Debt Dumpers - 2016

[ruadisneyfan2]

Some here will be debt dumping related, some more general.

DH and I got back from our WDW trip on Sunday. It was amazingly fun! This was our first stay as DVC members. We loved the Polynesian and can't wait to go back again in 2 years. Once we get our debt paid down, we plan to start saving for some more DVC points. We happened to have our trip during the DVC 25 Bash at Magic Kingdom, which was awesome. We rode several rides with just 5 minutes wait time, we ate free Mickey ears ice cream bars, we got pictures with Baymax and the fireworks display was epic. We did spend a little more than we had budgeted towards our trip, mostly because we got Epcot Flower and Garden Festival souvenirs, but it was less than $200 total, so I think we did alright.

We didn't get the dining plan this trip because we wanted to test it out and compare it with our last trip. The dining plan seemed great, but it was really just too much food. DH and I both love to eat, but appetizer, entree and dessert for lunch and dinner each day was just extreme. We got what we wanted to get and didn't limit our choices based on cost, but we often ended up skipping or splitting an appetizer or dessert, so that helped. DH also got more alcohol than last time, but that isn't included in the DDP anyways. We were there 2 more nights than last time and we ate at more signature restaurants, but we actually spent less money this trip. With my gift card savings, it ended up being about $800 for everything for 7-days/6-nights for 2 adults.

The only gloomy cloud during our trip was that 2 days before we left I got a frantic voicemail from my mom saying that my dad was being rushed to the hospital because he was having a stroke. I didn't hear my phone right when she called and when I tried calling back, I wasn't getting through. My heart just sunk at that moment and I was sitting in the middle of Adventureland, sobbing with my husband and I both trying to call someone to find out what was going on. The thought of not seeing my dad again was so scary. I finally got through to my mom and spoke with the doctor. My dad had a transient ischemic attack, which is just like a stroke, except that it resolves itself and doesn't leave any permanent damage. Since my sister was in the room with my dad when his symptoms started, they were able to call 911 right away and get him to the hospital very quickly. I saw him when we flew back on Saturday. If you didn't know he had the attack, you would never be able to tell. I am so glad that he is alright because things could have turned out so differently. I can't even describe my feeling of relief.

In other news, I paid off another credit card balance. I have now paid off two credit cards this year and saved $2500 into our emergency fund! Continuing to make progress. I also cancelled my gym membership since I just wasn't going enough. I will focus instead on working out at home and outside, now that the weather is really warming up. And DH had two job interviews this week, so keeping my fingers crossed that something comes through for him.

Wonderful to hear it was only a TIA. How scary! I know too well that feeling of being frantic in WDW.
Great job paying off another cc!

 

[PrincessKymm]

I was recognized at work and recieved $100 to spend in the online store. I of course hit up the category titled "amusement and theme park" and I cashed in for $100 Walt Disney world gift card!!!!!! I'm so excited!

Not only did I have the WORST work day yet yesterday it was also the 4 year anniversary of my Grandpa's memorial. To have someone I've been assisting for only 1 month reach out and give me the recognition was amazing and then to have this help with my trip, I'm all grins today!!!! Happy Thursday everyone!

 

[DisneyMandC]

I was recognized at work and recieved $100 to spend in the online store. I of course hit up the category titled "amusement and theme park" and I cashed in for $100 Walt Disney world gift card!!!!!! I'm so excited!

Not only did I have the WORST work day yet yesterday it was also the 4 year anniversary of my Grandpa's memorial. To have someone I've been assisting for only 1 month reach out and give me the recognition was amazing and then to have this help with my trip, I'm all grins today!!!! Happy Thursday everyone!

That's great that you're already being recognized at your new job! Sorry you had a bad day, but sounds like that turned it around!

 

[ariel1025]

I am definitely in favor of timeshare. Whether DVC or another one. Though, I will say if you don't do DVC check out the company thoroughly first. I have *cough cough * 4 *cough cough* 2 too many *cough cough* timeshare contracts. DVC is one of them, and I LOVE it. And definitely check into the resale market. There are a few benefits that you only get by buying direct, but most of those are not effective/efficient use of the points you get. And as much as I love DVC, I also really love my others. They each provide something different from each other, and together give me a great set of options. Though, too much vacation points/time to really use myself in a year.

Kinda the opposite of debt dumping buuuuuuuuuut, would you mind sharing (aside from DVC) what you consider to be your top choice timeshare?

 

[DnA2010]

So the company I work for is resource based, and of course resources are down, so we weren't expecting much for bonus from last year, however got our letters and not only did we get a bonus but it was pretty good! Yay! I put it straight to RRSPs (retirement savings in Canada) as if I take it as cash it gets so taxed, but yay, there is the majority of my RRSP done again! Was really not expecting much, so this is great news!

 

[dayvewc]

Kinda the opposite of debt dumping buuuuuuuuuut, would you mind sharing (aside from DVC) what you consider to be your top choice timeshare?

Well ... sure!! I'll give my opinions on all of mine.

DVC -
The Good
It's Disney (DUH!!!)
The resorts are amazing
You get to live in the bubble
There are different "Use Years" that make it easier to work with if you are limited to only traveling at certain times of the year.
The Bad
Really expensive for what you get (Especially if you buy direct from Disney)
The resort rooms are smaller than comparably listed rooms at non-Disney resorts
Limited availability during high demand times of the year if you do not have the extended booking window
You can trade into the RCI or DCL, but the point cost is much more expensive. (For example, the points it would require for 2 people to
book a DCL cruise if rented would be earn about $1000 more than what it would cost to pay for the cruise with cash). If you don't buy
direct, you are only allowed to exchange to another DVC resort.

DVC best works only to exchange into another DVC resort.

Orange Lake (Holiday Inn Vacation Club)
The Good
They don't really do "themed resort" per se, but the resort itself is spectacular. Well kept, up to date, very nice. I actually bought here just to be able to come back to this resort when I wanted. Non-owners are limited to the total number of stays they can have there. It is also really close to WDW, though it takes a little practice to realize the shortcuts to get there.
Have some of the nicest and largest rooms I've seen.
HIVC has several resorts around the country that you can exchange to in addition to exchanging through RCI. And from what I have seen, they are all extremely nice resorts.
If you decide to not use your exchange points, you can trade them in to the Holiday Inn Reward program, and they will never expire.
HIVC has 13 resorts in different places (Orlando, Marco Island and 2 in Panama City Beach in FL, Vermont, Galveston TX, Las Vegas, Wisconsin, Myrtle Beach SC, Williamsburg VA, and Scottsdale AZ).
Points in the HI reward program can be used for gas cards, airline gift cards, free Holiday Inn stays, etc. Has a lot of flexibility in how it is used.
The Bad
You get your best use of points exchanging into the HIVC resorts.
Exchanging into either the RCI or the HI rewards program is at an 80% rate (for every 100 points you exchange, you are only credited with 80 points in the receiving program)
You have to decide if you will use the points by Oct in order to deposit them into the HI rewards.

Vacation Village
The Good
Pretty decent resort. I actually have never stayed here. Lol. This was my first time share, and I bought it not really knowing much about them other than it did make sense to me as a way to "pre-pay" the lodging costs for vacation for the rest of my life. The best thing I can say for it is that it is a high enough ranked resort that the exchange trading power (point value) through RCI is really pretty good.
Easy to do my RCI exchange, simple billing, and the maintenance fees have not really gone up. I think since I first bought in 2006, the maintenance fee (taxes, insurance, etc) has increased from about $750 a year to I paid $810 this year. I do remember years it has actually gone down from the previous year. (Not by much, but it has been very steady near the $800 mark).
The Bad
I really don't have anything bad to say about this one. It has been hassle free for the past 11 years.

Diamond Resorts, International
The Good
The sales people were some of the friendliest I have ever dealt with.
The Bad
This is my newest timeshare. I am incredibly unimpressed with the company and the options. It is in-line for pricing with the other timeshares I have, but has the highest maintenance fee of any of them (by almost double). It should have the best available inventory as it is the largest consortium of all the ones I own, but when I have looked, it has been extremely limited and unappealing. It does exchange through II, which was why I ultimately have not tried to get rid of it - there are options through II that I cannot get through RCI.

This kind of expanded into a bit larger response than I initially thought, but those are my base thoughts on all of my different ones. In all honesty, I actually like Orange Lake better than DVC, but otherwise they are listed in decreasing order of how much I like them. One other thing I will mention - if you decide to by somewhere other than DVC, don't buy a resort that is close (within about 100 miles) of any Disney property. Apparently, the contract that DVC uses with RCI that allows DVC members to exchange out limits the geographic location of people who can exchange in. In other words, if you buy a timeshare that is in Bucksnort Tennessee, you can exchange through RCI to get a DVC room that was deposited for someone to exchange out. But if you buy in Orlando, you are prohibited from making that same exchange. However, there is extremely limited DVC rooms that get exchanged through, so I wouldn't buy anywhere with the intention of being able to exchange into Disney. You can do that with a lot of other companies, but Disney is just too popular. The rooms go too fast. I called and inquired about trying to exchange for Disneyland and was told it was a 3-year waitlist, on a first-come first served basis - and that it was not uncommon for them to not be filled. (Though there are other issues with trying to make that a direct comparison).

Whew. Hope I didn't dull you to death.

 

[gracie1]

Everyone is doing a great job dumping debt! Way to go!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Kinda the opposite of debt dumping buuuuuuuuuut, would you mind sharing (aside from DVC) what you consider to be your top choice timeshare?

I know you didn't ask my opinion but we used to own at Summer Bay Resort which is just west of the Orange Lake Resort that dayvewc mentioned above. We had it for 6 years and liked it til we discovered DCL. lol.
Anyway, my point is you may want to check out the TUG boards, Timeshare Users Group, which is like the Disboards but all about timesharing. I wouldn't buy without getting some education there.

We've stayed at both Hilton Grand Vacation Clubs in the Disney area and they were both nicer than Summer Bay.

 

[bcwife76]

So the company I work for is resource based, and of course resources are down, so we weren't expecting much for bonus from last year, however got our letters and not only did we get a bonus but it was pretty good! Yay! I put it straight to RRSPs (retirement savings in Canada) as if I take it as cash it gets so taxed, but yay, there is the majority of my RRSP done again! Was really not expecting much, so this is great news!

Sweet, that's awesome!!

 

[Marlyn]

I got an email tonight. It's from a FedEx company in India. Apparently they have a package for me from England containing 1.5 million dollars....all I need to do is send them all my personal Information, then they will give me instructions on how I can send them $221 US dollars...then they will send my package containing the 1.5 million....

Yay....my debt days are over.

These scam emails are ridiculous. The poorly written English should be first clue that it's a scam....but it's really alarming that some people do fall prey to such things....

Back to reality.

 

[Eureka]

Hi all. After a pretty good start to the year, we seem to have started to bleed money again in the last few weeks. Not sure why, but all and all doing fine. Had my Orlando trip with my sister and it was awesome. Went to Universal for a day and a half and took just one credit card (and a little cash), but already transferred what I'd put on there from my checking account so that's paid for.

Halfway done paying medical bills from my Nov. surgery, which is great because we're now planning a summer vacation and need to start saving. Called our electric company yesterday bc our budget plan was up for readjustment in April and knocked $40 off the monthly bill, so that's going to be nice. DH has an "extra" check in April too (he gets paid every week, but I pay bills on a 4-weeks-per-month schedule) so that will help get us back on track. Still paying off some credit card balances and DH has not yet done our taxes, so we'll see how spring plays out.....

Hope everyone is doing well, financially and otherwise.

 

[PrincessKymm]

So another reason to hate my ex-husband. He never put through the title transfer in 2009 or even 2010 when the divorce was final. No he put it through last year (after a LOT of drama) so now I cannot get a home loan for two years from now. I'm not happy. I feel like crying in frustration. What did he do for 5 years?!?!?

I really want to keep DS at this high school so he can complete this pre-engineering program. It makes sense since he will have 4 years of free education to decide if he wants to pursue a very expensive college education in this field. However, what doesn't make sense is why the rents in the area are climbing as high and as fast as they are. I looked at another apartment last year and a 2 bedroom, 850 sq. foot apartment was $715 now they are $765. Why the $50 jump???? I pay $845 for a 1200 sq. foot and a garage spot. I'm angry because I want to cut my rent down but to lose 400 square feet and my own bathroom for less than $100 a month? The frustration of sharing a bathroom with my teenage son is not worth $100. I'm terrified to see where my rent goes this year. Last year was a $20 increase so I'm paying "market value" now. I was hoping to find an apartment or duplex for no more than $715 a month including heat (most in the area include it). That's more than $100 a month I can save or put towards debt.

I'm trying to look on the bright side. I can take my trips this year (and splurge!) I can take a vacation next year and pay down debt and save for a down payment and then the following year save everything I can for my down payment and move into my own place. But two years from now DS will be 15 and they cannot count my child support as income so I won't get approved for as much as I would today. I didn't want a crazy amount but that extra income would've helped in the approval process (and in the saving process!). I'm just not happy. 2 more years of renting. Ugh. I firmly believe things like this happen for a reason and usually a good one so hopefully something amazing will happen in the next two years!

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

DH UPDATE!!
Keep those prayers and pixie dust coming....DH finally got the call last night and he has an interview next Tuesday for the job he sooo badly wants. We ran the numbers and from what the know the base pay is he would make an extra $150/month for same work hours as he has now. Plus that's the base pay he could earn more since he has a little more exp. & after a year if he's met all training etc he gets a $500/mo raise. OMG!
So continue with the good vibes & prayers that he gets this job. He wants it soo badly he was on cloud 9 all day after the call.

 

[Dentam]

So another reason to hate my ex-husband. He never put through the title transfer in 2009 or even 2010 when the divorce was final. No he put it through last year (after a LOT of drama) so now I cannot get a home loan for two years from now. I'm not happy. I feel like crying in frustration. What did he do for 5 years?!?!?

I really want to keep DS at this high school so he can complete this pre-engineering program. It makes sense since he will have 4 years of free education to decide if he wants to pursue a very expensive college education in this field. However, what doesn't make sense is why the rents in the area are climbing as high and as fast as they are. I looked at another apartment last year and a 2 bedroom, 850 sq. foot apartment was $715 now they are $765. Why the $50 jump???? I pay $845 for a 1200 sq. foot and a garage spot. I'm angry because I want to cut my rent down but to lose 400 square feet and my own bathroom for less than $100 a month? The frustration of sharing a bathroom with my teenage son is not worth $100. I'm terrified to see where my rent goes this year. Last year was a $20 increase so I'm paying "market value" now. I was hoping to find an apartment or duplex for no more than $715 a month including heat (most in the area include it). That's more than $100 a month I can save or put towards debt.

I'm trying to look on the bright side. I can take my trips this year (and splurge!) I can take a vacation next year and pay down debt and save for a down payment and then the following year save everything I can for my down payment and move into my own place. But two years from now DS will be 15 and they cannot count my child support as income so I won't get approved for as much as I would today. I didn't want a crazy amount but that extra income would've helped in the approval process (and in the saving process!). I'm just not happy. 2 more years of renting. Ugh. I firmly believe things like this happen for a reason and usually a good one so hopefully something amazing will happen in the next two years!

Dang, I'm sorry about your ex's inability to follow through with this in a timely manner. I don't understand why you have to wait two years... how frustrating. If it makes you feel any better, 2 bedrooms in my area go for around $1,400 a month and up. Some much higher. You can't find 1200 sq ft here for $845... and prices are increasing due to demand. It is definitely frustrating to live in a high cost area especially when costs are rising and pay isn't. I hope everything turns out okay and that you're able to find a great place or a way around the two year rule!

 

[chicagodisneyfan]

DH contract was finally resolved so he makes an extra $400 a month, and he is getting a retro pay check of about $13,000.
I am not sure I can persuade him to share with me on the debt reduction plan and at the end of the day its his money so he can do whatever he wants with it. Hope its not a motorcycle!
If I get it that will pay off a personal loan.
So far this year I have paid of about $15,000 of debt and it feels good!

 

[Dentam]

DH contract was finally resolved so he makes an extra $400 a month, and he is getting a retro pay check of about $13,000.
I am not sure I can persuade him to share with me on the debt reduction plan and at the end of the day its his money so he can do whatever he wants with it. Hope its not a motorcycle!
If I get it that will pay off a personal loan.
So far this year I have paid of about $15,000 of debt and it feels good!

Wow! That's great news! And congrats on paying off 15k already this year - wow!!

 

[Dentam]

Well, I was playing with the idea of keeping my current old car another year but today it was having quite a few issues. I'm going to take it in for an oil change tomorrow and see what else they might find. If it continues to have issues with accelerating I may be getting my new to me vehicle sooner rather than later. I'd hoped to dump more debt before doing that, but oh well!

 

[mrsabbott]

So, I have been trying to get caught up on the credit cards payments that we were behind on. It's not easy to get caught up once you get behind. Hubs' paychecks vary from week to week (he gets his minimum hourly pay OR the money he gets from the jobs he does that week.. whichever is highest.. if that makes sense). Things are usually pretty slow in the winter months but they are starting to get better and he is getting work that actually pays more.

Well, Hubs is on vacation this week and I thought he would get his minimum, hourly paycheck for that week. He instead informed me that his vacation pay was an average of what he makes a week. So, he would take his yearly earnings and divide by 52. Plus he had a $150 job that he did right before his vacation that will go on that paycheck. So.. we should be getting a pretty decent paycheck this week, which means that we just MIGHT get caught up on our bills this month and I can start paying things off next month!!!

***fingers crossed***

 

[stayhomemom77]

This is going to be a bit long winded...but bear with me!!

When the kids were 4 and 2 (so, 9 years ago this summer) DH had the opportunity to attend a work conference in Paris and I went with him. We left the kids with my parents and were gone 9 days. We saw them in the morning of day one and the evening of day nine, so it was one full week with only a phone call to them at the half way mark. Leaving them when they were that small was rough but they had a great time with grandma and grandpa and DH and I had a total blast! In depth Paris on our own for a week. (We did a seven country European bus tour on our honeymoon and has less than 48 hours in Paris on that trip.)

The kids have never forgiven us for it! ALL of our vacations except that one have been as a family. And they never let us forget it!

They are in french immersion in school and have had an intense fascination with Paris dating back to that trip. I have been saving up for a London/Paris trip since the beginning of September. With most of our money going to Emergency savings and the down payment for a house...there's no ACTUAL money dedicated to vacations in our budget. I figured we would be able to go for about 10-12 days in the summer of 2017.

We always get a tax refund. It varies in amount but generally I think we should be able to expect about $2500 back this year. Back in the day, this money always went to debt. We always said it would go towards vacations once we cleared our debt but last year we put most of it into savings. This year we planned to save it all. It's bugging me though...since we used to say it would (and should) be fun money once our debts were discharged. But we made the house savings a priority this year, so that was the decision.

DD turns 13 at the end of July and is DESPERATE to celebrate her transition into her teens with this trip. She wants to be able to say, "I went to Paris the summer I turned 13." I love this. It's the kind of thing I would have wanted at her age. I honestly don't know if I can make it happen but I am determined to try.

So...I have two questions:

1. Would you be willing to share all your best frugal, cost cutting, money saving/making tips to see if there's anything I have overlooked to help raise this money faster than I currently am? I do a lot of things already, but I want to leave no stone unturned.

2. Should I take some of the tax refund and put it towards this trip? I really, really want to...and I feel like we owe it to ourselves. I am a little afraid to broach the subject with DH, not because I think he'll be upset about it, or even disagree really...I just can't seem to make up my own mind about it and if I have his stance one way or the other...the decision will be irreversible and I'm not ready to make that commitment yet.

I proof read this baby and all I could think of was...first world problems.

We've talked about it and researched for HOURS and....


we've decided to pull the trigger.

BUT, we are going to drop the London portion and shorten the trip by two days. We'll do a separate UK trip (England/Scotland/Ireland in some combo) in three or four years.

Two weeks ago, I finally decided to mention my musing and wonderings to DH to get his perspective and he was all for trying to go this year. He suggested we drop the London portion and just do Paris for a week. I didn't think it was going to be that much cheaper but it actually was. We spent a few hours here and there figuring out what we wanted to do and how much money we would need in order to do it.

We haven't booked anything yet (and we can't until DH signs his new contract for work, which will be sometime this month). Once we know his employment will continue on after the end of June--well we know it will, but once we have that in writing--we'll get that sucker booked.

We are looking at flying out on August 21st (overnight flight so arriving in France around noon on the 22nd) and flying home again on the 28th. That gives us 6 full days plus at least half a day on the 22nd. Since we were originally expecting to do Paris in 5 days, we are pretty thrilled with the extra time. DH plans for us to spend most of it lounging at a cafe and watching the world go by.

We know what hotel we want and how much the museum passes will cost. After EXTENSIVE research, we've figured out the best option for our transportation needs (a mix of walking, metro and RER trains) and have figured out how much we will need for food and souvenirs.

If we get to book the hotel and flights at the prices we've recorded, we can go for $6000. That would cover everything. I have padded the budget to cover a possible increase in flight prices.

Everyone is terribly excited! I'm still waiting on one flipping receipt so I can file our taxes, but if we haven't received it by mid week next week I'm just going to file without it. I'm hoping to have our refund in our account by the end of the month. I need it to pay for the flights.

And we are looking at going to Disney during the first week of January 2017 so I can run the 5K during the Walt Disney World Marathon weekend. Actually, I'm trying to talk the whole family into running it and a week at Disney is our reward. DH is in, DD is in but DS is reluctant. He doesn't mind running the race but has no interest in doing the couch to 5K training program again. We made them do it with us last spring to get them ready for all the walking we did on last summer's Caribbean cruise. He kinda hated it, so he has no wish to repeat the procedure. But I think I can get him talked 'round. I'm very persuasive.

I'm so freakin' excited!! Can't wait to get that puppy booked.

 

[Miss Whimsy]

if anyone wants to feel better about their rent, I live in a tiny one-bedroom and pay $1500/month. all by myself. (obviously a major urban area and I consequently probably have a higher salary but STILL it's just flabbergasting how much rent has gone up in the 8 years I've lived here--$75/month rise in rent EVERY year I've been here)

speaking of, major setback today. the plan was that I was going to move into an apartment owned by my BF's dad, who was going to give me a super friends-and-family rate of $1000/month. he has suddenly changed his mind so he can do a major renovation, so.... there go all my hopes and dreams of having an extra $500/month to throw at debt. I am so upset.