Debt Dumpers - 2015

[bcwife76]

@SirDuff ah, that makes sense.

 

[Angeejoe]

I'm here!!! I was just catching up on the threads. Have been working a lot and haven't posted in awhile. I do wish I was on some tropical vacation!!! I'm in the process of trying to refi my mortgage and combine the home equity loan that I have into it. While I owe 22 years on the mortgage and 8 years on the home equity loan - I plan on combining them for a 20 year mortgage. I've been mulling this decision over and over because I keep thinking in 8 years one loan will be paid off - however with the savings that would come in interest alone I think it will be worth it. But who knows - they may not want to refinance me. It would drop almost 3% off the equity loan in interest and almost 2% off the mortgage. I still go back and forth in my head over this....

Sounds like everyone else is doing fantastic!! A lot of debt dumping going on - and it doesn't look like anyone is adding to their debt so that's a huge accomplishment!!

I'm glad you're doing well! Working extra's no fun, but the extra pay is great! I've been like you the last 2 weeks, I have an extra 28.75 hours that should be on my pay check at the end of this week

Sending you positive thoughts on the refi appl & that you get approved!

 

[gracie1]

I'm glad you're doing well! Working extra's no fun, but the extra pay is great! I've been like you the last 2 weeks, I have an extra 28.75 hours that should be on my pay check at the end of this week

Sending you positive thoughts on the refi appl & that you get approved!

Yes - the extra money is nice!!! Thanks for the good vibes - I see the bank has pulled my credit report - got notification from credit karma today! I still keep mulling it over in my head if this is the best thing today - but I guess any savings is worth it no matter what.

 

[myhoney]

Ok, I've been lurking for a while, but think I will finally join in...

We just hit the $10k in credit card mark. Yikes! We never intended to be here (who does?) but the best laid plans of mice and men...Last year, we remodeled our kitchen. We had to get a new floor since our ceramic tiles were popping up and our toddler was eating the grout. We had already repaired a few of the spots, but more and more kept coming up. Our cupboards were from the 50s and warped, so we just decided to go for it and do the whole thing. We did it ourselves, which saved some money. We paid some out of pocket, and then financed the rest on a 0% for 15 month credit card. We put $6k on it, and planned to pay 1/2 with this year's tax return and the rest out of our budget. Well, our tax return ended up being $2k less than we expected. Then, right after I paid off our Christmas bills, I turned 40. DH had a surprise party for me, which was lovely, but was also $1,000! I handle all of our finances and never expected that bill. He usually gets a ton of OT in the summer, so he planned to work it off that way. Guess whose company didn't end up offering any OT this summer? Then, two weeks after the surprise party, our 10 year old furnace died in the middle of the night. Luckily we have CO detectors on every floor, and we were woken up at 2am and we got our 4 kids out to safety. The basement was filled with CO. Price of a new furnace? $2k. So, in 6 weeks, our repayment plan went belly up and I felt like I was suddenly $5k in the hole ($2k missing from tax return, $1k party bill, $2k furnace), on top of the $6k I actually owed. Our emergency fund went to the furnace, and we had nothing really left.

I was trying to pay off our regular credit card monthly, but in May it slipped away from me and I haven't gotten it back under control. But, I have a new plan!! I work part time (20 hrs/week) so I can be home with the kids. But, I can work extra from home as long as I don't go over 40 hours in a week. If I work 10 extra hours per week from home, I will net roughly $110. (I save a crazy high amount to my 401k! I won't touch it, or lower it, though. Non negotiable for me.) DH's work is starting the occasional OT, which would net him $150/day. And we have $430 in reimbursement funds coming from work expenses on the credit card.

The 0% period is ending in January. We will balance transfer to our regular card, with a 0% rate until 2017. In one month, we could pay down $1k (reimbursement $, my weekly extra, and if DH gets one OT session in). Then, going forward, if I keep up my 10 extra hours, and DH does 1 monthly OT, we could pay down another $600/month. I already told DH no spending on the CC. We have regular bills that autopay on it, but we autopay those off out of our regular budget. We plan to put my year end bonus (which should be ~$1800) and 1/2 of next year's tax return ($2700) to the card.

Now: $10k
mid Oct: $9k (paid down from extra pay/OT and reimbursements)
mid Nov: $8400 (paid down from extra pay/OT)
mid Dec:$8400 (I'm being realistic - we will have Christmas expenses!)
mid Jan: $6K (paid down from year end bonus and extra pay/OT)
mid Feb: $2700 (paid down from tax return and extra pay/OT)
mid Mar: $2100 (paid down from extra pay/OT)
mid Apr: $1500 (paid down from extra pay/OT)
mid May: $900 (paid down from extra pay/OT)
mid June: $300 (paid down from extra pay/OT)
mid July: PAID OFF!!!

It's an aggressive goal, and I know it won't always be fun working the 10 extra hours every week, especially because I'll need to do it early in the morning or late at night around the kids' schedules. (Like tonight, I should be working extra, but I am tired. ) And hopefully DH can do more than one OT per month... But I am very serious about getting this gone, well before the new 0% window expires. And then, we can start saving for Disney!! We talked about going next fall, but we will forgo free dining and aim for January 2017 so that we can feel better about it!

I'm hoping that by posting here, I will be more accountable. Not to you all, but to myself, but knowing I have watchers should kick me in the pants!

Thanks!

 

[PrincessKymm]

Welcome!

 

[Angeejoe]

Ok, I've been lurking for a while, but think I will finally join in...

We just hit the $10k in credit card mark. Yikes! We never intended to be here (who does?) but the best laid plans of mice and men...Last year, we remodeled our kitchen. We had to get a new floor since our ceramic tiles were popping up and our toddler was eating the grout. We had already repaired a few of the spots, but more and more kept coming up. Our cupboards were from the 50s and warped, so we just decided to go for it and do the whole thing. We did it ourselves, which saved some money. We paid some out of pocket, and then financed the rest on a 0% for 15 month credit card. We put $6k on it, and planned to pay 1/2 with this year's tax return and the rest out of our budget. Well, our tax return ended up being $2k less than we expected. Then, right after I paid off our Christmas bills, I turned 40. DH had a surprise party for me, which was lovely, but was also $1,000! I handle all of our finances and never expected that bill. He usually gets a ton of OT in the summer, so he planned to work it off that way. Guess whose company didn't end up offering any OT this summer? Then, two weeks after the surprise party, our 10 year old furnace died in the middle of the night. Luckily we have CO detectors on every floor, and we were woken up at 2am and we got our 4 kids out to safety. The basement was filled with CO. Price of a new furnace? $2k. So, in 6 weeks, our repayment plan went belly up and I felt like I was suddenly $5k in the hole ($2k missing from tax return, $1k party bill, $2k furnace), on top of the $6k I actually owed. Our emergency fund went to the furnace, and we had nothing really left.

I was trying to pay off our regular credit card monthly, but in May it slipped away from me and I haven't gotten it back under control. But, I have a new plan!! I work part time (20 hrs/week) so I can be home with the kids. But, I can work extra from home as long as I don't go over 40 hours in a week. If I work 10 extra hours per week from home, I will net roughly $110. (I save a crazy high amount to my 401k! I won't touch it, or lower it, though. Non negotiable for me.) DH's work is starting the occasional OT, which would net him $150/day. And we have $430 in reimbursement funds coming from work expenses on the credit card.

The 0% period is ending in January. We will balance transfer to our regular card, with a 0% rate until 2017. In one month, we could pay down $1k (reimbursement $, my weekly extra, and if DH gets one OT session in). Then, going forward, if I keep up my 10 extra hours, and DH does 1 monthly OT, we could pay down another $600/month. I already told DH no spending on the CC. We have regular bills that autopay on it, but we autopay those off out of our regular budget. We plan to put my year end bonus (which should be ~$1800) and 1/2 of next year's tax return ($2700) to the card.

Now: $10k
mid Oct: $9k (paid down from extra pay/OT and reimbursements)
mid Nov: $8400 (paid down from extra pay/OT)
mid Dec:$8400 (I'm being realistic - we will have Christmas expenses!)
mid Jan: $6K (paid down from year end bonus and extra pay/OT)
mid Feb: $2700 (paid down from tax return and extra pay/OT)
mid Mar: $2100 (paid down from extra pay/OT)
mid Apr: $1500 (paid down from extra pay/OT)
mid May: $900 (paid down from extra pay/OT)
mid June: $300 (paid down from extra pay/OT)
mid July: PAID OFF!!!

It's an aggressive goal, and I know it won't always be fun working the 10 extra hours every week, especially because I'll need to do it early in the morning or late at night around the kids' schedules. (Like tonight, I should be working extra, but I am tired. ) And hopefully DH can do more than one OT per month... But I am very serious about getting this gone, well before the new 0% window expires. And then, we can start saving for Disney!! We talked about going next fall, but we will forgo free dining and aim for January 2017 so that we can feel better about it!

I'm hoping that by posting here, I will be more accountable. Not to you all, but to myself, but knowing I have watchers should kick me in the pants!

Thanks!

 

[ariel1025]

I'm sure it's not 100% accurate, but a while back I found a link to a spreadsheet that I downloaded and entered my debt information into. At that point (March 2015) I didn't have any snowball payments and very few "snowflake" payments to make. Going the rate I was going I wouldn't have made my last payment until March 2020 and would have paid out approximately $10,119 in interest! As of today with the snowflake payments I've scrounged up randomly each month and my new monthly snowball ($46) I'm looking at a final payment of October 2019 and $7,449 in interest. That's still a LONG ways off for me and a ton in interest that makes me want to cry. But I'm choosing to look at the positive and see that I've saved myself close to $3,000 in interest and knowing I should be free from debt 5 months sooner.

I know that things are bound to happen that will put a kink in my best laid plans, but my hope is that this will keep me motivated to see that an end is in sight and that every little bit truly does help.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I'm sure it's not 100% accurate, but a while back I found a link to a spreadsheet that I downloaded and entered my debt information into. At that point (March 2015) I didn't have any snowball payments and very few "snowflake" payments to make. Going the rate I was going I wouldn't have made my last payment until March 2020 and would have paid out approximately $10,119 in interest! As of today with the snowflake payments I've scrounged up randomly each month and my new monthly snowball ($46) I'm looking at a final payment of October 2019 and $7,449 in interest. That's still a LONG ways off for me and a ton in interest that makes me want to cry. But I'm choosing to look at the positive and see that I've saved myself close to $3,000 in interest and knowing I should be free from debt 5 months sooner.

I know that things are bound to happen that will put a kink in my best laid plans, but my hope is that this will keep me motivated to see that an end is in sight and that every little bit truly does help.

That's awesome! And if you've managed to scrounge up $46 in just a couple months to put towards it, I bet you'll find ways to do the same over the coming months and years!

 

[mrsabbott]

Well.. On the down side, Hubs' normal check amounts were short by about $400 this past month, causing us to be behind on some payments. His pay fluctuates a little depending on the time of year, but they also hired more mechanics so...

But, on the bright side, I start FULL TIME at my job on Tuesday!! I'm pretty excited!

 

[Angeejoe]

Well.. On the down side, Hubs' normal check amounts were short by about $400 this past month, causing us to be behind on some payments. His pay fluctuates a little depending on the time of year, but they also hired more mechanics so...

But, on the bright side, I start FULL TIME at my job on Tuesday!! I'm pretty excited!

Congrats on the new full time job! Bummer about the change for your DH, hopefully it will switch back soon!

 

[Angeejoe]

I'm sure it's not 100% accurate, but a while back I found a link to a spreadsheet that I downloaded and entered my debt information into. At that point (March 2015) I didn't have any snowball payments and very few "snowflake" payments to make. Going the rate I was going I wouldn't have made my last payment until March 2020 and would have paid out approximately $10,119 in interest! As of today with the snowflake payments I've scrounged up randomly each month and my new monthly snowball ($46) I'm looking at a final payment of October 2019 and $7,449 in interest. That's still a LONG ways off for me and a ton in interest that makes me want to cry. But I'm choosing to look at the positive and see that I've saved myself close to $3,000 in interest and knowing I should be free from debt 5 months sooner.

I know that things are bound to happen that will put a kink in my best laid plans, but my hope is that this will keep me motivated to see that an end is in sight and that every little bit truly does help.

I'm loving how you're looking at the postives!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Dave Ramsey does advocate paying off smallest to largest but I am also doing a combination of both. As it stands right now, we are staying afloat (barely) with our current income. We plan to jump start our version of the debt snowball by using our tax returns. If I paid off the card with the highest interest rate (it's a big one) it would free up about $200 a month. If I paid off my 4 smallest balance credit cards, it would free up about the same amount per month.

Instead, I am going to pay off a loan we took to replace our a/c unit (total unexpected expense, right when I lost my job.. of course!). It is 0% interest for the first 12 months and then the interest is something like 28% or something nuts like that. So, we are going to pay that off before the 12 months is up and free up $180 a month. That will leave money open to pay off some more debt. We decided to pay off 2 small loans (one for my husband's Harley, one is the business loan we took out for a business we had to close). That will free up another $230 a month in payments! The interest rate is reasonable but it will free up more $$ per month in payments. Depending on our tax returns, we may also pay off our smallest credit card and free up an additional $40 a month payment.

I just feel like it makes more sense to free up more money per month than to pay off the smallest first or the large one with the high interest. Now, after we do that.. I am going to pay off smallest to largest because, well.. there is something to be said about paying off a credit card and seeing that $0 balance!! It will motivate me to keep on going and I will be able to pay off more quickly when I free up more $ per month.

Ninabell, that is a tough decision on which card to pay off. Considering the ridiculous amount of emergencies my family has had the past year or two.. I would pay off one of the credit cards and put it aside. At least until you can establish your emergency fund! Good luck!

I agree.
I don't use a spreadsheet but I keep a Word document list of every paycheck and which old bills (paid off) will make up that week's snowball. It varies week to week. Looking back to the early days of April 2013, my snowball amounts were $30-150 each week. Every time I pay off a bill, that one gets listed under snowball amount instead of a bill to be paid that week. So now my snowball amounts are $190-700. By the time I start on dh's truck payments in Dec, they will be over $800 some weeks. Those are the weeks that 2 years ago that money would have gone to 7 other bills that are now paid off. Amazing. I wish I discovered snowballing 10 or 15 years ago. It's so simple and methodical but it works.
Hang in there and take some breaks when you really need it but get right back up in the saddle and keep riding!

 

[Gena001]

Got back from our trip to WDW last night. Time to get serious about getting more debt paid off! My goal is to get the remaining balance on my Disney cc (about $2,300) paid off by the end of this year!

We got back Saturday night too! Wonder if we were at MCO the same time? Our 7:35 PM flight didn't leave until 9:05 due to the storm...we had to wait on a plane coming in w/ our crew, then it was so bad out MCO wouldn't send employees out on the tarmac to guide them in.

Heading O.T., but i feel you're all my friends and may enjoy the following:

Weather overall on our trip was great! We did the keys first and it rained in the wee hours or on another key. Rained on drive up to Disney, but once we hit the buses for our first evening the skies parted and the clouds went away! Not a bit of rain until "get away day" (the SAD say for me). We swam at BB until the storm rolled in, changed clothes & went to MCO.

Funny story, I lost my driver's license & all my credit cards on vacation...still haven't found them, but they weren't attempted to use so I must have misplaced them. (Still haven't found them.) So, I had no ID to get back through TSA with. My little one was worried we'd have to stay in Florida forever! (LOL!) So, the code is a 1+1 when you don't have an I.D. Luckily, between my auto insurance card & medical insurance card, they were satisfied with my proof of identity. I had the body scan, though, and the pat down, and the sifting through my luggage. Wonder if I'm earmarked for future trips w/ TSA!

On Monday I went to the DMV to get a new license, but it was my birthday AND THE DAY MY LICENSE EXPIRED!!!

But we had a great trip! I hope yours was, too, Dentam. Now I need to budget more money for Christmas and I'm sure the house payment will go up because our property taxes increased...do I want to pay the extra money to keep the montly payment down??? And, budget for the darned personal property tax because we own vehicles!!!! Taxed when you earn...taxed when you spend...taxed when you live...taxed when you vacation....

UGH!

 

[Gena001]

I'm glad you're doing well! Working extra's no fun, but the extra pay is great! I've been like you the last 2 weeks, I have an extra 28.75 hours that should be on my pay check at the end of this week

Sending you positive thoughts on the refi appl & that you get approved!

I wish I could work a few extra hours each week. At my previous employers (private corporations) I was salaried, but had nice bonus checks at least once a year. Now I'm in higher education & they've made me hourly, but OT is not approved so I don't get any extra $$$. I'd almost consider getting a second job, but working 30 minutes or an hour later a few times a week is better on my family schedule than a second job would be...so I guess I'll just muddle along.

 

[LinderInWonderland]

I wish I could work a few extra hours each week. At my previous employers (private corporations) I was salaried, but had nice bonus checks at least once a year. Now I'm in higher education & they've made me hourly, but OT is not approved so I don't get any extra $$$. I'd almost consider getting a second job, but working 30 minutes or an hour later a few times a week is better on my family schedule than a second job would be...so I guess I'll just muddle along.

I feel your pain. My last position had occasional OT, which I loved. This one, no OT - but the extra perk of 4 10s with 3 day weekends every week. This allows me to do a lot of batch cooking, which saves us lots in groceries.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I'm sure it's not 100% accurate, but a while back I found a link to a spreadsheet that I downloaded and entered my debt information into. At that point (March 2015) I didn't have any snowball payments and very few "snowflake" payments to make. Going the rate I was going I wouldn't have made my last payment until March 2020 and would have paid out approximately $10,119 in interest! As of today with the snowflake payments I've scrounged up randomly each month and my new monthly snowball ($46) I'm looking at a final payment of October 2019 and $7,449 in interest. That's still a LONG ways off for me and a ton in interest that makes me want to cry. But I'm choosing to look at the positive and see that I've saved myself close to $3,000 in interest and knowing I should be free from debt 5 months sooner.

I know that things are bound to happen that will put a kink in my best laid plans, but my hope is that this will keep me motivated to see that an end is in sight and that every little bit truly does help.

Look at it this way, you didn't get into this pickle in a few months and you won't get out of it that quickly either.
Once you get that first, smallest bill paid off your snowball will be a little bigger.

"The journey of 1000 miles begins with single step."

 

[footballmouse]

I'm trying to follow this thread, everything looks doable, I just can't get the hang of the budget thing so I can pay bills down. I have my mortgage, car, utilities and 2 closed credit cards. I work 2 jobs and pick up as much OT as I can at the one but that will end in October. Any suggestions on how to tackel a budget? I guess I just can't figure out how to pinpoint what my exact bills are each month. There is always something that pops up each month, a field trip, kids need new shoes because the ones they have literaly have holes in the soles; vet bill; something brakes at home and needs to be repaired. It's never ending.

 

[myhoney]

footballmouse - I use "the 60% solution". You can search for it to get all the details, but it breaks up your gross pay into chunks. You have to write down all of your committed (ie., regular) monthly expenses. It works on your gross figures, so include taxes and health insurance from your paycheck as committed bills. The goal is to have your committed expenses be no more than 60% of your gross income. (Ha! Ours is about 75-80 right now...) Then, your retirement savings is another 10% gross chunk. The next 10% chunk is short term savings (the "pop up" expenses you mention), and then a 10% chunk for long term expenses (knowing you'll need a new fridge or roof, for example). The final 10% is Fun Money! You can spend that any way you like - eating out, movies, etc.

Because our committed expenses are higher, I don't really have a long term chunk in my budget, and I reduce our fun money/short term savings. When I worked full time, we were close to it, but when I went part time and then had 4 kids...our income and expenses changed! What I liked about this was it allotted for the crazy random stuff that happens in a way that made sense for me. I even had different accounts set up. We had an investment account for our long term savings that we would send money to, a savings account at the bank for short term...

There are a lot of ways to budget. I would suggest finding one that makes sense to you. Some people like to write down everything they spend. I know I should but I can't keep it up, so I found a different way that works for me. And even though I can't hit the 60%, I can tweak it to still make it work for me. That's what a good budget should do. If it isn't something you think you will keep up on, find one you will. Good luck!

 

[footballmouse]

Thanks, I'll look into the 60% system. You're right about writing down everything. I try to do that but then things always slip through that I forget about.

 

[Angeejoe]

I'm trying to follow this thread, everything looks doable, I just can't get the hang of the budget thing so I can pay bills down. I have my mortgage, car, utilities and 2 closed credit cards. I work 2 jobs and pick up as much OT as I can at the one but that will end in October. Any suggestions on how to tackel a budget? I guess I just can't figure out how to pinpoint what my exact bills are each month. There is always something that pops up each month, a field trip, kids need new shoes because the ones they have literaly have holes in the soles; vet bill; something brakes at home and needs to be repaired. It's never ending.

I'd also suggest an emergency fund so when the unexpected expenses come you can go to your emergency fund instead of your regular budget.