Debt Dumpers 2025

[Cfabar1]

I've never been to any of mine, and have no intention to start. With limited vacation time and dollars, why give it up to spend a weekend visiting people I have not maintained a relationship with (for whatever reason)...

 

[focusondisney]

Are high school reunions as much of a thing as TV and films would have us believe? Especially detective shows.

My parents, both born in the early 30s went to all of theirs. My husband & I graduated in 73 & 75 respectively. He’s never been to a reunion, I went to our 5 year because a friend wanted me to. My BIL graduated with me, he’s been to them all. But he’s a much more social personality than we are. The reunions for my class have been at a local bar. My husband & I aren’t drinkers & have no desire to fake socialize with people we never keep contact with. None of my siblings go to their reunions either.

My kids (now in their 40s) went thru a different town’s school system. That town seems to have 1 reunion for all classes. But again, my kids have never gone to any either.

 

[piglet1979]

Thank you. This is all going to be completely unknown territory to me. I just don't want my kids to start off their adult lives with a bunch of student loan debt since we're only going to be able to hand them a paltry amount, especially if they major in something that they could get a degree for anywhere. I also don't know if any of them will want to not go to college and do something like trade school instead, which I don't know anything about either. So I have some reading to do soon here.

We had the kids apply to all sorts of places. DS applied to all schools that he would get into but all over the state. Then once we got award letters we tried to get more money so he could go to the school he wanted to go to. He didn't get enough to cover living on campus. It was a hard decision but he ended up at the private college in the city that we live in. He is now living in a house on campus with 5 other guys and stops home a few times a week. He absolutely loves this college though he only applied because it was close as a just in case.

DD applied to some schools she would get into and some that I knew she wouldn't but it was worth to try. She didn't care really were she went and it was all about the money for her. So She is at a state school in the area about 20ish minutes away and only had to pay for some fees (lab fees for her classes) and she did get a meal plan since she is on campus a lot.

DS does have some loans but only the federal ones and DD doesn't have any. They will both be in a pretty good spot.

The best thing they can do is apply to a wide variety of schools and really look at how much they will need to pay after any scholarship and grants.

Anothing we have done with our kids was getting the set up with a 401k at there work. One works at Chipotle and the other is at Culvers. Both have the option of a 401k but neither really match. It they do it is about a 1% match. But it is something for now and they are already starting to save for the future.

 

[MattB2G]

Anothing we have done with our kids was getting the set up with a 401k at there work. One works at Chipotle and the other is at Culvers. Both have the option of a 401k but neither really match. It they do it is about a 1% match. But it is something for now and they are already starting to save for the future.

Since there is no match, it might be a better option to open a Roth IRA with an online broker that provides them. Since they are probably making less money now and are in a lower tax bracket than they will be later on in life, this would be a better way to save for retirement. Either way it is always good to be saving for retirement.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

We were a very tight class as a whole with only about 215 people. We had 10-year, 20-year, 25-year, 30-year. But I didn't go to any of them. I drove into the parking lot at the 20-year reunion, but DW didn't want to go in and see any of my friends. So we left and went on a date by ourselves to a dinner and movie. Was still lots of fun.

Are high school reunions as much of a thing as TV and films would have us believe? Especially detective shows.

 

[barkley]

well I got my Christmas shopping started officially today. target has their buy 2 get 1 free sale on books going (returnable for 90 days) so I snagged some of my youngest's overpriced (everywhere) d&d books and pre-ordered a March release for dh. on the non Christmas shopping I just found out our health insurance is dropping it's OTC benefit come 2026 so no more "free" paper products but target has a sale on Charmin (buy one get 25% off a second) so I paid cash out of pocket and got 2 large packs so I could zero out the OTC benefit with a Walmart order that restocked 3 of our regularly used OTC meds.

 

[Bellex917]

well I got my Christmas shopping started officially today. target has their buy 2 get 1 free sale on books going (returnable for 90 days) so I snagged some of my youngest's overpriced (everywhere) d&d books and pre-ordered a March release for dh. on the non Christmas shopping I just found out our health insurance is dropping it's OTC benefit come 2026 so no more "free" paper products but target has a sale on Charmin (buy one get 25% off a second) so I paid cash out of pocket and got 2 large packs so I could zero out the OTC benefit with a Walmart order that restocked 3 of our regularly used OTC meds.

I also started my Christmas shopping. From now until mid December I generally try to space out a few gifts per pay period.

I'd love to see an update on everyone's progress! 2025 is wrapping up in a few months... how are we doing on our goals?

We are still working to increase our savings. The summer is always a challenge for us- we spend way more in the summer than the rest of the year. For the past two years I've managed to get out of summer with no new debt, but minimal additional savings. I think I have to just accept that as our pattern. For years the summer added a LOT of debt, so this is definitely a positive step.

 

[Tygerlilly]

I started Christmas shopping last month. Just picking up a few smaller things here and there that I saw on clearance. Oldest kiddo has a birthday in November so I've been trying to grab a few extra things for her. We're going to Houston for her birthday so I plan to bring a few gifts with us, but mainly plan to let her pick out a couple extra things while we're down there.

I'd love to see an update on everyone's progress! 2025 is wrapping up in a few months... how are we doing on our goals?

After 2 years of staying home, I'm looking at going back to work because everything has increased so much we're not accomplishing anything. It sucks. We both hate it. But hopefully I can spend a year knocking out everything I can and can quit again.