Debt Dumpers - 2015

[NemoMOm]

Jumping in again! Hubby and I started reading DR again. It motivated us again. So we paid off 3 small loans and 2 credit cards. We have 2 more to go and then on to the cars! We are going to Disney in a few weeks; can't help thinking that we should be using that money on debt, but.....

 

[gracie1]

Jumping in again! Hubby and I started reading DR again. It motivated us again. So we paid off 3 small loans and 2 credit cards. We have 2 more to go and then on to the cars! We are going to Disney in a few weeks; can't help thinking that we should be using that money on debt, but.....

Great job!! Enjoy your vacation!

 

[Dentam]

Started the debt pay-down journey this past November. Budgeted for Christmas for the first time ever and didn't spend a penny over what we budgeted. We've cut down our cell phone bill, downgraded a car from a payment of over $400/month to less than $150/month, stuck with meal-planning (huge savings), gotten a reduction in before and after school care costs, and reduced our cable/internet bill by about $80/month. Paid off over $12K so far and are shooting to be debt free (including no car payments) by June 2016. It can be done.

Wow, 12K since November, that's impressive!!

My house is set to go on the market this coming weekend. Really hoping it sells quickly so I can use some of the proceeds to pay off cc debt!

 

[gracie1]

Wow, 12K since November, that's impressive!!

My house is set to go on the market this coming weekend. Really hoping it sells quickly so I can use some of the proceeds to pay off cc debt!

Sending you good vibes that your house sells quickly!! Have you bought another house already?

 

[dayvewc]

Wow, 12K since November, that's impressive!!

My house is set to go on the market this coming weekend. Really hoping it sells quickly so I can use some of the proceeds to pay off cc debt!

Good luck on selling the house!!

 

[Dentam]

Sending you good vibes that your house sells quickly!! Have you bought another house already?

Thanks! No, I haven't bought another house and don't plan to... I'm renting now and enjoying the fact that when big things go wrong I'm not the one who will need to foot the bill. Lost a lot of money on this house I'm getting ready to sell. In hindsight I could have saved thousands by continuing to rent.

 

[gracie1]

Thanks! No, I haven't bought another house and don't plan to... I'm renting now and enjoying the fact that when big things go wrong I'm not the one who will need to foot the bill. Lost a lot of money on this house I'm getting ready to sell. In hindsight I could have saved thousands by continuing to rent.

I know what you mean! I have a house but every time something happens their major expenses!!

 

[Dentam]

I know what you mean! I have a house but every time something happens their major expenses!!

Yeah, I don't think that owning a home is quite the "American Dream" that it used to be. Although there are pros and cons to both I suppose. I could be forced to move if the owners of the place I rent decide to sell. That just happened to a friend of mine with pretty short notice to find a new place to rent.

 

[bcwife76]

Sending you house selling pixie dust!! But yes, home ownership isn't all it's cracked up to be. Our house was built in 2009 and we've already had issues with two appliances as well as our concrete walkway out front (which was actually sinking!!!) so that needed to be addressed asap. Ugh.

 

[Dentam]

Thanks! Yeah, I've had to replace the entire HVAC system to the tune of over 5K plus the fridge and garbage disposal along with other smaller issues. Also the roof was replaced but luckily the HOA covered that. Pricey monthly payments for HOA though. The value of the house of course plummeted about 2-3 years after I bought it when the housing crisis/recession hit so I'll be lucky if I get 10K less for it than what I paid. At this point I will just be happy to have the weight off my shoulders though! Can't wait to delete the mortgage and HOA bills from my list of monthly payments!

 

[momtosam]

Murphy came for a visit. Our furnace went out yesterday. The repairman came and replaced the circuit board. The bill is coming in the mail. Waiting with nervous anticipation...

 

[gracie1]

Murphy came for a visit. Our furnace went out yesterday. The repairman came and replaced the circuit board. The bill is coming in the mail. Waiting with nervous anticipation...

Oh no! I really dislike Murphy . Last year I felt like Murphy was a guest that wouldn't leave! Hoping that your bill won't be too bad - the waiting drives me crazy!!

 

[gracie1]

I have a question for you - you said that you rent an ecv when going to Disney. Who do you rent from and if you don't mind sharing what are the rental costs? I'm thinking ahead that if I'm ever able to get back there and my mom decides to go or dad, they both have trouble doing a lot of walking. Plus my mom is going in for back surgery tomorrow.

 

[dayvewc]

I have a question for you - you said that you rent an ecv when going to Disney. Who do you rent from and if you don't mind sharing what are the rental costs? I'm thinking ahead that if I'm ever able to get back there and my mom decides to go or dad, they both have trouble doing a lot of walking. Plus my mom is going in for back surgery tomorrow.

I hope your mom does well in her surgery.

I rent from AATourist Rental. PM me for the phone number. They are (were last summer) $25/day for each ecv, and are the only company I know of that has the canopy tops ($5 /day). They also usually have a discount if you are doing multiple rentals, have a weekly rate, and a return customer discount.

I've tried a couple of other companies, but this one has by far been the best one I've worked with.

 

[dayvewc]

Hold me back. Finally got rid of the roommate, and I've been celebrating. lol.

Planned and made summer vacation reservations yesterday, then this morning made an order from Omaha Steaks. Probably shouldn't have done either, but darn it, I'm rewarding myself of getting rid of the leech.

On the plus side of debt dumping, I also went through my cell-phone bill and discontinued a couple of monthly apps that I didn't need - especially now that Google Maps is working well as a GPS routing system, saved me $15/month. And by downgrading my data plan, I'll save another $20/month. Last week I checked over my satellite bill, and canceled the on-demand movie package ($10/month) and sent back the third tv receiver (since that was the one in roommates room) at $7/month. Thinking about sending back the 2nd tv receiver (another $7/month) but it's the one in my bedroom. Not sure I want to get rid of it yet.

But overall, I'm down $50 + taxes each month on bills. That will let me snowball a few things faster. My only question is: do I want to start applying the snowball to my 0% interest promotional items (which I'm already paying more than the minimum so that they pay off the last month of the promotion), or do I snowball over to my single remaining CC (that I just added $300 to today)?

 

[Dentam]

Hold me back. Finally got rid of the roommate, and I've been celebrating. lol.

Planned and made summer vacation reservations yesterday, then this morning made an order from Omaha Steaks. Probably shouldn't have done either, but darn it, I'm rewarding myself of getting rid of the leech.

On the plus side of debt dumping, I also went through my cell-phone bill and discontinued a couple of monthly apps that I didn't need - especially now that Google Maps is working well as a GPS routing system, saved me $15/month. And by downgrading my data plan, I'll save another $20/month. Last week I checked over my satellite bill, and canceled the on-demand movie package ($10/month) and sent back the third tv receiver (since that was the one in roommates room) at $7/month. Thinking about sending back the 2nd tv receiver (another $7/month) but it's the one in my bedroom. Not sure I want to get rid of it yet.

But overall, I'm down $50 + taxes each month on bills. That will let me snowball a few things faster. My only question is: do I want to start applying the snowball to my 0% interest promotional items (which I'm already paying more than the minimum so that they pay off the last month of the promotion), or do I snowball over to my single remaining CC (that I just added $300 to today)?

I must have missed something - wasn't he just getting ready to move back in? Glad you are rid of that situation!!

I've been thinking about the same dilemma. I went through all my cc's and made a list of when the ones with 0% offers end and what % they will then go up to. Then I compared them to my cc's that already charge interest. That helped me to make a priority list for which ones I focus on first, second and so on.

 

[Dentam]

My only question is: do I want to start applying the snowball to my 0% interest promotional items (which I'm already paying more than the minimum so that they pay off the last month of the promotion), or do I snowball over to my single remaining CC (that I just added $300 to today)?

Just reread your post and if I understand the note in bold above, you are already making payments that will ensure those balances at 0% will be paid off before the 0% offer ends? In that case I would put the extra money toward your other cc if you are being charged interest on that balance.

 

[dayvewc]

I must have missed something - wasn't he just getting ready to move back in? Glad you are rid of that situation!!

Yes, I had agreed that he could move in for March and April, provided his share of bills were paid, and if he got a job we could talk about him continuing being here. His dad agreed to pay his bills for the two months to give him a chance to look for a job. He was here for 1 week (and I actually met him outside the door and refused to unlock it and let him in until he had given me the money his dad sent) when he decided it would be more "fun" to ride with a different friend as an over-the-road trucker-passenger. So, he left earlier this week. I reminded him that if he left for the 4 weeks on the road, it was not likely that 1) his dad would send money for April, and 2) without the bill money he was not welcome back. He said that was fine; I said good riddance.

I've been thinking about the same dilemma. I went through all my cc's and made a list of when the ones with 0% offers end and what % they will then go up to. Then I compared them to my cc's that already charge interest. That helped me to make a priority list for which ones I focus on first, second and so on.

Just reread your post and if I understand the note in bold above, you are already making payments that will ensure those balances at 0% will be paid off before the 0% offer ends? In that case I would put the extra money toward your other cc if you are being charged interest on that balance.

Yes, I have 2 store credit cards with 0% promotional offers. One ends in September, and has a balance of about $250 where I'm paying $50 a month (should pay off in August), the other ends in January and has a balance of about $220 and I'm paying $20 a month (have not paid the March payment yet but will pay off in January before the end date of the promotion).

I'm pretty much thinking to put the extra toward the one cc with a balance. The extra is only about $50 a month, so it would still take me 3-4 months to pay off one of the others, and paying those early won't save me any interest; while paying down the one cc will save me interest.

On the other hand, I've done well with the 52 week challenge so far this year, but I can foresee it getting rougher in mid-summer, so being done with one of the other payments would help to continue building my emergency fund. But I really think that saving the interest charge is the better long term option.

----------------------------

My thought is that there is no advantage to paying off the 0% interest accounts early, since doing so doesn't save any interest, but my fear is that I will become complacent or comfortable carrying balances - and that was part of what got me "behind" to begin with. (I'm not behind in any payments, but I allowed myself to be convinced to continue to make several purchases because I could just pay it out, and the amount I was using to "pay down" my balances was still more than what the additional interest was. Until I realized that I needed new tires on my car, and didn't have any savings or enough balance on any card to pay for them. That was my wake-up call that I was slipping into a debt nightmare.)

 

[bcwife76]

Hold me back. Finally got rid of the roommate, and I've been celebrating. lol.

Planned and made summer vacation reservations yesterday, then this morning made an order from Omaha Steaks. Probably shouldn't have done either, but darn it, I'm rewarding myself of getting rid of the leech.

On the plus side of debt dumping, I also went through my cell-phone bill and discontinued a couple of monthly apps that I didn't need - especially now that Google Maps is working well as a GPS routing system, saved me $15/month. And by downgrading my data plan, I'll save another $20/month. Last week I checked over my satellite bill, and canceled the on-demand movie package ($10/month) and sent back the third tv receiver (since that was the one in roommates room) at $7/month. Thinking about sending back the 2nd tv receiver (another $7/month) but it's the one in my bedroom. Not sure I want to get rid of it yet.

But overall, I'm down $50 + taxes each month on bills. That will let me snowball a few things faster. My only question is: do I want to start applying the snowball to my 0% interest promotional items (which I'm already paying more than the minimum so that they pay off the last month of the promotion), or do I snowball over to my single remaining CC (that I just added $300 to today)?

That is awesome!! Good news all around!!

DH and I really want to try Omaha Steaks so I made a dummy order on their website today; shipping was $60 to Canada!!! 0_0 So yeah, not ordering from them anytime soon unfortunately

 

[dayvewc]

That is awesome!! Good news all around!!

DH and I really want to try Omaha Steaks so I made a dummy order on their website today; shipping was $60 to Canada!!! 0_0 So yeah, not ordering from them anytime soon unfortunately

Ouch! I've ordered from them in the past, and it is some really good stuff. A bit pricier than going to the store, but really good cuts of meat and highly convenient. Though, I usually look for a free shipping promotion. They don't happen often, but I generally see it offered once or twice a year. I ordered this time because they had a free 3 lb boneless ham for orders over $50. I paid about $90 total for groceries, and then $20 in shipping. Of course, according to their "regular prices" that $90 represented a bit over $200 in meat.

I feel like an Arby's commercial "I got the meats". ;-)