Debt Dumpers - 2016

[Dentam]

I'm glad you're mom is feeling okay now, @dayvewc!

I keep getting mail from lending companies - it is driving me crazy! It's such a waste of paper.

 

[bcwife76]

Hoping someone here can answer this: what forms of payment does Costco in the US accept? Here in Canada Costco recently ended its relationship with AMEX and now they accept only Mastercard (along with cash and debit cards).

How about Costco in the US? There is apparently a Costco close to the condo that we are renting in Maui next month that we figured we would hit up - should we take cash to cover it? Which cards do Costco in the US now accept - Visa, MC or Amex? Thanks!!

 

[Dentam]

Hoping someone here can answer this: what forms of payment does Costco in the US accept? Here in Canada Costco recently ended its relationship with AMEX and now they accept only Mastercard (along with cash and debit cards).

How about Costco in the US? There is apparently a Costco close to the condo that we are renting in Maui next month that we figured we would hit up - should we take cash to cover it? Which cards do Costco in the US now accept - Visa, MC or Amex? Thanks!!

The Costco here only takes cash, debit or AMEX and they are supposed to be cutting ties with AMEX early this summer (June) and switching to Visa I believe.

 

[bcwife76]

Hmmm...ok well DH has an Amex and I have a Visa (plus we have a joint m/c) so between us I guess we have it covered!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

That's the plan... but every time I pay it off, we end up using it again when our account gets too low. Never fails. I'm trying really hard to get it paid off and to not use it!

This is where you need to come up with a budget and an emergency fund. Every dollar coming in should have a plan even if it's for something like 'craving pizza and too tired to cook' nights. Without a budget, money just swirls around, moving here and there, without really seeing where it's going. It may mean your snowball is smaller than you think but that's when you adjust your Plan and give yourself more cushion.

 

[gracie1]

Thanks. She is at home, and my sister says she is just really tired and a bit bruised. Which, all things considered I can completely understand. I haven't heard anything since this morning, so I'm kind of going with the "no news is good news" concept. I'll be going there tomorrow afternoon after my second job and spend the night. I did hear that she is limited to picking up nothing that weighs over 5 pounds - and my nephews miniature yorkie is about 3 lbs, so mom was toting him around last night.



Way to go!! Speaking of a house full of food, I was balancing my checkbook last night, and so far for this month I have only spent $61 on groceries!! I usually spend about $550 a month. I know that there are a few things I will have to get, but I'm really gonna try to keep it under $39 - just to keep that section of the budget under $100 for the month. And the really great part? I still have a chest freezer that is almost full, and both of the side-by-side freezers are over half full, and my pantry has a decent amount of stuff in it. I'm really kind of thinking this may be the "clean out the food storage summer" and try to not buy anything that isn't an absolute necessity.

Now, the bad part of it is that I have eaten out 4 times in the last 3 days. I refuse to feel bad about it, because 3 of those were while I was at the hospital with mom (and she paid for 2 of them). The other one was simply a fluke. Roommate had to go get a new tire for his minivan, and I offered to buy lunch if he would bring it by work. He actually bought it, but I wound up paying for his gas. So, actually a losing proposition on that one, but I'll survive.

Glad to hear your mom is feeling a bit better!

 

[scdak]

I have been off the boards for a little bit - not enough time in the day sometimes. I was doing great with my debt dumping until today.............$1124 later I have left the service dept at my car dealer but it was things that had to be done - 95% of which it needed NOW so I just had them do everything, I drive to much and too far to risk not having a safe vehicle. The good thing is although I had to put in on a CC but I came home, moved money from my savings account and then sent $1000 to the CC company so that will be sent out on Monday by my bank. Now my savings account is pathetic but still better than it was at the start of the year! Time for a little more belt tightening and maybe a little extra time at work so I can rebound from today. The nice thing is the baby shower I was helping to host is over so no spending for that now - I went WAY overboard but it was all things for the baby to use so that was a great thing, the only thing he didn't get to enjoy that cost me anything were the gifts for the 6 games that I planned. NEXT time...............if there is another time (another family member though) I will offer to bring some of the food I figure I spent ..............oh, I won't even tell you guys because you would think I was crazy...........but the others that brought food probably spent $10-20 max! But I had fun buying things, make the diaper cake, diaper bouquet and diaper baby plus all the other stuff I did and that's as important to me as the money right now!

 

[stayhomemom77]

I have been off the boards for a little bit - not enough time in the day sometimes. I was doing great with my debt dumping until today.............$1124 later I have left the service dept at my car dealer but it was things that had to be done - 95% of which it needed NOW so I just had them do everything, I drive to much and too far to risk not having a safe vehicle. The good thing is although I had to put in on a CC but I came home, moved money from my savings account and then sent $1000 to the CC company so that will be sent out on Monday by my bank. Now my savings account is pathetic but still better than it was at the start of the year! Time for a little more belt tightening and maybe a little extra time at work so I can rebound from today. The nice thing is the baby shower I was helping to host is over so no spending for that now - I went WAY overboard but it was all things for the baby to use so that was a great thing, the only thing he didn't get to enjoy that cost me anything were the gifts for the 6 games that I planned. NEXT time...............if there is another time (another family member though) I will offer to bring some of the food I figure I spent ..............oh, I won't even tell you guys because you would think I was crazy...........but the others that brought food probably spent $10-20 max! But I had fun buying things, make the diaper cake, diaper bouquet and diaper baby plus all the other stuff I did and that's as important to me as the money right now!

Well ya gotta spend it on something...if it brings you joy (the baby shower, I mean) and you can afford it...then why not? Seems like you turned the car repair negative into a positive. Good for you!!

 

[Dentam]

Happy to report that my credit score has gone up by over 20 points since the end of last year! I am aiming to get it up by about 45 more points before getting a new to me vehicle. That way I'll be in the excellent category and will qualify for the best car loan rates.

 

[KearneyFam02]

This is where you need to come up with a budget and an emergency fund. Every dollar coming in should have a plan even if it's for something like 'craving pizza and too tired to cook' nights. Without a budget, money just swirls around, moving here and there, without really seeing where it's going. It may mean your snowball is smaller than you think but that's when you adjust your Plan and give yourself more cushion.

I definitely need to work on my budget. For this month we started a "no eating out challenge" and we've stuck to it mostly, except for a couple times. It's definitely helping to not "overdraw" from that line of credit, but I'm noticing quickly that that is why we kept taking from the LOC in the first place because we haven't needed to this month. It's disheartening though when you make changes and still don't see a difference. I still feel broke even though we aren't being frivolous with our money anymore.

 

[gracie1]

I definitely need to work on my budget. For this month we started a "no eating out challenge" and we've stuck to it mostly, except for a couple times. It's definitely helping to not "overdraw" from that line of credit, but I'm noticing quickly that that is why we kept taking from the LOC in the first place because we haven't needed to this month. It's disheartening though when you make changes and still don't see a difference. I still feel broke even though we aren't being frivolous with our money anymore.

I always feel broke even when I come in under budget!! Lol!!

 

[Eureka]

Anyone else tired of there always being something that needs doing? DS13's iPad stopped charging. Made an appt with Apple, drove 45 min to get there and it was an issue with the screen. Why that affected the charging, not sure, but anyway. They swapped it out and bc we were a little less than two months out of warranty (of course), it wasn't covers. $250 later, all is fine. Just about wiped out my "misc" fund, but that's what it's there for, right?

On the good side, finished paying off one of my medical bills from my Nov surgery this week! Two more payments to go on another one and then we're done.

 

[PrincessKymm]

DS ended up in the ER Friday. Fortunately it was just a mild concussion and he's back to normal. Missed an entire day of work and who knows how much that has set me back. Of course it happened the day after we saw the neurologist so it just keeps adding up.

I told DS we need to tighten our belt. I'm going to make a meal plan for stuff that's at home and stick to buying as little as possible. I have rejoined WW so this might get tricky.

Somehow my credit card has gotten out of hand so I'm back to cash/debit card only. Pretty sure I'm going to just destroy all but 2 of them but leave the accounts open after I pay them off. I'm not as focused as I used to be and I think it's because I was using my card and not really paying attention. Bad habit!!! I'm hoping to not add to my debt for either vacation this year and I'm still hoping to pay my smallest card off this week. Next I'll tackle the card I ran up without realizing it. Then my target card at the last part of the year.

Holding out hope nothing else gets in my way or I might just cry. Maybe give up for a while but not forever.

My mom is in the hospital too. My sister was rushed to a neurologist on Friday, same day as DS's ER trip. She's ok, mom is in isolation because they don't know what is going on. Seriously over this weekend. Even though it ended up being a 4 day "weekend" for me, I feel like I need a vacation.

 

[Dentam]

DS ended up in the ER Friday. Fortunately it was just a mild concussion and he's back to normal. Missed an entire day of work and who knows how much that has set me back. Of course it happened the day after we saw the neurologist so it just keeps adding up.

I told DS we need to tighten our belt. I'm going to make a meal plan for stuff that's at home and stick to buying as little as possible. I have rejoined WW so this might get tricky.

Somehow my credit card has gotten out of hand so I'm back to cash/debit card only. Pretty sure I'm going to just destroy all but 2 of them but leave the accounts open after I pay them off. I'm not as focused as I used to be and I think it's because I was using my card and not really paying attention. Bad habit!!! I'm hoping to not add to my debt for either vacation this year and I'm still hoping to pay my smallest card off this week. Next I'll tackle the card I ran up without realizing it. Then my target card at the last part of the year.

Holding out hope nothing else gets in my way or I might just cry. Maybe give up for a while but not forever.

My mom is in the hospital too. My sister was rushed to a neurologist on Friday, same day as DS's ER trip. She's ok, mom is in isolation because they don't know what is going on. Seriously over this weekend. Even though it ended up being a 4 day "weekend" for me, I feel like I need a vacation.

I'm so sorry you are having a rough time of it lately! I know what you mean about not paying attention to the cc charges. I've let that happen this month too!

 

[bcwife76]

@PrincessKymm ugh, rough weekend for sure! Hope everyone is recovering ok today

 

[OhMari]

DS ended up in the ER Friday. Fortunately it was just a mild concussion and he's back to normal. Missed an entire day of work and who knows how much that has set me back. Of course it happened the day after we saw the neurologist so it just keeps adding up.

I told DS we need to tighten our belt. I'm going to make a meal plan for stuff that's at home and stick to buying as little as possible. I have rejoined WW so this might get tricky.

Somehow my credit card has gotten out of hand so I'm back to cash/debit card only. Pretty sure I'm going to just destroy all but 2 of them but leave the accounts open after I pay them off. I'm not as focused as I used to be and I think it's because I was using my card and not really paying attention. Bad habit!!! I'm hoping to not add to my debt for either vacation this year and I'm still hoping to pay my smallest card off this week. Next I'll tackle the card I ran up without realizing it. Then my target card at the last part of the year.

Holding out hope nothing else gets in my way or I might just cry. Maybe give up for a while but not forever.

My mom is in the hospital too. My sister was rushed to a neurologist on Friday, same day as DS's ER trip. She's ok, mom is in isolation because they don't know what is going on. Seriously over this weekend. Even though it ended up being a 4 day "weekend" for me, I feel like I need a vacation.

Wow, prayers. what a weekend.

 

[toystoryduo]

@dayvewc - Glad to hear that your mom is feeling better!

@PrincessKymm - It sounds like you had a rough weekend. How is everyone doing? Hope the week ahead is much better for you!

 

[toystoryduo]

A quick update from here:

I sold 2 items on eBay this weekend, got them shipped out today, and the money should be deposited in savings tomorrow or Wednesday. I also received deposits from 2 of my rewards programs. Total deposits for the day= $92

I re-listed 2 items and still have 1 auction going until Thursday. I think I will start listing some of our curriculum next week.

Please send good thoughts/prayers for my DH. He has an interview tomorrow for a job that may be flexible enough to work with his self-employed work. If he gets the job, we can ramp up savings, and re-start paying off debt much faster. Thank you!

 

[PrincessKymm]

@toystoryduo @OhMari @bcwife76 @Dentam

Thank you. DS is back to his normal teenage angsty self. Mom was discharged today but we haven't talked so I don't know what the diagnosis was. I do know they gave her a round of antibiotics and sent her home with more. My sister has a follow up and an MRI on the 13th of May.

I'm exhausted! I'm also so stressed I'm near tears. I can't remember feeling this alone. Thanks for thinking about me!

DS is about to grow again which means he will be down to two pairs of shorts. He hasn't stopped eating since his headache went away. I made two pieces of chicken for dinner last night, I ate my 3 ounces and DS are the rest! Good thing we had free lunch today at work. Not a clue what I will eat tomorrow. I'll probably have to buy a sandwich or a salad. I've made a list of meals to eat from the freezer

 

[dayvewc]

DS ended up in the ER Friday. Fortunately it was just a mild concussion and he's back to normal. Missed an entire day of work and who knows how much that has set me back. Of course it happened the day after we saw the neurologist so it just keeps adding up.

I told DS we need to tighten our belt. I'm going to make a meal plan for stuff that's at home and stick to buying as little as possible. I have rejoined WW so this might get tricky.

Somehow my credit card has gotten out of hand so I'm back to cash/debit card only. Pretty sure I'm going to just destroy all but 2 of them but leave the accounts open after I pay them off. I'm not as focused as I used to be and I think it's because I was using my card and not really paying attention. Bad habit!!! I'm hoping to not add to my debt for either vacation this year and I'm still hoping to pay my smallest card off this week. Next I'll tackle the card I ran up without realizing it. Then my target card at the last part of the year.

Holding out hope nothing else gets in my way or I might just cry. Maybe give up for a while but not forever.

My mom is in the hospital too. My sister was rushed to a neurologist on Friday, same day as DS's ER trip. She's ok, mom is in isolation because they don't know what is going on. Seriously over this weekend. Even though it ended up being a 4 day "weekend" for me, I feel like I need a vacation.

I'm behind on posting. Glad to hear that your DS is better. And that your mom got discharged. Hoping and praying that the meds help. And I'll keep your sister in my prayers as well.

Just as a thought on the cc's. I had one that I paid off in fall of '14 and haven't used since. Went to use it the other day to get tires for my car, and was informed that it had been closed due to inactivity. I guess I can't blame them, much, but it is irritating that I missed the notification. And that it reduced my available credit by about $5k. That is gonna hurt my score when it gets calculated in. I've kind of decided that as i pay off the other cards, I'm going to schedule one monthly bill to each one so that doesn't happen again.

And on the mom update: She went back in the hospital Sunday night because her kidneys weren't functioning. They have her on an IV, and some meds, and they have started working but not at the level they need to. A specialist is supposed to be in sometime today to look at the test results, and we are hopeful that she can come home by the end of the week.