Debt Dumpers - 2016

[DnA2010]

Finally got my tax stuff dropped off! Fingers crossed for a refund or at least not having to pay! (Dads cousin is an accountant and does for us)

If there is a refund, it will go into our Emergency Fund- trying to get that baby nice and padded for the fall when I am off work on maternity...also we have to be prepared in case DHs car goes- his Honda CRV has over 600,000km! Starting to reg pretty junky but what the heck, better than a car payment

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

And then murphy shows up because I just can't have a happy week to enjoy my promotion. We have a toilet leak in our basement. Plumber will be coming tomorrow, so we will know the damage. Hoping it won't cost too much.

 

[momtosam]

Needing prayers, pixie dust, or whatever you believe in. DH got a call today that they might need him back at work the week after Easter.

 

[bcwife76]

@momtosam backing up the truck and dumping a ton of pixie dust in your driveway!!

 

[Angeejoe]

Needing prayers, pixie dust, or whatever you believe in. DH got a call today that they might need him back at work the week after Easter.

 

[Arctic Stamp Queen]

Super happy to report that we stayed on budget this month. Paid off the small credit card and 2/3 of the credit line loan. Will pay that and 1/2 of hubs small credit card next month. I keep telling myself to just keep at it. My kids complained today that going to town is not very fun now that we don't eat out...my response was, it's only a year until everything is paid off and we are going to Disney in December...so it's not at all like we're doing without, we're just making some good changes.

 

[Eureka]

Great news here, had my performance review yesterday and I am getting a nice bonus in my end-of-month paycheck and a 2.5% merit increase starting in April. We're going to save what's left after taxes of the bonus toward our summer vacation plans, then when the increase starts, I need to readjust the percentage of my 401k contributions (I'm maxing out already) and will put more into savings each paycheck, so essentially the pay going into checking will be about the same. So while it's not explicitly debt-dumping, it kind of is, because right now we've been using our short-term savings every month to pay large chunks on our credit cards, medical bills, and sometimes vacations.

We went out for dinner last night to celebrate (used a 15% off coupon too!). Well, DH and DS15 and I did; DS13 opted out to play on the computer with his friends, lol. I've only been back to work full time for 2.5 years, so I'm quite pleased with where my salary is at given the 7-year "break" I took to freelance when the boys were young. Plus I had a very good review from my manager too, besides the money part.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

The plumber just left. He gave us a quote right when he got there- $175. The seal on the toilet was faulty and had been leaking for quite some time. Part of the ceiling is deteriorated in the basement, but not too badly. He was able to change the wax seal, replace the flange and get it secured again. He said that the toilet wasn't installed properly and was missing some nuts and bolts. He also noticed a slight leak in the shower drain and changed the putty seal on that, but he didn't charge any extra. Not what I wanted to spend my money on right now, but glad its fixed.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Not too bad of a week here... We got everything fixed on DH's car from where it was damaged from the debris flying out of someone's truck and driving away. DH filed a police report and called his insurance who said it would be a $200 deductible for it since we did file a police report. So we dropped the car off to get fixed and then it showed on our bill through insurance that we owed a $500 deductible. DH got in touch with our agent who double checked and found out he had incorrectly quoted us on the $200 deductible, but he said since he had down in his notes that he had quoted us that price he was going to stand by it. So that worked out fine. Still $200 we shouldn't have to pay for someone else's problem, but oh well...

Still waiting to hear back from a job interview. I had the interview maybe 10 days ago and he said he'd let me know in the next 30 days, so I'm not getting too antsy yet. I had an interview with another job this week, but it was really weird... Some of the things the guy said were odd and he also mentioned to me that the last person he hired for the position wasn't a good fit and insinuated that they didn't get along, which didn't seem like a good omen. Then when I asked what he planned to pay for the position, he said it would be fee-based (which isn't totally unheard of in this field, but not something I want). When I asked what he estimated the salary to be, he said anywhere between $30k to $80k... UHHH. NO. What? Are you kidding me?! I withdrew my application the next day...

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Not too bad of a week here... We got everything fixed on DH's car from where it was damaged from the debris flying out of someone's truck and driving away. DH filed a police report and called his insurance who said it would be a $200 deductible for it since we did file a police report. So we dropped the car off to get fixed and then it showed on our bill through insurance that we owed a $500 deductible. DH got in touch with our agent who double checked and found out he had incorrectly quoted us on the $200 deductible, but he said since he had down in his notes that he had quoted us that price he was going to stand by it. So that worked out fine. Still $200 we shouldn't have to pay for someone else's problem, but oh well...

Still waiting to hear back from a job interview. I had the interview maybe 10 days ago and he said he'd let me know in the next 30 days, so I'm not getting too antsy yet. I had an interview with another job this week, but it was really weird... Some of the things the guy said were odd and he also mentioned to me that the last person he hired for the position wasn't a good fit and insinuated that they didn't get along, which didn't seem like a good omen. Then when I asked what he planned to pay for the position, he said it would be fee-based (which isn't totally unheard of in this field, but not something I want). When I asked what he estimated the salary to be, he said anywhere between $30k to $80k... UHHH. NO. What? Are you kidding me?! I withdrew my application the next day...

Wow. Not sure what field you are in, but 30k-80k is so broad that it would make me worry what kind of time you would have to put in to make a decent salary.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Wow. Not sure what field you are in, but 30k-80k is so broad that it would make me worry what kind of time you would have to put in to make a decent salary.

Not a field that would call for that kind of salary gap! Everyone I've told who is in my field was basically like "are you kidding me?" I can completely understand some variance in pay taking a fee-based position (which is why I'm looking for a salaried position), but that was just absurd.

 

[dayvewc]

Thanks everyone for the advice on braces. I will definitely be doing some comparison shopping after we get the final word they are ready for them. I hate to admit this but we don't have a FSA. I need to learn more about ours and how to set one up. We only have one income right now so I never wanted anything to deduct more but I guess in the long run it would benefit us.

You might want to look at an HSA also. The FSA and HSA are very similar - the money is taken out pre-tax and can only be used for approved medical costs. The big difference is that the FSA has all the funds for the year available on Jan 1 - which is great if you know that you will have a big medical expense first thing in the new year, while the HSA deposits funds from each check and builds your balance - which makes it good if you don't know if/when you'll have medical costs.

The biggest difference is that the FSA funds go away after a year. You get the full amount on Jan 1, but anything you don't spend by Dec 1 is lost - it's a 12 month "use it or lose it". HSA is yours and rolls over year to year which allows you to build up a very nice medical nest-egg and can be used as long as you have money in the account - even after retirement when you are no longer contributing. As long as money is in the HSA, you can use it for approved medical costs.

On the personal front - I failed at debt dumping this month. I had to add to one of my credit cards to get some yard equipment. :-( My lawnmower died, and after the mess of my back last year, I opted for a riding mower, so $1000 instead of $250.

I also started my grad class this week. So far, it isn't too rough. Lots of formal writing, which is not my strong suit, but I'll survive. I am a bit upset with it though. I didn't realize when I signed up for the class that there would be 500+ students, and we'd be randomly assigned to an "academic assistant" to evaluate our work. Not what I expected. Sorry, but if I'm having to pay graduate course level prices, I at least want to know beforehand who the person grading my work will be! I don't have a problem with TA's, I just prefer to have the option of taking the TA class as opposed to the Ph.D.'s class. Or at least knowing about it first.

On a happier note, after 26 hours on the road (though 7 of that was in the hotel last night sleeping), I finally arrived for spring break!! Woo-Hoo!!! Not planning to do anything tonight, just unpack and relax (and I had to come see what was happening here). But I must say - I'm loving the resort this time. Haven't explored it all yet, but it is super nice from what I have seen, and the unit is HUGE - even for a 2 bedroom.

 

[mrsabbott]

Not making enough headway in the debt dumping department as I would like. On the bright side, things are picking up for Hubs at work and we should start seeing some good paychecks.

Also, they are opening a second store in a neighboring town (would be about 15 minutes away instead of, like, 2 minutes he travels now). Hubs may go to the new store. Could be a good thing.. He worked with the guy who will be the manager of the new place this week and they got along well. We will see..

We have spring break in a couple of weeks. Plan to take the kids to the children's museum one day (we have a pass and can pack a lunch so, basically, we just pay for the gas there and back) but otherwise I plan to just get things done at home.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

omg, don't get me started on BoA!! We had their US Airways card and back around 10 yrs ago when we were up to our necks in debt with really high balances, like $22k on their cc, my online payment was a 1/2 hour late and not only did they charge me the late fee but jacked the interest rate up to 32%!!

The minimum payment was something like $500 with $5 going toward the principal and we could barely afford that let alone pay extra. That's when we decided to refinance and pay off all the cards with some equity. It got us out of that grave we were digging but didn't fix how we were spending so when things started to creep back up, that's when I found this thread which I truly feel saved us.

Anyway, once the BoA card was paid off, I sent them a sarcastic letter thanking them for bending me over with their interest rates which forced me to take a hard look at our financial situation and get that card paid off but never again will I deal with BoA in any way whatsoever.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

You might want to look at an HSA also. The FSA and HSA are very similar - the money is taken out pre-tax and can only be used for approved medical costs. The big difference is that the FSA has all the funds for the year available on Jan 1 - which is great if you know that you will have a big medical expense first thing in the new year, while the HSA deposits funds from each check and builds your balance - which makes it good if you don't know if/when you'll have medical costs.

The biggest difference is that the FSA funds go away after a year. You get the full amount on Jan 1, but anything you don't spend by Dec 1 is lost - it's a 12 month "use it or lose it". HSA is yours and rolls over year to year which allows you to build up a very nice medical nest-egg and can be used as long as you have money in the account - even after retirement when you are no longer contributing. As long as money is in the HSA, you can use it for approved medical costs.

On the personal front - I failed at debt dumping this month. I had to add to one of my credit cards to get some yard equipment. :-( My lawnmower died, and after the mess of my back last year, I opted for a riding mower, so $1000 instead of $250.

I also started my grad class this week. So far, it isn't too rough. Lots of formal writing, which is not my strong suit, but I'll survive. I am a bit upset with it though. I didn't realize when I signed up for the class that there would be 500+ students, and we'd be randomly assigned to an "academic assistant" to evaluate our work. Not what I expected. Sorry, but if I'm having to pay graduate course level prices, I at least want to know beforehand who the person grading my work will be! I don't have a problem with TA's, I just prefer to have the option of taking the TA class as opposed to the Ph.D.'s class. Or at least knowing about it first.

On a happier note, after 26 hours on the road (though 7 of that was in the hotel last night sleeping), I finally arrived for spring break!! Woo-Hoo!!! Not planning to do anything tonight, just unpack and relax (and I had to come see what was happening here). But I must say - I'm loving the resort this time. Haven't explored it all yet, but it is super nice from what I have seen, and the unit is HUGE - even for a 2 bedroom.

Just wanted to clarify the FSA doesn't always have to be spent by Dec 31. Employers are permitted to extend to March 15 (IIRC). My employer does but dh's doesn't. With a family of 4 it's always something and we still plow through it all in no time, even without braces. You can still submit receipts for reimbursement until June 30 but by then we're long done with the previous year's funds and almost done with the current year's funds.
YMMV.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We are sooo sick of living in a hotel and still have at least 2 more weeks of it but the good part is that we are still dumping debt. Dh gets 3 paychecks in March and when this happens, for bill due date reasons, I make the middle paycheck the "extra" one. It just so happens that dh worked some OT the weekend before the tree fell on our house so I could pay an additional $1200 toward our current bill.
Yay!

 

[dayvewc]

Just wanted to clarify the FSA doesn't always have to be spent by Dec 31. Employers are permitted to extend to March 15 (IIRC). My employer does but dh's doesn't. With a family of 4 it's always something and we still plow through it all in no time, even without braces. You can still submit receipts for reimbursement until June 30 but by then we're long done with the previous year's funds and almost done with the current year's funds.
YMMV.

I just knew that the FSA funds are "use or lose". If you know you are going to have to use them, it is probably a good deal. With my HSA, I can request reimbursement for any cost I paid after I opened the account. So, the $1650 that I had to pay last year, I will eventually request but it will probably be sometime in 2017 before I have my account built up enough. Plus, I'm looking ahead, and hoping that my future medical costs will not be what they were last year, so that I can build up a reserve that will tide me into retirement for at least a few years.

I personally think that the HSA's are better - just because if you don't spend the money you get to keep it. But I can absolutely agree that FSA's are extremely useful if you know you are going to be spending that much. My biggest question about it really becomes, what do you do when the bills start decreasing as kids leave for college and get married, etc. It is just me in my household (well, there are 3 living in the house, but I'm only responsible for my own medical), so the FSA doesn't actually make sense for me since until last year my total medical expenses were well below the annual contribution threshold. Sadly, I had only been contributing what I figured I would spend. It was part of a cost saving plan to reduce total expenses. I know wish I had been contributing the maximum every year. But with two earners, I'd still recommend that one switch over. That way, you have the full amount from one plan on Jan 1, and can build the reserve in the other. YMMV, and just my unasked for $0.02.

Totes different note, I swear the booth attendant at Universal this morning had something wrong. It took 30 minutes to get to the booth in the lane I was in. All the other lanes were processing 2-3 cars for each one that went through on my lane. (Yes, I could have switched lanes, but immediately after the booth I have to be in the far left lane for disabled parking - I preferred to not have to try to cut across multiple lanes where they may or may not see me needing to switch that quickly).

Other than that, I had a pleasant couple of hours just touring through US. Tomorrow I'll try to get pictures. Ugh, did I just agree to do a TR?

 

[stayhomemom77]

Ugh, did I just agree to do a TR?

Yes, you did...and no backsies!!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I just knew that the FSA funds are "use or lose". If you know you are going to have to use them, it is probably a good deal. With my HSA, I can request reimbursement for any cost I paid after I opened the account. So, the $1650 that I had to pay last year, I will eventually request but it will probably be sometime in 2017 before I have my account built up enough. Plus, I'm looking ahead, and hoping that my future medical costs will not be what they were last year, so that I can build up a reserve that will tide me into retirement for at least a few years.

I personally think that the HSA's are better - just because if you don't spend the money you get to keep it. But I can absolutely agree that FSA's are extremely useful if you know you are going to be spending that much. My biggest question about it really becomes, what do you do when the bills start decreasing as kids leave for college and get married, etc. It is just me in my household (well, there are 3 living in the house, but I'm only responsible for my own medical), so the FSA doesn't actually make sense for me since until last year my total medical expenses were well below the annual contribution threshold. Sadly, I had only been contributing what I figured I would spend. It was part of a cost saving plan to reduce total expenses. I know wish I had been contributing the maximum every year. But with two earners, I'd still recommend that one switch over. That way, you have the full amount from one plan on Jan 1, and can build the reserve in the other. YMMV, and just my unasked for $0.02.

Totes different note, I swear the booth attendant at Universal this morning had something wrong. It took 30 minutes to get to the booth in the lane I was in. All the other lanes were processing 2-3 cars for each one that went through on my lane. (Yes, I could have switched lanes, but immediately after the booth I have to be in the far left lane for disabled parking - I preferred to not have to try to cut across multiple lanes where they may or may not see me needing to switch that quickly).

Other than that, I had a pleasant couple of hours just touring through US. Tomorrow I'll try to get pictures. Ugh, did I just agree to do a TR?

It's never a permanent selection. Every fall when we choose benefits effective Jan 1 we need to enter a selection. It doesn't automatically renew. We did the max from both of our checks ($2500 each) when we knew they were going into braces. After the braces were paid off, we switched back down to $1500/year but it's not enough. It will be exhausted before the end of the school year.

 

[dayvewc]

It's never a permanent selection. Every fall when we choose benefits effective Jan 1 we need to enter a selection. It doesn't automatically renew. We did the max from both of our checks ($2500 each) when we knew they were going into braces. After the braces were paid off, we switched back down to $1500/year but it's not enough. It will be exhausted before the end of the school year.

Hmmmm, my HSA auto-renews at whatever level I have it at until/unless I make changes. Which, I actually discovered last fall, I can make changes at any time. I'm just limited to how much total I can tax defer in a year. ($3500).

But, I guess if you have to reselect every year it encourages you to consider how much you think you will need. Unlike mine, that just keeps chugging along until I initiate a change.