Debt Dumpers - 2017

Yep, you're right. It's just a bit of a bummer since I got about $1,500 back last year - I know it was an interest free loan to the government, but it was a nice chunk to get back!

i can't avoid the hit due to my situation but i did specifically plan for the refund to go into the emergency fund. the intent was to avoid the temptation to spend it like a surprise bonus. i will grab a disney gift card at target before depositing it though.
 
i can't avoid the hit due to my situation but i did specifically plan for the refund to go into the emergency fund. the intent was to avoid the temptation to spend it like a surprise bonus. i will grab a disney gift card at target before depositing it though.

I used mine to pay off a cc balance last year.
 
Murphy is here. Unexpected car repairs have hit. Check engine light is on..luckily car is under warranty for 600 more miles with only a $50 copay. Will take it to the dealer on Friday.
Tax forms are slowly trickling in but we we won't file until end of February. We get a refund each year so hopefully the trend will continue.
 
Well, so far we haven't eaten out at all in almost two weeks (with the exception of one planned friends get together). I've also packed my breakfast/lunch on my work days for two weekends now. I figured out I was spending about $8 a day to eat iffy tasting food. Now I packed a few toaster strudels and a PB&J and for about $8, I get a full week of lunches, if not more.

Also, I'm making my grocery list for the two weeks. Our favorite sausages from Aldi are on sale this week, so I plan on stocking up the freezer with them.
Aldi is on my way home from work so I stop once a month or so and stock up on things the kids like in their lunches like cookies, Swiss cake rolls, rice krisipie treats, etc. We've found their brand is good and much cheaper. I've also recently started trying some cheeses, their milk and turkey kielbasa. All good. I also pick up eggs and bread if I need when I'm there. I mean sure the cashier probably thinks we eat nothing healthy at all when she sees me with 10-12 boxes of "treats" but I hide most of them in my closet (lol) and bring them downstairs when needed so it lasts us probably 5-6 weeks. In fact I went tonight and treated myself to a 99-cent bag of cheese puffs. It had been that kind of day.
 
Murphy is here. Unexpected car repairs have hit. Check engine light is on..luckily car is under warranty for 600 more miles with only a $50 copay. Will take it to the dealer on Friday.
Tax forms are slowly trickling in but we we won't file until end of February. We get a refund each year so hopefully the trend will continue.
Ugh about the car :(. I was able to print out my W2s today from both my full time jobs this year, since my old job uses the same processing company as the new. I was pleasantly surprised to see it in my account. Didn't want to go chasing after it. I think now we are just waiting for whatever unemployment sends me. I elected to have federal taxes withheld, so I'm sure I'll get something. We haven't gotten a federal refund in several years, but still get a small state refund. We'll see what happens this year since even with UI and some freelance, I didn't make even close to what I would have made for those four months if I was working full time.
 
Awesome.. not sure we could go a entire MONTH without eating out.. maybe but i bet the kids would be screaming..


We stopped eating out and honestly, haven't missed it- we all feel better too, eating home cooked food...most of the things you eat out can be made at home for so much cheaper and we all get putting that $$ somewhere else
 
I have completed refilling my EF and I am back to $1,000 in the bank!

I get paid next week so I will be focusing on debt once again.

I have a weird situation with my smallest debt. I owe just under $200 to a store card and I tried to make a payment online but my access was denied. Thinking it was a glitch I called and was told since the old bank sold the debt and I have a bankruptcy noted on my account (it was discharged like 3 or 4 years ago) that my account has been closed and restricted and I am under no obligation to make payments. I was told (eventually) this was happening to a lot of people. I asked for this in writing and was then told I wouldn't receive any communication via writing. I've since emailed them twice with no response. What should I do? Should I save the $190 in my savings and when they realize they are idiots (the card is from after my bankruptcy) and come to collect on their error, I can pay them or should I just start with the next smallest card and continue my path while this is sorted out? I have a feeling it won't be solved anytime soon and I owe a LOT.
 
I have completed refilling my EF and I am back to $1,000 in the bank!

I get paid next week so I will be focusing on debt once again.

I have a weird situation with my smallest debt. I owe just under $200 to a store card and I tried to make a payment online but my access was denied. Thinking it was a glitch I called and was told since the old bank sold the debt and I have a bankruptcy noted on my account (it was discharged like 3 or 4 years ago) that my account has been closed and restricted and I am under no obligation to make payments. I was told (eventually) this was happening to a lot of people. I asked for this in writing and was then told I wouldn't receive any communication via writing. I've since emailed them twice with no response. What should I do? Should I save the $190 in my savings and when they realize they are idiots (the card is from after my bankruptcy) and come to collect on their error, I can pay them or should I just start with the next smallest card and continue my path while this is sorted out? I have a feeling it won't be solved anytime soon and I owe a LOT.

I would get the name, position, phone number and extension, and time of the people telling you this. (If possible, record the conversation. In general that is allowed if you tell them first). Write the information and keep it somewhere you won't lose or forget about it. Then, either just set that amount aside while it works out so you have it to pay when they ask, or send a check to the payment address. If they return the check, put it and any correspondence with the other info. If the cash it, make sure you've written in the memo line that this was the payoff amount for a closed account and keep a copy of the canceled check with the other info. (My bank will let me print a copy of the check).

That way you're covered against any thing they might say.
 
My IVF implantation is in just a few hours. Thinking good thoughts!

I hope everything went well :)

Plans have changed for a trip were taking in October, originally (I think I mentioned it in my first post here) we were doing a week in NYC, it has now changed to 5 days in Orlando, 2 days in NYC. I'm really happy with it, it reduces cost slightly and I've never been to WDW or US/IOA so I'm really looking forward to MNSSHP and HHN. Currently owe 300 for a gift for my sister and 790 for the trip so total of 1190.

Some money my sister borrowed last year is getting repaid at the end of feb so that will cover my part of her gift and I cashed out for 30 on SB so that went straight to savings too. hoping to have the gift and at least 200 of the trip paid off my march 1st

The only eating out I've done so far this month is a bag of chips (fries) from the chipper. I don't think there common in the states (or if you guys have them at all) but here in Eire and the UK they are really common and a bag of chips feeds two people (at least in my house) for 2.50 so 1.25 each. Its a great option if there available to you.
 
I would get the name, position, phone number and extension, and time of the people telling you this. (If possible, record the conversation. In general that is allowed if you tell them first). Write the information and keep it somewhere you won't lose or forget about it. Then, either just set that amount aside while it works out so you have it to pay when they ask, or send a check to the payment address. If they return the check, put it and any correspondence with the other info. If the cash it, make sure you've written in the memo line that this was the payoff amount for a closed account and keep a copy of the canceled check with the other info. (My bank will let me print a copy of the check).

That way you're covered against any thing they might say.

I think this is very good advice. Whenever I have a dispute with a company, I always call and let them know that I am recording the call. They also record all of the calls, so if they have a problem with that, then there is something deeper to worry about regarding that company. It is easy to record on my iPhone, I just set it up to record a memo and then place the phone on speaker during the call. As @dayvewc said, I always announce my name, the date and time at the beginning of the call with and then ask for the CS reps name and any company ID number they have.

And if you mail a check, make sure to write the account number in the memo line as well.
 
Thanks everyone for the good thoughts and wishes. The procedure seemed to go well. It was very fast, just 15 minutes. Doctor said to just continue normal activities so I have still been doing my treadmill desk walking and such. I will be going back on Feb. 3 for a pregnancy test, so I am trying to stay busy and distracted until then. I have a work trip to DC from Jan 31 - Feb 2, so that should help. And then I am hoping for some good news. DH seems very excited as well. He really wants a kid as much as I do, so fingers crossed all goes well.
 
Spent ~$85 at Red Robin last night. (I did NOT Charge this, this came out of debit card/checking acct).
I envy those of you who can go weeks/months without eating out. Its just laziness on our part.. i could have made spaghetti and will most certainly make that tonight!

When i was young, WE NEVER ate out.. i swear to you that once i got older and went off to college, sitting down at a restaurant was very WEIRD for me.. I certainly had eaten at fast food places a few times but rarely did we go somewhere and sit down to eat.. i bet i could count on 1 hand the number of times we (mom, dad, brother, sis) went to a nice restaurant and sat down to eat when we were young..

When i visit my mom and dad today.. we still don't go out to eat much... nor do i want to.. mom is a great cook and i love eating her cooking. so does at least 2 of my kids.. the older one.. well, he is weird! HA
 
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Well we have done fairly well for January have not touched savings thank goodness. First time in months of that.

Got our health savings card in so big yay there. DH got glasses/lens for $220 and it was nice not having to pay out of pocket for that.

Feb is going to be a tight month as we have about $300 in extra expenses. So we are not eating out for the month with the exception of DH bday/Valentine's day. (They're just a few days apart). It won't be a big issue as my in laws always take us out to eat after Church so I'm fine with it. Plus we are going to try a bit of a modified Paleo/Whole 30 diet as well.

We shall see what happens there.

Lastly I am trying to convince DH to sell our camper trailer. Its a very nice travel trailer and I think we could get about $25K for it.
We have been wanting a 5th wheel and there's a really nice used option for sale at a dealer near us. They want $11k for it but it's been for sale for a few months. I wish we could sell ours and then buy this one outright. We would still have a camper and also be able to pay off DH truck (or almost paid off) and be able to have a lot more breathing room in our budget. We had considered it previously but he's so sentimental towards our camper (he got it prior to us getting married and we even lived in it for a few months while he finished college).
 
Spent ~$85 at Red Robin last night. (I did NOT Charge this, this came out of debit card/checking acct).
I envy those of you who can go weeks/months without eating out. Its just laziness on our part.. i could have made spaghetti and will most certainly make that tonight!

When i was young, WE NEVER ate out.. i swear to you that once i got older and went off to college, sitting down at a restaurant was very WEIRD for me.. I certainly had eaten at fast food places a few times but rarely did we go somewhere and sit down to eat.. i bet i could count on 1 hand the number of times we (mom, dad, brother, sis) went to a nice restaurant and sat down to eat when we were young..

When i visit my mom and dad today.. we still don't go out to eat much... nor do i want to.. mom is a great cook and i love eating her cooking. so does at least 2 of my kids.. the older one.. well, he is weird! HA


For me/us, we love eating out but we love travel more- when we want to spend money, we just reiterate that we want to travel and can eat out then...
I'm the same- we NEVER ate out when I was growing up- like maybe once a year if that for my grandma's birthday and it wasn't anything fancy...my mom and dad (separated) both still don't eat out, my DH on the other hand, his family ate out a lot and his parents still do- that's one thing actually that I do use as motivation- I don't want eating out to become a "norm" for our kids - it's a bad habit to get into and a huge waste of money- DD is 12 and we are already trying to show her what bad value it is- ie when we are at the hockey game and she wants one of those $4 lemonades- we talk about what it takes for her to earn $4 and what else she could spend on etc...

I like being on the "Eat at Home" thread- it gives me ideas, and I go back to my post of our week meals and edit with what we actually had- it has helped me stay accountable
 
















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