Debt Dumpers 2021

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

I love seeing how intentional everyone is being with their planned stimulus checks coming in! I have put my other two into particular savings buckets. That is what I have been planning with this one, too, although now that my DD20 is being included, I am putting hers in her savings account to go toward next year's college room and board expenses.

I was just going to plop my $1400 into savings. I am now thinking, "When do I ever plan on replacing my back door to my house and its storm door?" They are in terrible shape due to a variety of dogs over the years, both from me and the people who lived here before me who had two Great Danes and a third dog. They are scratched up, rusted, and my inner door panes were chewed through by my previous dog who had separation anxiety. They still work fine and I just usually don't notice how terrible they look, but really....

Anyone else get into such a savings mode that you are loathe to spend much...even with money that is meant to stimulate the economy? I have a million things wrong with my old house, and a HELOC sitting untouched because I just don't want to get into debt again. Yet, I will retire within a few short years and if I want to sell the house, this stuff is going to have to get done. I have enough money in my car "bucket" to pay off my car, but I just don't want to touch it. The car will be paid off next February if I just keep paying the note monthly.

Is this weird of me? Like once I got out of debt (other than two cars and mortgage), I don't want to spend any money anymore but, instead, build up my savings. House repairs are so expensive (not the back doors but re-plumbing, replacing floors, and other things I need to do) that I just stick my head in the sand and keep the purse strings closed. Now I am taking from savings to pay for a dental crown this week and in January I had to pay for an expensive surgery for my dog. But those are essential. I am definitely falling down on paying for house maintenance and repair.

Edited: I just counted up 11 months of car payments, and that number exceeds what I would spend to pay it off now by $300. So, that is dumb to not pay it off now, right? I could pay it off now, put the car payment amount back into the car bucket each month and by February have $300 more in there than I do now. So the smart thing to do is to pay it off now. Right?

I can definitely identify with having gotten into a mode to not spend. I am finally over the last few years making major debt dumping progress. I love seeing the chunks of debt fall off every month so much. I was talking to a co-worker today about how little I have bought during the pandemic. Like you, there are home repairs and improvements I have ignored and put off—and if I am honest, it is because just want all of the debt GONE!

Edited to add: yes, I agree, I would pay off the car now and save the $300.

 

[Tygerlilly]

We are going to pay off some debt, buy the remaining baby items, finish some small home projects, and take a 2 night trip to Branson for our daughter's 4th birthday. The rest I'll put back to use as needed.

Went to take the Kia to my doctor's appointment and to get gas in it for hubby to take to work tonight and the most awful sound happened while backing up. He thinks it's the breaks. Got new break pads and brake fluid and he'll try and get it all changed out tomorrow morning. If it isn't isn't break pads, he's concerned it's something he can't fix himself. If that's the case, between that and the other few things that need maintenance on it, we're debating if it's worth having the work done or if it would be smarter to trade it in and get something else.

 

[imbatman]

Edited: I just counted up 11 months of car payments, and that number exceeds what I would spend to pay it off now by $300. So, that is dumb to not pay it off now, right? I could pay it off now, put the car payment amount back into the car bucket each month and by February have $300 more in there than I do now. So the smart thing to do is to pay it off now. Right?

Doooooo ittttttt! I love a good banana dance celebration!

 

[DLgal]

Well, my husband and I definitely stimulated the local economy today at Downtown Disney. We had a great lunch at Naples and dropped some coin at the Lego store and the Star Wars outpost. Seeing the $5600 pending deposit this morning made me all "buy whatever you want" today. LOL.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

I love seeing how intentional everyone is being with their planned stimulus checks coming in! I have put my other two into particular savings buckets. That is what I have been planning with this one, too, although now that my DD20 is being included, I am putting hers in her savings account to go toward next year's college room and board expenses.

I was just going to plop my $1400 into savings. I am now thinking, "When do I ever plan on replacing my back door to my house and its storm door?" They are in terrible shape due to a variety of dogs over the years, both from me and the people who lived here before me who had two Great Danes and a third dog. They are scratched up, rusted, and my inner door panes were chewed through by my previous dog who had separation anxiety. They still work fine and I just usually don't notice how terrible they look, but really....

Anyone else get into such a savings mode that you are loathe to spend much...even with money that is meant to stimulate the economy? I have a million things wrong with my old house, and a HELOC sitting untouched because I just don't want to get into debt again. Yet, I will retire within a few short years and if I want to sell the house, this stuff is going to have to get done. I have enough money in my car "bucket" to pay off my car, but I just don't want to touch it. The car will be paid off next February if I just keep paying the note monthly.

Is this weird of me? Like once I got out of debt (other than two cars and mortgage), I don't want to spend any money anymore but, instead, build up my savings. House repairs are so expensive (not the back doors but re-plumbing, replacing floors, and other things I need to do) that I just stick my head in the sand and keep the purse strings closed. Now I am taking from savings to pay for a dental crown this week and in January I had to pay for an expensive surgery for my dog. But those are essential. I am definitely falling down on paying for house maintenance and repair.

Edited: I just counted up 11 months of car payments, and that number exceeds what I would spend to pay it off now by $300. So, that is dumb to not pay it off now, right? I could pay it off now, put the car payment amount back into the car bucket each month and by February have $300 more in there than I do now. So the smart thing to do is to pay it off now. Right?

We are in savings mode too and don't really want to spend on anything right now. We're going to save the stimulus money, but we will give our college age DD her share because she missed out on the previous two payments. No travel plans at all this year, hoping to resume traveling next year, but that's a separate budget, so no need to touch our savings.

And I would definitely pay off the car now. $300 saved by paying it off now is great!

 

[FQLover]

Thank you, budget friends. I need to just bite the bullet and pay off the car now. I will let you now when I do.

@tygerlily What kind of Kia do you have? I have a 2015 Sorento I got in 2016. I am down to owing 2900 on it and am about to pay it off. Crossing fingers it will not need major repairs for a few years. I have replaced brakes and tires and some small things but generally it has been going okay.

 

[4 Ears]

We are not putting it into savings. We are a bit behind many of you. But it will easily pay that pesky loan off I keep writing about. Minimum payment on that is just shy of $500. Paying that off will be a HUGE weight off our shoulders! Website says we get ours tomorrow

 

[Tygerlilly]

Thank you, budget friends. I need to just bite the bullet and pay off the car now. I will let you now when I do.

@tygerlily What kind of Kia do you have? I have a 2015 Sorento I got in 2016. I am down to owing 2900 on it and am about to pay it off. Crossing fingers it will not need major repairs for a few years. I have replaced brakes and tires and some small things but generally it has been going okay.

It's a 2013. We got it used when it had just over 100k miles on it. No idea if the previous people took any care of it. We've already replaced brake pads and such within the last year, so the fact that they are wearing so fast has me a little worried. It's completely paid off, which is going to really stink if we do decide to replace.

 

[CaleCakes]

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit jealous of everyone getting a stimulus. Since my husband got a settlement last year it falsely inflated our income to push us out of the eligibility bracket. Definitely should have waited to file taxes. I can always find a way to stimulate the economy especially with "free" money!

 

[4 Ears]

I get ya, just the 2 of us so "only" $2,800 while others are posting much larger amounts. Grateful for what we are getting though.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Checking in! I've been super busy so just caught up on 8 pages here.

Our stimulus will also be deposited tomorrow! Current plan is just straight to savings. We are splitting our current savings between our future car replacement fund and future home renovations fund. Both will hopefully not take place for several years, but I hate having a car payment and also want to have some cash set aside for renovations, even though we will definitely still need to take out a loan (planning on doing major construction).

We had a couple things pop up recently but have managed to skate by. I thought we were going to have to replace our fridge. Our icemaker quit working, which isn't the end of the world, but I HATE a side by side fridge and have wanted a new one ever since we moved into this house over 5 years ago. We went into Lowe's to check out french door fridges and get an idea of what we wanted, but the icemaker started working again! I can't bring myself to get rid of a working appliance, so I'll wait for it to bite the bullet.

I also suspect that the transmission in DH's car might be starting to go... I've noticed it slipping some so I dropped it by the mechanic today to get him to drive it and let me know. We knew buying this model car (Nissan Rogue) that if something was going to go bad, it was going to be the transmission. We purposefully bought the extended warranty for it so that it's covered if that happens. I need to pull our paperwork, but I believe our deductible is $300. We'll see what my guy says tomorrow and then go from there. March sometimes to be a bad time for our vehicles considering the engine blew up in my car last March too haha.

Everything else here is just cruising along. I received both doses of the covid vaccine and am looking forward to regaining some normalcy and being a little more protected since I don't work from home and am in a public-facing job. We are currently planning to take a road trip in April for our first vacation since last February!

 

[4 Ears]

I am dancing on the ceiling...
Well OK maybe not LOL
BUT I did just pay "That Pesky Loan" off.
As well as a medical bill that was much less than I thought it was... SCORE!
AND paid a nice chunk on a credit.
Yea, havent been ready until the loan was paid off to come clean about the credit cards.
Have a Walmart one that is like $100, pay that one off each month.
"Oxford" which is now only $1,500.
Mine, $3,000.
DH, $9,000 ish
Now with that loan done, they should go pretty quickly.

 

[ford91exploder]

Excellent decision....

I have a ford F350 purchased in 1999 it still looks and runs like new but every 5 years it goes in for a overhaul which usually runs 5,000 or so all mechanical/electrical/body/interior issues are addressed, That truck cost $23,000 in 1999 the same one new is $98,000 and other than having more gadgets does nothing that the old one doesnt do.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Yay stimulus! I'm going to attempt to get the last few baby items today, but walmart was pretty wiped out yesterday on basically everything already, so fingers crossed I can at least find the girls new booster seats and the infant seat I need. If I get those, I'm fine with waiting on the other stuff because he at least will have a car seat, a place to sleep, diapers and clothes.
I did manage to snag over 30 brand new cloth diapers, some inserts and a couple other items for under $250, so I thought that was a good deal.
The Children's Place near me is closing the store, so I've been in 4 times since that was announced to get all 3 kids some clothes. I think I've spent $140 total and the total savings is close to $600. I love their jeans for the girls, so for $5 I got the next size up for both as well as current sizes.

 

[StacyStrong]

My stimulus was deposited. I already mentioned it's going toward my house downpayment savings.

It's been a heck of a March.

My car has been incredibly irritating. I had a flat tire earlier in the month. Luckily my boyfriend's uncle owns a tire shop so they repaired it for free. I just tipped the guy who worked on my car. Then, I got a tune up and had some thingamajigs under my hood replaced. THEN, my brakes started squealing and it turned out that I needed new rotors and brake pads all around. I got an oil change while I was at it. Again, lucky for me, my boyfriend owns an auto repair shop, so I just paid for parts at his company's discounted rate through their supplier. All of this in its entirety only cost me $237 total and I had it socked away in a car maintenance fund. Super glad my car repairs get to be low cost basically forever.

It was also my dad's 60th birthday, my boyfriends 32nd, and my cousin had her baby all back to back the same week. It's been a pricey March. My cousin had some complications post-pregnancy so I'm going by her place for 2 days starting tomorrow to help her and her husband out. I was COVID tested yesterday and she's fully vaccinated. I'll still wear a mask when I'm in a room with them to be safe.

On top of this, a co-worker had emergency surgery about a week ago so she was out of the office for a week. I'm her backup so it's been crazy busy at work too.

I'm looking forward to a calmer April.

 

[pblack]

BUT I did just pay "That Pesky Loan" off.
As well as a medical bill that was much less than I thought it was... SCORE!

banana dances for you!

 

[imbatman]

Guess who's gigantic mattress was delivered today?!

And by gigantic, I mean that it doesn't fit our frame. So, there will be some modifications tonight. I'm SO EXCITED to go to bed tonight!

 

[barkley]

i (we) are getting a new closet! we only have to wait........................12 weeks apparently allot of people whose vacations got cancelled once then twice are spending their money on closets. it cost less than i figured (i had mentally said if it was 10K or more there was no way) but more than i hoped- HOWEVER i'm getting WAY more than i anticipated storage wise-10 drawers, too many shelves to count, and ADJUSTABLE hanging bars the corner in the closet i use as a mini office will have an entire unit with a section of little individual shelves to handle all the paperwork i keep track of for everyone.

i suspect some stuff we've had stored in dd's former closet will make it's way into ours which means i can use THAT ONE exclusively for stuff that eats up space (like dh's comic book boxes and the wealth of fleece blankets we own).

 

[webcreatrix]

In a week I will pay off my braces. By the end of the month, I will have my credit cards paid off. Will see what's left for medical bills.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Impromptu date night to the casino tonight. We actually had this planned for next month, but work has been so incredibly stressful for us both so we said screw it and went tonight. Took in $200 each and after 4.5 hours, came home with a total of $740. Not too bad of a little profit, we played forever, and most importantly, we had fun and were able to de-stress a little. I'm perfectly happy with leaving even and honestly had no idea how much was in my purse (I was having a great night and kept putting $100 in the purse and then sharing the rest of my tickets with hubby), so was pleasantly surprised at the extra. Probably going to put it towards new calipers and rotors for the Kia since the break pads didn't really help the awful sound it was making.