Debt Dumpers - 2014

[PrincessKymm]

DBF and I didn't make it. We decided to stay together but not live together. Yes a step back but I think it's for the best. My happiness is worth it. So I have a financial question.

I get an extra paycheck and my quarterly bonus all in October, the month I'm moving. This will result in an extra $1300 which is the amount I need to pay off my car. I've got all the moving expenses covered, yes it will blow my savings but not completely. Kinda why ive been saving, ya know?

Anyways, I had to finance my furniture but if I pay it off in 6 months it's 0% financing, since it's only $1200 I know I can do it. January brings my next bonus and it's half of the amount owed, so I really only have to pay $600 from my budget, which is 2 car payments. So do I pay off the car in October, then use November and Decembers payment to pay on my furniture THEN use my bonus to pay it off? So I'll be almost debt free in January and all but student loan free by April. My car loan is 1.72% interest so not that bad.

Or do I just sock money away and let it sit? I'm only slightly worried about cash flow, I know I'll be ok either way just not sure what makes financial sense. My car does need minor repairs, new key fob, lights changed etc.

I've already told DS Christmas will be tight but I'm hoping to get him some stuff used or on Black Friday. He is easy to please and my family always spoils him anyway. I then only have to buy for my mom since she's offered to help out with DS a lot while we adjust and get used to being on our own. My work schedule isn't always 8-5 and I hate to leave him alone for longer than a couple of hours. My other family I can get something inexpensive or homemade and they will be happy and supportive. I think I'm telling DBF, if we make it that far, no gifts cuz I can't afford anything he wants.

The good news is I paid Disney off so I can still go in 2 weeks. Now more than ever, I need that trip. It's just me, DS, my dad and his GF so I know it will be a happy trip with happy memories.

Thanks for letting me vent!

 

[MAJPLO]

DBF and I didn't make it. We decided to stay together but not live together. Yes a step back but I think it's for the best. My happiness is worth it. So I have a financial question.

I get an extra paycheck and my quarterly bonus all in October, the month I'm moving. This will result in an extra $1300 which is the amount I need to pay off my car. I've got all the moving expenses covered, yes it will blow my savings but not completely. Kinda why ive been saving, ya know?

Anyways, I had to finance my furniture but if I pay it off in 6 months it's 0% financing, since it's only $1200 I know I can do it. January brings my next bonus and it's half of the amount owed, so I really only have to pay $600 from my budget, which is 2 car payments. So do I pay off the car in October, then use November and Decembers payment to pay on my furniture THEN use my bonus to pay it off? So I'll be almost debt free in January and all but student loan free by April. My car loan is 1.72% interest so not that bad.

Or do I just sock money away and let it sit? I'm only slightly worried about cash flow, I know I'll be ok either way just not sure what makes financial sense. My car does need minor repairs, new key fob, lights changed etc.

I've already told DS Christmas will be tight but I'm hoping to get him some stuff used or on Black Friday. He is easy to please and my family always spoils him anyway. I then only have to buy for my mom since she's offered to help out with DS a lot while we adjust and get used to being on our own. My work schedule isn't always 8-5 and I hate to leave him alone for longer than a couple of hours. My other family I can get something inexpensive or homemade and they will be happy and supportive. I think I'm telling DBF, if we make it that far, no gifts cuz I can't afford anything he wants.

The good news is I paid Disney off so I can still go in 2 weeks. Now more than ever, I need that trip. It's just me, DS, my dad and his GF so I know it will be a happy trip with happy memories.

Thanks for letting me vent!

Sorry to hear about the relationship set back, but sounds pretty good on the debt side. I think I would pay half of the current bonus toward the car, pay monthly toward the furniture, and save a little for Christmas for DS and spending money for Disney.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

If you didn't pay the car off early, when would the payments end as scheduled? Chances are, you've already paid most of the interest on that loan already so paying off early may get rid of that payment, but it's not saving you lots of interest.
OTOH, if $ gets really tight down the road, and you don't pay off your furniture by the end of the promotional time, all the accrued interest gets socked on. These promo deals usually come with very high interest rates, like 24%.
You stand to lose more by not paying off the furniture asap.

I would get rid of the furniture bill. I can't stand that clock ticking over me.

I also wouldn't count on future bonuses. Never count your chicks before they hatch. If they come, that's great to have them earmarked for something, but I wouldn't count on it yet. jmho.

 

[Eureka]

DBF and I didn't make it. We decided to stay together but not live together. Yes a step back but I think it's for the best. My happiness is worth it. So I have a financial question. I get an extra paycheck and my quarterly bonus all in October, the month I'm moving. This will result in an extra $1300 which is the amount I need to pay off my car. I've got all the moving expenses covered, yes it will blow my savings but not completely. Kinda why ive been saving, ya know? Anyways, I had to finance my furniture but if I pay it off in 6 months it's 0% financing, since it's only $1200 I know I can do it. January brings my next bonus and it's half of the amount owed, so I really only have to pay $600 from my budget, which is 2 car payments. So do I pay off the car in October, then use November and Decembers payment to pay on my furniture THEN use my bonus to pay it off? So I'll be almost debt free in January and all but student loan free by April. My car loan is 1.72% interest so not that bad. Or do I just sock money away and let it sit? I'm only slightly worried about cash flow, I know I'll be ok either way just not sure what makes financial sense. My car does need minor repairs, new key fob, lights changed etc. I've already told DS Christmas will be tight but I'm hoping to get him some stuff used or on Black Friday. He is easy to please and my family always spoils him anyway. I then only have to buy for my mom since she's offered to help out with DS a lot while we adjust and get used to being on our own. My work schedule isn't always 8-5 and I hate to leave him alone for longer than a couple of hours. My other family I can get something inexpensive or homemade and they will be happy and supportive. I think I'm telling DBF, if we make it that far, no gifts cuz I can't afford anything he wants. The good news is I paid Disney off so I can still go in 2 weeks. Now more than ever, I need that trip. It's just me, DS, my dad and his GF so I know it will be a happy trip with happy memories. Thanks for letting me vent!

Sorry to hear things didn't work out exactly how you planned. I think you have a good plan though. At this point it's not the interest at stake with the car payment, but paying it off now would free up your monthly bills to be able to pay for the furniture and anything else that comes your way. Or maybe sock away a little bit for the holidays. Wiping out savings at once always makes me nervous but since then you won't have a car payment, that money will be there if you need it. Good luck.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Murphy hit me this week. Just bought a house last week and get to put a new heat pump in it this week to the tune of $5k. Luckily we had a little savings left of we would be very warm for a long time.

Wow, and I was feeling bad that our oven died.
When we bought our house 18 yrs ago the furnace was so old and luckily my brother does HVAC so he got us a new furnace and central AC unit for around $3k. We did have $ set aside for all the stuff like this the house would need before moving in. It's been a never-ending money pit since but we still love it.
In fact, over the years we've remodeled the kitchen, both bathrooms, replaced: carpeting throughout, double garage door & electric opener, soffits & gutters, roof, driveway, built a custom shed, painted the exterior twice, the interior probably 4x, removed trees; it just never ends. We could use more space but then moving would mean starting all over again.
Not to mention bigger tax bills, gas/elec bills, more grass to cut, etc.
We're staying put. Home sweet home...

Congrats on the new home!

 

[Reginat]

Hi! I have a lot of gratitude for Debt Dumpers. While I am not perfect, I have had a Big Improvement about keeping my credit card paid off, thanks to this inspiration!

Also for my upcoming October Disney trip, I have already prepaid hotel and theme park tickets. I should be able to use cash for meals, gasoline for the car, and souvenirs. I'm planning for it to be a trip without having to use the credit card, which will be a first (thanks to getting the idea from the disboards).

Progress not perfection, at least for me!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

No perfection needed here! Nobody's perfect.

Great work paying cash for your trip! That is a huge deal.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Not sure when my last update was but I canceled the old earthlink email, haven't used it in like 10 years, not sure why hubby kept it for so long.
Also canceled the Mi-fi wireless card. We used it for road trips but now we have wireless internet in the RV and our phones can be personal hot spots if we need it.

Savings: $71.67 a month.

Used that to go towards 1/2 the Lowes bill. That has to be paid off by 10/14 before our no interest promotion is over.

Also got a new seasonal RV site for next summer. Closer in to where we go for daily excursions in the summer and $1400 less for the season. Plus the electric bill is $150 flat fee for 6 months instead of a per wattage charge, which was costing us $60-$100 a month. Now I can leave my AC on. We used to turn it off every time we left but now I can leave it running while we are out touring for the day.

Savings: $1900 + no additional charge for extra kids ($150??)

And last but not least. When I pay my October bill for my car it will be under $10,000! And about 85% of it is now going to principal.

 

[lakelandgal70]

End of this month will be almost 2 months of not using credit cards. It was really weird at first but getting used to it. We just stayed on property at Disney in August and used all gift cards for the trip. First time doing that. We usually charged everything. What a unstressful trip! No worrying about how we will pay it off. Will use gift cards again in January when we stay again and our cruise in April is paid off. I am always looking to try and save money. We used to eat out 5plus times a week and now we are lucky if we go out 2x a month lol. I find I can make better meals at home anyway. Hope everyone is doing good!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Not sure when my last update was but I canceled the old earthlink email, haven't used it in like 10 years, not sure why hubby kept it for so long.
Also canceled the Mi-fi wireless card. We used it for road trips but now we have wireless internet in the RV and our phones can be personal hot spots if we need it.

Savings: $71.67 a month.

Used that to go towards 1/2 the Lowes bill. That has to be paid off by 10/14 before our no interest promotion is over.

Also got a new seasonal RV site for next summer. Closer in to where we go for daily excursions in the summer and $1400 less for the season. Plus the electric bill is $150 flat fee for 6 months instead of a per wattage charge, which was costing us $60-$100 a month. Now I can leave my AC on. We used to turn it off every time we left but now I can leave it running while we are out touring for the day.

Savings: $1900 + no additional charge for extra kids ($150??)

And last but not least. When I pay my October bill for my car it will be under $10,000! And about 85% of it is now going to principal.

I can't wait for dh's truck to get to that point. We are still at around $12k and 2 years til it's done unless we can pay it down early.
Great job on cutting down unnecessary bills!

End of this month will be almost 2 months of not using credit cards. It was really weird at first but getting used to it. We just stayed on property at Disney in August and used all gift cards for the trip. First time doing that. We usually charged everything. What a unstressful trip! No worrying about how we will pay it off. Will use gift cards again in January when we stay again and our cruise in April is paid off. I am always looking to try and save money. We used to eat out 5plus times a week and now we are lucky if we go out 2x a month lol. I find I can make better meals at home anyway. Hope everyone is doing good!

Eating out is huge $ drain. You don't really feel the difference until you stop doing it though. Except a few pizzas each month, we only go out to eat for birthdays & our anniversary or special occasions. It was kind of a gradual cutting back but when I think back before we had kids how often we went out to eat....

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

End of this month will be almost 2 months of not using credit cards. It was really weird at first but getting used to it. We just stayed on property at Disney in August and used all gift cards for the trip. First time doing that. We usually charged everything. What a unstressful trip! No worrying about how we will pay it off. Will use gift cards again in January when we stay again and our cruise in April is paid off. I am always looking to try and save money. We used to eat out 5plus times a week and now we are lucky if we go out 2x a month lol. I find I can make better meals at home anyway. Hope everyone is doing good!

Where is the like button?!?!?!?

That is awesome!!!!

 

[lakelandgal70]

Eating out is huge $ drain. You don't really feel the difference until you stop doing it though. Except a few pizzas each month, we only go out to eat for birthdays & our anniversary or special occasions. It was kind of a gradual cutting back but when I think back before we had kids how often we went out to eat....

Last year hubby was keeping tabs on how much we spent to eat out and it was around 500 a month. When he told me I was like That was an eye opener. Then this February found out I have Celiacs so that really cuts back on our eating out which really was a good thing lol

 

[lakelandgal70]

Where is the like button?!?!?!?

That is awesome!!!!

Thank you! If I can do it anyone can do it. Certainly not the easiest thing in the world but to know you aren't indebted to creditors really makes life less stressful.

 

[Disneyluv111]

Eating out is huge $ drain. You don't really feel the difference until you stop doing it though. Except a few pizzas each month, we only go out to eat for birthdays & our anniversary or special occasions. It was kind of a gradual cutting back but when I think back before we had kids how often we went out to eat....

We are a family of 3. It is so hard to stop eating out. LOL I justify it by saying that there's only 3 of us no biggie. Nonetheless, it's still expensive because we have to factor in our 20-30 percent tip. We have finally stopped eating out and making many quick stops. Going to wait and see how much I save, but I'm sure it will be about 500.00 like previous poster said.
When I looked at my checkbook, most of my money didn't go to shopping or buying books, it went to eating out!
Lately, I've started budgeting my eating out to 150 per month! I can't give it up completely!

 

[Miss Whimsy]

hi all! very inspiring to read about all of the determination and success in this thread.

I have about $23K in debt that is a combo of credit cards, student loans, and a personal loan I took out to consolidate my cc debt that *last* time I got serious about kicking my debt. :/ I'm single, almost 30 (urp!), no kids or family or house or even car.

This is my first month using pearbudget to organize my money, and I'm trying to start thinking of my finances as an organizational problem rather than a burden or a restriction, because I think I'll do better that way. I just never learned to manage money or credit, so I'm going to put in a plug to you parents to please try to instill some financial literacy in your children before you send them to college. (not that I'm blaming my parents, but man it would have helped to learn about interest before I started accruing it.)

 

[Disneyluv111]

Honestly I dont obsess over our scores. They are high enough to meet our needs and that's fine for us. It's more important to be debt free than to be a slave to FICO.

I would have to say I agree with this. Unless you're making a huge purchase some time soon, then it shouldn't be a big deal. We didn't check our credit score for years. We don't really care. Since we will be purchasing a new house soon, we decided to check it and was surprised the score went up. Once we get the house, our fico score will be useless. Everything is cash here on out.

 

[mom21princess]

Hi I have never posted but have enjoyed reading this thread. My husband had to close down his buisness almost 5 yrs ago because of the economy and our income went down to less than half. We wanted me to remain a stay at home mom and we managed to survive cutting bills and because our house was paid off and both cars are paid in full. We looked at our spending and realized how much money we just wasted. Now in early 30's we felt like we had to learn to manage money but happy we knew we wanted out of debt as soon as possible. Now our income has improved (still not as much as we had. we have about 20,000 in debt from those hard months but we are steadily paying off.. We learned to start saving what we can and making better choices. I hope to be debt free in 2yrs.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I would have to say I agree with this. Unless you're making a huge purchase some time soon, then it shouldn't be a big deal. We didn't check our credit score for years. We don't really care. Since we will be purchasing a new house soon, we decided to check it and was surprised the score went up. Once we get the house, our fico score will be useless. Everything is cash here on out.

Mine is over 800 but that's not much consolation while I'm still paying bills off. I guess I could look on the bright side in that people whose score is much lower would possibly be paying higher interest rates. Most days I feel like it's doing nothing for me.
I pay on time because it's the right thing to do and don't want any negatives in my record, not just because my number would drop.

 

[lakelandgal70]

hi all! very inspiring to read about all of the determination and success in this thread.

I have about $23K in debt that is a combo of credit cards, student loans, and a personal loan I took out to consolidate my cc debt that *last* time I got serious about kicking my debt. :/ I'm single, almost 30 (urp!), no kids or family or house or even car.

This is my first month using pearbudget to organize my money, and I'm trying to start thinking of my finances as an organizational problem rather than a burden or a restriction, because I think I'll do better that way. I just never learned to manage money or credit, so I'm going to put in a plug to you parents to please try to instill some financial literacy in your children before you send them to college. (not that I'm blaming my parents, but man it would have helped to learn about interest before I started accruing it.)

Kudos to you for taking responsibility and getting your finances in order! And as someone else who didn't have parents that instilled some financial literacy in me I totally agree that is something important all parents should do. But my bad choices were mine but I did not have the best example. If you wanted something you just charged it. There for 3 years or so when I was a teen we ate out almost every night. No lie. That would have saved me so much heartache not to mention money.

 

[pryncess527]

Hi! I have a lot of gratitude for Debt Dumpers. While I am not perfect, I have had a Big Improvement about keeping my credit card paid off, thanks to this inspiration!

Also for my upcoming October Disney trip, I have already prepaid hotel and theme park tickets. I should be able to use cash for meals, gasoline for the car, and souvenirs. I'm planning for it to be a trip without having to use the credit card, which will be a first (thanks to getting the idea from the disboards).

Progress not perfection, at least for me!

I love it! That should be the motto of this thread. I don't think anyone in here is perfect, but we sure are determined! Congrats on your upcoming trip, being able to go on vacation without incurring any extra debt is a great feeling!

And last but not least. When I pay my October bill for my car it will be under $10,000! And about 85% of it is now going to principal.

Congrats! It's great to hit a milestone like that and see the total drop by a digit. Our HELOC fell to only 4 figures 2 months ago and I wanted to throw a party, lol! Can't wait till our car loan gets there.

End of this month will be almost 2 months of not using credit cards. It was really weird at first but getting used to it. We just stayed on property at Disney in August and used all gift cards for the trip. First time doing that. We usually charged everything. What a unstressful trip! No worrying about how we will pay it off. Will use gift cards again in January when we stay again and our cruise in April is paid off. I am always looking to try and save money. We used to eat out 5plus times a week and now we are lucky if we go out 2x a month lol. I find I can make better meals at home anyway. Hope everyone is doing good!

Congrats!!!! Not incurring debt on vacation is a great feeling! Eating out used to kill us too, it was amazing how motivated I became to cook at home when I totaled it up and thought about other places that money could go! When I really analyzed it, most of the places we ate at were not worth the cost.

Thank you! If I can do it anyone can do it. Certainly not the easiest thing in the world but to know you aren't indebted to creditors really makes life less stressful.

Amen to that! We got out of CC debt last year, and now are working on eliminating HELOC, car and student loan debt. Not having any CC debt feels so amazing, I can't even fathom what actually being Debt Free will feel like!

This is my first month using pearbudget to organize my money, and I'm trying to start thinking of my finances as an organizational problem rather than a burden or a restriction, because I think I'll do better that way. I just never learned to manage money or credit, so I'm going to put in a plug to you parents to please try to instill some financial literacy in your children before you send them to college. (not that I'm blaming my parents, but man it would have helped to learn about interest before I started accruing it.)

Congrats! I think you are right, that viewing a budget as an organization problem is a helpful way to look at it. I think of ours as a spending plan -- it's not about being restrictive, it's about making sure our spending matches our priorities. Right now that means paying off past decisions so that our money can be ours again!

Now in early 30's we felt like we had to learn to manage money but happy we knew we wanted out of debt as soon as possible. Now our income has improved (still not as much as we had. we have about 20,000 in debt from those hard months but we are steadily paying off.. We learned to start saving what we can and making better choices. I hope to be debt free in 2yrs.

I know that feeling well! Good luck with your debt free plan, 2 years sounds wonderful!

Mine is over 800 but that's not much consolation while I'm still paying bills off. I guess I could look on the bright side in that people whose score is much lower would possibly be paying higher interest rates. Most days I feel like it's doing nothing for me.
I pay on time because it's the right thing to do and don't want any negatives in my record, not just because my number would drop.

Definitely look on the bright side! My co-worker, with a low credit score, was complaining the other day about the interest on her car loan. It made me VERY grateful that our credit score allowed us to secure such a low rate. I hate the debt, but I have to admit it isn't costing me much, which I'm grateful for.