Debt Dumpers 2021

[Tygerlilly]

Had our fireplace insert installed today and I love it! It took the guys a lot longer than I thought it would. They were pretty much here all day. The insert has 10 different colors i can circle through for the flames and rock. In total it cost us $2600 but it looks sooo much better than the empty hole it was.

Ohhhh!!! I love your whole set up! That's super cute!

 

[barkley]

looks so nice and cozy!!!

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

End of March update:

Made some good debt dumping progress in March!

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. No progress

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. ☑ Complete January 2021

Goal #4 Cash flow all of daughter’s college tuition, fees, room and board. Winter Quarter ☑ Spring Quarter

Goal #5 Pay off all credit cards to zero balance. I have three with a balance right now=total is $12648. Feb 2021—Paid off the smallest and paid an extra $500 on the next smallest. Moved the largest via balance transfer to a 0% interest card. March 2021–Paid off second smallest card, put $2800 stimulus check towards the largest card balance which is now on a 0% interest charge, and put extra $3000 toward balance. Current balance $3991.00.

Goal #6 Maintain $2000 emergency fund
Goal #7 Update will. No progress
Goal #8 Replace dishwasher in country house. No progress.

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—build enclosed fence in the backyard with a ramp from the back porch for the dogs.

Vacationed with my college student daughter in a cabin off California 1 about 3 hours north of San Francisco last week. The ocean views were draw droppingly incredible. We did very little all week except enjoy drives and ocean views up and down California 1 and watching March Madness. One day we drove over the mountain two hours to the nearest Walmart and Starbucks—that tiny mountain road was also beautiful and on the way back we took a different route through some redwood forests/state parks—such a gorgeous drive. This was in a timeshare vacation week that had gotten cancelled on me twice—first Orlando and second Lake Tahoe—due to the pandemic, so all I spent was gas for my daughter’s car and grocery money. Yay!

Hang in there everyone!! Keep Debt Dumping!

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

Had our fireplace insert installed today and I love it! It took the guys a lot longer than I thought it would. They were pretty much here all day. The insert has 10 different colors i can circle through for the flames and rock. In total it cost us $2600 but it looks sooo much better than the empty hole it was.

Love how this looks!!

 

[4 Ears]

Paid off the Walmart CC, again... typically pay it off each month but always feels good when I do. Balance was under $200. So yea me.
DH "Oxford" credit card was paid off too. There was a balance of exactly $1,000. on it which is now GONE! WOOT WOOT US. He said oh good, the dishwasher is paid off LOL. Pretty sure there was gas, a hotel room and rental car on it too but would have to go back through the statements.
Made a $500 payment on my cc. Just under $3,000 balance on it.
Feeling pretty good!

 

[Tygerlilly]

Sold another stroller for $40 today! And had a couple people show interest in a few other things I have listed. Used some of it to order our Magic Bands for our trip (yay for new colors and glitter!).

And, then our mower decided to die when we went to mow today, so I guess we're gonna use the rest of my stroller sale money towards a new mower instead of putting it towards vacation. But at least we don't have to pay out of pocket for it.

 

[npatellye]

I just realized I never updated in February. I blame the crazy New England winter for that!

Anyway, here is my March update of 2021 Financial Goals (I’ve taken off things that were already accomplished):

• Increase home project account–working on it but, after an insane amount of snow this winter that delayed progress, we are finally nearing the end of the front porch and sunroom addition. I ended up adding in additional work for bluestone walkways plus I ended up changing our siding for the sunroom from vinyl to stone veneer so that’s going to wipe out whatever I was tucking away. But I think it’ll be worth it. I ended up with second choice of veneer but it’s fine since the one I originally wanted was pushed back twice before I was told it would take until the end of May for them to have enough in that color palette to ship us. So goodbye, smoky toned veneer and hello, sand toned veneer.
• Increase our giving to our local food pantries—done ✔ The auto delivery option does this very well so I don’t even think about it now. I’m debating adding to it slowly but I’ve been resorting to dropping extra stuff off in person for now.
• Begin a retirement home account so we can buy a retirement home in 15 years (we won’t be ready to retire but I want to have enough together to buy one as soon as we qualify for a 55+ community)—it’s growing slowly but surely ✔

2021 Personal Goals:

• Take more day trips—currently on hold after some ski trips this winter.
• Make LegoLand NY a priority for at least 3 long weekends—just updated our passes and waiting for word on opening!
• Lose 10 lbs—done ✔ Changing it to lose 15 lbs.
• New furniture for the sunroom and front porch that should be completed by the spring—in progress. I’m not having much luck with a large daybed type porch swing at a price that doesn’t make me have a heart attack.
• Convince my husband that we should drive to WDW at least once—never going to happen

 

[dreamer17555]

April 2nd Update:

Updates below both progress (no more parent plus loan) and set backs (medical and dental expenses)

• Pay off all credit card debt (starting amount $7,250)
  
  
• Pay off small parent plus loan (starting amount $2,500)
  Finished paying off this month. Woo Hoo!
  
  
• Increase emergency fund by $3,000
  
  
• Pay off a few old debts of $600
  Haven't touched this and I should. I think I am just nervous because of new goals (see below)

New (unwanted but necessary goals)

• $2,500 in out of pocket medical expenses (starting amount $2,500, current amount owed $2,220)
  Sadly going to absolutely hit out of pocket maximums and quickly. Luckily on a 0% interest payment plan with medical provider.
  
  
• $6,000 in dental expenses (starting amount $6,000, current amount owed $3,000)
  Looking at 4 root canals and crowns to start. Ugh!

 

[PhoenixStrength]

End of March (beginning of April) Goal Update:

2021 Financial Goals:

• Pay off personal loan and 2 credit cards:
  • Loan: $2079.39 $1905.76
  • CC #1: $2840.81 $2765.42
  • CC #2: $2315.83 $2175.16
• Save $2000 toward emergency fund. 2000/2000 saved ☑
• Set up new personal Roth account for retirement Nothing yet
• Save $2000 for Christmas 2021 fund Nothing yet
• Save $6000 for vacation fund 1800/6000

2021 Personal Goals:

• Eat healthier Doing better on this! Eating at home a lot more, less desserts and smaller portions.
• Exercise more Not using the treadmill as much as I should, but am taking long trail walks thru the park each weekend with the dog, so that's good exercise at least. And I have lost a few pounds in the past month.
• Stress less Mostly doing better with this.

We are leaving a week from Sunday for a 12 day road trip with our dog. While we are gone our bathroom is being almost completely remodeled. The only thing that is in good shape is the toilet, but the floor, vanity, medicine cabinet, shower insert, tub, and window are all being replaced, and a vent/fan added to the ceiling. Thankfully we rent so we are paying nothing for this, we just needed to be out of the apartment since it's the only bathroom and will take a week-ish to do. So, we figured why not take the dog on a road trip. Plan is to go down the East Coast (we are in MD), hitting parks, hiking trails and dog friendly beaches along the way until we get to Florida. We will spend a few days in Florida, including hitting up some of our favorite QS at Disney Springs (to go since we have the dog) and then back up the coast again. Looking forward to this so much since our last vacation was over 2 years ago. And we feel pretty safe vacationing like this since we will be outdoors for almost all activities, in our own vehicle and able to keep socially distanced pretty easily.

 

[imbatman]

DH "Oxford" credit card was paid off too.

 

[imbatman]

On 12/9/20 I posted my 2021 goals. The biggest one was, in fact, two credit cards that carried a total of $8,765.85.

Today, I paid off the last of that debt.

It wasn't easy. It made me learn a different way to look at money. It made me regret the years of interest we paid. It took a lot of hard work and sacrifices--using "fun" money to pay down the debt.

It was worth it. Every snowball spreadsheet. Every time we decided to pass on a purchase. My biggest sigh of relief is having that debt off of our backs. Now onto the car and house! FIRE, here we come!

 

[crazycatstacy]

On 12/9/20 I posted my 2021 goals. The biggest one was, in fact, two credit cards that carried a total of $8,765.85.

Today, I paid off the last of that debt.

It wasn't easy. It made me learn a different way to look at money. It made me regret the years of interest we paid. It took a lot of hard work and sacrifices--using "fun" money to pay down the debt.

It was worth it. Every snowball spreadsheet. Every time we decided to pass on a purchase. My biggest sigh of relief is having that debt off of our backs. Now onto the car and house! FIRE, here we come!

CONGRATS!!!!!

 

[dreamer17555]

On 12/9/20 I posted my 2021 goals. The biggest one was, in fact, two credit cards that carried a total of $8,765.85.

Today, I paid off the last of that debt.

It wasn't easy. It made me learn a different way to look at money. It made me regret the years of interest we paid. It took a lot of hard work and sacrifices--using "fun" money to pay down the debt.

It was worth it. Every snowball spreadsheet. Every time we decided to pass on a purchase. My biggest sigh of relief is having that debt off of our backs. Now onto the car and house! FIRE, here we come!

Congrats!

 

[imbatman]

New 2021 goals

2021 Financial

• Alternate extra car payment and savings using equivalent of CC payment. May, July, Sept., Nov. - car / June, Aug., Oct., Dec. - savings
• 1700/4000 - Increase savings account to $4000 by year end.
• Continue weekly Roth contributions

2021 Personal

• Finish suspense manuscript
• Install LVP flooring (already purchased)
• Finish walkway project that is 15 years old
• Learn to be content, but still push boundaries and reach farther--dream big

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

On 12/9/20 I posted my 2021 goals. The biggest one was, in fact, two credit cards that carried a total of $8,765.85.

Today, I paid off the last of that debt.

It wasn't easy. It made me learn a different way to look at money. It made me regret the years of interest we paid. It took a lot of hard work and sacrifices--using "fun" money to pay down the debt.

It was worth it. Every snowball spreadsheet. Every time we decided to pass on a purchase. My biggest sigh of relief is having that debt off of our backs. Now onto the car and house! FIRE, here we come!

 

[comicguy]

On 12/9/20 I posted my 2021 goals. The biggest one was, in fact, two credit cards that carried a total of $8,765.85.

Today, I paid off the last of that debt.

It wasn't easy. It made me learn a different way to look at money. It made me regret the years of interest we paid. It took a lot of hard work and sacrifices--using "fun" money to pay down the debt.

It was worth it. Every snowball spreadsheet. Every time we decided to pass on a purchase. My biggest sigh of relief is having that debt off of our backs. Now onto the car and house! FIRE, here we come!

That is Awesome!!! Great Job!!!

 

[Tygerlilly]

You're doing awesome @imbatman! Congrats!!!

 

[CaleCakes]

No real updates to report other than JetBlue decided not to fly from Austin to Orlando in August (or July) this summer so they cancelled my return flight I booked on points. So I ended up booking on SW for $269 for 3 tickets. Not terrible but I would have preferred the previous "free" option. Current Disney trip is $1921/$8165. It's all still so up in the air so I am not getting to nervous that the price is mounting. I mean I know I am going with the kids I just don't know for sure about anything else at this point.

Pay day for DH tomorrow so I'll pay for DS 3 weeks of camp this summer. That's $700.

So far this month I've done good with logging auto withdrawals using my system of once a month. Everything I have expected to come out so far has.

 

[barkley]

Pay day for DH tomorrow so I'll pay for DS 3 weeks of camp this summer. That's $700.

day camp or sleep away? either way that's a great price!


so..........after watching the 2 most recent episodes of 'hoarders' i've come to the conclusion that it's a great resource to discourage spending money. neither of the last 2 homes featured were nausea inducing filthy but rather just piles and piles of newly purchased items most still in the original bags and boxing they arrived in. the amounts of money the homeowners wasted away was staggering. i think keeping an episode on the dvr and referring back to it if the urge to buy something pops up might be beneficial.

 

[CaleCakes]

day camp or sleep away? either way that's a grea price!

It's day camp M-F. He was registered for last summer but it got cancelled so trying again this year. Went on to pay this morning and saw the balance is actually $600 so that was a nice surprise. The fee is $265 a week and I got $25 off each week early bird special plus the $120 deposit left from last year. Check that off my list of things to do