Debt Dumpers 2023

[goofytinkerbell]

1

 

[jackers]

January Check-in

2023 Financial Goals

• Car Payment – Pay off Cherokee (ideally by May, but timeline is contingent upon some assumptions I have made regarding tax refund and our annual bonus – at a minimum, I will be able to pay the car off this year). On Track for probably a June or July payoff. Although I discovered that my stupid lender has a limit of how big of a payment you can make each month at one time. And it doesn’t let me schedule any additional payments until the current scheduled one is clear. I really don’t feel like having to watch it that closely and schedule 3-5 payments every month, so I decided to just make my regular monthly payment, and then put the additional money into my savings account and wait until I have the full payoff amount saved up – will make a few dollars in interest that way too.
• Mortgage: Reduce balance by 15% - I won’t start tackling this until mid-year, assuming all goes as planned with the car payoff. Those payments will then roll over to extra principle payments on the mortgage. Not started.
• Savings: Increase savings balance by at least 10% Up 2%
• 401K: Max out contributions On Track based on current contributions.
• Reduce year over year spending in discretionary budget by using a cash budget (includes things like Gifts, Clothing, Entertainment, Dining Out, etc). I think I have my system worked out and have a significant amount of my cash budget still remaining for this month. Pretty happy about how this is working out so far. Biggest change is in our dining out. I’m embarrassed to say that we spent, on average, $500/month on dining out last year. My budget this year is $100/month and we came it at $80 (one meal plus an unneeded bakery stop). And grocery spending hasn’t increased because of that – I’m just being much more thoughtful on my shopping, eating out of the freezer/pantry more, buying a lot less junk, and food is not going to waste as much. First month experiment is definitely a win.

2023 Personal Goals

• Get a will drawn up (sigh - this has been a goal for 4 years running. Our youngest son turns 18 this year - so we will try and do this after his birthday) Not started - July target.
• Vacation – DS17 is graduating this year and I am really hoping we can take him on a trip this summer before he starts “real life” – nothing planned just yet. Not started.
• Get healthier – make better food choices and exercise. No comment, but I feel like this week I made progress mentally on this and I think I’ll have a better update at end of February.

Got my taxes filed this week – getting a decent chunk back which is always expected as I typically have the max amount deducted out of my paycheck. But I decided to make a small change to my withholdings this year to get more money now and smaller refund later (ideally). Also walked DS17 through TurboTax and doing his taxes – pretty sure his eyes glazed over in minute 3, but I at least feel like I have done my parental duty by introducing it to him.

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

Wrap up for January:

lol try again in February. What a month!

 

[disney-inspired]

Hello!
I'm nearly a month late but I got back from Disney World on Saturday and am now mentally ready to create my 2023 goals.

2023 Financial Goals

• Don't have any credit card float - Currently I have balances on 3 credit cards but will be paying them off once all pending charges have cleared from my sinking funds.
• Make consistent payments to my federal student loans - with zero interest and no payment required, I have ignored these $15k of debt but with the federal forgiveness on hold due to the lawsuits, I may as well make progress on them this year.
• Save $5,000 for a new car
• Increase monthly payment to parents - I live at home, initially it was only going to be during pandemic but the cost of renting is astronomical in southern California. Neither my parents nor I see any benefit for me to move out just to be apt poor when I work from home. I give them money each time I get paid help with the cost of food and utilities but seeing as things have risen in cost, I'll be upping my monthly contribution.
• Cash flow all vacations
• Max out Roth Contributions

Personal Goals

• Increase physical activity - I went to Disney World last week and had rented a scooter but I would love to not be dependent on that for my future trips. I know I can't do anywhere near a normal day's worth of walking with RA but I would like to switch to either a rollator for when I need to sit or a manual wheelchair that I could easily put aside until needed. Also, traveling within the resort is time consuming with a scooter.
• Change eating habits - eating poorly and infrequently (my hunger cues got screwed up after surgery) has surely had a negative impact on my health. I want to eat healthier (less fast food) and set up at timetable to help my metabolism.

 

[zebrastreyepz]

I think I was in the 2022 thread and went off the rails.

But 2023 is going to be different because there have been a lot of changes around here.

I have a budget laid out for the year...for every paycheck. We have assignments for all overtime, bonus money, and tax refund money which is debt freedom.

I have 12 goals altogether:

1. Lose 50 pounds
2. Reduce debt by $15,000
3. Teach 1 cardmaking class
4. Complete 48 new scrapbook pages
5. Finish editing four books from my friend's back catalog
6. Edit four new books for her this year
7. Complete my first book series, which means completing one book
8. Complete my second series, which means writing four books
9. Stick to the budget
10. Organize my scrapbooks and get completed pages into albums
11. Produce content for all four blogs consistently
12. Read and review 48 books

January 31st update:

1. Down 4.3 pounds which has me on track for the year.
2. Down $161. February should change this drastically with income tax refund and bonus money going towards this goal.
3. *No plans yet*
4. Not started, but I did begin my first cardmaking workshop kit in years and have enjoyed it immensely. I also ordered a dedicated scrapbooking table for the extra bedroom which will help this go more quickly.
5. *Not started*
6. Completed one book edit in January.
7. Added about 500 words to my WIP. Signed up for some marketing events.
8. Did some character mapping.
9. I felt good about this and thought we did really well.
10. *Not started* My books and pages that are completed but not in books are in a cedar chest underneath my big screen TV. I really need a proper piece of furniture for the TV so I can easily get access to them.
11. Goal is 18 posts per month, and so far, I've done 11.
12. Way behind on this and have only completed 2. I've had 3 DNFs (Did Not Finish) in a row, so it's not for lack of trying.

I do read all y'alls posts, so please keep posting. They encourage me even when we haven't done much, I know we're all trying.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Went to grab some fries from the deep freezer to find it wasn't working. I had a bunch of frozen yeast rolls in there and apparently it warmed up *just enough* for one day last week that they burst and it's...bad smelling. So I guess we get to replace that now. Thankfully we haven't bought our 1/4 beef yet.

 

[pblack]

End of January Update:

2023 Financial Goals:

• Pay off our Highlander loan (Roughly $19500 at the start of the year) - Paid an extra $200 towards this today. We will be taking a substantial chunk out of this once we file our taxes and get our refund back.
• Increase my contributions to my "other" savings accounts (pets/gifts/CC fees). - Have not increased this yet, will look more into it in February/March.

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 - Don't have anything else booked other than our April cruise. Holding off on making concrete plans for 4th of July until we figure out the situation with DH's job. We're also talking about booking a cruise for October that some friends invited us to go on. If we book it it's a 7 day leaving out of New Orleans.
• Finish replacing the fence that needs to be replaced - Hasn't happened yet, but we may try to get it done this weekend, or one of these upcoming weekends as long as the weather stays nice.
• Live life and be happy - I feel like this one is just a constant work in progress. We hung out with some friends over the weekend at a brewery and played What Do You Meme and had a good time.

Not too much of an update, but did make a little bit of progress on the highlander loan. Now that my DH will be getting paid every 2 weeks instead of twice a month I need to re-figure out what bills I'm paying when. I also need to figure out when his first check will be since I may have to pull some money from savings to cover any bills that may be due in the interim, but that's not a huge deal since I'd just put the money back when he's paid. Our solar loan also goes up by $100 in a few weeks, so I need to do some work on our budget anyway. (Our payment amount was set for like 18 months and if we didn't pay XX amount of dollars by February 2023 it was going up by $100. Ideally the company wants you to take the tax rebate you get back and pay it towards the solar loan, but instead we used that money to do upgrades around our house. It was a better trade off for us and we got more out of it.)

All in all just plugging along here. DH is meeting with some of the guys taking over the company tonight at a dinner thing and tomorrow everyone finds out about the buyout, so once all that happens I hope to know more about what I may need to plan for. I love reading everyone's updates/progress so keep on posting!

 

[piglet1979]

I have not made any specific goals this year. Though we are starting off ok. DD and I are finally done with all of our doctors appointments. For me everything came back good but I just needed some PT and that ended a few weeks ago. DD Had many different things last year and nothing really related with each other. If seems that all are fixed now except we did get confirmation that she has a clotting disorder. Nothing major her platelets are just slow to do what they are supposed to do. She has had 2 surgeries before knowing this so I don't for see anything major from it.

I have hit my out of pocket for me starting next month. I have a medication that is expensive but they have a program at the company that helps with the amount and they have paid for January's Rx but it still went on my out of pocket. They give you a debit card to pay for it. This is such a big help. I was a bit worried abut the amount before this.

We do have 2 trips this year. We have been slowing paying our Disney trip. We buy a $100 gift card each week. We get points at the grocery store for money off of grocery's and it adds to the points on our credit card (we pay this off each month). We will pay the rest with our tax refund. The other trip will be a cheaper trip. My dad is taking us and is paying for the hotel. We are heading to Gatlinburg for a few days. After Disney we will start saving for this trip.

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

February goals:

-DON'T EAT OUT. WHAT THE HELL US. STOP IT.

This wasn't exactly as irresponsible as it sounds--we've been hit with illness this month so it was often just easier when we didn't feel up to cooking (or cleaning the kitchen) to just eat out. And we had no food in the house at times. But it has to stop! To do this we did a big food order yesterday AND we've decided that all food (groceries and eating out) must go on the debit card rather than the credit card so we can't eat out if we don't have the money! I'm going to be making some batch meals that we can eat for lunches and/or dinner so that when we don't feel like cooking we have something we can just reheat rather than being all 'place an order.'

-Throw money at the credit card. Just all of it. ALL THE MONEY.

Getting money back from taxes so that will go right on there. I also signed up to be a travel agent so I guess eventually maybe that might bring in some money for this? I don't expect this to be a big thing ever but every little bit helps.

-Set up some kind of recurring payment into the 529s.

A couple of things will hurt us in February--there are 4 birthdays in the next two months. One is a big deal (my mom's 70th) and I know I'm going to end up paying for the whole thing. One is my husband's and we'll just do a nice meal out. The other two are my kids and those will be parties at local places.

Ugh why was everyone born at the same time!?

But after that there aren't that many 'outstanding' expenses. We'll put camp on the credit card, that will be due in May, but SHOULD also be paid back from our FSA. I think the cruise in October is due in July, but I should have a good handle on 'can afford without being irresponsible' by June.

 

[barkley]

I have hit my out of pocket for me starting next month. I have a medication that is expensive but they have a program at the company that helps with the amount and they have paid for January's Rx but it still went on my out of pocket. They give you a debit card to pay for it. This is such a big help. I was a bit worried abut the amount before this.

we were pleasantly surprised for our oldest when we realized that the portion of his medical bills and scrips that the medical group (and his insurance company's) financial assistance programs we never dreamed he even qualified for ended up being applied to his deductibles. it made such a financial difference for him. it's so important to try to seek out these types of programs-they can make such a difference.

-DON'T EAT OUT. WHAT THE HELL US. STOP IT.

This wasn't exactly as irresponsible as it sounds--we've been hit with illness this month so it was often just easier when we didn't feel up to cooking (or cleaning the kitchen) to just eat out. And we had no food in the house at times. But it has to stop! To do this we did a big food order yesterday AND we've decided that all food (groceries and eating out) must go on the debit card rather than the credit card so we can't eat out if we don't have the money! I'm going to be making some batch meals that we can eat for lunches and/or dinner so that when we don't feel like cooking we have something we can just reheat rather than being all 'place an order.'

i've gotten back into this habit. did it regularly when kids were young/both of us working but got out of the habit with retirement. it is so handy to have stuff in the freezer to just grab, set in the fridge to defrost and have to quickly cook. the other habit i've gotten into to avoid defaulting to getting 'eating out' foods is to stock the freezer with some of the prepared/ready to bake stuff we would be inclined to grab at a much higher price + tip. calzones, the kinds of subs you heat (meatball, cheese steak, buffalo chicken...), flatbread pizzas. yeah, it costs more than making it from scratch but it's much less than buying it at a restaurant/to-go place.

 

[jackers]

A couple of things will hurt us in February--there are 4 birthdays in the next two months. One is a big deal (my mom's 70th) and I know I'm going to end up paying for the whole thing. One is my husband's and we'll just do a nice meal out. The other two are my kids and those will be parties at local places.

Ugh why was everyone born at the same time!?

I have this phenomenon in late spring - in about a 6 week window I have: dad's birthday (80 this year), mom's birthday, both DS's birthdays, grandson's birthday, my birthday, my anniversary, Mother's Day, Father's Day and you can almost guarantee there will be a graduation in there as well - this year it's DS17's (which falls on the same day as his 18th birthday). We also have a wedding this year. It's always an expensive time.

 

[Tygerlilly]

February goals
• Go to work. I've been so bad about this. Since paying off basically everything I've hit a bad few weeks of volunteering to leave early (without pay) or scheduling days off. We can pay all our bills, but I need to get back to work to build our home fund and pay for our Disney trip.
• Meal plan and prep. Along with bailing on work, I've been bailing on cooking.
• Get back to working out. Self explained. I haven't worked out since my dad died in November. I'm a better person when I work out, mentally and physically.

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

I have this phenomenon in late spring - in about a 6 week window I have: dad's birthday (80 this year), mom's birthday, both DS's birthdays, grandson's birthday, my birthday, my anniversary, Mother's Day, Father's Day and you can almost guarantee there will be a graduation in there as well - this year it's DS17's (which falls on the same day as his 18th birthday). We also have a wedding this year. It's always an expensive time.

Both my kids are the same WEEK! They're two years, 4 days apart. I didn't plan it that way! It's a pain!

 

[pblack]

February goals
• Go to work. I've been so bad about this. Since paying off basically everything I've hit a bad few weeks of volunteering to leave early (without pay) or scheduling days off. We can pay all our bills, but I need to get back to work to build our home fund and pay for our Disney trip.
• Meal plan and prep. Along with bailing on work, I've been bailing on cooking.
• Get back to working out. Self explained. I haven't worked out since my dad died in November. I'm a better person when I work out, mentally and physically.

Just wanted to say it's ok to take a break when you're able too. I remember you posting that you'd been working crazy amounts of overtime, so I think it's justifiable to take some time to yourself.

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

Hi everyone!!! Happy 2023!

I'm glad to see this thread is still so active. If you've been here a long time you'll know I used to be a lot more active here. Last year was an absolute disaster in more ways than I can count, but one thing I can say is that my finances turned out ok despite just about every major life change you can think of occurring in one year. I'll keep things pretty G rated for obvious reasons, but the very long story short is that I'm now a single mom, and I am back living in my home city in the north east (moved from Florida last spring- still not totally ready to talk about how painful that was after spending a decade working to get there). My divorce is final, child support has been calculated, and I finally was able to purchase a home. It's not much- it's 120 years old and two bedrooms, but it's mine and I absolutely love it. It's also affordable enough for me that I'll still be able to travel with my mom while she's still healthy enough to do so, and show my son the world without being house poor, which was very important to me.

One big positive that came out of the move back North was a new job with a 30% pay increase. As much as I adored my old job, I was desperately underpaid and was definitely surprised to see what I was "worth" when I moved. Now that I've bought a house and set down roots, I'm excited to have a solid stint of more than 2 years at a job and get into a financial rhythm that will allow me to save for some big travel I want to do.

My big financial goals are mostly related to home upgrades/ repairs and travel for right now. My father passed many years ago, and I used some of the money left to me for a down payment and home repair fund. Since my home is an old flip, it's got all the cosmetic upgrades already and looks great, but it needs some plumbing work and a few odds and ends to get it to where I'd like. Long term, I'd also like to have my back yard leveled a bit, since it's pretty much one postage stamp sized hill right now, but that's not urgent. I also don't know how much it would be to level out a small backyard- anyone know a ballpark or willing to share figures on a recent project?

Despite what 2019 and 2022 especially threw at our family, I'm feeling great. I feel I can finally prioritize my own goals for myself and my son. Here's to 2023:

My 2023 Goals:

-Upgrade Plumbing in home. Pay cash but use CC for churning/points. Not sure of my grand total since I'm still waiting on quotes, but I've already paid $900 off for the work I had done on my washing machine's plumbing and a pipe repair that wasn't up to county code. So so far, so good! I also noticed a small leak in my downstairs bathroom recently. A friend's husband thinks it may be the seal around my toilet. I have a 1 year home warranty, so I guess it won't hurt to see if they'll come out and do the repair. If not, I'll just have that added to my plumbing bill. Need to get that done soon, though, so I'll be calling tomorrow now that I've had some time to observe it and determine what does or doesn't cause it to leak. Don't want my brand new floors to rot.

-We have a DCL cruise coming on the Fantasy in April. My mom and I are traveling down with my LO and splitting expenses in half, so this thankfully is pretty much paid for. I saved for about a year, but I'd like to get about $300-$400 more in Disney gift cards before we go down to spend onboard. Hoping to buy $50-100 worth each paycheck until then. Booked a Pedicure for me and a Pirate Night makeover is booked for my son as well (he will get a "ticket" for this in his Easter basket as one of his experience gifts). I booked a massage for my mom, and I've booked the Remy dessert experience and Palo brunch for her and I as early Mother Day gifts to each other . We realized we'd much rather do that together than spend money on little doodads or chocolate from the grocery store we could get any old day. Or suffer through a 2 hour wait for a mother's day brunch in our city. I'm looking so forward to both and the quality time with my mom!

I'd love to do a trip to California for DLR in 2024 as well. I think this will be possible as long as I get some good cc cash back offers this year. Looking into doing bank bonuses too, but I'm nervous! Seems like a big learning curve.

My mom has always mentioned wanting to see Disneyland Paris. I'd originally planned to go with my Ex and our son and she was going to join, but then 2020 happened and the rest is history. But lately, my mom has been starting to slow down a bit physically and has been battling some health issues. Some severe, and some less so. She needs both knees replaced this year, and has had some other much more serious health concerns. I want to go on this trip with her before it becomes to difficult health wise for her to travel so far. So since she's having her knees done (separately) this year and will likely be recovering and doing PT next year, I've decided on Spring to early summer 2025. This will also give me adequate time to save since this is quite ambitious for me financially. I've started doing local Children's consignment sales in my area, and think I'll probably pull about $1500 a year if the next two years go as well as this one did (and I'll have a lot more product in the coming years as I'm getting more involved and have been focusing more on going through my son's things). I do 3 sales a year, so this will give me 6-7 sales worth of proceeds to put toward the trip. I plan on putting the proceeds of these sales for the next 2 years entirely in my travel fund. Additionally, I used to really love doing seasonal retail work during the holidays for some extra money on weekends, but that became tough to do regularly once my son was born. Now that my son is older it is easier for my mom to watch him, she has expressed that she'd love to have him more for sleepovers or on weekend days so that they can spend more quality time together than just1-2 hours on weeknights here and there when I can't pick him up from school on time. Plus, since he will be spending some weekends with his father, this will not only help me fill that time and adjust to weekends without him, but will also be a great little income source that I can DD right into the travel fund. And of course, my mom and I will be splitting a room and some other expenses, so that will help us both tremendously. I'm hoping to be able to pay for a lot of things for my mom as a surprise to her and a thank you for all of the help she has given us these last few years, but I'll have to see how things shake out.

So all in all, my major 2023 Goals Are:

-Pay immediately for all plumbing work, but use CCs for rewards as always.

-Begin saving for DLP vacation. Get a seasonal job this fall to help meet this goal.

-Declutter my son's outgrown clothing, books, and toys and place those in sellable condition up for sale at my local Kid's Consignment Sale in Spring, Fall, and Winter. Also declutter holiday decor and regiftables for the holiday sale, as they are accepted. Hope to net a profit of $1500 for DLP between all 3 sales in 2023.

-Continue my CC reward churning as I have been for years. Use a Southwest sign up bonus and referral from my mom to pay for flights in DLR in 2024. Use Disney CC rewards earned between now and then towards hotel (just cashed mine out for the cruise, but already have about $70 again thanks to all of my new house expenses). Use other misc cash back from other cards for food and any add ons we may choose do, like Legoland, SeaWorld, Universal, etc. If this trip solidifies by the end of the year, I plan to get my son some SeaWorld or Universal GCs for Xmas for his spending. Just want to make sure this trip materializes and doesn't get nixxed for DLP before I buy anything. At the end of the day, this trip is more of a "nice to do" trip but I'd much rather prioritize DLP if it comes down to it.

Oof. That took like an hour to work out and type up. Here's to 2023 guys!

 

[jen7233]

I also don't know how much it would be to level out a small backyard- anyone know a ballpark or willing to share figures on a recent project?

Hello and what a big update! I am not sure what a ballpark figure would be, but you can likely get a free quote or two from some companies that handle yard work like grading? You may check with some landscaping and maybe contractors that do that type of outdoor work. They could also let you know any other concerns that may factor in to doing that type of work. What a busy and big difference moving from Florida to the north when usually it's so much of hearing the opposite direction on here! Congratulations on a better job opportunity and home!

One month through the new year, and I've already had many different things pop up. This year is going to be interesting.

 

[FQLover]

@fifthdimensiondweller I remember you! In fact about a month or two ago, I was thinking about people who I haven't seen on the thread in a long time and you popped into my head and I wondered how you were doing.

It sounds like it has been a very difficult time, but you landed safely on your feet, have a nice home in your old stomping ground, and are enjoying life with your son and your mom. I hope that you three have a wonderful time on your cruise this spring!

 

[DisneyHardin]

I'd also like to have my back yard leveled a bit, since it's pretty much one postage stamp sized hill right now, but that's not urgent. I also don't know how much it would be to level out a small backyard- anyone know a ballpark or willing to share figures on a recent project?

We had something similar a few years ago and it was $5000. Our yard is very small. They leveled the yard out some and put in 2 drains because every time it rained, our driveway was flooding.

 

[piglet1979]

we were pleasantly surprised for our oldest when we realized that the portion of his medical bills and scrips that the medical group (and his insurance company's) financial assistance programs we never dreamed he even qualified for ended up being applied to his deductibles. it made such a financial difference for him. it's so important to try to seek out these types of programs-they can make such a difference.

I have had this card since I started using this medicine. Between insurance and the card I haven't had to pay anything. Normally I just gave my number to the pharmacy and everything was done on the back end but it never went on my deductible. This year to get around this they gave us the debit card to use. I never thought to look for this before this medicine. I just happened to be on their site the day that I started the medicine to look up side affects and how to use it (it is an injection) and found this program that they do.

 

[pblack]

Welcome back @fifthdimensiondweller! I'm sorry for all the struggles you've gone through in the last few years, but it sounds like you're in a better place now so yay for that!