Debt Dumpers 2023

[pblack]

I have not been here for, well, longer than I want to have to think about.

I have WAY too much to list everything that has happened in the past several many months, so I will just touch on the highlights (in no particular order).

• In the past year, I have lost my mother, my sister, an aunt, a couple of cousins ( some closer than others), a cousin of my dad's that was 105, and a couple of close friends.
• I have been in a stressful situation at work this fall, with a new administration at the school district. We are under a new mandate that the "students must learn, or we will be shut down!" I keep thinking, if it were just that easy, why wouldn't we have been doing it all these years already?
  • We finished the first semester, and the supplies that I requested (and ordered from the funds that were distributed to each teacher for the purpose of ordering the supplies we needed to teach our classes this year) still have not been delivered or even purchased.
• On the plus side, I finally got my settlement from my car wreck in April of 2022, the last week, which made my Christmas a nice one as I am:
  • Debt Free on
    • Capital One
    • Sam's Club Credit Card
    • DVC Loan
    • Hilton Grand Vacations
    • Holiday Inn Club Vacations
  • With a fair Nest Egg Left
  • I still have
    • Car Payment on Olaf
    • Mortgage Payment on my House
      • that is under contract to sell to another person, through a rent to own process that pays the mortgage and a small profit to me each month

Anyway. Looks like this year is ending better than it began.

Wanted to drop in and wish everyone here a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and Happy New Year. Or whatever Holy Day you observe and however you hold it dear.

So good to hear from you again! I'm so sorry for all the loss you've suffered this year. I'm glad you're at least ending your year on a better note than it started!

 

[CinderEmma94]

This was 100% my biggest accomplishment this year. I started working on my mental health, followed by my physical health and I'm such a better mom and wife for it. I use to put myself last and I was exhausted in so many ways until I finally gave myself permission to start enjoying the things that made me "me" again.

I don't know you but I am so proud of you!! It can be so hard to break out of the mom guilt cycle and make yourself a priority. I will say it was the same for me, mental health first then physical, and I feel so much better. I am able to be more present and I am just happier overall which has changed the overall attitude in our household so much.

 

[CinderEmma94]

250 books? WOW! I thought I was doing well when I hit 105!

Also edited to add: Merry Christmas everyone! (or whatever it is you all celebrate)

105 books is AMAZING!!! Honestly I have no idea how I actually managed read that many with everything else I have going on. I definitely read faster on my kindle and kindle unlimited has saved us so much money this year.

 

[jen7233]

I have not been here for, well, longer than I want to have to think about.

I have WAY too much to list everything that has happened in the past several many months, so I will just touch on the highlights (in no particular order).

• In the past year, I have lost my mother, my sister, an aunt, a couple of cousins ( some closer than others), a cousin of my dad's that was 105, and a couple of close friends.

I'm sorry for your losses. It has to be a very hard time.

 

[dayvewc]

I'm sorry for your losses. It has to be a very hard time.

Thank you. It has. I feel like I've been reeling from one tragedy to another, with no time to recover since they all started last November, so technically a little longer than a year.

So good to hear from you again! I'm so sorry for all the loss you've suffered this year. I'm glad you're at least ending your year on a better note than it started!

Thanks! Yes, Fingers crossed whatever curse I encountered has ended.

I’m sorry for your many losses of loved ones. That’s a lot of grief on a heart.
Glad to hear you paid off a lot of debt. That must be a big weight lifted off of you.
Where will you live if you sell your home?

Geez, is it any wonder so many teachers want to retire early or just leave the field?

Thanks. It is.
Being that debt free is a massive relief. Those debts were almost half of my monthly income.

I have been renting an apartment for the past several years as I try to sell my home. This past year is the first one that the rental has broken even. Going forward, it should show a small profit until the renters get outside financing to purchase it outright.

21 years in teaching, and all I can say is that it has gotten regressively worse in the past 5, since just before COVID, and exponentially so after. Maybe if we were treated and paid as professionals instead of having our concerns ignored and dealing with stagnating pay for years on end. But that's my personal vent.

 

[goofytinkerbell]

1

 

[cvjw]

I'm not sure if Kindle does it, but Kobo connects directly to my local library. It's so much more convenient and saves a fortune!

My public library lets me borrow kindle books. They use my Amazon account to download them to my kindle app on my phone. I never buy books anymore - they are free to read on my kindle from my library.

 

[barkley]

if you live near a college or university see if they allow for a community library card. the one closest to us does and it opens up a universe of shared library systems that have a wealth of free downloadable books.

 

[disney-inspired]

Hi All! Hope you all had Merry Christmas and will have a relaxing New Year's Eve/Day.

Recapping for the year:
- I've incurred a good chunk of debt but it wasn't a 'how did this happen?' situation. I bought two resale DVC contracts. I'm aiming to pay those off within the next 1.5 - 2 years instead of the 10 year loan term. I know timeshares are never an investment but I think it was a good decision for me. I go at least once a year with friends or family. I'm childfree semi by choice but also because of cancer so I love to treat my nieces/nephew to a lot of fun times. We have a huge family trip planned for 2025.
- I did overspend on vacations I took this year because my health was pretty crappy - RA flares and all that - so was a bit too quick with the credit card.
- I stopped saving for a car pretty early on because my car is still good and used car prices are still ridiculous. I think I'll just run this car into ground and with it being a Toyota, I have MANY years left in it.
- I failed at no credit card float but thankfully it is zero interest until next summer. I have that scheduled to be paid off before the zero interest period ends.
- Federal Student loans are now in repayment so that wasn't fun to include in my December budget but checking my status today it say 'no payment due' with no interest accrued. Aidvantage (as well as other servicers) have been terrible about providing updates with the new SAVE plan. I've been paying my private loan the whole time so that's nothing new for me.

Not many goals for 2024 except get the new debt cut down if not completely squashed.

 

[barkley]

i'm closing out the financial books on 2023 today (paying the couple of small balances on credit cards off, adjusting auto transfers on bank accounts to new amounts for 2024...). everyone have a safe and sane new year's eve-see you on the 2024 thread

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

Here are updates through June on my 2023 goals:

(1) Pay off credit cards to zero every month.
(2) Cash flow daughter‘s college expenses (no student loans!).
(3) Max HSA contribution.
(4) One big vacation and 2-3 small vacations. I went to the Women‘s College Basketball Regional Tournament in Seattle from Thursday to Tuesday. It was so much fun. Also, did some touristy things in Seattle like the Space Needle, the Chihuly Gardens and Glass (I could go here over and over—love it!), Pike Market (found some really lovely leather bound journals for my daughter and her friends for college graduation presents), First Starbucks, Skagit Valley daffodil and tulip fields, and met some of my daughter’s college friends as they played in an Ultimate frisbee tournament at University of Washington. I went to the Women’s College Basketball Final Four in Dallas—omg I loved it so much! Went to CA for 6 days for my daughter’s college graduation activities and then helped her move. The first part of the visit was all fun and festivities, the second half not so much fun . I have a week long trip to mountain of Colorado coming up the first week of August—will be nice to escape some the extreme heat we are having here in Texas.
(5) Finish organizing all passwords and important documents into one place, so that if I die, my daughter has a very easy roadmap to my affairs. I work on this here and there as I come across things, but I am by no means finished.
(6) Personal health enhancement. I committed to weight loss in 2022 and lost over 100 lbs in 2022, which has resulted in changes to body and skin. In 2023, I want to
(a) figure out the physical strength and endurance fitness plan that works best for me, I have not done what I had hoped as far as coming up with a fitness plan, but pulling up floors and baseboards and carpet nails and painting has surely got my arms looking much more defined lol.
(b) experiment with skin care routines until I find the right balance, and No progress.
(c) consider corrective dental work. Had first appt to take impressions. Decided to not go forward at this time. Estimated cost is $40,000, with none covered by insurance. I decided I’d rather be more consistent with wearing my night guard and retire when I planned rather than spend that kid of money.
(7) Reconnect with friends that I haven’t seen since COVID began. Dinner or coffee/tea or long catchup phone call with a friend two times per month. January— Reconnected with four friends. I’ve been doing really great on this one. Have lost track of how many, but have had lunch or brunch with a number of people I hadn’t seen in ages. It has been so lovely to reconnect!
(8) Country House project goals:
(a) New flooring
(b) New baseboards Almost done so I will go ahead and check this one off.
(c) Porch project—power wash and re-stain porch, paint some miscellaneous places under the eaves where boards were replaced when new roof was put on.
(9) City house project goals: No time to devote to any of these yet since all my spare time has gone to the country house renovations.
(a) Clean out and remodel home office.
(b) Front yard project—remove current sidewalk to driveway, replace with stepping stones, remove ring and old plants around tree and enlarge plant area, replace grass.
(c) Declutter garage and fix garage door.
(10) Make a Shutterfly photo album of our December 2022 Europe vacation to Rhine River Christmas markets, Amsterdam, Paris and Disneyland Paris. No progress.
(11) I had planned to put an extra $1500 toward mortgage each month and beef up my emergency fund in 2023, but I am scaling that back to $600.00 per month extra on the mortgage until I see how much all these house projects cost. I’ve been able to maintain $600 extra while cash flowing all the house renovations.

(12) Earn employer’s $300 yearly wellness bonus. I‘ve gotten 225 of the 300 points needed.

Happy New Year! Congratulations to you all for never giving up on this debt dumping journey and for being so supportive of one another.
Here are my final updates on my 2023 goals. I appreciate that this board helps me to set goals and hold myself accountable. It has been a busy year!

(1) Pay off credit cards to zero every month.

(2) Cash flow daughter‘s college expenses (no student loans!).

(3) Max HSA contribution.

(4) One big vacation and 2-3 small vacations. I went to the Women‘s College Basketball Regional Tournament in Seattle in March. Also, did some touristy things in Seattle like the Space Needle, the Chihuly Gardens and Glass (I could go here over and over—love it!), Pike Market (found some really lovely leather bound journals for my daughter and her friends for college graduation presents), First Starbucks, Skagit Valley daffodil and tulip fields, and met some of my daughter’s college friends as they played in an Ultimate frisbee tournament at University of Washington. I went to the Women’s College Basketball Final Four in Dallas! Went to CA for 6 days for my daughter’s college graduation activities and then helped her move. The first part of the visit was all fun and festivities, the second half not so much fun . a week long trip to mountains in Colorado in August—this got cancelled at the last minute because the family member I was traveling with came down with Shingles. Added in September 2023–-Alaska cruise out of Seattle. Added in November 2023–a few days visiting my daughter in California, and five days at Disneyland during Thanksgiving week.

(5) Finish organizing all passwords and important documents into one place, so that if I die, my daughter has a very easy roadmap to my affairs. I work on this here and there, but did not prioritize it like I should. This will go on the list again next year.

(6) Personal health enhancement. I committed to weight loss in 2022 and lost over 100 lbs in 2022, which has resulted in changes to body and skin. In 2023, I want to
(a) figure out the physical strength and endurance fitness plan that works best for me, All the home repairs I did in 2023 were my “workouts“—pulling up floors and baseboards and carpet nails and painting. But for 2024, I have just joined a gym and have a plan.
(b) experiment with skin care routines until I find the right balance, and No progress.
(c) consider corrective dental work. Had first appt to take impressions. Decided to not go forward at this time. Estimated cost is $40,000, with none covered by insurance. I decided I’d rather be more consistent with wearing my night guard and retire when I planned rather than spend that kind of money.

(7) Reconnect with friends that I haven’t seen since COVID began. Dinner or coffee/tea or long catchup phone call with a friend two times per month. I’ve been doing really great on this one. Have lost track of how many, but have had lunch or brunch with a number of people I hadn’t seen in ages. I’ve called people and caught up. It has been so lovely to reconnect!

(8) Country House project goals:
(a) New flooring throughout the house
(b) New baseboards
(c) Porch project—power wash and re-stain porch, paint some miscellaneous places under the eaves where boards were replaced when new roof was put on. This will go on the list for next year—again. i did put some solution on the steps last week and scrubbed with a wire brush which removed some green mildew type substance that was slick when it rained.

(9) City house project goals: In September, I bought enough flooring to finish replacing all the carpet In the city house. My roommate and I have pulled up the carpet and put in the new plank flooring room by room: the whole downstairs except my office is finished, and we’ve finished two bedrooms upstairs.
(a) Clean out and remodel home office. The office was emptied in November, this is the last place we need to put in the new flooring on the first floor. For over a month, when I remote work it is from a little table in my bedroom, so I am so ready for this to be done. I’ll tag this one as 1/2 complete.
(b) Front yard project—remove current sidewalk to driveway replace with stepping stones remove ring and old plants around tree and enlarge plant area, replace grass Grass not done yet—will wait til Spring.
(c) Declutter garage and fix garage door. Nothing done on this one.

(10) Make a Shutterfly photo album of our December 2022 Europe vacation to Rhine River Christmas markets, Amsterdam, Paris and Disneyland Paris. Nothing done on this one

(11) I had planned to put an extra $1500 toward mortgage each month and beef up my emergency fund in 2023, but I am scaling that back to $600.00 per month extra on the mortgage until I see how much all these house projects cost. I’ve been able to maintain $600 extra while cash flowing all the house renovations for the country house and new flooring for the city house.

(12) Earn employer’s $300 yearly wellness bonus.

Now to think about goals for 2024!!

 

[pblack]

Happy New Year! Congratulations to you all for never giving up on this debt dumping journey and for being so supportive of one another.
Here are my final updates on my 2023 goals. I appreciate that this board helps me to set goals and hold myself accountable. It has been a busy year!

(1) Pay off credit cards to zero every month.

(2) Cash flow daughter‘s college expenses (no student loans!).

(3) Max HSA contribution.

(4) One big vacation and 2-3 small vacations. I went to the Women‘s College Basketball Regional Tournament in Seattle in March. Also, did some touristy things in Seattle like the Space Needle, the Chihuly Gardens and Glass (I could go here over and over—love it!), Pike Market (found some really lovely leather bound journals for my daughter and her friends for college graduation presents), First Starbucks, Skagit Valley daffodil and tulip fields, and met some of my daughter’s college friends as they played in an Ultimate frisbee tournament at University of Washington. I went to the Women’s College Basketball Final Four in Dallas! Went to CA for 6 days for my daughter’s college graduation activities and then helped her move. The first part of the visit was all fun and festivities, the second half not so much fun . a week long trip to mountains in Colorado in August—this got cancelled at the last minute because the family member I was traveling with came down with Shingles. Added in September 2023–-Alaska cruise out of Seattle. Added in November 2023–a few days visiting my daughter in California, and five days at Disneyland during Thanksgiving week.

(5) Finish organizing all passwords and important documents into one place, so that if I die, my daughter has a very easy roadmap to my affairs. I work on this here and there, but did not prioritize it like I should. This will go on the list again next year.

(6) Personal health enhancement. I committed to weight loss in 2022 and lost over 100 lbs in 2022, which has resulted in changes to body and skin. In 2023, I want to
(a) figure out the physical strength and endurance fitness plan that works best for me, All the home repairs I did in 2023 were my “workouts“—pulling up floors and baseboards and carpet nails and painting. But for 2024, I have just joined a gym and have a plan.
(b) experiment with skin care routines until I find the right balance, and No progress.
(c) consider corrective dental work. Had first appt to take impressions. Decided to not go forward at this time. Estimated cost is $40,000, with none covered by insurance. I decided I’d rather be more consistent with wearing my night guard and retire when I planned rather than spend that kind of money.

(7) Reconnect with friends that I haven’t seen since COVID began. Dinner or coffee/tea or long catchup phone call with a friend two times per month. I’ve been doing really great on this one. Have lost track of how many, but have had lunch or brunch with a number of people I hadn’t seen in ages. I’ve called people and caught up. It has been so lovely to reconnect!

(8) Country House project goals:
(a) New flooring throughout the house
(b) New baseboards
(c) Porch project—power wash and re-stain porch, paint some miscellaneous places under the eaves where boards were replaced when new roof was put on. This will go on the list for next year—again. i did put some solution on the steps last week and scrubbed with a wire brush which removed some green mildew type substance that was slick when it rained.

(9) City house project goals: In September, I bought enough flooring to finish replacing all the carpet In the city house. My roommate and I have pulled up the carpet and put in the new plank flooring room by room: the whole downstairs except my office is finished, and we’ve finished two bedrooms upstairs.
(a) Clean out and remodel home office. The office was emptied in November, this is the last place we need to put in the new flooring on the first floor. For over a month, when I remote work it is from a little table in my bedroom, so I am so ready for this to be done. I’ll tag this one as 1/2 complete.
(b) Front yard project—remove current sidewalk to driveway replace with stepping stones remove ring and old plants around tree and enlarge plant area, replace grass Grass not done yet—will wait til Spring.
(c) Declutter garage and fix garage door. Nothing done on this one.

(10) Make a Shutterfly photo album of our December 2022 Europe vacation to Rhine River Christmas markets, Amsterdam, Paris and Disneyland Paris. Nothing done on this one

(11) I had planned to put an extra $1500 toward mortgage each month and beef up my emergency fund in 2023, but I am scaling that back to $600.00 per month extra on the mortgage until I see how much all these house projects cost. I’ve been able to maintain $600 extra while cash flowing all the house renovations for the country house and new flooring for the city house.

(12) Earn employer’s $300 yearly wellness bonus.

Now to think about goals for 2024!!

Congratulations on accomplishing so many of your goals! Thats awesome.

 

[jimmymc]

End of year update!

Financial Goals

• Contribute $10,000 to general savings account - Partially achieved, but other savings ended up being better options
• Max out Roth IRA ($6000) - Will do as soon as my tuition reimbursement check gets here
• If student loan forgiveness happens, pay off remaining loans. If not, cut student debt in half - Contributed but not quite half, other things made more sense.
• Continue retirement savings at current rate - Boosted this, since my company improved their 401k plan it actually was better to save more than pay off student loans.

Personal Goals

• Run a full marathon for the first time
• Run a half marathon at a 12 minute pace - Sadly neither of the running goals happened, but I've been able to focus on getting better at hockey, so it's half a win
• Cut fast food down to once a week - Did pretty well!
• Finish my master's - Done!
• Vacation outside North America for the first time since 2019 - Missed out on this one, but only because I had the chance to do some spectacular domestic trips instead. Next year for sure.