Debt Dumpers - 2016

[Shmily1]

That's how I feel too I want to better learn to manage the money I have but still be able to enjoy. Whatt the money of working for this money if I Can't have some little nice things sometimes!

I agree with you both. I am not working to get rich here, just enjoy what I can and save money where I can. I always tell my children it's all about the memories.

 

[Ngwira]

I recently started reading the Mr. Money Mustache forums about early retirement. Some of those people take it way too far. I've really been trying to lower our utility usage, in part to save money but also in an effort to be more environmentally-friendly. However, I'm not about to turn off my heat entirely and start using a single heat lamp bulb to heat myself only...

Yeah someone on that board said they drove 15 hours straight to save $20.00 on an extra day for a car rental. His wife was 8 months pregnant at the time..ridiculous...

 

[DnA2010]

I completely agree with you. I don't know where that line is, but we have crossed it into "yes we have debt and are working on paying it off, but we are also doing just fine and if we want to by brand name Oreos, we will" if that makes sense. When I freelanced and made very little, we couldn't do much of what we do now. And no, the money isn't everything (in fact, most of what we've been doing since I went back to work full time 2.5 yrs ago is maxing out on retirement and trying to put aside as much as we can for the kids' college) so we're not spending like fiends but also, we don't need to live in ramen anymore. I'm exaggerating...but we rarely went out, if the kids needed clothes, I'd say to myself "this week I can buy this one's sneakers, next week I'll buy that one new jeans," etc. so, it's nice to enjoy life's little pleasures even if it's just the extra 15 cents for cheese.

All that said...I use sales, coupons, ibotta, swagbucks, etc etc all the time. It's ingrained in me. Not gonna stop.

Yup totally. I'm not sure where the line is either, but we all have to make choices and weigh the value we get back- memories to me are an important value indeed- my family has some expensive hobbies that we get tremendous value out of- horses, ski passes at the local hill and travel/Disney to name a few- these require choices and sacrifices in other areas

 

[DisneyMandC]

Since we're semi on the topic of Macs: has anyone ever purchased one of the refurbished Macbooks from Groupon? I see they often have sales on them and just wondered if anyone had tried one. Looks pretty legit.

 

[rnorwo1]

Yeah someone on that board said they drove 15 hours straight to save $20.00 on an extra day for a car rental. His wife was 8 months pregnant at the time..ridiculous...

I LOVE MMM!! I love how he emphasizes experiences over stuff, and that doesn't mean vacations, either. I think psychologically he is right on target in terms of how to find happiness. But, like everything, you have to accommodate his philosophy to your own life. MMM would faint at how far we commute because we live out in the boondocks. But, the land was free, we have tons of it, and it's our own little paradise, so I don't feel any guilt. But, if it were possible, I absolutely would be biking everywhere, for health and environmental reasons. There would have to be a real water shortage for me to stop bathing daily. Yuck!

As for the original question, I think there is a huge difference between responsible frugality and being cheap. I have a friend who drops $100 or more on each meal out, 5-6 times a week, but she will buy a crappy $5 gift for a kid's birthday party. That's cheap and tacky. If she were broke, then I think a free hug would be a wonderful gift, but to spend so much on yourself while doing a thoughtless thing for others is just cheap. We may be eating dinner by candlelight, but we give generously to those in need (and buy decent gifts, even if I get something on an amazing sale, it's still something that the person would actually like). I would have also passed on the $. 15 for the cheese, but we save those pennies for wonderful trips to national parks. To me, that's being frugal, and frugality leads to good things. The woman who criticized you for buying the cheese is cheap and tacky. To each his own!

 

[Dentam]

Our MacBook Pro is about six years old. We are going to need to upgrade soon though bc with the latest major iOS upgrade, it's been crashing all the time. We barely use it right now bc of that. We got the kids MacBook Airs for the holidays (oldest in high school needed it for school; our middle schooler also uses his for school but mainly plays games) and although I like having the cd drive in the pro, I think we'll probably go in the Air direction soon. Everything is on the cloud now anyway.

I love my macbook air! It is so light weight and also the battery lasts for 10-12 hours which is awesome. It also recharges very quickly. All things that I could not say about my old macbook!

 

[dayvewc]

Thanks for the info! If nothing else, we could use it for glasses since both DH and I wear them. From what I understand, vision and dental expenses are also coveres under an HSA?

Yep, pretty much anything that is medical related. About the only thing you can't buy with it is over the counter medicines without a doctor prescription. For example, you cannot use it to buy aspirin, but if your doctor writes a prescription that you need to take aspirin you can. I think that what actually happens is you buy it with cash, but then send the receipt and prescription in to the company and they issue a reimbursement. That's how I understand mine to work, anyway.

 

[seb65]

Since we're semi on the topic of Macs: has anyone ever purchased one of the refurbished Macbooks from Groupon? I see they often have sales on them and just wondered if anyone had tried one. Looks pretty legit.

I bought two iPads as Christmas gifts through Groupon. No problems and I beat the Black Friday prices!

 

[dayvewc]

Well, I got an email today from the customer service at the timeshare company. Basically said that they are going to send me a copy of the contract, but the fact that they neglected to give me a copy to begin with was just too bad, that they have no intention of canceling the contract and expect me to continue making payments.

So, I replied that I was appreciative that I would finally have a copy of it, and presumably with it the address to send my intent to reconsider purchasing. As I had never had a copy, I had no way to review the information in the contract and alert them that I would want to cancel it based on the information they are telling me it contains.

I then went to the Missouri Attorney General website and filed a consumer complaint.

Then, when I got home, asked the question on Avvo, just to see what options I might have.

I'm done with it. Wasn't happy with the way the entire thing came to pass, but the fact that they even refuse to consider working with me on their failure? Uh-huh. I'm done.

 

[hmwinter85]

Since we've all been chatting here for so long I wanted to pose a question to the group and get a little feedback. I'm on a frugal/cost cutting/couponing type group on facebook as I am wanting to learn better ways to cut corners....

So many people on the group are cheap to the point of being ridiculous. I'm all for saving money and want to cut corners where I can but at the same time life is for living. Also I work with a lady who is notoriously cheap...one day I brought taco bell into the break room and she said "that's a lot of cheese on your tacos" I said "well I asked for extra cheese" and she replies "bet you paid extra for it" and I said "bet I did but I like extra cheese" geez 15 cents isn't going to break me when it's something I like and it's not like I eat at for lunch more than 2-3 times a month.

So I guess my questions is where do you draw the line between being conscious about your money and being insane with it? Like I try to keep a fairly strict grocery budget which means not a ton of snacks which we don't need anyways but I'm not living on beans and rice for a month unless I have to.

I don't know where they line is but I'm trying hard to find it. I do know that if I cut the budget too much I just end up say "screw it" and spend way more then I normally would. I'm finding that if I give myself some money in the budget for fun things I usually don't spend it all. For example I have money set aside every month for eating out and a date night. Since I know the money is there I don't have to feel guilty about going out to dinner and a movie with DH. However we know that any extra money will go to vacation or debt repayment so we are more likely to choose pizza at home with a redbox instead of going out. I don't know if that make sense to anyone else but it's the mind games I have to play with myself, lol.

What I'm still struggling with is finding the balance between saving money and paying down debt. I don't ever change where my snowball is going but I'm constantly going back and forth between savings and debt with any left over money.

 

[OhMari]

Well, I got an email today from the customer service at the timeshare company. Basically said that they are going to send me a copy of the contract, but the fact that they neglected to give me a copy to begin with was just too bad, that they have no intention of canceling the contract and expect me to continue making payments.

So, I replied that I was appreciative that I would finally have a copy of it, and presumably with it the address to send my intent to reconsider purchasing. As I had never had a copy, I had no way to review the information in the contract and alert them that I would want to cancel it based on the information they are telling me it contains.

I then went to the Missouri Attorney General website and filed a consumer complaint.

Then, when I got home, asked the question on Avvo, just to see what options I might have.

I'm done with it. Wasn't happy with the way the entire thing came to pass, but the fact that they even refuse to consider working with me on their failure? Uh-huh. I'm done.

Hang in there, you are following the correct procedures. I am betting the contract has some kind of wording for canceling. Can you try and Google the contract to read what it says?

 

[DisneyMandC]

Just got the first month's statement for our new Ally savings account- we earned $1.53 in interest! Pretty sure that's more than I earned having my money in a Bank of America savings account for the last 18 months...

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

Just got the first month's statement for our new Ally savings account- we earned $1.53 in interest! Pretty sure that's more than I earned having my money in a Bank of America savings account for the last 18 months...

We're with a small local bank that does something similar we earn about 20 cents a month interest on our checking and about 30 cents a month on our savings it's not a ton but i'll take it and the interest earned goes straight to savings automatically!

 

[DisneyMandC]

We're with a small local bank that does something similar we earn about 20 cents a month interest on our checking and about 30 cents a month on our savings it's not a ton but i'll take it and the interest earned goes straight to savings automatically!

Better than what I was getting at BoA! About .01 a month...

 

[Gr8t Fan]

We're with a small local bank that does something similar we earn about 20 cents a month interest on our checking and about 30 cents a month on our savings it's not a ton but i'll take it and the interest earned goes straight to savings automatically!

Better than what I was getting at BoA! About .01 a month...

We have an account with Southern Bank that pays 3.01% on balances up to $15,000 (balances over $15,000 earn .15%), but it's a checking account and we must make at least 12 debit card transactions a month, have at least 1 ACH payment a month and agree to receive eStatements. We use the account for our emergency fund, but we add extra each month for our groceries (to fulfill the required debit transactions) and also for an ACH payment to our DD's savings account and regularly earn $35-$40 a month in interest. The bank is based in Missouri and we're in Illinois, but we opened it by mail and linked our accounts so it's very easy to use.

EDITED TO ADD: I just looked at their website and the account is only open to residents of Missiouri and Arkansas now.

 

[dayvewc]

I don't know where they line is but I'm trying hard to find it. I do know that if I cut the budget too much I just end up say "screw it" and spend way more then I normally would. I'm finding that if I give myself some money in the budget for fun things I usually don't spend it all. For example I have money set aside every month for eating out and a date night. Since I know the money is there I don't have to feel guilty about going out to dinner and a movie with DH. However we know that any extra money will go to vacation or debt repayment so we are more likely to choose pizza at home with a redbox instead of going out. I don't know if that make sense to anyone else but it's the mind games I have to play with myself, lol.

What I'm still struggling with is finding the balance between saving money and paying down debt. I don't ever change where my snowball is going but I'm constantly going back and forth between savings and debt with any left over money.

Just my $0.02 worth, but if you have a snowball already dedicated to reducing debt, I'd devote any left over / found money to savings.

Hang in there, you are following the correct procedures. I am betting the contract has some kind of wording for canceling. Can you try and Google the contract to read what it says?

I haven't thought to try to google the contract. I know with the other ones I've signed, I had between 3 and 7 days to change my mind and there was a specific process that had to be followed to let them know. I know that I am well past the time frame, but my argument is that when they violated the law by failing to provide a copy (whether it was intentional or accidental) they denied me a chance to review and choose to cancel. In my unofficial opinion, I think that I should be limited to the time frame as stipulated AFTER I receive a copy. That's all I've been asking, is the chance to see what the contract says and the option to change my mind if it is not what I understood it to be.

 

[Shmily1]

Just my $0.02 worth, but if you have a snowball already dedicated to reducing debt, I'd devote any left over / found money to savings.



I haven't thought to try to google the contract. I know with the other ones I've signed, I had between 3 and 7 days to change my mind and there was a specific process that had to be followed to let them know. I know that I am well past the time frame, but my argument is that when they violated the law by failing to provide a copy (whether it was intentional or accidental) they denied me a chance to review and choose to cancel. In my unofficial opinion, I think that I should be limited to the time frame as stipulated AFTER I receive a copy. That's all I've been asking, is the chance to see what the contract says and the option to change my mind if it is not what I understood it to be.

I would take all your information to an attorney. Some attorneys would love to have the opportunity to get after a company that takes advantage of it's own consumers.

 

[dayvewc]

I would take all your information to an attorney. Some attorneys would love to have the opportunity to get after a company that takes advantage of it's own consumers.

Yeah, I'm kind of looking. I posted on Avvo and Nolo, waiting to see what happens.

 

[toystoryduo]

Well, I got an email today from the customer service at the timeshare company. Basically said that they are going to send me a copy of the contract, but the fact that they neglected to give me a copy to begin with was just too bad, that they have no intention of canceling the contract and expect me to continue making payments.

So, I replied that I was appreciative that I would finally have a copy of it, and presumably with it the address to send my intent to reconsider purchasing. As I had never had a copy, I had no way to review the information in the contract and alert them that I would want to cancel it based on the information they are telling me it contains.

I then went to the Missouri Attorney General website and filed a consumer complaint.

Then, when I got home, asked the question on Avvo, just to see what options I might have.

I'm done with it. Wasn't happy with the way the entire thing came to pass, but the fact that they even refuse to consider working with me on their failure? Uh-huh. I'm done.

So sorry for all of the stress you are having to go through with this. Hope you get resolution in your favor very soon!

 

[Eureka]

I love my macbook air! It is so light weight and also the battery lasts for 10-12 hours which is awesome. It also recharges very quickly. All things that I could not say about my old macbook!

I have one for work and like it a lot.