Debt Dumpers - 2015

[PrincessKymm]

I've had no luck with this job hunt. I'm reconsidering leaving my job. I'm only reconsidering for financial reasons. Emotionally I'm still a mess. I hate my employer but love my job. The only reason I can even foresee to stay is my Disney trip. I'm still looking but getting discouraged. I don't want to stay but it's so hard to break into the hospital systems even though that is a big business here.

So I'm scared to spend money I do have but I know I need to get rid of my debt so I can be in a better situation should I need to take a paycut. Any suggestions or words of encouragement?

 

[Angeejoe]

I've had no luck with this job hunt. I'm reconsidering leaving my job. I'm only reconsidering for financial reasons. Emotionally I'm still a mess. I hate my employer but love my job. The only reason I can even foresee to stay is my Disney trip. I'm still looking but getting discouraged. I don't want to stay but it's so hard to break into the hospital systems even though that is a big business here.

So I'm scared to spend money I do have but I know I need to get rid of my debt so I can be in a better situation should I need to take a paycut. Any suggestions or words of encouragement?

As a hospital employee I'd say the best way to get in is knowing someone, I've told my supervisor about friends looking for employment who were then interviewed & hired based a lot on me vouching for them. Also lots of hospital jobs never seem advertised, they get snatched up before they get posted to the community as internal workers tell their friends/family.

Do you have any time to volunteer at the hospital? Even just a few hours a month to get your foot in the door? Then they get to know you & your abilities, then they can vouch for you. My hospital is always looking for volunteers.

Sending you good vibes

 

[LinderInWonderland]

I just wanted to stop by and give a huge THANK YOU to this board! I learned about YNAB!, which is the most effective budgeting tool I have ever seen. I have been struggling to find a way to address our casual spending in a way that my DH could really get into. Like many people, he is a visual learner and all my past spreadsheets would just make his eyes glaze over. Now, he can see exactly how a trip to the store without a plan affects the rest of the budget. Even he was was delighted to see so much money still in the bank before the next payday!

We have a long haul to go to build our buffer while taking huge thwacks at our debt, but I can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel coming sooner than planned!

 

[Ava]

Don't remind me about Christmas. I haven't started yet and have no idea what I'm getting for anyone. Our kids don't need a darn thing, and I know their grandparents will buy them a bunch of stuff even though we tell them every year not to go overboard. I guess I shouldn't complain, since we get away with not really having to spend on our own kids. The only other people we buy for are my mother, my wife's mother, and my sister and her husband. So its not a big expenditure, it's just that I have no idea what to get for anyone.

 

[crazycatstacy]

How is everyone doing at the start of the holiday season? I am feeling pretty good so far. I have gotten a couple Christmas gifts for next to nothing and have a plan for the rest. I work full time but am trying out a work from home opportunity for some extra cash. Hopefully it will lead somewhere.

 

[stayhomemom77]

I'm doing well so far. At present, we are on track for our savings goals and it feels pretty good.

As for Christmas shopping...

We do that thing where you add up all the gifts you'll need for the year (including birthdays and Easter and Christmas) and divide the dollar amount by 12. Then we set aside that amount each month for gifts. The last of the Christmas money will go into the account on November 27th but I'll likely use my credit card and finish up my shopping between now and then as things go on sale and then pay it off on payday.

I have my list and much of it is already done. Whoot! I just need to finish the kids (we've done our parents and ourselves completely) and get wrapping paper/bows/tags etc and then the shopping is complete!

I always aim to be done the gift shopping by December 1st, the gift wrapping by December 8th and the food shopping by the 15th...then I can focus on the baking and visiting and merrymaking in the days leading up to Christmas Eve!!

I love Christmas!!

 

[bcwife76]

Before Christmas we still have to celebrate our youngest DD's birthday - she turns 5 on November 26th. We are taking her (and her sister) to Disney on Ice: Frozen a couple of days after her birthday but those tickets were bought and paid for back in the Spring. Still trying to find fun birthday party ideas for her that won't break that bank. The most economical idea (if we don't have it at home) is bowling at $10/kid.

I tend to purchase gifts throughout the year as well when I see them go on sale (and know it's something they want) so her birthday presents are all done and as usual I bought too much so some of that will be for Christmas

 

[ariel1025]

Checking in with a first of the month update. Only decreased our total debt balance by $653.34. I know I should be happy because a decrease is better than an increase, but it's the first time in a couple months it hasn't decreased by closer to $1,000. But we got in a jam and had to contribute our snowball amounts to other things. On the positive side, we have dropped out of the $90k's for total owed!

On the Christmas giving side, we are not prepared at all. My one big goal for next year is to do as @stayhomemom77 discussed a couple posts ago. Break up all gifts into monthly "payments." Right now we have one gift purchased (an add on item to take advantage of a coupon, which made the item free!) and I'm anxiously awaiting black friday ads to be released in hopes that I can snag some great deals from that (at home, in my pj's, from the computer).

 

[PrincessKymm]

Does anyone have a number they are comfortable with for their EF when paying down debt? I know Dave Ramsey says $1,000 but with my job situation i feel like I need more than that. I know that's money just sitting when I could be paying off debt but I just can't imagine having not enough. So I guess my question is, what is your number? 1 month of expenses? 3 months of expenses? $1,000? Some other number?

DS's birthday is in two weeks and I still haven't bought him a present. He wants clothes and really expensive electronics which I'm not buying. I've got 3 small Christmas presents but that's it!

 

[DisneyMandC]

Does anyone have a number they are comfortable with for their EF when paying down debt? I know Dave Ramsey says $1,000 but with my job situation i feel like I need more than that. I know that's money just sitting when I could be paying off debt but I just can't imagine having not enough. So I guess my question is, what is your number? 1 month of expenses? 3 months of expenses? $1,000? Some other number?

DS's birthday is in two weeks and I still haven't bought him a present. He wants clothes and really expensive electronics which I'm not buying. I've got 3 small Christmas presents but that's it!

I believe Dave Ramsey recommends $1000 at first, and then a 3-6 month living expenses emergency fund. We just purchased our first house so we're going to have increase ours to catch up with our new mortgage payment.

 

[dayvewc]

Does anyone have a number they are comfortable with for their EF when paying down debt? I know Dave Ramsey says $1,000 but with my job situation i feel like I need more than that. I know that's money just sitting when I could be paying off debt but I just can't imagine having not enough. So I guess my question is, what is your number? 1 month of expenses? 3 months of expenses? $1,000? Some other number?

DS's birthday is in two weeks and I still haven't bought him a present. He wants clothes and really expensive electronics which I'm not buying. I've got 3 small Christmas presents but that's it!

I don't have it yet, but my ultimate goal is enough of an EF to equal my full year contract (before taxes and deductions). I can't foresee ever needing that much put aside, but that why it's the EMERGENCY fund.

Starting out, my goal is to have at least $1000 and then increase from there.

 

[stayhomemom77]

I'm working towards mine in stages...although we just got ourselves completely out of debt at the start of the summer.

So stage one is $1000

Stage Two is one month expenses $4000

Stage Three is three months expenses $12000

And stage four is working toward six months expenses $24000

While we are no longer paying off debt, we are also saving aggressively towards a house downpayment which doesn't leave tons and tons for emergency savings. Obviously, it will take quite some time to get the full amount, but we'll get there eventually!

If you are worried about your employment status, perhaps you should put a bit more by for a while and stop the debt snowballing until you are more comfortable with your emergency fund.

 

[PrincessKymm]

I'm working towards mine in stages...although we just got ourselves completely out of debt at the start of the summer.

So stage one is $1000

Stage Two is one month expenses $4000

Stage Three is three months expenses $12000

And stage four is working toward six months expenses $24000

While we are no longer paying off debt, we are also saving aggressively towards a house downpayment which doesn't leave tons and tons for emergency savings. Obviously, it will take quite some time to get the full amount, but we'll get there eventually!

If you are worried about your employment status, perhaps you should put a bit more by for a while and stop the debt snowballing until you are more comfortable with your emergency fund.

That's where I'm at now. I have a number which is larger than $1,000 but I'm wondering if it's overkill while I still have all this debt. It's equivalent to three months rent and 3 months of basic utilities, so survival.

I'm paying the minimums on everything and paying each of my utilities completely but I've also cut spending. I canceled cable, I instituted no spend days and I started mystery shopping to earn extra money that I can just stick in my EF when it arrives. I have talked a lot of this over with my aunt and she reminded me that I'm a survivor and even if I left this awful employer I would land on my feet.

Has anyone ever cashed out a 401l to pay off debt? I feel like this is dumb to do now but it's not earning a lot (I REALLY need to roll it over) and it could wipe out a LOT of my debt. However, I'm hesitant because I started that when I was 21 so I feel like if I left it alone or rolled it over I would be grateful I did so in 20-30 years. Thoughts? This little nest egg is also my second EF if I were to lose my job for a longer period of time or fall seriously ill without the coverage I currently have.

 

[dayvewc]

That's where I'm at now. I have a number which is larger than $1,000 but I'm wondering if it's overkill while I still have all this debt. It's equivalent to three months rent and 3 months of basic utilities, so survival.

I'm paying the minimums on everything and paying each of my utilities completely but I've also cut spending. I canceled cable, I instituted no spend days and I started mystery shopping to earn extra money that I can just stick in my EF when it arrives. I have talked a lot of this over with my aunt and she reminded me that I'm a survivor and even if I left this awful employer I would land on my feet.

Has anyone ever cashed out a 401l to pay off debt? I feel like this is dumb to do now but it's not earning a lot (I REALLY need to roll it over) and it could wipe out a LOT of my debt. However, I'm hesitant because I started that when I was 21 so I feel like if I left it alone or rolled it over I would be grateful I did so in 20-30 years. Thoughts? This little nest egg is also my second EF if I were to lose my job for a longer period of time or fall seriously ill without the coverage I currently have.

I haven't, but I have struggled with cashing out a Roth IRA for the same purpose. Ultimately, my decision has always been "I'm making headway on the debt, so it isn't worth the tax penalties".

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We are chugging along. Starting in late Sept I redirected our snowball to our Christmas fund. I set a goal of $3000 to start and shouldn't need more after that. So that is done but I haven't shopped a lot. I got a few things here and there but need to really get started with that.
As for the EF I have exactly $1000 set aside for that. IIRC, DR recommends working on the "3-6 months of expenses" as an EF only after you're debt free. (Except mortgage.)

So for the next 2 weeks we're setting aside food money for a long weekend in WDW in early December. We haven't been there in Dec since ds15 was only 18 mos old. I couldn't pass it up. Flying down for just $61 pp and flying home free with SW points. So even with bringing our niece, flights were only $244 RT for 4 of us. I'm weak; I admit it.
We've been enough times we don't need souvenirs.
By late November I'll start attacking dh's truck payment. I'm looking forward to watching the balance drop!

Hang in there everyone!

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

I've been in and out of here this year. We hit an all time low when on vacation this summer we had bills pulled we weren't expecting and we had $5 in our bank account for 10 days! Some quick transferring of funds from our kids savings and we made it through the vacation and "buckled" down.

We chose to do somethings that many won't agree with, but worked for us. My husband traded in his jeep (he had 3 years left on it). Traded in for a lower payment and we got cash back. I traded in my lease and got a new one. The best thing that happened was I got a new job. I negotiated a much higher salary (close to the one I walked away from 2 years ago). My commute is much shorter too. So we're saving on gas, and I take home much much more!

Our zero balance cards just expired. Discover has been hounding us. My husband and I both applied (separate). I got approved for $7k and he got approved for $6500. So we'll be able to transfer the $10k we have out there that just went off it's 0% offer. The nice thing is there is no transfer fee on our offer!

I keep saying we really need to work on paying down some debt. We have a TON of debt (like $30k). And now we're back to being able to make all the payments (without worrying about when we get paid, bills get pulled, etc). But we're not real good at paying DOWN our debt. We really need to work at paying DOWN our debt so we can get out of the game of just moving balances around all the time.

We SQUEAKED by last year on my salary, so we CAN do it. And I really think we should try to do something like that again, and use that extra money to pay down our debt. But that's easier to say then to do, LOL. So I guess that's our goal for 2016!

 

[bcwife76]

So we actually have some 'extra' money coming in at the moment. Like the US, when you get paid in Canada there are certain deduction that come off every pay. Well my hubby has reached the max of his deduction level on two of them (CPP which is Canada Pension, and EI, which is employment insurance). By law they cannot take any more off his cheques for the rest of 2016. So since mid October his cheques are bigger by about $70. Not a significant amount but he gets paid weekly so that's approx $250-$280 extra a month. Plus his raise will be kicking in any time now, plus his back pay.
So we need to be SMART about this extra money and put it all on our line of credit. Also, do not want to get used to extra since come January 1 2016 they'll start again with those deductions.

 

[Eureka]

So we actually have some 'extra' money coming in at the moment. Like the US, when you get paid in Canada there are certain deduction that come off every pay. Well my hubby has reached the max of his deduction level on two of them (CPP which is Canada Pension, and EI, which is employment insurance). By law they cannot take any more off his cheques for the rest of 2016. So since mid October his cheques are bigger by about $70. Not a significant amount but he gets paid weekly so that's approx $250-$280 extra a month. Plus his raise will be kicking in any time now, plus his back pay.
So we need to be SMART about this extra money and put it all on our line of credit. Also, do not want to get used to extra since come January 1 2016 they'll start again with those deductions.

Why don't you put away that extra and then use it for something later instead of letting it "get lost" each week? We found out awhile ago that in 2016 the amount we pay for health insurance through DH's work is going to go up by $50/week. So I started putting that amount away right off the top, to get used to not having it. By the end of the year, we should have I think I figured out $800 or so that most likely we'll put toward the credit card, or maybe "pay ourselves back" for holiday spending.

 

[gracie1]

I've been in and out of here this year. We hit an all time low when on vacation this summer we had bills pulled we weren't expecting and we had $5 in our bank account for 10 days! Some quick transferring of funds from our kids savings and we made it through the vacation and "buckled" down.

We chose to do somethings that many won't agree with, but worked for us. My husband traded in his jeep (he had 3 years left on it). Traded in for a lower payment and we got cash back. I traded in my lease and got a new one. The best thing that happened was I got a new job. I negotiated a much higher salary (close to the one I walked away from 2 years ago). My commute is much shorter too. So we're saving on gas, and I take home much much more!

Our zero balance cards just expired. Discover has been hounding us. My husband and I both applied (separate). I got approved for $7k and he got approved for $6500. So we'll be able to transfer the $10k we have out there that just went off it's 0% offer. The nice thing is there is no transfer fee on our offer!

I keep saying we really need to work on paying down some debt. We have a TON of debt (like $30k). And now we're back to being able to make all the payments (without worrying about when we get paid, bills get pulled, etc). But we're not real good at paying DOWN our debt. We really need to work at paying DOWN our debt so we can get out of the game of just moving balances around all the time.

We SQUEAKED by last year on my salary, so we CAN do it. And I really think we should try to do something like that again, and use that extra money to pay down our debt. But that's easier to say then to do, LOL. So I guess that's our goal for 2016!

When you say you squeaked by last year on your salary - was your husband unemployed? If so - and now you have two salaries you could try just using half of his salary and throwing the other half towards the debt.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

So we actually have some 'extra' money coming in at the moment. Like the US, when you get paid in Canada there are certain deduction that come off every pay. Well my hubby has reached the max of his deduction level on two of them (CPP which is Canada Pension, and EI, which is employment insurance). By law they cannot take any more off his cheques for the rest of 2016. So since mid October his cheques are bigger by about $70. Not a significant amount but he gets paid weekly so that's approx $250-$280 extra a month. Plus his raise will be kicking in any time now, plus his back pay.
So we need to be SMART about this extra money and put it all on our line of credit. Also, do not want to get used to extra since come January 1 2016 they'll start again with those deductions.

That's awesome!
If you're able to view his pay stub online in advance, I would schedule an online payment to occur the day before payday. Usually the funds come out of our checking acct the next day. So our direct deposit is available in checking acct when I get up at 5am and all day long funds are removed for all the bills/transfers to savings that I had scheduled. (Except transfers to Capital One 360 which debits the same day I transfer to an acct with them. So with them I schedule the transfer to occur on payday.)
By the time I get home from work on payday, the $ came and left and what remains is a lil bit of spending $ and our cushion for the week. I'm never tempted to do something else with the $.
For me this system has worked extremely well and keeps me right on track.
Dh & I are both paid biweekly but we're opposites so every Thurs is payday. Each week of the month has a list of bills to pay and debt to pay/snowball. As the debt decreases then disappears, the snowball increases. The snowball varies each week but it's all very predictible.
I love being able to view my pay in advance and plan accordingly. Dh's employer doesn't offer that and his pay varies often so I really don't know for sure what to expect until I see the direct deposit that morning.
Yes, I'm banking online before 5:30am. Crazy but it works for me.