Debt Dumpers 2025

[Bellex917]

I have to admit as a teacher who literally ended the school year on 6/27 to see Back to School Supply displays being put up, makes me want to cry!! When I was a kid the back to school supplies did not get put out until the 1st full weekend of Aug and have been slowly moving forward, now we have them out the last week of June!!

At this rate, I expect X-Mas "bargins" to start appearing mid Sept this year based on a number of eco/pol/fin/consumer related issues! Last year we started to see a bunch starting mid Oct.

SAMMEEEEEEE. My school ended 6/25. Are you in NJ too? I can't handle these school supply comments lol!

 

[Tygerlilly]

I have to admit as a teacher who literally ended the school year on 6/27 to see Back to School Supply displays being put up, makes me want to cry!! When I was a kid the back to school supplies did not get put out until the 1st full weekend of Aug and have been slowly moving forward, now we have them out the last week of June!!

At this rate, I expect X-Mas "bargins" to start appearing mid Sept this year based on a number of eco/pol/fin/consumer related issues! Last year we started to see a bunch starting mid Oct.

Schools here go back on August 14th.

I went to Hobby Lobby earlier to grab a couple last minute 4th of July things and they have almost the entire Christmas aisles set and full, which I actually kind of like because now I can pick up one or two things each paycheck to decorate with instead of dropping $300 in one shot.

 

[barkley]

I have to admit as a teacher who literally ended the school year on 6/27 to see Back to School Supply displays being put up, makes me want to cry!! When I was a kid the back to school supplies did not get put out until the 1st full weekend of Aug and have been slowly moving forward, now we have them out the last week of June!!

At this rate, I expect X-Mas "bargins" to start appearing mid Sept this year based on a number of eco/pol/fin/consumer related issues! Last year we started to see a bunch starting mid Oct.

I don't remember having to bring school supplies until we hit 7th grade and even then i think it was a single 3 ring divider with 6 section dividers so we had one for each academic period. most of us also had a supply of peechee folders and enough pencils to get you through quarter by quarter. OF COURSE there was the one item we were required to provide-brown paper bags for the inevitable book covering that took place on the first day in each class.

I went to Hobby Lobby earlier to grab a couple last minute 4th of July things and they have almost the entire Christmas aisles set and full, which I actually kind of like because now I can pick up one or two things each paycheck to decorate with instead of dropping $300 in one shot.

I thought my tripped over bluey hoodies deal were just a one off of very early Christmas shopping on my part but low and behold I grabbed another gift today. we went to a homestead conference this weekend and there was a repeat vendor from last year that made the most phenominal strawberry balsamic jam. snagged some extras for stocking stuffers

 

[Tygerlilly]

we went to a homestead conference this weekend and there was a repeat vendor from last year that made the most phenominal strawberry balsamic jam. snagged some extras for stocking stuffers

Both the homestead conference AND the jam sound amazing.

 

[barkley]

Both the homestead conference AND the jam sound amazing.

this is the second year we attended. very cool way to spend a couple of days-ooohing and aaahing over baby ducklings and goats, learning the in's and out's of canning/preserving foods it never occurred to us to do, dh getting a few items to round out the sourdough addiction he got last year after getting a starter there... kind of like an old school county fair without the noise and havoc of the midway. what I REALY like about the group that does this event (this was their 3rd year) is they video each and every demo and presentation so you can pay $49 and get unlimited streaming after the event so you're not so torn about what to pick to attend at the event.

 

[disney-inspired]

For those of you whose school ended last week - why did your school end so late? Do you start late?

My nieces ended first week of June, I think they started school 2nd to last week or last week of August.

 

[Cfabar1]

Places like MA and NJ have school run late, always have.

 

[Bellex917]

For those of you whose school ended last week - why did your school end so late? Do you start late?

My nieces ended first week of June, I think they started school 2nd to last week or last week of August.

My school year started after Labor Day. Bc of where I teach (EXTREMELY diverse) we get off for Christian holidays, Jewish holidays, and Eid, Diwali, and Lunar New Year. NJ has two days off for teacher convention (the infamous Jersey Week in Disney). Add this all up, we went until the end of June.

 

[comicguy]

In NYS (depending on school district contracts) we start after labor day and go through pretty much the last week of June, depending how holiday breaks fall throughout the year, this year we get 2 weeks off at X-Mas! We also get a week in Feb for "Feb Break" plus all of the federal holidays through the year, so it adds up to very late June now.

 

[barkley]

Places like MA and NJ have school run late, always have.

do they at least have all the k-12's on the same schedule? our district does but I've got a friend out of state who works for the same school district as her dh as well as both their kids attended-they were only on the same schedule for maybe one school year .

 

[Nettlelondon]

this is the second year we attended. very cool way to spend a couple of days-ooohing and aaahing over baby ducklings and goats, learning the in's and out's of canning/preserving foods it never occurred to us to do, dh getting a few items to round out the sourdough addiction he got last year after getting a starter there... kind of like an old school county fair without the noise and havoc of the midway. what I REALY like about the group that does this event (this was their 3rd year) is they video each and every demo and presentation so you can pay $49 and get unlimited streaming after the event so you're not so torn about what to pick to attend at the event.

Be careful what you think of preserving.

Over 50 years ago my grandmother (lived in a large town in south east England, could walk to a street with a supermarket, two butchers, 3 bakeries, several greengrocers etc) visited some family in very, very rural Canada. They were isolated for months over winter every year. As a result they had lots of preserved supplies, including chickens. I am not sure of the full details but imagine a large Mason jar with a comedy rubber chicken in it.

Grandma came home and decided to do the same. When she died some 20 or so years later there was a "stock cupboard" in one off the bedrooms with various items purchased in case of problems and more normal preserved things like picked onions & various jams. At the back was a shelf with about 10 jars of pickled chickens. They were very carefully placed in a waste skip and a selection of old clothes and linens put over them in case of breakage.

 

[LoveDaisy]

I am in CT and school in my town starts after Labor Day. The last day was June 19. I graduated high school 30 years ago and graduated on June 20 so the date hasn’t changed over time.

I can and preserve. I was very popular with my friends during Covid

 

[Nettlelondon]

I am in CT and school in my town starts after Labor Day. The last day was June 19. I graduated high school 30 years ago and graduated on June 20 so the date hasn’t changed over time.

I can and preserve. I was very popular with my friends during Covid
View attachment 978932

That is very industrious - and all looks very tasty. Not a rubber chicken in sight .

In the UK school summer holidays start around 24th July and they start back aroundd 2nd/3rd September. There is usually 2 - 3 weeks around Christmas and 2 - 3 weeks around Easter as well with a week off in the middle of each block (around 31st October, 14th February and 24th May). That applies to publicly funded schools with small variations around the country. Private schools very much set their own agendas.

 

[barkley]

Be careful what you think of preserving.

Over 50 years ago my grandmother (lived in a large town in south east England, could walk to a street with a supermarket, two butchers, 3 bakeries, several greengrocers etc) visited some family in very, very rural Canada. They were isolated for months over winter every year. As a result they had lots of preserved supplies, including chickens. I am not sure of the full details but imagine a large Mason jar with a comedy rubber chicken in it.

Grandma came home and decided to do the same. When she died some 20 or so years later there was a "stock cupboard" in one off the bedrooms with various items purchased in case of problems and more normal preserved things like picked onions & various jams. At the back was a shelf with about 10 jars of pickled chickens. They were very carefully placed in a waste skip and a selection of old clothes and linens put over them in case of breakage.

yeah, i'm not willing to try and do meat products. we saw an entire demo on it but I just am not willing to take the risk. we've done fruits and veggies and such in the past but there were a few combos I never thought to do-i am especially interested in doing small jars of bruschetta. I have some wonderful basil growing this year and it would be nice to utilize it over the year to enjoy spread on some of dh's sourdough.

I am in CT and school in my town starts after Labor Day. The last day was June 19. I graduated high school 30 years ago and graduated on June 20 so the date hasn’t changed over time.

I can and preserve. I was very popular with my friends during Covid
View attachment 978932

that is beautiful

 

[LoveDaisy]

yeah, i'm not willing to try and do meat products. we saw an entire demo on it but I just am not willing to take the risk. we've done fruits and veggies and such in the past but there were a few combos I never thought to do-i am especially interested in doing small jars of bruschetta. I have some wonderful basil growing this year and it would be nice to utilize it over the year to enjoy spread on some of dh's sourdough.

Pesto freezes beautifully. I put it in ice cube trays to freeze then into a zip lock bag. I can pull out as much or as little as needed.

 

[Tygerlilly]

We have a local homestead thing like that they started last year. I'm really hoping I can make it to at least one day of it this year.

I only have a water bath canner, but a pressure canner is on my "someday" list. I do a lot of pickled things because we go thru them so fast. We're finally getting our back yard fenced in so I can get my garden set up for next spring. I have some pretty big plans for that.

 

[firefly_ris]

@LoveDaisy do you have any tips on growing eggplants? This is my second year trying and they don't look much better than last year. They are alive and growing some small new leaves -- but very, very slowly and still way shorter than all of my other vegetables. I am trying a different location this year because I thought they didn't get enough sun last year. I didn't get a single eggplant last year and it feels like they aren't going to do anything this year either. I have three of them.

I'm growing the usual tomatoes and cucumbers, as well as yellow squash, snap peas, brussels sprouts and radishes and the eggplants are the only ones that don't seem to be thriving. WNY area.

 

[pblack]

2025 Goals (subject to change):

End of June update.

Financial -
[ ] Get home equity loan down to $20k - Currently sitting at ~$22500.
[ ] 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 - I've honestly lost track of what this number should be. I've had to change up my auto contributions some with my husbands new job and being paid less. So I'm going to say we're probably at about half ($2k) with for sure another $900 going in between now and the end of the year.


Personal -
[ ] Exercise - get my body moving. Stay focused on eating healthier. Stay focused on getting more protein in my day. - Need to get this back of track. Historically summer is when I tend to fall off on the exercise regime. I don't eat terribly though, so at least I've got that going for me.
[ ] Replace our patio cover - No forward progress on this yet. May need to be put on hold due to hubby's job change.
[ ] 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). - My goal was the 4th of July, but that's not happening. We do have the pavers finished though. We have the turf bought for the other portion, just haven't gotten out there to spread out the dirt and get it laid. Also need to get the new fence done so we can finally get this dang storage shed out of our garage. Hopefully we can make some more progress after this weekend.

We're still adjusting to DH's new job/work hours/pay and pay days. He gets paid every week which is really throwing me off. He also hasn't hit what his hourly should be yet so I have no idea what to expect his normal checks to look like. (He is getting paid one amount during training and when training is complete he gets bumped up.) I'm trying to be conservative with paying down any extra to our equity loan, because I don't want to over extend ourselves. I'm also being conservative about where our money is going in general. Hopefully once he gets bumped up and we know what his normal check will be, I can adjust accordingly. So we'll see how much more of our goals we actually hit by the end of the year.

We did go to Disneyland for one day after he left his old job. It was crowded, but we both had a good time. The last time we were there together was the weekend my dad was in the hospital for a TBI and it was not the best time, so it was good to kind of erase that and put some new memories in place. We did buy the ticket deal at Costco, which the days do not need to be used consecutively, so we'll be using the other 2 days in November. We were planning on meeting my BFF down there in September, but they ended up having to change the weekend they were going and we can no longer go the weekend they're going.

Hope everyone is doing well!

 

[LoveDaisy]

@LoveDaisy do you have any tips on growing eggplants? This is my second year trying and they don't look much better than last year. They are alive and growing some small new leaves -- but very, very slowly and still way shorter than all of my other vegetables. I am trying a different location this year because I thought they didn't get enough sun last year. I didn't get a single eggplant last year and it feels like they aren't going to do anything this year either. I have three of them.

I'm growing the usual tomatoes and cucumbers, as well as yellow squash, snap peas, brussels sprouts and radishes and the eggplants are the only ones that don't seem to be thriving. WNY area.

I am in central CT so our growing seasons should be similar.

Eggplants like full sun, heat and I normally don’t start picking them until mid August. They are smaller than my other plants right now.

Are you getting flowers? Any fruit? If you are getting flowers and fruit but the plant is not growing them to maturity you may need a support. Eggplants are heavy, getting support has made a big difference for me.

How are you planting them? I usually plant my eggplants close together. This helps with pollination. I have also found mine don’t like being near tomatoes so I usually plant mine near my beans, cucumbers, and peppers.

I only fertilize with cow manure and noticed they do much better on the year I add it (I do it every other year). So I’ve started getting a garbage can on the off years for eggplants, peppers, and pumpkins.

I struggle with bell peppers but not hot peppers. If you have any suggestions let me know!

 

[barkley]

I'm trying to be conservative with paying down any extra to our equity loan, because I don't want to over extend ourselves

that's a well planned way to operate. better to have some liquid monies available in reserve just in case. if you find you're more financially flush down the line a bit you can always throw extra extra funds at the helo. i'm of the mindset on any kind of loans that if it does not make a big difference interest wise and there's no pre-payment penalties it's always better to opt for a longer term/lower monthly payment b/c in the best of circumstances you can pay it off early but in the worst it's not as large a worry.

does your dh seem to like the new job?