Debt Dumpers - 2019

[pblack]

@Shughart I have these, or ones that are very similar. I own 3 pairs of them haha.
https://www.skechers.com/en-us/style/15303/skechers-on-the-go-600-polished/choc

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

We did try out the FSA/HSA whatever it is. We have never had one. We only threw in $600. We still have not received the card. Now I see next time we will need to throw more into it.

It is really important to know if you have an HSA or an FSA. HSA funds carry over year to year, but FSA funds go poof (somewhere between Dec. 31 - March 15 of the next year depending on your plan) at the end of the plan year, so you want to spend this down or else it is like a penalty.

I struggle a little with the talk in meetings.

I get it. I am not doing meetings this time around, but when I first did WW I remember the kinds of crazy foods people would find that had 0 points but were full of icky preservatives and weird chemicals. DH and I buy very few processed foods because we prefer fresh ingredients. We cook from scratch at least 6 nights per week. This has been true forever, not just since starting WW last week.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

He discussed an accessory, maintenance package, car payment, as possibilities before my car was back. It was gone for 39 days. I am thinking I would really like remote start.

I would ask for a 5 year maintenance package. DH has one on his car and it has been so nice knowing that when we take his car in for annual maintenance, we don't have any outlay of cash to worry about. He has two more years of service on his plan. It has been the most amazing thing.

 

[Jaime4004]

March is a pretty good month for us, DH usually gets (and got it this year) a good sized bonus. So was able to pay off DS braces and put some savings towards our medical deductible and propane funds. I like having money set aside for those two since they both vary during the year and are hard to budget for. Hopefully I'll continue putting aside monthly for them also. Then murphy happened and we had 2 large car repair bills, plus one flat tire (on 3 month old tires - hit a pothole ) and still have one car that also needs brakes. Luckily we had the cash for it, but so wanted to spend that money on something more fun. Next goal is put the monthly money that used to go to newly paid off car #1 to the $6K we own on car #2. I was able to do that this month.

 

[barkley]

Fellow Mom of two kids here. We're doing what I call the yearly clothing migration! We pull everything from last year out and see what still fits, bagging up what doesn't seeing what we need to buy for summer, making notes of what we might need for fall. Our first stops are usually once upon a child for the boy and Plato's closet for the girl. Then JCP/Childrens place with coupons. Then retail for specific things, like swimsuits.

i remember doing those when my kids were younger only i stored the boys (then mens) t-shirts that the larger sized kiddo outgrew b/c she and her younger brother had gone through periods of time where she would be into some cartoon/movie series/video game only to have ds get into it a couple years later. by saving those t-shirts i had a supply that would meet his interests at the ready. now even though we are all different sizes we all like men's xl's so when we each periodically do a sweep of our closets the shirts go up to be taken by whomever in the household wants them-it's interesting to see the ones that rotate in and out of the same closets (when dd moved into her own place and we were emptying her closet dh was surprised at how many of HIS old punk band t-shirts she had 'borrowed' over time-they came back to their rightful owner but she still participates in the t-shirt exchange).

propane funds

i have a propane fund too! i estimate how much a full fill of our tank would take and divide by 12. we only get it filled maybe once a year w/a top off before the snow falls but it's sure easier to put aside 1/12th each month vs that big chunk of change (esp. if prices have shot up).

 

[Shughart]

@Shughart I have these, or ones that are very similar. I own 3 pairs of them haha.
https://www.skechers.com/en-us/style/15303/skechers-on-the-go-600-polished/choc

ARCH SUPPORT :O My soon to be 34 year old body is intrigued. I have a Sketchers store, I might have to go try these out. Maybe I'll switch! Are they a little cushiony?

It is really important to know if you have an HSA or an FSA. HSA funds carry over year to year, but FSA funds go poof (somewhere between Dec. 31 - March 15 of the next year depending on your plan) at the end of the plan year, so you want to spend this down or else it is like a penalty.



I get it. I am not doing meetings this time around, but when I first did WW I remember the kinds of crazy foods people would find that had 0 points but were full of icky preservatives and weird chemicals. DH and I buy very few processed foods because we prefer fresh ingredients. We cook from scratch at least 6 nights per week. This has been true forever, not just since starting WW last week.

I do too, I think of all the things I do for my family, meal prepping/cooking is the thing I enjoy the most. Probably because it has more value/benefit than just clean clothes for the week or clean floors. It's rewarding! I get sick of it sometimes, but ya know...I still do it lol.

I would ask for a 5 year maintenance package. DH has one on his car and it has been so nice knowing that when we take his car in for annual maintenance, we don't have any outlay of cash to worry about. He has two more years of service on his plan. It has been the most amazing thing.

Thank you for that tip. I broke down the car payment over a 30 day period and then multiplied that per day number to the number of days it was down just for fun, and it was over a little over $650, and the remote start accessory I'd like from my dealership is only $570, so I thought that was a better value over the car payment. Though I was rather ignorant over the maintenance package option that looks infinitely more valuable! I did not hint to my escalation agent which I would prefer, so I will see what he comes back with to me tomorrow. If I can get something similar it may be smart to take that instead. Especially since my husband was forced at this point to admit he was planning on getting me a remote start system for my birthday in June. Which make me feel absolutely awful. My husband is not a gift giver by nature (I know, accept, and am not bitter about this) so surprising me with it would have floored me. It does make me tear up though that he had it in the works though before this.

 

[jen7233]

Fellow Mom of two kids here. We're doing what I call the yearly clothing migration! We pull everything from last year out and see what still fits, bagging up what doesn't seeing what we need to buy for summer, making notes of what we might need for fall. Our first stops are usually once upon a child for the boy and Plato's closet for the girl. Then JCP/Childrens place with coupons. Then retail for specific things, like swimsuits.

I have three, but third is grown and long gone from home so I mostly just talk about the two! I have a big age gap 15 years between first and the other two. I also shop JCP/Childrens Place, mostly Target is my favorite for them on fit/price/convenience, occasionally also Old Navy and Walmart, just picked up some swimsuits at Walmart $8.96 for them. Sizing and brands are always so different, it's hard to figure what's best but my best size/fit, currently is with Cat & Jack and C9 brand from Target. I can pull a size 12 pants at Penney's and it's so long yet so narrow waisted, the same size 12 isn't nearly the case at Target. My youngest is tough on pants, I replace a lot during winter season. Size 12 or 14 shirts. Frustrating when shopping for kids, glad when shorts season is here, almost there.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

I have three, but third is grown and long gone from home so I mostly just talk about the two! I have a big age gap 15 years between first and the other two. I also shop JCP/Childrens Place, mostly Target is my favorite for them on fit/price/convenience, occasionally also Old Navy and Walmart, just picked up some swimsuits at Walmart $8.96 for them. Sizing and brands are always so different, it's hard to figure what's best but my best size/fit, currently is with Cat & Jack and C9 brand from Target. I can pull a size 12 pants at Penney's and it's so long yet so narrow waisted, the same size 12 isn't nearly the case at Target. My youngest is tough on pants, I replace a lot during winter season. Size 12 or 14 shirts. Frustrating when shopping for kids, glad when shorts season is here, almost there.

I love the Cat & Jack stuff for DD. They have such cute items and not everything in their toddler girls section is just pink, pink, pink. I am not a big fan of that color personally and I hate that so much little girls clothes is always pink. DD has had some adorable sweatshirts and t-shirts in a range of purples, blues, teals and reds from Cat & Jack. I love shopping the clearance section.

 

[TashK]

Mid month check in:

We have overspent through lack of planning. My goal to limit takeaway to $50 a week as been working well but I hadn't budgeted for a birthday & birthday dinner $500. We also somehow missed a quarters rates payment of $420. Rates in Australia are paid to your local council to cover things like roads, garbage etc. It's an irritation for us being rural as we do not get a garbage service and our immediate roads are privately maintained at our own cost.
I had a dental appointment for a clean/polish this is covered under private health insurance but needed a filling to cover an exposed nerve which was $70.
We still had 3 nights accomodation to pay for NZ $500. So lots of work still do do to be better at budgeting.

DS14 is staying home with his grandparents as he won his cricket semi over the weekend and the grand final is this Saturday when we are in NZ. This is a budget win as he eats like a horse but also a budget loss as his flight ticket was only 45% refundable.

I'm not sure how to feel about our NZ trip which is now 2 days away. I have been feeling very unsettled since the terrorist attack on Friday.
As I posted earlier last month my admiration for PM Jacinda Adern and what kind of leader she is. The way she has handled the Christchurch attack is inspirational.

My fellow Australians seem to be struggling the definition of a terrorist, Islamophobia, the inciting of hate in the media and also by our politicians, we are coming to terms with whom we have become. There are so many contradictions. We wear our gun laws like a badge or honour yet an Australian massacred those poor people by targeting a country with weak gun laws, we report terrorism so freely but our country's media are reporting Christchurch as a shooting incident. NZ are our cousins in fact most people perceive Australia and NZ as one, I cannot help but feel ashamed of being n Australian as I visit in their country this week.
As always time will help heal but I hope our country changes for the better and we find ourselves a real leader as loving, capable and talented as Jacinda.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Mid-month check in! Home from our horse show this weekend. It was a more expensive one for us, but my trainer told us our schedule for our next three horse shows for April and May and they're all cheaper shows.

Hoping we can keep our grocery and restaurant bill low for the rest of the month. DH ran several lunch meetings at work last week that were catered and he got to bring home ALL the leftovers. So we're still working on some Chipotle and Jimmy John's leftovers. I don't think I should have much to pick up at the grocery store other than a few odds and ends. I told my niece I would take her to lunch next weekend since she just took her first trip to Disney World and I want to hear all about it! Otherwise, hopefully no more eating out.

Our tax refunds are scheduled to deposited this Wednesday! Can't believe it's so fast. Mine is $1748. I'll put $1700 to my student loan. I'll pay $1000 towards my loan as soon as I get the money to finish off a minimum spend requirement on one of my credit card. Since I play the credit card game, I'll wait until I get DH's new credit card before I pay the other $700. I'll just leave it earmarked in YNAB until then. DH is getting $2500 back and I think I'll just send that straight to savings right now. I want to boost our savings since I'm in another election year at work. There shouldn't be any surprises, but I would feel more comfortable having a boosted savings in the meantime, even though we're several months away. That money may eventually be converted to a car fund since both of our cars have 115,000 miles, but I told DH we won't be making any major purchases until after November.

Overall, I'm really happy with our current money situation. We've had some high expenses this month, but a good chunk of them were one-off (major apparel purchase for DH showing horses; major necessary vet work on two other horses). I'm looking forward to seeing our net worth increase when I pay this student loan off!

 

[Birdie dog]

Mid March check in. I'm staying on budget. and now new charges on my cards. I'm continuing to snowball and paying a 3 year pay- off on the other cards. My oldest daughter has asked us to join her on a DCL weekend cruise in September. It's relatively inexpensive as it's a fall cruise. Usually I would have booked a room already but I'm waiting until I get paid to make the deposit. I have money in the travel account but that is needed for our May trip.
I still haven't paid my income taxes but will do in early May. I'll get back part of the money in SC state taxes but it's still $3000 out of pocket so that sucks.
Other than that, I'm still making progress.

 

[piccolopat]

I get it. I am not doing meetings this time around, but when I first did WW I remember the kinds of crazy foods people would find that had 0 points but were full of icky preservatives and weird chemicals. DH and I buy very few processed foods because we prefer fresh ingredients. We cook from scratch at least 6 nights per week. This has been true forever, not just since starting WW last week.

You'll find the same thing if you go on WW Connect online. I'm amazed at how many people try convoluted ways to have what really sounds like frankenfood! DH and I are doing this together as well and we prefer fresh, whole foods.

 

[pblack]

@Shughart yes they are cushioned. They use something similar to yoga mats for the padding. When I first started wearing them, it almost felt like walking on a cloud to me. I'll wear them throughout the parks and have no issues either. (Other than the general feet tiredness feeling.)

Eta: if you have a skechers outlet store near you, you may be able to find some on clearance or as buy one get one half off.

 

[barkley]

as a suggestion for those who need arch supports- i've found that rather than overpaying for built in ones on shoes i've done better getting removable ones from a foot care store. when i need a new pair of walking shoes i take the set in the pair of shoes i'm wearing and try putting them inside the new shoes so i can check for fit when i try them on. it eliminates allot of the 'break in' period b/c the supports are already molded to the shape of my individual feet. i've got one set that rotates through my winter shoes, another in my walking shoes, a third in my knock about the house shoes.

the only shoes i have w/built in arch supports are one pair of dressier (the inserts slip too much w/slicker interiors) and a pair of sandals. both were not cheap but i don't frequently wear either so they last a long time.

 

[Birdie dog]

Mid March check in. I'm staying on budget. and now new charges on my cards. I'm continuing to snowball and paying a 3 year pay- off on the other cards. My oldest daughter has asked us to join her on a DCL weekend cruise in September. It's relatively inexpensive as it's a fall cruise. Usually I would have booked a room already but I'm waiting until I get paid to make the deposit. I have money in the travel account but that is needed for our May trip.
I still haven't paid my income taxes but will do in early May. I'll get back part of the money in SC state taxes but it's still $3000 out of pocket so that sucks.
Other than that, I'm still making progress.

I'll do it in early APRIL. I'm not having one conversation with the IRS..

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

I super messed up, but managed to save myself. I am still somewhat new to DVC. We have only stayed twice so far on our contract. We only have enough points on our contract for 6 nights, but we planned to stay for 7 in October, so I planned to get some one time use points available for a waitlist request for the 7th night that I couldn't book at 11 months and was no longer available. Well, I made a dummy reservation that I planned to cancel so that we would have the points available for a waitlist request. But it turns out that I made the dummy reservation in our 2018 Use Year that ends Aug. 30 and I needed the points in our 2019 Use Year that starts Sept. 1. They have a no refund policy. Ugh! That was $380 that I spent in one time use points and I was freaking out because that would be a hard amount to make up by Oct. and still stay for 7 nights with a dining plan, etc. So I called DVC to talk with someone. They said that there was nothing that they could do as it was a strict policy. I asked to be transferred to a manager. I explained to the manager that I didn't understand the process and totally messed up. He said that this was a strict policy, but put me on hold for about 10 minutes while he reviewed my account. He came back and said that they would make a one time courtesy exception and refund the money for me.

I am no longer going to mess around the one time use points for this trip, since every deluxe studio is sold out at every single DVC resort for the night that we need. Instead, I went on and booked a cash reservation for Caribbean Beach Resort for that single night instead. If things change, at least I can cancel it without penalty up until a few days beforehand. Lesson learned.

ETA: I told DH and he requested that I change the reservation to Port Orleans French Quarter since we plan for that to be our Disney Springs day and then we can take the boat instead of the bus. He said not to worry about still trying to extend to another night at Poly and relax. Stupid Galaxy's Edge making everything totally crazy this fall.

 

[imbatman]

My current focus is my huge collection of Hallmark Christmas ornaments that I've been collecting for over 20 years. The only problem is I have never decorated a tree or a house with them. So they sit in bins in the basement and I know I will not have the same space in FL. Hence the need to pare down and purge. It's just hard.

I bet you can find people on this board just aching for a bargain!

I have a propane fund too! i estimate how much a full fill of our tank would take and divide by 12. we only get it filled maybe once a year w/a top off before the snow falls but it's sure easier to put aside 1/12th each month vs that big chunk of change (esp. if prices have shot up).

I put myself on auto deduct with our local gas company. This way, when I fill up, there is a credit. It's worked great and I've had a small buffer in the account for emergencies, too--like the snowstorm from hell last month.

Feeling...nervous today. I have a hobby that has taken off and is earning some money (I published a book!). However, my DH's company is in a major overhaul. While he has been assured of his job, eight people have been let go in the past three weeks. Today, he sent me a text saying that this week, there will be more. He has a standing job offer in FL. However, we live in CA. Hoping and praying that he is still one of the core five that the owner said he would keep.

 

[pblack]

I feel like i'm gonna go broke on allergy meds this season. This was the first weekend we've had really nice weather since the start of the year and my allergies have hit me HARD. Congestion, sore throat, plugged ears....oh the fun. I will be making a Coscto trip after work for some new allergy meds that a coworker recommended.

 

[barkley]

I will be making a Coscto trip after work for some new allergy meds that a coworker recommended.

if they are otc and work for you see if they are on costco's website. we use allerfex and b/c costco does free shipping on most of their otc meds i keep an eye out for when it's on sale with them and order it so i'm not tempted by all the other stuff in the store if i go in to grab it.

 

[Dentam]

@Shughart yes they are cushioned. They use something similar to yoga mats for the padding. When I first started wearing them, it almost felt like walking on a cloud to me. I'll wear them throughout the parks and have no issues either. (Other than the general feet tiredness feeling.)

Eta: if you have a skechers outlet store near you, you may be able to find some on clearance or as buy one get one half off.

I get my Skechers at Ross usually. They almost always have my size since I wear a bigger size (10) then most women. I save a good amount that way and also my work gives us $150/year for shoes or pants.