Debt Dumpers - 2016

[momtosam]

So, this is the day I both love and dread every summer.

I got paid my summer checks from the school. It is actually 10 days early, as the normal payday is the 20th of the month. But, I'm not upset with getting paid early except ....

We got our checks for both June and July, so I have to make sure I ration the funds in my account to last until the next payday on August 20th. Blech. Not fun. And not easy, there are so many bills I could pay off with what I have in my account right now, but then I wouldn't be able to pay the recurring bills over the next 10 weeks. I'm not whining, this is a character building process. I just think I'd rather not go through this as I'm enough of a character already.

At my school we have the option to take our summer pay in a lump sum or not. after a few years of taking the lump sum, this year I decided not to. I never have grocery money by August!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

So, this is the day I both love and dread every summer.

I got paid my summer checks from the school. It is actually 10 days early, as the normal payday is the 20th of the month. But, I'm not upset with getting paid early except ....

We got our checks for both June and July, so I have to make sure I ration the funds in my account to last until the next payday on August 20th. Blech. Not fun. And not easy, there are so many bills I could pay off with what I have in my account right now, but then I wouldn't be able to pay the recurring bills over the next 10 weeks. I'm not whining, this is a character building process. I just think I'd rather not go through this as I'm enough of a character already.

Can you prepay any of it? Our gas/electric bill is on the equal payment plan so if I had advance funds I could go online and pay 2 months worth and have it done. Of course some bills, like the parent plus loan, would just apply excess to the principal so for bills like that it's best to keep a list of what has to be paid, how much & when. Cases like this are why I love my Capital One 360 accounts. It's easy to hold it aside then transfer at the proper time according to The Plan.
This way it doesn't falsely make the regular checking account look fat. That would make it easy to go crazy spending.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I've never had the urge to visit Disneyland until it just hit me over the head Friday. It keeps calling out to me and I keep trying to shush it up.
Ds16 has a 4 day weekend in early Oct. so we could escape and have 3 full days of park touring without missing a minute of school. We've been going away that weekend every year since he was in kindergarten.
That would exclude ds19 who will be in community college which doesn't follow the same days off as our public schools. He usually doesn't care but I think he might this time. We've never been.
I could wait until MLK weekend but then the Grand Californian hotel is unavailable. Is it really "all that"? Dh loves Mission style décor. I know there are a LOT of hotels close by so maybe I'm stressing over nothing. I think crowds & weather might be worse in Jan too.
I should just let it go...

 

[dayvewc]

At my school we have the option to take our summer pay in a lump sum or not. after a few years of taking the lump sum, this year I decided not to. I never have grocery money by August!

I've never worked in a district that gave me an option. I think the absolute worst year was when I went from a school that paid on the 10th of the month to a district that paid on the 20th. Luckily (?), both districts paid the summer the same (both paid June, July, and August in one lump) but that meant I went from the 10th of June until the 20th of September without a regular check. That was also, coincidentally, the same summer I started teaching summer school.

Can you prepay any of it? Our gas/electric bill is on the equal payment plan so if I had advance funds I could go online and pay 2 months worth and have it done. Of course some bills, like the parent plus loan, would just apply excess to the principal so for bills like that it's best to keep a list of what has to be paid, how much & when. Cases like this are why I love my Capital One 360 accounts. It's easy to hold it aside then transfer at the proper time according to The Plan.
This way it doesn't falsely make the regular checking account look fat. That would make it easy to go crazy spending.

I do have a few bills that I can prepay, but only a couple. And at this point, ALL of my bills are set up on automatic payments, drafts, and bill pays, so it is a bigger hassle to go in and change the amount for the one month, cancel the automatic payment and then remember to reinstate the automatic payment after the payment due date in July.

I do kind of the same thing using quicken. I go through and schedule all the payments to come out when they will and only look at my final balance. But yeah, when I sign in to the bank and see that nice balance, I'm always tempted to go get something I've been wanting. So far, I remain strong.

I've never had the urge to visit Disneyland until it just hit me over the head Friday. It keeps calling out to me and I keep trying to shush it up.
Ds16 has a 4 day weekend in early Oct. so we could escape and have 3 full days of park touring without missing a minute of school. We've been going away that weekend every year since he was in kindergarten.
That would exclude ds19 who will be in community college which doesn't follow the same days off as our public schools. He usually doesn't care but I think he might this time. We've never been.
I could wait until MLK weekend but then the Grand Californian hotel is unavailable. Is it really "all that"? Dh loves Mission style décor. I know there are a LOT of hotels close by so maybe I'm stressing over nothing. I think crowds & weather might be worse in Jan too.
I should just let it go...

I don't know about the other hotels in the area, (well, I do know about one, and I wouldn't stay there again. It was a nice hotel, but almost NO parking area. Was really difficult trying to maneuver the rental into a spot without hitting another car or the wall. And I REALLY didn't want to damage the rental car!!) But I absolutely think the Grand Californian is "all that". I haven't done many of the Disney resorts, just Saratoga, Animal Kingdom, and Grand Californian, but the GC is my favorite of all of them as a resort. You can't beat the savanna view from Animal Kingdom, but for the rest of the resort complex the GC wins hands down in my book.

 

[Dentam]

I've never had the urge to visit Disneyland until it just hit me over the head Friday. It keeps calling out to me and I keep trying to shush it up.
Ds16 has a 4 day weekend in early Oct. so we could escape and have 3 full days of park touring without missing a minute of school. We've been going away that weekend every year since he was in kindergarten.
That would exclude ds19 who will be in community college which doesn't follow the same days off as our public schools. He usually doesn't care but I think he might this time. We've never been.
I could wait until MLK weekend but then the Grand Californian hotel is unavailable. Is it really "all that"? Dh loves Mission style décor. I know there are a LOT of hotels close by so maybe I'm stressing over nothing. I think crowds & weather might be worse in Jan too.
I should just let it go...

I'd go in October - January is a time that a lot of rides are down for maintenance, plus I think the park hours are at their shortest. And IMHO, yes, the Grand Californian really is "all that".

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

DH and I have been chugging away using YNAB. And we both pretty much love it. We have been tracking all of our transactions with the app as we make purchases. So easy. And DH watched some of the webinars with me, including the grocery budget one. They talked about having emergency meals on hand for when you don't want to cook but don't want to spend money eating out either. DH liked that idea a lot, so today he cooked up five meals for the freezer.

And we have decided that we will have a weekly budget meeting on Sunday mornings. So this morning we sat down and went over everything to make sure that we were on track for the month. Then we planned our errands for the day and went out. I am really glad that DH is starting to get more involved with the finances. I really want money to be transparent between us and this has helped us to take a huge leap forward in that respect. In just the past two weeks, I feel more like a team than ever before and I love it.

 

[Dentam]

DH and I have been chugging away using YNAB. And we both pretty much love it. We have been tracking all of our transactions with the app as we make purchases. So easy. And DH watched some of the webinars with me, including the grocery budget one. They talked about having emergency meals on hand for when you don't want to cook but don't want to spend money eating out either. DH liked that idea a lot, so today he cooked up five meals for the freezer.

And we have decided that we will have a weekly budget meeting on Sunday mornings. So this morning we sat down and went over everything to make sure that we were on track for the month. Then we planned our errands for the day and went out. I am really glad that DH is starting to get more involved with the finances. I really want money to be transparent between us and this has helped us to take a huge leap forward in that respect. In just the past two weeks, I feel more like a team than ever before and I love it.

That's awesome!

 

[PrincessKymm]

We are back from Disney and I stayed on budget!!!!!

I have renewed energy to pay off debt. I think with a bit of hard work and determination I can pay off my next lowest balance within 2 months. I used this card for room charges and I immediately paid the bill and seeing how "small" the balance was on that card I am now dying to get it paid off.

DS is spending half of July with his grandparents so my food bill will be way less than normal. We do have family coming into town so I have budgeted for that. I have to work really hard not to fall into the eating out trap.

I'm still hoping the cruise gets cancelled or at least delayed. I'd much rather spend my money on other stuff and getting rid of debt

 

[Dentam]

Welcome back, @PrincessKymm! Glad to hear that you stayed on budget and came back with renewed determination for your debt dumping!

 

[stayhomemom77]

Well...Murphy arrived just before dinner tonight and fried my computer. I knew it was going...just needed it to hang on until the fall but he had other plans. DH pulled it apart and it cannot be fixed. Dang it!! For the moment, I am getting by with borrowing my DH's computer and/or tablet and using my phone. It's enough for now. In a few weeks, we'll see what we want to do about getting a replacement.

Irritating and inconvenient, but by no means desperate. Not yet, anyway.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

So I have been so busy that I never reported this. About 2 weeks ago, my windshield cracked when I was driving to a work conference. Work won't pay for damage to a personal vehicle, even if it occurs during work travel, so I had to scrounge up the $375 to cover the cost. I didn't want to file an insurance claim because I had an accident with a concrete pylon a little over a year ago and my insurance is still elevated from filing that claim. So I found the money in the budget and just kept swimming.

And then last Thursday, I was driving home from another conference on the same stretch of highway and my window cracked again! I immediately called DH and he called Safelite. They told him that I should bring the car in right away. So once I got back into town, I drove right to the office. The manager took one look at the windshield and said that he couldn't repair it. It needed to be replaced again. And because it looked like a rock had hit it, it wouldn't be covered under the warranty. I was so distraught that I almost cried. I just didn't know where I was going to find another $375. It was just the worst luck ever.

The manager took me back into the office and looked at his computer to figure out the cost and to schedule an appointment. And then, after a few moments, he just said, "Don't worry, we will take care of this. Bring the car in at 1pm tomorrow and we will cover it." So I brought it in last Friday and they replaced the windshield "under warranty." I didn't pay a dime more. I don't know why the manager did that, but I am so grateful to him. It pretty much made my month.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Wow, what a story! How absolutely frustrating to have that happen twice.
How nice of that manager to help you out like that! I think I'd be bringing that office a few dozen cannoli as a thank you. At least a big bag of candy. Lol.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

It reminds me of ds16. He got his braces off mid April. First retainer for top row is included with the cost of braces. It's like an invisilign device.
He lost it in 12 days. I tell him he needs to pay for half with his lawn mowing money. $210 later he gets #2. It barely lasts 10 days!
I just got the bill for #2 and hadn't even paid it yet.
So I paid for #3 to make the dr happy but ds will be cutting our grass til late August to pay it back.

I jokingly asked if they can make one that clips onto his shirt like a binky.

 

[dayvewc]

Well, I've been having some up and down moments this week.

Signed on to my credit card account online today, and saw where they had reinstated the disputed charge I had with DRI. (It's not totally evil and bad - I wound up getting reward points for it, and I checked and when I was issued the credit they didn't take the points I got the first time, so I effectively got double rewards). I haven't received the letter of explanation from the cc yet, but I would guess that in the dispute this means they found for DRI. It just irritates me that I wind up being penalized because they failed to follow the law and adhere to the contract.

I also have not heard back from Disneyland concerning the complaint I sent in last week, so I sent it again, with a header that this was the second time I was sending it as the automated response indicated that someone would contact me within 5 days and it has been 7. So, I was sending it again to ensure that it was received and read, and would appreciate a call-back.

I contacted Dish network about a minor problem with receiving the signal mid-afternoon. While I was chatting with them, I discovered that I can upgrade to the Hopper 3 for about $1.50 more a month than I am paying now. I'm still debating the upgrade. It's only $1.50, and would alleviate having my shows not recorded because one of the roommates cancels it to watch their show. But it IS more a month, and right now I've got about 400 hours of recorded TV I haven't had a chance to watch. So, it's not like I don't have a lot of catching up to do first.

I also checked my car insurance online, looking to see if I can get a better rate somewhere else (that has been a no so far), and realized that on their internal point system, Progressive assigned me 0 points for my accident in May. I think that means that they won't use the accident as a reason to increase my rate when it renews, but I'll have to wait a couple more months to find out for sure.

Not really anything else I can report on. My grad class is costing me sleep, and a bit a stress, but so far I'm making it pretty well. Not overly impressed with it so far, but this class is better than the first one, so it may be a learning curve of the instructor (the first class I took was his first online class to teach).

Just swimming along.

lol, which reminds me. The new car I got the other day? It's blue. So, I've named it Dory, and I now have a Nemo antenna topper on it. I'll try to remember to take a pic and post it tomorrow.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I've never worked in a district that gave me an option. I think the absolute worst year was when I went from a school that paid on the 10th of the month to a district that paid on the 20th. Luckily (?), both districts paid the summer the same (both paid June, July, and August in one lump) but that meant I went from the 10th of June until the 20th of September without a regular check. That was also, coincidentally, the same summer I started teaching summer school.



I do have a few bills that I can prepay, but only a couple. And at this point, ALL of my bills are set up on automatic payments, drafts, and bill pays, so it is a bigger hassle to go in and change the amount for the one month, cancel the automatic payment and then remember to reinstate the automatic payment after the payment due date in July.

I do kind of the same thing using quicken. I go through and schedule all the payments to come out when they will and only look at my final balance. But yeah, when I sign in to the bank and see that nice balance, I'm always tempted to go get something I've been wanting. So far, I remain strong.



I don't know about the other hotels in the area, (well, I do know about one, and I wouldn't stay there again. It was a nice hotel, but almost NO parking area. Was really difficult trying to maneuver the rental into a spot without hitting another car or the wall. And I REALLY didn't want to damage the rental car!!) But I absolutely think the Grand Californian is "all that". I haven't done many of the Disney resorts, just Saratoga, Animal Kingdom, and Grand Californian, but the GC is my favorite of all of them as a resort. You can't beat the savanna view from Animal Kingdom, but for the rest of the resort complex the GC wins hands down in my book.

It's over $500 per night in Oct. I love a beautiful hotel but having a hard time choking that down.
We were just weeks away from having no debt but our mortgage and now we're paying a car loan for ds and the parent plus loan. Our poor snowball got a buzz cut. I've lived all these years without visiting DL. It'll just have to wait a few more. I have to stay strong. Temptations will keep coming.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Sounds like everyone is doing well, despite some hiccups!! We're cruising along. I was getting a little worried about having to buy some more hay for my horses recently, but we ended up buying less than I thought we would so I paid over $100 less than I was planning, which was nice. Plus I sold my dog's old crate yesterday on Craigslist and got $50 for that, so that took care of a good chunk of the bill!

DH and I currently waiting for me to get my first paycheck from the new job, which I won't get until the 24th. We're doing ok in the meantime, but we've cut everything back to minimums just until we can figure out for sure how much I'll be bringing home after taxes/retirement. We usually round up on all of our monthly bills, so we would round up the extra $40 on the mortgage to make it even, etc. Hopefully we can get back to it soon, but in the meantime we just wanted to cut it all back.

The good news is we are doing MUCH better on eating out this month. So far we have spent $36 this month, which may not be good to some people, but is really good for us. This has mainly been fast food when traveling out of state to one of our horse shows when there isn't really an option to pack or bring much food with us when we're gone for a whole day. I also went out to lunch my first day in the office with some others, and I did have one dinner out when friends came into VA from the UK, but I think I can let that slide since I hadn't seen them in 3 years! I know we will have one more dinner out later this month when we go to the beach. Our friend is letting us use her camper for free for the weekend though, so the dinner out plus gas to get to the beach should be our only expenses!

 

[dayvewc]

It's over $500 per night in Oct. I love a beautiful hotel but having a hard time choking that down.
We were just weeks away from having no debt but our mortgage and now we're paying a car loan for ds and the parent plus loan. Our poor snowball got a buzz cut. I've lived all these years without visiting DL. It'll just have to wait a few more. I have to stay strong. Temptations will keep coming.

That is the best thing about having DVC. As long as there is availability, my nightly cost is a lot less. lol. I think the per night "cost" when I was there 2 weeks ago would have been about $110? (20 points per night, at about $5.50 per point in maintenance fees - does not take into account initial cost of the points)

And even if you don't stay at the GC, I'd still check out some area hotels. You should be able to get a much more reasonable rate at some of the non-Disney owned hotels that are still within walking distance. The one I stayed at a couple of years ago (I just couldn't see using points for the GC when my flight didn't land until almost midnight) was less than a mile away from the park, and was in the $80/night range, and was a nice hotel - it just didn't have lots of parking space.

 

[Dentam]

You can also rent DVC points but I think the GC is very hard to get that way. We got a great price for the Dapper Day weekend - I think it was about $250/night. They have these in the spring and fall, and if you participate you can get the special room rate at any of the Disney hotels. Worth checking into.

 

[brooke789]

Hi all! I'm not officially a part of the group, but ever since August 15 we've been seriously paying off debt! We've never had CC debt, but we have a mortgage, 2 student loan payments and 2 car payments as of 8/15. The big change for us in Aug 2015 was our twins starting Kindergarten! We were pretty much just getting by + having enough money to put some into savings until that point. But public school began savings us approximately 1000 each month vs paying for childcare or private preschool. First we started sending every bit of extra money to our van (lowest debt amount) and paid it off about Jan 16. Then we've rolled that money and any extra into our other car which is now down to about $4500. Once that is paid off (hopefully by the end of the year) we'll begin sending our extra money to the two student loans which are about $9K today. After that we'll move on to our house which is about $79K. According to a payoff spst I downloaded based on paying what we currently owe plus any snowball (not counting extra we have each month) we'll be debt free in 5 years. It's really hard to believe, but we're going for it!

We've got our disney trip coming up (Room + Tickets paid for last year and 2K spending money in the bank...so shouldn't set us behind) and then we'll slow down over the summer when we have childcare costs again, but hoping to be back up and running full speed come August 16!

We're getting further along than it seemed like we would a month ago. We had $2000 in the bank for spending money/food/gas/etc for our WDW trip. We ended up getting a deal on $400 in GCs and I used that money to pay for it. So, come our trip we had a $750 gift card and $1600 in the bank for anything else. We only ended up charging approximately $500 more. So, at the end of our trip I had $1000 savings which I sent direclty to our car payment. Since I last posted (and made this payment today - payday!) we only owe $2,000 on our car! Just the regular payment plus the money I get monthly from our DCSA will pay this off by August. Then we'll start knocking out those student loans.

I also estimated our debts (estimated for Aug 16) to August 15. We are going to have paid off about $27,000 this year. I'm super impressed!