Debt Dumpers - 2018

[MamaBelleRN]

It looks like I will owe a couple hundred in taxes again this year. Also have my car registration due next month and have to do an emissions test before that.

Good news is that with the new tax law, I should be getting a little over $100 more in my take home pay each month. Planning to put that toward debt dumping since I think this will be a short term increase in take home pay with this law from everything I've heard.

STILL waiting on our W2s. It seems each year that neither my DH nor I get ours before January 31.

I’m not sure how our take home pay will be affected with the new tax law. However, any extra bump is always helpful!

So excited the builder accepted my bid!!! I just bought a house 3,000 miles away and only looking at specs. So thankful for my awesome agent getting everything figured out and checking out the lot, etc. Can’t wait to start picking out all the finishes.

That is so exciting!! Congrats!

Just finished chasing around with insurances, saved $1016 for my two cars and home contents for the year. One month free for switching my health insurance ($270 back in my pocket) and another $200 of different reimbursements I'm chasing. Plus, after Super Bowl, I'll get to cut the cable and save $40 pm after paying for Netflix.

But I feel like as fast as it is coming in, it's going out again! Back to dancing for DD9, DD4 starting one class a week, term fees are due next week but they will let you do weekly so that helps. Gotta finish booking our US trip stuff, DL tickets, 2 nights on Katella somewhere and 5 nights car hire which I can hopefully do on points. But having everyone back at school/work for the year as of Monday will definitely help, we just won't be home to look to spend $$ on incidentals! Coffee spending this month has been horrendous but it's still cheaper to go out for coffee and a snack than take everyone out for lunch and we can't stay home EVERY day.

I feel you on the extra in/extra out. Both my girls are in gymnastics and I need to pay for this session today. It’s quite reasonable, but still extra money going out.

My recent snowball goal was to save $12,000 for a big trip in the fall. We had originally planned to sail the Norwegian Fjords in August but I can't get that week off work. So then we considered going to Hawaii in September instead, or maybe waiting until summer 2019 and do the NF cruise then.
Well, after watching my retirement account do fabulously well over the past few months, I felt it would be silly to let that vacation money sit in a savings account earning 1% for God knows how long. So we opened a Vanguard investment account, and split $10k among 3 different mutual funds. It has already earned $203 since Jan 12, just 11 days.

Our emergency fund has been at $1000 since I first started debt dumping in 2013 and I do eventually want to increase it to the recommended level of 6 months of expenses.
My current snowball goal is $8000 saved for a down payment for a new car but then I think maybe if I can save a little longer, it would mean a MUCH lower monthly payment. I dread the idea of another car payment again. Up until last year, I've been paying on one for either myself or dh or both continuously since 1991. It feels good to not have one, even if it's temporary.

We still have our home equity loan which will be paid off in the next few weeks with proceeds from dh's inheritance. Bittersweet. I'd rather see dh still have his parents and my kids have their grandparents.

I think I'll have a hard time wanting to raid the Vanguard fund toward a car or a vacation and maybe I'll just keep it as a head start to our nest egg. It is highly motivating!!! Dare I even use the word addicting?

Hang in there peeps! Just keep swimming!

What a great idea to place that money in an investment account! Earning $203 in 11 Days is super impressive

Ugh-car payments We had no car payments for nearly 10 years, but since 2016 we have had two We made the very poor choice to lease new cars (NEVER again- you live and you learn). Our leases are up in May and August 2019. They are both Toyotas, so they should be reliable for many years to come if we choose to buy the cars we have now. If we can find used cars with lower principals, I’d
be more inclined towards that. We have some time to debate/save, but our leases will be up before we know it!

Sorry to hear about the loss of your in-laws. Wonderful to pay off that debt, but certainly bittersweet.

As for our budget update, I was $35 overbudget for our Disney on Ice weekend. It didn’t help that one bag of cotton candy was $15 Plus, my sister planned an afternoon of pottery painting. My kids LOVED it, but x4 that set me back $87. Money certainly goes quickly on a weekend getaway!

In the positive column, my DH’s company confirmed they will get their quarterly bonuses on Friday and their annual bonus at the end of February. It is nice to have official confirmation of that!

I feel like we haven’t made much progress towards our goals this month, but I’m hoping we have more success next month. Until then, as @ruadisneyfan2 said, we’ll just keep swimming!

 

[Dentam]

I’m not sure how our take home pay will be affected with the new tax law. However, any extra bump is always helpful!

There are articles and charts online that can give you an idea of how your take home pay will be affected. Ours will be reflected in our next paycheck, and I think employers have until the middle of next month to implement the changes, so you should see it soon!

 

[briese]

My recent snowball goal was to save $12,000 for a big trip in the fall. We had originally planned to sail the Norwegian Fjords in August but I can't get that week off work. So then we considered going to Hawaii in September instead, or maybe waiting until summer 2019 and do the NF cruise then.
Well, after watching my retirement account do fabulously well over the past few months, I felt it would be silly to let that vacation money sit in a savings account earning 1% for God knows how long. So we opened a Vanguard investment account, and split $10k among 3 different mutual funds. It has already earned $203 since Jan 12, just 11 days.

Neat idea! I’m glad it’s doing well. Just don’t forget that the gains will be taxed when you take them out - your normal marginal rate if it’s less than a year, long term capital gains rate if it’s more than a year (15%? I think).

ETA:https://investor.vanguard.com/investing/taxes/mutual-funds-etfs

 

[MamaBelleRN]

Yes, closing cc's will definitely drop your score and even more so if they are some of your oldest ones. You still have a GREAT score though so I wouldn't sweat it too much. Just keep an eye on your report to make sure it doesn't keep dropping.


Well, Murphy has come to visit me. My car is having issues starting and now the check engine and "trac off" lights are on. Sigh. I will take it into an auto parts store this weekend to have them scan it for codes. Hopefully it's something I can fix myself again.

Boo on Murphy’s visit, but that’s great you are handy enough to fix it yourself. We are not good about that and end up paying premiums for any repairs we need done.

That's awful. Murphy stopped by our house yesterday. Dh's truck was totally dead, and would not even accept a jump. We don't have a trustworthy mechanic and rarely have non-maintenance repairs so we usually just take them to the dealer for repairs. Stupid, I know. We do have AAA so they came and towed it at no charge. Hopefully their truck didn't crack our driveway.
Turns out the battery had a dead cell and also the battery cable to the + terminal had a short. Replacing both, including taxes and labor: $670.
Talk about highway robbery...

Ouch! That is a rough repair bill!

Yeah, I've saved a lot of money by doing things myself - with the help of youtube videos. There's a lot of satisfaction in doing it yourself too! The shops charge ridiculous prices and it wouldn't be worth it for me to pay what they want to charge since my car is 17 years old and worth around $500.

It’s impressive your car has made it 17 years! Maybe I can convince my DH to check out YouTube next time we need a repair...

There are articles and charts online that can give you an idea of how your take home pay will be affected. Ours will be reflected in our next paycheck, and I think employers have until the middle of next month to implement the changes, so you should see it soon!

Thanks for the tip! It looks like we will get a bump of about $200/month from
my DH’s paychecks. Not much of a bump from mine since I don’t work very many hours. I think they said the changes would be reflected in their February 16th paychecks. This could also be helpful when we get his annual bonus check. It seems like sooo much of it ends up going to taxes

 

[DisneyMandC]

I submitted my application last night to recalculate my student loans. Looks like my payment will go up about $40, so not terrible. I still have to get my PSLF form signed off on. I think I should be around 32 payments towards PSLF once I get that submitted.

Still waiting on my W2 and DH's 1099s... we've gotten all our other documents. Wish they'd hurry up!

On a side note, we happily welcomed Lilly into our family this past Saturday! She has settled in very well and is already enjoying a plethora of naps and sleeping with us. She doesn't care for our other pets yet, and usually hisses or growls at them, but I've owned enough cats at this point to know she'll get over it! She's lived with both other dogs and other cats, so I know she's used to it. Our dog is overjoyed by her presence and actually sprained his tail from wagging it so much when he's near her, despite her hissing Our other cat, Kevin, is terrified of her, but she's terrified of everyone/thing until she gets used to them. She's getting braver and has started approaching her. I'm sure in another week Kevin will be following her around and tormenting her for fun!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Yeah, I've saved a lot of money by doing things myself - with the help of youtube videos. There's a lot of satisfaction in doing it yourself too! The shops charge ridiculous prices and it wouldn't be worth it for me to pay what they want to charge since my car is 17 years old and worth around $500.

Dh does a lot of the quickie things himself like wiper blades & air filter. He knows how to change oil but at close to age 60 he'd rather pay someone to do it than to climb under his truck. It's also an issue on disposing the used oil. It can't be placed in our trash or recycling.
YouTube is great for stuff like this though. I learned how to change my cabin air filter by watching a video. It was like $11 on Amazon and Toyota wanted over $50 to do it. It literally took about 4 mins to do it.
My headlights are so fogged and I've tried lots of cleansers, toothpaste, etc and it barely helps. Toyota wants $1000 to replace because the entire headlight assembly has to be replaced. Amazon sells replacements for $175 and dh is willing to change them out, also easy to follow on a video, but we don't plan on keeping it much longer. Next time I won't wait so long to look into it.

 

[krysenchips]

Lilly is adorable!

 

[Dentam]

Dh does a lot of the quickie things himself like wiper blades & air filter. He knows how to change oil but at close to age 60 he'd rather pay someone to do it than to climb under his truck. It's also an issue on disposing the used oil. It can't be placed in our trash or recycling.

Yeah, I was definitely nervous to get under my car the first time I did my own oil change! Auto Parts stores are able to dispose the used oil for you if you have one nearby. The reason I started doing my own is because a Jiffy Lube claimed that the threads on my oil pan plug were stripped and that it would cost about $900 to fix it. And then they claimed to have no record of me ever going to them, even though they're the only place I've had my oil changed in years. So... I have a hard time finding a place to trust.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I submitted my application last night to recalculate my student loans. Looks like my payment will go up about $40, so not terrible. I still have to get my PSLF form signed off on. I think I should be around 32 payments towards PSLF once I get that submitted.

Still waiting on my W2 and DH's 1099s... we've gotten all our other documents. Wish they'd hurry up!

On a side note, we happily welcomed Lilly into our family this past Saturday! She has settled in very well and is already enjoying a plethora of naps and sleeping with us. She doesn't care for our other pets yet, and usually hisses or growls at them, but I've owned enough cats at this point to know she'll get over it! She's lived with both other dogs and other cats, so I know she's used to it. Our dog is overjoyed by her presence and actually sprained his tail from wagging it so much when he's near her, despite her hissing Our other cat, Kevin, is terrified of her, but she's terrified of everyone/thing until she gets used to them. She's getting braver and has started approaching her. I'm sure in another week Kevin will be following her around and tormenting her for fun!
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Oh she is adorable! How sad that anyone could have abandoned her!
I love the "sprained tail"!

How many payments do you need to complete to qualify for the PSLF? My coworker's daughter is in a similar situation as a teacher.
What is the benefit of recalculating your student loans? Is that like refinancing?

 

[pblack]

Such a pretty new kitty @DisneyMandC! SO glad you were able to take her in from those no good neighbors. I still can't believe they were just going to leave her.

@Jen and Ashwin I hope your DD is doing better today and gets to go home soon!

I just returned from Disneyland (Friday/Saturday) and a work conference across from Universal Studios Hollywood (Sunday-Tuesday) and I am wiped out! I feel like I could sleep for days. This is probably going to be our last Disneyland trip for quite some time. The trip went well and we had a good time. I've mentioned before how my DH and I have been debating between renewing our apartment lease and trying to buy a house. We had been looking and had put in a few offers that didn't go through, well last night about an hour after I got home we got the call saying our offer has been accepted!! Now as long as everything goes well with the inspections we will officially be home owners come March!

This also means that our debt dumping may not be where i'd like it to be this year, but I'm OK with the trade off. It also means will have at least one new bill once we get settled in seeing as the house has a pool (which we didn't necessarily want, but we really liked the house and it was in our price range.) I wish houses in CA weren't so expensive!

We have received one of DH's w-2's, still waiting on one more. I know I won't receive mine until the 30th/31st since my work doesn't release them until the very end of the month (which is just dumb.) Hoping we get at least a nice little chunk back so we can use it towards some of the home expenses we're going to have. Luckily the house has been completely gutted and remodeled inside, so there isn't a whole lot that needs to be done.

Happy Wednesday!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Yeah, I was definitely nervous to get under my car the first time I did my own oil change! Auto Parts stores are able to dispose the used oil for you if you have one nearby. The reason I started doing my own is because a Jiffy Lube claimed that the threads on my oil pan plug were stripped and that it would cost about $900 to fix it. And then they claimed to have no record of me every going to them, even though they're the only place I've had my oil changed in years. So... I have a hard time finding a place to trust.

Those dogs! I'd be pulling out every receipt ready to shove them somewhere.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Such a pretty new kitty @DisneyMandC! SO glad you were able to take her in from those no good neighbors. I still can't believe they were just going to leave her.

@Jen and Ashwin I hope your DD is doing better today and gets to go home soon!

I just returned from Disneyland (Friday/Saturday) and a work conference across from Universal Studios Hollywood (Sunday-Tuesday) and I am wiped out! I feel like I could sleep for days. This is probably going to be our last Disneyland trip for quite some time. The trip went well and we had a good time. I've mentioned before how my DH and I have been debating between renewing our apartment lease and trying to buy a house. We had been looking and had put in a few offers that didn't go through, well last night about an hour after I got home we got the call saying our offer has been accepted!! Now as long as everything goes well with the inspections we will officially be home owners come March!

This also means that our debt dumping may not be where i'd like it to be this year, but I'm OK with the trade off. It also means will have at least one new bill once we get settled in seeing as the house has a pool (which we didn't necessarily want, but we really liked the house and it was in our price range.) I wish houses in CA weren't so expensive!

We have received one of DH's w-2's, still waiting on one more. I know I won't receive mine until the 30th/31st since my work doesn't release them until the very end of the month (which is just dumb.) Hoping we get at least a nice little chunk back so we can use it towards some of the home expenses we're going to have. Luckily the house has been completely gutted and remodeled inside, so there isn't a whole lot that needs to be done.

Happy Wednesday!

Congratulations!

 

[Dentam]

Our dog is overjoyed by her presence and actually sprained his tail from wagging it so much when he's near her, despite her hissing

That's so cute - they will be buds soon I hope!

 

[Dentam]

Those dogs! I'd be pulling out every receipt ready to shove them somewhere.

Yeah, tell me about it. Then I got the ramps for my car and all of the supplies I needed and was able to take the drain plug out just fine and the threads looked totally fine. Nice try, jerks.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Neat idea! I’m glad it’s doing well. Just don’t forget that the gains will be taxed when you take them out - your normal marginal rate if it’s less than a year, long term capital gains rate if it’s more than a year (15%? I think).

ETA:https://investor.vanguard.com/investing/taxes/mutual-funds-etfs

Thanks! I'm aware but it's good for group discussion. I try to look at it like this, if my employer offered me more income but warned me it would be taxable income, I would still be happy to have more income. Who ever says, 'No thanks, I don't need more income.' right?

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

@Jen and Ashwin hope DD is feeling better soon!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Yeah, tell me about it. Then I got the ramps for my car and all of the supplies I needed and was able to take the drain plug out just fine and the threads looked totally fine. Nice try, jerks.

My dad was just telling me how his Explorer was leaking antifreeze. When he took it to a shop they told him it had the wrong type of cap on the drain plug, as if someone put on a cap from a plastic container instead of the metal one that belonged to the truck. They wanted like $90 to buy another one and install it. He said no thanks and went to a store and bought it and installed it himself. Even with having ramps, at 76 that's no easy task but no more leaking. Go Dad!
I think they really just test people to see how much they're willing to pay for things.

 

[Eureka]

Yes, closing cc's will definitely drop your score and even more so if they are some of your oldest ones. You still have a GREAT score though so I wouldn't sweat it too much. Just keep an eye on your report to make sure it doesn't keep dropping.


Well, Murphy has come to visit me. My car is having issues starting and now the check engine and "trac off" lights are on. Sigh. I will take it into an auto parts store this weekend to have them scan it for codes. Hopefully it's something I can fix myself again.

That sounds similar to what I had. It ended up being two (pricey) emissions-related sensors that needed replacing. Good luck.

 

[Eureka]

My headlights are so fogged and I've tried lots of cleansers, toothpaste, etc and it barely helps. Toyota wants $1000 to replace because the entire headlight assembly has to be replaced. Amazon sells replacements for $175 and dh is willing to change them out, also easy to follow on a video, but we don't plan on keeping it much longer. Next time I won't wait so long to look into it.

We’ve had to have our headlights “refreshed.” I don’t know what exactly they do for that but it was about $300. Still not cheap but better than $1000.

 

[Dentam]

That sounds similar to what I had. It ended up being two (pricey) emissions-related sensors that needed replacing. Good luck.

Oh, great... my emissions test is due next month in order to renew my registration. Well, maybe I'll be getting a new vehicle sooner than planned since my car isn't worth putting much money into.