Debt Dumpers 2025

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

Thanks. But it would just be on the side. I'd still have insurance and SS from my full time job. But thank you for the heads up. Same thing happens with my baseball cards. I think I'm going to hit the threshold this year to where I have to pay taxes.

@WDW_fan_in_TX , as a Uber or Lyft driver you would be an independent contractor. You will be responsible for paying all self-employment taxes on your earnings. That means Medicare and Social Security taxes as well as income taxes on your earnings. It's not as easy as saying I'll do 10 rides a day and everything I make is mine to keep. You need to be deciplined enough to set aside those tax monies to pay them when they are due.

Typically, self employed people estimate income and pay their taxes every quarter. And they pay the full amount for Soc. Sec and Medicare. When you are an employee, your employer pays half and you pay half. I comes right out of your paycheck, so you never see it.

I'm not trying to discourage you from trying a side gig. I just want to make you aware that you will need to be very careful and not spend money that needs to go toward paying those taxes. Uncle Sam will want his share and he will go after you for it (with penalties and interest)

 

[Willow Ufgood]

Thanks. But it would just be on the side. I'd still have insurance and SS from my full time job. But thank you for the heads up. Same thing happens with my baseball cards. I think I'm going to hit the threshold this year to where I have to pay taxes.

It doesn't matter that this would be a side hustle. The SS taxes that come out of your paycheck at your full-time job don't cover what you owe when you make money as an independent contractor on the side.

 

[Tygerlilly]

It's all progress.

I figured it's the end of the year and I won't rack up toooo much in taxes I'll need to cover over the next 6 weeks. I can give it a try and if it seems to be not worth it, I simply would not continue after the new year.

I am really hesitant to try to drive for uBer/Lyft cause you hear so many stories of drivers getting assaulted and killed. I feel if I just do airport pickups, that'll cut down on that as well as cut down on drunk idiots being in my car.

I've used Uber/Lyft an absurd amount of times while traveling, primarily in Vegas, and have never heard of anyone actually being assaulted or killed. Not saying it never happens, but it's definitely not a common occurrence. I have more concern being assaulted walking out of walmart than I do being in an Uber. Lol.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

For those of you looking to switch internet companies, do not, I repeat, DO NOT go with Frontier. I never even hooked up the equipment. Never even took it out of the box. They took $30 out of my bank account on Nov. 10, I called that day and they said they'd refund. That was 10 days ago and no refund. Today I get an email I've got another bill due. So I call, and I've been on the phone an hour. They told me they put that $30 as a bill credit (remind you I'm not a customer) when they told me I'd be getting a refund on the card. Now they're telling me I owe a $50 restock fee. I'm trying to explain I shouldn't have to pay that fee since I never even hooked up the equipment. This whole experience has been the worse experience as a customer with any utility ever. That was after the delivery man threw the product on my front porch at 8:30 a.m. on a Friday. I didn't get it until after working until 5. I called to cancel when I get home, and they close at 5. Called back on Monday, and they said I had they don't prorate their service. I said I never had their service. Been a big, bad back and forth. So don't ever, EVER go with Frontier. Period. Rant over.

 

[FreeTime]

For those of you looking to switch internet companies, do not, I repeat, DO NOT go with Frontier. I never even hooked up the equipment. Never even took it out of the box. They took $30 out of my bank account on Nov. 10, I called that day and they said they'd refund. That was 10 days ago and no refund. Today I get an email I've got another bill due. So I call, and I've been on the phone an hour. They told me they put that $30 as a bill credit (remind you I'm not a customer) when they told me I'd be getting a refund on the card. Now they're telling me I owe a $50 restock fee. I'm trying to explain I shouldn't have to pay that fee since I never even hooked up the equipment. This whole experience has been the worse experience as a customer with any utility ever. That was after the delivery man threw the product on my front porch at 8:30 a.m. on a Friday. I didn't get it until after working until 5. I called to cancel when I get home, and they close at 5. Called back on Monday, and they said I had they don't prorate their service. I said I never had their service. Been a big, bad back and forth. So don't ever, EVER go with Frontier. Period. Rant over.

I’m confused. It sounds like you signed up for the service and then changed your mind after the scheduled start date. What you explained seems normal for me for a subscription based service. Restocking fees are normal. Not all offer prorating. You signed up. You have to pay for the commitment period.

 

[Tygerlilly]

For those of you looking to switch internet companies, do not, I repeat, DO NOT go with Frontier. I never even hooked up the equipment. Never even took it out of the box. They took $30 out of my bank account on Nov. 10, I called that day and they said they'd refund. That was 10 days ago and no refund. Today I get an email I've got another bill due. So I call, and I've been on the phone an hour. They told me they put that $30 as a bill credit (remind you I'm not a customer) when they told me I'd be getting a refund on the card. Now they're telling me I owe a $50 restock fee. I'm trying to explain I shouldn't have to pay that fee since I never even hooked up the equipment. This whole experience has been the worse experience as a customer with any utility ever. That was after the delivery man threw the product on my front porch at 8:30 a.m. on a Friday. I didn't get it until after working until 5. I called to cancel when I get home, and they close at 5. Called back on Monday, and they said I had they don't prorate their service. I said I never had their service. Been a big, bad back and forth. So don't ever, EVER go with Frontier. Period. Rant over.

If you didn't sign up for the service how did you get equipment delivered to your address and they had your account info to charge it to begin with? Every service I've ever signed up for has a restock fee if you decide not to use the service. Even ATT has an equipment return fee. Is it bs to charge it? Yeah. But it's standard and written in the terms when you sign up.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

Let me clarify. I did sign up for it. However, I did not activate it. I never took the equipment out of the box. That's what I meant to say.
The equipment was thrown on my porch at 8:30 a.m. with no notification or anything. I got home after 5, I decided I didn't want to go with Frontier. So I called to cancel. However, they were already closed. So I kept the equipment sealed in the box all weekend. On Monday, I carried it to work and also called them to cancel. I took it to the UPS Store at lunch that day and returned it. So I never activated the equipment.

I’m confused. It sounds like you signed up for the service and then changed your mind after the scheduled start date. What you explained seems normal for me for a subscription based service. Restocking fees are normal. Not all offer prorating. You signed up. You have to pay for the commitment period.

If you didn't sign up for the service how did you get equipment delivered to your address and they had your account info to charge it to begin with? Every service I've ever signed up for has a restock fee if you decide not to use the service. Even ATT has an equipment return fee. Is it bs to charge it? Yeah. But it's standard and written in the terms when you sign up.

 

[FreeTime]

Thanks for the clarity.

1) activation doesn’t matter. You signed up. You received the equipment. You changed your mind. The company did nothing wrong. From a business owner, this is one of the reasons owning a business it tough. It’s the constant being on the defensive because of consumers who want to blast you for following a practice that to set up, they agree to, but then they change their mind. You really should delete your comments. Someone who is looking for info on frontier could use your comments as a deciding factor. Comments that are not true concerning the company.

2) why are you signing up for cable instead of going lean with all of the advice given on this board? Including a recent conversation that you were in about this subject? Cancel all of your streaming! Cancel cable! Use the library for movies. Don’t watch TV. Use that time you now have to exercise and cook healthy.

3) how was your trip to WDW? Did you stay within your budget?

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

After 90 minutes, I finally talked to a manager who said I should've never been charged for the first month ($29.99) and should've never been charged a restock fee. So he waved that, and he's refunding my debit card for the $29.99. It's not cable. It's internet. We had been using Spectrum, but there's was $100/month. So I shopped around like everyone told me to. I found Frontier and signed up for it, and when I called Spectrum to cancel, they came down to $40/month. So we decided to stay with them. And, after the experience with Frontier, I'm super glad I did stay with Spectrum. We only have internet with them. I work from home sometimes, so I have to have internet for that. Plus, if we didn't have internet and no cable, what the heck would we do for TV, shows, movies, etc? Oh, and we can't exercise right now anyways. It's not daylight until 7, and I have to leave for work at 7:30. And I don't get home until 5:30, and it's dark. So can't go outside. But we do cook still. Love cooking. Went to Walmart yesterday because I needed a few items to cook for our pot luck at work (unlike DW's work, we each signed up to brought something, I brought 3 things).

Thanks for the clarity.

1) activation doesn’t matter. You signed up. You received the equipment. You changed your mind. The company did nothing wrong. From a business owner, this is one of the reasons owning a business it tough. It’s the constant being on the defensive because of consumers who want to blast you for following a practice that to set up, they agree to, but then they change their mind. You really should delete your comments. Someone who is looking for info on frontier could use your comments as a deciding factor. Comments that are not true concerning the company.

2) why are you signing up for cable instead of going lean with all of the advice given on this board? Including a recent conversation that you were in about this subject? Cancel all of your streaming! Cancel cable! Use the library for movies. Don’t watch TV. Use that time you now have to exercise and cook healthy.

3) how was your trip to WDW? Did you stay within your budget?

 

[ThereYouSeeHer]

I work from home sometimes, so I have to have internet for that. Plus, if we didn't have internet and no cable, what the heck would we do for TV, shows, movies, etc?

Umm, not everyone stays glued to TV and movies, especially when they can't afford it. They go outside, read books, have conversations with family.

We haven't paid for cable or home internet for years. We use an indoor antenna for free TV, and our basic cell phone plan includes an unlimited hotspot that we use for internet to homeschool, work, and stream (we only have Disney+). Yes, sometimes the connection is spotty and we get throttled, but it works.

Also, from our library, we can checkout a wifi device for free home internet for two weeks at a time. The waitlist is months long, but we recently tried it and will keep putting our name on the list.

Getting and staying out of debt often requires personal sacrifice and creative solutions. No TV show or sports event is worth financial chaos.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

I love paying bills. It makes me feel like I accomplished something. Everything has been entered into my spreadsheet for the month. We moved $900 over to savings (will use $700 of that toward rent next week). And still have $200 left in the main bank account for food and gas/tolls until next Friday when DW will get paid. Texted DW all that, and she said that's great and thanked me for handling all the finances. Little steps.

 

[FreeTime]

@WDW_fan_in_TX concerning internet and working from home, ask your employer for a stipend. Otherwise, home internet is not a necessity.

Why are you using savings to pay rent? This should come out of your household budget account.

I’m glad to see that you are making progress.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

They don't offer a stipend. I've already checked into that. If we didn't have internet, we'd have no way to watch anything on TV. No Youtube, even though it's free. We'd have no way to stream. Plus, I'd have no way to get on Facebook and eBay and sell my sports cards, which is what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to sell anything I don't want/need and use the money to pay down debt.

As far as the latter, we just move it over to a savings account to earn a bit of interest until we need. If we keep it in our main account, it'll get used up on stuff that we buy because "oh look, we have extra money." So by moving into another account until we need it, it's out of sight out of mind. We want to start putting 1/4 of the rent into an account each week so we're not struggling at the end of the month.

@WDW_fan_in_TX concerning internet and working from home, ask your employer for a stipend. Otherwise, home internet is not a necessity.

Why are you using savings to pay rent? This should come out of your household budget account.

I’m glad to see that you are making progress.

 

[royeheat]

I love paying bills. It makes me feel like I accomplished something. Everything has been entered into my spreadsheet for the month. We moved $900 over to savings (will use $700 of that toward rent next week). And still have $200 left in the main bank account for food and gas/tolls until next Friday when DW will get paid. Texted DW all that, and she said that's great and thanked me for handling all the finances. Little steps

Why does paying bills like credit cards, student loans and auto loan make you feel like you accomplished something?

 

[royeheat]

After 90 minutes, I finally talked to a manager who said I should've never been charged for the first month ($29.99) and should've never been charged a restock fee. So he waved that, and he's refunding my debit card for the $29.99. It's not cable. It's internet. We had been using Spectrum, but there's was $100/month. So I shopped around like everyone told me to. I found Frontier and signed up for it, and when I called Spectrum to cancel, they came down to $40/month. So we decided to stay with them. And, after the experience with Frontier, I'm super glad I did stay with Spectrum. We only have internet with them. I work from home sometimes, so I have to have internet for that. Plus, if we didn't have internet and no cable, what the heck would we do for TV, shows, movies, etc? Oh, and we can't exercise right now anyways. It's not daylight until 7, and I have to leave for work at 7:30. And I don't get home until 5:30, and it's dark. So can't go outside. But we do cook still. Love cooking. Went to Walmart yesterday because I needed a few items to cook for our pot luck at work (unlike DW's work, we each signed up to brought something, I brought 3 things).

For those of you looking to switch internet companies, do not, I repeat, DO NOT go with Frontier. I never even hooked up the equipment. Never even took it out of the box. They took $30 out of my bank account on Nov. 10, I called that day and they said they'd refund. That was 10 days ago and no refund. Today I get an email I've got another bill due. So I call, and I've been on the phone an hour. They told me they put that $30 as a bill credit (remind you I'm not a customer) when they told me I'd be getting a refund on the card. Now they're telling me I owe a $50 restock fee. I'm trying to explain I shouldn't have to pay that fee since I never even hooked up the equipment. This whole experience has been the worse experience as a customer with any utility ever. That was after the delivery man threw the product on my front porch at 8:30 a.m. on a Friday. I didn't get it until after working until 5. I called to cancel when I get home, and they close at 5. Called back on Monday, and they said I had they don't prorate their service. I said I never had their service. Been a big, bad back and forth. So don't ever, EVER go with Frontier. Period. Rant over.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

I guess it's more of having money leftover to move into savings after paying all of my bills. But even just paying bills on time and not having to deal with late payments is something a lot of folks can't do and something we haven't done in a while.

Why does paying bills like credit cards, student loans and auto loan make you feel like you accomplished something?

 

[royeheat]

WDW in TX why can you not go outside when it is dark out? Purchase reflectors or a fluorescent vest
Questions to ask yourself
When was the last time I made sacrifices to get out of debt
When will I stop making excuses and saying enough is enough?

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

I think my previous post shows I've said enough is enough. I actually had money to move into savings and pay all my bills. We're making sacrifices now. We've cut internet way back (from $100 to $40), we've stopped eating out most days. we've cut our grocery budget from $700 to $600, So we're making sacrifices, making changes and saying enough is enough.

WDW in TX why can you not go outside when it is dark out? Purchase reflectors or a fluorescent vest
Questions to ask yourself
When was the last time I made sacrifices to get out of debt
When will I stop making excuses and saying enough is enough?

 

[barkley]

You’re thinking of doing it as a driver? Make sure you check your insurance coverage. You may need to add or change your insurance if you decide to drive a ride share. Many policies don’t cover if you’re using it as a commercial vehicle.

I'll second checking into this as well. insurance coverage gets really particular when monies exchange hands. I recall when my kiddos were younger and went to a private school that relied on parent volunteers to drive for field trips. the school would provide a small stipend to help the drivers with gas/tolls and all was well until a minor accident occured and there were claims on the part of some of the passenger kids parents-when the insured drivers insurance found out money was paid to the driver for the 'service' of driving they denied the claim. it sent the rest of the parents who had driven many times rushing to their carriers who also advised them that if money exchanged hands they had to have specific coverage that your usual car insurance doesn't include.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Found two more subscriptions to cancel and will save another $20/month from subscriptions I don't *need* to have. I'm not 100% sure, but I think I've canceled around $100 worth of subscriptions in the last week. (I did end up canceling Crunchyroll for at least a couple months)