Debt Dumpers - 2014

[gracie1]

I used to keep about $100 in hand for cases like you mentioned. But bad experiences with a couple of roommates, and my current SO inability to control impulse spending I find it safer to not have any. Having said that, I keep a $20 bill hidden in my car. ETA I quoted the wrong person. Using my phone. I meant to quote PrincessKymm.

How is the SO doing with the budget? Are things any better?

 

[thiabelle]

We keep what we call the "pickle jar" (cause it once held pickles!). Spare change and lonely ones and fives go in it. It is where I turn when DD says she needs $.50 for the eighth grade's bake sale or a few dollars for a field trip. She would never take out money without permission. I admit I have no idea how much money is actually in it.
As for cash in the house- I keep about two hundred dollars in SMALL bills in my proverbial sock drawer. I wouldn't sleep at night without some cash on hand. It's truly for an emergency that can't be predicted (sustained power loss, etc).
I would love to give thanks to all on this board. You have inspired me to meet with the finance guy at work and set up a more fully funded 403b as well as a Roth IRA. I honestly don't believe I would have taken those steps without lurking on this board/thread. Future me is already very grateful. Thank you!!

 

[dayvewc]

How is the SO doing with the budget? Are things any better?

*sigh* he's doing better than I expected, but not very well overall. Our 53 week saving plan lasted 3 weeks and then he bought extra smokes and hot links. Outside the budget. Then he got the flu, so extra payments for Dr visits and medicine. Which wouldn't be so bad except he used the copay money to buy an extra package of hot links hoping that the dr office would let him pay the copay when his next Check came in. They wouldn't, so it was an extra 3 days before he got diagnosed and got his meds, plus an extra trip to the office (60 miles round trip) not calculated in the gas budget. *sigh*

He's trying. I just am not sure he's trying very hard.

 

[gracie1]

*sigh* he's doing better than I expected, but not very well overall. Our 53 week saving plan lasted 3 weeks and then he bought extra smokes and hot links. Outside the budget. Then he got the flu, so extra payments for Dr visits and medicine. Which wouldn't be so bad except he used the copay money to buy an extra package of hot links hoping that the dr office would let him pay the copay when his next Check came in. They wouldn't, so it was an extra 3 days before he got diagnosed and got his meds, plus an extra trip to the office (60 miles round trip) not calculated in the gas budget. *sigh* He's trying. I just am not sure he's trying very hard.

You must have awesome patience!! I would've more than likely blown my stack over the copay!!! Are you still planning your solo trip in March?

 

[dayvewc]

You must have awesome patience!! I would've more than likely blown my stack over the copay!!! Are you still planning your solo trip in March?

Lol. I was less than ecstatic that's true. But at least this time he confessed before I found out. I count that as improvement, instead of trying to hide he told me when it happened AND took responsibility.

And I do feel bad that he gets so little spending money. I don't get any more than he does (and usually less), but I have access to more. I know my limits are by choice because I prefer having a house, food, and options to travel. I think he is kind of stuck in "little kid mode" and only recognizes that he doesn't get much pocket money - even though it is by his choice since he had asked me to handle the finances.

And yep, 48 days til I leave on solo trip. Or almost solo. I have another friend that is likely to go, so that will cut the gas by half. And housing by a chunk. So excited.

Did most of my taxes the other day, still waiting on 3 different documents to finalize. But I should be getting between $3000 and $4500 back, depending on how those last things effect the total. That will let me use $1000 for my trip, $1000 for emergency fund, and the rest to pay off cc's. Which will pay at least 1 and up to 2 of the 4 I have.

 

[mum2simon]

Hi All....I lurked and posted a few times on the 2013 debt dumpers....just jumping in here to say we put priority on paying off our credit card debt in 2013 and today I finished paying it all off!!!!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!! can't believe it!

We started using YNAB in May of last year and it revolutionized the way we budget and approach money....can't imagine not using ynab.

Now it is time to start to tackle the (what seems) insurmountable student debt (somewhere in the area of $130K now with interest, the original amount was $80K)....the plans I had for a career all changed after we started having kids and the money I thought I would be making to pay off the loans is not existent. It is a scary amount, but I've got to start somewhere.

 

[mum2simon]

oops!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

This is actually a really good question - and makes me think! Used to, I never had cash on hand. You would be lucky if I had $5 in my wallet. Now I normally keep $20 on hand, but never thought about keeping a small cash emergency fund for just in case items. Maybe a $100 (broken into all different denominations)? Then if you have to use it and it dwindles down under $50, replenish it? I think I may need to do this too now that you have me thinking about it

This is me too. I do still use a credit card and I'm determined to pay it off monthly. I've been doing well with that since early 2011. If I needed $ for some emergency, I would put it on my card then pay it immediately from my emergency fund.


We've still been swimming here but slowly...

The first half of January, my snowball was taken over to pay off the extra we spent at Christmas and just a higher than normal amount of non-holiday expenses in Dec: ds13 needed a coat, etc. Just when that was paid, my car needed brakes and steering assembly which was around $1600. A few weeks later the battery died.
Ds17 is scheduled for his road test to get his driver's license which means we have to report another driver in our house. Even with him not having a car, our insurance with AAA would have gone from $2000 to $3400+ per year and renews in March. So I shopped around and found GEICO much cheaper, only $2600.
I've been having $200 of my biweekly pay go to savings for car insurance ever since way back in our 20's and had sporty cars and our insurance was much higher. Now that we're old and don't need all of that for insurance, I've gotten in the habit of spending that $200 and as our ins bill time gets closer, then I stop touching it until I have enough set aside for the bill. This method has been working for years with no problems.
Since last spring, I've been using that $200 toward roof money, then debt reduction but had a plan allowing for a few hundred extra, hoping to anticipate the effect ds would have on our insurance. So now GEICO will bill our cc 1 month prior to the start date which messes up my whole budget. $200 biweekly won't be enough to pay the bill by mid March when the cc bill will be due. So to make a long story short, my snowball has been yet again diverted.
The month of Feb it will all go to my new "car ins" savings account (love that Capital One 360 & how they allow so many accounts to keep it all separate.)
I guess the good news is that we can hopefully return to paying 100% of our snowball by the start of March instead of by the end of April.
What's frustrating was that under the old way of budgeting, only $200 was diverted from the snowball so I could still keep paying bills down.
Now this is the 2nd month it's being used for other purposes.
I really hope things stay quiet here and in March I can really start hammering down like we did last fall. Che sera, sera.

Just keep swimming...

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

You must have awesome patience!! I would've more than likely blown my stack over the copay!!! Are you still planning your solo trip in March?

What do you mean? Usually people don't get sick intentionally.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

One thing I did learn while speaking with the GEICO agent is about discounts for taking a defensive driving course.
I had asked him if we should send ds17 to one to help lower our premium. He said definitely he should if we had a 3rd car on our policy which would make him a FT driver of a car. With only 2 cars and us being listed as full time drivers, it would benefit most by US taking the defensive driving course.

So I looked on AAA.com and found an online course for just $35.00 Not bad & easy to get done a little and be able to return back to where you left off.

Then I looked on GEICO's website and found the same thing for just $19.99 and they send the record directly to GEICO. It's actually offered by 2 other agencies but GEICO's website offers links to choose either agency.

I always thought they were only for people with points from tickets or accidents.
It allows 5% off for 3 years which more than covers the cost of buying the test.

I'm going to post this as a new thread too. Easy way to save $.

 

[tennisfan]

What do you mean? Usually people don't get sick intentionally.

I talk it to mean that he spent the money for the co pay on something else instead of its intended use

 

[dayvewc]

What do you mean? Usually people don't get sick intentionally.

It was the fact that he used the money meant for his copay to buy hot links instead. That weren't in the food budget that week.

 

[crazycatstacy]

Hi All....I lurked and posted a few times on the 2013 debt dumpers....just jumping in here to say we put priority on paying off our credit card debt in 2013 and today I finished paying it all off!!!!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!! can't believe it!

We started using YNAB in May of last year and it revolutionized the way we budget and approach money....can't imagine not using ynab.

Now it is time to start to tackle the (what seems) insurmountable student debt (somewhere in the area of $130K now with interest, the original amount was $80K)....the plans I had for a career all changed after we started having kids and the money I thought I would be making to pay off the loans is not existent. It is a scary amount, but I've got to start somewhere.

Congrats on paying off your credit cards!!! Way to go! Good luck on the student loan debt- I have about the same amount so can totally sympathize!

 

[gracie1]

Lol. I was less than ecstatic that's true. But at least this time he confessed before I found out. I count that as improvement, instead of trying to hide he told me when it happened AND took responsibility. And I do feel bad that he gets so little spending money. I don't get any more than he does (and usually less), but I have access to more. I know my limits are by choice because I prefer having a house, food, and options to travel. I think he is kind of stuck in "little kid mode" and only recognizes that he doesn't get much pocket money - even though it is by his choice since he had asked me to handle the finances. And yep, 48 days til I leave on solo trip. Or almost solo. I have another friend that is likely to go, so that will cut the gas by half. And housing by a chunk. So excited. Did most of my taxes the other day, still waiting on 3 different documents to finalize. But I should be getting between $3000 and $4500 back, depending on how those last things effect the total. That will let me use $1000 for my trip, $1000 for emergency fund, and the rest to pay off cc's. Which will pay at least 1 and up to 2 of the 4 I have.

Sounds like you have your priorities straight! Way to go on using your refund to get the credit cards down! Some men just take a lot longer to mature. I have a friend and he sounds like your SO. He has actually went from a very high paying salary to hourly and a pay cut- plus it's all weather dependent. When he was making good money he just blew it, and now he's having a tough time.
I did my taxes tonight and will be able to put $1000 in my emergency fund - the major part of my return will go to my fur babies teeth cleaning and a surgery (estimating about $2000). Hopefully it's no more

 

[dayvewc]

Sounds like you have your priorities straight! Way to go on using your refund to get the credit cards down! Some men just take a lot longer to mature. I have a friend and he sounds like your SO. He has actually went from a very high paying salary to hourly and a pay cut- plus it's all weather dependent. When he was making good money he just blew it, and now he's having a tough time.
I did my taxes tonight and will be able to put $1000 in my emergency fund - the major part of my return will go to my fur babies teeth cleaning and a surgery (estimating about $2000). Hopefully it's no more

Thanks for the support! And I know about taking a while to mature. lol

I'm hoping that my refund will be on the upper end of my estimate, but as I said, I'm still waiting on my stock sale notification and my last mortgage interest payment. I think the interest will give me a lot more in my refund than the capital gains will cost me, so fingers crossed!! Hopefully I will be able to completely pay off my highest interest card and make a good dent on at least one other. Sometime in the next month, I'll need to create a spreadsheet to see which option will give me the biggest bang for my buck.

That was kind of what SO went through. He spent the last 5 or 6 years her life being the caregiver for his mother, she had Parkinson's disease among other health problems. He was able to get paid from the state as the caregiver, but it was only because of being family so he doesn't qualify for another position as a home-health aide. After being out of the workforce for so long, it took him a while to find a job, and that only paid about half of what he was earning as the caretaker. Now, he hasn't quite gotten used to how little he makes. It didn't help that we decided to buy DVC based on our combined income right before his mother died. (Between paying deposit and first mortgage payment It was quite unexpected. ) So far, we are making it, but some of those expenses that weren't a problem then have become one now as the out-go of funds remained constant while the income was cut by a quarter (or more).

Yay to you on replenishing/adding to your emergency fund!! And I sincerely hope that your furbabies surgery doesn't cost that much. It's almost criminal what it can be, though.

 

[PrincessKymm]

Sounds like you have your priorities straight! Way to go on using your refund to get the credit cards down! Some men just take a lot longer to mature. I have a friend and he sounds like your SO. He has actually went from a very high paying salary to hourly and a pay cut- plus it's all weather dependent. When he was making good money he just blew it, and now he's having a tough time. I did my taxes tonight and will be able to put $1000 in my emergency fund - the major part of my return will go to my fur babies teeth cleaning and a surgery (estimating about $2000). Hopefully it's no more

I hope everything goes according to plan or better! Hope your fur babies are ok!

 

[gracie1]

I hope everything goes according to plan or better! Hope your fur babies are ok!

Hope everything goes great with your promotion that you are working towards!

 

[southlakejr]

So DH and I have been swimming along pretty well so far. Paid off some debt, which felt awesome. Have an emergency fund, plus some extras in savings, started saving towards WDW trip for 2015 and hopefully a DL trip in May.

Right now, we're trying to figure out school options for DH. He works in a field (mental health) that values education over experience, so he needs to finish his degree. It looks like online will be the best way for him to go about it, so we're trying to figure out the best program for him and plan how it will work out financially. I never used student loans when I got my BA, so this whole thing is all new to me!

Finally, he has a possible opportunity at work that we are mulling over. Currently, he works M-F at the school campus for an okay and livable but certainly not exciting wage. (He would get a $5 an hour raise to do the exact same thing once he has a degree, even an AA) I also work M-F so we get a pretty good amount of time together with weekends off, etc. However, there is a possibility that he could move over to another department and receive a $9 dollar an hour raise However, that means he would work all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. So then the only time we have off together are 4 evenings a week. We don't need the money by any means, though it would certainly help us get our debt paid off and save more, etc. etc. Just trying to decide if it's worth it to really lose our time off together. He would also work any holidays that came up during his shift (currently he gets holidays off and paid for) I don't want to be one to complain, but it certainly is frustrating that such a good opportunity has to come with such a big downside.

 

[momtosam]

Snowed in AGAIN, so I filed our taxes today. Waiting on that check to do some more debt paying and savings boosting!

 

[Deffenm]

Snow is supposed to hit us after 4:00 pm today. We are expected to get 5-9 inches with freezing rain. It is supposed to last all night and into tomorrow. I am so ready for winter to be over with. One good thing is we are not spending as much because we don't want to go out.

I hope to have 1 card paid for at month end. If we get anything back from taxes that will go into an emergency fund. I hope to have the last card paid by Oct. My goal is to go into 2015 with only the house, RV, and DH's truck payment. I would like to tackle the RV payment in 2015.