Debt Dumpers 2023

[goofytinkerbell]

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[EilonwyWanderer]

We knew February was going to be rough because we were paying for an expensive dinner for my mom's 70th birthday, but even though you go into a month knowing you're not going to make any progress it's still depressing!

Right now my main goal is to get the credit card down under 20k. I'm close, but there's always something isn't it? Oil is killing me. It's like $700 to fill half the tank! For March we have two known expenses: birthday parties for both kids. That shouldn't be awful, but so much for my hope that now that we had a house we could have parties there! Who knew trampoline parks were all the rage?

We have two big expenses on the horizon: camp in May, though we should get most of that back from our FSA, and then the cruise payoff in July. And that's one of those things where if the credit card is still high I'm going to cancel so I'd REALLY like to get that down!

My weight has gone up, not down, however I am starting to swim the two days that I'm in work so I'm hoping that helps. It's still too cold/icy around here for me to start my morning 5 mile walks but as the weather warms up I'm hoping to get that going. I regret putting the exercise bike in the basement because I haaaate going down there so I never use it. It's a good bike too!

We're making progress in the not eating out and I'm really hoping we start killing it in March. Having my mom here for a week for her birthday meant we ate out more than I'd like but before that we were doing good with cooking at home.

Lackluster update for end of Feb I know. My hope is March really gets us on track!

 

[dayvewc]

Plans were made, but not followed through on. This week's update:

Financially:
1. Pay off my credit cards (it's not a lot, but it's debt) - Changing to "keep the cards empty". Sure, they'll still get used, but as long as I'm not carrying a balance this goal is met.
-So far so good! Next month will probably be the highest power bill of the year, so it'll be a challenge then.
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, etc)
-I bought one very small thing off the list
4. Get a savings plan going for the big stuff that comes due in one lump sum payment (insurance, property tax)
-I now have a very tiny auto payment set up to come out of each pay. It's not nearly enough to put a dent in anything, but if I can keep up without missing the money then I can bump it by $5 at a time or something.

General stuff:
1. Make a will. A marriage voids your existing will, a divorce does NOT. My Dad had a heart attack recently, so this is especially important to me now.
-No progress this week
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.
-9 items gone this week.
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.
-Nothing this week
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!
-Worked on 2 projects, nothing completed
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 4 workouts, and somehow managed to GAIN weight!
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.
-Spent some time with friends twice
8. Organize my stuff!
-Started to do this, but then got distracted working on projects.

From recent personal experience, these two are way more important than people realize.

As far as the "Make a Will" goes, that may be fine and dandy in the abstract, but even with a will, make sure that all financial accounts have either multiple people on them OR a beneficiary listed. We ran into an issue with my mom's savings account and CD's. She was the only one on them and didn't have beneficiary listed. Even with a will stating that her wishes, we had to get the court documents filed before the bank would release the accounts.

Spending time with loved ones. No one knows how much time anyone has left. Spend more of it with you loved ones than on your job. Jobs are nice and all, but your loved ones are the real treasures. IF you don't treasure them now, you may not have a chance later.

 

[afan]

She created her United account first. Yes, same name. Then she signed in and transferred some points from her CF to CSR. Then tried to transfer to United.

Muscle weighs more than fat and the amount of water our bodies retain water isn't the same day to day. If you are doing workouts that builds muscle that is going to affect things.

Focus more on how your clothes fit than the number on the scale. It's a far better judge and can hopefully keep you from getting hung up.on the number. For sure still track the number but it's not the only thing that shows results. You've also got to weigh in the same conditions, ie time of day, food/beverage consumption, clothes/no clothes.

 

[pblack]

Almost end of February Update:

2023 Financial Goals:

• Pay off our Highlander loan (Roughly $19500 at the start of the year) - Paid $4500 towards this with majority of our tax return. Balance is currently sitting at just over $14k.
• Increase my contributions to my "other" savings accounts (pets/gifts/CC fees). - Still haven't increased this yet. Today's was my DH's first actual paycheck after the new company took over and i'm still trying to figure out how I want to pay bills now that my schedule is all messed up.

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 - Still hoping to go to Texas in July, but have not booked flights yet. I did put down a deposit on the October cruise we were considering booking. I'm not worried about paying this off since we have the money sitting in savings, but since it's not due until July I don't plan on paying it until then. Haven't planned anything else yet.
• Finish replacing the fence that needs to be replaced - This has now been finished and it looks great.
• Live life and be happy - As always this is just a constant work in progress, but things have been pretty good so far. We're going to see Gabriel Iglesias this weekend which i'm excited for. I've also been pretty consistent with my workouts - averaging 4 times a week. I don't really like the scale, but I do feel a little better in my body/clothes. I'm sure I'd feel even better if I was more consistent, but i'll take any kind of progress.

With the whole corporate takeover thing at my DH's work we're still working on his new 401k stuff. We've decided to leave his old 401k where it's at (just rolling it over into a new IRA) instead of moving it into the new company. The main reason for this is because I don't know that my DH will end up sticking with this employer and I feel like it's just easier to leave it separate.

We've also decided to withdrawal the Roth portion of his savings since there's no penalty to do so. (If you don't agree with these decisions, please keep it to yourself.) The Roth portion is almost $10k and our plan is to take about $2k to and "expand" our kitchen. Our kitchen right now is pretty small and we have 0 cabinet space. So the plan is to extend cabinetry/an additional pantry into our "dining room," get rid of the table we currently have that we never use, and replace it with an island/table that has stools we can store under it. My DH is having problems visualizing it all, but he's reluctantly on board lol. For the rest of that money the plan as of right now is to pay it towards our highlander loan. My hope is that if we do this, we can pay the rest of that loan off within like 6 months and then free up a $450 monthly payment.

I stocked up on a bunch of meats and a few pantry staples this week when I received my Costco rebate check. We should now be stocked fairly well on meats for awhile. I'm also trying to get everything ready before we leave on our April cruise. Making sure we have everything we need, ordering things we do need, making sure things are stocked for my dad when he gets here. I've also been trying to help my parents out as much as possible since they're struggling money wise. My dad's disabled and my mom doesn't work and with the rising cost of everything his checks are barely covering the things they need to cover. I usually pay my dad for when he comes to stay at our house and this time I ended up "paying him" early by paying for his vehicle registration. I'll also give him has money when the time comes and i'll probably buy a bunch of pantry type groceries for him to take home with him. I sent them some pantry stuff from Sam's Club a few weeks ago to try and help out.

I think that's it from me for now. Hope everyone is still trudging along! Hard to believe March is already here next month.

 

[Carol_]

Trying to save all my pennies due to the impending March 15th storm of tax Armageddon. My records are not yet ready for this and I don’t know if my bank account is either. I’m in a whole new tax bracket this year.

ETA: The new tax bracket is because my income increased. The worst that can happen is that I work out a payment plan with the IRS. No need for sadness unless you commiserate with my lack of organizational skills.

 

[goofytinkerbell]

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[dayvewc]

I already had to change my beneficiaries on everything when I got divorced, so I know that's all up to date. But yes, definitely important to do. The will is more to deal with belongings than anything else.

My family all lives a couple hours drive away from me, so it's not like I can pick up and go visit all the time without free time and money. My budget was tight before, but inflation has risen dramatically without an increase in pay. On top of that we're being expected to work more and more hours for that pay. That means that although I'd like to prioritize family, phone calls are now often the best I can do. If I'm living in my car that's not going to be good for any relationships. At least some friends live close enough that I can pop by for coffee, which is inexpensive for both time and money. On the positive side, I still have a job and I'm so far able to meet my obligations, even though sometimes I have to pick up a gig or work a second job to do it.

I understand. We all have to have a job so we can survive day to day. I'm not meaning to sound like anyone should be living a car or under the overpass. Also, don't discount those phone calls. I called and talked to my mom every day on the way home from work. I'd give anything to be able to have another phone call. Actually, I'd give about anything to have not erased her last voicemail she left. She just called one Sunday because I was late calling her and said, "It's your mom. I was just calling to say I loved you. Call when you can. Bye." When I got the message, I erased it and called her. If I'd known how few weeks she had left, I would have kept that message forever.

The sister (that just passed) and I had started afternoon calls since mom died. It was our way of coping. It brought us closer over the past couple of months. Those phone calls are priceless in their own way. I'd not give them up for anything.

 

[jackers]

February Update (is it really almost March?):

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.
• 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 5%
• 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). Doing great so far. When I compare current year to last year, I am already down significantly in my spending. I have a LOT of my cash budget still left over but I know I will eventually dip into some of that for clothes or other items that really require more saving up than buying weekly. The fact that I haven’t bought a single piece of clothing in two months is really quite an accomplishment for me.

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.
• 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. No plans yet but I do have some PTO days planned to look forward to.
• Get healthier – make better food choices and exercise. Definitely have been making better food choices – with the weather warming up I am hoping to get back out and walking regularly. I used to teach Zumba-like classes at our local Y and while I have no intention of teaching again (not at almost 47!) it’s something I still really enjoy and I’m thinking I might do some extra dance workouts in the basement.
  

 

[CinderEmma94]

End of February Check in/Update!

1. Pay off the birth **done
2. Pay off two of our 3 credit cards (approx $13,000). **Combined balance of the two cards is now $11,341. Making progress!
3. Start husband’s 403B (he works for a non-profit) and contribute to match (5% of our income). **Not yet
4. Grow emergency savings to $13,000 by the end of 2023. **4,600/13,000

Personal goals:
1. Continue making moving my body a priority (4/7 days a week) **made it happen 3 weeks of this month! I’m really proud of myself for this one, it hasn’t been easy!
2. Read 12 books this year **2/12 done

We added the goal of a Disney cruise this summer - our tax return is funding more than half of it. I’m saving every month to cover the rest so we won’t be going into debt for the trip. It is booked and deposit payed. I’ll pay it off when we get closer to the pay-in-full date.

Spending was definitely up this month, but we didn’t add to the debt. I’m finally feeling like we are getting back to normal and I feel much better mentally.

 

[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

Made some major adjustments to the goal list.

Here is the February update:

1. Down another 1.8 pounds in February for a total of 6.1 pounds down. I'm a little off the pace here, but I think the elimination of some of the above goals will reduce my stress which will reduce my food intake.
2. Down $4,329!
3. Not done yet.
4. Not started yet.
5. On hold per my friend.
6. On hold per my friend.
7. On hold per ME. Working full-time and writing part-time does NOT work for me at all. This will have to be put on the shelf for now.
8. See number 7.
9. Done!
10. Not started yet. I need to buy a TV stand for this to work successfully. DH and I will look into this over spring break.
11. Down to one blog, and I will keep the domain name alive, but not really interested in pursuing it since it was connected to the writing.
12. Adjusted: I will read and write as the mood strikes and I have not been in a reading mood at all this year.

 

[Carol_]

Good news! The 1099s I was waiting for are not coming ever but they are giving me the numbers I need to fill out the forms and file… There is light at the end of the tunnel!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I understand. We all have to have a job so we can survive day to day. I'm not meaning to sound like anyone should be living a car or under the overpass. Also, don't discount those phone calls. I called and talked to my mom every day on the way home from work. I'd give anything to be able to have another phone call. Actually, I'd give about anything to have not erased her last voicemail she left. She just called one Sunday because I was late calling her and said, "It's your mom. I was just calling to say I loved you. Call when you can. Bye." When I got the message, I erased it and called her. If I'd known how few weeks she had left, I would have kept that message forever.

The sister (that just passed) and I had started afternoon calls since mom died. It was our way of coping. It brought us closer over the past couple of months. Those phone calls are priceless in their own way. I'd not give them up for anything.

Sending you hugs Dave!

In May it will be 4 years since my mom died. I can't even believe it's been that long since I've talked to her. I still occasionally think to call her when their is some special news, like one of our kids getting a new job or car. It happens less and less over the years but I still catch myself.
I did manage to save 2 messages from my mom on my answering machine. Yes, we still have an answering machine on our house phone but we never use it these days except to erase all the scammer calls. I also have my MIL's last message to dh and she died in 2014. I started saving messages from my mom & dad after MIL died and I realized I better start saving them. I played them back while recording from my cell phone so it is there too.

One thing I lost that just breaks my heart is all of our texts. I didn't realize that the settings of my iphone were set on "delete messages that have been dormant for more than year" or something like that. One day I looked and they were gone. I have since changed the settings to save forever.

Our last text was the weekend before she died. Dh and I took a 3-nt quickie Disney cruise and as we sailed out, it was sunny in Port Canaveral but there was a little sprinkle of rain in one area of the sky, which produced a huge beautiful rainbow. I took a pic and sent it to her and she was so happy we were getting to cruise and she told me to get plenty of rest and now it's all gone forever.
I do still have emails regarding vacation planning. My sent folder goes way back and each vacation has a folder where I saved all emails related to the trip. When I read them now, I can still hear her voice as if she's talking. I just hang onto every little thing I can. Now, when I see a rainbow in the sky, I feel like she's with me.

 

[goofytinkerbell]

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[goofytinkerbell]

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[Tygerlilly]

The house has been hit with some kind of stomach bug, so it's been a crappy week (pun intended).

We added a little debt to our names last weekend, but the sales and 0% interest financing were saving us a pretty good amount, so we went for it. While we were gone in December our chest freezer and my laptop fried due to a power surge. Our mattress is closing in on 10 years old and is literally the cheapest thing we could find at the time. And our washer and dryer are a mis-matched set with the washer being a tiny portable one that is apartment sized.
So tomorrow a new mattress, deep freezer, washer and dryer, and computer are being delivered, plus hubby got a new giant TV. He's been asking for a couple years and it just worked out to be a great price.

It's fine, it just means I have to actually work my scheduled days instead of casually taking days off "just because". Lol.

 

[FQLover]

@blogusama Who are you? Why did you just join today and interrogate Carol in this very odd way? Are you a Bot? I hope that she doesn't answer you.

 

[bababear_50]

blogusama​

I just read this and I was like wow !!! How rude!
What people choose to share here is their business and to interrogate them is so wrong.
One step at a time and support of each other is how this thread works. (Sharing and caring).
Just plain crazy.

Mel

 

[Nettlelondon]

Carol, if you are reading this please ignore blogusama. Blogusama - that is not how this forum works. This is a non-judgemental, supportive space where we are kind to others. If you want to be that blunt I suggest you head over to the MrMoneyMoustache world, they are much more direct there. Horses for courses, understand your audience. And if you are a bot - really? What has anyone gained by that?

 

[Carol_]

1. What steps do you plan to take to ensure that you are able to pay your taxes this year?
2. Which retirement account do you plan to fund, and why did you choose that particular option? 2a. What factors are you considering in your decision between I-bonds, S&P 500 Schwab, and Vanguard for your retirement account?
3. What steps do you plan to take to fund your child's college education, and what factors are you considering in your decision between different investment options? 3a. What research have you done to determine which investment option is best for your child's college fund?
4. What changes do you plan to make in order to stop spending money on unnecessary items or expenses?

1. Keep hustling
2. Roth IRA because it’s the one I have. I already have Schwab and it’s done better than my Vanguard. I bonds are a distinct possibility but I’m scared of the never done that before unknown.
3. Encourage him to join the military. Save future after-tax income in CDs. Teach him how to make and save $$.
4. Get organized so I know what I have. This is the biggest, most involved and easily pushed aside job.