Debt Dumpers 2021

[spiders]

I refinanced last year from a 30 year at 4.25% to a 30 year at 3.25%. We've been making extra principal payments anyway which makes it almost a 15 year rate. We're now refinancing again to a 15 year at 2.25%. Ultimately, it will cost us about $2,500 in taxes and fees. The interest savings is astronomical. I will hit mandatory retirement age in 20 years so going to a 15 seems like a good decision.

So even better. I guess my current mortgage company saw the credit inquiry and their “customer retention” called and left a message. I figured I was wasting my time by calling them back but they asked me what I got and then they said they’ll beat it at 2.00% - that one did require points but they sent me the loan estimate with them giving me credits equal to the point value. I said “deal!”

 

[Cambridgecat]

That is a great deal!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Mid-month-ish check-in

Financial

• CC 1 - $2198.01 (balance 12/9/20 - one more payment to come out in December).
• CC 2 - $6567.84 (balance 12/9/20 and 0%). This is scheduled for an August pay off. This is the one I want to knock out by May. Paid off DD's braces first. Now onto this bad boy starting in Feb.
• Start deposits back into Roth no later than June. $40/week started two weeks ago
• 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!

Personal

• Finish the second book manuscript Finished last week!
• Second bathroom painting update with leftover paint and create "frames" for the mirror See below!!! And the frame glue is curing today.
• 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 If only the thrift stores would start accepting donations here...I have an entire carload ... which has now turned into a trailer load...
• Addition: learn to be professional with a coworker who is terrible to me. Making sure to say "Hello" is easier than I thought.

View attachment 550905

Have you tried Purple Heart? I schedule a donation online and just click on how many bags/boxes we'll have (roughly) and click on a date when they'll be in our neighborhood which is usually a few times per month. I just label each bag with "PH"so they know exactly what to take and put it all on our front porch by 7am that day. It's gone when I get home from work. They stopped last spring due to covid but they have since resumed and I donated several bags in the fall.

 

[M:SpilotISTC12]

2020 has been a wild year for us! Furloughed for 5 months but back to work! Thank god! Baby in November! Refinanced my house and lowered my payment by $300 a month. Most importantly everyone has been healthy!

2021 Financial Goals:

• Pay off $9,000 of credit card debt that has 0% interest until May.
• Save $2000 toward emergency fund.
• Sell my biggest DVC contract. (Saves $120 a month)
• Stash $150 a month towards daughter's 529 plan
• Make 6 Real Estate transactions (Newly licensed Real Estate Agent)

2021 Personal Goals:

• Eat less. I overeat a lot
• Ride my stationary bike more often
• Spend as much time as I can with my daughter
• Help wife more around the house
• Drink less booze
• Landscape my yard come springtime

Almost midmonth check in:
2021 Financial Goals:

• Pay off $9,000 of credit card debt that has 0% interest until May. No progress on this yet but my tax return will take care of a lot of this.
• Save $2000 toward emergency fund.
• Sell my biggest DVC contract. Listed on DVC Resale Market. Waiting for a buyer!
• Stash $150 a month towards daughter's 529 plan. Deposited January’s “payment” yesterday. 1 of 12.
• Make 6 Real Estate transactions. Listing my mom’s rental next month after renovation. A friend will be looking to buy in the summer.

2021 Personal Goals:

• Eat less. I overeat a lot. Focused on eating only two smaller portioned meals. Easier than I thought it’d be so far.
• Ride my stationary bike more often. Got Apple Fitness+ and have been using that more than my bike.
• Spend as much time as I can with my daughter. At least 3 times a day I spend a half hour playing with her. No phone, no tv. No distractions.
• Help wife more around the house. Cleaning when she goes out to the store or the baby is napping.
• Drink less booze. Down to wine only, a couple glasses a week.
• Landscape my yard come springtime

 

[Eureka]

Hi all, hope you're having a good week. My January check-in:

• Paid DS20's spring tuition, don't need to do that again until July, unless he decides to take a summer class. We'd set up a payment plan for fall semester and had overpaid so that was half of what we needed to pay this semester. We still give him money every month for rent, food, etc.
• Bought (and paid off on the credit card) a small treadmill. I was walking outside faithfully from May to November but then it got too dark in the mornings and too cold for my liking. I like to walk before starting my work day or else I won't do it.
• Continuing with WW. I had 15 lbs I wanted to lose and have lost 9. Six more to go. My goal is my birthday in early March, we'll see if I make it. Having a hard time with motivation.
• I got my yearly increase so we upped DH's retirement contributions. He's older than I am (why we didn't up mine) and when we started paying for college, we reduced both of our contributions.
• I need to see an endodontist next week about a bothersome tooth, so depending on what they say, I may need to have some dental work

Just need to get myself out of the funk I have been in lately. Hoping getting back to exercise will help. Have made a few new recipes lately that we liked, so that helps a little. Just so tired of the same old, same old. I work from home (in my bedroom, I'm in the same room so many hours a day!), go out only to buy food or the occasional medical appointment - makes me feel/sound like I'm 80!

 

[pblack]

Just so tired of the same old, same old.

I totally feel this. I'm also working from home and I only really go out if I need to run into the office for something I can't do from home, or if I go to the grocery store. My motivation to exercise, or really do much of anything, has been a roller coaster the last 6 months or so. Hang in there.

 

[StacyStrong]

Okay, I think I'm ready to put some goals down. I have been really hesitant because I think my #1 goal might be a bit too lofty for me, but I need to just commit and try my best.

1. Save an additional $10k toward my house down payment.
2. Continue saving monthly toward annual ARDC fees, vacation fund, and Christmas. These are auto transfers so no real change.
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.
4. Lose an additional 20lbs.

I'm debating setting up a Roth IRA, but my 401k is already a Roth and I contribute (including employer contributions) around 12% a month there. I might wait to set up a separate Roth IRA until I meet my downpayment goals.

I woke up this morning to my stimulus check. Part of me wants to buy an iPad Air. The other part of me wants to just put it in savings and get a jump on that savings goal.

Happy New Year!

Honestly, this year has really sucked so far. My grandmother just passed away Tuesday evening from COVID. My birthday was the following day. I'm stressed, but still on top of all my goals.

Financially, the big thing that happened this month was that I just decided to pay off my last non-federal student loan. There was about $1900 remaining on it and the monthly amount was only about $50, but since it doesn't qualify for any federal benefits, I just decided to knock it out. I used some of the money I have been putting aside from the federal forbearance. I'll continue putting more aside through this most recent extension and reassess what to do with it once it ends.

 

[pblack]

I'm so sorry about your grandmother @StacyStrong.

 

[slightly_obsessed]

Honestly, this year has really sucked so far. My grandmother just passed away Tuesday evening from COVID. My birthday was the following day. I'm stressed, but still on top of all my goals.

Financially, the big thing that happened this month was that I just decided to pay off my last non-federal student loan. There was about $1900 remaining on it and the monthly amount was only about $50, but since it doesn't qualify for any federal benefits, I just decided to knock it out. I used some of the money I have been putting aside from the federal forbearance. I'll continue putting more aside through this most recent extension and reassess what to do with it once it ends.

I am so sorry about your grandmother

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

@StacyStrong
I’m so sorry for your loss.

 

[jen7233]

@StacyStrong sorry to hear about your grandma

 

[dreamer17555]

First off @StacyStrong I am so sorry for your loss. Huge hugs.

Jan 23rd Update:

So I ended up needing to help out some family stay afloat financially. I doubt repayment will happen but it is what it is. It's directly impacting progress on goals but I am still trudging along.

• Pay off all credit card debt (starting amount $7,250, currently $3,800, 0% APR)
• Pay off small parent plus loan (starting amount $2,500, currently $2,350)
• Increase emergency fund by $2,000
• Pay off a few old debts of $600

Also anxiously awaiting my daughter's 1098 from college to file taxes. She has a large scholarship and I am very concerned about the tax consequences...

 

[FQLover]

@dreamer17555 I know your worry! I just got my daughter's 1098 and it is huge. It looks like they are including her tuition remission benefit from my employer which all my colleagues have said is not supposed to be taxed. I am going to have to call the Scholarship office on Monday. Last year, I was a newbie and just paid a big tax, but since she was a freshman, it was only for the second half of 2019 (her first freshman semester). Now, it is for two semesters which included all of 2020, and the amount is gigantic, much more than her nice scholarships. Argh!

 

[dreamer17555]

@dreamer17555 I know your worry! I just got my daughter's 1098 and it is huge. It looks like they are including her tuition remission benefit from my employer which all my colleagues have said is not supposed to be taxed. I am going to have to call the Scholarship office on Monday. Last year, I was a newbie and just paid a big tax, but since she was a freshman, it was only for the second half of 2019 (her first freshman semester). Now, it is for two semesters which included all of 2020, and the amount is gigantic, much more than her nice scholarships. Argh!

If I understand correctly they don’t tax the part towards tuition and books right?? She has a full tuition scholarship and then another 6k towards supplies\room & board... Very nervous

 

[FQLover]

Yes, me too! My daughter gets tuition covered through a work benefit of mine. It is not a grant or scholarship. It is not supposed to be taxed. It looks like her school is lumping that amount in with the scholarships she has that we use toward room and board (which are taxed). Ugh!

 

[DetroitDisney]

For what it’s worth on the tax stuff, if you can document what should or shouldn’t be taxed you’re fine. If you get a 1098 that says 10k is taxable but you know only 5k is, then use 5k on your return. Just know that you might get a letter from the irs requesting validation so make sure you save your documents.

 

[FQLover]

@DetroitDisney--Thanks so much for that info!

Do you know if I could do a corrected 2019 tax form because I paid taxes on way more than I should have last year. It was her first year in college, and I didn't know what I was doing!

 

[DetroitDisney]

@DetroitDisney--Thanks so much for that info!

Do you know if I could do a corrected 2019 tax form because I paid taxes on way more than I should have last year. It was her first year in college, and I didn't know what I was doing!

You can absolutely file an amended return and will likely be able to get some money back.

 

[disneycat321]

January Update!
Financial:
- There's only one this year, but it's a big one and will take aggressive focus: Pay off ALL my student loan debt by the end of the year. We've made a really good start in the last half of 2020, after finishing DH's student loan payoff in the first half (mine is much larger, so we did his first). The frozen interest rates due to COVID have been helping it go much faster!
We’ve paid off $19k in the past 6 months and have $33k to go this year. I’m 9 years out of grad school, and we’re finally in a place financially where we can afford to get this taken care of quickly. I’m ready to be out of student loan prison.
So excited to still be making steady progress on this. At $29.4k at the moment. I was SO excited to be below $30k - I'm seeing every $10k increment as a big milestone! Getting a bonus from work that I'll throw on it, and if we get the larger stimulus checks of $1400 for each of us, which looks promising, that'll go towards it too. Very happy about interest probably freezing until Sept 30, because as of now this is likely to be paid off by either Sept or Oct! It means having to pay less since interest won't be accruing, which makes me very happy. I've already paid SO MUCH IN INTEREST on these dang loans over the past nearly 10 years....

Personal:
- Continue eating better. I've made a start the last few weeks (though I fell off the wagon last week...I am a stress eater.)
I'm doing pretty well with this, but only over the last week or so. It was a lost cause over Christmas/New Years, and then I had a lot of trouble getting going again.

- Make exercise a regular habit
Hasn't been great, but I did exercise 3 days last week. Going to try for 4 days next week.

- Read at least 60 books (This year I'm going to hit my goal of 52 books, so I'm raising it for next year.)
This is not going well! I've read 2, but they were comics (Strange Planet and Stranger Planet by Nathan Pyle - highly recommend!), so they almost feel like cheating. I've been having trouble doing things that require as much sustained attention as reading does, but I'm hoping to get back into it soon.

I totally feel this. I'm also working from home and I only really go out if I need to run into the office for something I can't do from home, or if I go to the grocery store. My motivation to exercise, or really do much of anything, has been a roller coaster the last 6 months or so. Hang in there.

100% feel this! I'm totally struggling with motivation and can't seem to predict how I'll be doing with it from day to day (or sometimes hour to hour!) Just so much less consistent than I ever am. I'm in CA, like you, and as you know, this entire pandemic situation feels never ending here! I'm trying to give myself grace, but I am my own worst critic.

However, I'm feeling very motivated to pay off debt still, so I guess that part is good!

 

[DisneyMandC]

End of January update!

1. Refinance was approved and we are just waiting to close (hopefully next week!)
2. Upped my contributions! I am now officially at 15% (without my match) effective next pay period.
3. Since my student loan forbearance is now good through September, we decided to move all the money I had saved in my student loan fund over to our car replacement fund. So I'm now "paying" $278 a month into that and will do so through September.
4. Put another $500 in the Disney fund and booked our trip!

Checking in here for the new year!! While I still have student loan debt, I am still on the public service loan forgiveness train and a little over halfway through now. We managed to pay off DH's student loan in 2020! Our big news going into 2021 is we are refinancing the house and our monthly payment will go down $400!! We're very excited about this not so much because of the money back in our pockets, but because we'll finally get rid of the pointless PMI that was just throwing money away at the rate of $160/mo. We're also dropping down from 4.25% to 2.875%.

That being said, here are our goals for the new year:
1. Decide what to do with the $400 from the refinance. We're discussing options from paying down the principal or investing it (in something a little more stable like an index fund). We are planning to do a major home renovation in 5 years so trying to decide if we want more equity in our home or my cash on hand.
2. Up retirement contributions. I upped mine more this past year (one of my goals at the beginning of 2020!) but I want to get it up to 15% of my income. I plan to do this as soon as the home refinance is complete. Only reason I'm waiting is we have to send paystubs every pay period until the refinance is done, and I just don't want to have to explain why my paycheck is lower.
3. Continue to save long-term for another car. Hopefully this won't be needed any time soon since we just but DH's car a year ago and the engine was replaced (for free!) in mine in March, but I want to cash flow our next vehicle again so want to make sure we have money set aside for that.
4. Continue to save for a December 2021 Disney trip. We'd like to take our whole family back again. So far we have about $8000 saved, which should come pretty close to doing a value resort stay for a week for the 6 of us again.