Debt Dumpers - 2019

[PhoenixStrength]

August hasn't been great for us, but not as bad as I feared it would be. No new debt, which is always good, but less debt dumping than I had hoped.

My DH is also going to be changing jobs, he put his 2 weeks in and his last day will be next Friday, the 30th. He will be an independent contractor, which isn't ideal since it's not a guaranteed amount for his paycheck each week, but he should average at least as much as he was already making, if not more, and the job will be much less stressful for him, which is why he is leaving his current position. When he first brought the idea of this change up to me I was very concerned about our finances, but after reviewing it and go over everything and seeing how unhappy he is at the current position I agreed it was worth trying. If it's not working out financially he can always look for a position again with more regular pay, but if he makes what we think he will it will put us in an even better position to debt dump!

 

[imbatman]

@Jen and Ashwin I am so sorry about your news. Glad you were able to help with the new wills and power of attorneys.

@PhoenixStrength no new debt is a great thing!!!

DH just sent me a text of the second bank account (a local bank) to show me that we've built back up a teeny, tiny cash cushion. I can't tell you all how relieved that makes me.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

I am very sorry to hear about your grandma. My father passed away from stage 4 lung cancer a few years ago (he smoked for a long time and then quit but damage was already done). Each case is different but please don't wait too long as my dad died within 3 weeks of being diagnosed. He was diagnosed, next week had surgery to remove mass that was causing severe pain, next week he was home recovering. He was supposed to start treatment the following week but he ended up passing away on Wed morning (treatment was to start on Monday). We were told he had at least a year and had planned a trip to the Smokey Mountains with him after treatment. Sadly we did the trip in his honor the following year. Sending hugs and positive thoughts that she does well with treatment.

We saw her last month, before the diagnosis. It would be a significant cost for us to fly down again (over $1000), so unless it seems like it is an imminent need, then we are planning to wait as everyone is saying that she is currently stable. I realize this means that she could pass before we see her again, which would be sad, but it is hard when you live so far away.

When I was drafting her power of attorney, I asked her about her desire for final arrangements. She wants to be cremated and have some of her ashes spread on Oahu. I made sure that this would be legally possible. I told my mom and she said that when the time comes, we would plan a family trip to carry out her final wishes. It makes me sad to think about it, but also happy to know that we will be able to do that for her. Oahu was a place that she loved so very much.

 

[pblack]

Sending love and good vibes to you @Jen and Ashwin

 

[jen7233]

@Jen and Ashwin sorry this is happening. My brother had lung cancer and was a long time smoker, and it was noticed when he kept getting sick and with upper respiratory sicknesses, and finally he went to the ER feeling so terrible because he couldn’t catch a break from being sick, and that was the beginning of finding it when they suspected pneumonia and did a chest xray. However, his was not a stage 4, but went through one lung removal, chemo etc. It’s hard. Best regards to you, your grandma, and your family through this difficult time.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Thank you, everyone, for the good thoughts and wishes. I have been calling my mom daily for updates and my brother that lives about 45 minutes away has gone to visit her the last two weekends and plans to continue doing these weekend trips. I know that he will be really honest with me if she seems to be doing worse or if we should come, so I have been asking him as well. My mom said that she is still planning to go on our October WDW trip, though that first week she said that she might cancel. I just have to see how things progress.

 

[sweetpeama]

Almost made it to payday without the checking account being overdrawn. Yep the auto insuarnce payment came out today and it is a little over $9 in the hole. I have the check and the deposit slip and am just about ready to head in and put it in the bank. Just as soon as I do some online "shopping" for a couple items that we need and I am going to pick up since I will already be in town. I find them and get the prices via the stores website and then I will know how much to keep back in cash and how much beyond $10 gets deposited in the checking account.

 

[imbatman]

Almost made it to payday without the checking account being overdrawn. Yep the auto insuarnce payment came out today and it is a little over $9 in the hole. I have the check and the deposit slip and am just about ready to head in and put it in the bank. Just as soon as I do some online "shopping" for a couple items that we need and I am going to pick up since I will already be in town. I find them and get the prices via the stores website and then I will know how much to keep back in cash and how much beyond $10 gets deposited in the checking account.

Have been there and done this many times. Even keeping track of your balance is better than being an ostrich!

 

[sweetpeama]

Have been there and done this many times. Even keeping track of your balance is better than being an ostrich!

We would have been fine and not needed to cash the check which I had for 2 months instead of spending it right away if my DH had listened to me and just put $20 in the car instead of filling it for over $30 on Sunday. Fair is always tight for us with the extra expenses of being there for the shows my kids are participating in and then of course we want to get some special items we can only seem to find there. For me it is a Viking on a stick which is kind of like a corn dog only it is a nice juicy sausage. Normally this time of year my DH's paychecks have more hours on them as he normally works 6 sometimes 7 days a week during the summer months. Thankfully no fires this year ( or last year for that matter) so he has not had to go in on the 7th day to pull orders so that the firefighters on the wildfires have something to eat besides MREs. (It is drying out some around here but being so late in the season hopefully we can hold off until late Sept to mid October when we hit the snowfall especially in our higher elevations. We also don't have the high winds this year and not near as many thunder and lightening storms that don't contain any rain. As I am typing this our humity is 22% where normally it is less than 5 this time of year. We are also only having highs in the low 90s compared to our typical high 90s to low triple digit numbers). The way that the current contract with the company and his union worked out to take effect it started right before summer. Everytime during negotiations it comes down to just about threatening to strike before it gets finalized and then the company cuts overtime hours as much as possible for at least the first quarter after the changes take effect and then by the next one it starts picking back up and by quarter 3 after the new contract is in effect it is fine we can deal with the overtime for the ones we know will work and get stuff done than keep adding to our staff.

 

[jen7233]

We would have been fine and not needed to cash the check which I had for 2 months instead of spending it right away if my DH had listened to me and just put $20 in the car instead of filling it for over $30 on Sunday. Fair is always tight for us with the extra expenses of being there for the shows my kids are participating in and then of course we want to get some special items we can only seem to find there. For me it is a Viking on a stick which is kind of like a corn dog only it is a nice juicy sausage. Normally this time of year my DH's paychecks have more hours on them as he normally works 6 sometimes 7 days a week during the summer months. Thankfully no fires this year ( or last year for that matter) so he has not had to go in on the 7th day to pull orders so that the firefighters on the wildfires have something to eat besides MREs. (It is drying out some around here but being so late in the season hopefully we can hold off until late Sept to mid October when we hit the snowfall especially in our higher elevations. We also don't have the high winds this year and not near as many thunder and lightening storms that don't contain any rain. As I am typing this our humity is 22% where normally it is less than 5 this time of year. We are also only having highs in the low 90s compared to our typical high 90s to low triple digit numbers). The way that the current contract with the company and his union worked out to take effect it started right before summer. Everytime during negotiations it comes down to just about threatening to strike before it gets finalized and then the company cuts overtime hours as much as possible for at least the first quarter after the changes take effect and then by the next one it starts picking back up and by quarter 3 after the new contract is in effect it is fine we can deal with the overtime for the ones we know will work and get stuff done than keep adding to our staff.

Seems interesting fair and the food, is it a very rural area? I haven't been to a fair in such a long time.

 

[crazycatstacy]

Ugh so my husband just called me when he got off work at 7 a.m. and said his job is switching from monthly pay to every two weeks. For the past 14 years he has been paid monthly. I know it will work out but it stresses me to have to readjust our budget and figure things out!

 

[sweetpeama]

Seems interesting fair and the food, is it a very rural area? I haven't been to a fair in such a long time.

Compared to a lot of the country (USA) my entire state is rural though there is about 110K residents in the city near where I live and about 170K total for the county. Of course because a lot of the smaller fairs around don't have rides and are only 2-3 days people come from around the region to join in the fun. Ours is the State Name Fair and part of it is the State Name Junior Livestock Show (4-H and FFA exhibitors), a few weeks before ours in one of the other cities in my state that is about 2.5 hours away is the State Name State Fair. There is also a couple of regional fairs across the state such as the Western State Name Fair which is the largest one and those will have concerts, monster trucks, or tractor pulls one night and a few nights of rodeos for nightly entertainment at a premium above the regular admission to the grounds. Luckily our admission is paid for by a local area business since my kids are exhibitors and I am a leader with the program. DH gets a few tickets but he is only there for a few days at most due to his work schedule. This year was big he could have made it there 4 days most years it is 2 and this year he went 1 of the 4 days we actually had to be there. I did discover the advanced ride (pay something like $40 get $60 worth but they have to be purchased by 5 PM on the opening night) tickets I got for my girls 2 years ago actually still work. My plan is to get another batch next year and they can use those plus the ones we still have and letting them go ride. 14 year old went on one ride to test if they worked but 11 year old didn't go on any. We had planned on letting them both go the first full day and DH would go with them but we ended up going to a wedding reception (wedding was held else where) for a good friend that day instead and went down later (only because both 14 and 11 year old had an activity to do), we were there for about 2 hours the other day that 11 year old needed to be there and she had a melt down from dealing with people. Luckily her sister is about as good as I am at reading them with her special needs and was able to take her to a space where she could have some space and not be so crowded.

 

[Eureka]

Hi all. Well, summer is almost over and what a roller coaster it was for me. DS18 is at college now, classes started today. He rented all the books he could so far - some classes made him wait until the first meeting then they can get the books - and everything seems to be going smoothly. I had a very hard time saying goodbye but talked to him for a few minutes last night and felt better. The house just seems really quiet with only one left at home.

Last week he was supposed to pick up his brother from practice and texted me that warning lights were coming on in his/their car. (The 2010, 190K+ mile Camry that we really need to last another two years until DS16 graduates - he takes his drivers test next month). He called AAA to have it towed, it needed a battery and we knew soon it was going to need an oil change and refreshing the headlights so there went almost $700. But glad it happened in our driveway and not in another month when DS16 would have been driving.

DH is still back at work and dealing with it pretty well. He's still walking on the weekends and some on the weekdays when he can so I'm happy about that. He's eating less fast food (I think he's getting a bagel in the morning but not eating out at lunch) so that's good for the health and the wallet. They won the contract for another five years but time will tell what his role will be. Because of all that happened when they submit the proposal, he was not listed at his current position but in a new position they created. The team doesn't know what that position will be, what the contract budget will be, no details other than they won it. Lots of stuff to iron out, and it could even mean he doesn't have a job in which case he'd be laid off. Which would stink but at least he could collect unemployment. So, still some uncertainty which makes me crazy and anxious but nothing I can do about it until we have more info.

Hope everyone is doing well!

 

[pblack]

Just checking in. DH and I got back from a week in Texas this past Saturday where we celebrated my bff's 30th birthday and our 5th wedding anniversary. Spent about ~$500 while out there, which was mainly on food and a couple items we brought back, plus a birthday present and a trip out to Top Golf. I don't think that total is completely terrible, but we probably could have spent less than we did. No regrets though. It helps that my bff and her DH were able to pick us up/take us to the airport so we didn't have to spend $300 on a rental car.

While we were out there I decided to take the plunge on the Chase Sapphire Preferred card (the one with the lower annual fee) and was approved with no problems. This will replace the American Airlines card I was just approved for a few months ago. Originally I thought the American Airlines card would be more beneficial when we take our trip out to FL next year, since the plan was to take a red-eye on American, but after we talked over our trip some more we decided to nix the red-eye plan. After looking more into flight prices/times (i'm projecting since Nov 2020 is still too far out) I think we'll end up taking Southwest out to FL and back. I already have a SW card ($69 AF), but I got one of the targeted e-mails saying they'll give me 5,000 points if I upgrade to the better card ($149 AF w/ 4 upgraded boarding's and $75 southwest credit). I'm debating the upgrade, just so we can use the upgraded boarding next year in Florida. If anyone has this card and has any input on it, i'd appreciate it.

We don't get paid till Friday, but i've been working on my plan of attack for bills this cycle. It looks like I should be able to pay everything that needs to be paid, plus set aside that final $200 for our tree removal with no problems. I'll also be able to pay off some of the charges from Texas now, instead of waiting till the next pay period. My DH's smaller student loan is just under $800 and I really just want to take it out of our savings and be done with it, but i'm not sure I'm ready to see my savings drop at the moment. It wouldn't completely wipe out our savings, it would leave us with ~$800, but i'll have to think on it some more.

Hope everyone has had a wonderful summer! I'm so ready for fall and cooler weather.

 

[imbatman]

Doing well here. Last week was crazy busy at work and this week shows no signs of letting up. DH is going through some upheavals at work: one of the upper managers gave his notice. DH isn't "worried" about losing his job, but there's a possibility. Work cut all PTO requests for all departments. DH is trying to pick up some slack and show the owner that he's in it for the long haul, even if they have staff reductions. So, we are keeping that in mind as we move forward. AND we've scheduled the youngest for her first braces appointment next month. She really needs them and we decided that it's the best use of budgeting order. Our oldest is griping that she didn't get braces, but the shifting on her bottom teeth is minimal. Maybe we can put that in the budget later. But we'd rather help with college to begin with.

 

[imbatman]

Hope everyone has had a wonderful summer! I'm so ready for fall and cooler weather.

I agree. It's supposed to be 107-110 here today.

 

[amalone1013]

I already have a SW card ($69 AF), but I got one of the targeted e-mails saying they'll give me 5,000 points if I upgrade to the better card ($149 AF w/ 4 upgraded boarding's and $75 southwest credit). I'm debating the upgrade, just so we can use the upgraded boarding next year in Florida. If anyone has this card and has any input on it, i'd appreciate it.

I've got this card and so does my DH. I even upgraded mine without the offer to get extra points because it was worth it to me The upgraded boarding is very handy, and I feel like so many people buy Early Bird Check in with SW now on popular routes that I would rather pay the extra to get a guaranteed spot at the front of the boarding line, so it's great that this card covers some of them. The $75 credit can go towards EBCI, flights, flight fees if you book with points, and even gift cards (that's what I did with my credit). The anniversary points are worth about $105. For us, $105 in points plus $75 credit plus upgraded boardings makes it well worth the fee over the $69 - that's what I had and upgraded. When we decided to get DH a SW card, we just went straight for the priority vs the other options. I will admit, it helps too that currently DH is A List from work travel so he always gets an early A number now, so our upgraded boardings go twice as far, but even without that we would still do the Priority card.

 

[pblack]

@imbatman We're supposed to hit 100 or so here today, so I feel your pain!

@amalone1013 thanks! I definitely think it could/would be useful for us too. When we fly, it's always with Southwest because they have the cheapest flights and we almost always have checked luggage (yay for 2 free bags!).

 

[crazycatstacy]

Doing well here. Last week was crazy busy at work and this week shows no signs of letting up. DH is going through some upheavals at work: one of the upper managers gave his notice. DH isn't "worried" about losing his job, but there's a possibility. Work cut all PTO requests for all departments. DH is trying to pick up some slack and show the owner that he's in it for the long haul, even if they have staff reductions. So, we are keeping that in mind as we move forward. AND we've scheduled the youngest for her first braces appointment next month. She really needs them and we decided that it's the best use of budgeting order. Our oldest is griping that she didn't get braces, but the shifting on her bottom teeth is minimal. Maybe we can put that in the budget later. But we'd rather help with college to begin with.

My husbands top teeth were terrible- he had braces on as a kid and they kept them on too long so they overlapped. He got Invisalign as an adult and it was not bad at all price wise. So that's an option for later .

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Just signed up for 3 years of Disney+ through the D23 offer to get 33% off each year. It comes out to $3.88 per month after the discount, so it felt worth it to me. I put it on a card that has 0% interest for the next 12 or so months, so I think I will just budget it into costs once my CoL adjustment goes into effect next month.

I have been really sick lately and after 4 days of bad abdominal pain, I went to the ER on Sunday. They did all kinds of tests to rule out something bad and luckily the tests all came back negative. They gave me some strong pain killers and anti-nausea meds. I am not 100%, but feeling much better now. I have a big work training tomorrow. I am just praying to make it through the week. So that was a $100 co-pay there, but we still have funds in the FSA to reimburse us.

Still figuring out our end of the month picture, so will update again later.