Debt Dumpers 2024

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

Crazy to believe January is almost over. Tough to believe we're almost 8% through the year already. But here's an (early) end of January update:

2024 goals:
Credit Cards/Loans
Got 3 CCs ($1,500 total) and 1 loan ($800)
Pay off and quit using credit cards unless an emergency. Got 3 CCs with a total of about $1,500 ($300, $500, $700 lines of credit and all are near maxed out on crap purchases). We also have a loan my wife took out at one of these cash stores. It's got a 345% APR, so we feel we need to pay that one off first. But our goal is to stick to the Dave Ramsey plan and pay the 3 CCs off first since they're all lower monthly payments. We want to continue making our payments on the loan every 2 weeks until the loan is paid off (took out $800, will pay just over $2,500 by the time the loan is done).
January Update
Refinanced the big loan, so got payments back on track where we're actually paying on principal and not just recycling late fees. I paid about 10% over minimum payments on all 3 CCs last month. However, I have NOT used any of the 3 a single time this month.

Eating out
Cut down our eating out to 1 meal a week, usually a Thursday, Friday or Saturday night and then Sunday after church. We've done good at cutting those down and basically just eat out at breakfast (coffee and biscuit daily, which is only about $5/day).
January Update
We've cut down to about 2-3 meals per week (Friday night and Sunday after church this week). So lots better. Still stop every couple of mornings for a biscuit. But $1.62/day is much better than $4.40, and I only do it maybe 2-3 days per week.

Activity/Other
Walking - Try to walk the neighborhood 3x per week. I like to go on 15-20 minute walks around our neighborhood, and I'd like to do that 3x per week.
January Update
Started walking more at work (I work on the 2nd floor and try and take 8-10 trips per day up and down the stairs). Been too cold to walk the neighborhood, but finding other ways to get in steps. Highest day of the month was 4,400 steps. Today was right at 3K

Reading - Read the bible nightly and have daily couples devotionals between DW and I.
January Update
Reading - Not reading the bible. Fall asleep in the recliner most nights becuase I'm working more (having to work lots of evenings at home off the clock just to stay caught up.)

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I'm a huge fan of DR's Debt Snowball but in your case that loan shark debt deserves to be bumped to the top. Do they charge a fee to pay it down early? If not, I would attack that thing like a rabid pit bull and keep paying minimums on the rest. JMHO.
I don't even know you and it's not my debt but I'm angry at this bank that they do this to people, and that people let them do this to them!
Paying it off on time, as scheduled means THEY WIN. Big time. Does this not get you fiesty? I'd want to stomp it out! and even growl at it a little.

 

[WingandPrayer]

I'm with ruadisneyfan2 on this, WDW fan in TX: I know DR says snowball up, but I also think he'd say "yeah, it's cool to tackle the biggest interest rate first, especially since all the totals owed are so similar in range."

 

[Tygerlilly]

I swear my oldest is trying to go for record number of times to break your left arm in a lifetime. Saturday night after 3 billion times of telling her not to climb or stand on things she shouldn't, she drug my foam roller out from where my workout stuff is stored and tried standing on it while I was making dinner (she obviously knew it was an off limit thing, which is why she waited). Guess who fell off and landed on her arm wrong? Gave it the night icing and tylenol to see if it improved and by Sunday night I knew we'd need to go in. Got the appointment for this morning and yup, broke both bones just above her wrist. Waiting for the ortho to call and book her for her cast.

We got the text that our half beef would be going to process on the 8th and we'd have our total then. They're letting me split the cost between 2 cards which will help immensely.

The horrible freeze we had broke something inside our washer. The part was almost impossible for us to get but we found a repair person locally who was able to order it for us and will let us buy it at cost. I'll probably give him extra for the trouble. We should have it tomorrow. Luckily that was the only thing that broke and not any pipes.

I can't remember if I updated, but I had my first little vendor event for my business. I sold 3 things, so it wasn't a huge success, but it also was a very small event. Hoping for more success in the future.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I swear my oldest is trying to go for record number of times to break your left arm in a lifetime. Saturday night after 3 billion times of telling her not to climb or stand on things she shouldn't, she drug my foam roller out from where my workout stuff is stored and tried standing on it while I was making dinner (she obviously knew it was an off limit thing, which is why she waited). Guess who fell off and landed on her arm wrong? Gave it the night icing and tylenol to see if it improved and by Sunday night I knew we'd need to go in. Got the appointment for this morning and yup, broke both bones just above her wrist. Waiting for the ortho to call and book her for her cast.

We got the text that our half beef would be going to process on the 8th and we'd have our total then. They're letting me split the cost between 2 cards which will help immensely.

The horrible freeze we had broke something inside our washer. The part was almost impossible for us to get but we found a repair person locally who was able to order it for us and will let us buy it at cost. I'll probably give him extra for the trouble. We should have it tomorrow. Luckily that was the only thing that broke and not any pipes.

I can't remember if I updated, but I had my first little vendor event for my business. I sold 3 things, so it wasn't a huge success, but it also was a very small event. Hoping for more success in the future.

My oldest was that way too. He broke his arms 3x by 2nd grade. Meanwhile, our youngest is a daredevil and falls all the time without breaking any bones. Ask if they use waterproof cast material. This was a sanity saver for me every time. He could swim, snorkel, etc with no holding back, just shake the water out. Not that it's swimming weather right now but trying to wrap it up for a bath or shower and having the skin get skunky is a PITA.
https://www.aquacastliner.com/#/

Hope she's feeling better soon!

 

[piglet1979]

My youngest is like that. She is 16 now. We have had only 2 broken bones but she sprains her ankles all the time. She has also gotten 2 concussions from playing soccer. My son (17) who is much more active has only broken a finger from dodgeball. DD broke her thumb about 2 weeks ago (she slammed it in the car door) and 2 weeks later sprained her ankle doing a simple leap at baton practice. So right now she has a splint on her thumb and a boot on her ankle. When I went up to stairs to get a boot for her (before we went to the ortho) I found 4. Thankfully we didn't need to buy one again.

 

[Tygerlilly]

My oldest was that way too. He broke his arms 3x by 2nd grade. Meanwhile, our youngest is a daredevil and falls all the time without breaking any bones. Ask if they use waterproof cast material. This was a sanity saver for me every time. He could swim, snorkel, etc with no holding back, just shake the water out. Not that it's swimming weather right now but trying to wrap it up for a bath or shower and having the skin get skunky is a PITA.
https://www.aquacastliner.com/#/

Hope she's feeling better soon!

She's in 2nd grade now too. We had waterproof casts the last two times so I'm assuming she will this time too. Luckily she's in really good spirits, just bummed she can't play softball this spring and has to skip gymnastics for a while.

 

[CinderEmma94]

End of January update! This month has been really good for us financially. We were out of town (Disney Cruise - 7 Night Western Caribbean Pixar Day at Sea on the Fantasy) for a week so that definitely helped the budget for this month - we had almost no extra spending in Jan above fixed expenses and basics (groceries/diapers), the trip was paid in full/cash flowed months ago and all of our spending aside from port parking was paid for with gift cards that we have been saving. My husband and I were able to do Palo brunch for the first time because my mom and brother came with us so we had babysitters for a couple of hours and it was definitely a highlight of the trip!

Financial:
1. Pay off card #1 (starting balance $11,600) Current balance: $10,360
2. Pay off card #2 (starting balance $6,500) Current balance: $6,280
3. Grow emergency fund to $15,000 (currently at $7,300) Paused, debt is taking priority right now.

Personal:
1. 30 minute workout at least 5 days/week
I have been working out every day alternating between cycling, strength and running/walking. We have a Peloton Bike+ and it is my favorite and I finally found a workout routine that works for me - I am definitely putting in work and seeing results but not burning out after a couple of weeks. I am currently at 2 months of working out every day.
2. Read 100 books
21/100 read so far in 2024.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

She's in 2nd grade now too. We had waterproof casts the last two times so I'm assuming she will this time too. Luckily she's in really good spirits, just bummed she can't play softball this spring and has to skip gymnastics for a while.

My ds was in soccer at the time and never once complained or said he didn’t want to go. After he broke his arm he said, “Oh good. Now I don’t have to go to soccer!”

 

[MamaBelleRN]

I swear my oldest is trying to go for record number of times to break your left arm in a lifetime. Saturday night after 3 billion times of telling her not to climb or stand on things she shouldn't, she drug my foam roller out from where my workout stuff is stored and tried standing on it while I was making dinner (she obviously knew it was an off limit thing, which is why she waited). Guess who fell off and landed on her arm wrong? Gave it the night icing and tylenol to see if it improved and by Sunday night I knew we'd need to go in. Got the appointment for this morning and yup, broke both bones just above her wrist. Waiting for the ortho to call and book her for her cast.

We got the text that our half beef would be going to process on the 8th and we'd have our total then. They're letting me split the cost between 2 cards which will help immensely.

The horrible freeze we had broke something inside our washer. The part was almost impossible for us to get but we found a repair person locally who was able to order it for us and will let us buy it at cost. I'll probably give him extra for the trouble. We should have it tomorrow. Luckily that was the only thing that broke and not any pipes.

I can't remember if I updated, but I had my first little vendor event for my business. I sold 3 things, so it wasn't a huge success, but it also was a very small event. Hoping for more success in the future.

Haha! My kids are equal opportunity bone breakers. We’ve had 6 breaks in 1:2:2:1:0 breakdown (pun intended ) among my five kids. So far, the only escapee is the youngest. They seem to break when not at home! All happened at friends’ houses except for one. It makes it tempting to wrap them in bubble wrap before they leave!

 

[goofytinkerbell]

1

 

[pblack]

End of January update:

2024 Financial Goals:

• Add at least $2000 to my main emergency savings on top of my auto contributions - nothing added yet other than my auto contributions
• Increase my contributions to my other savings goals by at least $25/each pay period - Also have not done this yet. For this last paycheck period I focused on adding to my travel savings to cover some upcoming trips.
• Look into a living will/trust (We have friends that keep telling us to do this and with everything going on in my life at the moment, I feel like I should actually look into this more.) - Talked to our friends that would help us with this about it...well talked about getting one set up for my dad lol. No forward progress, but they know we want to get it done within the next few months.

2024 Personal Goals:

• Exercise at least 3 times a week for at least 30 minutes - I've done fairly well with this one. I don't remember off the top of my head how many days I ended up with in January. But I know middle to end of the month I was at 3 or more days a week.
• Travel as much as possible - We have lots of stuff planned for this year already (Vegas, 2 cruises, lots of concerts). We just got back from Vegas where we spent more than I probably wanted too, but such is life. Vegas food prices are ridiculous if you're on the strip. My next focus will be socking away money for our upcoming May cruise.
• Replace the patio cover in our backyard - No progress. Still trying to patch up the leaks we have for now to kind of limp it along.
• Finally do something with our side yard - not sure exactly what at the moment - No progress.

Honestly not to much of an update above (updates in purple) from my middle of the month update. We received our W2s in the mail the other day so when we got back from Vegas I plugged the numbers in and I'm so beyond annoyed that for the first time since we've been married (10 years this year) and for the first time since I made a dumb mistake on a W4 in my teen years, we supposedly owe $500 to the feds this year. I know I'm not the only one in this predicament since I keep seeing it all over tiktok. From the state we're supposed to be getting back around $600, so it's basically a wash. I had planned on using our tax refund for our 2nd cruise of the year, but apparently that's not going to happen. I normally use TurboTax (which I also keep seeing a bunch of information on), but I will also probably try and plug in my numbers through H&R Block or something to see if it comes up the same.

Also thanks to all the driving I've been doing (to see my dad) and the extra stuff I've needed to buy them, I wasn't able to add more to my vacation fund from this paycheck either. But at least I didn't need to pull from my savings. Now that my dad is home, I think I should be able to not spend as much for things he may need/gas to get up there.

We have a bunch of food in our pantry/freezer so I think I'm going to try and work through my pantry/freezer over the next month and try and spend less at the store and hopefully that will also allow me to toss more money in our travel savings.

 

[barkley]

We have a bunch of food in our pantry/freezer so I think I'm going to try and work through my pantry/freezer over the next month and try and spend less at the store and hopefully that will also allow me to toss more money in our travel savings.

i did that in january-saved about 25% of my normal grocery expenses. continuing on with it for february but also eyeballing the weekly ads to take advantage of any good meat sales (might as well make use of the space freeing up in the freezer with purchases that will save me down the line).

 

[disney-inspired]

I never set up any goals for 2024 because it's really just one - pay off this no interest credit card before Nov 2024.

My charging got out of hand admittedly but I know about 75% of the balance is not just frivolous spending - my down payment for DVC, huge medical bill (didn't want them hounding me about it), etc.

So, I'll be tracking the pay off progress.

 

[Bellex917]

i did that in january-saved about 25% of my normal grocery expenses. continuing on with it for february but also eyeballing the weekly ads to take advantage of any good meat sales (might as well make use of the space freeing up in the freezer with purchases that will save me down the line).

Frugal Fit Mom on YouTube shops like this and she calls it reverse meal planning. She stocks up on whats sale, then plans from her stock. I started this a year ago and my meal expenses are so much less than they used to be. She has a few videos about how she does it, but here's a good one. Once I started reverse meal planning my groceries were cut by about 1/3.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Frugal Fit Mom on YouTube shops like this and she calls it reverse meal planning. She stocks up on whats sale, then plans from her stock. I started this a year ago and my meal expenses are so much less than they used to be. She has a few videos about how she does it, but here's a good one. Once I started reverse meal planning my groceries were cut by about 1/3.

I absolutely adore Christine. She's serious goals in life. Between the being Frugal and fitness aspects she's what I kind of aspire to be as well when my kids get a little older. I've been following her since 2017 and am so happy to see her get so popular!

 

[Bellex917]

I absolutely adore Christine. She's serious goals in life. Between the being Frugal and fitness aspects she's what I kind of aspire to be as well when my kids get a little older. I've been following her since 2017 and am so happy to see her get so popular!

I will NEVER get to her level of fitness, considering I don't work out LOLOL, but I'd love to get to her level of financial security!

 

[pblack]

I love following DollarTreeDinners on tiktok/FB. While I'm blessed enough to be in the position I am, I love seeing how creative she can be with so little money. I also get some dinner inspiration ideas from her.

 

[huggybuff]

Weekly update! Payday Friday

Week 5

2024 Financial Goals

1. Pay off my credit cards and car loan in 2 years by using the debt avalanche. Paid the minimums on 5 cards. Next payday I start paying an extra $350 a month to the card with the highest interest (Lane Bryant).

2. Increase my monthly payments to my husband for household expenses by $800 a month beginning in May and open a joint checking account where we will each contribute monthly. We figured giving me until May to sock some extra cash into my checking would be a good idea since my personal loan is now paid off and that was sucking $1000 off the top of my paycheck once a month. Snoozed until May.

3. Set aside $285 per month from January-June to cover the cost of our hotel for our anniversary trip in July to Monterey. $285 more into my HYSA (2/6)

4. Begin paying for our 2025 spring break cruise to Mexico in March. Payments will be $400 a month from March-December. Also set aside $50 per month during that time period to cover our upgrade package. Snoozed until March.

5. Continue using the YNAB app and website to track my money daily. I'm still tracking my money the old fashioned way with a register but I really like the budgeting aspect of YNAB and am getting more and more used to it. YNAB is all set now. I've reconciled it with my checking account for the last 2 weeks. (5/52)


2024 Personal Goals

1. Finish deep cleaning and organizing my kitchen. My husband is basically the Swedish Chef so he makes quite a mess when he cooks. I appreciate the fact that he does all of the cooking but it's a lot to keep on top of TBH. I need to do a better job and put in more effort. I will track this weekly. Not a productive week, but the husband suggested we get our living room in order this weekend, so at least I'll have some accountability there. I work better with deadlines so I'm thinking of telling him my goals for each day and asking him to gently remind me about them if I get off track. (2/52)

2. Once I feel like my kitchen is back under control I'll transition to organizing my clothes that are in boxes in our bedroom. I will tackle this at least one of the days of my weekend. Snoozed.

3. Reorganize and deep clean my bathroom. I have too much on the countertop and need to make use of the cabinets in a more organized manner. Snoozed.

4. By July I'd like to be at the point I can begin to tackle my boxes that are still unpacked in the garage. I had a storage unit for years and now they're just sitting untouched since we moved into the house 3 years ago. Snoozed.

5. In August I'd like to make my stepson's room into a workout room. He's a senior in high school this year and he'll be starting college next fall. He's only staying over 1 or 2 nights a week at most at this point since he lives with his mom so I don't feel I'll be booting him out or anything. I am at my highest weight ever and I honestly don't even know what that is since I'm scared to get on the scale. I can have all of the DVDs and online workouts in the world but they do no good if you don't use them. I think having a space set aside will really help me out. Snoozed.

6. Get my passport at some point this year to be ready for the cruise in 2025. This probably won't happen for at least a few months.

7. I came up with a new goal. Get back to baking on a weekly basis. This will begin when my kitchen is 'done'. JK, I know a kitchen is never truly caught up on. Snoozed until I cross #1 off of my list.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend!!!

 

[barkley]

Frugal Fit Mom on YouTube shops like this and she calls it reverse meal planning. She stocks up on whats sale, then plans from her stock. I started this a year ago and my meal expenses are so much less than they used to be. She has a few videos about how she does it, but here's a good one. Once I started reverse meal planning my groceries were cut by about 1/3.

i watched the video-she has some good practices. i like that she talked about how the dates on products are not nesc. accurate to how long they are usable for. so many products have dates that are 'best by' that people believe they have to toss at when they are still usable for upwards of a year or more (canned and jarred goods in particular) with no real impact on the quality. the usda has charts online that show categories of canned goods that will be fine for 1.5-5 years if unopened that's where much of my big savings are-if it's a GREAT deal i stock up on what i know i will use.

it helped me tremendously to track for usage for a full year-i did an invantory of shelf stuff and kept count of usage/trends-if we used more in the winter months vs. summer so i knew when to eyeball for sales. i actualy did the same with paper products so i know down to the roll how many days of tp/paper towels/tissues we have so i can buy on sale.

i also agree with checking the clearance areas in stores-i check the end caps of the freezer sections and the designated area for shelf stable (coffee pods end up there often and it's like ???? they last forever but i'll snag them at half price). i also find that if you shop at certain times of the day you can find deals in the meat section b/c the butchers want to empty the stuff that's been there since they put it out for the morning/early afternoon shoppers and restock (ground beef often has 1-2 dollar off whatever the sale price already is marked down to). one local place sells fried chicken and does fresh batches in the afternoon for the dinner crowd so they package the earlier in the day cooked ones up and put them on much reduced pricing (freezes great).

i noticed when i researched christine that she lives in idaho-i don't know if she ever shares it on her videos but she faces a challenge most of us do not w/grocery prices-she's in one of the last remaining states that taxes groceries, at a full 6% which when feeding a family can quickly add up.