Debt Dumpers - 2018

[FQLover]

Omg. That is such awesome news! Two big windfalls to celebrate your anniversary. I think you made a wise decision to pay off the student loan. Now, you can use that monthly debt payment to sink into your new car fund every month, instead. Win-win!

 

[DisneyMandC]

Omg. That is such awesome news! Two big windfalls to celebrate your anniversary. I think you made a wise decision to pay off the student loan. Now, you can use that monthly debt payment to sink into your new car fund every month, instead. Win-win!

Seriously! And that’s exactly what we’re going to do! We’ll still have DH’s student loan, also at $5600, but that frees up $100 a month that we can put into savings. I’m still reeling, this is so unexpected. We were happy just to get one loan paid off last month, we definitely weren’t expecting to get any significant amount paid on our student loans!

 

[Ngwira]

Seriously! And that’s exactly what we’re going to do! We’ll still have DH’s student loan, also at $5600, but that frees up $100 a month that we can put into savings. I’m still reeling, this is so unexpected. We were happy just to get one loan paid off last month, we definitely weren’t expecting to get any significant amount paid on our student loans!

Congratulations!!

 

[Ngwira]

So I did something very budget unfriendly. We’re headed to Walt Disney World for 3 nights in June to celebrate DH’s birthday. I used chase points and southwest gift cards to get 4 round trip flights for $39. I paid cash for port Orleans Royal room for 2 nights. I used citi thank you points to buy tickets. So I tried to be as frugal as possible. I plan to upgrade our tickets to annual passes to cover our August 2018 and April 2019 trips. I’m so happy!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

And....there's a problem. The tech found a crack exhaust manifold. Have it fixed today, $220. Fixed later, $600+. No brainer, but also eats up the $200 check I'd just put aside to deposit to buy two of the airline tickets for December.

Making me more sad? DH says his brakes are grinding. It's a large truck, so it's $400-$600 to fix.

Excuse me while I go cry for a bit.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Feeling so unbelievably fortunate today. I posted about DH's stock bonus this morning. Well, today he found out what his annual bonus will be this year. Their bonuses were very small last year, so we weren't expecting a whole lot this year. Well, after taxes it is enough to pay off the $5600 balance of my student loan!!!



I'm so excited and so thankful! I thought about doing the same with this as the stock bonus I posted about this morning (putting it towards a new car for down the road), but it doesn't make sense to put THAT much in savings or a CD when I have a student loan sitting at 5% for the same amount that I can pay off and save $1000 in interest on. We won't get this bonus until mid-May, so I'll make two more student loan payments before then to get it down a little lower.

I can't believe it! I feel like I should play the lottery too haha. Tomorrow is our three year wedding anniversary, so someone must be smiling down on us!

Awesome! It's raining pixie dust at your house!

 

[bababear_50]

And....there's a problem. The tech found a crack exhaust manifold. Have it fixed today, $220. Fixed later, $600+. No brainer, but also eats up the $200 check I'd just put aside to deposit to buy two of the airline tickets for December.

Making me more sad? DH says his brakes are grinding. It's a large truck, so it's $400-$600 to fix.

Excuse me while I go cry for a bit.

Sometimes it never rains but it pours,,, BUT the sunshine will shine down on you tomorrow.
Sending some Sunshine Hugs your way~~~~~~~~~Sunshine Hugs~~~~~~

Hugs Mel

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

So I did something very unbudget friendly. We’re headed to Walt Disney World for 3 nights in June to celebrate DH’s birthday. I used chase points and southwest gift cards to get 4 round trip flights for $39. I paid cash for port Orleans Royal room for 2 nights. I used citi thank you points to buy tickets. So I tried to be as frugal as possible. I plan to upgrade our tickets to annual passes to cover our August 2018 and April 2019 trips. I’m so happy!

Sometimes you have to just do it to keep your sanity. With all the time I was out of work and so much uncertainty about whether I could ever get back to work and just so much stressing over it all on top of feeling like crap for months, I booked a getaway too.

Over Memorial Day weekend, dh and I are going to stay at the Beach Club. We’re kind of parked out and I’m not in the mood for walking all over the place but I’m just aching for some warm sunshine and to just float around on a tube at Stormalong Bay. It sounds heavenly.


We are flying on SW points and a companion pass so $20 on airfare and I booked BC through Orbitz with 15% off. It’s only 2 nts so it’s not so bad. We have old tickets under our kids names that they either had to cancel due to work or wanted to sleep in so I reassigned them to me and dh, or we can just save them for another time.

 

[jen7233]

The tech found a crack exhaust manifold. Have it fixed today, $220. Fixed later, $600+. No brainer, but also eats up the $200 check I'd just put aside to deposit to buy two of the airline tickets for December.

Making me more sad? DH says his brakes are grinding. It's a large truck, so it's $400-$600 to fix.

Excuse me while I go cry for a bit.

Oh yes, I get it because cars and repairs are driving me crazy the last two months!

 

[DisneyMandC]

So I did something very unbudget friendly. We’re headed to Walt Disney World for 3 nights in June to celebrate DH’s birthday. I used chase points and southwest gift cards to get 4 round trip flights for $39. I paid cash for port Orleans Royal room for 2 nights. I used citi thank you points to buy tickets. So I tried to be as frugal as possible. I plan to upgrade our tickets to annual passes to cover our August 2018 and April 2019 trips. I’m so happy!

That doesn't sound too bad budget wise! And there are room discounts out for summer right? I'd love to hear what you think of PO since I'm hoping to stay there next year!

Sometimes you have to just do it to keep your sanity. With all the time I was out of work and so much uncertainty about whether I could ever get back to work and just so much stressing over it all on top of feeling like crap for months, I booked a getaway too.

Over Memorial Day weekend, dh and I are going to stay at the Beach Club. We’re kind of parked out and I’m not in the mood for walking all over the place but I’m just aching for some warm sunshine and to just float around on a tube at Stormalong Bay. It sounds heavenly.


We are flying on SW points and a companion pass so $20 on airfare and I booked BC through Orbitz with 15% off. It’s only 2 nts so it’s not so bad. We have old tickets under our kids names that they either had to cancel due to work or wanted to sleep in so I reassigned them to me and dh, or we can just save them for another time.

And I want to hear from you on what you think of Beach Club! We have one night at BCV booked for our November trip!

 

[FQLover]

Over Memorial Day weekend, dh and I are going to stay at the Beach Club. We’re kind of parked out and I’m not in the mood for walking all over the place but I’m just aching for some warm sunshine and to just float around on a tube at Stormalong Bay. It sounds heavenly.

Oh, yes. I totally get that! I did that on my last trip to WDW. It was early July and we had just gone through the roughest winter with the Polar Vortex which just went on and on. Then, June came and it was chilly, damp and gray here, and I couldn't swim at the local pool that I join every summer. And I just about had a freaking tantrum. I needed sun and warmth!

I called up Disney and scheduled a 5 night stay at French Quarter, my fave. I told my teen that she was welcome to come with me if she could be content with no parks, just soaking up the pool by day and riding the boat to Riverside for dinner every night and then taking the boat to DTD which she loves. Otherwise, she could stay back home with Gram. She thought that Disney with no parks was better than no Disney at all. We went a month from then, in mid-August, just before we had to start back to school. We both had an amazing, relaxing time. I was in that pool for about six hours a day, doing my water exercises, relaxing, my face turned to the sun. Mom-daughter bonding at the magical resort which just relaxes us both, chasing that SAD away! Hope you have a great time at Storm-along next month, @ruadisneyfan2!

 

[imbatman]

Oh yes, I get it because cars and repairs are driving me crazy the last two months!

My only solace is that we can pay it in cash (well, credit for points and then pay off) because of the budgeting.

Our goal this weekend is to get our travel trailer spiffed up and listed locally for sale. That'll be a HUGE sigh of relief when it sells. And we are listing low to move it. I don't have time to haggle or mess with tire kickers.

 

[Ngwira]

So I did something very budget unfriendly. We’re headed to Walt Disney World for 3 nights in June to celebrate DH’s birthday. I used chase points and southwest gift cards to get 4 round trip flights for $39. I paid cash for port Orleans Royal room for 2 nights. I used citi thank you points to buy tickets. So I tried to be as frugal as possible. I plan to upgrade our tickets to annual passes to cover our August 2018 and April 2019 trips. I’m so happy!

Everything is booked. Woohoo. I ended up using Chase UR at 1.5 cents to book our park tickets and will upgrade them to annual passes once we arrive. POR Royal room-pool view came to around $600 with tax for 2 nights. Flying down on AA metal from PHL for $0 (used Chase UR) and flying back on a $60 pp rate on Southwest to Philly (used SW gift cards from Amex Platinum airline credit trick). Will save the Citi TY points for another trip. Booked Magical Express and will be making fastpasses in seven days! ADR's booked and got everything we wanted including Narcoossee's for DH's birthday dinner. DH is thrilled to be celebrating turning 44 at WDW.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Everything is booked. Woohoo. I ended up using Chase UR at 1.5 cents to book our park tickets and will upgrade them to annual passes once we arrive. POR Royal room-pool view came to around $600 with tax for 2 nights. Flying down on AA metal from PHL for $0 (used Chase UR) and flying back on a $60 pp rate on Southwest to Philly (used SW gift cards from Amex Platinum airline credit trick). Will save the Citi TY points for another trip. Booked Magical Express and will be making fastpasses in seven days! ADR's booked and got everything we wanted including Narcoossee's for DH's birthday dinner. DH is thrilled to be celebrating turning 44 at WDW.

What a great trip and a great deal! Will you be there for Toy Story Land opening, or going earlier than that?

 

[Ngwira]

What a great trip and a great deal! Will you be there for Toy Story Land opening, or going earlier than that?

We will miss the opening of Toy Story Land by 10 days but won’t miss it entirely since we’ll be back to the world in August.

 

[Dentam]

It's supposed to snow the morning I move. Super. I honestly feel like I'm ready to write this year off and we're only a little over three months in!

On another note, I got an email from the company I have my dog's pet insurance thorough and they are raising my rates again this year - by over 30%! Nope. Done with them. I told them last year when they raised it that I would be canceling my coverage if it happened again this year. Found another company through recommendations from a meetup group I'm in and the price will be a third of what this company is trying to charge me! So, I will add that savings to my snowball!

 

[DLgal]

Just sitting here, basking in the 5 digit balance of our checking account now that DH finally received his backpay! We'll be back down to 4 digits later today after I transfer $4000 to the savings account, so I'll just enjoy it while it lasts. LOL.

 

[Tygerlilly]

How often do y'all change car insurance companies? Our insurance is up in July and right now we pay $300/month for liability on the truck and full coverage on the Kia. It may go down once it's time to renew, as the total cost will be divided lver a full 12 months, but it tripled when I added the kia to it. I'm wondering if we could get that down some.

 

[DisneyMandC]

How often do y'all change car insurance companies? Our insurance is up in July and right now we pay $300/month for liability on the truck and full coverage on the Kia. It may go down once it's time to renew, as the total cost will be divided lver a full 12 months, but it tripled when I added the kia to it. I'm wondering if we could get that down some.

I started using Progressive when DH and I got married in 2015, not sure how long he'd had them before then. I thought last year it seemed a little high so I shopped around and found that Geico was $25 lower each month with the same coverage.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

I'd love to hear what you think of PO since I'm hoping to stay there next year!

DH and I stayed at POFQ on his first Disney trip. We really liked it. The theming is great. We liked the quick serve breakfast a lot. The bus rides were longer than I was used to, but since we didn't run back and forth from the room, it wasn't so bad. But when we bought into DVC at Poly, being on the monorail was a huge seller for DH. This is also why we have decided our next contract will be at Grand Floridian instead of Wilderness Lodge. He is less patient with the mass transit than me I guess.