Debt Dumpers 2021

[webcreatrix]

So, I live in Texas and we had a rough week last week. We managed to keep power and water, but:

• my sister was on rolling blackouts, trying to keep her exotic pets alive while boiling water and charging a heat lamp every hour
• my niece had electricity but zero water and ended up at my sister's
• my oldest daughter and grandbabies had a roof leak and COVID
• my cousin's home was totally flooded, moving my 96 year old aunt to an assisted living center
• my mother is good, but wants to visit aunt, and cannot
• and... my friends had to be rescued by the Red Cross and taken to a warming center.

Whew!

My husband finished taxes, I did performance reviews for my employees, and I can guess what my income tax return and bonus will be fairly accurately. I THINK, I can pay off all existing credit cards and medical bills off. That will leave me with a lot of room left in my paycheck and my goals after paying off that debt through the end of the year are to:

• up my 401k contribution for any raise I get this year
• pay off new medical debt from surgeon and radiation
• buy my 18 year old a cash car
• pay for her first semester of community college
• repair a retaining wall
• up my 401k contributions some more.

Like I said in my introductory post, I usually blow this little windfall, but I am absolutely NOT this year. I am not going to think about Disney, furniture, gardening, wardrobe or any silly you-know-what until I am out of the debt above. (Still have student loans, 401k loan, car payments.)

 

[dayvewc]

I am still here. Muddling through slowly. Most days I feel like I am weighted down and struggling to just get to the end of the day, but I make it. I will be happy beyond belief when this school year ends.

My financial goals are:

• Buy a house.

I know the one I want, just need about 4 2 more months saving for the down payment
Fingers crossed it will still be on the market come April. Almost lost it, it was listed as "Pending Sale" for 6 weeks, but the realtor called yesterday and the buyers backed out last minute, so fingers crossed.
Ideally, would like to close mid-May, so that I can use the last 2 weeks of May to move.

• Sell my old house.

Preferably before I buy my new house, but honestly just as long as it sells. Talked to the people currently planning to buy. They are still planning to buy, but the time-table to purchase has been thrown off due to COVID and they are not sure when they will be able to close.

• Increase my savings by at least $5000 (above the down payment) Up by $800
• Pay off my last credit card Starting balance $11453.12 Current balance $9067.82

Personal goals:

• Lose 50 pounds. This is more of a dream than a goal. Not sure how I'll manage this, but it is an interim goal. No change
• Take at least 2 cash vacations this year. 1 mini vacation down
• Get the VA to approve my shoulder for disability (and backpay) <-- this is big Still working on this
• Get the VA to approve the other remaining items I've filed for Still working on this
• Find a life partner (without having to use duct-tape) Still looking

Unexpected expense: It probably could have waited a bit longer, but ... I had had my eye on the 2020 Buick Envisions anyway, and caught them with the new model incentives. So, between those, teacher discount, January discount, etc. the dealer sold me a new one for $26,500 when they are listed at $39,999. Everyone, meet Olaf Baymax.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Finally got my stupid taxes filed!!!

Not that we'll see anything back from it, but hey, at least our new income is in there for when (if) they finally push the next stimulus through.

 

[imbatman]

End of February check-in

Financial

• CC 1 - $2198.01 (balance 12/9/20 - one more payment to come out in December).
• CC 2 - $6119.84 (balance 2/25/21 and 0%). Sold old car and half of this will be gone next week.
• Start deposits back into Roth no later than June.
• Savings to stay above $1000 at all times. Work to be at $3000 by the end of the year (minimum).
• Start a vacation fund for 2023 WDW trip ONLY after the credit cards are paid off
• Addition: save $2000 for a Christmas trip to the coast. This was decided yesterday after a rather interesting Christmas. Reservations made!
• New: Car purchase = payments. Loan rate is only 2.7%, but will try and knock it down ASAP

Personal

• Finish the second book manuscript
• Second bathroom painting update with leftover paint and create "frames" for the mirror
• Replace flooring in living room and hallway (already purchased and delayed by surgeries)
• Learn to be okay with my scars - give myself more grace
• Continue to purge unused household items
• Addition: learn to be professional with a coworker who is terrible to me. I have learned she is not as invested in work as I am. She's invested in her breaks and vacation time. So, I'll be polite.

 

[slightly_obsessed]

Checking in.

It's been a weird and expensive month here. The medical bills from my husband's surgery and hospital stay are starting to roll in and his Jeep needed about $1400 in repairs. I'm thankful I have spent the last couple years slowly building up our buffers. Two years ago when he needed surgery, we just lucked out it was close to tax return time so we could cover those bills. This year I am hoping I pulled too much aside, but I don't know yet... deductibles and insurance are weird. If so, I'll just roll the extra into our emergency savings. We wiped out our car repair fund last year with tires for the Highlander/Jeep (9 SUV tires = ouch), so this fund hadn't quite recovered but I pulled the money from elsewhere. But I'm just glad the money was there to pull.

2021 Financial Goals

• Discover - Gone!
• DVC loan - $95.53/$5000 Not a huge amount of progress this month but I didn't expect one. Just happy for some progress.
• Emergency Fund - $6100/$10,000
• Pay for any vacations in cash. ~$400 to go for April.

2021 Personal Goals

• Focus on health. .
• Hopefully get pregnant.
• Focus on focusing. My February focus was getting taxes done and working on my paperwork piles. Taxes are almost complete and got a lot of papers scanned and filed. March goals are submit taxes and keep on working on papers. I am also focusing on meal planning and eating what we have to keep food costs/waste down.
• Get a will/trust done. Got an idea about what a trust will cost here, thinking of what we want to lay out. Queen of overthinking here, so trying not to drag this out.

 

[ciaoaloha31]

End of February Update (in purple)

2021 Financial Goals

41.9% Complete 13% Complete Payoff PayPal Credit Balance by end of July (0% interest through July)
6.4% Complete 4.9% Complete Payoff Balance of Amex Card by end of August (with 0% interest through August) (would have been closer to 10% if my state tax refund had been direct deposited. Hopefully, I can throw that at this in March assuming it hits my checking account)
1/11 0/11 Make additional $100 monthly payment towards principal of SSR DVC Loan starting in February
1/11 0/11 Make additional $100 monthly payment towards principal of CCV DVC Loan starting in February (Projected Payoff moved up 2 months to July 2026)
1/11 0/11 Save $200/month towards down payment of a new vehicle starting in February (current vehicle is fully paid off as of Dec 2020 and expect 2-3 more years out of it before needing a new one)

2021 Reach Financial Goals (Goals that are a bit of a stretch but trying for them anyway )

August 2027 Current Projected Payoff Date November 2027 Current Projected Payoff Date Payoff SSR DVC Loan by end of December
$7003.56/$10,000 $7001.78/$10,000 Grow Emergency Savings to $10,000 (yay interest?)

 

[imbatman]

deductibles and insurance are weird

Keep track of your deductibles and if you have an out of pocket maximum. Part of my job is to help people who call in and their totals aren't correct. I went through it myself last year with my surgeries. It helps to have an Excel spreadsheet.

Get a will/trust done.

You can at least start with a free version! If your state requires a notary, that's certainly quicker than nothing.

 

[slightly_obsessed]

Keep track of your deductibles and if you have an out of pocket maximum. Part of my job is to help people who call in and their totals aren't correct. I went through it myself last year with my surgeries. It helps to have an Excel spreadsheet.

You can at least start with a free version! If your state requires a notary, that's certainly quicker than nothing.

good advice, thanks! I do have an excel going. Just a whole lot of bills from so many places and some of the specialists aren't technically in network, even though they are the only option, so it gets confusing at times with rates and such.

As to the will... if you have ever seen When Harry Met Sally, just picture me as Carrie Fisher's character saying "You're right, you're right, I know you are right"

 

[ajanderson84]

Hello Everyone! My end of Feb. Updates are in BLUE

Alright everyone, first time I am going to share some goals. It's a little tricky for 2021 at the moment, as my husband is active duty military and we are waiting to hear our orders for summer 2021. Maybe we get to stay 4 more years, maybe we have to move... who knows just yet... with that in mind: We now know that we are staying where we are for four more years!

2021 Financial Goals:

• Continue building house fund to 9k or so (3 months worth of house payments) Currently at 4,500 Made it to 6,200... but used 1,000 to purchase a spin bike so back to 5,200. Still progress. This is now 5,800
• Continue to build savings to 60k (6 months worth of savings) lllllooong way to go with this goal, currently about 3k Currently 6,100 thanks to Stimulus. I've lost track of this, too many pots of money trying to keep track of. There's savings, but it'll have to wait until after vacation to figure out how much there is.
• Work on spending less, although we are in a high cost area (DC) I feel like our budget for Groceries and such is far too high This is still high. I should have said eat out less and actually eat the groceries we buy -.- We did really good with this in Feb. We ate out significantly less but spent about the same on groceries. I'll take the win!
• Start an IRA (I am late to this retirement game). We have a long standing TSP for DH and I have a 401(k) but nothing else for retirement (I am 36, DH is 40) I haven't started this yet. Not even sure how to start this yet. I still haven't started this. Retirement me is going to be very angry with past me.
• Start saving for Vacations, I would like to take them more often... I think maybe 4-6k may be needed to be saved. Currently have a little over 1k in Disney gift cards I buy from Sam's Club. I now have 1,675 in gift cards and around $7500 for our vacation in April. Apparently we are going again in October too so gotta keep saving!
• Save for potential move, if no move, use to improve current house Although we have started smaller projects, have not yet done this. No Change here yet
• Pay off 1 CC for Lowes: $600.00 - Complete by June 2021. I had to replace the dishwasher in Sept of 2020. The balance on the card is interest free for 12 months so I will just continue to pay $50/paycheck until it is paid off, roughly 6 more months. (Edited to add this, as I forgot about it earlier.) Current balance is 502. This is paid off now due to my annual bonus!

2021 Personal Goals:

• Continue college classes for Bachelor's Degree (Using DH's GI bill for this) I may have over done this one. Two classes starting Feb 1. Currently working on Mid Terms
• Maintain PMP certification I have already finished this for this year
• Obtain additional IT related Certification (Perhaps Sec +) We'll see what COVID allows me to do. I haven't had a moment to start on this yet.
• Lose Weight (total needed to lose is 102lbs, but I'd be happy if I lost 40) I have lost 3 lbs! WW with my DH, we also started a YouTube channel together... for accountability. I haven't moved in weight at all, which is crazy, but DH has lost 10lbs. We are still doing YouTube
• Learn to cook better... I mean I can cook, its just not very exciting... and I like food so if I can learn to make healthy exciting meals, all the better. We tried new recipes this week, but lots of progress to go here. Homemade Queso is my new favorite thing!
• If staying, paint upstairs of house, replace upstairs carpet either way, and perhaps paint kitchen cabinets. If not staying, finish outstanding small repairs and deep clean all the things to list the house. I want to start a veggie garden in the spring (well I guess I will start seeds inside before spring). All of the unfinished projects we'll have to plan out over the next four years. I bought seeds! I bought starter peet! I have done nothing with these things! I am what's wrong with me!
• New Goal: Both 17 year old boys are joining the United States Coast Guard this year. One leaves in April, One is graduating High School in June and then leaving in August. I have not prepared to send them off into the world and need to figure this out asap! I think I am still in panic mode. How do you prepare for this?

 

[pblack]

End of February update:

• Save additional $1000 towards emergency fund outside of monthly transfers......Once our roommate gives me his rent for March this will be at $1000/$1000. Counting this one as done.
• Increase retirement contributions for DH and myself.......This has been completed.
• Pay $1000 extra towards Highlander loan.......Currently at $505/$1000
• Figure out how to pay for roof replacement......This is being put off for now. I'll start throwing some money in savings here and there for when we do end up replacing it.
• Kick out our roommate.....I've decided that DH and I are going to talk to him about this this weekend. I plan on giving him 1-2 months to find a place since I know it isn't always easy.
• Exercise 4-5 times a week for 30-45 minutes.....I've done really well with this since January. I met this goal again in February. Most weeks I exercise 5 times for at least 45 minutes, with the occasional 4-day week or 30 min-session because you know....life. I was down about 5 pounds, but I put about 3 back on when I had weighed myself the other day. I'm really good about eating healthy/minimally during the week, but when the weekend hits I end up snacking more. I need to work on that.

In other news, our Federal tax return hit our bank account this morning and now we're just waiting on our state return. We have an appointment tomorrow to meet with a fireplace specialist to look into how much it will cost to put an insert into our current wood burning fireplace. I'm hoping to be able to take care of this with our tax return/some of the last stimulus money that we haven't touched. If it ends up being more than we're expecting then we'll just put it off once again. (Been wanting to do this for the 3 years we've lived here.) We are also going to refinance our house again to take advantage of the low rates. We're hoping to lower our payment by $110-150/mo which would then go towards paying the cable/internet bill we'll have to take over once our roommate leaves (he pays it now).

We have a couple small mini vacations coming up. We'll be heading to Texas in a few weeks to visit my BFF for a long weekend. We will also be going to Vegas for a weekend in April. I got a great Hotwire deal on the Venetian, $330 for 2 nights including the resort fee. This will be our second ever trip to Vegas and I'm excited to try a different hotel. We are also contemplating buying tickets for "A Taste of Disney" that DCA will be hosting in Mid-March through the beginning of April. It's $75 a ticket which is a little pricey, but does include $25 towards food tastings, parking, and photopass photos which we wouldn't use. So it's really not a terrible value as long as you take advantage of parking and photos. We'll see if we're able to get tickets though. I think demand is going to be high especially with the SoCal locals.

To everyone who has met some/part/all of their goals...congratulations!! And to anyone who is feeling a little discouraged, just keep swimming!

@dayvewc good to see you pop in and congrats on the new car!

 

[afan]

Exercise 4-5 times a week for 30-45 minutes.....I've done really well with this since January. I met this goal again in February. Most weeks I exercise 5 times for at least 45 minutes, with the occasional 4-day week or 30 min-session because you know....life. I was down about 5 pounds, but I put about 3 back on when I had weighed myself the other day. I'm really good about eating healthy/minimally during the week, but when the weekend hits I end up snacking more. I need to work on that.

While we get focused on the number, and yes it will go down, look at how your clothes fit vs the number. Muscle weighs more so if you are building any of that the number will be off as far as the weight lost. It also depends on if you are weighing yourself at the same time of day, liquid intake and for women, the time of the month.

 

[pblack]

While we get focused on the number, and yes it will go down, look at how your clothes fit vs the number. Muscle weighs more so if you are building any of that the number will be off as far as the weight lost. It also depends on if you are weighing yourself at the same time of day, liquid intake and for women, the time of the month.

All very valid points . Im not overly concerned by the number, I never used to weigh myself, but I thought it'd be a nice little experiment. Im trying to build a positive relationship with the number instead of a negative one.

 

[PhoenixStrength]

End of February Goal Update, then Life Update:

2021 Financial Goals:

• Pay off personal loan and 2 credit cards:
  • Loan: $2079.39 $1970.47
  • CC #1: $2840.81
  • CC #2: $2315.83 $2197.16
• Save $2000 toward emergency fund. 500/2000 saved
• Set up new personal Roth account for retirement Nothing yet
• Save $2000 for Christmas 2021 fund Nothing yet
• Save $6000 for vacation fund Nothing yet

2021 Personal Goals:

• Eat healthier Doing better on this! Eating at home a lot more, less desserts and smaller portions.
• Exercise more Got a treadmill a few days ago, so that will help! Even better, it was free! My Mom was getting rid of hers that is only a few years old, so she gave it to me for free!
• Stress less Mostly doing better with this. Helps that DH is helping me recognize better when I'm stressing out unnecessarily and helps me to see what I should be focusing on instead.

So, life update time. On Wednesday afternoon I got into a car accident. I'm fine, car less so. It's not a ton of damage, wasn't even a hard enough impact to make the air bags go off, but the car is 10 years old so it's not worth a lot. Won't know until early next week if it is being fixed or totaled. Was supposed to know today, but there was some sort of mistake, not sure if human or computer, that caused the appointment for the tow truck to move my car to the insurance yard for assessment to get deleted yesterday. They discovered it when I called this afternoon looking for an update. So now it won't be moved until Monday morning and then the assessment can be started. Thankfully I have a rental covered by the insurance company until it is either fixed or totaled. The odds are it will be totaled, which means having a car payment again. Trying to not stress about that (see goal above!) but rather think of it as an opportunity to get a newer vehicle with the features I want. But adding more debt and reducing my extra funds that I could be using to pay debt is still a hard pill to swallow.

 

[jen7233]

End of February Goal Update, then Life Update:

2021 Financial Goals:

• Pay off personal loan and 2 credit cards:
  • Loan: $2079.39 $1970.47
  • CC #1: $2840.81
  • CC #2: $2315.83 $2197.16
• Save $2000 toward emergency fund. 500/2000 saved
• Set up new personal Roth account for retirement Nothing yet
• Save $2000 for Christmas 2021 fund Nothing yet
• Save $6000 for vacation fund Nothing yet

2021 Personal Goals:

Reminds me that I did not start a Christmas fund this year! I've been leaving everything in checking, it's a strange year not sure why I have just left checking alone and haven't done much else but a Roth contribution in January and Feb.

 

[StacyStrong]

My end of February update is in red below!

1. Save an additional $10k toward my house down payment. I am up about $3,150.
2. Continue saving monthly toward annual ARDC fees, vacation fund, and Christmas. These are auto transfers so no real change. No change. Still saving for these monthly.
3. Cut grocery spending. I did great on spending on eating out last year, but I definitely still spend too much on groceries. I don't mind spending on food I enjoy and eat, but I definitely have some food waste and can make more informed purchasing decisions. I'd like to try and cut ~100 a month on groceries. I am still working on this. Over the past 3 months, I've stayed under my grocery budget, but I'm not quite at cutting $100 yet.
4. Lose an additional 20lbs. I've lost like...1. It's been a crazy year. I need to get motivated again.

I got my tax refund already. It went straight to my house downpayment fund. Other than that, I'm closing out my 3rd full month with YNAB and I'm honestly loving it. My net-worth has increased by about 10k over the last 3 months!

 

[jen7233]

So, I live in Texas and we had a rough week last week. We managed to keep power and water, but:

• my sister was on rolling blackouts, trying to keep her exotic pets alive while boiling water and charging a heat lamp every hour
• my niece had electricity but zero water and ended up at my sister's
• my oldest daughter and grandbabies had a roof leak and COVID
• my cousin's home was totally flooded, moving my 96 year old aunt to an assisted living center
• my mother is good, but wants to visit aunt, and cannot
• and... my friends had to be rescued by the Red Cross and taken to a warming center.

Hope things have gotten better now!

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

End of February Update:

Goal #1: Sell ”city” house. In early March 2020, I purchased a family home out in the country on my family’s home place and planned to sell my ”in the city house”. Within 3 weeks though, I was suddenly and unexpectedly working remotely from home due to COVID and my daughter was at home doing her college classes remotely. My country home place had never had internet and did not have reliable cell service, so I had to keep the city house for a while. Internet became a huge issue. I had contracted with two different companies who both backed out on the day of scheduled install. A while turned in to a while longer, but daughter is now back in California for college and I have a decent-ish internet that mostly lets me work remotely as long as nothing else in the house is connected online, so now, fingers crossed, let’s get the city house sold. Have an interested buyer, but we’ll see. I hope to sell by April 15, 2021.
Goal #2 When city house sells, pay off the loan for the country house.
Goal #3 Pay property taxes on both houses in January 2021. approx $6500. This is sitting in my bank account ready to pay. ☑
Goal #4 Cash flow all of daughter’s college tuition, fees, room and board. Winter Quarter ☑
Goal #5 Pay off all credit cards to zero balance. I have three with a balance right now=total is $12648. Paid off the smallest and paid an extra $500 on the next smallest. Moved the largest via balance transfer to a 0% interest card.
Goal #6 Maintain $2000 emergency fund
Goal #7 Update will.
Goal #8 Replace dishwasher in country house.

After the city house sells, the country house need some work. I already had to replace the roof, garbage disposal, and the dryer in late 2020. Once I have sale proceeds from city house:
goal #1 for country house: Remodel master bathroom to add a bathtub and update (new sinks/countertop, new mirror, new lighting, remove wallpaper, maybe add some better insulation, maybe add vanity/seat).
goal #2 for country house: New flooring throughout.
goal #3 for country house: Power wash porch and sealant on the porch
goal #4 for country house: Paint where roofers removed gutters and replaced some rotted boards. Maybe repaint all of the wood exterior, I’d kind of like a different color.

New goal #5 for country house—My Nephew offered to build an enclosed fence in the backyard with a ramp from the back porch for the dogs. Spent about $800 with materials and labor. He did a terrific job—it is very sturdy and looks so well done AND should keep out wild animals. Lots of coyotes in the area. I didn’t know how much I needed this and how much it would improve my life! So easy now to open a door and they run out to do their business and have a large area to run free.

Hang in there everyone!! Keep Debt Dumping!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

So, I live in Texas and we had a rough week last week. We managed to keep power and water, but:

• my sister was on rolling blackouts, trying to keep her exotic pets alive while boiling water and charging a heat lamp every hour
• my niece had electricity but zero water and ended up at my sister's
• my oldest daughter and grandbabies had a roof leak and COVID
• my cousin's home was totally flooded, moving my 96 year old aunt to an assisted living center
• my mother is good, but wants to visit aunt, and cannot
• and... my friends had to be rescued by the Red Cross and taken to a warming center.

Whew!

My husband finished taxes, I did performance reviews for my employees, and I can guess what my income tax return and bonus will be fairly accurately. I THINK, I can pay off all existing credit cards and medical bills off. That will leave me with a lot of room left in my paycheck and my goals after paying off that debt through the end of the year are to:

• up my 401k contribution for any raise I get this year
• pay off new medical debt from surgeon and radiation
• buy my 18 year old a cash car
• pay for her first semester of community college
• repair a retaining wall
• up my 401k contributions some more.

Like I said in my introductory post, I usually blow this little windfall, but I am absolutely NOT this year. I am not going to think about Disney, furniture, gardening, wardrobe or any silly you-know-what until I am out of the debt above. (Still have student loans, 401k loan, car payments.)

 

[barkley]

End of February Update:

Goal #1: Sell ”city” house. In early March 2020, I purchased a family home out in the country on my family’s home place and planned to sell my ”in the city house”. Within 3 weeks though, I was suddenly and unexpectedly working remotely from home due to COVID and my daughter was at home doing her college classes remotely. My country home place had never had internet and did not have reliable cell service, so I had to keep the city house for a while. Internet became a huge issue. I had contracted with two different companies who both backed out on the day of scheduled install. A while turned in to a while longer, but daughter is now back in California for college and I have a decent-ish internet that mostly lets me work remotely as long as nothing else in the house is connected online, so now, fingers crossed, let’s get the city house sold. Have an interested buyer, but we’ll see. I hope to sell by April 15, 2021.
Goal #2 When city house sells, pay off the loan for the country house.
Goal #3 Pay property taxes on both houses in January 2021. approx $6500. This is sitting in my bank account ready to pay. ☑
Goal #4 Cash flow all of daughter’s college tuition, fees, room and board. Winter Quarter ☑
Goal #5 Pay off all credit cards to zero balance. I have three with a balance right now=total is $12648. Paid off the smallest and paid an extra $500 on the next smallest. Moved the largest via balance transfer to a 0% interest card.
Goal #6 Maintain $2000 emergency fund
Goal #7 Update will.
Goal #8 Replace dishwasher in country house.

After the city house sells, the country house need some work. I already had to replace the roof, garbage disposal, and the dryer in late 2020. Once I have sale proceeds from city house:
goal #1 for country house: Remodel master bathroom to add a bathtub and update (new sinks/countertop, new mirror, new lighting, remove wallpaper, maybe add some better insulation, maybe add vanity/seat).
goal #2 for country house: New flooring throughout.
goal #3 for country house: Power wash porch and sealant on the porch
goal #4 for country house: Paint where roofers removed gutters and replaced some rotted boards. Maybe repaint all of the wood exterior, I’d kind of like a different color.

New goal #5 for country house—My Nephew offered to build an enclosed fence in the backyard with a ramp from the back porch for the dogs. Spent about $800 with materials and labor. He did a terrific job—it is very sturdy and looks so well done AND should keep out wild animals. Lots of coyotes in the area. I didn’t know how much I needed this and how much it would improve my life! So easy now to open a door and they run out to do their business and have a large area to run free.

Hang in there everyone!! Keep Debt Dumping!

i live in a rural area with lousy at best internet, a neighbor signed up for elon musk's star link that's being offered in limited numbers right now-she is THRILLED. you might want to check it out.

i don't know how far out in the country you are, but esp. if you are on a well you might want to consider one more upgrade down the line that i've never regretted spending money on-a automatic generator system. when the power goes out mine kicks on so i can stay warm, continue to use my lousy internet and enjoy toilets that flush.

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

i live in a rural area with lousy at best internet, a neighbor signed up for elon musk's star link that's being offered in limited numbers right now-she is THRILLED. you might want to check it out.

i don't know how far out in the country you are, but esp. if you are on a well you might want to consider one more upgrade down the line that i've never regretted spending money on-a automatic generator system. when the power goes out mine kicks on so i can stay warm, continue to use my lousy internet and enjoy toilets that flush.

Thanks for the StarLink suggestion!
We do have a portable generator which helped tremendously when the power was out for 54 hours during the Texas Snowpocalypse last week. It still would be nice to upgrade though!