Debt Dumpers 2025

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

We just called and cut our cable. Hallelujah. Another bill gone. We kept the internet so we could work from home and also stream stuff (Roku, Disney+, Discovery+). I asked if we had a package deal, and they said no. But when we cut the cable, the internet went up $8. But at least the cable's gone. That'll save us about $110 per month. We only got it in August so we could watch college football and then Hallmark Christmas movies. So we don't need it again until August. So out the door it went.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We just called and cut our cable. Hallelujah. Another bill gone. We kept the internet so we could work from home and also stream stuff (Roku, Disney+, Discovery+). I asked if we had a package deal, and they said no. But when we cut the cable, the internet went up $8. But at least the cable's gone. That'll save us about $110 per month. We only got it in August so we could watch college football and then Hallmark Christmas movies. So we don't need it again until August. So out the door it went.

Maybe by August you might just discover that you like your EF (and the peace of mind it brings) more than you like college football and Hallmark Christmas movies.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

Hallmark movies, maybe. College football, absolutely not. We won't even watch NFL. We're all about Longhorns. Hoping by August, our EF is set up and we have the extra funds to get cable for 5-6 months.

Maybe by August you might just discover that you like your EF (and the peace of mind it brings) more than you like college football and Hallmark Christmas movies.

 

[comicguy]

Hallmark movies, maybe. College football, absolutely not. We won't even watch NFL. We're all about Longhorns. Hoping by August, our EF is set up and we have the extra funds to get cable for 5-6 months.

Maybe there is a streaming app (ESPN+ or something like that) which will have a smaller monthly fee so you can watch college games during the season and easily discontinue afterwards

 

[Bellex917]

Hallmark movies, maybe. College football, absolutely not. We won't even watch NFL. We're all about Longhorns. Hoping by August, our EF is set up and we have the extra funds to get cable for 5-6 months.

Check YouTubeTv. It SHOULD be cheaper than cable and it streams college football. We cut cable when we moved here in 2021 and we have found ways to stream everything we need and never looked back.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

We stream a lot of our college football. But Texas is on ESPN, and you have to have a cable subscription of some sort to watch it. That's why we have to have cable. I will check YT TV. I was paying $110 for cable these past few months. Maybe YT TV will be cheaper. As long as they have SEC Network , which is what the Longhorns are on, I'm good with trying it.

Maybe there is a streaming app (ESPN+ or something like that) which will have a smaller monthly fee so you can watch college games during the season and easily discontinue afterwards

Check YouTubeTv. It SHOULD be cheaper than cable and it streams college football. We cut cable when we moved here in 2021 and we have found ways to stream everything we need and never looked back.

 

[CoP Luv]

Yes, check out other streaming services. You can get a ton of channels on Hulu live as well and I’m pretty sure they are cheaper than your cable bill.

Great job on cutting expenses!!!!

 

[princesscinderella]

I tried both Hulu Live and YouTube TV and YouTube TV is far superior. For @WDW_fan_in_TX for the college games you can have the screen split into 4 so you can watch 4 games at once with youTubeTV.

 

[huggybuff]

I also just saw today that Comcast is offering a new sports/news package for $70 a month. Who knows what channels are included though. I have a feeling that YouTube TV would be cheaper than that anyway. Just FYI.

 

[Tygerlilly]

YouTube TV is $80/month. We have it and I really like it, even if the price keeps increasing.

 

[Tygerlilly]

The nightmare continues here. My mom got out of rehab and assured me she could handle her dogs. She could not and they got out and attacked another dog. The dog passed a day later. I've tried every rescue and shelter in a 30 mile radius and none have room or will take them. My only option is to have them put down because they are aggressive. So that's $400 unplanned dollars plus whatever else I'm sure we'll have to pay to the other dog's owner for their vet bills. Apparently she can barely control them and there have been other incidents regarding them.

The whole situation is a nightmare.

 

[barkley]

The nightmare continues here. My mom got out of rehab and assured me she could handle her dogs. She could not and they got out and attacked another dog. The dog passed a day later. I've tried every rescue and shelter in a 30 mile radius and none have room or will take them. My only option is to have them put down because they are aggressive. So that's $400 unplanned dollars plus whatever else I'm sure we'll have to pay to the other dog's owner for their vet bills. Apparently she can barely control them and there have been other incidents regarding them.

The whole situation is a nightmare.

does she still have homeowners insurance? if so she may have some coverage if the owner of the deceased dog comes after her. i'm surprised animal control has not taken the dogs (it's what they do here in these cases). here if the dog is deemed 'dangerous' and the owner does not dispute then animal control handles it.

 

[Tygerlilly]

does she still have homeowners insurance? if so she may have some coverage if the owner of the deceased dog comes after her. i'm surprised animal control has not taken the dogs (it's what they do here in these cases). here if the dog is deemed 'dangerous' and the owner does not dispute then animal control handles it.

I called animal control myself after exhausting every option I could to find them a home/shelter and they were less than helpful. Apparently they're so overrun with strays and things already and we only have the one guy. The city would still bill my mom for it, so it's probably easier I'm just doing it myself.

 

[piglet1979]

That'll save us about $110 per month. We only got it in August so we could watch college football and then Hallmark Christmas movies. So we don't need it again until August. So out the door it went.

As long as they have SEC Network , which is what the Longhorns are on, I'm good with trying it.

We have YouTube TV and they do have the SEC network and tons of other sports networks. THey also have Hallmark. They other route for Hallmark would be Frndly TV. This is where I got it before YouTube TV had it. It has gotten bigger in the last few years but still not a full streaming service like Hulu or YouTube TV. When we got it, it was like $10 a month. might be different now.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

Thank you for this. Yes, we tried YT TV. I remember DW didn't like the layout of it becuase the channels weren't in numerical order and weren't the same as the cable package we were used to. So she had trouble finding what shows/channels she wanted. So she didn't like it. We might try it again though to see if it's cheaper than Spectrum was. And we also tried the free trial of Friendly. It was like $6 at the time. But we had enough streaming that we didn't find it necessary because we only watch Hallmark during Christmas season.

We have YouTube TV and they do have the SEC network and tons of other sports networks. THey also have Hallmark. They other route for Hallmark would be Frndly TV. This is where I got it before YouTube TV had it. It has gotten bigger in the last few years but still not a full streaming service like Hulu or YouTube TV. When we got it, it was like $10 a month. might be different now.

 

[afan]

Thank you for this. Yes, we tried YT TV. I remember DW didn't like the layout of it becuase the channels weren't in numerical order and weren't the same as the cable package we were used to. So she had trouble finding what shows/channels she wanted. So she didn't like it. We might try it again though to see if it's cheaper than Spectrum was. And we also tried the free trial of Friendly. It was like $6 at the time. But we had enough streaming that we didn't find it necessary because we only watch Hallmark during Christmas season.

You might try peacock for hallmark. They have the new movies up for 3 days after they air. They also have older ones.

I wish hallmarks own streaming had the new movies as they are on but they only put them out once they had all aired and I'm not sure it was all of them. I'd hoped I could see the ones on movies & mysteries this way and that's when I found out those are also on peacock for the 3 days so I'd watch the thurs movie fri.

If you can also find an alternative for football the two options might be less than cable.

I think what we see for sports streaming options is going to change a bit between now and Sept.

 

[Bellex917]

When it rains it pours, and it is pouring on us. I mentioned my H was laid off in Nov... he's got a possibly strong lead now on a job, but until a job is his, we can't get excited. This month alone we have had a flat tire ($), glass doors shatter in our shower ($$), the heat go out in our addition ($), and now BOTH cars needed repairs. One was about $500 and other will be about $2,500. The one with $2,500 we then have to see if it has lasting engine damage from the seal breaking (they don't think it will but they can't promise me that). If it does we need to get rid of it. We decided to gamble that the 2.5k fix will get us to a spot where my H is employed again and we can buy a car on our own terms, instead of desperation. After two VERY stressful days (originally we though the repaid was 5-10k and I was crushed) we came up with a solid plan.

- We opened a 0% interest CC for 21 months. We have plenty to cover the 3k repair in savings, BUT, with H unemployed and the potential that we may need a new car in 2 weeks, we need to keep as much cash liquid as possible for now.
- We decided if this car is shot we are getting a Toyota and buying a preowned vehicle, not leasing. Leasing isn't for us bc I like to drive a car into the ground. I was very overwhelmed the past two days with all the options and uncertainty but I have clarity now.

The biggest issue is our second car is old- like 13.5 years old. The old car only drives around town, so it works, but it's not meant for long term travel. This car that might be done is not as old, about 7-8 years old and only 80k miles on it, so I had NO plans of getting rid of the "new" car first. Apparently when you make plans, the universe laughs at you.

 

[barkley]

You might try peacock for hallmark. They have the new movies up for 3 days after they air. They also have older ones.

if you decide to try peacock consider paying a bit more for a month to month subscription vs. one of the 'deals' for a one year contract. reason being is if you try it for a month or two and find you like it you can cancel it and likely get an offer for a MUCH BETTER DEAL on a yearly (we did this and got repeated email offers for $19.99 for a year-i have a control set on my calendar to cancel a few weeks prior to the end of the one year period and we'll see what happens).

 

[Nettlelondon]

When it rains it pours, and it is pouring on us. I mentioned my H was laid off in Nov... he's got a possibly strong lead now on a job, but until a job is his, we can't get excited. This month alone we have had a flat tire ($), glass doors shatter in our shower ($$), the heat go out in our addition ($), and now BOTH cars needed repairs. One was about $500 and other will be about $2,500. The one with $2,500 we then have to see if it has lasting engine damage from the seal breaking (they don't think it will but they can't promise me that). If it does we need to get rid of it. We decided to gamble that the 2.5k fix will get us to a spot where my H is employed again and we can buy a car on our own terms, instead of desperation. After two VERY stressful days (originally we though the repaid was 5-10k and I was crushed) we came up with a solid plan.

- We opened a 0% interest CC for 21 months. We have plenty to cover the 3k repair in savings, BUT, with H unemployed and the potential that we may need a new car in 2 weeks, we need to keep as much cash liquid as possible for now.
- We decided if this car is shot we are getting a Toyota and buying a preowned vehicle, not leasing. Leasing isn't for us bc I like to drive a car into the ground. I was very overwhelmed the past two days with all the options and uncertainty but I have clarity now.

The biggest issue is our second car is old- like 13.5 years old. The old car only drives around town, so it works, but it's not meant for long term travel. This car that might be done is not as old, about 7-8 years old and only 80k miles on it, so I had NO plans of getting rid of the "new" car first. Apparently when you make plans, the universe laughs at you.

Definitely agree with the make plans and the universe laughs!

Not in the same league as you but we had plans to do some bits and pieces last weekend but FIL took to his bed with a cough/cold and instantly became the most poorly person on the planet requiring DH or his sister to visit night and morning. He lives an hour away from us and about 30 minutes from SIL so visiting isn't hugely easy for either. He has had paramedics out twice now because he has fallen when they aren't there, has lain on the floor until they arrive and then declared that he can't help them in getting him up. And then when the paramedics arrive he gets up with almost no assistance!

We were supposed to be going away this weekend but have had to rearrange (at no cost) as he is not much better and his primary care GP has been useless. There have been various blood tests taken but the GP has not reviewed the results quuickly enough to do anything meaningful with the info.

Next step is to look in to some form of carers or moving him to supported living of some sort but he is rather stubborn so I don't think anyone is looking forward to those conversations. And the first step to accessing services requires the GP so not sure how that is going to go.

DH works for himself so the running backwards and forwards is impacting his ability to bill clients - thankfully the work can be done at any time, and from anywhere, and his clients are very understanding - but our bank balance isn't quite so accommodating.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

I only ever pay month to month. I can't afford to put out money to cover 6 months or a year. I have to do monthly.

if you decide to try peacock consider paying a bit more for a month to month subscription vs. one of the 'deals' for a one year contract. reason being is if you try it for a month or two and find you like it you can cancel it and likely get an offer for a MUCH BETTER DEAL on a yearly (we did this and got repeated email offers for $19.99 for a year-i have a control set on my calendar to cancel a few weeks prior to the end of the one year period and we'll see what happens).