Debt Dumpers 2021

[piglet1979]

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.

I had a horrible sound when backing up once. It was only in reverse that it made this horrible loud grinding noise. I drove to work on the highway and was fine. It was the ball barring's. Just something to look into if what you are doing is not fixing the noise.

 

[crazycatstacy]

Got our stimulus. Finished getting the things I need/want for my mom's birthday party next week. Paid for my husbands parking spot for the year and he is having some work done on his truck. Will see how much the truck ends up being and then will either pay a bill or bulk up savings with the rest.

My husband is a hunter and he has gotten into shed hunting the last couple years. Last year he made about $500 with what he found and already this year he has almost double what he found last year. We are going tonight so he can sell them. He keeps the money and does stuff to his truck or buys hunting stuff he needs but he always gives me some. I am hoping to buy some new clothes with my portion!

 

[piglet1979]

I have been following along for a weeks now. Since the pandemic started we have been get rid of all of our debt except the house. I just paid off DH's car this month. Our goal now is to have enough in savings to cover a year of work on the off chance one of us gets laid off. DH is in IT and is fearful that his job will sent over seas.

What has helped with our savings is that I am working from home. So less driving and $100 a month that I am not paying in parking. We have also stopped eating out except maybe once a month it that. And then the stimulus money has all gone into savings.

 

[StephMK]

We got our stimulus and I keep running numbers to see how best to put it towards debt. We also have a tax refund coming this year because our income dropped. My van got paid off this month so I have that monthly payment to snowball.

It will take time to get everything paid off and it's hard not to dream what we could have put the money towards instead. Ah well, all the more reason to pay it off.

 

[barkley]

keep an eye on bank accounts and credit cards-the thieves know that money is hitting accounts, people are spending and might not notice a few fraudulent purchases here and there. my bank caught 2 different fraudulent purchases from different vendors today.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Paid off both credit cards today. They have such small limits that it's hardly worth celebrating, but I've been only making minimum payments on them for far too long. Who knows, maybe Capital One will raise the limit a little so I can feel like I have a grown up credit card.

Heading up to pay off our personal loans tomorrow, I think. I don't know why I'm having a hard time pulling the trigger on this one. It's roughly $1600 total and will open up $200 a month. I think I'm just hesitant to see the money leave our account so quickly.

 

[afan]

Paid off both credit cards today. They have such small limits that it's hardly worth celebrating, but I've been only making minimum payments on them for far too long. Who knows, maybe Capital One will raise the limit a little so I can feel like I have a grown up credit card.

Heading up to pay off our personal loans tomorrow, I think. I don't know why I'm having a hard time pulling the trigger on this one. It's roughly $1600 total and will open up $200 a month. I think I'm just hesitant to see the money leave our account so quickly.

If it makes you feel better I took my stimulus yesterday and money from savings and paid off $4300 on a credit card. Granted that's what the savings was for, the house is under contract and as long as it all goes as planned it'll close on the 30th and I'll get that money plus a lot more back. But it's super sad seeing my savings accounts depleted after having to put $14k into it so I could sell it.

 

[imbatman]

Paid off both credit cards today.

NO amount is too small for a banana dance!!!

 

[slightly_obsessed]

My van got paid off this month so I have that monthly payment to snowball.

It will take time to get everything paid off and it's hard not to dream what we could have put the money towards instead. Ah well, all the more reason to pay it off.

Congrats on paying off your van!

It'll take a long time to pay off all our loans too, but it's nice to dream of that day when it's all gone and what we'll be able to do in the future!

 

[Shanna-like-Banana]

Made an additional chunk payment toward a CC, the only CC we have any balance on.

Also, DH got his notification letter than he was selected for a promotion he has been working toward for the last few months. He's actually been working toward taking on this position for the last 1-2 years for when it came open and all the stars aligned.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

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.

We barely qualify so our total is $750. I was glad to get anything.
It went straight to our vacation fund. We leave tomorrow for WDW!

Once we're back, I'll start paying back dh's slush fund for the $5500 I had to borrow to pay for his truck repairs. This will take until approx mid June along with the $800 we owe to the IRS.
I have the cash set aside for when the 0% promo on our Discover cards run out in April and May. Just trying to sqeeze out as much savings account interest as I can get. Varo offers 2.8% on up to $10k but now they're changing it to 3% on up to $5k. The rest is in Ally which doesn't earn much but still better than typical local banks.

Everyone is doing a great job paying down debt! For all of you hesitating because you don't like to see the drop in your bank balance, just try to focus on the debt balance and how much that will drop and how much of a weigh is lifted off of you for having eliminated another debt. It feels great!
Just keep swimming!!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I just paid off DH's car this month.

I got this one. Maybe imbatman is busy christening her new mattress.


Congratualations on paying off your dh's car!

 

[MissBritt]

Man, it's been nearly a decade since I've been here.

My goal is to pay off that last little bit of consumer debt (technically his, but ours) in the first 6 months, and put increased funds to savings and IRA last 6 months. I have precise numbers in mind, just being mysterious.

Goal 1: that debt number was just over 1400 on 1/1, is now under 300, and should be 0 before 5/1

 

[jen7233]

We barely qualify so our total is $750. I was glad to get anything.
It went straight to our vacation fund. We leave tomorrow for WDW!

Once we're back, I'll start paying back dh's slush fund for the $5500 I had to borrow to pay for his truck repairs. This will take until approx mid June along with the $800 we owe to the IRS.
I have the cash set aside for when the 0% promo on our Discover cards run out in April and May. Just trying to sqeeze out as much savings account interest as I can get. Varo offers 2.8% on up to $10k but now they're changing it to 3% on up to $5k. The rest is in Ally which doesn't earn much but still better than typical local banks.

Everyone is doing a great job paying down debt! For all of you hesitating because you don't like to see the drop in your bank balance, just try to focus on the debt balance and how much that will drop and how much of a weigh is lifted off of you for having eliminated another debt. It feels great!
Just keep swimming!!

Enjoy, we go *soon*!
Planning to burn points on some dining with the CSR card with some "pay yourself back". Dining will be a lot this time, as planning to pay for extra family so the offset with the card will be good. Airport parking and service to and from will cost about $300 but don't see any category on parking and transportation.

Somehow Microsoft Rewards unbanned me over the last year, out of curiosity I looked and had enough points for a $25 gift card. Strange they decided to unban me, but I'll take it!
On IRS stimulus talk, eligible here, but no stimulus yet and no change to status so if you haven't seen anything, not the only one.

 

[DLgal]

Enjoy, we go *soon*!
Planning to burn points on some dining with the CSR card with some "pay yourself back". Dining will be a lot this time, as planning to pay for extra family so the offset with the card will be good. Airport parking and service to and from will cost about $300 but don't see any category on parking and transportation.

Somehow Microsoft Rewards unbanned me over the last year, out of curiosity I looked and had enough points for a $25 gift card. Strange they decided to unban me, but I'll take it!
On IRS stimulus talk, eligible here, but no stimulus yet and no change to status so if you haven't seen anything, not the only one.

I have literally cashed in ALL our CSR points using Pay Yourself Back since they announced the 1.5 redemption value last year. It only goes until April 30. I figured since the travel redemption is the same value, might as well cash in now and put that money in the travel bucket. We have cashed out $1400 worth of points (93,500 points) since September. I'm fully cashing out any earnings every month until that offer expires.

 

[colormegreen]

Car Balance: $7,905.82 is new balance- Will be paid off by Sept. 2022.

Capital One: $2,669.57 Just paid this off with my portion and husband's portion of the stimulus.

CITI: $4,688 is new balance - Will be paid off before the interest takes into effect in 18 months.

Best Buy: $1550 is new balance- This is a no interest will be paid off before the interest takes effect.

 

[FQLover]

I bit the bullet and paid off my car today, despite not wanting to see my savings go down. I am going to save $390.00 by paying today instead of making the last payment on February 1, 2022. Yay!

 

[jen7233]

I bit the bullet and paid off my car today, despite not wanting to see my savings go down. I am going to save $390.00 by paying today instead of making the last payment on February 1, 2022. Yay!

congrats!

 

[imbatman]

End of March check-in

Financial

• CC 1 - $2198.01 (balance 12/9/20 - one more payment to come out in December).
• CC 2 - $2119.84 (balance 3/22/21 and 0%). Stimulus will pay the balance 4/6/21. Just ran into transfer max between banks.
• 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.

We were going to owe taxes, not much due to a wash, but some. Then the new laws went into effect and we're getting $1500 back!!! I'm over the moon and already claimed it for savings.

I got this one. Maybe imbatman is busy christening her new mattress.

Maaaaayyyyybe

I bit the bullet and paid off my car today, despite not wanting to see my savings go down. I am going to save $390.00 by paying today instead of making the last payment on February 1, 2022. Yay!

 

[ajanderson84]

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?

It's nearly the end of March! I totally forgot to update! We leave for WDW for our Spring Break this Saturday. It's been crazy around here. Our Daughter turns 14 while we are on this trip. Our first boy takes off for Boot Camp in Cape May, NJ on April 26th, then turns 18 on April 29th. Our second boy turns 18 on June 1st, graduates High School on June 5th and then heads off to Cape May for Boot Camp Sept. 28th... and somewhere in there the daughter starts 9th grade. It's all going all too fast. A few updates I suppose are due (In RED):

It's nearly the end of March! I totally forgot to update!

2021 Financial Goals:

• Continue building house fund to 9k or so (3 months worth of house payments) Currently at 4,500 This is now 5,800 I have made it to 6688
• Continue to build savings to 60k (6 months worth of savings) lllllooong way to go with this goal, currently about 3k. 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. This goal is all messed up because I changed how we were saving. I will have to reset this goal and try again.
• 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 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! We had a second month of success in spending less (Saved 400!), but we are also eating down the house for our trip next week.
• 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 still haven't started this. Retirement me is going to be very angry with past me. I still haven't changed this. I need to put our retirement on the front burner soon.
• Start saving for Vacations, I would like to take them more often... I think maybe 4-6k may be needed to be saved. 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! I saved 8k in cash and 2,200 in Gift Cards (for food) for a family of 6 this trip. Will it be enough? Who knows? I'll start saving for October trip once we return.
• Save for potential move, if no move, use to improve current house. No Change here yet We didnt move, and I didnt save to move LOL... so I think this goal is out the window.
• 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.) 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) Currently working on MidTerms I am working on Finals in two courses. I am signed up for two more in May and one in July!
• Maintain PMP certification I have already finished this for this year
• Obtain additional IT related Certification (Perhaps Sec +) I haven't had a moment to start on this yet. I may have strongly overestimated how much free time I have.
• Lose Weight (total needed to lose is 102lbs, but I'd be happy if I lost 40) I haven't moved in weight at all, which is crazy, but DH has lost 10lbs. We are still doing YouTube I am trying really hard to lose weight. Hubby lost 15, I gained 5. I see a doctor this week because what? Also, we are documenting with YouTube Videos
• 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. Homemade Queso is my new favorite thing! Homemade Queso is terrible for you. Its still good. We have done some pretty good stuff with Chicken lately.
• 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 bought seeds! I bought starter peet! I have done nothing with these things! I am what's wrong with me! I planted the seeds, they bloomed. I bought a raised garden bed and stuck it outside. I am going to move the seedlings outside soon! I have plans to do some improvements to the upstairs, kitchen, and outside of the house.
• 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? I think I will go to IKEA for one kid at a time and buy all the things. Also WalMart... and then the movers can take it and store it for them (apparently due to COVID they aren't allowed to come home after boot, they go straight to the first unit and the movers will come collect their things).

Unplanned Things I Managed Anyways:

• I had bought a Peloton Tread + in Feb. of 2020 with an interest free loan of $4550. I had intended to simply pay the monthly over the three years since it was completely interest free, but I actually paid it off with part of the stimulus. This saves me $117/mo
• I then bought a Pelton Bike + for $2,700 on the same interest free loan over three years. The new payment is $79/mo. I am going to pay the full $117 from the Tread instead and pay it down faster, and maybe pay it off early, because I don't like having debts, even interest free ones.
• I got myself an Electra Townie Bike, for outdoor riding. I really want to try to be more active this year. I bought it cash, so no debt.
• I upgraded our phones, but because there were other older phones that paid off our cell phone bill actually went down $80/mo and I got a new phone. I use the much higher quality cameras for our YouTube Channel so it's Win/Win.