Debt Dumpers 2025

[ruadisneyfan2]

When my

Will you be able to use it at Fort Wilderness? That could also help change the equation!

For a long time my BFF had a terrible fear of flying. Her hubby’s business was such that they were crazy busy in winter, but off all summer. They bought a motor home and camped all over, driving many times to FL and stopping to visit family and friends along the way in SC, GA and Venice, FL. They always stayed at FW in WDW. Their kids (now in late 30’s) could ride their bikes all over the resort. They have a lot of happy memories there.

Before we started dating, dh went with them a few times. After we were dating a while, I surprised him with a trip to WDW for his birthday & it was the first time he ever flew on a plane. He was shocked how quick it was and swore he’d never drive there again.

 

[Bellex917]

Update: I posted in Nov that my husband was laid off. It has been a JOURNEY. This man has done it all right- gone back to get certificates/learning in new tech (he's a developer so new coding language is constant), worked to earn his back end certificate so he can be full stack, etc. We were a real team and I'd search for jobs, he'd apply. We got a real rhythm going in Feb (the job market was DEAD Nov-Jan) and he finally got an offer. It's a contract for 5 months, so we aren't off this roller coaster, but at least it's something. It's also at a great company and the client is a HUGE name that we all know (and most of us their products daily, but he signed an NDA so I can't say more) so this is great for his resume. While it doesn't end this crappy situation, it gives us a pause.

But, to get to the debt dumpers side of it:
- During this time we did not need to tap into our Efund
- We were able to save a little each month (and considering unemployment was only 1/4 of his usual earnings, this is impressive IMO considering he's the breadwinner- the fact that we saved at all is exciting to me)
- We are coming out of this was only 2k in debt and that's only bc we had multiple major car emergencies. It is on a 0% credit card for another 19 months (it was a 21 month deal) so I plan to pay it off slowly bc we have decided our goal is to get our main emergency fund up to 1 year worth of mortgage payments.
- When he does this 5 month contract we plan to keep living like we have been and save the rest, which will help us really stack our Efund closer to our goal

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

The place I work just formed groups to look at reorgs and redundancies so....yeah. I'm nervous. Trying to figure out if we stop paying so much down on the credit card and put more into savings in case the worst happens.

 

[Bellex917]

The place I work just formed groups to look at reorgs and redundancies so....yeah. I'm nervous. Trying to figure out if we stop paying so much down on the credit card and put more into savings in case the worst happens.

If you're concerned I'd stack the savings, knowing you can then put it to the debt if in a period of time everything is ok.

I know my experience is very much impacting my answer (husband had 18 years in advertising/tech with no issues, got laid off in 2023 bc of tech bubble burst, took a job quickly at a start up that ended up laying him off after 18 months, so 2 unexpected lay offs in 18 months after a long successful career of none). I was always a Ramsey fan and felt "pay off the debt!!" but after this experience I think it's important to be really logical.

This is how I assessed my situation:
- Made a chart of all the bills we pay each month plus realistic numbers for food/gas/etc.
- Saw what my salary covered (I'm a teacher so my job is secure- if I was injured or sick I pay for disability insurance which would cover us)
- Saw the difference between what I can cover and what we need
- Decided that difference is the target of what we need per month, and multiplied it by however many months we'd need

The current job market was a beast for my H. In 2023 when he was laid off he had two job offers within weeks. In 2024/2025 it took months to get interviews, each company is doing 6+ rounds of interviews for what he does so it takes forever too. Obviously everyone's experience is different, but considering we are still in it we have decided NOTHING matters to us as much as a truly healthy emergency fund bc this... this is for the birds lol!

 

[princesscinderella]

One thing we have decided to do is buy a camper. We're looking at around 25'. I've found a couple online I want to go look at, plus we saw 2 more on marketplace. We have to find out how much it will cost to get a hitch put on our yukon, but I'm keeping it on the lower side of costs and we're in the $8-12k range.

Our oldest gets the national park pass this fall (assuming that is still happening by then) and next fall our younger daughter will get the pass, so we have 2 years of free park passes and it will be a lot of fun to camp. We have family in a lot of places with camp grounds nearby. It's starting to cost us a lot of money for hotel rooms and we're tired of staying at family members homes, so I'm fully into this idea.

Congratulations on the closing! I’m so happy you have all that hard work cleaning out the house behind you and it didn’t linger on the market.

Have you traveled by RV/Camper before? I only say this because I have had a few friends and family members buy them without ever going camping before and they hated it and lost money selling them. Some people don’t mind cleaning out the sewer line etc but I know that’s it’s a heck no for me. It’s so much work to get it ready to go on a trip and then to clean it all out afterwards. I would say rent one for trip to make sure you like it before spending $10k on one and all the other stuff you need to buy once you have it. They are not allowed to be visibly stored in yards where we live and people have to pay for a storage lot which is just another added expense. Depending on your travel habits it might not save you money vs just getting hotel rooms.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Congratulations on the closing! I’m so happy you have all that hard work cleaning out the house behind you and it didn’t linger on the market.

Have you traveled by RV/Camper before? I only say this because I have had a few friends and family members buy them without ever going camping before and they hated it and lost money selling them. Some people don’t mind cleaning out the sewer line etc but I know that’s it’s a heck no for me. It’s so much work to get it ready to go on a trip and then to clean it all out afterwards. I would say rent one for trip to make sure you like it before spending $10k on one and all the other stuff you need to buy once you have it. They are not allowed to be visibly stored in yards where we live and people have to pay for a storage lot which is just another added expense. Depending on your travel habits it might not save you money vs just getting hotel rooms.

Both DH and I grew up camping, both tent and camper camping. We're very familiar with it and have been discussing this for several years.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Well, in a very interesting turn of events, after the house sold I allowed my husband and myself to go to the casino with $300 each to finally relax and do something we both enjoy after a month of non-stop chaos. I ended up winning a grand jackpot of $15k.

I immediately came home, paid off all credit cards and told him I wanted to go ahead and book the cruise we've been hoping to plan for my 40th and daughters 10th birthdays, but hadn't pulled the trigger on it yet because we just weren't sure we could afford it. I'm waiting on my 3 year olds birth certificate to get delivered (I apparently never ordered it?) and then will go ahead and book our appointments for passports.

I've agreed to put a hold on the camper purchase for right now. We have a few things that need done at the house that I would prefer to put the money towards first. I might still go ahead and get the hitch installed, that way if we need to rent a trailer for any reason we can.

I'm now moving on full force to getting my house back under control. DH did a great job of picking up my slack while I've spent most of my time at my mom's house, but now I'm fully into spring cleaning/purging and doing some home projects that need done.

If only it would stop raining for more than 30 seconds so I could work outside.

 

[aam808]

Right now, we are scaling back on our 'wants'. The only debt we have is our mortgage but will focus on increasing our ER fund for the "inevitable'.

Also, after going to 2 Disney trip this year, we've decided NOT to do any flight vacays for the remainder of 2025, just doing R&R staycations only.

 

[Cyberc1978]

How much money do each of you feel is optimal and minimum for an emergency fund?

Would that be 6 months of cash to cover mortgage plus other expenses which can’t be cut?

 

[trenty]

How much money do each of you feel is optimal and minimum for an emergency fund?

Would that be 6 months of cash to cover mortgage plus other expenses which can’t be cut?

From DR's site.

What’s a Good Amount to Have in Your Emergency Fund?​

Start by taking a look at your budget or your bank account to see what you usually spend each month. Then multiply that number by three or six months to get an idea of how much you should save for your emergency fund.

As an example, the average monthly expenses in America range from about $4,300 for singles up to nearly $9,200 for a family of four.<a href="https://www.bls.gov/cex/tables/cale...verage-standard-error/cu-composition-2022.pdf" target="_blank">1</a> So that would be $4,300 x 3 = $12,900 for a three-month emergency fund. Or you could do $9,200 x 6 = $55,200 for a six-month emergency fund.

Now, those numbers are based on everything in the budget—including streaming services, eating out, haircuts, etc. But, worst-case scenario, if you lose your job and have to live off your emergency fund for a couple months, you’ll need to scale back to a bare-bones budget that just covers the essentials. It’s not the time to spend money on fancy extras.

With that in mind, make sure you’ve got enough in your emergency fund to pay your bills, put food on the table, and fill up the gas tank (your Four Walls). And if you want a bigger cushion for added peace of mind, that’s okay too!

 

[firefly_ris]

Well, in a very interesting turn of events, after the house sold I allowed my husband and myself to go to the casino with $300 each to finally relax and do something we both enjoy after a month of non-stop chaos. I ended up winning a grand jackpot of $15k.

I immediately came home, paid off all credit cards and told him I wanted to go ahead and book the cruise we've been hoping to plan for my 40th and daughters 10th birthdays, but hadn't pulled the trigger on it yet because we just weren't sure we could afford it. I'm waiting on my 3 year olds birth certificate to get delivered (I apparently never ordered it?) and then will go ahead and book our appointments for passports.

Wow! That is great news, and what a nice way to kick the cards to the curb in one fell swoop. I bet now with the house issue behind you as well as the cards done, you can rest a lot easier on your birthday cruise, and beyond that, less ongoing stress in general.

 

[firefly_ris]

How much money do each of you feel is optimal and minimum for an emergency fund?

Would that be 6 months of cash to cover mortgage plus other expenses which can’t be cut?

The DR guideline that trenty posted above is a good start -- some of this is going to be what's A.) feasible for you to achieve within a certain timeline and B.) what makes YOU the most comfortable and eases your stress. Everyone is going to do things a little different which is fine... sometimes peace of mind is worth anything else.

Personally, we slowly (key word slowly...) worked up to have an entire year's worth of operating costs in an Emergency Fund for a family of 5 with 2 dogs. If you don't have a lot of dependents perhaps this is overkill but it helps put my mind at ease. This fund is also for other, still-employed emergencies... for example the transmission on my truck blows up, I don't HAVE to pull that money from my monthly operating costs, I can pull from the E Fund and then work to replenish it.

It's stashed across a couple of different liquid assets like HYSA and money market for easy pulling if we were to need it. We are a dual income household, but in general we try to keep our "need" expenses (mortgage, utilities, groceries, vehicle maintenance, kids school, HSA funding, insurance costs, base retirement funding, vet appointments) all doable within 1 income if one of us were to lose our jobs or if one of us became permanently disabled somehow. Anything else is a want and could be easily cut off and not funded if needed (vacations, any kind of home entertainment stuff, buying fun things for the house, and so on).

I try to stave off the negative aspects of having a stash of inflation-affected cash by keeping a close watch on competitive interest rates -- as of right now those accounts stave off a bit of inflation by making pretty solid chunks of interest every month. Could some of that money be doing better in my brokerage? Yes.... but for me personally I use the brokerage as a long-term investment and it makes me uneasy to keep funds I might need immediately in a volatile account. So I take some hit for that.

Anyway a lot of words to say that "YMMV" but 6 months is a good place.

 

[disney-inspired]

Well, in a very interesting turn of events, after the house sold I allowed my husband and myself to go to the casino with $300 each to finally relax and do something we both enjoy after a month of non-stop chaos. I ended up winning a grand jackpot of $15k.

I immediately came home, paid off all credit cards and told him I wanted to go ahead and book the cruise we've been hoping to plan for my 40th and daughters 10th birthdays, but hadn't pulled the trigger on it yet because we just weren't sure we could afford it. I'm waiting on my 3 year olds birth certificate to get delivered (I apparently never ordered it?) and then will go ahead and book our appointments for passports.

I've agreed to put a hold on the camper purchase for right now. We have a few things that need done at the house that I would prefer to put the money towards first. I might still go ahead and get the hitch installed, that way if we need to rent a trailer for any reason we can.

I'm now moving on full force to getting my house back under control. DH did a great job of picking up my slack while I've spent most of my time at my mom's house, but now I'm fully into spring cleaning/purging and doing some home projects that need done.

If only it would stop raining for more than 30 seconds so I could work outside.

Ok, Idk where you are but can I come visit and take you with me to the casino?

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

End of April round up!

Financial

1. I started the 529s! Wooo! Now to not look at them for 10 years!
2. Credit card is under 30k! Barely. But hey, every little bit helps. It's probably going to climb back up there since camp fees are due at the end of May but besides one road trip this summer, we do not have plans to go anywhere and I feel like we can really save and throw money at this.
3. Pay off an 11k loan. Still just making minimal payments till the credit card is down.
4. Build up some savings. Not happening till the credit card is paid down more.

Health, Fitness & Self Care

1. Keep off the weight I lost this year. Holding steady but we have eaten out a hell of a lot this month due to all the school events. It's only going to get worst too because the 5th grader is graduating to middle school so we've got all these late nights coming up!
2. Walk at least 2 miles a day. I haven't been doing this but I HAVE been swimming on the days I'm in the office.
3. Start spending one-on-one time with the kids. Took the youngest out last weekend when her sister was at dance class. Might make this library time or something with her. Which just leaves figuring out a time to do things with the oldest. I need more hours in the day!

Food & Kitchen

1. Cook more at home! This went totally out the window this month. We need a set food shopping schedule AND A MENU! I did get one of those magnetic boards for the fridge for menu planning and the kids seem into it so here we go May!
2. Purge. We have SO MANY stuffed animals that have never been looked at. -- I have one HUGE bag of stuffies to send to Savers! Woo!

I feel like there was more good than bad, but the eating out has just got to stop. It would help so many things on this list!

 

[barkley]

How much money do each of you feel is optimal and minimum for an emergency fund?

Would that be 6 months of cash to cover mortgage plus other expenses which can’t be cut?

I have kind of tiered view of an 'emergency fund'. I think the goal of having a set number of months of household expenses is ideal and in that set number of months the cost of any non monthly known expenses that can be reasonably expected depending on when a multi month emergency might hit-as an example, in our home-if it were to hit in Nov/Dec that's when our homeowners/6 months of car insurance is paid, in June another 6 months of car insurance, if it's in April or October our property taxes...

in addition to having that amount set up (which was a long term goal for us to achieve) our initial goal was to have a separate emergency fund that has at minimum the amount of our highest insurance deductable (in our case-homeowners). we've been in the situation where our home was damaged and unlike medical providers who offer payment plans, contractors and trades people do not. we've been in auto accidents for which we had no fault but in order to expidite car repairs we've submitted claims to our own insurer-we received our deductable expenses when the claims were settled with the other person's insurance but in some cases that took months on end.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Ok, Idk where you are but can I come visit and take you with me to the casino?

I'd say come on over, but this plan doesn't work with my husband. I win and he loses so we usually end up even.

 

[princesscinderella]

I'd say come on over, but this plan doesn't work with my husband. I win and he loses so we usually end up even.

Congratulations on the win!! Have a wonderful cruise it’s my favorite way to vacation as a mom. Everyone can eat whatever they want and if they don’t like they can get something else and no cleaning!!

 

[pblack]

2025 Goals (subject to change):

End of April update.

Financial -
[ ] Get home equity loan down to $20k - Currently sitting at ~$23,000.
[ ] Pay off new ipad purchase ($860) - Paid off as of 3/29!
[ ] Add $4k to emergency savings to get us to our 6 months saving goal - Added an extra $100 on top of my auto contributions $1400/$4000.


Personal -
[ ] Exercise - get my body moving. Stay focused on eating healthier. Stay focused on getting more protein in my day. - Still doing well with this goal. I've also counted working out in our side yard as exercise seeing as it sure does get the heart rate up and work up a sweat.
[ ] Replace our patio cover - Finally reached out for a quote and let me just say it came back higher than I really thought it would be. Sooo we'll see what happens. We won't tackle this until the side yard is done though.
[ ] Build new fence in our side yard, level out the dirt, get a storage shed. (May or may not utilize 0% balance transfers depending on costs). - We've piled up the excess dirt we don't need and have begun digging out hidden tree roots. Man that tree we removed years ago was a beast. It's the gift the keeps on giving. I *think* we're close to finishing removing the tree roots that will be in our way, but I won't be surprised if we find more. I'm hoping we can maybe get a rototiller this weekend (borrowed or rented) so we can finally start leveling that area off and move onto paver stones. Once the paver stones are in we'll work on the fence. All in all some progress has been made and i'm shooting to have it done by July 4th. Will that happen? I have no idea.

April was an interesting month for us. My DH has not been happy in his job for awhile, but some conversations were had with his bosses that made him really buckle down and start looking at new jobs. (Well, I started looking at new jobs for him lol.) He's applied to one place (so far), but has already had a phone and in-person interview with them. He's now scheduled for a ride-along (its a driving position) and another interview with the GM this time, so we'll see how it goes. They did tell him he would have to shave his beard down to a "business beard" (his beard is currently about 5-6 inches long, but well maintained) and that information has given him some pause. He's not sure he wants to do that since he's been working on his beard for the past 5 years. I wouldn't blame him if he decides on passing on the job (if offered to him) because of it. It's not like he's in a dire position for a job at the moment so he has some wiggle room to be picky. I think the "no beard" rule is really dumb given it's 2025. Because of the whole job debacle, any future vacations are paused for the moment until we know what's gonna happen.

Thanks to the month of May being a 3 paycheck month I anticipate being able to save some more money to go towards our side yard project. I had OT from March on my paycheck and that extra $600 is going to our travel account for whatever future travel we do. If he does find a new job soon, my hope is to take a vacation before he starts.

Hope everyone is doing well!

 

[Tygerlilly]

Congratulations on the win!! Have a wonderful cruise it’s my favorite way to vacation as a mom. Everyone can eat whatever they want and if they don’t like they can get something else and no cleaning!!

This is our first cruise! I told my husband I'm most excited that I don't have to *do* anything while we're on the cruise. Eat what you want, drink what you want, it's all paid for already. We can go with the flow. I don't have to make reservations or plan anything beyond what I already have.

We aren't even sure we will do any planned excursions. Probably just get off the boat and roam the ports some.

 

[princesscinderella]

This is our first cruise! I told my husband I'm most excited that I don't have to *do* anything while we're on the cruise. Eat what you want, drink what you want, it's all paid for already. We can go with the flow. I don't have to make reservations or plan anything beyond what I already have.

We aren't even sure we will do any planned excursions. Probably just get off the boat and roam the ports some.

What ports are you going to? If it’s Cozumel I’d say skip excursions, they don’t really have nice beaches there and your kids are too little for snorkeling. There’s a shopping area you can get some Mexican vanilla and chocolate at and then get back on the ship and enjoy it with less crowds.