Debt Dumpers - 2016

[ruadisneyfan2]

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!

That's awesome! It's amazing what you can accomplish when you set your mind to it and Murphy stays away.

I've never added up what I've paid for a year but it sounds like a good rainy-day project for when I'm not feeling very motivated to keep at it or if I feel like being bad and want to book a trip.

 

[brooke789]

I've never added up what I've paid for a year but it sounds like a good rainy-day project for when I'm not feeling very motivated to keep at it or if I feel like being bad and want to book a trip.

A super easy way to add up what you've paid down (IMO) is just on your budget spreadsheet (or anywhere handy for you to keep a note) write down your total owed on all of your debts on a particular date/month. I did it when we started really have extra money each month last August. Just to have a place to look to see how we'd done. Then on another date you can do the same thing again. Either log into each account or note it on your list/spreadsheet when your statements come in. Mine is very simple.

Here is my very simple way to tracking total balances:
Balances: 8/15/2015 --- Balances 8/15/2016
Home Projects 4200 --- 1800
E Stu Loan 5500 --- 4520
4Runner 10,000 --- 2000
Sienna 3200 --- 0
B Stu Loan 6200 --- 4500
House 80000 --- 69500
Total 109100 ---- 82320

It loses the formatting on here, but very simple to reference on my excel sheet.

 

[Dentam]

I use the excel spreadsheet method as well and have an annual debt dumping goal set at the bottom. I update the individual balances as well as year to date total debt dumped monthly.

 

[dayvewc]

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.

That price sounds about right. I have rented out my points before, and it seems that they went for about $13-$15 per point, which would make a 20 point night in the $260-$300 range. And yeah, unless you can get the home resort booking advantage, the GC is difficult to get in to. Both of my trips, I had to wait-list portions of the stay, but both times the days became available at about 3 months out.

 

[Dentam]

That price sounds about right. I have rented out my points before, and it seems that they went for about $13-$15 per point, which would make a 20 point night in the $260-$300 range. And yeah, unless you can get the home resort booking advantage, the GC is difficult to get in to. Both of my trips, I had to wait-list portions of the stay, but both times the days became available at about 3 months out.

We booked a regular standard room for Dapper Days - there was a special booking link on the DD website. They have one in the spring and another in the fall. It was a lot of fun! On an unrelated note, we saw a couple get engaged in their DD attire in front of the MK before it opened one day. A couple of cast members were in on the plan and chose the family to enter for pics ahead of park opening, then the guy got down on one knee in front of the train station out front. Everyone in line applauded - pretty neat.

 

[Eureka]

Week 2 of unemployment is almost over. I've been very restless already. I got my pitiful severance yesterday (two weeks' salary) and it's already gone bc I paid all of this month's bills except the mortgage. Have applied for a few FT jobs and have put a lot of leads out there. Seems that I will be able to go back to one of my freelance companies but not sure when that will start and how much work it will be, but it will be something. Have another couple potential freelance opportunities too so that is good. If I can cobble a few things together while I'm looking, it will be good for my brain and mental health, and hopefully more $ than unemployment (which hasn't even started yet). And honestly it would be an ideal situation for the summer but eventually we need me to get back to full earnings.

Speaking of that...I know I need to report any earnings and they will reduce my benefit for that week. The cap is 26 weeks but is that consecutive weeks? I can't seem to find that anywhere and have not yet called to ask bc it's a moot point so far. For example, say I do some work on week 7 but not on week 8. I won't get UI benefits (or will get reduced benefits depending on how much I earn) on week 7 but will on week 8, but do I lose that week 7 if I make too much to get benefits as one of the 26 weeks or is that tacked onto the end? Do you understand what I'm asking?

 

[dayvewc]

Week 2 of unemployment is almost over. I've been very restless already. I got my pitiful severance yesterday (two weeks' salary) and it's already gone bc I paid all of this month's bills except the mortgage. Have applied for a few FT jobs and have put a lot of leads out there. Seems that I will be able to go back to one of my freelance companies but not sure when that will start and how much work it will be, but it will be something. Have another couple potential freelance opportunities too so that is good. If I can cobble a few things together while I'm looking, it will be good for my brain and mental health, and hopefully more $ than unemployment (which hasn't even started yet). And honestly it would be an idea situation for the summer but eventually we need me to get back to full earnings.

Speaking of that...I know I need to report any earnings and they will reduce my benefit for that week. The cap is 26 weeks but is that consecutive weeks? I can't seem to find that anywhere and have not yet called to ask bc it's a moot point so far. For example, say I do some work on week 7 but not on week 8. I won't get UI benefits (or will get reduced benefits depending on how much I earn) on week 7 but will on week 8, but do I lose that week 7 if I make too much to get benefits as one of the 26 weeks or is that tacked onto the end? Do you understand what I'm asking?

When i was on unemployment 13 years ago, it was calculated at 26 weeks of the benefit, and if i worked enough that they were reduced, it extended the time.

For example, if the benefit was $100 a week, then they would pay a total of $2600. So if you work enough that your benefit is reduced by half, then you could collect for 52 total weeks.

 

[Eureka]

When i was on unemployment 13 years ago, it was calculated at 26 weeks of the benefit, and if i worked enough that they were reduced, it extended the time.

For example, if the benefit was $100 a week, then they would pay a total of $2600. So if you work enough that your benefit is reduced by half, then you could collect for 52 total weeks.

So basically, I would get the complete dollar amount (they gave me a total of what I am eligible for) over more than 26 weeks if my benefit is reduced some of the time. That works. No idea how much I'll be making freelancing but it's far from my old salary and far from full time.

 

[PrincessKymm]

So I feel like an idiot. I must have dreamed the amount I owed on my one credit card. Not gonna get paid off this month. Maybe hopeful thinking? Haha

Anyway, my new goal is to get one of my very high interest rate cards under $1,000 which is very doable. The minimum payment alone is almost 1/5 of all my credit cards out together. If I can get it under $1,000 I can easily get it paid off by the time DS starts school and then that amount will make my snowball go much faster. I feel much more confident about this plan.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Well I woke up to a nice surprise yesterday. I thought my last day of work at the previous job fell on the last day of the pay cycle, so I assumed my last full paycheck I received on June 1 was it. Apparently I must've worked about two days into the next pay cycle, because I received a mini-paycheck in our account yesterday morning! Not a huge amount, but enough to cover DH's car payment for this month!

 

[Ngwira]

Week 2 of unemployment is almost over. I've been very restless already. I got my pitiful severance yesterday (two weeks' salary) and it's already gone bc I paid all of this month's bills except the mortgage. Have applied for a few FT jobs and have put a lot of leads out there. Seems that I will be able to go back to one of my freelance companies but not sure when that will start and how much work it will be, but it will be something. Have another couple potential freelance opportunities too so that is good. If I can cobble a few things together while I'm looking, it will be good for my brain and mental health, and hopefully more $ than unemployment (which hasn't even started yet). And honestly it would be an ideal situation for the summer but eventually we need me to get back to full earnings.

Speaking of that...I know I need to report any earnings and they will reduce my benefit for that week. The cap is 26 weeks but is that consecutive weeks? I can't seem to find that anywhere and have not yet called to ask bc it's a moot point so far. For example, say I do some work on week 7 but not on week 8. I won't get UI benefits (or will get reduced benefits depending on how much I earn) on week 7 but will on week 8, but do I lose that week 7 if I make too much to get benefits as one of the 26 weeks or is that tacked onto the end? Do you understand what I'm asking?

It's state-specific. IN NJ, where I live it's not consecutive. You need to check with your state's unemployment office.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

I know you're mid way through the year, but I'm going to jump in .

I've got a $6.5k credit card bill (no interest for another year) that is weighing on my mind. I've only managed to pay down $2.5K since January and I want that thing GONE by Christmas. What is hurting me is that DH is in grad school and doing this online modular thing (he gets the same highly regarded diploma as the brick and mortar students) so it's $3K every 10 weeks or so out of our pockets, which means that as soon as I've built money up in the checking account, we owe another 3K. But that's an excuse. I know my real problem - I haven't cut back spending. I am NOT cutting back on savings, so that leaves spending.

Time to suck it up and put my pennies towards that bill instead of towards travelling and clothes.

 

[Ngwira]

We are headed to Niagara Falls/Toronto tomorrow. It was truly a "budget" trip as I booked the hotel with points, used Costco Canada/living social/Groupon for our excursions and other than food, have the trip fully paid for. We are driving so no expensive flights although we are renting a car for $150.00 for the entire week. Gas is less than $2.00 in our town. I spread the cost of the excursions over the course of 6 months so it wasn't a big budget buster. The US dollar is worth $1.30 Canadian so we are getting 30 percent more for our money. I have budgeted a set amount for food and hope we don't go over!

 

[Eureka]

We are headed to Niagara Falls/Toronto tomorrow. It was truly a "budget" trip as I booked the hotel with points, used Costco Canada/living social/Groupon for our excursions and other than food, have the trip fully paid for. We are driving so no expensive flights although we are renting a car for $150.00 for the entire week. Gas is less than $2.00 in our town. I spread the cost of the excursions over the course of 6 months so it wasn't a big budget buster. The US dollar is worth $1.30 Canadian so we are getting 30 percent more for our money. I have budgeted a set amount for food and hope we don't go over!

Don't forget to gas up again (top off) before you cross the border, it's much more expensive in Canada.

 

[momtosam]

Still swimming here. I did my monthly check in and our balances are all going down, albeit very slowly. I feel like if we could just knock out one or two more bills we would have the cash to really make some progress. For now, we're plugging away.

 

[Dentam]

I'm looking into doing transcription work in my free time to earn extra money each month. I can work from home as many hours as I want in my spare time and only need my laptop, internet connection, and headphones.

Details for my trip to Shanghai are very slow in coming together. I'm at the mercy of the group organizing the conference and they still haven't booked my airfare or confirmed the topic I will be speaking on... it's only five weeks away.

 

[dayvewc]

So basically, I would get the complete dollar amount (they gave me a total of what I am eligible for) over more than 26 weeks if my benefit is reduced some of the time. That works. No idea how much I'll be making freelancing but it's far from my old salary and far from full time.

That is what it was here, back then. Like I said, it was about 13 years ago, but I wound up collecting for a bit over a year while working part time.

There were restrictions on filing deadlines weekly, and a process if one was missed, so do check all the ins and outs.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Still swimming here. I did my monthly check in and our balances are all going down, albeit very slowly. I feel like if we could just knock out one or two more bills we would have the cash to really make some progress. For now, we're plugging away.

Do you follow the Dave Ramsey approach?

That is, if you list them in order of smallest to largest, then attack the smallest with all you got. Send minimum payments to all the rest. Usually it doesn't take very long to knock the little one out. It's a great feeling of accomplishment that keeps you motivated and then you can apply that one's minimum payment to the 2nd smallest bill. Once that one is paid off, you apply the minimum payments from bills #1 and #2 to bill #3, and so on.
Also, what works is that each time you pay off a bill, you're adding that bill's minimum payment to your snowball. So by the time you get to the larger bills, your snowball is also pretty large too so each week/month it takes a bigger bite out of the balance and they don't seem so big any more.

Until I read about DR, I would try to send a little extra to all the bills but I always felt like I wasn't making any progress. It's very frustrating. With DR, I have a plan to follow and it's very systematic; I keep moving down the list as I knock out each one.

I have found that it works really well when I make the payments using the same paychecks that used to pay that particular bill. So let's say Paycheck#2 would always pay the Sears bill $25/month. Once that was gone and I moved on to my Amazon card, which I would pay on Paycheck #1, I still made my usual Amazon payment with Paycheck #1 but then when Paycheck #2 comes, instead of sending the $25 to Sears, I sent it to Amazon.
So every paycheck still has the same amounts deducted from each of them and it doesn't feel like a huge lifestyle change or a lot of different calculations to make. Just delete one recipient and add another.

Also, I allow a small cushion each week so if dh taps $20 or $40 from an ATM, it doesn't ruin my budget. Whatever leftover cushion I have the day before payday, gets applied to whichever bill I'm attacking at the moment. Even if it's $10 or $15, I like the feeling that I'm sending a little extra. That feeling keeps me from spending that cushion frivolously, just knowing that if I can manage to have some leftover that's another chance to subtract something from the balance.

Anyhoo, this is working wonders for me.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I'm looking into doing transcription work in my free time to earn extra money each month. I can work from home as many hours as I want in my spare time and only need my laptop, internet connection, and headphones.

Details for my trip to Shanghai are very slow in coming together. I'm at the mercy of the group organizing the conference and they still haven't booked my airfare or confirmed the topic I will be speaking on... it's only five weeks away.

How do you go about doing this?

This used to be a popular 'work at home' thing many years ago but with voice recognition software, there hasn't been much need for this nowadays, at least in a medical setting.
When I first started in radiology in 1988, every hospital had huge crews of transcriptionists. Now we have 0. As the doctor dictates a report, the words appear on the screen, they edit as needed, then sign off and the report is finalized.
Back when a transcription was done from their voice recording, they would have to go back and read each preliminary report to check for accuracy before finalizing it.

If you can make $$ at it, I would go for it while you still can!!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I know you're mid way through the year, but I'm going to jump in .

I've got a $6.5k credit card bill (no interest for another year) that is weighing on my mind. I've only managed to pay down $2.5K since January and I want that thing GONE by Christmas. What is hurting me is that DH is in grad school and doing this online modular thing (he gets the same highly regarded diploma as the brick and mortar students) so it's $3K every 10 weeks or so out of our pockets, which means that as soon as I've built money up in the checking account, we owe another 3K. But that's an excuse. I know my real problem - I haven't cut back spending. I am NOT cutting back on savings, so that leaves spending.

Time to suck it up and put my pennies towards that bill instead of towards travelling and clothes.

Some days it's hard to separate wants from needs (and then we all have our weaknesses too) but it's good to get started. I can't speak for the group here but I wish I had started this 20 years ago. Probably many would agree.