Debt Dumpers - 2015

[gracie1]

Thanks. He is determined to learn from our mistakes. He wants to live in a tumbleweed home and has no intentions on having debt. He's been toying with getting a student loan but he's dragging his feet on that because he's pretty sure he can pay at least one more semesters tuition with his jobs. If he can get a loan for just the last 2 semesters, he will be in great shape.

On my side it's another story.
Sunday was a bad day. DH went to go get milk and his car died. Thankfully we have AAA so the tow was free but to fix his car was $289. Then also on Sunday DS19 was at a comic book convention and his friend had to leave by ambulance so he was stressed about that. Then on my way to get DS19 a rock kicked up and broke my windshield. YAY for glass coverage! Totally worth it because this is the second time I've replaced the windshield in this car.
But the down side, I got my property tax bill for the cars, $1500!! That one is going to take some time to pay off.

Sounds like you all need to stay home this Sunday!!! I hope your sons friend is ok. So what is a property tax for cars? I've never heard of that. We have property tax but it's for property and school system. Did yours increase a lot?

 

[dayvewc]

Sounds like you all need to stay home this Sunday!!! I hope your sons friend is ok. So what is a property tax for cars? I've never heard of that. We have property tax but it's for property and school system. Did yours increase a lot?

If the property tax for cars is like it is here, it is a subset of property taxes. We get a taxed based on a percentage of the value of our real property, plus personal property. My mortgage company currently pays the real estate property portion of my tax bill (about $550 a year) and then I pay the rest, which is on my car and declared value of my possessions (about $100 a year).

 

[gracie1]

If the property tax for cars is like it is here, it is a subset of property taxes. We get a taxed based on a percentage of the value of our real property, plus personal property. My mortgage company currently pays the real estate property portion of my tax bill (about $550 a year) and then I pay the rest, which is on my car and declared value of my possessions (about $100 a year).

Thanks. I've never heard of property tax on cars. So your taxes don't go to the school system?

 

[AquaDame]

And I'm still a financial moron because now I want to celebrate with a trip to WDW!


The only thing that holds me back is that we really need to save for Christmas.

But now you have the wherewithal to save the money up first and THEN go! That will be how we vacation once we are out of debt (...that sounds wrong right now but it makes sense in my head).

But the down side, I got my property tax bill for the cars, $1500!! That one is going to take some time to pay off.

That sounds like a very harsh weekend! I am not sure what property value tax on car is from, but that sounds awful! We have property tax on the house, but as far as I know thats all it is on...?

 

[dayvewc]

Thanks. I've never heard of property tax on cars. So your taxes don't go to the school system?

A percentage of the taxes go to the school system. I want to say that current rate is about 35 mils for my location. And if I remember correctly, the taxes are assessed on 20% of the value of the property. I honestly don't know all the specifics, I just know what I have to pay when the bill gets here.

I should clarify, the mil rate for the school is about 35, there are other millage taxes included for police, fire, library, county services, etc. but I am not sure what they are. I only know the school rate because they just passed an increase a couple of years ago. One nice thing about living in no mans land, delta AR USA is property values are very low. I'm in a 4-bedroom, 2-bath house on 1 1/2 lots in town and it only appraises at just under $50k.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Sounds like you all need to stay home this Sunday!!! I hope your sons friend is ok. So what is a property tax for cars? I've never heard of that. We have property tax but it's for property and school system. Did yours increase a lot?

DS talked to her on Tuesday and she is doing better. She is going back to her dr to get a med change.
We pay property tax on our house through the mortgage company but we have to pay a supplemental personal property tax on our cars to the town. Ours went up because 1) my car has kept it's value pretty well and 2) we added DS19's car.

If the property tax for cars is like it is here, it is a subset of property taxes. We get a taxed based on a percentage of the value of our real property, plus personal property. My mortgage company currently pays the real estate property portion of my tax bill (about $550 a year) and then I pay the rest, which is on my car and declared value of my possessions (about $100 a year).

Exactly!! I wish my home tax was only 550, ours is roughly 2700. Our mil rate is at about 25 now.

Thanks. I've never heard of property tax on cars. So your taxes don't go to the school system?

Our taxes go to the town which then gets divided up amongst the school, the firehouse, the town hall, garbage collection, etc. We have a separate town budget and school budget but the money all comes from the same pot.
When we lived in GA we paid our property tax when we registered our car, our VW Passat was about $300. Here in CT, my registration is only $90 but my tax bill on my Audi is several hundred dollars.

 

[PrincessKymm]

My food spending is out of control! I really need to stay away from all stores!!!! I just spent another $28 at Walmart because I forgot some stuff this weekend. At least this was stuff that will last longer than a day or two. I'm just annoyed with myself, I'm trying to lose weight and all I've done the last few weeks is shop for food. No more! I think if I get better organized I'll be ok next month. School starts in 6 weeks so I can't avoid stores all together but maybe I can only go a couple of more times between now and then.

 

[dayvewc]

My food spending is out of control! I really need to stay away from all stores!!!! I just spent another $28 at Walmart because I forgot some stuff this weekend. At least this was stuff that will last longer than a day or two. I'm just annoyed with myself, I'm trying to lose weight and all I've done the last few weeks is shop for food. No more! I think if I get better organized I'll be ok next month. School starts in 6 weeks so I can't avoid stores all together but maybe I can only go a couple of more times between now and then.

I hear you. My chiropractor is right next to the Wal-Mart (and a 50 minute drive for me) so I've been really guilty of stopping in daily after my appointments. Best thing I can recommend is MAKE A LIST. The days I go in with a list (plan) I spend less than the days I just go in and walk around trying to think of what I might need. Of course, the (very few) days I don't go in, I spend the least amount.

 

[Miss Whimsy]

Checking back in after a long while. Let's just pretend I'm new. Yay!

I've been using YNAB since November and since then have gotten rid of about $3000 in debt. Which is awesome! But I wish I could do better. Really though, this is the first time I've made positive progress instead of continuing the negative slide, so I should be happy with the 3K. Get it together, Whimsy. You're doing great.

*gives self a pep talk on the DIS*

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Checking back in after a long while. Let's just pretend I'm new. Yay!

I've been using YNAB since November and since then have gotten rid of about $3000 in debt. Which is awesome! But I wish I could do better. Really though, this is the first time I've made positive progress instead of continuing the negative slide, so I should be happy with the 3K. Get it together, Whimsy. You're doing great.

*gives self a pep talk on the DIS*

Hey whatever it takes, right?
I have spend countless nights at my computer looking over The Plan and looking at our pay, bank accounts, etc. trying to find a way to squeeze more into our snowball without really losing our minds. Sometimes I think, "I really need to get a life." But it's working so I stay at it. I'm totally sick of eating leftover pasta or PB&J for lunch. But it's working so I stay at it.

I feel like part of what cause our debt level to rise was lack of effort and time spent really reading everything and budgeting/planning. Working FT with little kids and never a minute alone or time to relax. I'd even bring our mail to read it on the train to work since that was my only quiet time.
It really is time consuming to budget and easier to just pay a lot more than the minimum, but not the whole balance. After a while, we couldn't if we wanted to.

It kind of reminds me of grocery shopping with a lot of coupons. Sure they save you $ but you spend twice as long in the store reading the stipulations of each coupon, making sure you buy the correct size & quantity to qualify for the coupon, compare price to store brand, unit price, etc. Sometimes you have more money than time, and you just need to get home asap. Sometimes more time than money, and you spend as long as it takes to save a buck. Saving takes time & effort, sometimes painful or embarrassing lifestyle changes.

You are making wonderful progress! So stay with it!
It didn't accumulate overnight and won't go away quickly either. Certainly it's better than becoming $3k deeper in debt!

Just keep swimming!

 

[Ngwira]

If the property tax for cars is like it is here, it is a subset of property taxes. We get a taxed based on a percentage of the value of our real property, plus personal property. My mortgage company currently pays the real estate property portion of my tax bill (about $550 a year) and then I pay the rest, which is on my car and declared value of my possessions (about $100 a year).

OMG...I'd kill to have a $550.00 real estate tax bill!!! Here in New Jersey our 1400 square foot home is $6,000 a year!! We have no porch, basement or garage.

 

[gracie1]

Checking back in after a long while. Let's just pretend I'm new. Yay!

I've been using YNAB since November and since then have gotten rid of about $3000 in debt. Which is awesome! But I wish I could do better. Really though, this is the first time I've made positive progress instead of continuing the negative slide, so I should be happy with the 3K. Get it together, Whimsy. You're doing great.

*gives self a pep talk on the DIS*

You should be very proud of how much debt you have gotten paid off! That is a huge accomplishment!!!

 

[OhMari]

OMG...I'd kill to have a $550.00 real estate tax bill!!! Here in New Jersey our 1400 square foot home is $6,000 a year!! We have no porch, basement or garage.

I drive by a beautiful home in our city, that was flipped and they want $850,000. It is beautiful and probably considered a mansion. I always think of New Jersey and New York people that pay that amount for your homes. Come to Wisconsin and you can have a mansion for what you guys pay for homes and property taxes.

 

[dayvewc]

OMG...I'd kill to have a $550.00 real estate tax bill!!! Here in New Jersey our 1400 square foot home is $6,000 a year!! We have no porch, basement or garage.

If you truly want to go homicidal about it, the house is 1560 square feet, and I have a detached garage that is about 800 square feet, and the actual tax bill that the mortgage company pays is a bit less than $200 b/c the state has a $350 "homesteader credit" that reduces the real estate property tax bill on the primary residence. There are some really rotten things about living in the delta region of Arkansas, but I have to confess that the cost of living is really cheap here. I've done some research about maybe moving somewhere else, but my approximate $40k salary here translates into having to earn between $55k and $70k at all the places I'd like to move to (and none of them pay teachers that much).

Though, there are days that I just pray for a tornado to hit. My house appraised at a bit under $50k, but the insurance company wouldn't write a policy based on the loan; instead they wrote the policy based on "replacement cost". So, should that tornado hit (and to my knowledge, there is no way that I could ever be accused of insurance fraud for "starting a tornado") the payment is $150k for the house, and another $30k for furnishings. Yeah, I'd hate having to start over with nothing and reacquire all the things I have (some of which are irreplaceable), but being able to pay off the home loan AND have another $140+ for down payment on a new one?

I drive by a beautiful home in our city, that was flipped and they want $850,000. It is beautiful and probably considered a mansion. I always think of New Jersey and New York people that pay that amount for your homes. Come to Wisconsin and you can have a mansion for what you guys pay for homes and property taxes.

I know. You can get a huge mansion style house here, built to your specs for less than $500K. Gotta love low cost of living!!

 

[dayvewc]

Ok. Just got to share my *happy dance* moment. My secondary job on weekends if for a company that just went public today. Since I have been with them for over 4 1/2 years, I was given 30 shares - cost free to me - as a reward. I was also allowed to buy more shares in the IPO at the IPO price. Sadly, I only had $200 that I was able to use.

Long story shorter, the initial pricing that all my shares were purchased / credited value was $20, and closing price as $27.20. That means that my $200 investment, as of this moment in time, is worth $1088!!!!!

Not actually enough to pay off major bills, but it will work well as a safety emergency fund, should horrible financial things happen to me. (And horrible financial things happen to me way too frequently).

Things like this are partly why I am so passionate about this company. Not only do they offer a good product at a reasonable price, but they treat all the employees very, very well.

 

[momtosam]

Ok. Just got to share my *happy dance* moment. My secondary job on weekends if for a company that just went public today. Since I have been with them for over 4 1/2 years, I was given 30 shares - cost free to me - as a reward. I was also allowed to buy more shares in the IPO at the IPO price. Sadly, I only had $200 that I was able to use.

Long story shorter, the initial pricing that all my shares were purchased / credited value was $20, and closing price as $27.20. That means that my $200 investment, as of this moment in time, is worth $1088!!!!!

Not actually enough to pay off major bills, but it will work well as a safety emergency fund, should horrible financial things happen to me. (And horrible financial things happen to me way too frequently).

Things like this are partly why I am so passionate about this company. Not only do they offer a good product at a reasonable price, but they treat all the employees very, very well.

That is awesome!

 

[dayvewc]

That is awesome!

I know. Days like this are when I really regret not being debt free with or with a really nice emergency fund that I could have used to buy more.

On a different note, the company that processed the IPO does fee free stock trading, and you can set up monthly purchases, (and they offer Walt Disney stock). I am so ready to be able to start building my portfolio. I plan to retire in only 16 -18 more years, and I will need a good nest egg for that happy day.

 

[EpiStitch]

Hey everyone, I'm not active on here often, but wanted to drop by to share a little success I had recently. Last week I paid off the second smallest of my 4 student loans!! So I've only paid off about 1/3 of the total because the 2 remaining loans are giant, but I'm glad to see one go.

I also met with a financial advisor for the first time recently who's trying to help me get my accounts in order. I'm still 30+ years away from retirement so there are lots of options, I just don't have a lot of extra cash lying around. He mentioned emergency funds, which I feel like an expert on thanks to the DIS, even though I don't even have a month's worth of expenses saved up. I have to start somewhere I suppose, but I'm glad to have some supportive people on here, even if I don't really know most of you.

 

[Angeejoe]

Ok. Just got to share my *happy dance* moment. My secondary job on weekends if for a company that just went public today. Since I have been with them for over 4 1/2 years, I was given 30 shares - cost free to me - as a reward. I was also allowed to buy more shares in the IPO at the IPO price. Sadly, I only had $200 that I was able to use.

Long story shorter, the initial pricing that all my shares were purchased / credited value was $20, and closing price as $27.20. That means that my $200 investment, as of this moment in time, is worth $1088!!!!!

Not actually enough to pay off major bills, but it will work well as a safety emergency fund, should horrible financial things happen to me. (And horrible financial things happen to me way too frequently).

Things like this are partly why I am so passionate about this company. Not only do they offer a good product at a reasonable price, but they treat all the employees very, very well.

What a great opportunity! That's really cool!

Hey everyone, I'm not active on here often, but wanted to drop by to share a little success I had recently. Last week I paid off the second smallest of my 4 student loans!! So I've only paid off about 1/3 of the total because the 2 remaining loans are giant, but I'm glad to see one go.

I also met with a financial advisor for the first time recently who's trying to help me get my accounts in order. I'm still 30+ years away from retirement so there are lots of options, I just don't have a lot of extra cash lying around. He mentioned emergency funds, which I feel like an expert on thanks to the DIS, even though I don't even have a month's worth of expenses saved up. I have to start somewhere I suppose, but I'm glad to have some supportive people on here, even if I don't really know most of you.

Congrats! Awesome news!

 

[gracie1]

Bumping thread! Seems like everyone is doing a great job!!