, it goes on the list and I buy it (groceries, household products, pet food, etc.) I charge everything and pay it off. Use cash minimaly and the only place I use my debit card is Aldi. Extra money left over from my check is left in the checking account until something comes up and I have to use it. I have my vacation/emergency fund in ING. Now I have a dilemna. I've been told that my position is being eliminated Nov 14th. (I'll be given 26 weeks severance.) I'm mostly concerned about a 401K loan balance of about $10K which I took out to help bail my DD out of HER debt. I had been putting a bit into ING and the rest into my checking but I've recently flipped that to put a bare minimum into checking to cover the bills* and the balance to ING to try to build up the most I can to repay the 401K loan and not get hit with a big penalty. Enter Murphy: I just had to buy a new washer last month, tires this month and the dealer says my 30000 mile service will be about $800! Oh and I just remembered that my car insurance will be up for renewal late November so that'll probably be another $600 I have to come up with. *My biggest problem is that I don't have a "budget" and have really no clue as to how I should start one. I know about my mortgage, car payment, electric, water, cell phones, internet but couldn't say for example, how much I spend on groceries or gas. I know I have to document everything so I can see where the money goes but I can't seem to figure out how to start. Suggestions, please! And thanks for letting me rant!

Sounds like the same Murphy that hit me!! Had to replace the washing machine, then my nice coffee maker broke the following week and had to replace that, then a couple weeks ago the alternator went bad on my car, the following week after that my dad was checking my tire and the wire had come through so I had to get all new tires and then an alignment so that was $1200 in my car. Car insurance is due September 1, property taxes September 30. I feel like my wallet has been open and now I have to shake it upside down for change!!! I feel your pain!

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

It's taken me a while but I've finally gotten through this whole thread! Lots of great information and encouragement, so glad I found this! A little about me: Household consists of me, DBF and DD. I don't carry any CC debts, only the car $6K and the mortgage $23K. If I run short of something, it goes on the list and I buy it (groceries, household products, pet food, etc.) I charge everything and pay it off. Use cash minimaly and the only place I use my debit card is Aldi. Extra money left over from my check is left in the checking account until something comes up and I have to use it. I have my vacation/emergency fund in ING. Now I have a dilemna. I've been told that my position is being eliminated Nov 14th. (I'll be given 26 weeks severance.) I'm mostly concerned about a 401K loan balance of about $10K which I took out to help bail my DD out of HER debt. I had been putting a bit into ING and the rest into my checking but I've recently flipped that to put a bare minimum into checking to cover the bills* and the balance to ING to try to build up the most I can to repay the 401K loan and not get hit with a big penalty. Enter Murphy: I just had to buy a new washer last month, tires this month and the dealer says my 30000 mile service will be about $800! Oh and I just remembered that my car insurance will be up for renewal late November so that'll probably be another $600 I have to come up with. *My biggest problem is that I don't have a "budget" and have really no clue as to how I should start one. I know about my mortgage, car payment, electric, water, cell phones, internet but couldn't say for example, how much I spend on groceries or gas. I know I have to document everything so I can see where the money goes but I can't seem to figure out how to start. Suggestions, please! And thanks for letting me rant!

What kind of car do you have? Unless you have a specialty car, I would not pay the dealership $800 for a 30k maintenance check.

Find a trusted mechanic or take some time to go to different places that specialize in car specific services and save yourself a bundle!

I had to go to the dealership (ugh) for some warranty work. They tried to sell me on my 20k main thence check-up for almost $500

The list included things that my oil change place does for free-checking fluids, filters, lights

And the rest such a brakes etc. a decent mechanic will do for at most $80 - many places will do these checks free in hopes that you'll return when you need brakes or a battery

Ask for a list of what's involved in the 30k checkup and price it out yourself.

IMHO stay away from the dealership for any non warranty car work unless you have a super high end car in which case the maintenance costs probably aren't an issue.

 

[catherines_mama]

Since January we have brought our debt down from $22,000 (mostly ccs with the last 6 months of our car loan and a medical bill) to $2,500! And during that time we took 2 trips to DL - one staying at DLH and one buying 4 APs - and spent about $700 at the dentist - and moved. We're going to DL this month but I will still have all debt (including trip) paid off by the end of August! I love the cost of living in AZ!

What are your tips and tricks to this?

 

[catherines_mama]

New here and enjoying the tips and information.

Like many here we make decent money. We don't overspend in a daily basis, eat out etc. we just made a bad choice or two in our past and are still paying for them.

I don't consider the house or car true debt. Those are life and we'll have those. What bothers me are the credit cards and lines of credit opened to save us from bad choices. That's the debt we look at and are disappointed in ourselves over. Without those monthly payments- wow!

Out goal is to get those to half in one year and gone in three. We have 3 kids, 13,12 & 9. And want our credit and borrowing power to be healthy by college so we can get them there.

Total debt - $24049

Right now we are buckling down and paying every extra penny toward the big % guys. With that, by June we should close to halfway and on June we will also have $ set aside for vacation

I honestly think it's important to reward yourself. Reading on here, this is a DIS community, vacations are our krypenite. It's like a diet, if you don't eat ice cream ever and you love it. You'll find yourself knee deep in a freezer of mint choc chip.

We are doing it smart. Just 2 ADRs. Cook at the DVC and keep it simple. We drive, so no airfare.

I look forward to more tips and hints and sharing in your successes.

 

[pryncess527]

*My biggest problem is that I don't have a "budget" and have really no clue as to how I should start one. I know about my mortgage, car payment, electric, water, cell phones, internet but couldn't say for example, how much I spend on groceries or gas. I know I have to document everything so I can see where the money goes but I can't seem to figure out how to start. Suggestions, please! And thanks for letting me rant!

Welcome to the thread! If you've read it all, I'm sure you've seen several of us mention YNAB -- You Need A Budget. It is a zero-based budgeting software program. It has been a lifesaver for my family. I never understood how to budget either, so using this system has really had a remarkable impact on how I think about money.

www.youneedabudget.com

They have a 34-day free trial, I highly recommend you check it out. The forums, http://forum.youneedabudget.com -- are also very friendly and helpful. There is a steep learning curve, or at least there was for me, but there are plenty of resources -- free classes, videos, forum posters -- to help you make sense of it.

It is absolutely amazing to me how much money we've been able to throw towards debt now that we have such a clear picture of our finances. And not only debt, but last month we had to spend $1200 on car repairs, and we had the money in a car repair category ready and waiting to go. In the past, that kind of large repair would have required a CC, but with YNAB we were planning for it months ago and ready for it to happen. Same with my insurance bill in October and our other regular annual expenses.

 

[pryncess527]

Things have been slow going for us on the debt front. We enjoyed a lovely beach trip in July -- it was a pretty low-cost vacation and we needed it (first time to the beach in 11 years!) but a small part of me still feels like the money should have gone towards our HELOC instead. But I need to remember to be satisfied with the progress we are making.

I also returned to the news that I'm getting a $1,000 cost of living raise this year! It won't amount to much per month, but it's better than nothing (which is what I got the last few years ;p) so I'll take it!

Dh and I are planning a big budget summit at the end of this month. We are going to review all of our categories and make sure our allocations still align with our goals. I want us to look at the impact various debt repayment scenarios will have on our overall timeline and try to evaluate how aggressive we want to be. I know I'm going to wan to be more aggressive than DH, but I really just want us to nail down a plan we can live with until our HELOC and car loans are gone.

 

[mousefanforever]

New here and enjoying the tips and information. Like many here we make decent money. We don't overspend in a daily basis, eat out etc. we just made a bad choice or two in our past and are still paying for them. I don't consider the house or car true debt. Those are life and we'll have those. What bothers me are the credit cards and lines of credit opened to save us from bad choices. That's the debt we look at and are disappointed in ourselves over. Without those monthly payments- wow! Out goal is to get those to half in one year and gone in three. We have 3 kids, 13,12 & 9. And want our credit and borrowing power to be healthy by college so we can get them there. Total debt - $24049 Right now we are buckling down and paying every extra penny toward the big % guys. With that, by June we should close to halfway and on June we will also have $ set aside for vacation I honestly think it's important to reward yourself. Reading on here, this is a DIS community, vacations are our krypenite. It's like a diet, if you don't eat ice cream ever and you love it. You'll find yourself knee deep in a freezer of mint choc chip. We are doing it smart. Just 2 ADRs. Cook at the DVC and keep it simple. We drive, so no airfare. I look forward to more tips and hints and sharing in your successes.

Your story is similar to ours. We have 3 kids almost exact ages and our cc debt is about the same. We always pay our bills in time and have been trying to pay down our debt. We are still taking our disney trip this November because we felt it was important to spend some quality family time together and we wanted to go before our oldest is in highschool and cannot miss school during the fall. We work hard and are not frivolous with spending but I feel kinda bad sometimes that we are taking this trip with the debt still there. I know it will get paid eventually but I sure wish I could go back 10 years and do things a little differently! Best wishes to you and getting financially free

 

[catherines_mama]

Your story is similar to ours. We have 3 kids almost exact ages and our cc debt is about the same. We always pay our bills in time and have been trying to pay down our debt. We are still taking our disney trip this November because we felt it was important to spend some quality family time together and we wanted to go before our oldest is in highschool and cannot miss school during the fall. We work hard and are not frivolous with spending but I feel kinda bad sometimes that we are taking this trip with the debt still there. I know it will get paid eventually but I sure wish I could go back 10 years and do things a little differently! Best wishes to you and getting financially free

Our June vacay was originally Nov. But DH was off for 6wks this summer. He works at a nuc power plant and they just took a break and laid them off then brought them back. He filled a month of that with work but 6 wks he was home. It was a tough month and we can't recover by Nov. I have it mapped and by June we will be great. Today is 1st payday since we made that choice and I can breath easy for the 1st time since May, it really feels good. But in June, we will truly enjoy that trip

Thank you for the encouragement and good luck to you guys too! I only hope our kids listen to us and not be stupid like we were. I never listened to anyone. Although most of it- DHs fault but I love him. We are a blended fam and our 5 yr anniversary is in Sept. LOL I knew what I was getting into.

 

[dtr_angel]

Well I finally figured out who this "Murphy" everyone has been talking about on this thread because he hit here in July... new washing machine, new gutters, new weed eater, broken window (which actually wasn't even broken, and we got the broken window fixed for free so that's a fun story), speeding ticket, a/c unit repair... needless to say our savings account has looked better and everything we had saved for our December trip is gone. What's funny is before all that happened we had been discussing taking a quick 4 day trip to Disney for MNSSHP in Oct (we have APs and DS is under 3) on the cheap with all the overtime DH had made in June but then Murphy hit. Luckily we have managed to still have no credit card balances through this but it has not been fun. We have a plan and should be able to cash flow our December trip before we leave but I'd rather have that money in the vacation account already. It definitely railroaded my plans of paying off the car by the end of the year and we're canceling our spring Disney trip to build up the savings account and get back on track to pay off the car early (it's a 5 year loan that originally would end in June 2016 but I want to pay it off ASAP so we can sell our house and move to a bigger one)

Like most of you Disney is my livlihood and canceling our December trip is not an option We don't live paycheck to paycheck and we have no credit card debt. I'm just grateful for the money we had saved to cover all this. Let's hope Murphy stays away for a while, although I think we will be getting a new dryer before the end of the year (I'm building that in though so we won't have to touch the emergency fund)

Just keep swimming...

 

[pryncess527]

Well I finally figured out who this "Murphy" everyone has been talking about on this thread because he hit here in July... new washing machine, new gutters, new weed eater, broken window (which actually wasn't even broken, and we got the broken window fixed for free so that's a fun story), speeding ticket, a/c unit repair... needless to say our savings account has looked better and everything we had saved for our December trip is gone. What's funny is before all that happened we had been discussing taking a quick 4 day trip to Disney for MNSSHP in Oct (we have APs and DS is under 3) on the cheap with all the overtime DH had made in June but then Murphy hit. Luckily we have managed to still have no credit card balances through this but it has not been fun. We have a plan and should be able to cash flow our December trip before we leave but I'd rather have that money in the vacation account already. It definitely railroaded my plans of paying off the car by the end of the year and we're canceling our spring Disney trip to build up the savings account and get back on track to pay off the car early (it's a 5 year loan that originally would end in June 2016 but I want to pay it off ASAP so we can sell our house and move to a bigger one)

Like most of you Disney is my livlihood and canceling our December trip is not an option We don't live paycheck to paycheck and we have no credit card debt. I'm just grateful for the money we had saved to cover all this. Let's hope Murphy stays away for a while, although I think we will be getting a new dryer before the end of the year (I'm building that in though so we won't have to touch the emergency fund)

Just keep swimming...

It sucks to drain savings, but congrats on weathering all those Murphys! It's amazing the psychological difference it makes when you have savings in those situations. For so many years, any emergency = more CC debt for us, it took a long time to break that cycle. If I'd had any idea how amazing it felt to be out from under it, we might have managed earlier!
It's great you can still take your Dec trip!
And if your dryer ends up breaking, you might try fixing it first -- I'm not very handy, but have managed to repair my dryer 3 times! It's now almost 15 years old and still works great. Youtube is a great resource in that situation, I've reached a point where I refuse to replace anything before I've googled it and tried to fix it myself.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

It sucks to drain savings, but congrats on weathering all those Murphys! It's amazing the psychological difference it makes when you have savings in those situations. For so many years, any emergency = more CC debt for us, it took a long time to break that cycle. If I'd had any idea how amazing it felt to be out from under it, we might have managed earlier!
It's great you can still take your Dec trip!
And if your dryer ends up breaking, you might try fixing it first -- I'm not very handy, but have managed to repair my dryer 3 times! It's now almost 15 years old and still works great. Youtube is a great resource in that situation, I've reached a point where I refuse to replace anything before I've googled it and tried to fix it myself.

I believe this. I was told by a repairman that so many parts on a washer can break down but there are very few on a dryer. My guess is a new dryer would't be nearly as well built as an old one so I would hang onto it as long as possible.

The same repairman also told me when my ice maker stopped working to empty the freezer, shut it off & let it defrost overnight. Usually the water in the intake line freezes and there's nothing wrong with the ice maker. He was right. We had the freezer set on its coldest setting. So now we keep it a little warmer and it's easier to scoop ice cream too. We have a separate freezer for meats so they can still be sub zero.

 

[MAJPLO]

Just realized that we are at a point where the amount we owe on a credit card is about the same amount we have in savings. While the cc interest is a lower one, it's definitely more than the interest we earn on the savings. So I'm torn with whether to use the savings to pay off the card or to just keep plugging along on both and watch the debt go down (kind of slowly) and the savings go up (also kind of slowly). What do the DIS experts think?

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Just realized that we are at a point where the amount we owe on a credit card is about the same amount we have in savings. While the cc interest is a lower one, it's definitely more than the interest we earn on the savings. So I'm torn with whether to use the savings to pay off the card or to just keep plugging along on both and watch the debt go down (kind of slowly) and the savings go up (also kind of slowly). What do the DIS experts think?

I'm no expert and I don't know if the amount matters but I don't think I could empty my entire savings for anything. Maybe half? At least you would have some extra cushion and still see debt amount keep dropping.

 

[damskipi13]

So I'm torn with whether to use the savings to pay off the card or to just keep plugging along on both and watch the debt go down (kind of slowly) and the savings go up (also kind of slowly). What do the DIS experts think?

I wouldn't send all my savings to pay off debt, but I'd send a fair amount. Dave Ramsey recommends keeping $1000 in savings and using the rest for debt payment. I'd probably be comfortable keeping 1 months worth of expenses in savings and sending the rest to the credit card. Your savings will grow very fast once you can take all the money you were sending to the credit card and put it into savings instead. Good luck!