Debt Dumpers - 2019

[StacyStrong]

Can I just complain about how expensive it is to rent a venue in the Chicagoland area?

I'm trying to start planning a Bridal Shower, but everything is SO expensive. I want to be able to customize the event/decorations/space, but everything is either so expensive or requires a bar/food package that is just too much. Ideally, I'd like a beautiful garden with a big ol tent. From there I can do anything I want. Or someones big backyard. But everything is either too far or too expensive. We could use the bride's sisters house, but she really doesn't want to have it there (the sister tends to make everything about herself).

I'm really trying to balance a great event within a budget.

>:\

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Can I just complain about how expensive it is to rent a venue in the Chicagoland area?

I'm trying to start planning a Bridal Shower, but everything is SO expensive. I want to be able to customize the event/decorations/space, but everything is either so expensive or requires a bar/food package that is just too much. Ideally, I'd like a beautiful garden with a big ol tent. From there I can do anything I want. Or someones big backyard. But everything is either too far or too expensive. We could use the bride's sisters house, but she really doesn't want to have it there (the sister tends to make everything about herself).

I'm really trying to balance a great event within a budget.

>:\

My friend hosted our couple's baby shower. To help her keep the cost down, I offered our house as the location. I just didn't want my friend footing the bill to pay for a location. Food and decorations are expensive enough.

 

[DLgal]

Everyone suddenly needs new sneakers. Ugh!!!

I just noticed, though, that I can convert Amex Rewards points to a Zappos giftcard on a 1:1 basis. So, probably gonna do that. That will cover 2/3 of what we need to spend.

 

[toyotaae86lg]

We are a Disney World family and have a true debt journey ahead of us. We finally said enough is enough with the newest addition of a baby girl which makes a total of 4 of us (Me, DW, DD7, DD5months). We are currently in the beginning steps of paying off $39,000 worth of debt which include two cars and around 6 credit cards. We are using the Dave Ramsey method of debt snowball. My wife who has been a stay at home mom will be using her dental assistant license she received last year and begin working part time as well as I will increase work as I work in physical therapy. Right now where it stands it seems very doable and very pumped to be debt free. Our "whys" are endless as I have written them on a poster hanging up in my bedroom but of course one of the main reasons is to have family Disney trips more often! Hope to update with fast results as we knock down this debt!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Can I just complain about how expensive it is to rent a venue in the Chicagoland area?

I'm trying to start planning a Bridal Shower, but everything is SO expensive. I want to be able to customize the event/decorations/space, but everything is either so expensive or requires a bar/food package that is just too much. Ideally, I'd like a beautiful garden with a big ol tent. From there I can do anything I want. Or someones big backyard. But everything is either too far or too expensive. We could use the bride's sisters house, but she really doesn't want to have it there (the sister tends to make everything about herself).

I'm really trying to balance a great event within a budget.

>:\

We had my sister's shower at a nearby restaurant. If I had to choose between too far or too expensive, I'd choose the too far. In 20 years, the bride will remember how nice it was, not so much the drive to get there. jmho.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We are a Disney World family and have a true debt journey ahead of us. We finally said enough is enough with the newest addition of a baby girl which makes a total of 4 of us (Me, DW, DD7, DD5months). We are currently in the beginning steps of paying off $39,000 worth of debt which include two cars and around 6 credit cards. We are using the Dave Ramsey method of debt snowball. My wife who has been a stay at home mom will be using her dental assistant license she received last year and begin working part time as well as I will increase work as I work in physical therapy. Right now where it stands it seems very doable and very pumped to be debt free. Our "whys" are endless as I have written them on a poster hanging up in my bedroom but of course one of the main reasons is to have family Disney trips more often! Hope to update with fast results as we knock down this debt!

The DR snowball worked so well for us. We paid off a LOT of cc debt from 2013-2015 with his method and then knocked out dh's truck loan 6 months early. In the midst of it all we acquired new debt, a home equity loan and Parent Plus loan, which is gone now too. yay!
Stay with it because it feels so great to be debt free. I look at the snowball that goes to savings and shudder to think that it all used to be monthly bills to something.
We still have a mortgage and I have an internal debate with myself which is better: attack the mortgage or jack up our retirement contributions. At the moment, I'm saving so I can pay cash for a new car. (new to me, not brand new)
I so wish I had developed this mindset back when my kids were little. sigh...

Love your video and your little girl is so cute.

 

[Katie Little]

We just paid off our 3rd debt in the debt snowball!!!! Just thought I'd share! It's also been more than 7 days since my husband and I saw the inside of a restaurant (didn't hit the drive through either)!!

 

[jen7233]

We are a Disney World family and have a true debt journey ahead of us. We finally said enough is enough with the newest addition of a baby girl which makes a total of 4 of us (Me, DW, DD7, DD5months). We are currently in the beginning steps of paying off $39,000 worth of debt which include two cars and around 6 credit cards. We are using the Dave Ramsey method of debt snowball. My wife who has been a stay at home mom will be using her dental assistant license she received last year and begin working part time as well as I will increase work as I work in physical therapy. Right now where it stands it seems very doable and very pumped to be debt free. Our "whys" are endless as I have written them on a poster hanging up in my bedroom but of course one of the main reasons is to have family Disney trips more often! Hope to update with fast results as we knock down this debt!

Good luck on the debt free journey! A few here use the DR method for debt and to have more Disney trips that's a good why!

 

[seb65]

I am going to try to be more active this year and am trying to get out of debt. We have just one credit card, that we are desperately trying to get rid of. My husband is working extra, and the money is going onto that. The problem is, every time we seem to get ahead, something happens! 2019 hasn't been nice to us. We had to pay for optional anesthesia for my daughter's orthodontic work, our fridge died, my husband's car needed repairs and now our other one needs repairs all since Jan. 1. So, I hope come February, 2019 will be more kind to us so we can move forth with getting rid of that card! Once that is paid, we will work on my car payment and get rid of that. We do have an emergency fund (finally!) so we will work on saving for a new to us truck for my husband in a couple of years.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I am going to try to be more active this year and am trying to get out of debt. We have just one credit card, that we are desperately trying to get rid of. My husband is working extra, and the money is going onto that. The problem is, every time we seem to get ahead, something happens! 2019 hasn't been nice to us. We had to pay for optional anesthesia for my daughter's orthodontic work, our fridge died, my husband's car needed repairs and now our other one needs repairs all since Jan. 1. So, I hope come February, 2019 will be more kind to us so we can move forth with getting rid of that card! Once that is paid, we will work on my car payment and get rid of that. We do have an emergency fund (finally!) so we will work on saving for a new to us truck for my husband in a couple of years.

That is a lot at one time. We were fortunate that the $1000 emergency fund recommended by DR was usually enough to cover our emergencies. There were times though that we did end up adding to our debt before eliminating it all.
Jmho, but if you don't let this ruin your determination & will to get out of debt, you will get through it. Adjust your plan but keep moving forward. Or as I like to say, "Just Keep Swimming!" (I love that scene in Finding Nemo.)
Stay strong!

 

[TashK]

Crap just did the craziest impromptu thing. Booked 4 tickets to Vancouver for this September.
Gulp, feeling sick. Didn't speak to DH just pressed the button as the sale had just posted and flights around school holidays were available.

The positives-
1. Total cost was $4800 which is less than we paid for 1 ticket (albeit Premium Economy) 2 years ago.
2. We have the funds to cover it so it won't be a CC debt.
3. Dear friends moved to Nashville 1 year ago and we are desperate to catch up with them.

The negatives-
1. Have I lost my mind? Never have I done such an impetuous thing
2. 4 weeks overseas will be very expensive. Last trip was 2 years ago but I had 2 years to save for it.
3. I won't be able to fit in a DLR trip.

DH and I run our own separate business's so whilst we budget together we are also financially independent too. My DH loves Canada, he talks about moving there constantly, this will be his 5th time and my 3rd. Part of me is excited to surprise him, the other is freaking out.
OK, I'm not going to sleep tonight.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Well we didn't get hardly anything as far as snow and ice at my house, but our power has gone out twice. It went out around 10 AM yesterday morning and was out until 1:30. I didn't want to open our fridge so DH and I went out to lunch. Fortunately we had a gift card that covered our meal except for tip. Then it went out again at 10 PM last night. When I woke up at 6:15 this morning, our house was 56 degrees! We're not supposed to get power back until between 3 and 8 today, so I borrowed my mom's generator to plug our fridge in and left for work even though we don't open until 10 this morning. I had some money left on a Starbucks gift card so I stopped there and bought myself breakfast. Opened my fridge long enough to throw some stuff together for a salad. Hopefully it's on when we get home so I don't have to have DH stop for dinner. I think we do have some microwave Costco ramen bowls though, so I guess I could plug the microwave into the generator and heat that up.

Unrelated, but we went through a toll road yesterday and it flashed that we had a low balance in our EZPass. I commented that we hadn't been charged for a refill for it in a long time, whereas we used to go through $70 every three weeks when I worked downtown and had to take a toll road. The $70 came out of our bank account this morning to refill it so I scrolled through YNAB to see when the last time was we were charged for it. Last June!! I'll take it...

 

[secretpantssam]

Update on my front for my personal accountability: I applied and was accepted for Amex Everyday and just transferred my largest balance of $5000 to it with 0% until April 2020. I have my lowest store card scheduled to be completely paid off on Wednesday after I get paid tomorrow. And now that I have 0% on my largest balance, I can wipe out the smallest balances first and just chip away at the large balance when I'm done. I wrote down all of my debt on a paper and am updating the numbers as they come down so I can see the real change with each payment- which I'm excited about.

I also inventoried the freezer and pantry and have been saving by not going to the grocery store for meals. It's kind of fun playing my own version of Chopped! I have also made an effort not to go to any stores just because I was driving by saving me from buying just for the sake of buying a thing.

 

[jen7233]

Crap just did the craziest impromptu thing. Booked 4 tickets to Vancouver for this September.
Gulp, feeling sick. Didn't speak to DH just pressed the button as the sale had just posted and flights around school holidays were available.

The positives-
1. Total cost was $4800 which is less than we paid for 1 ticket (albeit Premium Economy) 2 years ago.
2. We have the funds to cover it so it won't be a CC debt.
3. Dear friends moved to Nashville 1 year ago and we are desperate to catch up with them.

The negatives-
1. Have I lost my mind? Never have I done such an impetuous thing
2. 4 weeks overseas will be very expensive. Last trip was 2 years ago but I had 2 years to save for it.
3. I won't be able to fit in a DLR trip.

DH and I run our own separate business's so whilst we budget together we are also financially independent too. My DH loves Canada, he talks about moving there constantly, this will be his 5th time and my 3rd. Part of me is excited to surprise him, the other is freaking out.
OK, I'm not going to sleep tonight.

Well, if you have money to cover it, then at least you can breath!

Well we didn't get hardly anything as far as snow and ice at my house, but our power has gone out twice. It went out around 10 AM yesterday morning and was out until 1:30. I didn't want to open our fridge so DH and I went out to lunch. Fortunately we had a gift card that covered our meal except for tip. Then it went out again at 10 PM last night. When I woke up at 6:15 this morning, our house was 56 degrees! We're not supposed to get power back until between 3 and 8 today, so I borrowed my mom's generator to plug our fridge in and left for work even though we don't open until 10 this morning. I had some money left on a Starbucks gift card so I stopped there and bought myself breakfast. Opened my fridge long enough to throw some stuff together for a salad. Hopefully it's on when we get home so I don't have to have DH stop for dinner. I think we do have some microwave Costco ramen bowls though, so I guess I could plug the microwave into the generator and heat that up.

Unrelated, but we went through a toll road yesterday and it flashed that we had a low balance in our EZPass. I commented that we hadn't been charged for a refill for it in a long time, whereas we used to go through $70 every three weeks when I worked downtown and had to take a toll road. The $70 came out of our bank account this morning to refill it so I scrolled through YNAB to see when the last time was we were charged for it. Last June!! I'll take it...

Power going out in the winter, terrible. Or in the heat of summer, too. We've been lucky and haven't lost power, we were in the winter storm path.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Power going out in the winter, terrible. Or in the heat of summer, too. We've been lucky and haven't lost power, we were in the winter storm path.

We lost power for four days or so during Hurricane Michael, which is not fun but at least it was October then and the weather was reasonable! We have a high of 34 today. I'm really hoping we fall closer to the 3 PM restoration time instead of the 8 PM time lol.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Well we didn't get hardly anything as far as snow and ice at my house, but our power has gone out twice. It went out around 10 AM yesterday morning and was out until 1:30. I didn't want to open our fridge so DH and I went out to lunch. Fortunately we had a gift card that covered our meal except for tip. Then it went out again at 10 PM last night. When I woke up at 6:15 this morning, our house was 56 degrees! We're not supposed to get power back until between 3 and 8 today, so I borrowed my mom's generator to plug our fridge in and left for work even though we don't open until 10 this morning. I had some money left on a Starbucks gift card so I stopped there and bought myself breakfast. Opened my fridge long enough to throw some stuff together for a salad. Hopefully it's on when we get home so I don't have to have DH stop for dinner. I think we do have some microwave Costco ramen bowls though, so I guess I could plug the microwave into the generator and heat that up.

Unrelated, but we went through a toll road yesterday and it flashed that we had a low balance in our EZPass. I commented that we hadn't been charged for a refill for it in a long time, whereas we used to go through $70 every three weeks when I worked downtown and had to take a toll road. The $70 came out of our bank account this morning to refill it so I scrolled through YNAB to see when the last time was we were charged for it. Last June!! I'll take it...

Sorry about the power. I always fear power outages because we wouldn't be able to stay in our house. It would get too cold for our bird and I also wouldn't want the baby get so cold either. We would likely have to find a hotel if it went out for more than 1/2 a day.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Sorry about the power. I always fear power outages because we wouldn't be able to stay in our house. It would get too cold for our bird and I also wouldn't want the baby get so cold either. We would likely have to find a hotel if it went out for more than 1/2 a day.

I don't blame you. Fortunately it's only us and the very furry cats and dog. There aren't many people out in our area. The outage map basically just shows that our road is out lol. I'm hoping that because they don't have many jobs in the area that they'll get to ours soon.

 

[Sadeesmom]

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 totally me! That’s my #1 goal with this board is to hold myself accountable enough that this doesn’t happen. That said, I only slipped from the budget by $7.70 last week! (Arby’s and some ice cream at the grocery store). Two weeks down and going strong!

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

I got a call for another interview today in addition to the one I already have! Here's hoping one of them works out!!

 

[imbatman]

We just paid off our 3rd debt in the debt snowball!!!!

I am going to try to be more active this year and am trying to get out of debt. We have just one credit card, that we are desperately trying to get rid of. My husband is working extra, and the money is going onto that. The problem is, every time we seem to get ahead, something happens! 2019 hasn't been nice to us. We had to pay for optional anesthesia for my daughter's orthodontic work, our fridge died, my husband's car needed repairs and now our other one needs repairs all since Jan. 1. So, I hope come February, 2019 will be more kind to us so we can move forth with getting rid of that card! Once that is paid, we will work on my car payment and get rid of that. We do have an emergency fund (finally!) so we will work on saving for a new to us truck for my husband in a couple of years.

Starting with a plan is half of the battle!

It is our "skinny" week in the budget, and it couldn't have come at a worse time. DH's grandma just passed yesterday. I'm planning on using my CC (the paid off one), to float myself to next week to pay it off. It's only a week, I tell myself, but my stomach still churns. And I already miss Grandma smiling at me when I'd come through the door. She was a legend and I am so blessed to have known and loved her.