Debt Dumpers - 2014

[yaddakal]

Thank you so much!! We picked late august for cruise bc it was cheapest of summer.
Last time we did a three night as trial and really liked It so now we booked 7 night fantasy.
Thanks for
All
The helpful ideas I love hearing them even if it's something I thought if it's good to hear.
Eating out would
Be one of our biggest problems. We have been better about it lately and really that's saving us up to 200 a week so that's something.
Just curious if I am alone.
Going during school
Isn't great bc my son has ADHD and that pile they save for him is not like when my daughter gets her pile. For him, it's a nightmare and takes away so much joy from vac.

 

[aliceindisneyland]

You gave some great ideas here!

I'm curious if something's changed with ebay sales? I know you're supposed to pay taxes on any earnings from selling things on ebay, but are they tracking it more closely now?

On Turbotax this year they had a place to enter a tax form (I think it's a 1099) for internet sales and it must have specifically mentioned ebay because I freaked out and googled it and saw that Paypal is supposed to issue them now! I checked my Paypal and there is a link to get your tax form but it said I didn't have one for this year. - I just read further and it's only if you sell over 20k so I'm in no danger after all!

 

[gracie1]

But under no circumstances EVER tell your car that it is paid off. Bad things happen when the car hears that it is paid for.

Lol! This seems to be so true!!

 

[jenny105]

But under no circumstances EVER tell your car that it is paid off. Bad things happen when the car hears that it is paid for.

Right?! A year after I paid off my car somebody hit me and totaled it!

 

[4HppyCamprs]

But under no circumstances EVER tell your car that it is paid off. Bad things happen when the car hears that it is paid for.

Absolutely true!!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[PrincessKymm]

I got my refund!!!!!!! Took forever but I got it and it's mine. I already put $100 into my cash stash at home and will figure out the rest tonight and tomorrow. So happy!!

 

[dayvewc]

I got my refund!!!!!!! Took forever but I got it and it's mine. I already put $100 into my cash stash at home and will figure out the rest tonight and tomorrow. So happy!!

Woo-Hoo!!! Way to go!!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Woohoo! I just paid off my car loan 6 months early! Now both cars are mine all mine and we have $402 a month freed up to help us knock out debt!

Congrats!! That's awesome!!

Thank you so much!! We picked late august for cruise bc it was cheapest of summer.
Last time we did a three night as trial and really liked It so now we booked 7 night fantasy.
Thanks for
All
The helpful ideas I love hearing them even if it's something I thought if it's good to hear.
Eating out would
Be one of our biggest problems. We have been better about it lately and really that's saving us up to 200 a week so that's something.
Just curious if I am alone.
Going during school
Isn't great bc my son has ADHD and that pile they save for him is not like when my daughter gets her pile. For him, it's a nightmare and takes away so much joy from vac.

I totally understand. The 7 night is great; you will love it.
Both of my kids have ADHD but ds13's is much worse and he really struggles with school. His teachers don't pile it all up when he's out though and most of his assignments are modified. I don't blame you for sticking with summer then. The hard part, for me anyway, is that it's just such an awesome, perfect family vacation that everything else we do, including WDW, leaves me feeling like we should have done another cruise.
As we were getting ready to board the Magic last Friday, I told ds13 if I were a dog I would roll on the floor of the lobby like dogs do in the grass when they're so happy to get outside.
$200/week for eating out = ~$800/month. If you're strong you could really bring that way down. I'm such a vacation junkie so I consider all the meals we "eat out" while on vacay my chance to eat out. Otherwise we used to get pizza every Friday but dh is getting sick of it so we probably now get it 1-2x/month. Luckily dh gets home from work much earlier than me and likes to cook or we'd be up a creek with no paddle.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Great news! I just paid off bill/cc #7 today!!


Next estimated pay off date: May 29.
Dare I even say this is almost easy when you really put your mind to it. The craziest thing is that we don't feel like we're pinching pennies. Sure we are thrifty but not extremely more than we were last year. At one point, all of the 7 parts of our snowball once went to bills that now don't exist. So I guess it's more like "tracking pennies".

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I got my refund!!!!!!! Took forever but I got it and it's mine. I already put $100 into my cash stash at home and will figure out the rest tonight and tomorrow. So happy!!

That's great! Such a relief even if you just sit on it til you figure out what to do with it.

 

[aliceindisneyland]

Great news! I just paid off bill/cc #7 today!!


Next estimated pay off date: May 29.
Dare I even say this is almost easy when you really put your mind to it. The craziest thing is that we don't feel like we're pinching pennies. Sure we are thrifty but not extremely more than we were last year. At one point, all of the 7 parts of our snowball once went to bills that now don't exist. So I guess it's more like "tracking pennies".

Wow! Congratulations!

 

[PrincessKymm]

I just paid off 1/3 of my car loan balance and then transferred the remaining 2/3 to my savings. I will then make a few more payments to help improve my credit score but since I have the money to do so it's still a great feeling.

I'm splurging and buying my son a new dresser. He's needed one and I've been putting it off but since it's cold and yucky today I'll go and pick one out. My dad can provide me free delivery if needed so I can save money on that at least.

All my bills are paid for this month and next month I get my quarterly bonus and then in May I get an extra paycheck. Great feeling!

There is a weight loss competition at work. If I lose 24 lbs in 12 weeks I get $250. It will be tough but if I do it I'm using that money to put a deposit down on a Disney trip with my son and my dad. If I win the competition I get $1000. I guess I need the right motivation! If I don't lose 24 lbs I have to donate $25 to a charity which I will probably do anyway.

Wish me luck!!!

 

[gracie1]

Everyone is doing a fantastic job!! I am now in the midst of planning a retirement party for my mom - not a surprise because she actually has to help me with determining how much food to get

Well, my dad is helping - which basically means after the party tell me what my half of the bill is - that's what it means! Which annoys me at times So since I picked the day before easter for the party, we really didn't think anyone would attend - so I decided to have it at my house. However, the plan backfired and so far almost everyone is attending So I am trying to do budget friendly since we now have to rent tables and chairs, and I'm going to have to rearrange the whole living room and basically move every single thing I can out of it to squeeze everyone in.

So this should be interesting. Of course everyone thinks I am planning things way to far in advance, but hey, I only have 29 days and I need to make sure everything is ordered and ready to roll - I'm such an over planner

Okay - enough ranting. Thanks for letting me vent!

 

[OhMari]

I just paid off 1/3 of my car loan balance and then transferred the remaining 2/3 to my savings. I will then make a few more payments to help improve my credit score but since I have the money to do so it's still a great feeling.

I'm splurging and buying my son a new dresser. He's needed one and I've been putting it off but since it's cold and yucky today I'll go and pick one out. My dad can provide me free delivery if needed so I can save money on that at least.

All my bills are paid for this month and next month I get my quarterly bonus and then in May I get an extra paycheck. Great feeling!

There is a weight loss competition at work. If I lose 24 lbs in 12 weeks I get $250. It will be tough but if I do it I'm using that money to put a deposit down on a Disney trip with my son and my dad. If I win the competition I get $1000. I guess I need the right motivation! If I don't lose 24 lbs I have to donate $25 to a charity which I will probably do anyway.

Wish me luck!!!

Tips to loose weight-drink 8 glasses of water a day, no Fast Food, and try to stay away from Processed Food. I've always gone to the YMCA and worked out like crazy, but never lost the weight. I started a nutrition class and the weight is slowly coming off. Not as fast as I like, but some of the changes are lifestyle changes and everyday is a new day, I have a lot of, "1 foot forward and 3 feet back." But I'm trying.

 

[pryncess527]

Great news! I just paid off bill/cc #7 today!!


Next estimated pay off date: May 29.
Dare I even say this is almost easy when you really put your mind to it. The craziest thing is that we don't feel like we're pinching pennies. Sure we are thrifty but not extremely more than we were last year. At one point, all of the 7 parts of our snowball once went to bills that now don't exist. So I guess it's more like "tracking pennies".

Congrats!!!! The pay offs feel so good

 

[pryncess527]

I just paid off 1/3 of my car loan balance and then transferred the remaining 2/3 to my savings. I will then make a few more payments to help improve my credit score but since I have the money to do so it's still a great feeling.

I'm splurging and buying my son a new dresser. He's needed one and I've been putting it off but since it's cold and yucky today I'll go and pick one out. My dad can provide me free delivery if needed so I can save money on that at least.

All my bills are paid for this month and next month I get my quarterly bonus and then in May I get an extra paycheck. Great feeling!

There is a weight loss competition at work. If I lose 24 lbs in 12 weeks I get $250. It will be tough but if I do it I'm using that money to put a deposit down on a Disney trip with my son and my dad. If I win the competition I get $1000. I guess I need the right motivation! If I don't lose 24 lbs I have to donate $25 to a charity which I will probably do anyway.

Wish me luck!!!

It sounds like you are making amazing progress!! congratulations, and good luck with the weight loss contest! $1000 sounds like a pretty decent motivator

 

[pryncess527]

Everyone is doing a fantastic job!! I am now in the midst of planning a retirement party for my mom - not a surprise because she actually has to help me with determining how much food to get

Well, my dad is helping - which basically means after the party tell me what my half of the bill is - that's what it means! Which annoys me at times So since I picked the day before easter for the party, we really didn't think anyone would attend - so I decided to have it at my house. However, the plan backfired and so far almost everyone is attending So I am trying to do budget friendly since we now have to rent tables and chairs, and I'm going to have to rearrange the whole living room and basically move every single thing I can out of it to squeeze everyone in.

So this should be interesting. Of course everyone thinks I am planning things way to far in advance, but hey, I only have 29 days and I need to make sure everything is ordered and ready to roll - I'm such an over planner

Okay - enough ranting. Thanks for letting me vent!

I'd be planning now too! 29 days will fly by before you know it.

 

[yupikgal]

Last month I paid off my Sears bill, and this month I paid $700 on my Discover card, and I will continue to make large payments until it's paid off. I am paying monthly for a DL trip that we will be taking in November, and I'm saving in Smarty Pig & Ally online for spending $$. Our mortgage went down by $40/month and will be going down again in May, due to paying off an escrow shortage in our account.

Congrats to everyone on their road to a debt free life!

 

[Eureka]

DH asked me the other night how much we're getting back for our federal return and now thinks when it comes in, he'd like to get rid of our (large) credit card bill by using that (which we'd planned) but also our short-term savings. The account that I finally got up to my "comfort zone/magic number." It would literally drain that account to probably just a couple hundred left. While I see his point because we are paying interest, it makes me nervous. We have a long-term savings account we could pull from if absolutely necessary but we don't want to - that's there in case of job loss or retirement etc.

But then I got thinking, if we paid off the CC, then we wouldn't be paying toward it every month - we'd just be paying the recurring bills that are scheduled on it. So if I can put what we have been paying on it back into savings, I'll feel better. The trick is to transfer that money out of checking before we spend it on anything else, which you all know is so easy to do.

It would feel good to not have a CC balance though.

 

[pryncess527]

DH asked me the other night how much we're getting back for our federal return and now thinks when it comes in, he'd like to get rid of our (large) credit card bill by using that (which we'd planned) but also our short-term savings. The account that I finally got up to my "comfort zone/magic number." It would literally drain that account to probably just a couple hundred left. While I see his point because we are paying interest, it makes me nervous. We have a long-term savings account we could pull from if absolutely necessary but we don't want to - that's there in case of job loss or retirement etc.

But then I got thinking, if we paid off the CC, then we wouldn't be paying toward it every month - we'd just be paying the recurring bills that are scheduled on it. So if I can put what we have been paying on it back into savings, I'll feel better. The trick is to transfer that money out of checking before we spend it on anything else, which you all know is so easy to do.

It would feel good to not have a CC balance though.

How bad is the interest rate on the CC? That might effect my decision, if it's not costing *that* much every month, the cost might be worth the peace of mind of extra savings.
On the other hand, seeing how much it is costing you might make emptying short term savings more attractive. It would be pretty easy to build back up if you just diverted the old CC payments into the savings account. Normally I'm all for keeping some savings on hand, but it sounds like you have that covered through the long-term so if emergency struck you wouldn't have to go back to CCs