Debt Dumpers 2021

[jen7233]

Well Peeps, it's finally DONE. Our mortgage is finished!

What a massive weight lifted off of my back. Something good had to come from this pandemic and this is it for us.

I also put $700 into our Christmas fund. I usually work on that in July and August so I'm feeling a bit behind but this year we are keeping it simple and giving our kids $. Last year it was hard for them to come up with a list. I might still do stocking stuffers for a little bit of surprise.

My dad will be 80 this winter so for now I'm working on finding a place with a private room to have a little dinner gathering. Sadly, almost all of his friends and relatives are deceased. The friends that are alive have multiple health problems and most likely won't make it. I'll still invite them and hope they can come. Even if it's just my siblings and our kids & spouses, I'll do my best to make it a happy occasion for him.

congratulations on your mortgage! It must feel great. And very nice plan with your dad's 80.

 

[pblack]

Congratulations @ruadisneyfan2!! That's amazing!! <id insert banana dances here but that option doesn't pop up on my phone>

 

[barkley]

Well Peeps, it's finally DONE. Our mortgage is finished!

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

it will feel even better next month when you realize 'hey, i don't have a mortgage payment!' so much nicer to put a tiny fraction of that payment aside each month for insurance and property taxes.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Well Peeps, it's finally DONE. Our mortgage is finished!

Congrats!! That must be such an amazing feeling!

 

[huggybuff]

Well Peeps, it's finally DONE. Our mortgage is finished!

What a massive weight lifted off of my back. Something good had to come from this pandemic and this is it for us

That's a remarkable accomplishment!

 

[comicguy]

Congrats, that will feel life changing I am sure. I hope to be there someday soon!

Well Peeps, it's finally DONE. Our mortgage is finished!

What a massive weight lifted off of my back. Something good had to come from this pandemic and this is it for us.

 

[pigletto]

Well Peeps, it's finally DONE. Our mortgage is finished!

What a massive weight lifted off of my back. Something good had to come from this pandemic and this is it for us.

I also put $700 into our Christmas fund. I usually work on that in July and August so I'm feeling a bit behind but this year we are keeping it simple and giving our kids $. Last year it was hard for them to come up with a list. I might still do stocking stuffers for a little bit of surprise.

My dad will be 80 this winter so for now I'm working on finding a place with a private room to have a little dinner gathering. Sadly, almost all of his friends and relatives are deceased. The friends that are alive have multiple health problems and most likely won't make it. I'll still invite them and hope they can come. Even if it's just my siblings and our kids & spouses, I'll do my best to make it a happy occasion for him.

Long time lurker, first time poster in here ! I had to say CONGRATULATIONS!!!
That’s a big goal of ours and we are at least 10 years away from it ( it’s a fairly new mortgage). The goal is to be done by 56 for us. Anyway , I hope you are celebrating, you certainly worked hard towards this and it’s inspiring for people like me to see !

 

[FQLover]

@ruadisneyfan2 You have been so steadfast with this goal. Terrific job! Are you and DH doing anything special to celebrate or toast yourselves? Hope so. Love the care you are putting into your dad's 80th, too.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Thanks everyone.
We went out to dinner on Sunday to celebrate.
It's really a miracle my dad has lived this long. No men in his family lived past 66. His dad and brother both died at 66. Within a year of his dad's death, 2 of his uncles died too. Before that, another uncle on his mom's side died at 55.
He is lucky in that he still had his mom until 2016. Anyway, if he's alive in February, he deserves celebrating!!

We borrowed from savings (non-retirement) to dump the last part of the mortgage so I need to replenish that. This is my next goal after saving for Christmas. At least I can do that at my own pace and if I feel like skipping a month for vacation, I won't get any overdue notice about it.

 

[crazycatstacy]

I'm annoyed with our bank. We have been waiting on an appraisal to purchase the condo we live in since June. Supposed to be done next week (fingers crossed) and close the week of the 18th. The banker is terrible at communication! She either does not or takes forever to respond to emails. I have no idea when the appraisal is next week and would like a heads up so I can either adjust my schedule or have someone at my house to let the appraiser in! I'm just venting. Frustrated and annoyed.

My BFF and her husband and 2 kids are going to be in Disney when we are, our trips overlap a few days so we are going to try to do a fireworks cruise for just our group. Has anyone ever done one? Any tips or suggestions?

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I'm annoyed with our bank. We have been waiting on an appraisal to purchase the condo we live in since June. Supposed to be done next week (fingers crossed) and close the week of the 18th. The banker is terrible at communication! She either does not or takes forever to respond to emails. I have no idea when the appraisal is next week and would like a heads up so I can either adjust my schedule or have someone at my house to let the appraiser in! I'm just venting. Frustrated and annoyed.

My BFF and her husband and 2 kids are going to be in Disney when we are, our trips overlap a few days so we are going to try to do a fireworks cruise for just our group. Has anyone ever done one? Any tips or suggestions?

That is so frustrating. I experienced that with both homes we bought. This was before the days of email so we’d mail the papers they request and if they needed more info or clarification, they just set it aside until I call again inquiring. Then they say, “Oh btw, we need another pay stub.” Meanwhile I could have sent them 50 of them the first time they asked for one. It sucks dealing with people like that and makes you want to just find someone else but once you get that far into the process, you can’t.
I’ve never done a fireworks cruise but it sounds lovely.

 

[Carol_]

I was just losing faith in ever finishing paying off my student loans… I’ve paid off half so far.
$178k to go…
Then I was told that (out of the blue) my income will soon nearly double. There is light at the end of the tunnel! I may even be able to pay to send my kid to private school.

 

[princesscinderella]

I was just losing faith in ever finishing paying off my student loans… I’ve paid off half so far.
$178k to go…
Then I was told that (out of the blue) my income will soon nearly double. There is light at the end of the tunnel! I may even be able to pay to send my kid to private school.

Congratulations! My hubby graduated with $550k in student loans after 7 years of dental school and we are at about 1/2 paid off too. We just finished paying the business loan for the practice we bought so the extra that used to go to that loan is now going to be used to pay down the student loan balance faster. The debt that was so overwhelming before has now become manageable, it’s so nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel!

 

[Eureka]

I'm annoyed with our bank. We have been waiting on an appraisal to purchase the condo we live in since June. Supposed to be done next week (fingers crossed) and close the week of the 18th. The banker is terrible at communication! She either does not or takes forever to respond to emails. I have no idea when the appraisal is next week and would like a heads up so I can either adjust my schedule or have someone at my house to let the appraiser in! I'm just venting. Frustrated and annoyed.

My BFF and her husband and 2 kids are going to be in Disney when we are, our trips overlap a few days so we are going to try to do a fireworks cruise for just our group. Has anyone ever done one? Any tips or suggestions?

We did a fireworks cruise back in 2011. It was a lot of fun and a great view of Illuminations (which I know is defunct). Our captain/tour guide/whatever you called her was awesome, we gave her a nice tip (I think it was 10-15% of the total cost of the cruise). There were packaged chips, cookies and drinks for "free" although we had just eaten a big meal so didn't partake much.

 

[huggybuff]

End of September check in:

2021 Financial Goals:

• Continue to settle accounts through my debt settlement program. I would love to get all accounts settled (though not fully paid off) by the end of next year. I still have 5 accounts left to settle. However, I feel like next month after 2 more accounts are completely paid off that I'll have reached the halfway point in this process. I started off with 20 different accounts that I owed on. It seemed completely insurmountable. Now the debt collectors have stopped calling, I don't have to worry about getting hauled into court and I have some peace of mind even though the process isn't complete. I'm hoping to finish the program before 2023 is out. It will be lovely to have an extra $900 a month, that's for sure.
• Save $10,000 towards my summer or fall wedding. We set a date...July 15th, 2022!!! I get a third paycheck in October and most of that is going to pay down my fiancee's credit card that he's been using to charge wedding expenses. I have an appointment at a bridal salon on 10/29 so my 3rd paycheck next month is going to be split between a down payment on my dress and the credit card.
• Start saving towards a family party (reception by another name) by the end of the year. Still on hold.
• Give my boyfriend more money towards the household expenses if needed. We're going to rebudget once we get a feel for the utility bills in the new house. All caught up with monthly payments to my fiancee for household expenses. Still haven't received the $600 from the CA stimulus. I did receive my CA stimulus a couple of weeks ago. I put half in my emergency fund and half in my wedding account.
• Refinance my car loan if my credit score improves. Will try again early next year.

2021 Personal Goals:

• Lose weight so I can feel confident in my wedding dress. Still a disaster but now I have workout clothes in my size. Setting the date has made me realize that time is ticking! My fiancee is now getting up at 5:30am every weekday to go workout and I've still been a slug, which is really getting old. I resurrected the idea of us going out walking in the morning before he leaves to go workout. I need to make it happen.
• Start using my workout DVDs now that they're out of storage. I still haven't found the DVDs I really want to use. They're in the garage somewhere. I have access to online workouts as well so there's no excuse. Still not doing crap. Sigh.
• Learn to let go of material possessions that I no longer need/use. Letting go is really hard for a person with OCD! I had a week off in August and used some of the time to go through boxes from the garage, mostly clothes. I threw away some unwearable items and have a big trash bag's worth to donate. I also have about 4 different wardrobes based on size so I'm organizing items in that manner. The smaller sizes are either going into the attic or being donated. I have nothing to do this weekend so getting things in order in the bedroom will be my focus. I didn't accomplish much during the weekend in question. Trying again this weekend.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

End of September check in:

2021 Financial Goals:

• Continue to settle accounts through my debt settlement program. I would love to get all accounts settled (though not fully paid off) by the end of next year. I still have 5 accounts left to settle. However, I feel like next month after 2 more accounts are completely paid off that I'll have reached the halfway point in this process. I started off with 20 different accounts that I owed on. It seemed completely insurmountable. Now the debt collectors have stopped calling, I don't have to worry about getting hauled into court and I have some peace of mind even though the process isn't complete. I'm hoping to finish the program before 2023 is out. It will be lovely to have an extra $900 a month, that's for sure.
• Save $10,000 towards my summer or fall wedding. We set a date...July 15th, 2022!!! I get a third paycheck in October and most of that is going to pay down my fiancee's credit card that he's been using to charge wedding expenses. I have an appointment at a bridal salon on 10/29 so my 3rd paycheck next month is going to be split between a down payment on my dress and the credit card.
• Start saving towards a family party (reception by another name) by the end of the year. Still on hold.
• Give my boyfriend more money towards the household expenses if needed. We're going to rebudget once we get a feel for the utility bills in the new house. All caught up with monthly payments to my fiancee for household expenses. Still haven't received the $600 from the CA stimulus. I did receive my CA stimulus a couple of weeks ago. I put half in my emergency fund and half in my wedding account.
• Refinance my car loan if my credit score improves. Will try again early next year.

2021 Personal Goals:

• Lose weight so I can feel confident in my wedding dress. Still a disaster but now I have workout clothes in my size. Setting the date has made me realize that time is ticking! My fiancee is now getting up at 5:30am every weekday to go workout and I've still been a slug, which is really getting old. I resurrected the idea of us going out walking in the morning before he leaves to go workout. I need to make it happen.
• Start using my workout DVDs now that they're out of storage. I still haven't found the DVDs I really want to use. They're in the garage somewhere. I have access to online workouts as well so there's no excuse. Still not doing crap. Sigh.
• Learn to let go of material possessions that I no longer need/use. Letting go is really hard for a person with OCD! I had a week off in August and used some of the time to go through boxes from the garage, mostly clothes. I threw away some unwearable items and have a big trash bag's worth to donate. I also have about 4 different wardrobes based on size so I'm organizing items in that manner. The smaller sizes are either going into the attic or being donated. I have nothing to do this weekend so getting things in order in the bedroom will be my focus. I didn't accomplish much during the weekend in question. Trying again this weekend.

Don’t give up. One step at a time.
This thread has been so motivational for me but change doesn’t happen overnight. I started here in 2013. If it makes you feel any better, 5:30am is my usual wake up time for work, sometimes 4:50am.
Even when I worked out regularly, I never did it in the morning. Maybe after work, but before dinner, would be a better time for you.
Hang in there!

 

[jen7233]

I'm annoyed with our bank. We have been waiting on an appraisal to purchase the condo we live in since June. Supposed to be done next week (fingers crossed) and close the week of the 18th. The banker is terrible at communication! She either does not or takes forever to respond to emails. I have no idea when the appraisal is next week and would like a heads up so I can either adjust my schedule or have someone at my house to let the appraiser in! I'm just venting. Frustrated and annoyed.

That is crazy, waiting since June for an appraisal? I haven't experienced the realty market lately as I don't have a hat in the ring for anything buy or sell (though always looking but not too seriously). But yes, that just does sound long.

Last quarter of the calendar year coming up, not much else going on next quarter. Fall feels in the air already. The government shutdown (if), I don't think it will affect my job. No big plans, although I do have to make a plan for Christmas/winter break if just staying home or not.

 

[pblack]

End of September Update (Removing items that were previously completed):

• Exercise 4-5 times a week for 30-45 minutes.....September was mostly good. I did have quite a few days where I really just had no motivation to work out and/or I had too many things to do and just couldn't (i.e. didn't want to try) to fit it in.
• Get a new roof......The roof and solar project is FINALLY complete! We got the ok to turn on the solar a couple weeks ago, but it wasn't without it's issues. I would definitely never recommend this company to anyone else.
• Pay as much as I can towards our Camry loan....I only paid $11 extra to this in September. Our payment amount is $288 and change and I always just round it up to $300. I have some extra I could apply to it from today's paychecks, but I'm going to hold off since we have a busy weekend this weekend and I want to make sure I have cash to cover things.

The Butcher Box subscription I signed up for is pretty good. We've tried a few of the things that came in it. I'm on the fence on if we'll do another box or not though. While the steaks we've had were good, I feel like the regular non-grass fed steaks we get at Costco are better. The pot roast I made from the box was super tender though, but it had kind of an odd almost gritty texture when eating it. Could have just been that particular pot roast though. We made the rack of pork ribs that came in the box and those were amazing. So if anything I may sign up for one more box and see how it compares and then decide if it's something I want to keep.

My DH's co-workers DVC points didn't work out for us, but we are still debating on our Disney weekend trip in November. I keep going back and forth on if I really want to spend the money on the trip and/or on new APs. We are supposed to be going for 3-4 days in May with my BFF and her family, but her DH just got laid off again (thanks COVID) and I don't know if that trip will actually happen or not. I'm also on the fence since they haven't debuted genie+ yet and I want to know how that's going to work out before signing up for an AP. So maybe we will go, maybe we won't go.

As I mentioned above we have a busy weekend this weekend: Luke Combs concert tomorrow (rescheduled from last year), I have a co-worker/friends dinner on Saturday night, and then I have a childhood friend and her family coming down on Sunday to do fall things. I feel like we're coming into the season where we are busy more often than not. Only 3 more months left of 2021 y'all!

 

[huggybuff]

Don’t give up. One step at a time.
This thread has been so motivational for me but change doesn’t happen overnight. I started here in 2013. If it makes you feel any better, 5:30am is my usual wake up time for work, sometimes 4:50am.
Even when I worked out regularly, I never did it in the morning. Maybe after work, but before dinner, would be a better time for you.
Hang in there!

Thanks. It is a very motivational thread, I agree. I was drowning and now I'm getting closer to the surface. I have 4 of 20 accounts completely paid off, 2 more will be paid at this time next month and only 5 left to settle. The process is very slow but it's working so I'm not close to giving up but sometimes I wish time would go by faster. But then I say no, I can't wish days away because overall I love my life. As far as working out goes I think the morning would be best for me. I'm too easily distracted by my fiancee when I get home and we just want to spend time together. I usually wake up really early anyway but right now I'm just having coffee while catching up on my TV shows. So while I have my frustrations this is easily the best time of my life.

 

[crazycatstacy]

Well we are finally getting an appraisal on Wednesday! YAY!! I cannot wait to be done with this. We are using our skipped rent payment and deposit refund to pad our disney trip and do some other things so I want to be done so I know where I am financially!