Debt Dumpers 2022

[jackers]

Some people will plan to build up their HSA to use during potential gap coverage at retirement rather than use it for current expenses.

 

[jen7233]

Some people will plan to build up their HSA to use during potential gap coverage at retirement rather than use it for current expenses.

I have heard this also when I used to listen to DR podcast. I don't believe we qualify for an HSA so I've never fully looked into it.

 

[afan]

I have heard this also when I used to listen to DR podcast. I don't believe we qualify for an HSA so I've never fully looked into it.

You can use the money in an hsa to pay medicare premiums and things. There's Dec a benefit to not touching it of you can if it's part of your retirement plan. I am of both camps. If I need a little cash flow help I'll get reimbursed from my has but do try and pay oop. It's also there for emergencies so I don't have to tap my actual emergency fund. But I'm also only 42 so plan to have many more years of saving money into it which plays into how I view it. It also grew way faster than expected which is why I've used it for a couple of things recently.

 

[princesscinderella]

Time for an update:

2022 Financial Goals:

• Max contribution to Simple IRA - this has already been adjusted thru payroll - $16,500 pre-tax. Consider this done.
• Medical Debt - UGH!! For 2021 I started with 6k of debt on a 0% card and paid it off in October. Plan worked great until the end of October when my DH passed out (blood sugar dropped) and his legs took mine out. In the end he was fine from his fall, but mine resulted in multiple breaks in my left arm and shoulder. So now for 2022, I have 7k of medical debt so far and this will continue to grow while I continue physical therapy. Trying to come up with a creative plan for this payment with the least amount of interest to pay it off without tapping into savings. I do have money in my HSA but I have that money invested so I'm loathe to pull from there. Time to look for a new credit card with 0% and use this bill to meet a minimum spend.
• Remain debt free on everyday expenses by paying off Amex and CSP monthly to build points.
• Replace wood siding with fiber cement board - this really needs to be done and I planned for it last year, but prices skyrocketed. Holding off for now but plan for this money to come from an existing HELOC...the draw period ends this year, so may have to pull the money and put in savings temporarily. The interest rate is low on this HELOC so I would still rather use the banks money instead of mine.

2021 Personal Goals:

• Regain full function of my arm and lose the electrical shocks in the nerves.
• Survive Tax Season 2022 - ugh! 2020 almost did me in and 2021 was not much better. I have hope this season will be better but challenging since I have one semi-functional arm.
• Eat healthier thru tax season by taking lunch instead of carry out.
• Travel....somewhere / anywhere...just take some time off and escape for at least a week.

If the medical bills are with a hospital don’t pay it on a credit card where you could probably incur interest. Most hospitals will work out a payment plan directly with the patients and interest free. So many people never pay their hospital bills that they are more than happy to work out plans for people to pay.

 

[barkley]

If the medical bills are with a hospital don’t pay it on a credit card where you could probably incur interest. Most hospitals will work out a payment plan directly with the patients and interest free. So many people never pay their hospital bills that they are more than happy to work out plans for people to pay.

also-if a person has money set aside earning interest they might still be ahead of the game by opting out of zero percent credit card by first contacting the hospital and seeing if they offer a paid in full for cash discount. the hospitals around us have gone so far as to print an offer of an immediate 10 percent discount for payment in full absent a credit card.

 

[BrerRabbit66]

Thanks all. I do have the money in my HSA but I am using that as an investment account for now. With HSA's you can hold on to your medical receipts and cash out years down the road after letting that money grow tax free. Also, with my DH being much older, I like building my HSA as something for me to fall back on when I reach retirement and have medical expenses if he is not around by then. For now, I have our savings earmarked should we need to cover medical for him that medicare doesn't handle. So, whenever possible I pay oop for medical but also like to manipulate the situation to earn points on credit cards and then pay in full or simply opt for a 0% card when possible. I am fortunate to be in a position to cover the cost in cash if need be, I'm just trying to turn these lemons into lemonade in this situation.

 

[npatellye]

Goals for 2022:

• Lower the amount we spend on eating out—in progress but we did spend the beginning of the month at WDW so I will see what February brings. It is definitely lower than November 2021 and December 2021 simply because the hospital has cut down visitors to 1 per day so I am no longer driving to see my father every day.
• Cut down discretionary spending—in progress. My husband has limited the kids to two things each trip which is pretty amazing for him. I have seriously cut down because I’m working on cutting down the amount of gifts our kids get for Christmas. This has also been cut down for me due to the shift in hospital visitors. I am no longer grabbing coffee at Starbucks on my way to and from the hospital to see my father.
• Start saving for a kitchen reno—in progress. The kitchen is actually fine and, by many of my friends’ comments, nice. It’s just not to my taste and ideal layout.

Personal goals:

• Get wills in order—still need to get working on this.
• Stop checking work emails and taking work calls on weekends—in progress. I no longer check work emails on weekends but let’s see how long I stick to this.
• Take more day trips than we did in 2021–not yet in progress but we are planning for this to happen.

 

[Shanna-like-Banana]

New goal met:
Doubled the allotment sent to the Hawaii savings account per pay period!

 

[piglet1979]

So now for 2022, I have 7k of medical debt so far and this will continue to grow while I continue physical therapy. Trying to come up with a creative plan for this payment with the least amount of interest to pay it off without tapping into savings. I do have money in my HSA but I have that money invested so I'm loathe to pull from there. Time to look for a new credit card with 0% and use this bill to meet a minimum spend.

I am so sorry for your fall. We have been dealing with lots of medical bills here. DD was in the ER 4 times last year. One of the trips insurance refused to cover because we should have gone to an urgent care. Well at 6pm on a holiday they were all closed. We have put these costs on a payment plan. On the one bill that I have received we are only paying $26 a month but it is for the next 3 months. We have the money to pay it but are more pissed at the situation so we feel like we are just being pains back. I know they don't care though. We have it set up for our bank to automatically send the check each month. Also, we are not taking the full amount out of our savings and can continue to build it.

I have done payment plans in the past with DD's surgeries and when the kids were little and going to the doctor often for ear infections and such. Some of the places after awhile told us we didn't have to finish paying it and wrote off the rest of the balance.

 

[Tygerlilly]

We bumped back our trip by a month. So instead of beginning of April, we'll be there beginning of May. Oddly, I added 3 more nights and one more park day and it's the same price.

Also knocked out taxes this morning and it's already accepted. I still think it will be end of Feb before I see anything because of claiming the kids. We're putting it all towards our trip and should have it paid off by March. So that gives me a month to bulk our food/spending fund.

 

[Woth2982]

Goals:
Pay off Amazon Credit Card ~$7k
Pay off personal loan ~$2K
Pay off final Student loan ~$4K
Pay off medical debt (to be incurred in March) ~$6k
Save about $2k for Disney Spending money for October

End of month update.
Amazon Card - Paid $300
Personal Loan - Remaining Balance $1,922.49 - Paid $150 toward principle, Would like to knock this one out first (snowball method)
Student Loan - Min Payment Made
Medical Debt - Not incurred Yet
Disney Spending - Bought $100 Gift Card from Target $1900 to go
Other Payments Made - Have a Kohls Charge with $300 left, will pay off next paycheck on the 10th, Citi Card Balance was $890 Paid in full, mostly left over xmas spend. Do not anticipate a bill like this again, so will be using any extra towards the personal loan.

 

[DLgal]

Filed our taxes yesterday and both returns were accepted within an hour. I set up the Federal payment to auto debit on April 15. We should get our $340 back from state within 3 weeks, it said.

Already my savings plan for the year is off to a bad start. Like always, several expenses have come up at once. My check engine light came on and it ended up being just a software glitch but the diagnostics alone cost $175. I have a diagnostic code reader and the car was throwing a "powertrain failure/Variable valve timing system" code so they had to check several components to make sure it was just the software error. Then the car needed a coolant flush and braking fluid system flush because I drive so infrequently that it had been over 5 years since I did that. All in, $675.

Then my son's cell phone just recently started running super hot all the time and running the battery down to the point where it was dead by the end of the school day. It's my old Galaxy S7 (over 5 years old at this point). He needs a new phone, but I still like my phone and don't want to upgrade yet. We usually give our kids our old electronics. I also didn't want our bill to go up due to another phone payment right now. Thankfully Samsung has a few budget phones and my son doesn't need anything fancy, so I got him a Galaxy A13 5g for an out of pocket price of just $250. I was going to buy him a new phone for his birthday in March, but the phone he is using isn't going to last that long.

We also FINALLY talked to a lawyer about setting up a Special Needs trust as well as a living trust, will, power of attorney, advanced health care directives, etc. We have put this off long enough and with our older son nearing 18, we have to make sure these protections are in place now. No more stalling. Total cost for everything we need to do will be $5000. Sigh.

Thankfully, we have the money in savings, but I just hate seeing it be depleted so much all at once. No new debt, though. That's still the ultimate goal.

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

2022 Goals: January End of Month Update

(1) Pay off credit cards each month--no credit card debt! JAN
(2) Pay off car loan--about $2000 left. down to @1480
(3) Cash flow all of Daughter's college expenses--no student loans!
(4) Pay property taxes on both houses in Jan 2022. completed
(5) Max out HSA contributions. Contributions selected to max it out for 2022
(6) Organize financial info for those left behind, just in case...
(7) Come up with something GREAT for DD's 21st birthday. ???
(8) Earn Employer's Wellness Bonus of $300. Earned 75 of 300 points needed
(9) "Porch project" at country house.
(10) Lose 20 pounds.

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

Hi Debt Dumpers! Happy Friday!!! I had been savings points for years on a Barclaycard Mastercard that is affiliated with a cruise line, planning to take a cruise paid on points. I used to cruise a lot, but have not been on a cruise since “the COVID”. I have a lot of points lol. I finally decided to Just Use The Dang Points on something else and browsed the options. An IPad Pro 11 Inch 3rd generation? Retail $799.00. Why yes, please!!!! I use an iPad every day. I had completely shattered my iPad screen last summer and had been limping along with an older IPAD. Seems like everyday I was getting a new notification that the old one’s operating system no longer supported this or that. i am happy to report I used about half of my points and received my new iPad this week. I LOVE IT!!! Unbelievable the difference in feel and view, and the camera is so awesome. I probably would have never purchased this IPad—$799 seemed like a lot of money. Can you tell I am a happy camper?

 

[BrerRabbit66]

I am so sorry for your fall. We have been dealing with lots of medical bills here. DD was in the ER 4 times last year. One of the trips insurance refused to cover because we should have gone to an urgent care. Well at 6pm on a holiday they were all closed. We have put these costs on a payment plan. On the one bill that I have received we are only paying $26 a month but it is for the next 3 months. We have the money to pay it but are more pissed at the situation so we feel like we are just being pains back. I know they don't care though. We have it set up for our bank to automatically send the check each month. Also, we are not taking the full amount out of our savings and can continue to build it.

I have done payment plans in the past with DD's surgeries and when the kids were little and going to the doctor often for ear infections and such. Some of the places after awhile told us we didn't have to finish paying it and wrote off the rest of the balance.

Sorry for all the medical issues for your DD. The bills certainly add up quickly; hopefully, she will heal just as quickly.

 

[jen7233]

Hi Debt Dumpers! Happy Friday!!! I had been savings points for years on a Barclaycard Mastercard that is affiliated with a cruise line, planning to take a cruise paid on points. I used to cruise a lot, but have not been on a cruise since “the COVID”. I have a lot of points lol. I finally decided to Just Use The Dang Points on something else and browsed the options. An IPad Pro 11 Inch 3rd generation? Retail $799.00. Why yes, please!!!! I use an iPad every day. I had completely shattered my iPad screen last summer and had been limping along with an older IPAD. Seems like everyday I was getting a new notification that the old one’s operating system no longer supported this or that. i am happy to report I used about half of my points and received my new iPad this week. I LOVE IT!!! Unbelievable the difference in feel and view, and the camera is so awesome. I probably would have never purchased this IPad—$799 seemed like a lot of money. Can you tell I am a happy camper?

Same, we used to enjoy cruising. I think I may in the future again, I'm just not there again yet. Eleven cruises in the past, seven of those were on Carnival, and our last booked one was Harmony of the Seas-summer 2020. Obviously that did not happen! We were so looking forward to that, and had it booked over a year out.

Then my son's cell phone just recently started running super hot all the time and running the battery down to the point where it was dead by the end of the school day. It's my old Galaxy S7 (over 5 years old at this point). He needs a new phone, but I still like my phone and don't want to upgrade yet. We usually give our kids our old electronics. I also didn't want our bill to go up due to another phone payment right now. Thankfully Samsung has a few budget phones and my son doesn't need anything fancy, so I got him a Galaxy A13 5g for an out of pocket price of just $250. I was going to buy him a new phone for his birthday in March, but the phone he is using isn't going to last that long.

We also FINALLY talked to a lawyer about setting up a Special Needs trust as well as a living trust, will, power of attorney, advanced health care directives, etc. We have put this off long enough and with our older son nearing 18, we have to make sure these protections are in place now. No more stalling. Total cost for everything we need to do will be $5000. Sigh.

My phone has been running really hot and not alot of space left, iPhone7 from 2015. My youngest wants a phone, but I don't know if I can give him mine so may be looking into options. Good planning on the trust and will.

Have not done taxes yet, that is DHs department for us.

 

[virge]

Financial Goals

• Build regular savings account to a balance of at least $10,000. (Used a large amount of that account to pay for surgery and other medical bills.)
• Put any “extra” money towards mortgage. (I count “extra” money as supplements from work, items sold on eBay/fb, etc.) - $80 “extra money” paid towards mortgage in January
• Increase automatic monthly transfers to 529 accounts to match salary increase that starts in Feb.
• Increase automatic monthly deposits towards supplemental retirement to match salary increase that starts in August.
• Organize financial info for my family. (I take care of all the bills & finances for my family, except my husband’s retirement accounts. I tease that he would be in trouble if something happened to me. I need to make sure he has all the info in one place, so it won’t ever be a real issue.)
• Run annual credit reports. Completed

 

[pblack]

End of January update:

My 2022 Financial Goals:

• Pay off our Camry loan (currently sitting just under $13k)....no change
• Continue to pay extra to our Highlander loan (especially once the Camry is paid off)....Back to paying an extra $50 on top of my $450/mo payment.
• Save an extra $1000 towards my main savings account outside of my automatic monthly transfers....$50/$1000
• Create a cat expenses and gift expenses savings account for things throughout the year.....this is done. Follow up goal below.
• Save money for the following expenses: cat/gifts/annual credit card fees....$75 added 1/31
• Save $$ for our Disneyland trip in May (most of which will be paid by our tax return), a long weekend in Mexico (maybe August, November, or January 2023...TBD), and the big family trip my in-laws want to do for their 40th anniversary (date TBD - location is tentatively Hawaii Feb 2023)....$25 added to Hawaii savings.

My 2022 Personal Goals:

• Drain our pool, get rid of the black algae issue, and repaint the pool.....no change. Should hopefully be able to tackle this in the upcoming months though.
• Exercise at least 4 times a week....We just got back from our vacation on Saturday night. I plan to use my bike/elliptical today.
• Spend less money on items that we don't need....Now that we're past our vacation we'll see if we can keep this one on track. I did go to Target yesterday, but I pretty much bought a few groceries/household items that we needed/will need. The only thing I purchased that wasn't really "planned" was a set of exercise bands from the dollar spot section, but I don't really consider this frivolous as long as I use them.

As I mentioned above we are now back from our cruise vacation and it was fabulous! We did go to Disney Springs last Friday night. It was our first time there and I was both overwhelmed and underwhelmed. Overwhelmed by the amount of stuff they have there and underwhelmed because it's not very "Disney" and it's basically a big outdoor shopping mall. (Totally my opinion.) We did eat at Chef Arts Homecomin' and we both really enjoyed it, but weren't necessarily blown away by it. Could have also just been because we were really tired. We were up at 2:30 AM west coast time for our flight and had only slept about 4ish hours that night. The Carnival Mardi Gras definitely didn't disappoint and was everything I hoped it would be. Cozumel was just as fabulous as it was the first time we went and Costa Maya and Roatan were both beautiful ports. We would definitely do that itinerary again, but next time maybe take an extra day off if we have to fly all the way across the country.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned before that for our family Hawaii trip we only have to pay for our airfare/food/spending money. My in-laws wanted to pay for the whole trip, but that wasn't really feasible so we convinced them to just pay for our airbnb/hotel accommodations and we will all pay for our own airfare. I know that they'll want to treat us to a few meals as well, but I expect that we'll still spend some of our money on food. I think I still have a few weeks until flight/hotel calendars open up for the time frame we need and once it does I plan on doing some research to see what our best bets will be. (I'm kind of the travel planner in the family along with my BIL.)

I input our tax information into Turbo Tax last night just to get an idea of what we'll be getting back. If I did it right we should be getting back just over $11k due to our solar rebate/credit/incentive whatever you want to call it. I'm not sure if I did that portion of our taxes correctly though and I’m debating if we want to actually pay for someone to do our taxes this year, or if I just do some more research and submit them myself like I normally do. Part of this money (our normal tax return portion) will be going towards paying our savings back from our DL AP’s and then paying for our hotel/food/gas when we go to DL in May. The portion that’s coming from our solar credit we plan on using towards backyard improvements. While we could take that amount and pay it towards our solar loan (which is what they would like for us to do) and keep our payments the same, we both think it’d be a better use of our money to do some other home improvements that could add value to our home. Doing it this way our solar payment will eventually go up by $100/mo, but by the time it does that I’m hoping to have at least 1 of our cars paid off so it shouldn’t really be a burden.

I think that’s it for now! I’m attaching a few photos from last week for everyone to enjoy. Happy end of January!

 

[slightly_obsessed]

Hello everyone!!

End of January/Beginning of February Update

2022 Financial Goals
1. Debt - Focusing on Student loan #1 - balance is $9490. I am on track to pay this off Nov 2023, which would be 6 years early, but hoping to shave some more time off this! (One more student loan and a car loan after this, all of which should hopefully be paid off by 7/2024). Current balance is $9192.28 $9084. New Estimated payoff month is 10/2023.

2. Long Term Savings - Priced out the cost of replacing our windows, as well as part of our siding (masonite) and repainting the house. Extra $ will be split between goal 1 and this. Divided our household projects buffer up so we have a start, but no additional funds added this month. $5000/$55,000.

3. Budget Focus - Get food costs under control. I don't even know what we've been spending but it's too much. I need to do a better job of meal planning and intentionally buying only what we need. We have a full freezer and pantry to utilize, so I am going to do a pantry challenge for the rest of the month to jumpstart the process. I also think this will help with my health. This actually went really well; I know there's room for improvement but I am happy - our food/household products spending decreased by a little over a third. I tried to do a no/low spend month also and be more intentional about our spending. I'm going to continue the no/low buy mentality and pantry challenge in February.

4. Cash for Vacation - Currently putting away towards a Bryce Canyon/Zion/Grand Canyon Trip in the summer. Goal: $4550 New Goal $5500. I modified this a bit to represent what I have already spent (mainly money for our hotels near the Grand Canyon). We added a couple extra days for driving so we can see stuff on the way and not have to drive a couple 16-18 hour days, so the hotel and food budget increased. Current amount saved & spent of goal: $972.59/$5550.

5. Retirement Contributions - Continue 401k, 403b and monthly non retirement investment account contributions. I want to put a chunk of our tax refund in the investment account, as well as any extra if/when SS/401K/403B max out towards the end of the year. No progress.

6. Trust - really need to complete this. I dropped the ball and I know it needs to be a priority. We've met with an attorney, I just need to gather all the paperwork he needs. No progress.

7. Part time work/income - I think I am going to start substituting at my son's school but need to find out what I need to do to make that happen. The extra won't make up the difference from last year's income to this years, but it will be nice to have and get me back to working outside the house, something I haven't done in almost 12 years. Turned in my applications for substitute teaching. I think I am just waiting on the background check to be complete and to find out which type of emergency subbing license I will be able to use. I qualify for two - one costs more and pays more. It also usually expires at the end of the school year, but the state may allow the expiration date to be extended until June 2023.. The other pays less, but I can start in one week instead of 6 weeks. It also expires June 1. While this won't bring in a lot of money, I'm trying to decide whether to split what I earn between debt and vacation or if I just put it into my IRA.

Personal Goals - New
1. Focus on health. I restarted WW a few weeks ago when I really started the pantry challenge and have done extremely well, especially with tracking. I feel better and I'm down just over 7 lbs. I also haven't had a Coke in two weeks (vs 1+ a day). I think I'm finally in the right mindset to make this work. In February, I want to start adding in exercise at least 3x week and make sure I hit my step goal every day (currently set at 12,500). For health/weight loss - but also because we have a lot of hikes planned for our next trip and I want to be able to do them and enjoy them!

2. House Projects. There are so many things I want to do and maintenance things that need to happen, but I let perfectionism/procrastination get in the way. I think I'm going to try and focus on one room/area a month to tackle. February will be the laundry room and my HP closet under the stairs sorted. The laundry room desperately needs a coat of paint, a leaky faucet fixed and hopefully new light fixtures. I also need to hang cabinets I already have for storage, then move the wire shelves that should be empty from the laundry room to the closet in our bedroom. The closet doubles as our storm shelter and my gift closet. I really need to get this taken care of soon before we get into tornado season. Costs should be minimal, other than paint and light fixtures if I do them now.


Hope everyone has a good month!

 

[jackers]

January Update

• Mortgage: Reduce balance by 22% with ideal payoff in December 2025 (moved this goal up 6 months – I think it’s doable) Jan: 1% decrease
• Savings: Increase savings balance by 10% Jan: 4% increase
• 401K: Max out contributions: Completed (based on current rate of contribution)
• HSA: Max out contributions: Completed (based on current rate of contribution + planned one-time contribution)
• DS16’s 529: Contribute $2500 Completed – We received our final bonus payment from my prior company since we have been acquired so I used that to complete this goal for the year.
• A new one, because I felt like I was a little spend happy this past year: Reduce year over year spending in discretionary budget by 5% (includes things like Gifts, Clothing, Entertainment, Dining Out, etc). Year to Date: I am actually 62% over compared to last January but that is because I booked and paid for our Gatlinburg cabin this month. I expect this to balance out significantly as the year goes on.
• Transfer ownership of ‘09 Honda to DS25 (he has been using it for the past 3 years anyway). Not started.
• Fund used vehicle for DS16 with cash. Not started.

2022 Personal Goals

• Get a will drawn up (third times a charm?) Not started.
• Get DS16’s driver’s license Goal is no later than May so he can get a summer job.
• Vacation: Currently planning a Gatlinburg sister trip in the spring, hopefully a family trip later in the year but no specific plans yet. Cabin booked and paid for.
• Get healthier – make better food choices and exercise. Wrapping up my Whole30 program today (30 days – no sugar, no bread/pasta/rice, no dairy, no alcohol) and have lost 14 lbs. I will continue to follow the program for a while, but allowing myself the occasional “noncompliant” day. Haven’t started exercising but my preference is walking/running outdoors and it’s too damn cold for that just yet. Goal will be to start walking by the end of February if weather allows. I want to get back into running and am hoping to start a modified Couch to 5K in March.
• Paint great room Not started.

Got our taxes filed. We are getting a sizeable refund – DH and I usually each take a portion as “fun” money for ourselves, but I am also making a small contribution to my HSA (that will make up the small difference between my paycheck contributions and the annual max). The rest will go into savings for now.