Debt Dumpers - 2018

[Eureka]

Chugging along here. We both got paid today and DH's is the third check this month. Usually that helps us get slightly ahead. With school starting next week, we had a lot of extra expenses so it just caught us up. We also sponsored a meal for the soup kitchen for which DH is on the board, so that was another $250 we don't spend every month. Plus with the timing of our next checks, I had to pay a bunch of Sept. bills with it, but it's all fine. I got the AP reimbursement from DS' last year tests already so that was nice to deposit. I want all four of us to go out to eat tomorrow as a last little "fling" of summer.

One DS is finishing up work this weekend (he's a lifeguard) and the other is now done. I am really proud of them, they worked a lot, managed to do summer sports and pre-fall conditioning, got their summer schoolwork done (or almost, they are still working down to the wire, lol). And both of them put $1200 into savings plus still have some in their checking accounts. We don't make them pay for much on a daily basis but now that they have been earning, we decided to have them pay for their own haircuts and DS17 pays for gas. I told him whether he wants to make DS15 pay for some too when he drives him around, is up to him. He said he bought him Chik Fil A the other day, so they're all even. Lol.

 

[Ngwira]

What about the hotels downtown? Like on freemont or right near that? I was considering the D or Golden Nugget. We might do a split stay and do a few nights there where it's cheaper and then a couple nights on the strip at the end in a more expensive fancier room.

I heard the "D" is the best on Fremont street. Haven't stayed there though. Split stay sounds fantastic.

 

[imbatman]

Taking a deep breath and getting through my budget. It's ugly. And it hurts, but we'll come out better on the other side. The car is fixed and purring like a kitten.

Sister is driving down for our mom's birthday this weekend. She tries to get down as often as possible to see our dad (who is now starting to show signs of slowing down). I've scheduled pedicures for the three of us, so we can visit. It's our thing.

In three weeks, I'll be at my "work" conference at WDW. Debating on just going for the Halloween Party with the coworker or not even worrying about it. It would put another notch in my budget.

 

[MamaBelleRN]

Just another quick check in! After closing on our rental house on Monday, we paid off the balances on our CCs and we paid off one of my student loans that had a high interest rate. We put the remaining money into a high yield savings account and are continuing to discuss/decide how to prioritize. We do have a good chunk left on student loans, but they are all at 3.5%, so I’m not feeling super driven to throw every penny at them.

The debate is between paying off our cars or reinvesting the money into our current home by doing a much needed kitchen renovation. The kitchen does not function well at all for our big family, so I am very tempted to go with the kitchen reno option, but the extra money not going to car payments would be nice to have each month. We leased our cars (ugh- such a mistake) and the terms are up in May and August. We’re just going to sit tight and mull over our options until spring and go from there.

I hope y’all have a great Labor Day weekend!

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

I am feeling kind of down. I appreciate all of you here so much, and I feel like you will understand my frustration. I had been doing really well dumping debt in 2018 from Jan through May. Paid off a loan and a credit card for a total of over $8500 and put aside a $1500 emergency fund and put nothing new on credit card debt in that 5 months by tightening my spending belt (some was my income tax return). But it seems I am bleeding money no matter how hard I am trying due to unexpected or new things!!!

It's been a whirlwind, and now that I am looking at the numbers, I am dismayed. In April my car insurance went up exponentially due to my 17 year old getting her license and my house insurance yearly premium went up ANOTHER $600 per year (over $3000 yearly) due to my house being over 10 years old and having the original roof. Then just before Memorial Day my car (only 5 years old and paid off for one year) broke down again and felt unsafe (especially with a new teenage driver in the family) so after much internal debate, decided to buy a new car. I got a Hyundai Elantra at a really great price and I love it, but sad to have a car payment again and sad to see my total debt has gone up instead of down when I look at CreditKarma. (Note: it has kind of become addictive looking at my credit score and total debt on CreditKarma, but it is a great way to keep me motivated and accountable!!). My daughter in high school got an amazing summer research opportunity for 8 weeks in June and July, but that meant I had to totally reschedule our carefully planned budget friendly accommodations and airfare for our summer vacation to Yellowstone and Grand Teton to August, and the rather last minute rescheduling two months in advance led to higher airfare and lodging and rental car prices (cost about $1000 more out of pocket--thank goodness American Airlines took pity on me and gave me a voucher for the non-refundable airfare since the new airfare was over $500 more than the original). On the day before I left for vacation, I came home to find the freezer completely unfrozen and melted water and ice cream all over the kitchen floor--the refrigerator went out and Was going to be too costly to repair so I had to purchase a new one when I got home from vacation. I also lost quite a bit of frozen food/dollars down the trash bin. Then Murphy struck again--when we got home from vacation we found that the fan and compressor on the downstairs air conditioning unit had gone out. Thankfully we have a friend that fixed all of it for about $400 today (it also needed freon) and thankfully most of the house except my bedroom and bathroom are cooled ok with just the upstairs unit running--though it's been an uncomfortable two weeks in my bedroom. I also attended a training seminar for work last week that will be reimbursed, but I had to charge about $1000 on my credit card that I won't get reimbursed back for about 30 days. Finally, The most costly part, I had to unexpectedly have a day surgery in July and another one today. I am bummed because between the new fridge, aircon repair, the extra expense of vacation, and the uncovered portions of the surgeries, my emergency fund is gone and I had to put some on a credit card. I am feeling pretty out of sorts that my debt dumping keeps taking hits.

 

[FQLover]

Oh, my goodness! You really, really got hit by Murphy. I am so sorry.

In terms of the progress you have made, you really can't help these things happening, and they do. So, you keep on truckin'. Build back your emergency fund before you pay more than the minimum on your bills. And then you start chipping away at them in whatever order you feel most comfortable with (lowest balance, highest interest) and you just keep at it.

I can identify as I am a single mom with a 17 year old daughter, too. And a couple of years ago, I went from debt-free except my house to having to get a new car, new AC, and new furnace--as well as braces starting. I paid cash for the furnace and financed the rest. The braces are paid off, but I am still working on the rest. I did replace a broken fridge and washer just a year before this other stuff bit the dust, too. Finally, Murphy will move on to another poor soul and leave you alone! Here's hoping that happens soon, right?

And my DD does not have her license yet but that day is coming. I hate to see what the insurance increase will be.

Good luck and great job on reducing your debt so admirably in 2018! At least this new pile is not on top of the old debt you have paid off.
Silver linings and all that.

 

[jen7233]

I am feeling kind of down. I appreciate all of you here so much, and I feel like you will understand my frustration. I had been doing really well dumping debt in 2018 from Jan through May. Paid off a loan and a credit card for a total of over $8500 and put aside a $1500 emergency fund and put nothing new on credit card debt in that 5 months by tightening my spending belt (some was my income tax return). But it seems I am bleeding money no matter how hard I am trying due to unexpected or new things!!!

It's been a whirlwind, and now that I am looking at the numbers, I am dismayed. In April my car insurance went up exponentially due to my 17 year old getting her license and my house insurance yearly premium went up ANOTHER $600 per year (over $3000 yearly) due to my house being over 10 years old and having the original roof. Then just before Memorial Day my car (only 5 years old and paid off for one year) broke down again and felt unsafe (especially with a new teenage driver in the family) so after much internal debate, decided to buy a new car. I got a Hyundai Elantra at a really great price and I love it, but sad to have a car payment again and sad to see my total debt has gone up instead of down when I look at CreditKarma. (Note: it has kind of become addictive looking at my credit score and total debt on CreditKarma, but it is a great way to keep me motivated and accountable!!). My daughter in high school got an amazing summer research opportunity for 8 weeks in June and July, but that meant I had to totally reschedule our carefully planned budget friendly accommodations and airfare for our summer vacation to Yellowstone and Grand Teton to August, and the rather last minute rescheduling two months in advance led to higher airfare and lodging and rental car prices (cost about $1000 more out of pocket--thank goodness American Airlines took pity on me and gave me a voucher for the non-refundable airfare since the new airfare was over $500 more than the original). On the day before I left for vacation, I came home to find the freezer completely unfrozen and melted water and ice cream all over the kitchen floor--the refrigerator went out and Was going to be too costly to repair so I had to purchase a new one when I got home from vacation. I also lost quite a bit of frozen food/dollars down the trash bin. Then Murphy struck again--when we got home from vacation we found that the fan and compressor on the downstairs air conditioning unit had gone out. Thankfully we have a friend that fixed all of it for about $400 today (it also needed freon) and thankfully most of the house except my bedroom and bathroom are cooled ok with just the upstairs unit running--though it's been an uncomfortable two weeks in my bedroom. I also attended a training seminar for work last week that will be reimbursed, but I had to charge about $1000 on my credit card that I won't get reimbursed back for about 30 days. Finally, The most costly part, I had to unexpectedly have a day surgery in July and another one today. I am bummed because between the new fridge, aircon repair, the extra expense of vacation, and the uncovered portions of the surgeries, my emergency fund is gone and I had to put some on a credit card. I am feeling pretty out of sorts that my debt dumping keeps taking hits.

I'm sorry that's happened to you. It does sometimes feel like everything hits at once. I've felt angry too when I had my budget all going great, just to be sideswiped by something huge and ruin my whole plan, made me feel like why do I bother. We are still sort of feeling the after effects but, it has settled down and I did some rearranging and reprioritizing. Anyway, try not to worry about the credit card and debt dumping sometimes things backslide for things of no fault but life happening.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Thank god August is over. I'm ready to buckle down in September and attempt to get DF's truck paid off this month. We're down to the last $1000. I know that doesn't seem like much to most of you, but that's still quite a bit for us these days.

We decided that our Christmas gift for the family will be a new tv for the living room. He wants a nice 65". I found one at Wal-Mart for $600, so I'll be putting it on layaway this paycheck to secure it and then making small payments until our next bonus comes in.

 

[MamaBelleRN]

I am feeling kind of down. I appreciate all of you here so much, and I feel like you will understand my frustration. I had been doing really well dumping debt in 2018 from Jan through May. Paid off a loan and a credit card for a total of over $8500 and put aside a $1500 emergency fund and put nothing new on credit card debt in that 5 months by tightening my spending belt (some was my income tax return). But it seems I am bleeding money no matter how hard I am trying due to unexpected or new things!!!

It's been a whirlwind, and now that I am looking at the numbers, I am dismayed. In April my car insurance went up exponentially due to my 17 year old getting her license and my house insurance yearly premium went up ANOTHER $600 per year (over $3000 yearly) due to my house being over 10 years old and having the original roof. Then just before Memorial Day my car (only 5 years old and paid off for one year) broke down again and felt unsafe (especially with a new teenage driver in the family) so after much internal debate, decided to buy a new car. I got a Hyundai Elantra at a really great price and I love it, but sad to have a car payment again and sad to see my total debt has gone up instead of down when I look at CreditKarma. (Note: it has kind of become addictive looking at my credit score and total debt on CreditKarma, but it is a great way to keep me motivated and accountable!!). My daughter in high school got an amazing summer research opportunity for 8 weeks in June and July, but that meant I had to totally reschedule our carefully planned budget friendly accommodations and airfare for our summer vacation to Yellowstone and Grand Teton to August, and the rather last minute rescheduling two months in advance led to higher airfare and lodging and rental car prices (cost about $1000 more out of pocket--thank goodness American Airlines took pity on me and gave me a voucher for the non-refundable airfare since the new airfare was over $500 more than the original). On the day before I left for vacation, I came home to find the freezer completely unfrozen and melted water and ice cream all over the kitchen floor--the refrigerator went out and Was going to be too costly to repair so I had to purchase a new one when I got home from vacation. I also lost quite a bit of frozen food/dollars down the trash bin. Then Murphy struck again--when we got home from vacation we found that the fan and compressor on the downstairs air conditioning unit had gone out. Thankfully we have a friend that fixed all of it for about $400 today (it also needed freon) and thankfully most of the house except my bedroom and bathroom are cooled ok with just the upstairs unit running--though it's been an uncomfortable two weeks in my bedroom. I also attended a training seminar for work last week that will be reimbursed, but I had to charge about $1000 on my credit card that I won't get reimbursed back for about 30 days. Finally, The most costly part, I had to unexpectedly have a day surgery in July and another one today. I am bummed because between the new fridge, aircon repair, the extra expense of vacation, and the uncovered portions of the surgeries, my emergency fund is gone and I had to put some on a credit card. I am feeling pretty out of sorts that my debt dumping keeps taking hits.

Oh my! What a rough stretch you’ve had! It’s so easy to get discouraged when you see the debt numbers rolling up instead of down. All you can do is just keep swimming! I think all of us who have been on this debt dumping journey have been there. I’m hoping Murphy stays far from you and these next months allow you to quickly get back on track! Also, I hope all is well with your health and there aren’t any further surgeries required. Best of luck for brighter days!

 

[KSR0330]

I am feeling kind of down. I appreciate all of you here so much, and I feel like you will understand my frustration. I had been doing really well dumping debt in 2018 from Jan through May. Paid off a loan and a credit card for a total of over $8500 and put aside a $1500 emergency fund and put nothing new on credit card debt in that 5 months by tightening my spending belt (some was my income tax return). But it seems I am bleeding money no matter how hard I am trying due to unexpected or new things!!!

It's been a whirlwind, and now that I am looking at the numbers, I am dismayed. In April my car insurance went up exponentially due to my 17 year old getting her license and my house insurance yearly premium went up ANOTHER $600 per year (over $3000 yearly) due to my house being over 10 years old and having the original roof. Then just before Memorial Day my car (only 5 years old and paid off for one year) broke down again and felt unsafe (especially with a new teenage driver in the family) so after much internal debate, decided to buy a new car. I got a Hyundai Elantra at a really great price and I love it, but sad to have a car payment again and sad to see my total debt has gone up instead of down when I look at CreditKarma. (Note: it has kind of become addictive looking at my credit score and total debt on CreditKarma, but it is a great way to keep me motivated and accountable!!). My daughter in high school got an amazing summer research opportunity for 8 weeks in June and July, but that meant I had to totally reschedule our carefully planned budget friendly accommodations and airfare for our summer vacation to Yellowstone and Grand Teton to August, and the rather last minute rescheduling two months in advance led to higher airfare and lodging and rental car prices (cost about $1000 more out of pocket--thank goodness American Airlines took pity on me and gave me a voucher for the non-refundable airfare since the new airfare was over $500 more than the original). On the day before I left for vacation, I came home to find the freezer completely unfrozen and melted water and ice cream all over the kitchen floor--the refrigerator went out and Was going to be too costly to repair so I had to purchase a new one when I got home from vacation. I also lost quite a bit of frozen food/dollars down the trash bin. Then Murphy struck again--when we got home from vacation we found that the fan and compressor on the downstairs air conditioning unit had gone out. Thankfully we have a friend that fixed all of it for about $400 today (it also needed freon) and thankfully most of the house except my bedroom and bathroom are cooled ok with just the upstairs unit running--though it's been an uncomfortable two weeks in my bedroom. I also attended a training seminar for work last week that will be reimbursed, but I had to charge about $1000 on my credit card that I won't get reimbursed back for about 30 days. Finally, The most costly part, I had to unexpectedly have a day surgery in July and another one today. I am bummed because between the new fridge, aircon repair, the extra expense of vacation, and the uncovered portions of the surgeries, my emergency fund is gone and I had to put some on a credit card. I am feeling pretty out of sorts that my debt dumping keeps taking hits.

Remember that you have made some nice progress paying off that credit card. Things will get better and you'll be able to build up that savings again! Just take it one day at a time and do your best. You'll get there!

 

[Eureka]

Oh, my goodness! You really, really got hit by Murphy. I am so sorry.

In terms of the progress you have made, you really can't help these things happening, and they do. So, you keep on truckin'. Build back your emergency fund before you pay more than the minimum on your bills. And then you start chipping away at them in whatever order you feel most comfortable with (lowest balance, highest interest) and you just keep at it.

I can identify as I am a single mom with a 17 year old daughter, too. And a couple of years ago, I went from debt-free except my house to having to get a new car, new AC, and new furnace--as well as braces starting. I paid cash for the furnace and financed the rest. The braces are paid off, but I am still working on the rest. I did replace a broken fridge and washer just a year before this other stuff bit the dust, too. Finally, Murphy will move on to another poor soul and leave you alone! Here's hoping that happens soon, right?

And my DD does not have her license yet but that day is coming. I hate to see what the insurance increase will be.

Good luck and great job on reducing your debt so admirably in 2018! At least this new pile is not on top of the old debt you have paid off.
Silver linings and all that.

Parent of a 17 year old driver too. I feel your pain.

 

[AmyAnne]

Parent of a 17 year old driver too. I feel your pain.

See if you can get him to go to college somewhere where he won't need a car! Not paying for them to be on the car insurance was a nice little perk with a few of my kids (and actually all four of them at some point, such as when they studied abroad).

 

[OhMari]

I was on track to have my car paid off in 2 years.
It has been sacrificing, but I am pounding the payments.

This past week, my 22 month old grandson took a hammer to the front of my car.
His mom was getting the baby in the car seat in the house and I ran back in the house to go to the bathroom.
Our garage is attached to our home.
Unbelievable how fast he was. Usually we have all doors locked in the house, since he will try to get out
of the house every chance he gets.
That morning, he and his mom put together a step 2 push handle car.
It is one where he sits and there is a handle to push him.
They used a hammer to build it.

He actually found a different hammer in the garage and pounded away.
I put the hammer away that he used that morning, so he wouldn’t use it on anything else.
Looks like hail damage-I am pretty sure there is at least $1000+$2000 damage.

 

[Eureka]

See if you can get him to go to college somewhere where he won't need a car! Not paying for them to be on the car insurance was a nice little perk with a few of my kids (and actually all four of them at some point, such as when they studied abroad).

Mine won’t be taking a car to college no matter where he goes. My 15 year old (sophomore) can get his learners permit in a few months and hopefully when he is a junior he will have his license and can drive to school, if the car holds out. Much easier than our arranging our schedules to pick him up after sports since we both work 50+ miles away from home. But yes, dropping DS17 from insurance during the school year will be nice.

 

[WVMomof3]

Mine won’t be taking a car to college no matter where he goes. My 15 year old (sophomore) can get his learners permit in a few months and hopefully when he is a junior he will have his license and can drive to school, if the car holds out. Much easier than our arranging our schedules to pick him up after sports since we both work 50+ miles away from home. But yes, dropping DS17 from insurance during the school year will be nice.

I just called my insurance about this last week. They had to be at least 100 miles from home and it was just a discount off, not dropping them entirely. I got $250 off, I can assure you she added much more than that when we added her.

 

[Eureka]

I just called my insurance about this last week. They had to be at least 100 miles from home and it was just a discount off, not dropping them entirely. I got $250 off, I can assure you she added much more than that when we added her.

Hmm...most of the schools he's applying to are not more than 100 miles away. Oh well, we'll deal with it when we get there.

 

[AmyAnne]

I just called my insurance about this last week. They had to be at least 100 miles from home and it was just a discount off, not dropping them entirely. I got $250 off, I can assure you she added much more than that when we added her.

That's weird. Ours (State Farm) let us make the kids "inactive" when they didn't have a car, and we weren't charged for them.

 

[4kids4karen]

That's weird. Ours (State Farm) let us make the kids "inactive" when they didn't have a car, and we weren't charged for them.

Every company varies...
If the kid has an active license, it is not smart to remove them from the insurance policy. Any length of time without active insurance means when the kid goes and gets insurance again they will be in a higher risk rate. Kids still may need to drive (borrow a friends car, rent a car, drive in an emergency, drive when home on a school break, etc.). States with PIP coverage provides coverage if they are hit by a vehicle as a pedestrian crossing the street, etc.

 

[imbatman]

I am feeling pretty out of sorts that my debt dumping keeps taking hits.

I feel you completely. We have spent nearly $1000 on my old car. OLD CAR, as in 1997 Honda Civic with 260k miles. However, the caveat with us spending this is that we've owned it since it was new. It's never been in a wreck, never had electrical issues or "customization." With the last repair, its running better than it has in a couple of years. $1000 on repairs was our ceiling. Also, we could throw that money at a used car and still come out paying through the nose for little things.

Adding to that car, is my DH's truck. Last month, alternator. This month, radiator. Gratefully, he's seen that YouTube can pretty much show us how to replace anything, so he's game. Again, it's an older truck that my parents owned before us. And a diesel engine that my mechanic has threatened me great bodily harm if I sell the vehicle to someone else rather than him.

And there are the other hits: our electric bill after the fires doubled. There was nothing we could do, since it was over 100 every day and the visibility with smoke was a mile or less. There are a few bright areas: our phones are paid off as of the last payment! We are already being bombarded with "You qualify for an update" messages. Leave me alone! I've already overpaid you! And I did work the budget with enough money to pay for my AP, since I'll be there for more than 10 days this year. I'm weirdly excited about our PhotoPass pictures!

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Just got back from our Northern Michigan vacation and it was great. We ended up spending $495 for everything for 5 days/4 nights, including hotel, gas, parking, food, admissions and souvenirs. We used mostly points for the hotel stays, so that really kept the cost down. We also packed sandwich fixings and ate that for lunch everyday. And we had pizza two nights in a row. That wasn't really planned, the pizza was just too huge.

And I got to book our ADRs for our March trip today. Got the BOG lunch I was hoping for plus everything else we were planning. We aren't sure yet if we want to do a character dining. I am thinking that we will wait to see how DD reacts to characters on our Disneyland trip in November and then add one later if we want.

Budget-wise, we are doing mostly alright. DH got a 3% raise that will be on his next paycheck in a week and a half. I am thinking that combined we might have a couple hundred more total each month, but we won't know for sure until we get our next checks. We have been over spending in some places though and having to make it up from elsewhere, but haven't added to debt. And DH has been really eating through his allowance each month. Because of this, I am not allowing him to borrow forward from next month because he had already spent all of his September money in August. We have a budget meeting tonight to debrief from the vacation and talk about what September is looking like overall.

And I am reevaluating the basement project. I am having the worst time getting quotes from contractors and it is taking up too much of my time and the quotes are coming back much higher than I anticipated based on my research. I have decided to get a quote from a company that would act as the general contractor to decide if that would make my life easier. If the price isn't too much higher than all these other quotes combined, I think this is the way that we will go so that the project actually gets done and this project doesn't kill me. I am just so frustrated at this point.