Debt Dumpers 2020

[pblack]

So I took the plunge and switched our WDW hotel to Pop Century instead of All Star Music after reading some other reviews and having a more dedicated bus line plus the skyliner. I didn't take the plunge with the preferred pool view (the only preferred they had available), but I did reserve a pool view room since they look slightly closer than the standard rooms. I think it was a difference of $143 for the 3 nights we'll be there. But since I still have so much time before November, this whole plan could change again haha.

I've also been perusing flights on American and we had been talking about taking the flight that leaves at 6 AM CA time and lands in Orlando around 4:30PM, but now we're considering taking the flight that leaves at 12:30AM and arrives at 10:00ish AM. Decisions, decisions, decisions. I definitely don't want to book flights until closer to the summer for a couple reasons. 1) I want to see what the Southwest flights/times are going to be and 2) I want to make sure our cruise will not be cancelled.

 

[MantaRider]

How does everyone else feel about deluxe room stays? As a present for my wife we are staying at the Grand on our upcoming trip. And I'm excited about it, and I'll enjoy it, but part of me is quietly grumbling about how much money we are spending up over staying at a moderate

 

[pblack]

How does everyone else feel about deluxe room stays? As a present for my wife we are staying at the Grand on our upcoming trip. And I'm excited about it, and I'll enjoy it, but part of me is quietly grumbling about how much money we are spending up over staying at a moderate

At the Grand Californian? Or the Grand Floridian?

 

[stindall]

So I took the plunge and switched our WDW hotel to Pop Century instead of All Star Music after reading some other reviews and having a more dedicated bus line plus the skyliner. I didn't take the plunge with the preferred pool view (the only preferred they had available), but I did reserve a pool view room since they look slightly closer than the standard rooms. I think it was a difference of $143 for the 3 nights we'll be there. But since I still have so much time before November, this whole plan could change again haha.

I've also been perusing flights on American and we had been talking about taking the flight that leaves at 6 AM CA time and lands in Orlando around 4:30PM, but now we're considering taking the flight that leaves at 12:30AM and arrives at 10:00ish AM. Decisions, decisions, decisions. I definitely don't want to book flights until closer to the summer for a couple reasons. 1) I want to see what the Southwest flights/times are going to be and 2) I want to make sure our cruise will not be cancelled.

keep in mind pop is now only running busses hourly and asking you to take the skyliner instead. Have you ever stayed there? It’s our fave.

 

[pblack]

keep in mind pop is now only running busses hourly and asking you to take the skyliner instead. Have you ever stayed there? It’s our fave.

Good info, thanks! I have not stayed there. This is actually my first trip ever to WDW. I don't count the trip I don't remember when I was 7 or 8 lol. I expect to change my mind on a hotel at least once more before November hits.

 

[stindall]

Good info, thanks! I have not stayed there. This is actually my first trip ever to WDW. I don't count the trip I don't remember when I was 7 or 8 lol. I expect to change my mind on a hotel at least once more before November hits.

lol my brother is going in March and just switched to his third hotel! You’re gonna have so much fun! We love Pop and always stay there, but we are also not huge “hang at the resort” kind of people so it really works for us. For sure head over to art of animation because their food court is GREAT!

 

[pblack]

lol my brother is going in March and just switched to his third hotel! You’re gonna have so much fun! We love Pop and always stay there, but we are also not huge “hang at the resort” kind of people so it really works for us. For sure head over to art of animation because their food court is GREAT!

At least i'm not the only one! Haha. We will definitely try to get over to Art of Animation, thanks for the tip! We'll only be there for 3 days including arrival day, so time will be of the essence lol.

 

[crazycatstacy]

Have you tried troubleshooting it yet? I only ask because my dryer died last year. I put in my model on YouTube and found 3 repairs--the first one fixed it! We used to have a fridge that wouldn't cool unless it was perfectly level.

I will try that tomorrow! My work partner is super handy so I will have him try things tomorrow!

 

[barkley]

I've also been perusing flights on American and we had been talking about taking the flight that leaves at 6 AM CA time and lands in Orlando around 4:30PM, but now we're considering taking the flight that leaves at 12:30AM and arrives at 10:00ish AM.

keep in mind that you will be tired when you arrive from the west coast so doing a flight that comes in at 10 a.m.may mean you don't have a room available for hours. we recently did the same trip (only from washington vs. california) and did the one that got us in around 4:30 p.m.-it worked out well b/c our room was ready when we got to the hotel (universal vs. wdw but the same idea) so we could check in, grab dinner and just relax. on one of our first trips to wdw (from northern california) we did an early a.m. arrival and we would have killed to get into the room b/c we were exhausted and if nothing else the temp/humidity difference had us wanting to get into the pool.

p.s. you're doing a cruise as well? is it after the trip and will you then return to california immediately? if so a suggestion-those cruise lines get you to the airport EARLY so unless you time it out to have an outgoing flight that doesn't have you killing hours on end at MCO i highly recommend looking into a day rate room at the in-airport hyatt hotel. we have done it multiple times and it's well worth it. we arrive at the airport and check in with the airline/check our luggage. we check into the hotel and when it's the time frame to go through security we check out of the hotel and only have a short walk to security. during our time at the hotel we've taken to showering (never enough time on disembarkment day of a cruise) and the kids have even taken a dip in the rooftop pool (take big ziplock bags for wet swimsuits), we have something to eat and if we have enough time-take a nap. it's a little extra expense but so much better than killing 5 or 6 hours sitting at the airport.

 

[DisneyHardin]

How does everyone else feel about deluxe room stays? As a present for my wife we are staying at the Grand on our upcoming trip. And I'm excited about it, and I'll enjoy it, but part of me is quietly grumbling about how much money we are spending up over staying at a moderate

My DH wanted to splurge and stay at the GF last fall. I grumbled and complained about the cost the entire time I was making the payment on it. Once we got there, it was totally worth it. The level of service and attention to detail was impeccable. I won't spend the money to do it every year, but I am so glad we did it once. We were there 5 nights, 6 full days, but only did 4 day park tickets and really spent quite a bit of time at the resort.

 

[2TxAgs]

How does everyone else feel about deluxe room stays? As a present for my wife we are staying at the Grand on our upcoming trip. And I'm excited about it, and I'll enjoy it, but part of me is quietly grumbling about how much money we are spending up over staying at a moderate

Deluxe is fine if that's where you want to spend your money, but there's nothing SO GREAT about the rooms that I'd stress over staying there. Our 'deluxe' room still had the coffee pod in the pot, so housekeeping certainly isn't perfect! If you've got better places to use your money (paying back a 401k loan?), make the tough choice and save on the room. There will be lots of opportunities for presents for your wife, but the gift shouldn't put you further behind. (This is the Budget Board/Debt Dumpers thread and you've asked about savings in other threads, so I hope you're not too offended that I bring it up here. Peace out)[/QUOTE]

 

[pblack]

keep in mind that you will be tired when you arrive from the west coast so doing a flight that comes in at 10 a.m.may mean you don't have a room available for hours. we recently did the same trip (only from washington vs. california) and did the one that got us in around 4:30 p.m.-it worked out well b/c our room was ready when we got to the hotel (universal vs. wdw but the same idea) so we could check in, grab dinner and just relax. on one of our first trips to wdw (from northern california) we did an early a.m. arrival and we would have killed to get into the room b/c we were exhausted and if nothing else the temp/humidity difference had us wanting to get into the pool.

p.s. you're doing a cruise as well? is it after the trip and will you then return to california immediately? if so a suggestion-those cruise lines get you to the airport EARLY so unless you time it out to have an outgoing flight that doesn't have you killing hours on end at MCO i highly recommend looking into a day rate room at the in-airport hyatt hotel. we have done it multiple times and it's well worth it. we arrive at the airport and check in with the airline/check our luggage. we check into the hotel and when it's the time frame to go through security we check out of the hotel and only have a short walk to security. during our time at the hotel we've taken to showering (never enough time on disembarkment day of a cruise) and the kids have even taken a dip in the rooftop pool (take big ziplock bags for wet swimsuits), we have something to eat and if we have enough time-take a nap. it's a little extra expense but so much better than killing 5 or 6 hours sitting at the airport.

Our cruise is after the WDW portion and I've actually made notes of that day rate at the airport hotel. Someone else on this board, or another, mentioned it and it's a great tip! I'm still trying to figure out what time to make our return flight for since we are heading straight back to California after the cruise.

I definitely have to think about/weigh the options between the red eye and the later flight. I *think* we'd be ok with the red eye, but its hard to say since we've not done it before. My thoughts were since we only have a short amount of time on parks, we could potentially do another park on arrival day. But I also need to see if we'd wanna pay the price for a 3 day pass vs a 2 day pass. We definitely arent doing park hoppers, but I'm also hoping there will be a Christmas party one of the days we'll be in the park.

Ahh so many unknowns and so many decisions. I appreciate the tips and advice!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Happy new year to everyone! I have been following the Debt Dumper threads for a while now and understand that ideally, in order to reach your financial goals, a combination of spending less money and bringing in more income (whenever possible) is a favourable approach. I have noticed that some posters indicate that they plan on putting several thousands of dollars towards debt each month and I’m sincerely wondering how one does that. I make a decent income but I definitely don’t have thousands of extra dollars in my budget every month, even if I were to adhere to a strict budget. Am I missing something? Is there a strategy that people are using to be able to pay off such a large amount of debt every month?

That is the beauty of the debt snowball. Mine started out around $50 extra per month I could put toward debt. List all bills from smallest to largest. Pay minimum payments on all except the smallest. Attack it with all you can. Once it's paid off, apply the payment amount of the smallest bill to the next one in line. As each bill is paid off, the amount of your monthly payment keeps growing. By the time you start on the largest debts, your snowball is much larger than when you first began.
Our monthly snowball is approx. $2500 now. I NEVER would have ever thought we'd be able to save that much per month and sickens me to think that's what we were routinely paying all of that toward debt.
We were debt free except our mortgage for a while, then splurged on a big trip with a 0% offer but that will be paid off by March. It was an emotional time, my mom had just died, and I caved. I really don't ever want to be in debt again.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Still chugging along. We are possibly going to do one more big trip, (Italy) in the fall but this time we will save up for it first. I still owe $4k to dh's slush fund but I don't really consider that debt since it was taken from our Ally savings account. I think I should be able to pay that back by the end of 2020. After that comes saving for bedroom furniture then start saving for a truck for dh. By then his will be 10+ years old and it will take some time to save. I don't even want a car loan again. Ugh! Once you get a taste of being debt-free, it totally sucks having debt. I keep saying I want to pay off our mortgage early but then we keep adding things to the top of our priority list and that goal gets pushed further back.

Hang in there everyone & just keep swimming!

 

[bellylaugh]

Hi Everyone! I’m a long-time lurker to this thread and the boards in general, but I’ve got some debt to dump and figured I should bite the bullet and join y’all.

We had a baby girl in December 2018 and then bought a house in April of last year. DD was hospitalized with RSV in October (and our insurance is a crappy High Deductible), we traveled to the UK for the holidays (I’m originally from there) and are headed to Disney for a short break next week. Needless to say, my credit cards have been getting quite the work out!

Debt to Dump
Credit Card 1 (0% until 8/20) $3639
Credit Card 2 (0% until 3/21) $3956
Medical $5493
Car 10,327

2020 goals
- Transfer medical debt to the interest free credit cards (hopefully with some reduction or payment plan in place)
- Pay off balance of credit card # 1 before interest free period ends
- Pay down credit card #2 so it can be paid off before interest free period ends next year
- Pay down car loan to under $6000
- Contribute $1200 to DD’s 529
- Replace the roof on the House

 

[jen7233]

Still chugging along. We are possibly going to do one more big trip, (Italy) in the fall but this time we will save up for it first. I still owe $4k to dh's slush fund but I don't really consider that debt since it was taken from our Ally savings account. I think I should be able to pay that back by the end of 2020. After that comes saving for bedroom furniture then start saving for a truck for dh. By then his will be 10+ years old and it will take some time to save. I don't even want a car loan again. Ugh! Once you get a taste of being debt-free, it totally sucks having debt. I keep saying I want to pay off our mortgage early but then we keep adding things to the top of our priority list and that goal gets pushed further back.

Hang in there everyone & just keep swimming!

Italy trip would be great! I think eventually we need to replace bedroom furniture also. Our dresser and headboard couldn't make it up the stairs when we moved here (narrow hallways) so dresser is in basement brought in through basement door, and donated the headboard and bed base. Current ones in bedroom bought really cheap as a quick replacement and don't like. Mattress probably at it's time to replace, had a long number of years.

Hi Everyone! I’m a long-time lurker to this thread and the boards in general, but I’ve got some debt to dump and figured I should bite the bullet and join y’all.

We had a baby girl in December 2018 and then bought a house in April of last year. DD was hospitalized with RSV in October (and our insurance is a crappy High Deductible), we traveled to the UK for the holidays (I’m originally from there) and are headed to Disney for a short break next week. Needless to say, my credit cards have been getting quite the work out!

Debt to Dump
Credit Card 1 (0% until 8/20) $3639
Credit Card 2 (0% until 3/21) $3956
Medical $5493
Car 10,327

2020 goals
- Transfer medical debt to the interest free credit cards (hopefully with some reduction or payment plan in place)
- Pay off balance of credit card # 1 before interest free period ends
- Pay down credit card #2 so it can be paid off before interest free period ends next year
- Pay down car loan to under $6000
- Contribute $1200 to DD’s 529
- Replace the roof on the House

Welcome!

 

[stindall]

That is the beauty of the debt snowball. Mine started out around $50 extra per month I could put toward debt. List all bills from smallest to largest. Pay minimum payments on all except the smallest. Attack it with all you can. Once it's paid off, apply the payment amount of the smallest bill to the next one in line. As each bill is paid off, the amount of your monthly payment keeps growing. By the time you start on the largest debts, your snowball is much larger than when you first began.

That's exactly what we're doing. My smallest payment was $30, so I just doubled it to $60 for now. I'll add even more when I pay off a few other more pressing things (ie a traffic ticket, my gallbladder removal surgery etc) and then I'll add all that extra to the smallest account! Those things won't take too much longer to pay off so it'll start adding up sooner than I think.

 

[MantaRider]

At the Grand Californian? Or the Grand Floridian?

The Grand Floridian. I wish it was the Grand Californian! That's my favorite resort

My DH wanted to splurge and stay at the GF last fall. I grumbled and complained about the cost the entire time I was making the payment on it. Once we got there, it was totally worth it. The level of service and attention to detail was impeccable. I won't spend the money to do it every year, but I am so glad we did it once. We were there 5 nights, 6 full days, but only did 4 day park tickets and really spent quite a bit of time at the resort.

I do think it will be worth it, but I"m still grumbling about the money lol. We are going for a full week so we will really get to enjoy the resort

(paying back a 401k loan?), make the tough choice and save on the room. There will be lots of opportunities for presents for your wife, but the gift shouldn't put you further behind. (This is the Budget Board/Debt Dumpers thread and you've asked about savings in other threads, so I hope you're not too offended that I bring it up here. Peace out

So here's the thing - the 401k loan happened because I had a medical emergency this year that really set us back. The trip is expensive, but it's sort of a present to our family after what happened. I feel like we've earned that, together, even though it's a lot to spend on vacation

We were debt free except our mortgage for a while, then splurged on a big trip with a 0% offer but that will be paid off by March. It was an emotional time, my mom had just died, and I caved. I really don't ever want to be in debt again.

Hey, you have to live and enjoy life, even if it means some debt now and then. I'd rather have my wife and kid have better memories than just saving money to treasure if something happens to me

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

The Grand Floridian. I wish it was the Grand Californian! That's my favorite resort

I do think it will be worth it, but I"m still grumbling about the money lol. We are going for a full week so we will really get to enjoy the resort

So here's the thing - the 401k loan happened because I had a medical emergency this year that really set us back. The trip is expensive, but it's sort of a present to our family after what happened. I feel like we've earned that, together, even though it's a lot to spend on vacation

Hey, you have to live and enjoy life, even if it means some debt now and then. I'd rather have my wife and kid have better memories than just saving money to treasure if something happens to me

I totally understand the emotional aspect of it. I've worked in a hospital almost 30 years and have seen so many sad things. So many reasons to say YOLO. Also I do recall in 1st grade our teacher announcing my now BFF lost her mom and having us sign a card for her. By the time we were teenagers she told me how sad she was that she was starting to forget so much about her mom. When I became a mom I was pretty determined to make so many memories with my kids that they would never have to say they were forgetting me.
Anyway, it could still be a very memorable trip at other deluxe resorts. The Beach Club is beautiful, as is Wilderness Lodge. We once did a short stay at the Poly and hands down my family said Beach Club is better, despite not being on the monorail. Every time I look into GF as a one time splurge, maybe a long weekend, I just can't pull the trigger and justify that extra expense. I'm in my early 50s now but back in my 20s (dh in mid 30s) we stayed at the Quality Inn on International Drive and spent one day in Epcot and one day in Sea World. I was so glad just to be able to take a vacation. We couldn't even think about GF unless we hit the lottery.

I'm not trying to make you feel bad or guilty; just saying there are ways to still have an amazing trip even with some compromises that would help get you back to paying back your 401k sooner. Another idea is a split stay. Choose a less expensive resort early on while you're still spending a lot of time in the parks and finish up the last 3 days at a deluxe resort and just relax and enjoy the amenities at the resort.

 

[MantaRider]

I totally understand the emotional aspect of it. I've worked in a hospital almost 30 years and have seen so many sad things. So many reasons to say YOLO. Also I do recall in 1st grade our teacher announcing my now BFF lost her mom and having us sign a card for her. By the time we were teenagers she told me how sad she was that she was starting to forget so much about her mom. When I became a mom I was pretty determined to make so many memories with my kids that they would never have to say they were forgetting me.
Anyway, it could still be a very memorable trip at other deluxe resorts. The Beach Club is beautiful, as is Wilderness Lodge. We once did a short stay at the Poly and hands down my family said Beach Club is better, despite not being on the monorail. Every time I look into GF as a one time splurge, maybe a long weekend, I just can't pull the trigger and justify that extra expense. I'm in my early 50s now but back in my 20s (dh in mid 30s) we stayed at the Quality Inn on International Drive and spent one day in Epcot and one day in Sea World. I was so glad just to be able to take a vacation. We couldn't even think about GF unless we hit the lottery.

I'm not trying to make you feel bad or guilty; just saying there are ways to still have an amazing trip even with some compromises that would help get you back to paying back your 401k sooner. Another idea is a split stay. Choose a less expensive resort early on while you're still spending a lot of time in the parks and finish up the last 3 days at a deluxe resort and just relax and enjoy the amenities at the resort.

Thanks for understanding. Unfortunately, the resort is out of my hands! It's what my wife wants, and she has good reasons, and that's that. She doesn't want anything to happen to me, and us never have gotten to spend time together at her dream resort.