Debt Dumpers 2022

[barkley]

I'd rather overestimate and have money leftover than to come up short in the middle of it.

absolutely, we have the same mindset. i was just surprised at how expensive having plumbers in ended up running but we had already decided that if we were going to redo the master shower it was going to be like the ones we enjoyed in spas on vacations so that meant adding piping for sprayers and a wand. the other price pain was the cost of a frame less glass door but again it will be worth it-i want to see all that pretty new tile work.

 

[amalone1013]

Beginning of June Update
$2000 $1000 Maternity leave cushion -
1/1: $750
6/1: $902 (+$152 change since beginning of year)
I adjusted my goal back to $1000 as now that I'm officially on leave, I can calculate out exactly what I'll miss... which is about $275 but we'll be over cautious lol. On track to finish next month

Baby/Maternity Items -
1/1: Didn't exist
6/1: $1183
I've been putting 10% of additional income in here, then taking what I needed for the Maternity leave goal. I got some things returned in May which helped this, though I also spent some more which I need to calculate out still, so I expect this will go down a few hundred bucks. We also decided that any cash we got for shower gifts or after baby arrived would go to a savings account for her, so I pulled a bit out of here for that too.

$35,000 $20,000 Barn savings -
1/1: $6779
6/1: $22,205 (+$15426 change since beginning of year)
DH had a commission payout again so everything got a good boost and put us over the original $20k goal here so I've upped it to $35k.

Grocery/Eating out budget -
Grocery May: 52% OVER
Months under budget:
Eating Out May: 40% remaining
Months under budget:
We did take the baby out to eat twice but once was for DHs birthday so my in laws covered that. And some pickup meals again.
Groceries haha. Yup, we spent 1.5x the budget. Lots of grocery pickups again. I cut out dairy for a bit so that has meant buying some more expensive substitutes and also I can't have a lot of the things we prepped ahead of time. And the generic rise in prices I'm sure. I just had a sams order last week so maybe this month will look better overall, and eventually we can eat the prepped food lol. I can't be too upset overall since we were at/under budget the first 4 months.

Budget Meetings - minimum monthly
Months with meetings:
Haven't been good about these still. Need to. Was just tallying with DH the other much about his coworker having purchased 2 new cars, going on expensive trips, etc. I reminded him that not only does he not know their whole picture, but we're also doing well and have had a lot of savings, etc. He gets more out of touch with it if he's not seeing the numbers - like the barn savings alone this year would cover a nice chunk of a new car. I also am the one looking at our annual income monthly to make sure our tax withholding is on track, which is difficult with his commissions. So he often only looks at his commission statements and that's all. The other day he said he didn't know how much I was making while on Maternity leave So priority for this month!



For June my grandpa is coming to visit, I'm using points to fly him out here so he doesnt know the true cost Its just so easy to go out of my hometown airport went drive an hour when we have plenty of credit card points. That's what they're for! Then I'm assuming to try and get back there at the end of the month so friends and family can meet the baby. Dreading gas costs but

Other plans for the month include starting a 529, find out our state matches $1000 in contributions per year the first 5 years. Also want to determine a set amount we contribute monthly and then I'll probably "backdate" it to April. And I'm working my way through a house deep clean slowly. Also we, well DH, have been doing some home projects which so far have been cashflowed from extra money but if needed I plan to cash out some of my credit card points for them. I'm also doing a bit of a wardrobe overhaul, nothing too crazy but I'm getting rid of a bunch of old things, getting rid of socks and just buying more of the kind I like, that sort of thing. Most "new" clothing is gotten the last 5 years was from Disney trips, and I worked a ton of weekends. I switched to my no weekends position Fall 2020 so didn't get much new stuff then, and then got pregnant last fall so my body is a little different now. So I've got lots of worn out or won't fit again items to get rid of, and I'll probably end up with a few new things too. May use credit card points too

Baby has gotten super alert in the last week which has been very fun but sometimes makes it hard to do anything because she is demanding to be carried around and face out to see things

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

May Report and June Goals: Blergh

Still no luck in my husband's job search and it's really eating him. Covid basically knocked us out for the month, as did expensive dental work for me that didn't actually address the issue I went in for, so more expensive dental work for me in the future. I feel like it never ends! We also had to buy a couple things for the house that weren't expensive on their own but it all adds up. We've also paused our auto-oil deliveries until September. We can call if we need it before then but I can't imagine we'll need it before then and hopefully prices will come down a bit before then. We've also decided to pull the kids from after school care for next year. We had only signed them up for two days a week but I think we'll be able to cover things with remote work (which hopefully survives past December but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it). I'll be getting another raise in July and that can't kick in here fast enough!

Goals for June:
-Get the Credit card under 15k. Camp got charged last night uuuugh. We're going to put karate on hold for the summer which will help, but my extra jobs are drying up and that hurts.
-YNAB is caught up and this leads to the next one:
-Eat out less. I feel like this is a goal every month but we're going to try to REALLY do it this month! We've got the new fridge and we'll be well enough to head out for real shopping instead of being too fatigued to do much of anything. Honestly even just making a dent in the eating out budget will REALLY help.
-Start 529. There's never going to be a good time to do this so I went ahead and started one for each kid with just 500 in there. Might set up a recurring deposit so that the money is out of my check before I even notice it.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Well, we did it! Sold our car to CarMax this morning. They offered us a little over $2k more than we owed on it. Our new monthly savings will be $550 for the car payment and then another $100 for the insurance we carried on it. So approximately $650 saved a month (I don't have final numbers back from insurance yet).
We realized that we have pretty much the whole summer to live with one vehicle and then we can look for a little commuter car to get back and forth from work that we'll pay cash for (or finance $5k or under and pay off in a few months).

Work has been insane. Hubby had 7 hours of ot last week and anticipating more this week. I actually got most of my hours for the first time in a while. It sucks, but for now I'll take the month or so of extra hours to bulk our savings.

I'm interested to see how getting rid of the car loan will impact my credit score. Hoping for a good little boost. I found a house I really like and am keeping my fingers crossed it remains on the market a little longer until my credit increases enough to get a home loan.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Well, we did it! Sold our car to CarMax this morning. They offered us a little over $2k more than we owed on it. Our new monthly savings will be $550 for the car payment and then another $100 for the insurance we carried on it. So approximately $650 saved a month (I don't have final numbers back from insurance yet).
We realized that we have pretty much the whole summer to live with one vehicle and then we can look for a little commuter car to get back and forth from work that we'll pay cash for (or finance $5k or under and pay off in a few months).

Work has been insane. Hubby had 7 hours of ot last week and anticipating more this week. I actually got most of my hours for the first time in a while. It sucks, but for now I'll take the month or so of extra hours to bulk our savings.

I'm interested to see how getting rid of the car loan will impact my credit score. Hoping for a good little boost. I found a house I really like and am keeping my fingers crossed it remains on the market a little longer until my credit increases enough to get a home loan.

Our credit score actually took a little dip when we paid off our mortgage. Maybe 30 pts.

Don't let any bills be late or get skipped and keep your oldest cc open, even if you only use it buy a pack of gum every 2 years or so. The age of your oldest account impacts your credit score, and late payments really pull it down. Also the % of credit utilization adds to it. Try to keep that # low. If your cards are close to credit limit, that lowers your score. You probably already know all this.


We knew none of this when we bought our first place. No one ever heard of FICO, the internet, and the only way to get a credit report was if you were denied credit or a loan.
I had a lot of cc debt and a car loan and was still approved without dh's name on the mortgage. (We weren't married yet.) He had bad credit from his 20s which we were working to improve but we found a place that wasn't much more than our rent so we jumped on it.

Good luck! Housing is a bear right now.

 

[Carol_]

Things that make you go hmmm…
I don’t have a steady income, but I am making more $$ than I ever have before at a job that requires less of my brain than ever before. My FICO score is 816 this week.
I bought a pair of luxury brand shoes from their outlet store and the ads in my pop ups are for lifestyles that I do not live… This is the beginning of how rich people go broke.
I’m off to pay more of my student loans…

 

[webcreatrix]

Things that make you go hmmm…
I don’t have a steady income, but I am making more $$ than I ever have before at a job that requires less of my brain than ever before. My FICO score is 816 this week.
I bought a pair of luxury brand shoes from their outlet store and the ads in my pop ups are for lifestyles that I do not live… This is the beginning of how rich people go broke.
I’m off to pay more of my student loans…

What's the job?

 

[disney-inspired]

What's the job?

Same - need to know!

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

Careful, that's the kind of post that sounds like a scam looking to get your info.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

but sometimes makes it hard to do anything because she is demanding to be carried around and face out to see things

Do you have a snugli that can face forward so you can carry her and be hands free? Our first baby was very easy going and content with himself anywhere but #2 made it harder to get anything done and I finally broke down and got one. I recall easily vacuuming, pumpkin picking and putting trash cans out to the curb. My only memory of it being an issue was not being able to cook like that, and once around 5 months old when they start grabbing everything in sight, I was chopping a cucumber and he reached out for the knife. By then he wanted no parts of being turned back around and facing me. Mommy's face can only hold one's attention for so long.

 

[Carol_]

Careful, that's the kind of post that sounds like a scam looking to get your info.

Haha, ya, it does. I have an advanced degree that took me most of my life to earn, then years beyond that of working… and earning not enough to pay the loans… Now that I am no longer on the “expected” path that career was taking me, I use that same degree to do the job I do today. It’s just a lot easier than what I might have been doing. If Joe Smith wanted the job, it’d require ~$400k in education. I’m not trying to sell it to anyone. I have $36k in retirement. I’d be retired by now if I’d joined the military straight out of high school.
My comment was more about how curious it is that once I bought those shoes, my online ads changed dramatically. The internet tracks EVERYTHING.

 

[amalone1013]

Do you have a snugli that can face forward so you can carry her and be hands free? Our first baby was very easy going and content with himself anywhere but #2 made it harder to get anything done and I finally broke down and got one. I recall easily vacuuming, pumpkin picking and putting trash cans out to the curb. My only memory of it being an issue was not being able to cook like that, and once around 5 months old when they start grabbing everything in sight, I was chopping a cucumber and he reached out for the knife. By then he wanted no parts of being turned back around and facing me. Mommy's face can only hold one's attention for so long.

Oh my gosh
I do have a wrap carrier and she sleeps quite happily facing me when we don't want to nap in the bassinet. She's just a little small still for the forward facing position but maybe in a week or so. She came out small at 6.5lbs though Her head control is really good already!

 

[webcreatrix]

Haha, ya, it does. I have an advanced degree that took me most of my life to earn, then years beyond that of working… and earning not enough to pay the loans… Now that I am no longer on the “expected” path that career was taking me, I use that same degree to do the job I do today. It’s just a lot easier than what I might have been doing. If Joe Smith wanted the job, it’d require ~$400k in education. I’m not trying to sell it to anyone. I have $36k in retirement. I’d be retired by now if I’d joined the military straight out of high school.
My comment was more about how curious it is that once I bought those shoes, my online ads changed dramatically. The internet tracks EVERYTHING.

I promise, I am not a scam. I have an advanced degree, make good money, but it's a lot of brain work! LOL

 

[Carol_]

I promise, I am not a scam. I have an advanced degree, make good money, but it's a lot of brain work! LOL

LOL Maybe that’s why I spent the afternoon in an MRI looking at my inflamed brain.

 

[barkley]

charmin is on sale at target for 20% off if you do home delivery or pickup (not for shipping). i ran the numbers and their non sale per sheet price is less than i paid on sale at costco last summer so w/ 20% off it's a great savings.

 

[slightly_obsessed]

It's been a few months but checking in. Hope everyone is doing well and hugs to those who have had a bad couple months.

2022 Financial Goals
1. Debt - Focusing on Student loan #1 - balance is $9490. Original maturity date 7/2029. Current balance is $5590.74. Estimated payoff month is 7/2023. I am consistently getting an extra $250 to this but was able to make a big payment in April towards this goal.

2. Long Term Savings - Windows/Siding/House painting $5000/$55,000 $6750/55000 I talked to our contractor I plan to use and he told me prices are so high and supplies are so hard to get that if we can put this off a few years we should.

3. Budget Focus - Get food/drink/dining out costs under control. Well.... oops? Refocusing on this now that summer has started and we are back from our trip.

4. Cash for Vacation - Bryce Canyon/Zion/Grand Canyon Trip this summer. Goal: $4550 $5500. Just got back last week and this trip was amazing I had no idea we would love it so much or it would be so beautiful; my husband and I are pretty much ready to move to Utah.

It turns out I am terrible at estimating how much food costs and gas was significantly higher than what I originally planned so we went over budget but have the money to cover the shortfall by taking from our WDW/Legoland trip budget. So in addition to having to start over, I increased our budget to account for my underestimating food problem and increased costs for car/rental/gas. Hopefully I am way over instead of under this time. $85/$8500

5. Retirement Contributions - Continue 401k, 403b and monthly non retirement investment account contributions. Extra $5000 to retirement this year. 0/$5000 I have $4500 pulled aside but haven't decided it this is all going right now or if some needs to be diverted.

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 - Enjoyed subbing enough to renew my license for the next two years and considering whether I'd like to go ahead and get a full teaching license. Currently have half the money I made set aside to go to my individual IRA (this is in addition to goal number 5) and the other half is for vacations I think. I have one more paycheck coming and then won't get one until the fall.

Personal Goals
1. Focus on health 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). Hit my step goal 16 days and got through a 6 sessions of C25K. Doing better but still needs improvement! Down 12.5 lbs though! Need to refocus on this, I am probably no longer down 12.5 lbs but haven't been able to convince myself to get back on the scale.

2. House Projects. Focus on one room/area a month to tackle. My summer project is to get my upstairs sorted and actually get my sewing area set up. It's a huge area so I need to break this up into more manageable chunks. I just don't know where I want to start yet.

 

[imbatman]

Who’s this?! It’s me. Hopefully I’m back more regularly now.

Not debt free at the moment. DH was hospitalized after a work incident. The ER personnel was literally ignoring him. I gave the admittance clerk his insurance card and so we’ll be in a battle to get that repaid. He nearly lost his toe, so the inconvenience is worth it.

Other than that, the only other budget thing is that I earned a substantial bonus for tax season that’ll let us pay for my mom’s WDW trip outright.

My side hustle cut flower garden is going well! I had two friends invest in me. I didn’t ask or say anything, but they sent me checks because they wanted to. I showed them each what I purchased with their funds. And my gardens are starting to hit their strides. And, I used some savings to buy a greenhouse! This’ll make next year even easier! Look at all the exclamation points I’m using!

Besides, the flowers make my heart happy. And I love bringing a new bouquet to my mom every week. This was her Mother’s Day bouquet, all from my flowers.

That substantial bonus? It never came. All I got was a “We see your efforts and extra time you worked.” Needless to say, I am frustrated. That said, after a couple weeks of reflection, I’m going to take advantage of some training the company offers and have an exit plan of two years.

After losing Dad last year, I don’t want to be miserable. Mom is looking at a part time job (because she wants to) and we are considering moving in with her, since she has a 2600 s.f. house and our kids have flown the coop. We’re still tossing that around.

Financial: now researching an attorney for my DH because the WC company refuses to return his emails and calls.

Happy news: still loving flower farming and I have 161 days until Disney!

 

[afan]

That substantial bonus? It never came. All I got was a “We see your efforts and extra time you worked.” Needless to say, I am frustrated. That said, after a couple weeks of reflection, I’m going to take advantage of some training the company offers and have an exit plan of two years.

After losing Dad last year, I don’t want to be miserable. Mom is looking at a part time job (because she wants to) and we are considering moving in with her, since she has a 2600 s.f. house and our kids have flown the coop. We’re still tossing that around.

Financial: now researching an attorney for my DH because the WC company refuses to return his emails and calls.

Happy news: still loving flower farming and I have 161 days until Disney!

Sucks about the bonus but good you are figuring out a plan and knowing at least what you don't want.

Growing up my dad went from days and being the union rep for his shop to 2nd and then 3rd shift to avoid the politics and crap at work. He retired as soon as he could, I was in college, so I learned from a young age that working doing something you like is just as important as working with people you like in a good environment. I may not be doing what I'd planned but I like where and who I work with. It's also low stress and now mostly from home which is great. I also don't know what I'd want to do, just that it's not what I used to do based on lower pay and more hours.

 

[Carol_]

Current Student Loan Balance as of today: $49,873 down from almost $400k.
If I stop shopping, I can get it paid off in 2 months. Then, I start to save for taxes again, because I'm told that now I have to pay quarterly. I need an accountant.
Edited to add: "shopping" = spending money on anything else including gas and food

 

[disney-inspired]

Current Student Loan Balance as of today: $49,873 down from almost $400k.
If I stop shopping, I can get it paid off in 2 months. Then, I start to save for taxes again, because I'm told that now I have to pay quarterly. I need an accountant.

WOW that is awesome!
My friend is an independent contractor and she just had to pay her estimated quarterly taxes so she was bummed.