Debt Dumpers 2024

[newski_mom]

I have a tendency to have a hard time getting rid of things, but I don't have the problem of bringing lots of stuff into the house. I've never been a spender, so that's definitely helpful when you tend to hold on to things! Not as much to hold onto!

 

[Nettlelondon]

FIL struggles to get rid of paperwork of any sort. I think he has menus from the local Chinese restaurant from when they first opened 30 years ago. And when he gets things like bank statements that come with flyers & info about other products he very neatly puts the whole thing back in the envelope and adds it to the pile. He has, reluctantly, started getting rid of some bits of post now. But only after shredding them (including the generic items that have no personal information. He then gives me the bags of shredding to take to a confidential waste disposal company and requires me to give him the receipt from their destruction. Which he adds to the pile.

 

[barkley]

DH's grandma is a hoarder of paper. She lived in her house for over 50 years and when we helped her move she had papers that we had to convince her to get rid of that were from the 80's or earlier. Stuff like canceled checks and bank statements and bills. She also kept every type of dish/tupperware that she had over the years.

when a friend's mom passed he went nuts going through piles and boxes of paperwork trying to identify what needed to be kept. he would call us lamenting about how he could'nt find his late mom's bank statements but she had kept EVERY booklet and warranty card for every appliance she had ever owned (side benefit to that-when we inherited his mom's kitchen aide mixer that dated back to the 1940's it came with all the paperwork and book ). with one of our family members they had told us repeatedly that 'the important papers are in the folder nex to the sofa'-problem was we had VERY different ideas on what constituted 'important'. for her it was years of her dog's vet records and car maintainance for a car she had not owned in years we had to spend weeks digging through paperwork to find a smidge of what we truly needed to settle the estate. my mom was the great saver of all containers-primarily cool-whip i think when we cleared her house to sell it we lost count around 60 (and she only bought it twice a year so she saved them a loooooooong time and moved them to a new home at least once).

It is weird she has a tendency to hoard but also has OCD.

i totaly identify with this. i have ocd. i do not hoard but i have a compulsion to save paperwork. i know it's in large part b/c i'm afraid that i might toss out something that i will need down the line (and fortunatly/unfortunatly i've had 2 instances where the odd paperwork i held on to was proven vital to a situation). i marvel at people who can get rid of paperwork using the 'keep, toss, donate' method. what works for me and might help your grandmother is if she can separate into categories-medical, banking, receipts, taxes...then she can go through those piles and weed out what is'nt needed. it has also helped me to get a cart like this-i have each drawer labled and as stuff arrives it goes into the appropriate drawer. b/c they are not that deep they can't hold much so it forces me to purge regularly. for appliance books i have a zipper trapper keeper type binder and all of them are in there. when an appliance dies or is donated the book gets pulled.

 

[Nettlelondon]

I suspect my mother is still slightly traumatised by the experience of clearing my dad's mum's house.

In the 1960's, about 30 years before she died she has spent 6 months visiting relatives in Canada. They lived in a very remote location and would spend a lot of the year cut off, having to rely on preserved, canned & frozen food (with always the worry that a power cut might put paid to the freezer's contents). They had a thing for somehow storing chckens in large Mason jars. Not something Nan was familiar with. As she lived in a busy town with a large shopping area just a few minutes walk from her front door it was unlikely she would ever be cut off. However, this did not stop her preserving some chickens on her return from the trip, putting them in a cupboard in the spare bedroom and then promptly forgetting about them.

You can imagine how my parents felt when they found them! From what I can gather it was a bit like if Hannibal Lecter took a fancy to joke rubber chickens.

 

[pblack]

End of May/beginning of June update:

2024 Financial Goals:

• Add at least $2000 to my main emergency savings on top of my auto contributions - Still sitting at $200/$2000
• Increase my contributions to my other savings goals by at least $25/each pay period - This has now been completed.
• 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.) - Once again the day came for my dad to come down to sign the paperwork and he ended up in the hospital again. Luckily instead of postponing, we were able to do a zoom conference with the lawyer so she could go over everything and then next weekend my friends (that work in the law office) will go to my dad's house and we'll get everything signed and finalized. I can almost cross this one off the list! At least for my dad.
• **New goal** Get our home equity loan down to $20k (currently at ~$26.5k) - I won't pay this till my DH's next paycheck.

2024 Personal Goals:

• Exercise at least 3 times a week for at least 30 minutes - Really need to get this one going again.
• Travel as much as possible - I'll be traveling to Anaheim soon for work (TBD on if i'm going to Disney). We have a bunch of different friends visiting in July. We go camping in August. Then September is our next cruise (for our 10 year wedding anniversary).
• Replace the patio cover in our backyard - No progress.
• Finally do something with our side yard - not sure exactly what at the moment - No progress.

We just got back from our 8 day cruise to the Mexican Riviera and we had a great time. This was the first cruise in awhile that's just been my DH and I and we honestly did a whole lot of nothing/sitting by the pool the whole trip. In total we spent $700 onboard which was entirely covered by onboard credit and giftcard's I had purchased. Most of that was on alcohol, but some of it was the casino, coffee, and a for-fee restaurant. But then we got home and promptly spent $500 between Costco/Sams/Grocery store .

As mentioned above my dad was in the hospital again for difficulty breathing which seems to be caused by his COPD and I guess he also has heart failure. I'm not sure on that point though as I wasn't the one to talk to the doctor's or nurses. I have to take what my mom tells me with a huge grain of salt and usually a shot of tequila as she's very "doomsday" with this type of stuff. My dad also doesn't always give me the complete update - partially because he may be in denial and partially because he's hard of hearing so he doesn't always catch everything. But the doctor's hope to have found a combination of meds that will help him with breathing at home when these flare ups happen. He has tons of follow up appointments scheduled, so i'm sure i'll learn more soon.

It will be a busy summer for me with all the things we have planned already. Luckily this weekend we don't have any plans which is nice. Hope everyone's having an awesome start to the unofficial summer season!

 

[barkley]

But then we got home and promptly spent $500 between Costco/Sams/Grocery store .

i thought this was then norm with cruising (and week or longer vacations)-in the upcoming weeks eat everything in the fridge and any prepared/leftovers in the freezer (so you don't have to replenish the stuff you ate from the fridge).

plan-

(1)upon return arrival to stop and snag at least a small carton of milk (for coffee),
(2)the next day or so for the massive replenishing grocery run (while the washer and dryer are processing the vacation laundry).

 

[piccolopat]

We stock the fridge with things that will keep until we get back from vacation. I also set up a grocery delivery order for the day after we get back. It's worth the delivery charge to not have to go anywhere when we get home.

 

[barkley]

We stock the fridge with things that will keep until we get back from vacation. I also set up a grocery delivery order for the day after we get back. It's worth the delivery charge to not have to go anywhere when we get home.

grocery delivery does not exist here.

 

[dpswift]

grocery delivery does not exist here.

We are the opposite. Stores are so close I can’t justify delivery also I don’t trust individual deliveries

 

[DanceDisney23]

We have delivery but I don’t like using it. I like picking out my produce and meat with care. I don’t like paying a mark up plus delivery fee plus tip for someone to probably just randomly grab something off the shelf.

 

[barkley]

We have delivery but I don’t like using it. I like picking out my produce and meat with care. I don’t like paying a mark up plus delivery fee plus tip for someone to probably just randomly grab something off the shelf.

i've found issues with simple straight forward items at stores that do grocery pick-up. i will only do the pantry type stuff and always check the box for no substitutions but i've had too many instances where they claim to have been out of stock on an item only to find it in clear view on the shelves when i go in to get my produce and dairy products.

 

[dpswift]

We have delivery but I don’t like using it. I like picking out my produce and meat with care. I don’t like paying a mark up plus delivery fee plus tip for someone to probably just randomly grab something off the shelf.

Exactly

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

Glad I'm not the only one that doesn't like delivery. I've seen the grocery pullers that are pulling the online delivery orders. And they leave the cold stuff out while going and pulling all the hot stuff. Absolutely not. My wife is all about delivery. I'm against it. I'd rather go to Walmart than have delivery for that reason. Some stuff (detergent, dryer sheets, TP, stuff like that, absolutely, but not cold groceries).

 

[dpswift]

Glad I'm not the only one that doesn't like delivery. I've seen the grocery pullers that are pulling the online delivery orders. And they leave the cold stuff out while going and pulling all the hot stuff. Absolutely not. My wife is all about delivery. I'm against it. I'd rather go to Walmart than have delivery for that reason. Some stuff (detergent, dryer sheets, TP, stuff like that, absolutely, but not cold groceries).

I picked items a few times back when I worked at Target. None of the Targets in our area serve hot foods,however they are very careful to keep food safe. The lists are broken down. One person grabs the cold items for a couple of people and puts them immediately in a fridge or freezer.

It isn’t the store workers that concern me it is all the independent drivers

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

I didn't necessarily mean hot foods. I just meant shelf foods. Mac & cheese, bread, mayonaise etc. I was there today. And there were 4 employees standing in the fruit/veggie section just standing there talking with milk in their cartons. I'll never do online for cold stuff.

I picked items a few times back when I worked at Target. None of the Targets in our area serve hot foods,however they are very careful to keep food safe. The lists are broken down. One person grabs the cold items for a couple of people and puts them immediately in a fridge or freezer.

It isn’t the store workers that concern me it is all the independent drivers

 

[piccolopat]

We have delivery but I don’t like using it. I like picking out my produce and meat with care. I don’t like paying a mark up plus delivery fee plus tip for someone to probably just randomly grab something off the shelf.

I don't use the delivery service often. It's been ok when I have used it, generally only after vacation or if a big storm is brewing.

 

[Tygerlilly]

I have 3 kids and rarely have time to get to the store or want to drag them out for a few items. I use delivery a lot. I've only had a few instances where I wasn't happy with items and was refunded immediately.

That said, we also don't buy much meat and we grocery shop as a family 2x a month to stock up. So walmart orders aren't super frequent.

 

[amalone1013]

I love grocery pickups and delivery now since we had our first kid. I used to say I'd never do them. Its such a time-saver now for us, so we have more time with the kids, I often put the order in at work that day. Or nice to not get kids out to just grab a gallon of milk. We have occasional hiccups but about the biggest issue we have is bananas - just a crap shoot on how ripe they will be. Sometimes I will go in and pick them up myself.

We were recently added to the official kroger delivery area so for $4 to $8 depending on the time you choose, it's a kroger employee so no tipping. Or sometimes I'll get instacart gift cards for 20% off at Costco and use them at a kroger that does pickup with instacart - there's a slight mark up but I come out ahead since there's no fees or tip for a certain amount. My inlaws live near Costco which is always nuts, even mid day during the week. We are much farther from there but my in laws watch my daughter, so some days I'll do a Costco order via instacart to their place. The gift card discount plus mark up plus tip/fees evens out to about what I'd pay in store myself, and I earn my executive rewards on the gift card purchase and the actual order.

Target and a Kroger store are also on our way home from work so pickups aren't out of the way. Target's no minimum can be dangerous Especially as I'm home on Maternity leave again and I just put in orders for DH to pick up.

 

[amalone1013]

I have 3 kids and rarely have time to get to the store or want to drag them out for a few items. I use delivery a lot. I've only had a few instances where I wasn't happy with items and was refunded immediately.

That said, we also don't buy much meat and we grocery shop as a family 2x a month to stock up. So walmart orders aren't super frequent.

I have had no issues with refunds when unhappy with something either. It's so smooth through the apps.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Final night of softball. My kiddo hit her very first home run. Her team came in 3rd in the league. I'm so proud of her. We took all the girls to get ice cream after and let them celebrate one last time. Half of the team (including DD) is moving up to 10u in the fall and I'm really hoping they all stick on the same team.

Now that the late nights and crazy unpredictable schedules are over, I'm buckling back down for July. We have a week trip loosely planned for DS 3rd birthday. We're thinking Omaha and Kansas City and doing both zoos and children's museums. We get half price admission to each zoo since we have a membership at our local one. We get half price admission to the Omaha children's museum and free admission into Science City at Union Station in KC. Our biggest expense will be hotels and food.

Hubby's dad's house is finally about to be listed, so just waiting for that to clear and then we can assess any future plans.