Debt Dumpers - 2016

[ariel1025]

Just jumping in for my first of the month accountability post.

The husband was out for a month for knee surgery and his check was less than half of it's normal rate, so we did end up having to put some stuff on the credit card. And we depleted our emergency fund. So, the overall balance is about the same as it was in July since I added filling the emergency fund back up to the total.

However, I'm going to focus on the positive. The husband is healing well, PT is going great and his knee is starting to feel back to normal. And the best news to come out of July WE PAID OFF OUR FURNITURE LOAN!!!! It was on a no interest plan that was expiring at the end of the month. By paying it off we were able to avoid $300+ in back interest plus all future interest that would occur while we finished paying it off. And that payment, of course, goes into our snowball which is now at $63.

Based on my spreadsheet our next debt should be paid off in November. Chug, chug, chugging along...

 

[bababear_50]

Starting Aug with applying and getting an American Express Credit Card but I only did it so I could get some bonus airmiles to get a 3 day Disney Park Pass,,well I have enough Airmiles to get the Pass and will pay off the $500.00 I put on the card next Tuesday.
I ended up buying gift cards to use the total $500.00 promotional requirement and I am pretty much finished
my Christmas shopping. YEAH! I did buy one $200.00 grocery store gift card so I will have what I need for extra Christmas food.
I will need to buy a few new tops and some shoes before I go back to work in Sept but that's it for me for Aug.
Swimming along here!!!
Taking my Granddaughter to see Finding Dory this afternoon. (also bought with airmiles)

 

[DisneyMandC]

Starting Aug with applying and getting an American Express Credit Card but I only did it so I could get some bonus airmiles to get a 3 day Disney Park Pass,,well I have enough Airmiles to get the Pass and will pay off the $500.00 I put on the card next Tuesday.
I ended up buying gift cards to use the total $500.00 promotional requirement and I am pretty much finished
my Christmas shopping. YEAH! I did buy one $200.00 grocery store gift card so I will have what I need for extra Christmas food.
I will need to buy a few new tops and some shoes before I go back to work in Sept but that's it for me for Aug.
Swimming along here!!!
Taking my Granddaughter to see Finding Dory this afternoon. (also bought with airmiles)

Took my niece to see Finding Dory this weekend! Adorable! A very worthy sequel.

 

[momtosam]

We finally saw Dory on Monday. I loved it!

 

[gracie1]

I made a $1,000 payment on my car loan. It's down to $5500.00

Lucky you!! I wish that's all I owed on my car!! But I do plan on using my "extra" paycheck in September to pay down on it! September is a big bill month! My first car payment is due - property taxes and car insurance all due. Ugh....

 

[Ngwira]

Lucky you!! I wish that's all I owed on my car!! But I do plan on using my "extra" paycheck in September to pay down on it! September is a big bill month! My first car payment is due - property taxes and car insurance all due. Ugh....

Thanks. They just called me to tell me my new license plates are in. Our taxes went up this month, car insurance due next month. Sigh!

 

[Ngwira]

Halfway to meeting the minimum spend on the Amtrak card after paying for cable and electric as well as paying for EVERYTHING with the card. I have a huge car insurance bill coming up at the end of August ($800 plus) that should take care of the other one. Payday is Friday but I need some reserves for vacation, otherwise I would pay another $1,000 on the car note.

 

[gracie1]

Halfway to meeting the minimum spend on the Amtrak card after paying for cable and electric as well as paying for EVERYTHING with the card. I have a huge car insurance bill coming up at the end of August ($800 plus) that should take care of the other one. Payday is Friday but I need some reserves for vacation, otherwise I would pay another $1,000 on the car note.

Is that car insurance bill just for your one car?
I was hoping to do a vacation this year but decided against it to pay off the car faster. Maybe I'll get a couple day trips in to see something. It's been probably 5 years since I've been on vacation! Maybe longer!!

 

[milwaukeemommy]

Ugh, August is tough ... my son's birthday & back to school. We don't buy a lot of supplies anymore but there are lunch accounts, school fees & a parking pass (I pay half since my son drives my other son). But this month is our last ortho payment so at least we'll have an extra $145 a month from now on. And my in laws paid for our vacation & are letting us pay them back in installments so that is helpful.

 

[Ngwira]

Is that car insurance bill just for your one car?
I was hoping to do a vacation this year but decided against it to pay off the car faster. Maybe I'll get a couple day trips in to see something. It's been probably 5 years since I've been on vacation! Maybe longer!!

Nope for 2 vehicles. But that's the 6 month premium but I live in NJ...nuff said. Also speeding ticket for me in 2013 and DH had an at fault accident and various tickets so the high price is justified.

 

[gracie1]

Nope for 2 vehicles. But that's the 6 month premium but I live in NJ...nuff said. Also speeding ticket for me in 2013 and DH had an at fault accident and various tickets so the high price is justified.

Gotcha. I guess that's really not bad with a the accident and speeding ticket! That is one thing about this car that I just got - it has pep!!! I really have to keep an eye on it or use cruise control until I get used to it or I'm afraid I will end up with a ticket!

 

[DisneyMandC]

Lucky you!! I wish that's all I owed on my car!! But I do plan on using my "extra" paycheck in September to pay down on it! September is a big bill month! My first car payment is due - property taxes and car insurance all due. Ugh....

I cannot wait for that three paycheck month in September!

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Our debt dumping has been going pretty well. Last month we put almost $1400 towards our debt. I did have two expensive, previously unbudgeted items that I bought last month, but I was able to afford them without accruing any new debt by selling items on eBay/Craigslist/Facebook. I have been generating several hundred dollars each month over the past few months this way and decluttering the house at the same time. Lots of leftovers from our wedding last year as well as other random things around the house. It has been really great! With the exception of last month, all of this extra income money has been going towards our debt. This month was are putting almost $1200 towards debt and maybe even more if I am able to continue selling some items. I gathered up a bunch more stuff to start listing for sale this weekend.

Next month we will completely pay off two credit cards. Both cards are at 0%, so by paying them off in September we will be able to avoid any chance of incurring interest. The next attack for our snowball is our Amex that is at 0% until January. It still has $3000 on it, but I will be rolling the $415 in payments that I was making on those two credit cards towards this card. If we are able to keep up this pace, then we will eliminate everything but our 2 car loans + mortgage in 6-8 months. That includes paying off the $5000 balance transfer that we made because of DH's student loan fiasco with his dad. Once everything is paid off, I plan to snowball $350 extra into my car loan each month, basically doubling the payments. I also plan to put an extra $100 into retirement and another $250 towards our emergency fund each month. But the other $500 will be freed up for other goals, such as eating out once in a while, fun events and saving towards vacations.

We have been living very lean the past few months. No eating out, limited entertainment, diligently sticking to our grocery budget and not much in the way of extras anywhere. But I feel very happy with the progress that we are making and the idea that we will have about $500 a month extra in just 6-8 months has kept me totally motivated. The freedom of not having all this debt will surely make 9-12 months of lean living completely worth it.

And to keep costs down for the upcoming holiday season, I have decided to start working on homemade sewn holiday gifts for my family members. I already own insane amounts of fabric, so it is mostly choosing what to sew for each person. This will help us really stay on track for the next several months and reach our debt dumping goals.

 

[Ngwira]

Our debt dumping has been going pretty well. Last month we put almost $1400 towards our debt. I did have two expensive, previously unbudgeted items that I bought last month, but I was able to afford them without accruing any new debt by selling items on eBay/Craigslist/Facebook. I have been generating several hundred dollars each month over the past few months this way and decluttering the house at the same time. Lots of leftovers from our wedding last year as well as other random things around the house. It has been really great! With the exception of last month, all of this extra income money has been going towards our debt. This month was are putting almost $1200 towards debt and maybe even more if I am able to continue selling some items. I gathered up a bunch more stuff to start listing for sale this weekend.

Next month we will completely pay off two credit cards. Both cards are at 0%, so by paying them off in September we will be able to avoid any chance of incurring interest. The next attack for our snowball is our Amex that is at 0% until January. It still has $3000 on it, but I will be rolling the $415 in payments that I was making on those two credit cards towards this card. If we are able to keep up this pace, then we will eliminate everything but our 2 car loans + mortgage in 6-8 months. That includes paying off the $5000 balance transfer that we made because of DH's student loan fiasco with his dad. Once everything is paid off, I plan to snowball $350 extra into my car loan each month, basically doubling the payments. I also plan to put an extra $100 into retirement and another $250 towards our emergency fund each month. But the other $500 will be freed up for other goals, such as eating out once in a while, fun events and saving towards vacations.

We have been living very lean the past few months. No eating out, limited entertainment, diligently sticking to our grocery budget and not much in the way of extras anywhere. But I feel very happy with the progress that we are making and the idea that we will have about $500 a month extra in just 6-8 months has kept me totally motivated. The freedom of not having all this debt will surely make 9-12 months of lean living completely worth it.

And to keep costs down for the upcoming holiday season, I have decided to start working on homemade sewn holiday gifts for my family members. I already own insane amounts of fabric, so it is mostly choosing what to sew for each person. This will help us really stay on track for the next several months and reach our debt dumping goals.

So happy for you! Sounds like everything is on track!!!

 

[Ngwira]

Windows are being installed today. DH is home supervising the work being done and said they look so much better. I can't imagine how warm and toasty we will be this winter!
I checked my car loan and the $1,000.00 payment has made my monthly payments only get this...$28.75! Next payment is not due until May 2017..but of course I am going to pay it off ASAP. I plan to make another $1,000 payment in September! Then I will attack the Home depot/window installation loan. That has a 6k balance, but not due until August 2018 and zero percent interest.

 

[Ngwira]

Starting Aug with applying and getting an American Express Credit Card but I only did it so I could get some bonus airmiles to get a 3 day Disney Park Pass,,well I have enough Airmiles to get the Pass and will pay off the $500.00 I put on the card next Tuesday.
I ended up buying gift cards to use the total $500.00 promotional requirement and I am pretty much finished
my Christmas shopping. YEAH! I did buy one $200.00 grocery store gift card so I will have what I need for extra Christmas food.
I will need to buy a few new tops and some shoes before I go back to work in Sept but that's it for me for Aug.
Swimming along here!!!
Taking my Granddaughter to see Finding Dory this afternoon. (also bought with airmiles)

We LOVED Dory!! Secret life of pets is also wonderful!

 

[Ngwira]

Gotcha. I guess that's really not bad with a the accident and speeding ticket! That is one thing about this car that I just got - it has pep!!! I really have to keep an eye on it or use cruise control until I get used to it or I'm afraid I will end up with a ticket!

Yeah, I was shopping around for quotes and they look back 5 years...so that stinks and we will be paying a high premium for 2 more years. Are you enjoying your new car? I have to say my Camry is lovely. Drives really well and is such a smooth ride.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

So happy for you! Sounds like everything is on track!!!

Let's just hope it stays that way. Things do come up, but I am hoping to have an uneventful 6-8 months.

 

[Ngwira]

Neighbor two doors down informed us that our joint neighbor has termites! Yikes. I have terminix coming out to make sure our property is fine...termite eradication is super pricey...

 

[Gr8t Fan]

Neighbor two doors down informed us that our joint neighbor has termites! Yikes. I have terminix coming out to make sure our property is fine...termite eradication is super pricey...

UGH!!! Fingers crossed that you're termite free. Is there anything they can do to help repel them?