Debt Dumpers - 2019

[MegWheels]

Anybody else suffer from buyers remorse after making a totally unnecessary purchase? I do!

Spent $160 today on clothes because I found a cute dress and a cute sweatshirt. I know I shouldn't have done it, but I did. Now I'm trying to figure out how to make some money back on clothes. Anyone have any tips for Poshmark or ThredUp? I have some stuff listed on Poshmark but I can't get anything sold.

 

[Shughart]

Anybody else suffer from buyers remorse after making a totally unnecessary purchase? I do!

Spent $160 today on clothes because I found a cute dress and a cute sweatshirt. I know I shouldn't have done it, but I did. Now I'm trying to figure out how to make some money back on clothes. Anyone have any tips for Poshmark or ThredUp? I have some stuff listed on Poshmark but I can't get anything sold.

Have you tried Mercari?

 

[pblack]

Payday (i.e. bill paying day) for me. We only had two credit card debts remaining (cc1: $875 and cc2: $350) and I just paid off cc1! I did end up pulling a little bit out of our savings to combine it with my roommates rent check so I could just pay it off completely. I was just so tired of seeing that debt stare at me. When my DH gets paid on the 15th, I aim to pay off cc2 in full and we will be completely credit card debt free! Now instead of using the July rent check for credit card debt, i'll use it to start paying ourselves back the money we "borrowed." We do still plan on purchasing rock to landscape portions of our backyard, so some of the July rent check may also go towards that.

Happy last day of May!

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Today is the last day of our grant period and I have been frantically working with my boss to spend down funds as best as possible. I did convince her to allow me to register for a privacy law certification exam that I had been hoping to take at some point and will be good for me professionally. It would have cost me $750 to register for the exam and purchase the study materials, so pretty happy that isn't coming out of my own pocket. Once I pass this exam, I could take a second exam that would allow me to earn the designation of "privacy law specialist." That is my ultimate goal.

 

[Eureka]

So I officially have a high school graduate! At senior awards night, he was presented with a state senatorial scholarship worth $10k over four years, so that was exciting and a little less we’ll have to pay for school.



This is the cake I had made. Beautiful and tasted great too, this lady's cakes always are awesome. We made short work of the sandwich platters over the last few days, I think we have two wraps and three finger rolls left and it fed 8 people over three days so well worth the price. My MIL and SIL went home today but my parents are still here so we’ll go out for dinner tonight and probably even tomorrow (the graduate has parties tomorrow night and DS16 is working so will be a nice dinner just the four of us). Everything the last few days has been pricey and I’ll need to shop next week for DS’ grad party but worth it to celebrate.

 

[jen7233]

Congratulations on all those with grads!

Mid year and not too many updates budget-wise, except for June and July I am skipping ESA contributions because I am paying for some summer week activity camps. ESAs are close enough to where I want to stop at anyway and doing that next year as I've mentioned before. No summer vacation planned, just our GWL two night trip, and that's driveable, Williamsburg is free admission for us for one day, so, not really much exciting going on, no Disney trips, no cruises, not flying anywhere

 

[thiabelle]

Well the week is over and it went better than I anticipated. My parents drove up with no problems (at least no problems they shared with me) . The funeral went very smooth. I was very grateful for the folks that work at the shrine/funeral home. They made everything easy. I was a little worried about my dad at the gravesite because it was very uneven but he made it through. My uncle and everyone else really enjoyed the restaurant I had picked. Those folks were very accommodating- we were early but they could seat us and treated us like royalty. After a very early dinner my DD and DH left so she could get changed for the awards ceremony. I took my parents back to their hotel and just hung out with them- unfortunately the weather got very bad very quick. We were under a tornado warning (which is fairly unusual for where we live) and my dad was freaking out. My DD called me and said we were getting hail at the house (which is only five miles from the hotel). Scary stuff. At least it let up enough to get over the high school and get my parents in the door. DD won a few awards we weren't expecting but unfortunately none of them came with a check!
Baccalaureate also went very smoothly- it was nice to see the kids and it not be graduation. I have to go pick up the balloons later today- that's all she asked for in addition to her yard sign. She went to a party last night- I'm glad she isn't going to too many- the gifts would kill my budget.
DD worked very hard on Friday and Saturday helping her dad stain the new deck. I'm glad it's done! It's looks really good.
On the money front I spent another $115 at Kohl's on clothes for her. Luckily it was the third payday of the month so I was able to pay off our Disney trip in August, all of the credit cards, and make a $300 payment towards my couch. My new goal is to not need to use my third paycheck to get "caught up" when it rolls around again in the fall.
I'm excited for graduation tomorrow. My brother (not by blood but by choice) will be coming- DD is super excited that her uncle can get away from his job in the middle of the day to be there. We are going to the Melting Pot for dinner... our idea of a fancy restaurant!
I hope everyone has a great week!!

 

[Eureka]

And now that graduation is over and everyone has gone home, it’s time for me to get serious about losing some weight. I know what to do but need some accountability right now, so I joined Spark People. If that doesn’t work for me, I may go back to WW but going to give this a shot before spending money on it. Would like to lose 15 lbs ideally but right now will settle for 10. I’ve needed to buy some new pants and shorts this spring and not happy about it.

 

[Deffenm]

Another Graduation survivor here as well. DS didn't want a big party only a small gathering with friends where we ordered pizza and they had a bonfire and hung out. So it was a cheap graduation for us. Of course now I have 2 weddings in June (my brother's this weekend and cousin at end of month). We are getting carpet installed this month and have 10 day vacation in July. Luckily we have saved for all of these events but it is less we get to use to pay down debt. On the savings front I am picking up 6 dresses via facebook marketplace tonight for only $10. I have lost a signficant amount of weight and am not ready to spend a bunch of money on new clothes. I was going to go to thrift store but this was a great deal. My husband said only I would find something cheaper then the thrift store. lol

 

[imbatman]

Ditto on the grad survivor. Do your eyelids feel as heavy as mine? I wore a dress that I haven't worn in years and received a bunch of compliments, so there was the upshot for me!

Have a heavy work week ahead of me. One day at a time!

 

[Eureka]

Ditto on the grad survivor. Do your eyelids feel as heavy as mine? I wore a dress that I haven't worn in years and received a bunch of compliments, so there was the upshot for me!

Have a heavy work week ahead of me. One day at a time!

Yes, I am back at work and exhausted. Next weekend is summer swim time trials (I manage concessions) and DS's (small, but still need to order food) grad party. So much to do!

 

[Tygerlilly]

Had my last day of midnight schedule today. Man am I glad that is over! I'm going in a couple days this week at midnight to help the other shift, but at least it isn't something I have to do now.

Also, made my car payment today and I'm down to $9,999.75!! Under $10k finally! And I've just about got the dj/photographer paid in full for the wedding. Hoping to get an extra $400ish from these extra couple days on my check.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Well I had an very pleasant surprise at work today after a stressful weekend. I've mentioned here before that things with my job have been somewhat tenuous and that it's an election year. I got a heads up from a higher up that there was going to be a discussion about my position this week as to the future of it and whether I would continue doing my current work, which is what I have a real passion for. The proposed changes would have essentially forced me out. My boss came to me today and let me know that my position would continue as is with no changes, and to just continue doing what I've always done!! This has been a source of stress for me over the last 6 months, so it was nice to finally get a solid answer and know I have some solid job security. It was doubly nice to know that literally every single one of my coworkers has had my back and also been doing what they can to ensure my position doesn't change. I am extremely grateful for them.

On top of that, my boss let me know that I would be receiving an excellence award for my job which comes with a $1000 bonus in this week's paycheck!! That literally blew me away. I wasn't expecting that at all, and it was also really nice because one of my coworkers who I'm very close with (we've worked together all but 9 months of our careers in law) will also be receiving the award with me.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Well, we rebooked our cruise for next spring from the Caribbean to Europe because we are hoping that I will be pregnant and I don't want to worry about Zika virus. There was a $300 change fee and DH requested that I book a suite instead of an oceanview balcony. Overall, it will cost $1400 more than our original cruise plans, but I am honestly more excited about this trip. The cruise leaves from Barcelona and goes to Nice, Portofino, Florence, Rome, Naples and then back to Barcelona. The amazing thing is that I got airfare for just $400 per person, which might actually be cheaper than airfare would have cost us to Orlando. Now to start figuring out what we want to do at each port with a 2-year-old.

 

[Dentam]

On top of that, my boss let me know that I would be receiving an excellence award for my job which comes with a $1000 bonus in this week's paycheck!! That literally blew me away. I wasn't expecting that at all, and it was also really nice because one of my coworkers who I'm very close with (we've worked together all but 9 months of our careers in law) will also be receiving the award with me.

Wow, that's awesome!! Congratulations!

 

[Alexle2007]

Well, we rebooked our cruise for next spring from the Caribbean to Europe because we are hoping that I will be pregnant and I don't want to worry about Zika virus. There was a $300 change fee and DH requested that I book a suite instead of an oceanview balcony. Overall, it will cost $1400 more than our original cruise plans, but I am honestly more excited about this trip. The cruise leaves from Barcelona and goes to Nice, Portofino, Florence, Rome, Naples and then back to Barcelona. The amazing thing is that I got airfare for just $400 per person, which might actually be cheaper than airfare would have cost us to Orlando. Now to start figuring out what we want to do at each port with a 2-year-old.

Nice! Which cruise line are you sailing? I've been looking at RCCL Allure of the Seas out of Barcelona for June but can't decide. We have the Harmony of the Seas booked for March 2020 for DS's 13th birthday and Spring Break which we are excited to try.

 

[DnA2010]

Well, we rebooked our cruise for next spring from the Caribbean to Europe because we are hoping that I will be pregnant and I don't want to worry about Zika virus. There was a $300 change fee and DH requested that I book a suite instead of an oceanview balcony. Overall, it will cost $1400 more than our original cruise plans, but I am honestly more excited about this trip. The cruise leaves from Barcelona and goes to Nice, Portofino, Florence, Rome, Naples and then back to Barcelona. The amazing thing is that I got airfare for just $400 per person, which might actually be cheaper than airfare would have cost us to Orlando. Now to start figuring out what we want to do at each port with a 2-year-old.

That sounds awesome! Which cruise/line? Also who are you using for air?

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Nice! Which cruise line are you sailing? I've been looking at RCCL Allure of the Seas out of Barcelona for June but can't decide. We have the Harmony of the Seas booked for March 2020 for DS's 13th birthday and Spring Break which we are excited to try.

That sounds awesome! Which cruise/line? Also who are you using for air?

This is on Royal Caribbean Jewel of the Seas sailing in April. A June sailing would likely be too late in a potential pregnancy since you can't sail after 24 weeks. We were booked on the Harmony of the Seas before I swapped our itinerary. I think we will likely plan to do Harmony in 2022.

The airfare is on Lufthansa. We flew them to Venice last fall and had a good flight. Last time we were in standard economy seats. I upgraded each of our longer flight segments to premium economy seating this time though because DH wanted it. I am starting to see a trend of DH wanting more space everywhere we go. It only cost me $90 more to upgrade all of us, so it seemed worth it.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

I have been having trouble redeeming the rewards on my Capital One Quicksilver card. I had requested a rewards check way back in December, but it never arrived so I called back in March. They said that they cancelled the original check and issued a new one, but that one never arrived either. I just called again to have them cancel the check so that I could just redeem the rewards as a statement credit. It wasn't for a huge amount, just $16.80, but I still wanted to put it towards our trailer loan. The guy on the phone was so nice and apologetic. He got the check cancelled and said I would see the credit back to my account within 15 days. And then he said that as an apology, they were adding another $50 in rewards to my account. A nice little surprise for sure and very appreciated. Since the check option just doesn't seem to be working out, I plan to just take the statement credit which will go towards the balance transfer for our basement. Still a good cause.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Added 7 hours of extra time to my paycheck today. I was already given the okay to pretty much go in any other day I want this week (and most likely several weeks after this).

And we finally FINALLY booked part of our honeymoon. Lol. After several months of back and forth and great ideas (only to realize that they all were a bust in November), we decided to just go with our original Vegas plan! I get 2 free nights at a hotel on the strip through my local casino rewards card. If anyone has reviews on: New York New York, Harrah's, The Linq, or Bally's, I'd appreciate any insight. We're going to add on one more night (hoping to get it also comped or reduced rate) and fly out early on a Wednesday and come home mid-day on Saturday.
I wish I had the extra cash now because I see Southwest had a good $99 one way sale currently, which could save us around $200 from regular round trip. I'll have to keep checking for good flight deals.
We planned one expensive dinner buffet for Friday night at Bacchanal at Caesar's. Supposedly one of the best buffets in the US. It's expensive at $65ish a person, but I figure it's our honeymoon and we can have the one big splurge dinner.

Down to about $8000 left to pay on the wedding. I think if I keep up the extra hours I'll have it completely paid for by beginning of October and can focus on the honeymoon for a couple weeks.