Debt Dumpers 2020

[DLgal]

It must be a high quality elliptical equipment. Much out of my price range. It's good when the whole family can use it. Our kids also use our treadmill, so it's been a good purchase. I plan to add a rower at some point, if we can organize our home space better to incorporate it. If I had more space, I'd also add an elliptical and a stationary bike.

Yeah, it's an Octane Fitness brand elliptical. I did a lot of research and this brand is the only one that really takes into account biomechanics and designed a machine that moves the way the body should. It is designed to simulate walking and running but without the impact. It automatically adjusts the stride length when you speed up and shortens it when you slow down. These machines are often found in gyms. We are over paying for NordicTrack level of quality (basically, garbage components that don't last). Plus, this one offers upper body workouts and comes with resistance bands that clip onto the machine at various places for different strength training routines. It's really cool for cross training.

We are at a place financially where we can splurge on higher quality for something like this. Our boys are teens now and like to workout on the elliptical (due to flat feet, neither can run long distances). This machine will get used at least twice a day, every day. We needed to get something that could stand up to that kind of use.

When compared to a family gym membership, this machine that will likely last 10 years, is a bargain.

 

[barkley]

When compared to a family gym membership

i know no one in their right mind is going to the gym right now but for future reference-before anyone enters into a gym membership they would do well to check their health insurance to see if they offer free memberships. it's amazing how many offer them but don't do allot of advertising about it. dd's pretty run of the mill health insurance offers it at a couple of nationwide chains and even my/dh's funky medicare supplement does as well.

 

[DLgal]

i know no one in their right mind is going to the gym right now but for future reference-before anyone enters into a gym membership they would do well to check their health insurance to see if they offer free memberships. it's amazing how many offer them but don't do allot of advertising about it. dd's pretty run of the mill health insurance offers it at a couple of nationwide chains and even my/dh's funky medicare supplement does as well.

This is a good point. I know ours doesn't cover it.

 

[piccolopat]

Did the compressors fail on your A/Cs?

Good question. Our A/C went out yesterday and we thought it was the compressor. It was just blowing warm air. Turned out that the compressor was shutting down because a bad capacitor was causing the unit to overheat. The fix was just about $500 and would have been less if we opted to wait until Monday and not pay the higher weekend service charge.

 

[cmrdgrs]

Good question. Our A/C went out yesterday and we thought it was the compressor. It was just blowing warm air. Turned out that the compressor was shutting down because a bad capacitor was causing the unit to overheat. The fix was just about $500 and would have been less if we opted to wait until Monday and not pay the higher weekend service charge.

Sorry to hear that happened to you, but glad to hear it is fixed and you have cool air again. $500 for a capacitor!? Wow!

We live in Phoenix, and A/C repairs are common and expensive in this climate. My DH (who is pretty handy) has learned to do the common repairs on our A/Cs -- new fans, capacitors, and the contactors as well. The cost of the repairs become too much to bare! He has saved us a boatload of money.

 

[RamblingMad]

Sorry to hear that happened to you, but glad to hear it is fixed and you have cool air again. $500 for a capacitor!? Wow!

We live in Phoenix, and A/C repairs are common and expensive in this climate. My DH (who is pretty handy) has learned to do the common repairs on our A/Cs -- new fans, capacitors, and the contactors as well. The cost of the repairs become too much to bare! He has saved us a boatload of money.

I'm out in AZ too, and I was quoted that once for a capacitor. It's a part that costs less than $100. I told them no. You have to find the right AC company for doing those repairs at reasonable prices.

 

[piccolopat]

I'm out in AZ too, and I was quoted that once for a capacitor. It's a part that costs less than $100. I told them no. You have to find the right AC company for doing those repairs at reasonable prices.

The part was $201 and the rest was the weekend service fee and NY taxes. I would have been inclined to call around but the last couple of weeks have been crazy. Our fridge died on 8/1 and I couldn't get service out here until 8/14. The compressor went on it but the part (but not labor) is still under warranty and it should be fixed this Thursday. We had the hurricane through here on 8/4 and our daughter had to go to the hospital during the storm to have our first grandchild, born the next day. Lost power for 4 days from the hurricane but got it back by the time she got out of the hospital. Then our Comcast phone went out. Guy came this morning, fixed the phones, decided to "improve" the TV signal and after he left we found 2 of the TVs no longer worked. Second guy finally came out and had to redo a bunch of things. Our beverage fridge is now showing an error code. Too many gremlins to have to worry about a higher than necessary A/C repair charge since he got it working quickly!

 

[cmrdgrs]

Wow piccolopat! You have been dealing with a lot. It does seem like when it rains it pours sometimes I hope you get things worked out.

 

[Eureka]

Good question. Our A/C went out yesterday and we thought it was the compressor. It was just blowing warm air. Turned out that the compressor was shutting down because a bad capacitor was causing the unit to overheat. The fix was just about $500 and would have been less if we opted to wait until Monday and not pay the higher weekend service charge.

We had to replace our capacitor a couple years ago too. The repair cost us about $200. The guy said the part is not made as well as it used to be, he replaces a lot of them now but 10 years ago never had to. Side note: I always think of Back to the Future when I hear the word "capacitor." LOL.

 

[cmrdgrs]

I was curious "debt dumpers" how many of you are DVC owners? I've been an owner since 2006 and DH and I are thinking of selling off our contracts. I have mixed feelings about selling. One side of my brain says yes, I should do that, and the other side of my brain that loves my DVC says that I should just keep renting out 1/2 of the points I own to help pay my MFs and keep using our points.

We don't have a loan on any of our contracts, but the MFs are still a monthly debt that I'm responsible to pay.

Anyone want to chime in with their thoughts on the subject?

 

[cmrdgrs]

We had to replace our capacitor a couple years ago too. The repair cost us about $200. The guy said the part is not made as well as it used to be, he replaces a lot of them now but 10 years ago never had to. Side note: I always think of Back to the Future when I hear the word "capacitor." LOL.

A HVAC repairman told us that when the compressors go in our A/Cs that they will have to be replaced. Manufacturers have stopped making parts for certain A/Cs due to the changes in "Freon" or whatever the cooling fluid is in the various units. These changes could be making other parts on these old A/Cs more expensive or the pandemic and lack of parts being shipped from overseas could be increasing the prices as well.

We have a dedicated alternate fuel vehicle which runs on CNG (Natural Gas). At our house we have a pump that takes the CNG from our gas company, compresses the gas, and fills our car with fuel. The parts to repair our pump come from Italy. We've been told by our repair guy that he is unable to make any repairs to our pump right now because the factory in Italy is shut down due to the Pandemic. We have other "regular" cars that run on gasoline, but I sure hope our pump doesn't have any issues!

 

[barkley]

I was curious "debt dumpers" how many of you are DVC owners? I've been an owner since 2006 and DH and I are thinking of selling off our contracts. I have mixed feelings about selling. One side of my brain says yes, I should do that, and the other side of my brain that loves my DVC says that I should just keep renting out 1/2 of the points I own to help pay my MFs and keep using our points.

We don't have a loan on any of our contracts, but the MFs are still a monthly debt that I'm responsible to pay.

Anyone want to chime in with their thoughts on the subject?

we were dvc owners but sold ours off back in early 2008. it probably makes a difference that we don't live in close proximity to any of the properties so using dvc always entailed considerable airfare and other expenses but that aside, at the time we were trying to become debt free and the resale market was doing fairly well so we saw it as a means to pay off other debt and eliminate our dues (which at the time seemed to keep increasing steadily b/c the properties were aging and needed increased maintenance each year). we also saw that disney was taking away allot of the trade outs that we had enjoyed taking advantage of.

i've wondered recently how current world events will impact dvc ownership. i have to imagine that with park closures/massive hour scale backs people aren't using their dvc points as readily or finding others who want to rent them out. i can't see disney doing any changes that allow for greater banking of points for future use so that could mean people end up paying their dues/not using their points. i wonder if things continue on travel wise for another 6 months/a year if there's not going to be a glut of resales on the market that could be bought cheaply (disney has always kept the price high with their first right of refusal clause but they are not exactly in a financial situation to maintain that if a glut of memberships hit the market).

i think it's a personal choice. if the costs are such that you have to rely on renting points out to cover them then w/ the hit the travel industry has taken/will likely continue to take in 2021 at minimum i would be inclined to get out sooner vs. later.

 

[MsOnceUponATime]

We had to replace our capacitor a couple years ago too. The repair cost us about $200. The guy said the part is not made as well as it used to be, he replaces a lot of them now but 10 years ago never had to. Side note: I always think of Back to the Future when I hear the word "capacitor." LOL.

My best friend owns an A/C company (although he can do IT ALL - incredibly handy man he is).
Every single time he says the word capacitor I say, do you mean "flux capacitor"? And then I add on something corny like "1.21 gigawatts !!!"

 

[jen7233]

i know no one in their right mind is going to the gym right now but for future reference-before anyone enters into a gym membership they would do well to check their health insurance to see if they offer free memberships. it's amazing how many offer them but don't do allot of advertising about it. dd's pretty run of the mill health insurance offers it at a couple of nationwide chains and even my/dh's funky medicare supplement does as well.

Unfortunately our insurance does not. I don't see myself getting back to one, ever. If I ever do, I want to try Title Boxing or Krav Maga, so not a standard workout gym. Mainly at the gym, I was using the treadmill, elliptical, rower, weight machines, and a few classes. I can replicate the yoga class at home for free, the cardio one also, yes, just takes a little more digging on YouTube. We have a treadmill now, or I can go outside with good enough weather. For weights, still working on that. We use a TRX at home, and I have an old set of 5 and 10lb dumb bells I've had for years. Tried to find a full dumb bell set, hard to find though, like trying to find in stock Lysol or a decent size chest freezer!

I was curious "debt dumpers" how many of you are DVC owners? I've been an owner since 2006 and DH and I are thinking of selling off our contracts. I have mixed feelings about selling. One side of my brain says yes, I should do that, and the other side of my brain that loves my DVC says that I should just keep renting out 1/2 of the points I own to help pay my MFs and keep using our points.

Not a DVC owner. I suppose some questions on continuing ownership for me, if I did own, would be how often I intend to use it going forward. Also, is now a better selling time than in a year or so. Good luck deciding, I can imagine that is choice to go back and forth on.

 

[Deffenm]

Just checking in. We are still debt free, other then house, but we have stopped paying extra on the house and we are not really adding anymore to our savings. All we are doing right now is get a dr bill, pay dr bill. I am thankful that we can but hurts not seeing mortgage going down much or savings increase. Not only are we paying dr bills we now have vet bills. Our poor almost 12 year old black lab Bella was recently diagnosed with diabetes so she has been going to the vet weekly to get her numbers checked. It took several weeks but she is doing better but it is taking a lot of insulin. She goes thru about a vile a week and they are over $60 and it cost another $60 for her weekly visit to get her glucose curve test done. Luckily her numbers looked better on Sunday so we don't have to go back until early Oct. but giving her 18 units of insulin twice a day is costly. We are just glad we still have her around.

 

[cmrdgrs]

we were dvc owners but sold ours off back in early 2008. it probably makes a difference that we don't live in close proximity to any of the properties so using dvc always entailed considerable airfare and other expenses but that aside, at the time we were trying to become debt free and the resale market was doing fairly well so we saw it as a means to pay off other debt and eliminate our dues (which at the time seemed to keep increasing steadily b/c the properties were aging and needed increased maintenance each year). we also saw that disney was taking away allot of the trade outs that we had enjoyed taking advantage of.

i've wondered recently how current world events will impact dvc ownership. i have to imagine that with park closures/massive hour scale backs people aren't using their dvc points as readily or finding others who want to rent them out. i can't see disney doing any changes that allow for greater banking of points for future use so that could mean people end up paying their dues/not using their points. i wonder if things continue on travel wise for another 6 months/a year if there's not going to be a glut of resales on the market that could be bought cheaply (disney has always kept the price high with their first right of refusal clause but they are not exactly in a financial situation to maintain that if a glut of memberships hit the market).

i think it's a personal choice. if the costs are such that you have to rely on renting points out to cover them then w/ the hit the travel industry has taken/will likely continue to take in 2021 at minimum i would be inclined to get out sooner vs. later.

DH and I don't necessarily rely on the rentals to be able to pay the MFs, but I always strive to do several rentals per year. When I get the rental money I actually put the money in a separate savings account that we don't spend. I've been doing that for about 7 years and the account has grown quite a bit. But, life changes and now I have 1 in college and 1 headed to college in a year, so I'd like to more consistently count on that rental income. I don't do any "bargain" rentals -- no brokers -- I do all the work, and it is a bit of a pain. You really have to spend quite a lot of time trying to get top dollar, and to your point, right now DVC rentals are hard on several fronts. #1 lots of distressed expiring points out there #2 less people interested in traveling.

The last kink is that my daughter (17) begs me not to sell. She loves our DVC vacations and the accommodations and hopes to "benefit" from our DVC ownership for years to come -- haha It does tug on my heartstrings, but I probably shouldn't let it.

 

[huggybuff]

My best friend owns an A/C company (although he can do IT ALL - incredibly handy man he is).
Every single time he says the word capacitor I say, do you mean "flux capacitor"? And then I add on something corny like "1.21 gigawatts !!!"

Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads.

 

[cmrdgrs]

Not a DVC owner. I suppose some questions on continuing ownership for me, if I did own, would be how often I intend to use it going forward. Also, is now a better selling time than in a year or so. Good luck deciding, I can imagine that is choice to go back and forth on.

We've owned since 2006 and have used every point every year we've been owners. We live in Phoenix, and are in driving distance to CA, so we own the bulk of our points at that resort. I personally love Disneyland. I know a lot of people think it is too small and not comparable to WDW, but for me I like how compact DL is, it's part of it's appeal to me. I've thought about selling off my VGF & SSR contracts and just keeping my VGC and HHI contracts. That might be a good compromise. But, the valuable contracts are my VGC. I'd probably break even on the rest (I bought direct). But, I guess breaking even isn't so terrible.

I know I shouldn't feel so sentimental about DVC, but it's hard to explain, I am. That's how Disney "gets" you I guess.

 

[RamblingMad]

I was curious "debt dumpers" how many of you are DVC owners? I've been an owner since 2006 and DH and I are thinking of selling off our contracts. I have mixed feelings about selling. One side of my brain says yes, I should do that, and the other side of my brain that loves my DVC says that I should just keep renting out 1/2 of the points I own to help pay my MFs and keep using our points.

We don't have a loan on any of our contracts, but the MFs are still a monthly debt that I'm responsible to pay.

Anyone want to chime in with their thoughts on the subject?

I’d wait until after COVID to get a better sale price. Maybe look at renting out points if you’re not going.

Did you go often before COVID? I‘m not a big enough planner to DVC.

 

[RamblingMad]

We've owned since 2006 and have used every point every year we've been owners. We live in Phoenix, and are in driving distance to CA, so we own the bulk of our points at that resort. I personally love Disneyland. I know a lot of people think it is too small and not comparable to WDW, but for me I like how compact DL is, it's part of it's appeal to me. I've thought about selling off my VGF & SSR contracts and just keeping my VGC and HHI contracts. That might be a good compromise. But, the valuable contracts are my VGC. I'd probably break even on the rest (I bought direct). But, I guess breaking even isn't so terrible.

I know I shouldn't feel so sentimental about DVC, but it's hard to explain, I am. That's how Disney "gets" you I guess.

I prefer DL to WDW. I feel like I get more bang for my buck there. I feel like I’m always on some transportation service at WDW. And the FP planning was a nightmare.