Debt Dumpers 2021

[crazycatstacy]

Sorry to hear about your dad @iambatman

Still moving forward here. Headed to Florida (not Disney) in a couple of weeks so trying to be really good until then. Started a new weight loss plan so fingers crossed!

 

[imbatman]

I love how they suction but I'm grossed out with bagless vacuums and the dustcloud created when you empty the cannister. I wish they had it in a bagged version.

Me too! But for the amount of grossness, I am glad I switched. I dump each full canister into a new trash bag and then throw that away. (like all the vacuuming in one day to one bag) That way, I dump it in the bottom of a bag and there's less dust. We also bought the model with the HEPA filter. And the attachment is fantastic!

 

[slightly_obsessed]

Last week was a terrible week for me. The short version: my dad passed away and there's family drama. It really has brought home the need for having a trust (a will at minimum). I didn't have to worry about missing a CC payment. I know that sounds so random, but a year ago, I was making the deadlines by the skin of my teeth. So having that burden removed was truly a blessing.

With my dad passing brings a new chapter in our lives. We will be moving from the 20 acres we shared with them (we were on 5 next to their 15) due to the upkeep. It won't be next week, but we know it'll be within a year. We'd like to downsize (square footage wise) and have a second house/apartment for my mom (because I love her and she'll always have a home with me). And just to make my life more crazy, I am looking at going into business for myself.

I'm so sorry about your dad's passing. Hopefully the family drama has calmed.

That's a lot of big changes in a relatively short time, good luck!

 

[slightly_obsessed]

Checking in for May. Life seems to be getting busy all of the sudden. School gets out next week and while my son is ready, I am not.

2021 Financial Goals
Pay off Discover/stay CC debt free - Done in January
Emergency Fund - up to $10000. Done (for now) May 2021! We had extra set aside for my husband's surgery but I think we have paid everything off, so that was transferred to emergency savings. The rest I bumped up from our tax returns. Next step is put it somewhere it will earn more returns than my savings account. I will eventually want more in this fund, but for now I'm switching my focus.

Vacations in cash - $3000/3000. I'm hoping this is enough for food/gas/dog boarding/hotels/etc for our Yellowstone trip this summer. I was $1200 short on budgeting for Disney because I blanked on how much I needed in our food budget. I was able to pull that money from elsewhere without hurting our budget, so no credit card debt, but I felt silly when I realized my mistake!

DVC - $5000 extra paid off by December. $2302.43/$5000. With some extra from last month's budget and part of our federal return, I was to pay a huge amount this month. Felt so good after months of feeling like I am not making a dent.

We have a lot of work that needs to be done to the house (paint inside and out, replace windows, fix roofline of the garage). So for now, I'm going to divide our extra funds between debt payoff (starting with DVC) and future household projects. I also finally set up a meeting with our neighbor about doing a will/trust. We'll see him in a few weeks and decide what route we want to go.

Whew, that was a lot! I hope everyone has a good weekend!

 

[Tygerlilly]

After making this month's payments, I got the totals remaining for both our small loans. Mine was lower than I thought and his was a little higher than I thought (I pay over the phone so I don't get receipts like I normally would). But, on a good note, I still think I'll be able to pay them off by August, so only one month longer than I originally planned!
The final $138 for my student grant garnishment fiasco is due to come out this check and then I'm done there too.

The last month or so I've only been working 2 of my 3 days. It's not been ideal for us financially, but I was in so much pain by the end of day 2 that I couldn't handle the 3rd day. I finally went up to my boss's boss and was like "I admit defeat". I've worked for him for 8 years so he knows that hard for me to admit I need to stop doing my actual job (I load trucks for walmart for 12+ hours, so it's a ton of banging around and on my feet). He's letting me run the desk area for the next 6 weekends when I'll start maternity leave or until I go into labor. I'm so relieved and honestly pretty excited to go back to a full paycheck again.

 

[jen7233]

The last month or so I've only been working 2 of my 3 days. It's not been ideal for us financially, but I was in so much pain by the end of day 2 that I couldn't handle the 3rd day. I finally went up to my boss's boss and was like "I admit defeat". I've worked for him for 8 years so he knows that hard for me to admit I need to stop doing my actual job (I load trucks for walmart for 12+ hours, so it's a ton of banging around and on my feet). He's letting me run the desk area for the next 6 weekends when I'll start maternity leave or until I go into labor. I'm so relieved and honestly pretty excited to go back to a full paycheck again.

That's great! Now that's hard work with trucks with a baby due and tough on the body so I'm glad they gave you a break from your feet to a desk area, absolutely! I had a desk job with my last one full time plus was in the Guard at the time, and even that was hard My back just stopped cooperating with me completely the last month and a half, and the last month I could barely walk had terrible shooting nerve pains with every so much of a shuffle. That was my big over 9 lb baby, too, so there's that!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Playing with the mortgage calculator last night, it showed that if we borrowed some of our savings (non-retirement) we could pay off the mortgage by Christmas. Only 7 months from now. Sure, it'll take a few months to build up savings again but it will happen a whole lot faster without that $1282/month payment going out. Just to be able to tell the bank to go scratch.
omg I can't wait!!!

 

[barkley]

Playing with the mortgage calculator last night, it showed that if we borrowed some of our savings (non-retirement) we could pay off the mortgage by Christmas. Only 7 months from now. Sure, it'll take a few months to build up savings again but it will happen a whole lot faster without that $1282/month payment going out. Just to be able to tell the bank to go scratch.
omg I can't wait!!!

what a great way to end the year/start off on a new year. think of the joy of making that mortgage payment to yourself each month! we have ours set up as a monthly payment to ourselves (savings) and a specific savings account we use to pay the property taxes and the homeowner's insurance (found that by paying it yearly vs. the way the mortgage company was doing it monthly we ended up with a nice discount).

jingle, jingle, jingle!!!!

 

[RamblingMad]

Playing with the mortgage calculator last night, it showed that if we borrowed some of our savings (non-retirement) we could pay off the mortgage by Christmas. Only 7 months from now. Sure, it'll take a few months to build up savings again but it will happen a whole lot faster without that $1282/month payment going out. Just to be able to tell the bank to go scratch.
omg I can't wait!!!

That’s exciting.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

what a great way to end the year/start off on a new year. think of the joy of making that mortgage payment to yourself each month! we have ours set up as a monthly payment to ourselves (savings) and a specific savings account we use to pay the property taxes and the homeowner's insurance (found that by paying it yearly vs. the way the mortgage company was doing it monthly we ended up with a nice discount).

jingle, jingle, jingle!!!!

That’s exciting.

I actually had trouble sleeping that night.
Poor dh had to hear me prattle on & on. He's like "ok. sounds good."
I'm like


cuz guess who does the bills?

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

what a great way to end the year/start off on a new year. think of the joy of making that mortgage payment to yourself each month! we have ours set up as a monthly payment to ourselves (savings) and a specific savings account we use to pay the property taxes and the homeowner's insurance (found that by paying it yearly vs. the way the mortgage company was doing it monthly we ended up with a nice discount).

jingle, jingle, jingle!!!!

Our mortgage bank paid it once per year out of escrow but I wrote to them years ago requesting they let us handle it. Sheesh after 20 years with no late payments, I'm pretty sure we can be trusted to handle things. So one of our Ally savings accounts is nicknamed Escrow and I put in property taxes and homeowners ins $ each month so when the bill comes it's stress-free; just transfer to checking and pay it. The bank used to demand that there always be some huge cushion of like $1000-2000 even after everything was paid just in case. Which is BS; they just want to hold onto more of our money.

I am still so so glad I found this thread. It is truly life-altering how I've changed my ways and became so much more organized with our budget and restrained in spending. I never would have done this on my own.

 

[jackers]

My expanded patio is being poured as I type! I have wanted this since we moved in 4.5 years ago so stupidly excited about it. Have ordered new patio table and chairs and DH’s hammock, but still scouting out additional seating options. Also think I would like a “fancy” propane fire pit. We have a basic wood burning one, but always seems like a messy pain in the butt so we rarely use it.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

My expanded patio is being poured as I type! I have wanted this since we moved in 4.5 years ago so stupidly excited about it. Have ordered new patio table and chairs and DH’s hammock, but still scouting out additional seating options. Also think I would like a “fancy” propane fire pit. We have a basic wood burning one, but always seems like a messy pain in the butt so we rarely use it.

Enjoy your new outdoor space!

 

[barkley]

My expanded patio is being poured as I type! I have wanted this since we moved in 4.5 years ago so stupidly excited about it. Have ordered new patio table and chairs and DH’s hammock, but still scouting out additional seating options. Also think I would like a “fancy” propane fire pit. We have a basic wood burning one, but always seems like a messy pain in the butt so we rarely use it.

too cool!!!! ahhhhh, the beauty of newly poured concrete! we are looking at the propane fire pits as well. we have an elevated wooded deck that looks down on an area where we have a basic wood burning fire pit as well but with all the burn bans we get during the summer it rarely gets used. i love the idea of one of the propane ones so i can just flip a switch and curl up in a comfy chair (looking at those as well). i'm thinking with a propane one we might also tend to use it more in the cooler months as well. i know they give off next to no heat but the idea of curling up in a warm blanket with a cup of hot chocolate and watching the fire on a cold night is really appealing to me.


congrats on the new space!!!!!!!

 

[shawthorne44]

Playing with the mortgage calculator last night, it showed that if we borrowed some of our savings (non-retirement) we could pay off the mortgage by Christmas. Only 7 months from now. Sure, it'll take a few months to build up savings again but it will happen a whole lot faster without that $1282/month payment going out. Just to be able to tell the bank to go scratch.
omg I can't wait!!!

Google Mortgage Button. They are a neat thing to have. It is truly a life-changer to be without a mortgage. Think of it this way. Whatever your interest was on the mortgage, paying it off early is like getting a *guaranteed* interest rate on savings.

I think mortgage calculators are handy things to have. When I bought my first house, I created an excel file that calculated the mortgage (the table format, I forget what it is called) and the total amount I'd pay for the house just paying the minimum. Then I noticed that the amount to equity in the first payments were minimal and that if I just added that extra to the payment, I would be skipping an entire payment at the end! I kept that file and every time I added extra to the mortgage I'd update the file and it was a huge mental boost. I ended up paying it off in 7 years. I think the mental boost of using the mortgage file was critical to that because otherwise it just seems so overwhelming. I have a friend for example that doesn't think she'll ever be without a *car* payment.

 

[barkley]

Google Mortgage Button. They are a neat thing to have. It is truly a life-changer to be without a mortgage. Think of it this way. Whatever your interest was on the mortgage, paying it off early is like getting a *guaranteed* interest rate on savings.

I think mortgage calculators are handy things to have. When I bought my first house, I created an excel file that calculated the mortgage (the table format, I forget what it is called) and the total amount I'd pay for the house just paying the minimum. Then I noticed that the amount to equity in the first payments were minimal and that if I just added that extra to the payment, I would be skipping an entire payment at the end! I kept that file and every time I added extra to the mortgage I'd update the file and it was a huge mental boost. I ended up paying it off in 7 years. I think the mental boost of using the mortgage file was critical to that because otherwise it just seems so overwhelming. I have a friend for example that doesn't think she'll ever be without a *car* payment.

we used to get rabid about using the mortgage calculator. even if it was just a few dollars coming our way we would plug it in and see the impact it would have. it got to be a game like 'honey, the balanced payment amount on the power just decreased by $11 a month, let's see what it does if we throw it at the mortgage'. it all adds up though. paying it off is a wonderful peace of mind.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

we used to get rabid about using the mortgage calculator. even if it was just a few dollars coming our way we would plug it in and see the impact it would have. it got to be a game like 'honey, the balanced payment amount on the power just decreased by $11 a month, let's see what it does if we throw it at the mortgage'. it all adds up though. paying it off is a wonderful peace of mind.

Essentially this is what we're doing. Our paychecks fluctuate slightly due to different voluntary deductions & credits so once I know the amount, I enter that at the top and then deduct all the bills that that particular check should pay, add an extra $20 for dh to tap the atm, and the leftover goes to the mortgage. So if our gas/electric bill is extra low one month, that lower amount would result in excess being "leftover".
It would look like this ficticious example:
2000 paycheck
+100.06 old cushion (whatever is left in checking the day before)
2100.06
-850 CSP card (that we charge everything on)
-312 gas & electric
-47.87 life ins.
-9 weekly amount to Sewer acct at Ally (covers quarterly bill to our county + 1 annual bill to township)
-20 atm
-100 new cushion
761.19 leftover
760 to mortgage (cuz I'm a dork and I like the balance to be a multiple of 5)
1.19 add to new cushion

I like to keep $100 cushion in checking but every now and then it dips to 95 or 88 or something like that. I keep $1000 in a linked savings account just in case too.
I'm not good with spreadsheets but I keep this on a Word document and every Thursday I check my list and schedule everything that gets paid that week.

 

[ciaoaloha31]

Finally have a car update: After 3.5 weeks, my car is back and running after a grand total of $5726.62 of tires, parts, and labor. My emergency savings account just lost a lot of weight ....

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Finally have a car update: After 3.5 weeks, my car is back and running after a grand total of $5726.62 of tires, parts, and labor. My emergency savings account just lost a lot of weight ....

I feel your pain.
Dh's truck had to go back again to the tune of another $869 after we already paid $5500. The light came on a week later. After paying the $869, the light came on before he even left their parking lot. He finally got twisted enough by the third visit to refuse to pay another dime. They kept telling him it would be another $350. To me, it sounded as if they kept guessing which part it might be. He refused to pay more.
By the 5th time, he walked in through the sales dept/showroom and asked for the general manager of the dealership (before was only entering at the service dept and dealing with service manager). He told him the entire story and was assured it would get fixed for $0 and walked with dh to the service dept with many apologies. Finally no more light coming back on.
I joke that they snipped the wire that makes the light come on but whatever. After literally 10 drop off/pick up visits, we are done with them forever.

Car repair bills suck but so does a car payment. Time to feed the piggy bank again.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

too cool!!!! ahhhhh, the beauty of newly poured concrete! we are looking at the propane fire pits as well. we have an elevated wooded deck that looks down on an area where we have a basic wood burning fire pit as well but with all the burn bans we get during the summer it rarely gets used. i love the idea of one of the propane ones so i can just flip a switch and curl up in a comfy chair (looking at those as well). i'm thinking with a propane one we might also tend to use it more in the cooler months as well. i know they give off next to no heat but the idea of curling up in a warm blanket with a cup of hot chocolate and watching the fire on a cold night is really appealing to me.


congrats on the new space!!!!!!!

We have a propane firepit that we use often and LOVE it. So glad we switched from wood. We just got rid of all the firewood we accumulated this past weekend. We have the firepit in a gazebo (that we put a winter cover over in the colder months) and use it pretty much year round. It is so nice to have somewhere warm to go even when it's snowing outside.