Debt Dumpers - 2018

[JacknSally]

@Tygerlilly - so glad you are ok!!

My least favorite part this whole thing is try to figure out how to divvy up our biweekly checks in a way that ensures the money goes to bills as quickly as possible, but without shorting ourselves for the next few weeks. If the money stays in the checking account, it gets spent. End of story haha. But I know if we short ourselves in the checking account in order to pay a little more toward something we're dumping, then we end up doing more harm than good in the long run. I hate bills

 

[Tygerlilly]

Thanks for all the well wishes. The adjuster will be out Monday to assess the car. I was told to go ahead and buy the new car seats and they will bill the other lady's insurance and mail a check in a couple days. Since it was my parents insurance (I was in the process of buying their car, so the insurance was still under them), they've offered to buy the new seats since the check will go right to them anyway. That takes a load off since we don't get paid until Thursday and I really don't have an extra $250ish laying around at the moment.

The official police report says the other lady is 100% at fault, which I knew, but it's a relief to read it. Is it weird to send a thank you card to my witness with a giftcard to starbucks in it? I obviously need to wait until this is all settled, but without her honesty and statement, it would have been a battle of "I had the green light" stories.

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.

I was actually considering getting one a couple months ago since we have so many road trips planned over the next few years. Guess I should maybe take it seriously now.

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.

I've always always always loved American Girl dolls. Growing up my best friend had 3. My parents could never afford one, so I always loved playing with them when I went to her house. I swore right then and there if I ever had girls, they would have their own. Piper is 2 now and obsessed with dolls. I'm trying so hard to resist getting her one for at least another few years, but I need to start collecting things now. I wish I could have gotten in on the space outfit! Maybe I'll get her a bitty baby this year for her birthday. Girls: so much fun and yet soooo expensive! lol

 

[Judique]

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.

I bought Bitty Baby for my 2 year old grand daughter last year at Xmas, just before her sister was born. I think it was as much for me as for her! Anyway she loves her baby doll and puts it in its stroller and travels all over the house with it. Now 2nd grand daughter also likes it so for her birthday in a couple of weeks I think I'm buying another one.

So, if you liked it, that's all that counts! I'm sure your daughter will eventually love it!

 

[Eureka]

And then I bought something that I feel both excited and silly about.

Part of the joy of having kids is having an excuse to do these things . I hope daycare goes well.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

I bought Bitty Baby for my 2 year old grand daughter last year at Xmas, just before her sister was born. I think it was as much for me as for her! Anyway she loves her baby doll and puts it in its stroller and travels all over the house with it. Now 2nd grand daughter also likes it so for her birthday in a couple of weeks I think I'm buying another one.

So, if you liked it, that's all that counts! I'm sure your daughter will eventually love it!

My mom has already decided that she will be buying DD a Bitty Baby for her 2nd birthday!

 

[DisneyMandC]

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.

I was a HUGE American Girl doll fan when I was little! Lord only knows how much my parents spent on that stuff for me... I had A LOT of AG stuff. I'm not far from Colonial Williamsburg and they used to run a special event where you brought your Felicity doll and had tea with your doll. I can still remember doing it! I still have the lookalike doll and the horse that goes with her. I sold everything else to a cousin with a young daughter a while ago which helped pay for some college stuff, which was really nice. In all honesty, if your kid isn't the type to totally tear it up, that stuff has great resale value. I mean, I started playing with them over 20 years ago (yikes, that makes me feel old to say) and they're still just as popular.

Good luck with daycare! Hope you're doing well and her feedings are getting better.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

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.

Good luck with day care!!

Also I hope your in-laws have become more rational and can make amends.

 

[EpiStitch]

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.

I'm so sorry to hear about your accident. I had my car totalled toward the end of 2016 and had to get a new car, but luckily I got out with just a broken foot and finger (only one, lol) besides the whiplash. I hope you feel better soon and I'm glad it wasn't worse.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

I was a HUGE American Girl doll fan when I was little! Lord only knows how much my parents spent on that stuff for me... I had A LOT of AG stuff. I'm not far from Colonial Williamsburg and they used to run a special event where you brought your Felicity doll and had tea with your doll. I can still remember doing it! I still have the lookalike doll and the horse that goes with her. I sold everything else to a cousin with a young daughter a while ago which helped pay for some college stuff, which was really nice. In all honesty, if your kid isn't the type to totally tear it up, that stuff has great resale value. I mean, I started playing with them over 20 years ago (yikes, that makes me feel old to say) and they're still just as popular.

Good luck with daycare! Hope you're doing well and her feedings are getting better.

I had Kirsten as my American Girl doll when I was little. I really loved that doll and took it with me everywhere, even a trip to England and France. Though my parents didn't buy me tons of accessories or anything, just a few outfits. The furniture was and still is so expensive! I still have everything and plan to save it for DD. My sister gave me her doll too, which is Samantha. DD will probably end up with a few dolls, since I want to get her one that looks like her plus one of the historic dolls that she chooses when she is a bit older, plus our old dolls. Talk about spoiled.

Feedings have been getting better. We have been working really hard over the past month to make DD feel less afraid of the bottle and it has made a huge difference. She doesn't cry when she sees the bottle at all anymore. The PT has also seemed to help a lot with her "form." She latches on much better and dribbles a lot less, which means that she is wasting a lot less and consuming more. We still feed her 7 times a day, including one feeding at night. And most days she still doesn't get to the 28 oz. that the pediatrician said is typical for a baby her age, but she is averaging 25 oz. per day now, which is a huge improvement over the 20 oz. that she was averaging early in December. She had a weight check at the pediatrician on Dec. 28 and she had gained an entire lb. in 2 weeks. She is in the 81st percentile for height and the 28th percentile for weight, so she is just a tall skinny little girl.

The improvement in her eating has made me much less worried about her transition to daycare. I will let everyone know how the first day goes.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Good luck with day care!!

Also I hope your in-laws have become more rational and can make amends.

My in-laws have probably become less rational actually. My MIL called basically saying that I had behaved badly and should apologize to her. So yeah, that conversation ended with no forward progress since I am definitely not going to move forward without an apology from my in-laws for all of the terrible things that they said to me. But not really loosing any sleep over it, since they are the ones missing out on time with their granddaughter.

 

[DisneyMandC]

My in-laws have probably become less rational actually. My MIL called basically saying that I had behaved badly and should apologize to her. So yeah, that conversation ended with no forward progress since I am definitely not going to move forward without an apology from my in-laws for all of the terrible things that they said to me. But not really loosing any sleep over it, since they are the ones missing out on time with their granddaughter.

I'm sorry to hear this, but glad you're not losing sleep over it. I was wondering if anything had improved but didn't want to pry. Glad you are taking care of yourself and your family first. Hope DD's first day of daycare goes well!


Everything is moving along fairly well for the new year here. Other than the arctic freeze, of course, which I suspect will result in the highest electric bill we've ever had. We're on budget billing so we won't feel the blow from it immediately. Our area hasn't been out of the 20s during the day for a week now. It was -4 this morning, but fortunately we go back to our normal winter temperatures of 40s and 50s after today. I'm thankful our heat pump has been able to keep up, even though it has run almost nonstop.

I started playing around with my taxes and unfortunately I think I'm going to owe It will probably even out since DH and I file separately and he'll get money back, but I hate owing taxes. I'll have to adjust my withholdings for next year. I started setting aside some money last month for what I expect I may owe.

 

[amalone1013]

@Tygerlilly I'm glad you're okay! What a pain to deal with. At least you had a witness, we once had a hit and run in a parking lot with no witness and were out of luck until one showed up at the last minute.

@Jen and Ashwin I had to go luck up the astronaut... that's so cool! I wanted an American Girl so bad when I was young. I had a few friends that had them and I was always fascinated by their hair. I'm sorry your in-laws are being that way. Good for you for not letting it get to you too much. I know that's hard, but unfortunately you can't change people so all you can do is live your life and do what's best for you and your family. I get along with my in-laws great, but my dad/sis/stepmom are another story!

@DisneyMandC I think we'll owe too... I think I messed up a few months ago when I was trying to figure it out. I started thinking we'd owe at the beginning of Dec, but just decided to ride it out and use our extra paycheck month money if needed. I was going to get in right away after the New Year to play with the IRS withholding calculator... and then of course, there's the new tax plan so the site says the calculator is down until mid Feb or something

 

[Dentam]

I never heard of American Girl dolls until recently. I guess they came out when I was seven years old from the google search I just did, but no one I knew had them. Maybe it took some time for them to become popular? Cabbage Patch dolls were the bigger thing when I was young. I got a blonde haired one with blue eyes since apparently they didn't make any with brown hair and blue eyes like I have... lol.

 

[Miss Whimsy]

my brother's wedding falls within a month after we get back from DW (which I had already booked, because of course I booked my Disney trip before they booked the wedding!) and I just bought plane tickets for the wedding and OUCH. between DW and the wedding, the first half of 2018 is going to be tough, financially.

 

[Miss Whimsy]

also, re: American Girl dolls--these were my JAM growing up. I had Felicity and a lookalike and my parents refused to buy me much in the way of accessories but I spent so many hours of joy a) playing with them and b) pouring over the catalog lol. Oh and the books of course.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

I started playing around with my taxes and unfortunately I think I'm going to owe It will probably even out since DH and I file separately and he'll get money back, but I hate owing taxes. I'll have to adjust my withholdings for next year. I started setting aside some money last month for what I expect I may owe.

I entered most of our information into TurboTax yesterday. I am just missing some 1099-DIV forms for bank account interest, which shouldn't change things too much. I was expecting that we would owe taxes this year, but we should actually get some money back. Not a ton, but definitely better than owing. The only reason we aren't going to owe is because we made a push right at the end for donations. We likely won't be itemizing next year, so we felt it best to really try to clear things out now and get the tax benefit.

 

[Chelley00]

Can I join? I have made a goal that this year is going to be the year we pay down as much of our debt as we can. I was taking care of my mom while she was going through chemo and our son had a ton of health issues so we were putting groceries and gas on credit cards because we didn't have any other options. It's such a catch 22. But we paid off both our cars last month and so now we can allot that money to go towards credit cards and medical bills, plus my mom finished chemo so I'm back to working a full schedule. I'm ready to not have all that hanging over my head anymore!

 

[mommy2mrb]

My DD got her first American girl doll at age 8. Then saved for a second one a year later. Family and us gave her clothes and accessories so she got lots. Plus had a friend who made disney outfits. They are all packed up for ( hopefully) future granddaughters.

Was able to pay a good chunk of debt and $ for trips thanks to a gift from my mom.
CC #1 paid in full and 3 months of payments into CC#2. Can snowball even faster now.

 

[Dentam]

Can I join? I have made a goal that this year is going to be the year we pay down as much of our debt as we can. I was taking care of my mom while she was going through chemo and our son had a ton of health issues so we were putting groceries and gas on credit cards because we didn't have any other options. It's such a catch 22. But we paid off both our cars last month and so now we can allot that money to go towards credit cards and medical bills, plus my mom finished chemo so I'm back to working a full schedule. I'm ready to not have all that hanging over my head anymore!

Of course you can join us!

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

My DD got her first American girl doll at age 8.

The AG website says the dolls are for 8+ and this is probably around when I got my first doll, but honestly I feel like this is a little on the older side for a doll. I was very into my doll, but maybe only for a few years. Once I got to 5th or 6th grade (10/11 years old), I can't remember playing with it anymore. Is there any reason that a 6 year old couldn't have one?