Debt Dumpers - 2015

[gracie1]

I've put about $400 towards debt so far this year.

My primary goal right now is to readjust my life so I am living within my means, so that I stop acquiring new debt. I did pretty well with January. Once I've become settled into the new routine, then I will be more aggressive with paying off debt.

This is a good approach! Getting yourself adjusted to a budget with your everyday spending and tackling debt. Way to go on getting $400 towards your debt already this year

 

[momtosam]

Where are you finding 0% offers?

 

[EpiStitch]

I paid off the balance I've been carrying on my credit card yesterday (not including the $300 charged this month). Since I had 0% interest up until this week, I wanted to pay it down to avoid the insane charges it would create.

I still have a long way to go with student loans, and trying to find a way to save for all the trips I want to take, but at least I won't be paying 14% interest on like $4000!

 

[gracie1]

I paid off the balance I've been carrying on my credit card yesterday (not including the $300 charged this month). Since I had 0% interest up until this week, I wanted to pay it down to avoid the insane charges it would create.

I still have a long way to go with student loans, and trying to find a way to save for all the trips I want to take, but at least I won't be paying 14% interest on like $4000!

That is great that you paid off the cc!!! Every time I try to save for a trip Murphy comes to visit - so I am giving up on trip planning. Maybe it's a sign.... Lol

 

[gracie1]

Where are you finding 0% offers?

If you have any cc without a balance look to see if they have any promotional offers going on. Otherwise look into opening a new cc maybe with discover - they seem to have a lot of 0% on balance transfers.

 

[Dreamer Kevin]

well the "good", the "not so good" and they "wow, didn't see that coming"

The good - I deposited $21.00 into the savings account and sure, while $21 may not seem like a lot. It's the first time I've put money into that account in 3 years (at least).

Don't diminish the value of that $21.00 deposit. Many people won't save anything this year! I'm proud of you for making the start.

 

[SirDuff]

Don't diminish the value of that $21.00 deposit. Many people won't save anything this year! I'm proud of you for making the start.

Exactly - $21.00 will grow! Good for you for making the start.

 

[Deffenm]

We have been on a strict financial fast in order to reduce our debt. I was so excited to pay $1,500 towards a credit card. I could not beleive how much we "wasted" each month. When you spend $20 here, $40 there it adds up. At this rate we will be credit card debt free in no time. We will continue with our financial fast until we are. I am just really excited that we were able to make a dent in our debt.

 

[hmack]

knowing that knowledge is power I added up all of our credit card debt today. ouch.

a hair over 16K in credit card debt.

the good news is that both my dh and I are committed to making 2015 the year to clear up the debt and we agree that 2,000 of our tax return will go straight to cc debt. I looked at which one has the highest interest rate and we'll put the majority of the 2k on that one.

The rest of the return will go to filling our oil tank and buying a new living room window (which should help with heating and electicity bills as it's basically being held in place with caulking). Also, to be totally honest, we'll also each take a set amount, probably a couple of hundred dollars, of non-judgement fun money.

On one hand it feels empowering to get my head out of the sand, and on the other hand, it's a bit overwhelming. 16 thousand dollars is a lot of debt to carry around on our backs and it's starting to get really heavy. It's time to shed some of this financial weight once and for all.

 

[gracie1]

knowing that knowledge is power I added up all of our credit card debt today. ouch.

a hair over 16K in credit card debt.

the good news is that both my dh and I are committed to making 2015 the year to clear up the debt and we agree that 2,000 of our tax return will go straight to cc debt. I looked at which one has the highest interest rate and we'll put the majority of the 2k on that one.

The rest of the return will go to filling our oil tank and buying a new living room window (which should help with heating and electicity bills as it's basically being held in place with caulking). Also, to be totally honest, we'll also each take a set amount, probably a couple of hundred dollars, of non-judgement fun money.

On one hand it feels empowering to get my head out of the sand, and on the other hand, it's a bit overwhelming. 16 thousand dollars is a lot of debt to carry around on our backs and it's starting to get really heavy. It's time to shed some of this financial weight once and for all.

It sounds like you both have a great plan in order to start getting your debt paid down. You should be proud of yourselves for deciding to get out of debt and adding it up to see where you stand. $2,000 is a nice amount to start the tackling - just think it will put you down to around the $14,000 range! You can do this - just don't get discouraged and there will be bumps and unexpected costs throughout the journey - we all experience that!!!

 

[BrerRabbit66]

The 0% card offer I received was a pre-screened CitiSimplicity card....just showed up in the mail. 21 months 0% with 3% transfer fee (well worth it since I was paying 13.99% to Discover). If you check out their website, they are offering 18 months.

Keep plugging away everyone....every dollar helps!

 

[bcwife76]

Woohoo, the prime lending rate recently went down here in Canada - which means the interest rate on both our HELOC and our fixed/variable mortgage both went down!! Not sure how long it will last but we'll enjoy the lower interest rates while we can! Now our HELOC is at 3.55% and our mortgage is at 2%!

 

[roadtripper]

I've put about $400 towards debt so far this year.

My primary goal right now is to readjust my life so I am living within my means, so that I stop acquiring new debt. I did pretty well with January. Once I've become settled into the new routine, then I will be more aggressive with paying off debt.

That's the key--once you learn to live within (or even far BELOW) your means, you won't find yourself in that place again. Good luck staying on track!

 

[roadtripper]

knowing that knowledge is power I added up all of our credit card debt today. ouch.

a hair over 16K in credit card debt.

the good news is that both my dh and I are committed to making 2015 the year to clear up the debt and we agree that 2,000 of our tax return will go straight to cc debt. I looked at which one has the highest interest rate and we'll put the majority of the 2k on that one.

The rest of the return will go to filling our oil tank and buying a new living room window (which should help with heating and electicity bills as it's basically being held in place with caulking). Also, to be totally honest, we'll also each take a set amount, probably a couple of hundred dollars, of non-judgement fun money.

On one hand it feels empowering to get my head out of the sand, and on the other hand, it's a bit overwhelming. 16 thousand dollars is a lot of debt to carry around on our backs and it's starting to get really heavy. It's time to shed some of this financial weight once and for all.

Knowledge is power. You are on track to begin taking back your life, which is an awesome feeling. Everyone on here is really supportive, so keep checking in to let us know how you're doing!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

If you have any cc without a balance look to see if they have any promotional offers going on. Otherwise look into opening a new cc maybe with discover - they seem to have a lot of 0% on balance transfers.

I think I googled "0% balance transfers on Discover" after a pp said she found this deal. At the time I was getting a card for dh I could only find 0% for 12 months. Still better than paying interest. Then a few months later I got a card in my name with 0% for 18 months.
We also each have a Capital One Venture card with 0 balance on them and they keep sending me checks with balance transfer offers for 0% x 12 months. Our Disney visa cards do also. I really should get rid of these cards we so rarely use but I'm afraid our credit score will drop since part of it is calculated on a ratio of your current balances to total available credit. So if I reduce my available credit amount, I increase the % of available credit that I'm using, even without adding to my balances. I hope I'm making sense.
My gosh, I'll be so glad when these are all gone. Some days it just makes my brain bleed.

 

[dtr_angel]

I need to vent for a second. So I get the mail a few minutes ago. There is a letter from the county tax office and I just assumed it was something for taxes and open it to find a letter telling us our real estate taxes have not been paid in 3 or more years. This is impossible since it is paid through escrow. I just got the end of the year statement of our escrow account and it shows how much was paid for the taxes this year that the taxes were paid this year and we've never had issues in past years either, we've lived here 6 years. Of course the tax office was closed and I'm freaking out that somehow they are actually going to sell our house in a tax sale in April. Luckily there is a website and I get on just to see how much we owe and it's A PENNY! We could've lost our house over a penny?! I paid it with my credit card right away, lol. The swipe fee has got to be a lot more than my penny payment. That is just ridiculous. I'm going to call the tax office in the morning to make sure we are in the clear now.

Looks like somehow we owe a penny from 2012?! Notice before now would've been nice!

 

[bcwife76]

Why wouldn't they just write it off, it's a PENNY! That's ridiculous!! You poor thing, how stressful and then you find out it's over one stupid cent. I hope you give them a piece of your mind tomorrow!!

I need to vent for a second. So I get the mail a few minutes ago. There is a letter from the county tax office and I just assumed it was something for taxes and open it to find a letter telling us our real estate taxes have not been paid in 3 or more years. This is impossible since it is paid through escrow. I just got the end of the year statement of our escrow account and it shows how much was paid for the taxes this year that the taxes were paid this year and we've never had issues in past years either, we've lived here 6 years. Of course the tax office was closed and I'm freaking out that somehow they are actually going to sell our house in a tax sale in April. Luckily there is a website and I get on just to see how much we owe and it's A PENNY! We could've lost our house over a penny?! I paid it with my credit card right away, lol. The swipe fee has got to be a lot more than my penny payment. That is just ridiculous. I'm going to call the tax office in the morning to make sure we are in the clear now.

Looks like somehow we owe a penny from 2012?! Notice before now would've been nice!

 

[dtr_angel]

I have no idea! I can't believe people can lose their homes over a penny. Last year I accidentally underpaid my Kohls charge by like 30 cents. (I pay in full monthly and paid it before I returned something and miscalculated how much the return was going to credit) and they wrote it off! I had DirectTV write off like $22 when we canceled with them after two years. A penny is just shocking to me. A bill for the penny would've been nice before now!

 

[jenny105]

I received my tax return yesterday and a nice $500 chuck when to my CC bill. Still $4800 to go.

I absolutely hate this new layout BTW.

 

[gracie1]

I received my tax return yesterday and a nice $500 chuck when to my CC bill. Still $4800 to go.

I absolutely hate this new layout BTW.

Way to go on the cc payment!! That is great!!