Debt Dumpers - 2019

[DisneyMandC]

There are some cool refrigerators out there now, I'd say in the past one could say a new fridge may run you a few hundred, but now there are some that have TVs, electric whiteboards, and make coffee, unbelievable! Have you seen these things?! I didn't even know the coffee one was out there until I saw a posted picture. I miss our old fridge that simply had a water dispenser and ice maker that we sold with our home!

One of my coworkers just built a new house and got one of those fridges where you can access it from the app on your phone to look inside and see if you have an item! She said you can scan your food as you put it in the fridge when you get home from the grocery store, and then later it will tell you things like "your chicken expires tomorrow."

I don't even want my next fridge to have a water and ice dispenser, so clearly this is way above my level of want haha.

 

[johnaalexis]

Is the job security certain? How much will a water heater and installation run you? None need to be answered, just things that I might ask myself were I debating the same situation.

You could pay the CC debt off and then put in more back into savings to earmark a sinking fund for those household items. There are some cool refrigerators out there now, I'd say in the past one could say a new fridge may run you a few hundred, but now there are some that have TVs, electric whiteboards, and make coffee, unbelievable! Have you seen these things?! I didn't even know the coffee one was out there until I saw a posted picture. I miss our old fridge that simply had a water dispenser and ice maker that we sold with our home! Have been renting since, so we have the fridges that come with house, not anything good. As far as what would I do, that's a tough one, I'd be inclined to pay it off with savings if I had the amount you have, however, I'd really have to know I had nothing else coming up I'm going to need to possibly dip into savings for AND if I had absolute job security etc.


Welcome! Great achievable goals. WDW in July, fun! And hot, ocassionally some random warm rain afternoons! We've done July and August, do rope drop and stay until noon or so, head back to hotel, come back at 6.

Thanks so much for the advise!!! Typically we would go in September but we wanted to do Free Dining & the Fiancé is going back to school & I graduated with my Teaching degree so I hope to be teaching full time by August so July it is!

 

[Shughart]

One of my coworkers just built a new house and got one of those fridges where you can access it from the app on your phone to look inside and see if you have an item! She said you can scan your food as you put it in the fridge when you get home from the grocery store, and then later it will tell you things like "your chicken expires tomorrow."

I don't even want my next fridge to have a water and ice dispenser, so clearly this is way above my level of want haha.

I am with you. I do not want these things either. My little guy and I were walking around the appliance section at Penneys one day (next to coats where my DH was trying on) and he was JUST AMAZED, at all the tech). I just see it as more things that can go wrong and break. Give me a regular old fashioned fridge. Freezer on top, fridge on bottom. No bells and whistles needed. I do have an upright freezer for extra storage (also no bells and whistles) but that's it.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I am with you. I do not want these things either. My little guy and I were walking around the appliance section at Penneys one day (next to coats where my DH was trying on) and he was JUST AMAZED, at all the tech). I just see it as more things that can go wrong and break. Give me a regular old fashioned fridge. Freezer on top, fridge on bottom. No bells and whistles needed. I do have an upright freezer for extra storage (also no bells and whistles) but that's it.

So funny story about fridges... when DH and I moved into our house, the previous owners left their fridge for us. There were two ice cube trays in the freezer so I just assumed that the empty ice cube maker must not work since those things always seem to break. We lived in the house for a year before we realized the ice cube maker wasn't broken, it was just turned off

 

[barkley]

I have less meat in the freezer now, so I think I'll wait until I purchase a few staples until I try it

i was able to do it for the first 8 days of this month. i just went to the store yesterday and took advantage of a sale on beef roasts to grind into ground beef (i was down to 3# in the freezer trying to hold out for a sale). go without shopping for a week and (at least for me) you don't want to spend much (first time in a long time w/nothing bought off the list).

She said you can scan your food as you put it in the fridge when you get home from the grocery store, and then later it will tell you things like "your chicken expires tomorrow."

unless it's going to tell me how IT plans to cook it i don't need it nagging me.

I just see it as more things that can go wrong and break

yup. neighbor got new fridge so they put old fridge in garage and got rid of REALLY old fridge in garage. temps drop and fridge in garage freezes food inside it so they call repair man out only to find out that REALLY old fridge was built back in the day to deal w/severe temp drops whereas newer old fridge wasn't and the part to make it adapt costs about the cost of.............you guessed it-new, new fridge. new old fridge pretty much just used to keep sodas cold in the summer now (and as extra freezer space in the winter-LOTS of extra freezer space).

 

[amalone1013]

Ok, I remember last year on this thread talking about ring insurance... I never added my wedding band so I'm updating mine. I got my rings soldered together... so do I add the band as a new item, or just update my engagement ring to include the attached band? Does anyone know?

 

[Shughart]

Even though Creditkarma always under reports my score...the score it DOES report...jumped up FIFTY points today

 

[Newcastle]

Thanks everyone for the responses to my last post! I think I will definitely try to implement an allowance and see how that goes. I actually like the idea of saving money from the allowance for a larger purchase down the road. Quick question though...my income is variable so I don't receive the same amount every month (a HUGE pain!). From a psychological perspective, would you still set money aside for an allowance even if money is a bit tight that particular month or forego it until the next month when hopefully income is a little better?

 

[barkley]

Ok, I remember last year on this thread talking about ring insurance... I never added my wedding band so I'm updating mine. I got my rings soldered together... so do I add the band as a new item, or just update my engagement ring to include the attached band? Does anyone know?

if you are talking about homeowners or renters-i would say talk to your insurance company. with mine there's a ceiling/cap on the homeowner's policy for jewelry coverage. anything above that ceiling requires a rider to the policy. in some cases (depending on the value of the ring) it may not be worthwhile to pay for a rider year after year after the deductible is considered (seems like most people's deductibles are at minimum over $1K) and then taking into consideration how much a policy can permanently increase in cost for so much as one claim added to the cost of the rider results in quickly (years wise) exceeding the value of the ring.

 

[jen7233]

Ok, I remember last year on this thread talking about ring insurance... I never added my wedding band so I'm updating mine. I got my rings soldered together... so do I add the band as a new item, or just update my engagement ring to include the attached band? Does anyone know?

I didn't opt in for jewelry coverage on our insurance as mine aren't really worth covering, hopefully someone here has and knows.

 

[nhgirl]

Ok, I remember last year on this thread talking about ring insurance... I never added my wedding band so I'm updating mine. I got my rings soldered together... so do I add the band as a new item, or just update my engagement ring to include the attached band? Does anyone know?

I’m new to this thread so I didn’t read what everyone was talking about last year regarding ring insurance. I do work at an insurance agency and people schedule their jewelry onto their homeowners or renters policy. You need to provide an appraisal of the jewelry you want insured to value. You could bring the soldered rings to a jeweler to get an appraisal. Anything not scheduled only gets you actual cash value (cost less depreciation).

 

[DLgal]

We have our wedding rings insured under our rental insurance with a valuable personal property rider. Our blanket coverage for 3 rings is $5000. We had to make a claim last year when my husband lost his wedding band (diamond and platinum, originally valued at $950, but worth more due to the increase in the cost of platinum over the past 17 years). I submitted The loss report and the appraisal and the next day, the bank deposited $1800 into our account as they determined that was the current fair market replacement value of the ring. We bought a replacement ring that was similar for $1150.

We had no deductible for that coverage. Our premium didn't go up. We pay $12/year for the jewelry coverage.

 

[amalone1013]

if you are talking about homeowners or renters-i would say talk to your insurance company. with mine there's a ceiling/cap on the homeowner's policy for jewelry coverage. anything above that ceiling requires a rider to the policy. in some cases (depending on the value of the ring) it may not be worthwhile to pay for a rider year after year after the deductible is considered (seems like most people's deductibles are at minimum over $1K) and then taking into consideration how much a policy can permanently increase in cost for so much as one claim added to the cost of the rider results in quickly (years wise) exceeding the value of the ring.

I just have a valuable personal property policy right now, because we live with my inlaws so we don't have renters/homeowners. It's $50 a year total with no deductible. It would take over 80 years to pay out the amount for another ring (assuming no increase, which of course isn't right, but it hasn't gone up yet in 4 years...), so I'm okay with that. DH spent way too much on my ring, I never would have let him had I known. But he picked it out on his own after searching every store in the area, so I love it

I’m new to this thread so I didn’t read what everyone was talking about last year regarding ring insurance. I do work at an insurance agency and people schedule their jewelry onto their homeowners or renters policy. You need to provide an appraisal of the jewelry you want insured to value. You could bring the soldered rings to a jeweler to get an appraisal. Anything not scheduled only gets you actual cash value (cost less depreciation).

Getting it appraised again is a good idea, thanks! We don't have home/renters policy currently, just a valuable personal property policy right now.

We have our wedding rings insured under our rental insurance with a valuable personal property rider. Our blanket coverage for 3 rings is $5000. We had to make a claim last year when my husband lost his wedding band (diamond and platinum, originally valued at $950, but worth more due to the increase in the cost of platinum over the past 17 years). I submitted The loss report and the appraisal and the next day, the bank deposited $1800 into our account as they determined that was the current fair market replacement value of the ring. We bought a replacement ring that was similar for $1150.

We had no deductible for that coverage. Our premium didn't go up. We pay $12/year for the jewelry coverage.

I remember reading your post, I think that was what started it last year I also have USAA and just the VPP policy because we don't rent or own. $50 a year, no deductible.

 

[TashK]

Once again the question of WWYD?

I'm a newly single mom. I inherited (now) $8500 in CC debt I have on a zero interest card. That will expire this month, but I have plans to move it to a new 0% card. I have about $20k in the bank. I also just got about $3500 from my granny (she died). The debate is, do I keep my savings (since I have no "partner safety net...and a $300k mortgage), and keep rolling that 0% offer and paying that slowly (I put $100 towards it a mo). Or do I just get the debt out from under me and pay it all off. I feel "safer" personally with the $23k in the bank, knowing that if something happened with my job I can at least still pay my mortgage and what not for awhile. I feel like as long as my CC debt is on a zero card, I should hang onto my funds. Of course if I can't get the new 0% card, I have other cards that offer 0% but there's the transfer fee charged. Then it might be worth paying off the debt. All other CCs I use (for points/miles) I pay off every statement. So I'm not currently accruing any more new debt. And I think I have the days of racking up new debt under control.

I know I'm going to need a new water heater sooner than later, and maybe a new fridge. But otherwise almost everything in the house is newer and shouldn't have issues with it (furnace, a/c, dishwasher, bathrooms, floors, carpet, etc).

As long as you have the savings funds fairly liquid in the case of not getting a 0% no fees balance tx in the future, then I agree with your strategy of keeping the debt.
You also seem like you have lots of self control and not likely to run up CC debt.
I think most of us have become scared of CC's but they are very useful if used carefully.

Don't get me started on AfterPay though. Do you have this in the States? I guess it probably originated there. I am a financial controller for a online store and since adding AfterPay sales have increased by 300%! All of those Australians buying stuff that they cannot afford because they can pay it off by instalments.

 

[Aurora_Australis]

Otherwise we are chugging along. The end of Jan I need my brakes done & 2 new tyres so I'm not looking forward to that but we have budgeted for it knowing that Jan is 1 of 2 months where we do not have school fees.
The Govt also pays us an allowance to drive our kids to school as there are no school buses in our rural area. This will end this year for DS2 as he is now coming into town to go to school but previously is was $4000 a term, so $8000 a year! It is calculated per km.

Thank you so much for reminding me I need brake pads replaced next service . In Feb. It was in the back of my mind but I haven't funded that as much as I should have. Term 1 is always a bit slow to get going for work for DH too.

That's cool that you're near-ish. I teach at Merewether HS, have been to HVGS for some debating/public speaking stuff before.

 

[TashK]

Thank you so much for reminding me I need brake pads replaced next service . In Feb. It was in the back of my mind but I haven't funded that as much as I should have. Term 1 is always a bit slow to get going for work for DH too.

That's cool that you're near-ish. I teach at Merewether HS, have been to HVGS for some debating/public speaking stuff before.

Its a small world pardon the pun. I drive past MHS twice a week on my way to a client at Adamstown.

 

[TashK]

I think I had a large budgeting win today.
DH who is a trailrunner missed out on a lottery entry to UTMB in August in Italy. It was not budgeted and we when he entered we figured we would leave it up to the universe to decide. Clearly the universe noted that we would need to go into debt.

So that leaves one small trip to NZ in March as our only O/S vacation for 2019

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

Thanks everyone for the responses to my last post! I think I will definitely try to implement an allowance and see how that goes. I actually like the idea of saving money from the allowance for a larger purchase down the road. Quick question though...my income is variable so I don't receive the same amount every month (a HUGE pain!). From a psychological perspective, would you still set money aside for an allowance even if money is a bit tight that particular month or forego it until the next month when hopefully income is a little better?

I'd try to at least set aside something on tighter months as long as it means you aren't missing bills or something. Maybe you could set two allowances, like for example on months deemed to be good you get $75 but on months deemed to be tight you only get $25, and you could set a threshold ahead of time for what is deemed a "good" month and what is deemed a "tight" month so you're not tempted to declare a bad month a good one because you want something.

 

[MamaBelleRN]

Good news from the orthopedic surgeon yesterday! The break of the ulna was complete, but nondisplaced (all the way through the bone, but it didn’t shift). We are casting for one week and then doing a repeat x-ray. As long as it doesn’t shift at all this week, we should be able to avoid surgery. If it does shift, we’ll have to pin it, but he’s hopeful it won’t come to that. He said plan on 10 weeks of casting, so it will be a while in a cast. DS was pretty excited about his ‘Colt’s cast’ (they did blue and white) and then found out our orthopedic (this is the fourth break he’s taken care of for us ) played for the Colts for a short time. This totally made my son’s day to have him sign his cast

And now for accountability on the financial front. I have totally slipped into bad habits these last few weeks. It seems like once I slip a little, I just throw caution to the wind with attitude of ‘Oh well! What’s a bit more now that I’ve already gone off track.’

It started with Christmas. We didn’t save as much as we had planned, so we used a big chunk of our one month buffer. Then, with the unexpected expense of a new dishwasher and installation, we put a charge on the credit card for the first time since we paid them off in July. Last night, I decided to look for an Airbnb for our trip to Louisville for a friend’s wedding in May. My DH is the best man, so we’re going for a few extra days. I ended up putting that on credit too So we went from $0 of credit card debt to $1,300 in one week. We have the cash to cover all this in our van fund, so I plan to pay it that way and then build our one month buffer back up as soon as we can. I just need to name it and own my slips so I can work on forward progress instead of continuing to slide back.

 

[Shughart]

It seems like once I slip a little, I just throw caution to the wind with attitude of ‘Oh well! What’s a bit more now that I’ve already gone off track.’

This is me too, with both money and also weight loss when I work on it. Don't start slipping, we can do this! I read somewhere that you wouldn't slash your other 3 tires if 1 went flat, so why would you do sabotage your diet/budget/whatever your goals are because you got a little off track? I scream this in my head often

I just paid off two cards to zero and opened up ANOTHER high limit card (really hoping to up our number of active accounts and lower utilization ahead of wanting to buy a house in a year or two) and read that zero balances for months on end is NOT necessarily good either. So instead of leaving them at zero, what I did was move Netflix to one, and Hulu to the other. I used one today to get gas. Later I will use one to get dinner for my kids and I (planned expense, my husband is out of town for work for 2 days). Sorry tangent rolled off one way....

So look at it this way, the CC card company and credit reporting agencies will see you spending and that's good and as long as you pay it off with your van fund, you'll have it back paid off again. I'm no expert but that sounds like playing the game, right? I hope you at least scored yourself some points/rewards! ALSO YAY for good news from the orthopedic surgeon! I will keep my fingers crossed for more good news in a week that it has not shifted!