Debt Dumpers 2023

[pblack]

Friday already! No idea where the week went, and it's pretty obvious from my lack of progress

Financially:
1. Keep the credit cards empty - DONE! Still using them and paying them off before they start earning interest.
2. Figure out a way to put some sort of extra on the mortgage, even if it's the $100 minimum - DONE!
3. Get some things I NEED to have (rims/tires for the car, items that need replacing at home, etc)
-Bought 2 very small items, spent $20
4. Get a savings plan going for the big stuff that comes due in one lump sum payment (insurance, property tax)
-No extra progress this week. My pay just got straightened out so I didn't want want to touch anything until that was done.

General stuff:
1. Make a will - DONE!
2. Continue to clear out the crap. I need to go through my clothes and that sort of thing. I got a pile done in 2022, but it really wasn't enough.
-If I got rid of anything this week I forgot to keep track
3. Look for a new job. The reason nothing has been getting done is because I'm burned out from my existing job and I'm being severely underpaid for the work I do.
-Been checking my email notifications daily, but nothing there.
4. Get my passport.-DONE!
5. Knock some half-finished projects off the list. Everything from making a scarf to some jewelry. Lots of stuff has been started, but not finished. Enough already!
-Nothing this week
6. Get into better shape. I'd like to say 'lose weight', but I'd be happy to be able to run up my own steps without getting winded. The weight loss may or may not come, but it's not as important.
-Did 2 workouts
7. Spend more time with loved ones. I don't see friends/family much. I guess I really need to do #3 in order to facilitate this one.
-I was out with friends once and spent last weekend with family
8. Organize my stuff!
-Nothing this week

My lack of progress is a bit disheartening, but I was still feeling run down and my Dad was back in for surgery on short notice. I'll do better this upcoming week, I'm sure of it.

Any progress is better than no progress. And even no progress is ok seeing as you're only human and sometimes we all need a break.

 

[goofytinkerbell]

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[pblack]

We went to Tahoe over last weekend with a group of friends and had a ton of fun. Perfect weather, got to hang out at the beach for a bit, and I won almost $500 off a slot machine I stuck $5 in. That seriously never happens to me. I gambled back ~$50 the next day and couldn't hit a single thing. My win pretty much paid for our weekend trip so I was pretty pleased with that.

I just purchased tickets for the baseball game we plan to attend in Texas in about a month. We're pretty excited to go since we've never been to this stadium. While we aren't Rangers or Astros fans (Giants fans in this house) we think it will still be a really fun game.

I'm trying to convince myself not to go to Disneyland in a few weeks. Turns out i'm going to take the place of my boss at a conference in Anaheim and I reallllly want to go to Disneyland since i'm going to be right there. So i'm trying to see if we can pull off going down on a Friday night, my DH would leave Sunday, and then I would just stay for the conference. I could make it work if I don't throw as much money towards paying off our highlander, but I'm also soooo close to paying it off that I really want it gone. So we'll see which one ends up winning out. We have a lot of things requiring money planned between now and October so that's also a consideration.

I don't think I really have any progress to report on towards any of my goals at the moment since I don't get paid till next week, but thought i'd pop in and give a general life update. Hope everyone has a wonderful 3 day weekend, or just a wonderful weekend if it's not a 3-day for you.

 

[goofytinkerbell]

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[barkley]

hope everyone has a great memorial day weekend. my oldest is in his first post collegiate job that (at least during training) has 'bankers days' and as a result will get a paid 3 day weekend (mind blowing to him ). weather is supposed to be decent this weekend so we hope to get the last few basic 'yard' (10 acres) things set up for summer. still need to figure out how much gravel we need and get that priced to order but otherwise it's some mowing and hauling of cut down bushes/branches to the dump.

spent some $$$$ this month and more to come next-wildfires put the fear of god into us so we figured out a means to provide a water barrier around the house if the need occurs, and we finally got a diagnosis on the full scope of our hot tub repair spendy but 1/3rd the cost of a comparable replacement.

oh well, i am hopeful that come july as we enter the 2nd half of the year i will be done spending on repairs, upgrades and upkeep for awhile.

 

[StacyStrong]

I go back to Disney next weekend! So excited.

Not excited about the emergency vet visit I had to take this Wednesday. My pupper got bit by another dog. Honestly it was an accident and it wasn’t too bad but I obviously freaked out.

My dog is just over a year old and has megaesophagus. He got bit on the bridge of his nose. The emergency vet essentially said we had two options - he could do a clip and clean, but they need to sedate dogs to do that. Otherwise, we could leave it open to heal on its own with antibiotics and pain meds. Although his megaesophagus is well managed, sedation is high risk for him. The vet said that since the bite was minor (for a bite) and it’s just a single puncture wound, he was more comfortable with letting it heal on its own. Sooooo we are now on day 3 of 7 of antibiotics and his last day of pain meds. Honestly, he hasn’t reacted to the bite at all. He’s frustrated because all he wants to do is play and we aren’t letting him. He’s eating and drinking normally, etc. but maaaaaaaaan does the wound look sooooo nasty.

The ER visit was somehow only $200 including the meds so we really lucked out. I mean not that it matters. I would have paid $2000. I’m obsessed with this boy.

 

[jackers]

Big day here. Youngest son turned 18 and graduated today. Won’t be an empty nester but life is definitely going to be different with school behind us.

 

[pblack]

End of May Update:

2023 Financial Goals:

• Pay off our Highlander loan (Roughly $19500 at the start of the year) - I haven't made my next payment yet, but I plan to once my DH's check gets deposited on Friday. I'm aiming to pay another $2000 toward this which will bring my balance down to around ~$3000. This huge payment is mainly due to June being a 3 check month for my DH (first time this has happened in a very long time).
• Increase my contributions to my "other" savings accounts (pets/gifts/CC fees). - Not focusing on this until I get the last little bit of our highlander paid off.

2023 Personal Goals:

• Travel more - aiming for a trip 4th of July weekend (undecided on where), going out to Texas at least once, a cruise or a trip out of the country - Upcoming we have: Texas (long weekend), concert in the bay area at the beginning of August where we'll be staying the night, concert beginning of September in the bay area where we will be staying the night, and then New Orleans/cruise in October. During one of the 2 concert weekends I plan to make it a sort of anniversary trip and we'll do something extra/special to celebrate that.
• Finish replacing the fence that needs to be replaced - This has now been finished and it looks great.
• Live life and be happy - Working out is just not happening right now. I'd been doing pretty good with swimming laps/exercising in the pool, but then our weather cooled off some. I hope to start doing this again soon. Other than that I don't think I have any major complaints at the moment.

We are so close to paying off our highlander loan I can taste it. I'm going to be in Anaheim for a work conference in a couple weeks and I did debate taking the money I plan on paying toward the highlander and going to Disneyland instead. But I just can't justify the cost of a short weekend trip without annual passes. So instead I'm only taking about ~$400 and we plan on going to Reno (NV) in a few weekends for their brews/blues/bbq festival.

Supposed to be pretty warm here this weekend so I think it might be a pool weekend for me. Hope everyone is doing well and chugging along!

 

[goofytinkerbell]

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[pblack]

-Got the official email that we have to be back in the office at least 4 days a week, with only a week's notice. Going to be hard to look for something else.

Wow, that's rough. I'm sorry. When we got notice we had to be back in the office at least 3 days a week I think they at least gave us a few weeks notice. A lot of us are still fighting being back in the office since it's not fair throughout our business. Some departments are still working fully remote. Some people in some departments are only in the office 1 day week. While some of us still have to be there 3-days for absolutely no good reason at all other than "because I said so." I'm unfortunately in a department that has to be in 3-days a week and i'm definitely not happy about it. Granted I haven't been happy with my company/job as a whole in awhile. My issue is that I get paid really well and I have a crap ton of time off which makes it really difficult to want to actually leave. We're currently in the middle of negotiations for raises (among other things) so we'll see what happens with that. I haven't taken finding a new job completely off the table though.

 

[jen7233]

Wow, that's rough. I'm sorry. When we got notice we had to be back in the office at least 3 days a week I think they at least gave us a few weeks notice. A lot of us are still fighting being back in the office since it's not fair throughout our business. Some departments are still working fully remote. Some people in some departments are only in the office 1 day week. While some of us still have to be there 3-days for absolutely no good reason at all other than "because I said so." I'm unfortunately in a department that has to be in 3-days a week and i'm definitely not happy about it. Granted I haven't been happy with my company/job as a whole in awhile. My issue is that I get paid really well and I have a crap ton of time off which makes it really difficult to want to actually leave. We're currently in the middle of negotiations for raises (among other things) so we'll see what happens with that. I haven't taken finding a new job completely off the table though.

The inconsistency must be quite frustrating. Something I've wondered with our offering of fully remote, which I am fully remote now, is our quality of candidates. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but I swear it seems like our last batches of hires even though remote are not lasting, or questionable in some cases on work priorities, or perhaps just didn't turn out to be the right fit. I'm not the supervisor, and will never do that again been in plenty of those positions, and don't need that stress anymore. But I do hear in meetings questions about items due and it seems to be the newer individuals, why they aren't done, or finding out a person that just came on 6 weeks ago is leaving already, and that's not just one person but has been several. I think some people came in thinking remote as the best of circumstances, yes it's absolutely great I have no commute, but we still have a massive workload and some hires don't seem to understand that coming in. I work over alot. Even my DH says to me he'd be watching Netflix all day, I say yeah right, not a chance. I'm shackled to my computer answering people all day, calls, meetings or Teams chat on questions. When I get up and come back, I've got messages waiting and missed calls. When I was in the office, I felt way less of this. Maybe because it's easier to just walk down the hall. That all being said, I think someone that's been in the company and is a good producer and understands the organization, if they can be productive at home, it should be a consideration.

 

[CinderEmma94]

End of May Check in/Update (a few days late)!

1. Pay off the birth **done
2. Pay off two of our 3 credit cards (approx $13,000). **First card is paid off! Woohoo! We adjusted our priorities and are shifting focus to our third card (we owe as much on that one card as the other two combined when we started). Still throwing some extra at this goal so the balance is going down, but not as much as before. We currently owe $8,600.
2.5 Pay off third credit card (approx $14,000). **New goal for the purposes of posting here, but it has always been a goal for me to get rid of this debt! This is the card we are super embarrassed about and I debated even posting it here. It is our daily card, that is typically paid off monthly (we have a good track record with this card - use for everything and pay off in full for the almost 9 years we have been married/have this card). However when my husband was laid off for 6 months (he started his current job a week before our third was born almost 6 months ago) we used the card for everything and reserved our cash for rent so we wouldn't be evicted. So, it is out of control. Starting $14,000.
3. Start husband’s 403B (he works for a non-profit) and contribute to match (5% of our income). **Not yet, starting in June/July, it just depends on what check they decide to start it on. It is set up and ready to go, but money hasn't started going into it yet.
4. Grow emergency savings to $13,000 by the end of 2023. **5,665/13,000 -- we are pausing this goal for a couple of months to be able to better tackle the debt. Yes, my savings account is earning over 3% interest, but when you have credit card debt that is at 19-20% it makes more sense to us to throw everything we can at the debt ASAP. So, suspending this goal for now but not giving up on it

Personal goals:
1. Continue making moving my body a priority (4/7 days a week) **I did great for the first couple of weeks of the month then fell off the wagon between my husband being out of town for work and all of us (including the baby) getting sick when he returned (we are still trying to get over it). I am ready to get back to it! I have the RunDisney virtual 5k races to do over the next few months so I need to get back into the habit!
2. Read 12 books this year **7/12 done. I didn't complete any books this month, but I still read! My current book is 750 pages (I'm on page 540) so hopefully I will finish it this month. I started a Disney instagram and youtube channel last month so that has been taking up my "free time" (I'm a homeschooling mom of 3 what's free time lol)/creative energy.

I hope everyone had a better month financially than we did! I am doing a no-spend challenge this month (I will obviously pay my bills, get gas and groceries, but I am talking about cutting out extra unnecessary spending) so we will see if that helps to break some of these habits. It has helped in the past so we will see.

 

[Tygerlilly]

The amount of money I've spent in the last few days makes me want to vomit. Lol. Everything wants a deposit. I wired our down payment and closing money to the title company, so we're ready to go on Monday afternoon. To get our debt to income ration down, we're including paying off the van, our care credit, and our appliances we just bought. Even with the higher mortgage vs our current rent, we still come out about $800 ahead per month now and have basically zero debt (not including the house).

We have a huge 2 week Disney trip coming up in November. There will be 12 of us going, plus 3 who may come to the rental house but not the parks. The house is paid for, just waiting on the homeschool group to release ticket info and we'll be set. I'm looking at about $6,000 for the tickets for 10 of us (2 are under 3). Then we'll just need to figure out hotels to and from, dog boarding, and food/souvenirs. We'll probably grocery shop and do breakfast and maybe lunch or dinner at the house most days. We're only 15 mins from the parks and have a lot of kids under 8, so I see us taking a mid-day break often. Trying to keep it low key and chill for the most part.

 

[Tygerlilly]

It's official and ours!

 

[barkley]

It's official and ours! View attachment 765482

LOVE IT! makes me SO HAPPY to see brick in it's natural state. looks like a new or very recent roof

 

[Tygerlilly]

LOVE IT! makes me SO HAPPY to see brick in it's natural state. looks like a new or very recent roof

Yes! It was replaced in 2020!

 

[barkley]

Yes! It was replaced in 2020!

that's awsome!

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

I go back to Disney next weekend! So excited.

Not excited about the emergency vet visit I had to take this Wednesday. My pupper got bit by another dog. Honestly it was an accident and it wasn’t too bad but I obviously freaked out.

My dog is just over a year old and has megaesophagus. He got bit on the bridge of his nose. The emergency vet essentially said we had two options - he could do a clip and clean, but they need to sedate dogs to do that. Otherwise, we could leave it open to heal on its own with antibiotics and pain meds. Although his megaesophagus is well managed, sedation is high risk for him. The vet said that since the bite was minor (for a bite) and it’s just a single puncture wound, he was more comfortable with letting it heal on its own. Sooooo we are now on day 3 of 7 of antibiotics and his last day of pain meds. Honestly, he hasn’t reacted to the bite at all. He’s frustrated because all he wants to do is play and we aren’t letting him. He’s eating and drinking normally, etc. but maaaaaaaaan does the wound look sooooo nasty.

The ER visit was somehow only $200 including the meds so we really lucked out. I mean not that it matters. I would have paid $2000. I’m obsessed with this boy.

Poor puppers we had a lab that had megaE years back. He didn't develop it until he was around 11. We had it well managed in his senior years between meds and proper feedings, but I had never heard of it until we had our labs, never knew how common it was. Glad your doggy is ok! Have a good trip!

 

[jen7233]

congratulations @jackers and @Tygerlilly with your recent big events.

 

[goofytinkerbell]

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