Debt Dumpers 2022

[ruadisneyfan2]

I have a question about saving for the holidays. I want to start setting aside some money out of each paycheck for next Christmas and would like some advice from those that currently do this. Do you find it easier to open a "Christmas Club Account" (are they still called that?) with your bank or move money into your savings account each pay? Has anyone purchased gift cards throughout the year to use at Christmas? Thanks in advance!

I use Ally, an online savings account that I name Christmas. It's earning over 2% interest these days which is far better than a local brick & mortar bank. I don't have a CU but you could look into those as well.

 

[crazycatstacy]

I have a question about saving for the holidays. I want to start setting aside some money out of each paycheck for next Christmas and would like some advice from those that currently do this. Do you find it easier to open a "Christmas Club Account" (are they still called that?) with your bank or move money into your savings account each pay? Has anyone purchased gift cards throughout the year to use at Christmas? Thanks in advance!

We have an actual Christmas account. What I like about it is that once you put the money in you cannot access it until November 1 when they transfer it to your checking. If you want/need to access it before then you have to physically go in and close the account. My husband and I feel like if we had access we would "borrow" it for dumb stuff and then not get it paid back. It works for us.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Update, so I left off with my niece and her family returning from Universal with her youngest getting covid 2 days later. Eventually, they all got it, so I took a week of FMLA to stay with my dad.
We found out the night before that we’d be able to fly the next day for our cruise from Miami. That was a little stressful, not knowing whether to cancel or not, but luckily it all worked out.
I’m relieved that my dad was never exposed so now there’s a few months of peace of mind knowing they don’t have an asymptomatic case and they're exposing him.

After 2 solid weeks with him, I have a new respect and appreciation for all that she does.

We are still chugging away at saving $30k for a truck for dh. He is trying so hard to not look too closely at any because he knows an actual test drive would make him weak. Lol.

 

[bks135]

We have an actual Christmas account. What I like about it is that once you put the money in you cannot access it until November 1 when they transfer it to your checking. If you want/need to access it before then you have to physically go in and close the account. My husband and I feel like if we had access we would "borrow" it for dumb stuff and then not get it paid back. It works for us.

I like that option that it locked up from us.

 

[FQLover]

I use Cap One 360 (used to be ING) for my various savings accounts. One is named "Christmas" and I make sure that I put savings in it throughout the year until it reaches $1200 (my max spend). After that I don't contribute any more to it until January. I usually do not spend that amount so I am left with $200 or so to kickstart the next year.

Like @barkley, I reimburse myself with money from that account whenever I make a purchase.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We have an actual Christmas account. What I like about it is that once you put the money in you cannot access it until November 1 when they transfer it to your checking. If you want/need to access it before then you have to physically go in and close the account. My husband and I feel like if we had access we would "borrow" it for dumb stuff and then not get it paid back. It works for us.

This is a good idea for those who feel they would otherwise tap into their Christmas fund for spending money.

The first year after paying off cc debt and starting our own Christmas fund, it felt so good to be able to just transfer from savings to pay the shopping bills and still be able to start the New Year with no debt.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

Update, so I left off with my niece and her family returning from Universal with her youngest getting covid 2 days later. Eventually, they all got it, so I took a week of FMLA to stay with my dad.
We found out the night before that we’d be able to fly the next day for our cruise from Miami. That was a little stressful, not knowing whether to cancel or not, but luckily it all worked out.
I’m relieved that my dad was never exposed so now there’s a few months of peace of mind knowing they don’t have an asymptomatic case and they're exposing him.

After 2 solid weeks with him, I have a new respect and appreciation for all that she does.

We are still chugging away at saving $30k for a truck for dh. He is trying so hard to not look too closely at any because he knows an actual test drive would make him weak. Lol.

So happy you were able to take your cruise! I'm sure it was awful not knowing until the night before that you'd be able to go, but glad it all worked out in the end.

It's so nice to see you express appreciation for the hard job that your niece does in caring for your dad. I'm sure she appreciates that more than you know.

 

[disney-inspired]

I use Cap One 360 (used to be ING) for my various savings accounts. One is named "Christmas" and I make sure that I put savings in it throughout the year until it reaches $1200 (my max spend). After that I don't contribute any more to it until January. I usually do not spend that amount so I am left with $200 or so to kickstart the next year.

Like @barkley, I reimburse myself with money from that account whenever I make a purchase.

That's where I have all my sinking funds - love it!

 

[pblack]

Just got back from a weekend in Disneyland. Overall it was a good/fun trip, the weather was a hotter than I would have preferred (90 degrees, which isn't necessarily hot but is definitely hot in Anaheim), and overall we spent roughly $350 between food and uber's. Which I don't think is too bad for 3 days. I did get home to find a $90 no show reservation charge on my credit card which was an unpleasant surprise. I had a 4 person blue bayou reservation that we combined with my BIL's 5 person reservation at the hostess stand. I think they messed something up which then made it seem like all 9 of us didn't show up. I've emailed Disney requesting a refund so we'll see how that goes. My back up plan is to fight the charge on my credit card if it comes down to that.

Going to be working on my budget updates and trying to figure out whether or not we want to renew our magic keys (we have until November) over the next few days. Hope everyone is plugging along!

 

[disney-inspired]

Just got back from a weekend in Disneyland. Overall it was a good/fun trip, the weather was a hotter than I would have preferred (90 degrees, which isn't necessarily hot but is definitely hot in Anaheim), and overall we spent roughly $350 between food and uber's. Which I don't think is too bad for 3 days. I did get home to find a $90 no show reservation charge on my credit card which was an unpleasant surprise. I had a 4 person blue bayou reservation that we combined with my BIL's 5 person reservation at the hostess stand. I think they messed something up which then made it seem like all 9 of us didn't show up. I've emailed Disney requesting a refund so we'll see how that goes. My back up plan is to fight the charge on my credit card if it comes down to that.

Going to be working on my budget updates and trying to figure out whether or not we want to renew our magic keys (we have until November) over the next few days. Hope everyone is plugging along!

I thought that only one person had to show up to avoid the no show charge - is it different for a large party?

 

[pblack]

I thought that only one person had to show up to avoid the no show charge - is it different for a large party?

According to their terms and conditions its $10 per person.

 

[dina444444]

According to their terms and conditions its $10 per person.

That’s based on if the whole reservation doesn’t show up.

 

[pblack]

That’s based on if the whole reservation doesn’t show up.

Correct, and we had a total of 9 people. We had issues with combining our 2 parties (of 4 and 5 people), which is why I believe I was charged the $10 x 9 people.

 

[pblack]

End of September Update (purple text reflects what's changed):

My 2022 Financial Goals:

• Pay off our Camry loan (currently sitting just under $12k)....This has now been paid off and replaced with our home equity loan payment.
• Continue to pay extra to our Highlander loan (especially once the Camry is paid off)....Skipped the extra $50 this month to use towards other spending.
• Save an extra $1000 towards my main savings account outside of my automatic monthly transfers....I think I'm just going to scrap this goal. I don't see it happening by the end of the year.
• Save money for the following expenses: cat/gifts/annual credit card fees....Created an automatic $25 deposit towards this twice a month. Will continue to add larger sums as I'm able too.
• Save $$ for family trip (tentatively April 2023)....Crossing this off my list since my in-laws will be paying for most of it and what we'll need to come out of pocket for isn't much.
• Re-pay $2000 that I borrowed from my main savings to pay off the Camry loan....I paid 25% of this back and I honestly think I'm just going to scrap this goal at this point. I don't really see the "borrowed" money as a waste since it was used to eliminate a debt.
• Wasn't originally a goal, but I upped my DH's retirement contributions by 1%. He received an unexpected raise/COLA so I figured I'd go ahead and up this. We're now saving a total of 16% from his paychecks towards retirement. I may also increase my contributions once my 2% raise goes into effect for my July check. If I'm correct I'm at roughly 11% savings from my paychecks....Think I'm leaving my contributions as is for now and will reevaluate them again next year.

My 2022 Personal Goals:

• Professional pool replaster/remodel …..The pool is complete and it looks amazing!!!
• Exercise at least 4 times a week...I, in fact, did not do better with this in September. Sigh.
• Spend less money on items that we don't need....We somehow spent a good deal of money last month and honestly I have no idea on what lol. Now that we're heading into the holiday season I feel like this goal will kind of become moot. I am still trying to evaluate whether I really *need* something or if I just want it though and that's helped curb some of my spending. In Disneyland last weekend I only brought home 1 thing for myself and it was the Ratatouille ears i'd been looking for for months.
• Sell more items from around the house that I don't need to add to my vacation savings....Still slow going with some items. I've sold a few things and other things are just kinda sitting around. I think I need to just donate those items at this point instead of keeping the clutter in my house and hoping to try and sell them. I'm leary of selling on FB marketplace. I'm currently putting up my outside Halloween decor and i'm planning to donate (i.e. post in the buy nothing group i'm in) the items that I haven't used/don't plan on using/just want to get rid of.

Not a whole lot of updates for me this month. The leak in the pool seems to be fixed. In total it cost us $1300 which was on the lower end of our expectations. We did have the money to pay for it, but the money we used definitely wasn't earmarked for that. Now that the weather seems to marginally be cooling down I hope to get out in the backyard and continue/finish with some of the projects we started before summer.

October is not nearly as busy for me as the last few months have been. The only big plan we have is a country music festival in a couple weekends and I anticipate spending some money there (food, parking, etc). I'm looking forward to watching Hocus Pocus 2 tonight!! Hope everyone is doing well and plugging along. Only 3 months left in the year!

 

[FQLover]

@pblack Although the thread has been pretty quiet lately, I love how you post frequent updates and summaries of where you are in your goals, challenges you've got, and fun treats you allow yourself to make the budgeting still enjoyable.

I am in a weird place. I received a very serious cancer diagnosis this summer and am in treatment. I really can't work right now but was super pleased to find out that I do have a fully paid, six month medical leave of absence benefit that was approved once my oncologist submitted the paper work. So, for now, I am saving in the same categories as I was previous to learning this news in mid-July. But in a couple of months I will have to decide what I am going to do next: move to Long Term Disability where I receive 60% of my salary but maintain some key benefits for 18 months OR retire 1.5 years ahead of being eligible for full SS. I did turn 65 this summer (in the hospital) so I can go on Medicare then. I would have to get my daughter a health policy from the market place to tide her over until she hopefully gets her first teaching job this coming fall. Of course, I could end up choosing to go back to work in January-- I have to see how some tests turn out later this fall. I confess to feeling very tired from chemo and that choice does not sound appealing at the moment.

I have a good friend who retired from my institution a couple of years ago and she is doing a lot of leg and phone work for me about this while I am immersed in medical stuff. She is also just more savvy about SS, Medicare, TIAA, etc. than I am, so I am grateful to have her assistance and guidance on this.

In either the case of Disability or retirement, I will be living on less. I can do the monthly bills since I am pretty frugal but the big savings I was doing monthly will be whittled way down. I was planning on retiring in the summer of 2024, so it is not a huge difference --but this is just another lesson about how life is fluid, changeable, etc. We have to play the cards we are dealt. I have to jump into legal things like my daughter inheriting probably a lot sooner than I would have thought (if I even gave it a lot of thought, honestly) what I have to do to set up for that, etc. Yet, I am in fighting mode, so I am working hard on not getting ahead of myself. Prepare one thing at a time. Keep living life. Saving what I can, haha!

Anyway, that is the reason I am so quiet on a thread that I still read every day and appreciate. I think of @pblack as our leader now who keeps the conversations going. Thank you Patsy (and I know your name is not "Patsy," haha. I just know a woman named Patsy Black and so that name has popped into my head since you first came on aboard)! I mean it with affection and appreciation for your postings.

 

[disney-inspired]

• Spend less money on items that we don't need....We somehow spent a good deal of money last month and honestly I have no idea on what lol. Now that we're heading into the holiday season I feel like this goal will kind of become moot. I am still trying to evaluate whether I really *need* something or if I just want it though and that's helped curb some of my spending. In Disneyland last weekend I only brought home 1 thing for myself and it was the Ratatouille ears i'd been looking for for months.

Reading this made me wonder if I'm putting needless restriction on myself by trying to 'spend less'. As long as all the responsibilities and goals are covered, why put that extra pressure on myself.

 

[pblack]

@pblack

I am in a weird place. I received a very serious cancer diagnosis this summer and am in treatment. I really can't work right now but was super pleased to find out that I do have a fully paid, six month medical leave of absence benefit that was approved once my oncologist submitted the paper work. So, for now, I am saving in the same categories as I was previous to learning this news in mid-July. But in a couple of months I will have to decide what I am going to do next: move to Long Term Disability where I receive 60% of my salary but maintain some key benefits for 18 months OR retire 1.5 years ahead of being eligible for full SS. I did turn 65 this summer (in the hospital) so I can go on Medicare then. I would have to get my daughter a health policy from the market place to tide her over until she hopefully gets her first teaching job this coming fall. Of course, I could end up choosing to go back to work in January-- I have to see how some tests turn out later this fall. I confess to feeling very tired from chemo and that choice does not sound appealing at the moment.

Oh my gosh, sending massive hugs and positivity your way!! I'm so glad you have a friend that's helping you navigate through some of the medical and retirement stuff. I sincerely hope that things get better for you soon.

Reading this made me wonder if I'm putting needless restriction on myself by trying to 'spend less'. As long as all the responsibilities and goals are covered, why put that extra pressure on myself.

I feel like we tend to put too much unnecessary pressures on ourselves. I'd say as long as you're meeting everything you're hoping to achieve and you're not going into extra debt (or debt in general) doing so, then I think you should allow yourself some space to breathe. Cutting back on unnecessary spending is always great, but if you happen to have a day/week/month where that doesn't happen it's not the end of the world. As @FQLover pointed out life is fluid and changeable and we always need to be adaptable.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

@pblack Although the thread has been pretty quiet lately, I love how you post frequent updates and summaries of where you are in your goals, challenges you've got, and fun treats you allow yourself to make the budgeting still enjoyable.

I am in a weird place. I received a very serious cancer diagnosis this summer and am in treatment. I really can't work right now but was super pleased to find out that I do have a fully paid, six month medical leave of absence benefit that was approved once my oncologist submitted the paper work. So, for now, I am saving in the same categories as I was previous to learning this news in mid-July. But in a couple of months I will have to decide what I am going to do next: move to Long Term Disability where I receive 60% of my salary but maintain some key benefits for 18 months OR retire 1.5 years ahead of being eligible for full SS. I did turn 65 this summer (in the hospital) so I can go on Medicare then. I would have to get my daughter a health policy from the market place to tide her over until she hopefully gets her first teaching job this coming fall. Of course, I could end up choosing to go back to work in January-- I have to see how some tests turn out later this fall. I confess to feeling very tired from chemo and that choice does not sound appealing at the moment.

I have a good friend who retired from my institution a couple of years ago and she is doing a lot of leg and phone work for me about this while I am immersed in medical stuff. She is also just more savvy about SS, Medicare, TIAA, etc. than I am, so I am grateful to have her assistance and guidance on this.

In either the case of Disability or retirement, I will be living on less. I can do the monthly bills since I am pretty frugal but the big savings I was doing monthly will be whittled way down. I was planning on retiring in the summer of 2024, so it is not a huge difference --but this is just another lesson about how life is fluid, changeable, etc. We have to play the cards we are dealt. I have to jump into legal things like my daughter inheriting probably a lot sooner than I would have thought (if I even gave it a lot of thought, honestly) what I have to do to set up for that, etc. Yet, I am in fighting mode, so I am working hard on not getting ahead of myself. Prepare one thing at a time. Keep living life. Saving what I can, haha!

Anyway, that is the reason I am so quiet on a thread that I still read every day and appreciate. I think of @pblack as our leader now who keeps the conversations going. Thank you Patsy (and I know your name is not "Patsy," haha. I just know a woman named Patsy Black and so that name has popped into my head since you first came on aboard)! I mean it with affection and appreciation for your postings.

Oh my! I am so sorry to hear this!
Sending hugs, good vibes and well wishes to you, and praying for strength to get you through this.

Reading this made me wonder if I'm putting needless restriction on myself by trying to 'spend less'. As long as all the responsibilities and goals are covered, why put that extra pressure on myself.

I can’t comment on what amount of pressure you put on yourself but, my goal of staying out of debt and spending less overall, results in more $ in savings.
The more our savings grow, the more at ease and secure I feel. Right now I have more savings than I ever thought I could have. It's a great feeling. Savings enough to be able to do bigger things we'd like to do vs. having more stuff. Money in the bank definitely feels better than shopping imho but there's more to life than just having more money.
I work in a hospital and have seen a lot in over 34 years since I started my training. I lived a lot of years with a YOLO attitude but I feel there needs to be a good balance between being a responsible adult vs. living like there's no tomorrow. As I get older and see the extra help my father needs (cleaning service, lawn care, etc.) and wondering if one day I will need to be able to pay for extra help as well.

I don't deny myself things we need but I am very careful in my choice of "wants". Right now, it's mostly travel and going places that dh possibly may not be able to do in another 10 years.
Back when I was paying down debt, I was even more selective about wants. Like Dave Ramsey says, you can keep on buying whatever things you want, if you think you gotta have it, but it will just make it take longer to pay down your debt.

 

[FQLover]

Thank you, my debt-dumping friends!

 

[Tygerlilly]

We went to the fair today and went to Disney on Ice. Since it was kind of a last minute decision, we got the super cheap seats. They honestly weren't bad at all and the kids (and me) LOVED it. I'm going to start a sinking fund for next year to buy the floor seats and have a little more money for food and shopping in the MIO (made in Oklahoma) section of the expo hall. There were so many good snacks I wanted to get and just couldn't swing this year. When I put my yearly sinking funds together in December for 2023, I'm definitely adding probably a $500 DOI/Fair fund.

Other than that, just plugging along...