Debt Dumpers - 2019

[Eureka]

That's debatable lol. My BFF spent a couple grand on her cat when all of sudden he was vomiting uncontrollably for no reason, turns out he'd eaten a bunch of hair ties that ended up knotted in his stomach. Shortly after that they also found out he has feline diabetes and they have to pay out of pocket for his insulin every month, but i'm not sure on the cost of that. A year after we got our cat (we've had her since she was 8 weeks and will be 3 this year) we noticed her going to the litter box every 30 seconds trying to go to the bathroom and we thought she had a UTI. Long story short she did have a UTI, but then ended up having some other kind of infection going on and our grand total after all the vet visits was probably about $1000. Luckily (knock on wood and fingers crossed) we haven't had any other issues with her since then. We've also changed her diet and got a pet water fountain to promote drinking more water to rid off UTI's.

My cat is 16 and aside from all the shots and de-fleaing we had to do when she first came to us (at 6 weeks old), I have only ever had to bring her to the vet once for an injury. Otherwise, it's only been yearly shots. One year they did bloodwork when she was 13 or 14 and thought she'd lost a little bit of weight but she showed them and is still running around just fine. She also (knock wood) still does fine with normal food I can buy at Target.

 

[pblack]

My cat is 16 and aside from all the shots and de-fleaing we had to do when she first came to us (at 6 weeks old), I have only ever had to bring her to the vet once for an injury. Otherwise, it's only been yearly shots. One year they did bloodwork when she was 13 or 14 and thought she'd lost a little bit of weight but she showed them and is still running around just fine. She also (knock wood) still does fine with normal food I can buy at Target.

That's great! I'm also glad our cat does fine with normal food also. When we switched her food we just switched brands. Now she eats mainly dry food, but gets a spoonful of wet food in the evenings. After the whole UTI issue we try to prevent her from getting dehydrated again. And just for funsies i've attached a picture of my fat ball of fluff a.k.a Luna.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

if you decide to continue yours or reactivate your dh's-haggle them down on the price. i've been doing 6 month subscriptions for the past few years and the most recent 6 month rate (including taxes and fees) for sirius select i've gotten was right at about $42.00. i threaten to cancel a couple of weeks before the renewal date (and i never pay w/credit card-they can charge me the few dollars to paper bill so i can send a check and they CAN'T auto renew). it's a stupid dance with them of me saying 'no, it costs too much-just cancel it' and them saying 'well, lets see what more we can do' until we get back down to the same promo price i've been paying for the last few years.

Dh let his go last year and I didn't have it in my old minivan after the 3 month free trial and that was in 2006. So when I got my new car (new to me) in Jan I got another free trial and then the offers started rolling in. Dh and I both got $60 for 12 months. That's the best I've seen so far. I enjoy it for $5/month but I don't think it's worth any more than that.

If you call and cancel your service when it's time to renew, they will negotiate.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Ok so yes, I had a plan to pay off my car by Christmas but I totally blew it. The Disney cruise to Norway that I booked last year and later cancelled to "behave" has dropped in price. Now it's $2000 cheaper than what we had booked last summer, and that was even with the onboard booking discount, so I booked again. I still have the $10k that I saved for it. I feel guilty to pull it out of our Vanguard now as that account is doing amazingly well. I had to pull out around $2k for IRS at tax time (which was a shocker to owe instead of getting a refund) but it has already exceeded the balance it was before I pulled the $2k out. (The $10k is only part of it.) Maybe I'll find a 0% balance transfer deal instead.
I managed to find $700 RT flights to London and since our kids are not children anymore and both working full time, we told them we'd pay the rest if they pay for flights. Of course it's easy to say yes when Mommy & Daddy offer a free trip to Europe but how bad do ya really want to go? Enough to pony up the $700? Yes! Ds22 would do anything to be able to go. So we're all set to sail Sept 1 from Dover. Now it's a mad scramble to re-research the ports and what to do. It's been a year+ since I looked at all of this stuff.

Maybe it's just emotional spending since losing my mom but more than ever I feel like it's so important to make happy memories with the ones we love. I have zero regrets over the trips we took with my parents over the years. Such a happy time of our lives.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Ok so yes, I had a plan to pay off my car by Christmas but I totally blew it. The Disney cruise to Norway that I booked last year and later cancelled to "behave" has dropped in price. Now it's $2000 cheaper than what we had booked last summer, and that was even with the onboard booking discount, so I booked again. I still have the $10k that I saved for it. I feel guilty to pull it out of our Vanguard now as that account is doing amazingly well. I had to pull out around $2k for IRS at tax time (which was a shocker to owe instead of getting a refund) but it has already exceeded the balance it was before I pulled the $2k out. (The $10k is only part of it.) Maybe I'll find a 0% balance transfer deal instead.
I managed to find $700 RT flights to London and since our kids are not children anymore and both working full time, we told them we'd pay the rest if they pay for flights. Of course it's easy to say yes when Mommy & Daddy offer a free trip to Europe but how bad do ya really want to go? Enough to pony up the $700? Yes! Ds22 would do anything to be able to go. So we're all set to sail Sept 1 from Dover. Now it's a mad scramble to re-research the ports and what to do. It's been a year+ since I looked at all of this stuff.

Maybe it's just emotional spending since losing my mom but more than ever I feel like it's so important to make happy memories with the ones we love. I have zero regrets over the trips we took with my parents over the years. Such a happy time of our lives.

Our babymoon cruise to Norway was amazing with memories that I will always treasure. You are sure to have an amazing time!

 

[jen7233]

Ok so yes, I had a plan to pay off my car by Christmas but I totally blew it. The Disney cruise to Norway that I booked last year and later cancelled to "behave" has dropped in price. Now it's $2000 cheaper than what we had booked last summer, and that was even with the onboard booking discount, so I booked again. I still have the $10k that I saved for it. I feel guilty to pull it out of our Vanguard now as that account is doing amazingly well. I had to pull out around $2k for IRS at tax time (which was a shocker to owe instead of getting a refund) but it has already exceeded the balance it was before I pulled the $2k out. (The $10k is only part of it.) Maybe I'll find a 0% balance transfer deal instead.
I managed to find $700 RT flights to London and since our kids are not children anymore and both working full time, we told them we'd pay the rest if they pay for flights. Of course it's easy to say yes when Mommy & Daddy offer a free trip to Europe but how bad do ya really want to go? Enough to pony up the $700? Yes! Ds22 would do anything to be able to go. So we're all set to sail Sept 1 from Dover. Now it's a mad scramble to re-research the ports and what to do. It's been a year+ since I looked at all of this stuff.

Maybe it's just emotional spending since losing my mom but more than ever I feel like it's so important to make happy memories with the ones we love. I have zero regrets over the trips we took with my parents over the years. Such a happy time of our lives.

Yes, you can't replace those happy memories, it's nice that fun trips together can create some great memories not to mention seeing and doing things you or the other person had on their wish list of places to go see and experience. That Disney cruise sounds awesome! It'll be great with adult kids, too. Enjoy the ports research and planning, that's part of the fun!

So, I see that Duran Duran is playing at Kennedy Space Center in July and some part of old me says GO! I was obsessed with them as a young girl about 11/12 years old and dreamed of going to see them in concert, had their pictures ripped out of magazines and posters taped all over my bedroom wall, mostly of John Taylor and Nick Rhodes, followed by Simon Le Bon as my 3rd and Roger Taylor my 4th favorite, poor Andy Taylor never made my wall. Anyway, wish I could get there in July :/

 

[DisneyHardin]

That's debatable lol. My BFF spent a couple grand on her cat when all of sudden he was vomiting uncontrollably for no reason, turns out he'd eaten a bunch of hair ties that ended up knotted in his stomach. Shortly after that they also found out he has feline diabetes and they have to pay out of pocket for his insulin every month, but i'm not sure on the cost of that. A year after we got our cat (we've had her since she was 8 weeks and will be 3 this year) we noticed her going to the litter box every 30 seconds trying to go to the bathroom and we thought she had a UTI. Long story short she did have a UTI, but then ended up having some other kind of infection going on and our grand total after all the vet visits was probably about $1000. Luckily (knock on wood and fingers crossed) we haven't had any other issues with her since then. We've also changed her diet and got a pet water fountain to promote drinking more water to rid off UTI's.

A few years ago we spent about $3000 on our cat just to finally get a diagnosis of kidney disease and then at least another couple thousand over the next 2 years to keep her with us while doing basically cat dialysis 3x per week.

 

[pblack]

A few years ago we spent about $3000 on our cat just to finally get a diagnosis of kidney disease and then at least another couple thousand over the next 2 years to keep her with us while doing basically cat dialysis 3x per week.

It sounds like he/she was very loved ❤

 

[DLgal]

My husband and I bought bought new cars recently (2017 & 2019) and both of course came with those packages they give you with free satellite radio. Both have lapsed now, but they are still sending BOTH of us offers to come back and keep the service. We never used it. Both our cars are equipped with android auto and we use spotify premium as a family (which looks more expensive than your satellite, but we can use it amongst multiple people/places/devices). We really like it.

My car that I bought in 2007 came with 6 months of free XM and they are STILL constantly sending me renewal offers. I never actually subscribed. That is crazy.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Yes, you can't replace those happy memories, it's nice that fun trips together can create some great memories not to mention seeing and doing things you or the other person had on their wish list of places to go see and experience. That Disney cruise sounds awesome! It'll be great with adult kids, too. Enjoy the ports research and planning, that's part of the fun!

So, I see that Duran Duran is playing at Kennedy Space Center in July and some part of old me says GO! I was obsessed with them as a young girl about 11/12 years old and dreamed of going to see them in concert, had their pictures ripped out of magazines and posters taped all over my bedroom wall, mostly of John Taylor and Nick Rhodes, followed by Simon Le Bon as my 3rd and Roger Taylor my 4th favorite, poor Andy Taylor never made my wall. Anyway, wish I could get there in July :/

Oh I think with rare opoortunities like that you should jump right in if possible. If the concert is on a Sat night, you could fly down Sat am, see the concert, spend the night at a relatively cheap hotel, like a Fairfield Inn, or some place that includes breakfast, and fly home Sunday. Of course if it’s during the week it might be more complicated with missing work but I’d go for it. Just don’t be shocked to see them looking old. Lol

Hey if Led Zeppelin would ever reunite for a concert with Jason Bonham on drums for his late father, I’d go almost ANYWHERE on Earth to see them.

 

[DnA2010]

Mid Month Check in:
1) $50,000 in our emergency fund: 75 Percent there!
2) Save $1,000 per month: Saved $500 this month and will be able to save AT LEAST $1,000 per month going forward as we only have one more trip this year.
3). Save 10 percent in retirement fund: Doing this and employer just dumped $8,000 in 401k last pay period as a bonus.
4) Lose weight: Down 33 pounds since January 1, 2019.

50k - that’s amazing! I’m guessing you’re mortgage free?

 

[thiabelle]

Good morning all! Just a quick hello because I am off to the World!! We are so excited for DD's graduation trip. This week we took a quick trip to Chicago- I think I fell in love with the city! I may love it more than NYC. (We shall not discuss how much I spent on DD on Michigan Ave. Nope- gonna stick my head in the sand for another week and enjoy my trip and then I will figure it out!!).
Time to get moving,,,I"m still not 100% packed and we should be leaving within the next few hours! (The older I get the more procrastination doesn't seem to bother me like it used to!)
Have a great week!!

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Mid-Year check-in:

2019 Financial goals:

-Pay down CC debt: We currently have a little over $11000 still left (paid off over $8k in 2018). Hoping to get at least half that amount paid off in 2019. So far this year we have paid off a little over $2000, so just under where we should be, but I'm optimistic we can pay the rest of the goal off by the end of the year.

-Save enough to pay for 2020 WDW trip. We plan on it being 2 weeks long and are hoping to rent points to stay at AKL so we will need a good amount for it. Plan on getting a good chunk of it from Swagbucks but will need more than I'll get from that. So the plans for this trip changed quite a bit, it's actually now a week long trip staying at POP Century at the end of March into the beginning of April but we are on target to easily have enough to cover it.

-Get at least $2000 in emergency fund. Right now its only at $250 so need to add at least $1750 to it. Sadly haven't been able to truly add to this. Technically did put some in it, but then had to use it to cover some costs so that I wouldn't have to add debt.

2019 Personal Goals

- Eat healthier and exercise more. Don't have a specific goal for weight loss, just want to be healthier. Started out the year doing good on this, then slacked off, but we have been doing good again the last month. Going to the gym at least twice a week, eating better, and I quit drinking soda a week ago, so overall happy with this, even if I haven't lost as much as I hoped I would.

- Stress less. This may be the hardest goal for me to accomplish. I tend to worry and stress 24/7 but I've been working on it and I'm getting better with not letting things get to me as much and worrying quite so much but I still have a ways to go. Doing better with this for sure.

- Do more new things. My DH and I have a goal to do one new experience each month next year. Nothing crazy, just a new restaurant or day trip to somewhere we've never been, things like that. We want to experience all we can in life and are finally getting to a financial position to do so with getting our debt down and better paying jobs. We have done a few new things, like Axe throwing and a few new restaurants. We have more planned for the rest of the year so doing well on this too.


Overall I'm not quite where I want us to be, but definitely have done some of each thing and we are better off than we were at the beginning of the year so I'm calling it a win!

 

[jen7233]

Oh I think with rare opoortunities like that you should jump right in if possible. If the concert is on a Sat night, you could fly down Sat am, see the concert, spend the night at a relatively cheap hotel, like a Fairfield Inn, or some place that includes breakfast, and fly home Sunday. Of course if it’s during the week it might be more complicated with missing work but I’d go for it. Just don’t be shocked to see them looking old. Lol

Hey if Led Zeppelin would ever reunite for a concert with Jason Bonham on drums for his late father, I’d go almost ANYWHERE on Earth to see them.

If I had someone to drag along or if I lived in FL, I would definitely drive to see them! It's a plane ride from here as I can't do that drive!

 

[Ngwira]

50k - that’s amazing! I’m guessing you’re mortgage free?

Not mortgage free but our mortgage is small. About 10% of our monthly income (not easy to do in NJ where property taxes are insane). We bought much less house than we could afford and that single decision has freed up a lot of cash to travel and save.

 

[murphy625]

Following. I've been trying to get our finances/debt under control these past few years (hard to do with 2 in college) and always looking for tips and tricks. Some of my goals this year include opening a cd ladder and maxing out my 403b.

 

[jen7233]

Not mortgage free but our mortgage is small. About 10% of our monthly income (not easy to do in NJ where property taxes are insane). We bought much less house than we could afford and that single decision has freed up a lot of cash to travel and save.

I've been thinking about this as we will look into buying a home possibly within the next few years and I look on Zillow to see in today's market what's available in certain price ranges in areas we may consider moving to. And then, I go back and forth on whether I even want to go into home ownership again. More home would mean less money available for other things.

 

[barkley]

I've been thinking about this as we will look into buying a home possibly within the next few years and I look on Zillow to see in today's market what's available in certain price ranges in areas we may consider moving to. And then, I go back and forth on whether I even want to go into home ownership again. More home would mean less money available for other things.

i think another factor to look at when considering buying is what the rent trends are like where you might move to. if you are looking at being there for a longer period of time/potentially retiring there then the advantage of buying over renting could mean a relatively fixed monthly housing cost (factors like how they do the property taxes could change a payment year to year a bit) vs. rent that could increase tremendously depending on a variety of factors. we live in a state with no rent control law so it's not unusual for a landlord, depending on the current market demand to raise rents at a minimum of 10% and generally more per year which outpaces most people's increases in their income (if they have any year to year).

i look at the 3 homes we've owned over the last 28 years and none of them-be they the lowest priced starter home where we paid the minimum down to get our first home loan or the largest with the highest mortgage payment is renting for anything LESS than 200% higher than what we paid as our monthly mortgage payments. all 3 were purchased during 'normal' housing markets-so no greatly under priced or overpriced buys.

it just comes down to what works best for you and your situation and that changes w/life changes. we grew out of our small starter home when we had kiddos so we bought up but when we decided to move from one state to another we knew it would be our (dh/me) 'forever home' so we bought one that while it met the needs of 4 people wouldn't necessitate downsizing when we become empty nesters.

 

[barkley]

I've been thinking about this as we will look into buying a home possibly within the next few years and I look on Zillow to see in today's market what's available in certain price ranges in areas we may consider moving to. And then, I go back and forth on whether I even want to go into home ownership again. More home would mean less money available for other things.

i think another factor to look at when considering buying is what the rent trends are like where you might move to. if you are looking at being there for a longer period of time/potentially retiring there then the advantage of buying over renting could mean a relatively fixed monthly housing cost (factors like how they do the property taxes could change a payment year to year a bit) vs. rent that could increase tremendously depending on a variety of factors. we live in a state with no rent control law so it's not unusual for a landlord, depending on the current market demand to raise rents at a minimum of 10% and generally more per year which outpaces most people's increases in their income (if they have any year to year).

i look at the 3 homes we've owned over the last 28 years and none of them-be they the lowest priced starter home where we paid the minimum down to get our first home loan or the largest with the highest mortgage payment is renting for anything LESS than 200% higher than what we paid as our monthly mortgage payments. all 3 were purchased during 'normal' housing markets-so no greatly under priced or overpriced buys.

it just comes down to what works best for you and your situation and that changes w/life changes. we grew out of our small starter home when we had kiddos so we bought up but when we decided to move from one state to another we knew it would be our (dh/me) 'forever home' so we bought one that while it met the needs of 4 people wouldn't necessitate downsizing when we become empty nesters.

 

[crazycatstacy]

Mid-Year check-in:

2019 Financial goals:

-Pay down CC debt: We currently have a little over $11000 still left (paid off over $8k in 2018). Hoping to get at least half that amount paid off in 2019. So far this year we have paid off a little over $2000, so just under where we should be, but I'm optimistic we can pay the rest of the goal off by the end of the year.

-Save enough to pay for 2020 WDW trip. We plan on it being 2 weeks long and are hoping to rent points to stay at AKL so we will need a good amount for it. Plan on getting a good chunk of it from Swagbucks but will need more than I'll get from that. So the plans for this trip changed quite a bit, it's actually now a week long trip staying at POP Century at the end of March into the beginning of April but we are on target to easily have enough to cover it.

-Get at least $2000 in emergency fund. Right now its only at $250 so need to add at least $1750 to it. Sadly haven't been able to truly add to this. Technically did put some in it, but then had to use it to cover some costs so that I wouldn't have to add debt.

2019 Personal Goals

- Eat healthier and exercise more. Don't have a specific goal for weight loss, just want to be healthier. Started out the year doing good on this, then slacked off, but we have been doing good again the last month. Going to the gym at least twice a week, eating better, and I quit drinking soda a week ago, so overall happy with this, even if I haven't lost as much as I hoped I would.

- Stress less. This may be the hardest goal for me to accomplish. I tend to worry and stress 24/7 but I've been working on it and I'm getting better with not letting things get to me as much and worrying quite so much but I still have a ways to go. Doing better with this for sure.

- Do more new things. My DH and I have a goal to do one new experience each month next year. Nothing crazy, just a new restaurant or day trip to somewhere we've never been, things like that. We want to experience all we can in life and are finally getting to a financial position to do so with getting our debt down and better paying jobs. We have done a few new things, like Axe throwing and a few new restaurants. We have more planned for the rest of the year so doing well on this too.


Overall I'm not quite where I want us to be, but definitely have done some of each thing and we are better off than we were at the beginning of the year so I'm calling it a win!

How was the axe throwing? They just opened a place here that does it and I'm intrigued but a little paranoid that someone will lose a body part!