Debt Dumpers 2024

[bababear_50]

Cheers to 2024

Financial Goals:
#1 This one is Personal & Financial
Commit to 2 half days of supply work a week.
Increase monthly income
Social interaction with peers.
DONE! I spoke to Head Office Manager at my Local High School and I am scheduled.

#2 Restart Bi weekly deductions to the Credit Union
to cover Private Health Insurance. DONE!

#3 52 week challenge (copy below) Christmas Time Fund.
Cut Christmas Gifts & Birthday Gifts to immediate Family only.
Christmas is already done. and no one complained!!!
So far 17/ 52 weeks
Done UPDATE 20/52 weeks Done.

#4 Use Credit Card only if you pay it off at the end of the day.
,,,just for Airline points.

Personal Goals:
#1 Buy a Walking Mat or Treadmill with Income Tax return.
I've spent hours researching them.
Need to Find a new Accountant as old one retired.

#2 Walk at least 5 times a week.
Use it or you are going to lose it.

# 3 Rework yearly trips (2x 3X) into one longer trip thus cutting costs like Park N Fly ,,Flights,, etc.
Canadian Flights are so expensive.
Going to try 12-14 days split stay Disney/Universal

#4 Think 1,2,3 times before lending sons money.
Love them but ..................................
Just say no!!!!!!

#5 Take over and operate your Dad's Trust. Re evaluate situation in one year.
This is currently being Litigated in court. (Only the Lawyers are making any money right now).
That is if I don't do away with the EVIL stepmother in the mean time.

I find plastic Zip bags with money charts my best way of saving and will be doing a few of them again this year.

Best Wishes for a balanced year everyone.
Hugs Mel

 

[CinderEmma94]

I finally had some time to sit down and come up with my goals for 2024! The financial goals are only going to happen if we really buckle down and stick to our budget, but we are going to work hard and see how close we can get. Progress in the right direction is all I really care about after all, life happens.

Financial:
1. Pay off card #1 (starting balance $11,600)
2. Pay off card #2 (starting balance $6,500)
3. Grow emergency fund to $15,000 (currently at $7,300)

Personal:
1. 30 minute workout at least 5 days/week
2. Read 100 books

 

[delmar411]

My goals for 2024 hinge a lot on my adult children doing what they are supposed to and that might not happen with my daughter but I'm going to pretend that they will both take care of their own car debts and insurance.

Financial Goals:
1) Stick to budget - stop wasteful spending
2) Earn an extra $500/mth (this means I need to p/u extra shifts)
3) Replace Pool system - much of it is broken, pay off system in 2024
4) Resurface pool deck and pool - repair broken pool tiles - hopefully within sinking fund amount
5) Replace pool cage screens - use sinking fund
6) Buy DH a new car, his is currently a big metal paperweight in front of the house - this will have to be on car payments

Personal Goals:
1) Get back to the gym 3x/wk
2) Read 52 books - I'm at 50 for 2023 and I might be able to knock out 2 more before Sunday night
3) Message my mom once a week
4) Update resume

I am trying to keep my goals attainable for 2024.

 

[bababear_50]

I am so so so glad I am not the only one with ***Adult *** children!

 

[Tygerlilly]

Okay, I think I've got some realistic goals finally made and set. I spent some time tonight working on setting my planner up for January. We had a good conversation about upcoming vacations for 2024 earlier and I'm pretty excited for what's coming.

FINANCIAL GOALS
• Pay off credit cards: Total of all 5 currently $2800.
• Get grocery budget under control. Will start checking sale ads and meal planning around what's on sale that week. Also going to leave some wiggle room for stocking up when I catch a good meat markdown. Hoping to keep groceries at $600/month.
• Set sinking funds and contribute money made from side hustle towards them.

PERSONAL GOALS
• Start 75 Hard on January 1st.
• Declutter and organize 1 room per month.
• Dedicated "me" time every night after kids go to bed (reading/journaling/planning/etc).
• Spend more time outside.

VACATION PLANS
• Pennsylvania trip in March for cousins baby shower/family visit. Considering tacking on a few extra days and going down to Gatlinburg on the way home. Estimating $3000 for this trip. ($0/$3000)
• Fall west coast trip w/cruise. We decided to skip Disney World this fall and instead are thinking of heading west to do a cruise out of LA, making several stops along the way. We *might* tack on 2 days at Disneyland since we're there, but it depends on time. We've never cruised, so we think a little 4 day one would be a good into. I'm giving this a very loose $5000 estimate depending on how much passports are going to cost. ($0/$5000)


I started a little side hustle making sensory kits. The initial reception has been amazing and I've been picked up to sell at a local artesian market in town. I'm trying to keep prices low (I've seen kits sell for $50-60 online which is insane to me), but also make some kind of money off of them. I want to use all income from this to fund the kids activities and then anything left over put towards long term sinking funds. As of now kids activities are around $150/month. My goal is to sell 10 kits per month.

 

[goofytinkerbell]

1

 

[Tygerlilly]

I love this idea! I'm thinking of doing similar (create things to sell, but not the same as you) in order to try and get a handle on my "big" bills, but everything I'm good at already has a saturated market here.

Understand that completely. I almost went the tshirt/cup sublimination route but there's so many here already.

 

[bababear_50]

I love this idea! I'm thinking of doing similar (create things to sell, but not the same as you) in order to try and get a handle on my "big" bills, but everything I'm good at already has a saturated market here.

Hi Hon
I had a small Etsy shop (Digital Disney ,Universal Orlando Downloads). It actually did very well but I became too busy doing online Education and closed up my shop.
Example


Disney cruising is something that is extremely popular. Is there anything cruise related that you could make?
Have a look around the main Etsy site and see what others are creating and selling.
Best Wishes
Hugs Mel

 

[bababear_50]

Understand that completely. I almost went the tshirt/cup sublimination route but there's so many here already.

LOL
I have been making Sensory Bottles ,Sensory Activities and Sensory Bins for 25 years ,, I am a Special Needs EA.
They are a great resource tool for therapists ,Parents and schools..
Have fun and best wishes to you.

Hugs Mel

 

[goofytinkerbell]

1

 

[bababear_50]

Yes!! There's a TON of that kind of stuff here. It's like everyone has a Cricut, or knits/crochets, makes things out of sea glass, etc. We also have plenty of artists and people who make pottery and bath products. It's a very "crafty" city.


Thanks for the suggestion! I wonder if I could do something that wouldn't get me in trouble with copywrite that would actually sell... With the costs of everything going up I need to figure out something.

The only notice/warning I received was when I posted a Harry Potter welcoming letter. I got it 20 minutes after uploading it to my shop. Yep I took it down very fast,, don't want to anger the muggles,, lol.

Hugs Mel

 

[bababear_50]

Call me crazy but I have always thought a
Mini crocheted hammock in Disney Cruise colors
would be great *Fish Extender gift.*

OR
Mini cruise crocheted pot scrubbers?

Have a look here...
part of selling online is first finding a Market.


https://www.etsy.com/ca/search?q=disney fish extender gifts&ref=search_bar


Just a thought.
Hugs Mel

 

[Tygerlilly]

LOL
I have been making Sensory Bottles ,Sensory Activities and Sensory Bins for 25 years ,, I am a Special Needs EA.
They are a great resource tool for therapists ,Parents and schools..
Have fun and best wishes to you.

Hugs MelView attachment 821130

Oh yeah, I've been making them for my own kids for a while and thought I'd see if they'd sell locally. I didn't expect to have 128 people be interested. Lol.

 

[pblack]

Fall west coast trip w/cruise. We decided to skip Disney World this fall and instead are thinking of heading west to do a cruise out of LA, making several stops along the way. We *might* tack on 2 days at Disneyland since we're there, but it depends on time. We've never cruised, so we think a little 4 day one would be a good into. I'm giving this a very loose $5000 estimate depending on how much passports are going to cost. ($0/$5000

Just in case you don't know, you don't technically need passports to cruise. You can use a combination of ID/birth certificates (you'd need to check what's all needed for the kiddos) or you can also do a passport card that's specifically for cruising and a lot cheaper. With that being said, if you have the money to get passports I would because you would need one if you were to need to fly back from another country. But just wanted to throw this info out there in case you don't wanna get a passport and not end up liking cruising.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Just in case you don't know, you don't technically need passports to cruise. You can use a combination of ID/birth certificates (you'd need to check what's all needed for the kiddos) or you can also do a passport card that's specifically for cruising and a lot cheaper. With that being said, if you have the money to get passports I would because you would need one if you were to need to fly back from another country. But just wanted to throw this info out there in case you don't wanna get a passport and not end up liking cruising.

We have plans to do other trips that will eventually need passports so we're going to just get them, I just don't know if they've gone up in price since the last time I looked, but that's good info!

 

[mamaofsix]

New to the thread. Excited to join.

Financial Goals
*Finish paying off mortgage (only $16K left to go, yippee)! This is the last of our debts
*Continue putting 15% of household income into retirement savings
*Save up $30K in cash to buy a used car after mortgage is paid off. Our 2008 Honda is on it's last legs
*Reduce impulse purchases. My weaknesses are home decor, gifts, and eating out
*Save $3500 for Disney trip in spring. We have already paid off tickets, flights and lodging for 10 day trip- need an additional $3500 for food, special experiences. Planning 1 table service meal for the 8 of us per day, will cook remaining food in our villa. Also one day at the GF Spa for myself, and Horseback riding as a family at FW
*Limit other vacations this year to day trips close to home

Personal Goals
*Get back on a meal plan (Noom worked in the past) and lose 30 pounds
*Continue with 3x / week at the gym
*Considering an employment change to reduce personal stress and anxiety, which is having a major impact on my health
*Help daughter make University / College choice for fall. Help other daughter secure rental housing to fit her income.

I could put a lot more on here, but that's it for now!

 

[barkley]

i think despite the cost passports are well worth it b/c it can prevent port authorities from questioning your documents (i recall waiting to board a cruise and seeing a family in a heated argument b/c the official was questioning if their kid's birth certificates were acceptable certified copies or not and preventing them from boarding). passports are also a safety net if the rare instance of getting stuck in a foreign port occurs (i say this as someone who has had their share of crazy cruising experiences including one that occured as a tropical storm was just about to become a hurricane and had our captain not chosen to cut the trip short, turn back to the u.s. and brave going through part of the storm we would have ended up like many other ships in that non u.s. vacinity with thousands of passengers that had to make their own way back from foreign locations).

 

[bholbert81]

As other's have mentioned, the free version of Dave Ramsey's web program and phone app (Every Dollar) is amazing for budgeting and keeping this in an "envelope" type system where every dollar you earn has a purpose. Everyone should work to establish an emergency fund then invest or abolish debt depending on the interest rate. This is not what Dave preaches, this is just what I do. I am not paying down my 2.6%W mortgage when I can invest in the stock market at historical 6-10% returns (even CD's are paying 5.25% right now). Each to his own though as getting completely out of debt is also a good physiological feeling.

 

[Bellex917]

Hi everyone! New to this thread, but I read along in the 2023 one so I decided to join in.

I am REALLY hoping that 2024 is a big year for us. I want to get completely debt free, outside of the mortgage.

Financial Goals:
- Pay off my car (has about 4500 left on it)
- Pay off our DVC loan (has about 9500 on it)- We took out a loan for our first DVC contract and paid it off in 8 months, so I am hoping to do the same. It is very feasible, it just requires us to stay focused
- Double my emergency fund (this will NOT happen in 2024 unless we win a lottery that we do not play LOL, but I want to start the process)

Personal Goals:
- Eat slower (I'm a teacher and have just learned to eat way too fast)
- Spend less time on social media

 

[barkley]

happy new year everyone!!

found this form on an exercise website but i think it could be a fun way to track any type of daily/weekly/monthly goals-just color in each day you meet your individual goal and have a colorful way to track and celebrate your success!!!