Debt Dumpers - 2017

[Tygerlilly]

Got my part of the hospital bill for having baby. Before insurance it was just shy of $12k. After insurance, it's down to $4800. I still haven't gotten the baby's part yet, but I'm guessing her $4k bill will be dropped down to about $1500. I'll be calling to set up payment arrangements for these next week and get balances for the doctors that still need paid. Overall, I'm expecting about $7500 total, which is actually about right on with what I thought it would be.

 

[bcwife76]

DH and I returned from Vegas last night (actually, early this morning, our flight was delayed 2 hours so by the time we got to bed it was 2:30am!) Went over budget a bit....oops. Upgraded our room at MGM to a suite for an additional $50/night so that's $150 plus tax and the stupid resort fee they charge. Ended up seeing another Cirque Show (Ka) and did the High Roller (enclosed ferris wheel) and dinner at Top of the World (Stratosphere) etc so yeah......

Then this morning we picked up our dog ($150 for 4 nights as the kennel we use has raised it's rates again!! That also includes a bath and groom) then went to pick up my car at the body shop. Total bill was $4100, for which I paid only my deductible ($300, phew!) but also came home to a nice letter from the insurance company stating it was my fault 100% (arsewipes) and my rates will go up. I think I calculated it properly and starting next Spring for 3 years forward it should only amount to another $30/year. But STILL.....bah.

Anyway Vegas was fab and DH and I enjoyed ALL the kid free time

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I have one more thing I just wanted to mention about life insurance. For anyone young enough to be starting a family now, seriously consider skipping your employer's life insurance and just buy a separate policy. Employer plans are cheaper but, here is the big catch, you're only covered if you're still an employee. If you have a catastrophic illness or injury, how long will your employer still consider you an employee? At my job (a hospital of all places) even with FMLA, they will only hold your job for 12 weeks total per year missed. After that, one is no longer an employee and are automatically terminated. A cancer diagnosis/treatment can easily extend beyond 12 weeks. Then I'm SOL.
This recently happened to a long-time coworker who battled stomach cancer and was no longer an employee at the time of her death.
Because of this, I looked into a separate policy but approaching the big 5-0 and having high cholesterol, it would be a LOT. It would have been so much cheaper when I was young, skinny & healthier.

 

[Judique]

You are giving great advice for many people!

 

[Dentam]

Then this morning we picked up our dog ($150 for 4 nights as the kennel we use has raised it's rates again!! That also includes a bath and groom)

Wow, this is actually a lot cheaper than the place I've boarded my dog! They now charge $50 just for a bath for large breeds and $42/night for boarding. Luckily I've since found people in our meetup group who have watched her while I'm away for free!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Also, to any young families out there who feel like they can't afford life insurance now and 'what are the odds?' blah, blah blah, well being young & healthy is the best time to get in on low rates. And you can't afford NOT to have it. Most couples spend more on take out dinners each month.

We just lost dh's nephew this week at age 32 after an 18 month battle with leukemia. His kids are 12 & 4. My heart breaks for them.
In the process he lost his business and their house.
All this financial pain on top of the incredible heartbreak is just too much. I don't know their insurance status and would never ask but I sure hope they have it.

 

[bcwife76]

Wow, this is actually a lot cheaper than the place I've boarded my dog! They now charge $50 just for a bath for large breeds and $42/night for boarding. Luckily I've since found people in our meetup group who have watched her while I'm away for free!

When we first started boarding our dog there (I want to say 2004?) it was about $21/$22/night. Now it's $36/night But they LOVE her there, she's familiar with it, she doesn't get anxious (we tried a different kennel when we moved into our current home in 2012 and she hated it!) so it's still worth it, esp since she's older now (nearly 16!) a big dog and on medication.

 

[bcwife76]

Also, to any young families out there who feel like they can't afford life insurance now and 'what are the odds?' blah, blah blah, well being young & healthy is the best time to get in on low rates. And you can't afford NOT to have it. Most couples spend more on take out dinners each month.

We just lost dh's nephew this week at age 32 after an 18 month battle with leukemia. His kids are 12 & 4. My heart breaks for them.
In the process he lost his business and their house.
All this financial pain on top of the incredible heartbreak is just too much. I don't know their insurance status and would never ask but I sure hope they have it.

That's heartbreaking You're absolutely right, life insurance is good to get at pretty much any age I think.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Not a great weekend. We had our horse show that we manage this weekend and it was tiny. I don't know what happened. The weather wasn't fantastic, a little cold, but it didn't rain or anything. We had people preregister for it online all week and then not show up no the day of. We usually make enough money at our first horse show to pay all of our expenses for the whole year; we barely broke even this time. I told DH we are NOT doing this again next year. We had done it for two years in a row and I didn't enjoy it and we stopped doing them last year, but he wanted to start it back up this year. I told him if he wants to do it next year he's doing it alone and with someone else's money!

Other than that, it was a budget-friendly weekend. I'm leaving work early today to go down and do professional photographs with my show horse, which I'm very excited about! I bought two items for that yesterday that I discovered this morning that I won't need, so I'll return those to get some money back. We also booked another Airbnb for our horse show out of state next month for $40/night.

We get DH's paycheck with his new raise this week, along with his bonus. I'm planning to send the bonus straight to our savings to hang out and collect some interest for a little while. No real plans for the money at this time, perhaps towards a Disney vacation down the road.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Not a great weekend. We had our horse show that we manage this weekend and it was tiny. I don't know what happened. The weather wasn't fantastic, a little cold, but it didn't rain or anything. We had people preregister for it online all week and then not show up no the day of. We usually make enough money at our first horse show to pay all of our expenses for the whole year; we barely broke even this time. I told DH we are NOT doing this again next year. We had done it for two years in a row and I didn't enjoy it and we stopped doing them last year, but he wanted to start it back up this year. I told him if he wants to do it next year he's doing it alone and with someone else's money!

Other than that, it was a budget-friendly weekend. I'm leaving work early today to go down and do professional photographs with my show horse, which I'm very excited about! I bought two items for that yesterday that I discovered this morning that I won't need, so I'll return those to get some money back. We also booked another Airbnb for our horse show out of state next month for $40/night.

We get DH's paycheck with his new raise this week, along with his bonus. I'm planning to send the bonus straight to our savings to hang out and collect some interest for a little while. No real plans for the money at this time, perhaps towards a Disney vacation down the road.

Sorry the horse show was a bit of a bust. I am in Michigan and the weather this weekend was really great. Sunny but not too hot. DH and I did tons of yard work - mowing, trimming, edging, de-thatching, weeding and fertilizing. I plan to work on prepping our garden plot after work today so it will be ready for planting when we return from our vacation. Plus a little more weeding is needed in our rose bed.

I hope your next horse show has a better turn out and you get a nice profit!

 

[lorac4disney]

I'm sorry the horse show didn't turn out well. I wish it would have gone better for you.

A small update. Being true to my word, I have started buckling down and paying extra towards my house and DVC mortgage. I paid $165 extra towards the principle on the home mortgage and $500 extra towards the principle of the DVC loan.

I also managed to stick to my budget on our groceries and home supplies during my once a month shopping trip while loading up on laundry detergent (which I stacked coupons for). The best part is that I still have one of DH's $100 food certificates that I can use if needed and he's getting another $100 food certificate in a couple of weeks from now. DH has been really good about taking and eating his lunch for a change. I hope that lasts.

Anyway, I have been studying up on this whole reward points thing that my bank's credit card offers after reading up on here about different ways that people save money. I'm kicking myself in the butt for not learning about this sooner, but I will do my best to make up for lost time. I spent all weekend swapping everything over to being paid with my credit card (which I will then pay off each week or month). I plan on signing up for Southwest Rewards without signing up for their credit card though because I'm afraid having multiple credit cards will hurt my credit score. I depend on my great credit score way too much to let that happen since it often gets me zero interest loans on whatever I need (vehicles). If the rewards work like Swagbucks, then that will help me with paying for vacations in the future.

I hope everyone else's month is getting off to a great start.

 

[Eureka]

Sorry the horse show was a bit of a bust. I am in Michigan and the weather this weekend was really great. Sunny but not too hot. DH and I did tons of yard work - mowing, trimming, edging, de-thatching, weeding and fertilizing. I plan to work on prepping our garden plot after work today so it will be ready for planting when we return from our vacation. Plus a little more weeding is needed in our rose bed.

I hope your next horse show has a better turn out and you get a nice profit!

You must be feeling better? How many weeks are you now?

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

You must be feeling better? How many weeks are you now?

I am feeling so much better! It has been about 2 weeks since the nausea stopped and I cannot even express how much happier I am now. I am able to eat pretty much everything again, which has been a huge improvement to my diet. DH and I have been going on walks in the evenings and I am going out more in general, since I don't feel terrible starting at 5pm anymore.

This makes me really excited for our vacation. We leave for Copenhagen on Thursday and have lots of active excursions planned. I am also looking forward to enjoying the food on the cruise after such a limited dietary repertoire the last several months.

I hit 17 weeks last Friday. My belly is finally starting to show now, but still isn't big enough that people might look at me and think I was pregnant. But when I look in the mirror, I can definitely tell there is a bump now rather than just the bit of chubbiness that I had before the baby. I have my next ultrasound the day after we get back from vacation and they should be able to tell the gender by then. DH wants them to write it down in an envelope so we can decide if we want to know yet or not. I would rather know, but he still needs to work up to that, I guess. We might have our friends order a small gender reveal cake for us and have them over for a bbq to celebrate. My friend is more anxious to know the gender than I am. She keeps asking me when I will know.

 

[Ngwira]

DH and I are taking the kids to Baltimore Inner Harbor on Thursday to check out the National Aquarium and Maryland Science Center. Hotel, rental car and excursions are paid for. Just need to pay for food. Hoping we have nice weather. We'll be back on Mother's day.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

I just got a notice from the cruise line that the murder mystery dinner was cancelled. DH and I are both sad, since we were really looking forward to that part of our trip. I guess the silver lining is that we get a full refund for that, which gives us more money in the vacation fund for this trip, our weekend in Madison over memorial day and our camping trip in June. The cruise line sent a 20% off coupon for any other specialty dining during our cruise, but DH and I decided that we were happy with the regular dining room. We always enjoy the food. The mystery dinner was more about the experience than it was about eating at a speciality restaurant.

The extended weather report is also predicting "a little rain" most days of our trip. That doesn't really bother me at all as long as they don't cancel any of our hiking excursions. Fingers crossed because we are really looking forward to seeing all of these amazing sites.

 

[dayvewc]

DH and I are taking the kids to Baltimore Inner Harbor on Thursday to check out the National Aquarium and Maryland Science Center. Hotel, rental car and excursions are paid for. Just need to pay for food. Hoping we have nice weather. We'll be back on Mother's day.

That's a nice aquarium.

Side note, my dad's sister's husband's son from his first marriage used to be the general manager there. He took us on an all access, behind the scenes tour once. It was awesome.

 

[Alexle2007]

DH and I are taking the kids to Baltimore Inner Harbor on Thursday to check out the National Aquarium and Maryland Science Center. Hotel, rental car and excursions are paid for. Just need to pay for food. Hoping we have nice weather. We'll be back on Mother's day.

Unfortunately, it is looking a little wet and cool this weekend in MD. My son has tennis on Sat morning and I am hoping he can get his matches in. Little Italy has some fantastic restaurants. Our favorite is Sabatino's. And there is always seafood! That's not be missed. The Aquarium and Science Center are awesome!

 

[Ngwira]

That's a nice aquarium.

Side note, my dad's sister's husband's son from his first marriage used to be the general manager there. He took us on an all access, behind the scenes tour once. It was awesome.

Dave, we went last year but I feel we were so rushed. This time we are prepared to slow down and view all of the amazing aquatic animals. We didn't even get to see the Dolphin show which is a must, I hear. I'm so jealous you got a backstage tour.

 

[Ngwira]

Unfortunately, it is looking a little wet and cool this weekend in MD. My son has tennis on Sat morning and I am hoping he can get his matches in. Little Italy has some fantastic restaurants. Our favorite is Sabatino's. And there is always seafood! That's not be missed. The Aquarium and Science Center are awesome!

Yeah, weather is looking a bit gloomy. We were hoping to walk around the inner harbor and even do one of the swan boats!
Any seafood restaurant recommendations? I hear good things about the Rusty Scupper.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Yeah, weather is looking a bit gloomy. We were hoping to walk around the inner harbor and even do one of the swan boats!
Any seafood restaurant recommendations? I hear good things about the Rusty Scupper.

I went to the Rusty Scupper for a work dinner and wasn't a huge fan. Service was really slow and food was just ok, but maybe that was because we were a large group (25 people, I think)?