Debt Dumpers - 2018

[mco65]

Good Luck debtdumper2018
I will be pulling for you...

 

[JacknSally]

Logged in and looked at my student loans today. On $24,000 in loans, I've paid $18,000 over the past 6 years and still have $17,000 to pay toward the principle. It's... absolutely nauseating to think about. But, once we get some other things paid down this year, we'll be able to throw absolutely everything at those in 2019. At least, that's the plan!

 

[imbatman]

Forward progress: CC #2 - $17,869.32
CC #1 payment tomorrow leaving: $2512.98

 

[JAMIESMITH]

Goals for 2018:
Pay off $2200 credit card balance
(used for major dental work)
Pay off $5000 in medical bills (from emergency c-section)
Pay off $2000 on Lowe’s card (appliances bought with no interest)
Pay off $4500 balance on motorcycle note (bought before the new baby was even thought of)

Once all these things are paid off I will feel comfortable financing a newer car for myself. My current one is 16 years old and has 187K miles on it.

 

[Tygerlilly]

We decided on a pretty spontaneous trip to Chicago so my other half's family can meet the baby in Feb (she'll be almost 11 months by that point). It just happens the weekend falls two days after his and his twin brothers birthdays and his son's birthday. There may or may not be some surprise party planning happening with my SIL (read: she's planning it all and I'm just giving her half of the cost).
I saw a few ads saying H&R Block is doing up to 3k advance on your tax return. Since I claim the child tax credit, I won't get taxes back until the end of Feb, so I'm going to go ahead and take the loan, use half of whatever I get to pay off the things I had originally planned, and use the rest for monthly bills and the party. Then in Feb when I get the rest, pay everything else I wanted to and use some of our monthly income that I paid ahead on to cover the other things I wanted to pay off.
Hoping to get the full 3k loan, since that will be less than half of my estimated refund amount.

Plans are as follows (assuming $3000):
Pay rent early-$1240
Pay off personal loans #2-$900
Pay off insurance-$600
Extra $260- bulk shopping trip to Sam's to fill our freezer and pantry for a few months.

February plans (assuming $4000 deposit+a little extra from income):
Pay off furniture lease-$2300
Pay off personal loans #1-$1800

I should get almost $1000 in state taxes back also, which I will put towards the truck, which we owe $3750 on. Should be able to knock that out in a few months.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Well, so much for the master plan I had. Someone ran a red light and totaled my car this morning. I'm sore as hell, but otherwise fine, the kids weren't with me, and she is okay. Thank goodness for another witness that gave her statement because the lady tried saying she had the green. According to the police officer, there's no investigation and he's putting fault on her due to the evidence, so at least I don't have any kind of investigation to deal with or have to fight insurance. Thankfully, we have full coverage on our car and she had some kind of coverage on hers.

Now I just have to deal with the adjuster coming, getting two new car seats, and cleaning out the car. But since they won't be there to deal with it until tomorrow, I'm going to wrangle the kids down for a nap and try and nap my headache away.

 

[mommy2mrb]

OMG. My mom has been saving up my late daddy’s pension (widow benefits) and is giving my brother and I the funds. Going to be so helpful with my debt dump and trip.

$5,000 gifted!

Pay off CC#1 $450
Pay CC#2 $2,500

$500 towards $1,000 balance for WDW Trip
$500 GC for remainder of food/spending $ for WDW

Saving $1,000 to pay for eye exam and new glasses (extra will goes towards CC#2)

Will now be able to funnel WDW budget to Haiti fund in 3 month!

Off to rework my budgets!

 

[DisneyMandC]

Well, so much for the master plan I had. Someone ran a red light and totaled my car this morning. I'm sore as hell, but otherwise fine, the kids weren't with me, and she is okay. Thank goodness for another witness that gave her statement because the lady tried saying she had the green. According to the police officer, there's no investigation and he's putting fault on her due to the evidence, so at least I don't have any kind of investigation to deal with or have to fight insurance. Thankfully, we have full coverage on our car and she had some kind of coverage on hers.

Now I just have to deal with the adjuster coming, getting two new car seats, and cleaning out the car. But since they won't be there to deal with it until tomorrow, I'm going to wrangle the kids down for a nap and try and nap my headache away.

Glad you're ok! How scary!

 

[Eureka]

Well, so much for the master plan I had. Someone ran a red light and totaled my car this morning. I'm sore as hell, but otherwise fine, the kids weren't with me, and she is okay. Thank goodness for another witness that gave her statement because the lady tried saying she had the green. According to the police officer, there's no investigation and he's putting fault on her due to the evidence, so at least I don't have any kind of investigation to deal with or have to fight insurance. Thankfully, we have full coverage on our car and she had some kind of coverage on hers.

Now I just have to deal with the adjuster coming, getting two new car seats, and cleaning out the car. But since they won't be there to deal with it until tomorrow, I'm going to wrangle the kids down for a nap and try and nap my headache away.

Wow, I am glad you are OK. I know it seems like a set back and car seats aren't cheap etc. but hopefully insurance will cover most everything and the car is just a thing. What's important is you are fine and thank goodness the kids weren't with you.

 

[Dentam]

Well, so much for the master plan I had. Someone ran a red light and totaled my car this morning. I'm sore as hell, but otherwise fine, the kids weren't with me, and she is okay. Thank goodness for another witness that gave her statement because the lady tried saying she had the green. According to the police officer, there's no investigation and he's putting fault on her due to the evidence, so at least I don't have any kind of investigation to deal with or have to fight insurance. Thankfully, we have full coverage on our car and she had some kind of coverage on hers.

Now I just have to deal with the adjuster coming, getting two new car seats, and cleaning out the car. But since they won't be there to deal with it until tomorrow, I'm going to wrangle the kids down for a nap and try and nap my headache away.

Oh no, how awful! I'm so glad to hear you're okay (did you go to a doctor to make sure?) and that your kids weren't with you.

 

[colormegreen]

Now I just have to deal with the adjuster coming, getting two new car seats, and cleaning out the car. But since they won't be there to deal with it until tomorrow, I'm going to wrangle the kids down for a nap and try and nap my headache away.

I’m glad you are doing okay!
Check to see about the insurance coverage covering the expense of the car seats. When my husband was in an car accident the car seat was covered.

 

[jen7233]

Well, so much for the master plan I had. Someone ran a red light and totaled my car this morning. I'm sore as hell, but otherwise fine, the kids weren't with me, and she is okay. Thank goodness for another witness that gave her statement because the lady tried saying she had the green. According to the police officer, there's no investigation and he's putting fault on her due to the evidence, so at least I don't have any kind of investigation to deal with or have to fight insurance. Thankfully, we have full coverage on our car and she had some kind of coverage on hers.

Now I just have to deal with the adjuster coming, getting two new car seats, and cleaning out the car. But since they won't be there to deal with it until tomorrow, I'm going to wrangle the kids down for a nap and try and nap my headache away.

What a way for the week to go! Hope everything is fine working with the insurance adjuster and getting a car to replace yours and the car seats.

OMG. My mom has been saving up my late daddy’s pension (widow benefits) and is giving my brother and I the funds. Going to be so helpful with my debt dump and trip.

That's amazing! Nice that your mom is gifting!

 

[mommy2mrb]

What a way for the week to go! Hope everything is fine working with the insurance adjuster and getting a car to replace yours and the car seats.



That's amazing! Nice that your mom is gifting!

It definitely is! She said my daddy would want us to have it. Very thankful for it and her.

Tygerlilly happy you weren’t hurt. Hope insurance gets everything figured out quickly.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Well, so much for the master plan I had. Someone ran a red light and totaled my car this morning. I'm sore as hell, but otherwise fine, the kids weren't with me, and she is okay. Thank goodness for another witness that gave her statement because the lady tried saying she had the green. According to the police officer, there's no investigation and he's putting fault on her due to the evidence, so at least I don't have any kind of investigation to deal with or have to fight insurance. Thankfully, we have full coverage on our car and she had some kind of coverage on hers.

Now I just have to deal with the adjuster coming, getting two new car seats, and cleaning out the car. But since they won't be there to deal with it until tomorrow, I'm going to wrangle the kids down for a nap and try and nap my headache away.

Glad to hear you're ok. That is more important than any material things.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

This is an interesting article. I know some people prefer to tackle low balances first, but this looks at solely the financial picture (i.e. paying interest) when choosing how to pay off credit cards.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...th_top_mostshared_2_na&utm_term=.81ebf27dae45

This is true from a mathematical point of view.
My problem with this advice is that overspending isn't a matter of math; it's emotional/psychological. So focusing on that aspect is what works.
We have all mastered 2nd grade math and yet somehow we're all here. None of us sat down and pre-meditated bringing our families to wander aimlessly along the edge of The Cliff of Financial Collapse, but somehow we did.
I have tried several times in the past using the highest interest rate method and always became discouraged very quickly, like in 2-3 months. Using the snowball/psychological approach, those early "wins", watching my lists of debts shrink, was a powerful motivator, far stronger than any simple math could prove.
I'm curious if there are researched statistics on which method is most successful in the long term.

 

[Belleofthehouse]

So nice to find this thread!! I was completely debt free...until the "not so great flood" of 2016 wiped us out. Fast forward to Jan 2018....I am ready to start putting back what we spent rebuilding. Paid our credit card off this morning

My goals for 2018:
Put cash away for fully funded emergency fund(this happens before anything else. I have learned the hard way)
Double payments on our truck (old truck was a flood victim....and it was paid off)

I always pay cash for vacations, so that is never an issue. If I don't have the cash we don't go.

My husband works for the state, so there is never a bonus and overtime is very sporadic. Good old fashion hard work is going to get us to our goals.

Glad to be here....the more support the better. Best of luck to all.

 

[01spirit750]

Well, so much for the master plan I had. Someone ran a red light and totaled my car this morning. I'm sore as hell, but otherwise fine, the kids weren't with me, and she is okay. Thank goodness for another witness that gave her statement because the lady tried saying she had the green. According to the police officer, there's no investigation and he's putting fault on her due to the evidence, so at least I don't have any kind of investigation to deal with or have to fight insurance. Thankfully, we have full coverage on our car and she had some kind of coverage on hers.

Glad you are okay. My wife was rearended last year and the driver tried to blame my wife. I decided then that I would install dash cameras in all of our cars. Best money I ever spent, even if we never need to actually use the video. In Russia everyone has dash cameras due to rampant insurance fraud.

 

[isabellea]

Happy to have found this thread. I rarely visit the Budget sub-forum but I'm glad I did as our main goal in 2018 is to be debt-free (except for our mortgage). As an incentive, I just booked a trip to WDW for December 29th 2018 but to go, we need to be able to pay the balance cash on November 29th (that's also why we won't tell the kids about it and gift it to them as Christmas gifts if we go).

Goal #1: Clear CC#1
Goal #2: Pay cash our hotel stays in California in April
Goal #3: Clear CC#2
Goal #4: Save for our WDW balance in November

I think it's feasible IF we are careful with our expenses, especially restaurants. DH's bonus and our income tax return in March should also help with clearing the cc balances.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

DD has her first day of daycare next Monday. I don't start back to work until the week after and just 3 days that week. She is going just two days next week. It is sort of our trial run to make sure everything seems alright. I called this morning and talked to them all about DDs eating issues. They assigned her to a caregiver that has all older infants so that DD gets plenty of time for feedings.

And of course there are things that I need to buy before she starts. Now that we have settled on bottles that seem to work well, we need a few more to ensure we have enough for daycare. We also just moved her up to 6M size clothes and daycare wants 3-4 extra changes on hand, so I bought a few more zip up sleep and play outfits. I love the ones with the integrated footies. No loosing socks! And I ordered some reusable bottle bands for labeling her bottles each day. They want the name, date and contents listed. I don't want to have to pull tape on and off bottles each day. I was able to buy the clothes and bottles bands with Amazon credit that I got for returning another item. So I only have to spend on the extra bottles.

And then I bought something that I feel both excited and silly about. The American Girl catalog arrived yesterday and the girl of the year has a space camp theme. She has an astronaut suit and it looks amazing! I plan to get DD an AG doll that looks like her one day. I love, love, love the astronaut suit, but it is only available for this year and might even sell out before the end. It is already on backorder. So I decided to just order it. When I called in, I confessed to the lady that I was buying them for my 3 month old DD and she said that it is way more common than you would think. That made me feel a little less silly. Plus when I linked it to my brother, he thought it was awesome and even convinced me to buy the flight suit outfit too. He thought they were too cool not to get them both.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Well, so much for the master plan I had. Someone ran a red light and totaled my car this morning. I'm sore as hell, but otherwise fine, the kids weren't with me, and she is okay. Thank goodness for another witness that gave her statement because the lady tried saying she had the green. According to the police officer, there's no investigation and he's putting fault on her due to the evidence, so at least I don't have any kind of investigation to deal with or have to fight insurance. Thankfully, we have full coverage on our car and she had some kind of coverage on hers.

Now I just have to deal with the adjuster coming, getting two new car seats, and cleaning out the car. But since they won't be there to deal with it until tomorrow, I'm going to wrangle the kids down for a nap and try and nap my headache away.

Glad you are alright. Hope the insurance process goes quickly.