Debt Dumpers 2022

[zebrastreyepz]

Check in for me:
Filed our taxes

We've earned enough credit card rewards to purchase 3 out of the 5 tickets we need for Hawaii

Cooking at least 5 night a week at home has been going well, but jjeessshhh, the cost of groceries for a family of 5 with two teen boys is coming close to the cost of eating out

The Money Maid has been doing her job well

Hawaii savings still going, when that's done, Im going to roll it over to saving up for a new oven range

Next on the list: Cutting our electric bill down. I want to start taking suggestions for app controlled thermostats. I think that could really help up cut down. Here in the South we can get all 4 season in one day

Once I started using eMeals, it really helped with my grocery usage/budget and cooking at home. I highly recommend checking into them.

 

[amalone1013]

I had typed all of this up for an end of Jan update but didn't post and here we are

Mid February Update
$2000 Maternity leave cushion -
1/1: $750
2/15: $845 (+$145 change since beginning of year)
I have a plan that should easily get me here by the time I would miss anything out of a paycheck for my leave. This is just for missed pay, so anything unused will rollover to a new goal.

Baby/Maternity Items -
1/1: Didn't exist
2/15: $225 (+$225 change since beginning of year)
Still positive even though I've been spending from here Between Jan and Feb so far, broke down and bought a winter coat, got some shirts, sweaters, and a dress for one of our baby showers. Also used it for some nursery projects.

$20,000 Barn savings -
1/1: $6779
2/15: $10,245 (+$3466 change since beginning of year)
I updated this one to make the goal a little higher. If our income is similar this should be achievable. Will probably continue to reassess if we can stretch it even more.

Grocery/Eating out budget -
Grocery 2/15: 6% remaining
Grocery Jan: 23% remaining
Months under budget:
Eating Out 2/15: 81% remaining
Eating Out Jan: 34% remaining
Months under budget:
Still didn't edit these back yet, I'm letting any remainder roll over but NOT including roll over in my % calculation. We haven't eaten out a lot this month again so far... Groceries - yikes lol - we did a Costco/Sam's run so we stocked up on some meat and I picked up a few stock up items like laundry detergent, trash bags (I include this stuff under groceries) - we didn't need those yet but I'd planned to pick up a lot of them in March, just so we didn't have to worry the first few months with the baby, but some items were on sale this month so I grabbed them. We've really got a ton of food though so I just need to sit down and make a list of freezer meals and also quick/easy things that we have everything on hand for. Also, meal planning has been better/helped, but we need to work on leftovers or cooking less!

Budget Meetings - minimum monthly
January: Did not have one. Hopefully Feb will be the month here. So we're just trucking along with how I divvied things out, though there's one thing I want DH to come weigh in on for sure.


We had a baby shower this past weekend and baby is very spoiled. We have one at the end of the month in my hometown, so anything for traveling will be from our travel budget for that. Excited to see friends and family again! I've had a lot of family drama in previous years so just happy to share this with the people who are happy for us. We've even had a few things come from some Dis friends that I've gotten to know well over the years - it was a wonderful reminder that family isn't always about blood ❤

 

[barkley]

$20,000 Barn savings -
1/1: $6779
2/15: $10,245 (+$3466 change since beginning of year)
I updated this one to make the goal a little higher. If our income is similar this should be achievable. Will probably continue to reassess if we can stretch it even more.

OMG-i know someone who is getting pricing on one and it is so much more than he anticipated. when you do get one built make sure to go above and beyond the cost of the build for insurance coverage (i know several people who have lost barns/shops/outbuildings in recent years due to fires only to find that re-builds are quadruple what they had them insured for).

 

[amalone1013]

OMG-i know someone who is getting pricing on one and it is so much more than he anticipated. when you do get one built make sure to go above and beyond the cost of the build for insurance coverage (i know several people who have lost barns/shops/outbuildings in recent years due to fires only to find that re-builds are quadruple what they had them insured for).

Insurance is a good point! I'm a bit afraid of the cost since like everything else they've gone up too. That ball is mostly in DHs court - just in that, I told him I don't know what specifics you're looking for. This will be more of a shop so he has somewhere his old vehicles can go and be worked on, tools, Christmas decorations I figure too we're at least a year out based on the rumor mill for waiting lists so we'll see what we can sock away here...

 

[amalone1013]

Did taxes last night and already got messages both were accepted! We're getting back a lot more than I had planned for because of DHs job changing their commission payments. So yay money but I would have rather had that during the year. Trying to figure out this year to keep ot from happening again to this level.

 

[crazycatstacy]

Signed up for Hello Fresh. With a coupon got 4 meals per week with 4 servings each (there is only 2 of us but this way we have leftovers) for $75. Hoping this helps with weight loss, less spent at the grocery store and less eating out.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Well, apparently in 2014 I screwed something up on my state taxes, so pur federal return was taken to fix that oopsie.
I spent 3 days trying super hard to figure out exactly how to pay for hubby's tooth removal/dentures. Yesterday I got a letter in the mail saying that since I had a child within the last year we qualified for a $5k withdraw penalty free from our 401k. I went ahead and withdrew that to cover those costs. Was it the best financial decision? Maybe not. But did it keep us from needing to get loans or take months to save up while he is in pain? Yes. I plan to up his contribution for a while to make up that money.

We have done SO GOOD with our grocery budget and eating out so far this month. So far we have only spent $350 and that includes formula and diapers and hubby birthday dinner/dessert and Valentine's brunch. I feel like we're really sticking to it this time and I'm loving that he makes the choices and cooks on Monday's.

After watching a little too many YouTube vlogs on Legoland and the new Peppa Pig park, we're changing our fall trip to now do the first 7 nights at Disney and then next 3 at Legoland. The kids are super excited since I have a Peppa loving 4 year old and a lego obsessed 6 year old. Going to add on the all inclusive package so meals and stuff will be completely covered there. Overall I'm very pleased with how this is turning out.

 

[pblack]

So DH and I decided to go ahead and take out a home equity loan to pay for our pool remodel/backyard projects. We went ahead and signed a contract for the pool remodel on Monday and were told we probably wouldn't be able to get on the schedule until June, possibly earlier due to the nice weather we've been having. Well I got a call a couple hours ago asking if wanted to move up the timeline to today. I went ahead and said yes to moving it up because we really want it done before summer and if we get it done early then we can figure out how much money we'll actually have to go towards our other projects. We don't have the money from our equity loan yet, but we're hoping to have it by the end of next week or beginning of the next. Luckily we do have some savings that will cover about half of the cost of the remodel and for the other half we'll either hope to get our loan money or federal tax return before it's due or we'll end up paying for it with a credit card (the company charges a 2% fee to do this) and then just turn around and pay the card off once the money hits our bank. It'll obviously cost us a little more to have to use a credit card, but it is what it is at this point. We weren't expecting to be able to get it done this quickly, but I'll be so excited to have it done and have a brand new pool to use this summer.

 

[Shanna-like-Banana]

I recently invested in a 30 meal planning kit that is unlike Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, etc.
This was from Tastefully Simple and the 30 meal guide comes with the primary TS ingredient that makes the meal.
This is good for my picky picky eaters because I can half the recipe if it's just three of us eating it, or double it if we want leftovers.
All the meals we did last week got thumbs up and said can be made again, lol
Last week, we only got to go one time, I had a raging migraine and DH picked up Chick-fil-a

Also, last week Publix had $50 gas cards $10 off with each $50 of grocery orders.

 

[crazycatstacy]

I recently invested in a 30 meal planning kit that is unlike Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, etc.
This was from Tastefully Simple and the 30 meal guide comes with the primary TS ingredient that makes the meal.
This is good for my picky picky eaters because I can half the recipe if it's just three of us eating it, or double it if we want leftovers.
All the meals we did last week got thumbs up and said can be made again, lol
Last week, we only got to go one time, I had a raging migraine and DH picked up Chick-fil-a

Also, last week Publix had $50 gas cards $10 off with each $50 of grocery orders.

Several years ago we went through a Tastefully Simple phase and it seemed like we were always having or attending a party. Their stuff is just sooooo good. Their beer bread is still my favorite ever. We did several of their freezer meal parties and it was nice to have the meals ready in the freezer. My daughter and her friend had just began living on their own so they though it was great to stock their freezers with easy meals for them.

 

[Shanna-like-Banana]

Several years ago we went through a Tastefully Simple phase and it seemed like we were always having or attending a party. Their stuff is just sooooo good. Their beer bread is still my favorite ever. We did several of their freezer meal parties and it was nice to have the meals ready in the freezer. My daughter and her friend had just began living on their own so they though it was great to stock their freezers with easy meals for them.

I've been using their products off and on for the better part of the last 10 years. They have some really tasty stuff.
This 30 meal guide has it where you can do them as make right now meals or steps for freeze ahead. We've only done the make right now versions, but on my spring break, I plan on setting some time aside to do some freezer meals

 

[Shanna-like-Banana]

Last night we paid off our last credit card

 

[slightly_obsessed]

Last night we paid off our last credit card

Congratulations!!!

 

[Carol_]

My dad’s 80th birthday party is this weekend.

I ordered the most amazing cake for him. It’s 2 tiers with a blue marlin swimming up toward the top and his boat on the side of the bottom tier and they’re even putting the name of his boat on the side of it. He loved to go deep sea fishing and sadly his boat was totaled in Hurricane Sandy.

I only wish my mom could be there to see all of this.
Visit your parents peeps. Drive, fly, make amends, whatever it takes. Life is short.

So true! This is the main reason we bought DVC. Yearly (or more) multigenerational vacations where we can all converge on one happy place.

 

[Carol_]

Update
Got the student loan down below $100k (from a peak of over 350k). It’s so nice to go down to a 5 digit number.
Now saving again for taxes.

 

[disney-inspired]

Update
Got the student loan down below $100k (from a peak of over 350k). It’s so nice to go down to a 5 digit number.
Now saving again for taxes.

That is an amazing feat!

 

[AlohaNow]

Yesterday I got a letter in the mail saying that since I had a child within the last year we qualified for a $5k withdraw penalty free from our 401k.

Was this letter from your employer, or the company that administers your retirement plan? You may have avoided a penalty, but those funds will still be taxable to you. What specifically did the letter say? Typically, having a child is not a qualifying event, so I'm just curious what you are talking about here.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Was this letter from your employer, or the company that administers your retirement plan? You may have avoided a penalty, but those funds will still be taxable to you. What specifically did the letter say? Typically, having a child is not a qualifying event, so I'm just curious what you are talking about here.

Through my work 401k holder. It is still taxed on withdrawal, but you don't get the penalty for withdrawing early. It is apparently something new because I hadn't seen it prior to this year.

 

[AlohaNow]

Through my work 401k holder. It is still taxed on withdrawal, but you don't get the penalty for withdrawing early. It is apparently something new because I hadn't seen it prior to this year.

Got it, thanks. I see now it was part of the SECURE Act.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Hi Everyone!
We are still chugging along. Dad's party was super small but wonderful. My niece who lives 2 hours away, has been staying with my dad from Sun night -Friday nights. He can't be alone all day, so this works out well for both of them. Her kids' school is remote (online charter school) so she can still make some money and my dad gets to see his great grandchildren that before, he'd rarely get to see. It's a win-win for both of them.

Now I can finally start to focus on our Panama Canal cruise that sails a week from Friday. We've done 2 PCR tests and been trying to avoid people for a while.

We are still debt-free and now just saving to pay income taxes. Our kids are too old to claim as dependents so now we always owe. I haven't had time to calculate the amount, but I'll do that after the cruise. Whatever $ is leftover I will apply to our next goal which will be a truck for dh. His stupid check engine light is still on despite $6000+ in repairs to our local Chevy dealer. It won't pass inspection, which is due in September, I think. We'll be ready before that.

Just keep swimming!