Debt Dumpers 2026

[Tygerlilly]

My husband has next round of interviews this morning too!

to him as well!

 

[barkley]

We only have our mortgage debt left and I want to takle it more this year but we are in a wait and see based on where my middle daughter gets into college. We won’t qualify for financial aid so tuition will be on us if she doesn’t get merit scholarships. She has worked so hard so we want to support her wherever she decides to go so it may be more loans instead of paying down this year.

encourage your dd to apply for any and every scholarship she can-esp. what many of her classmates might consider 'cheap' and 'not worth my time'. our oldest was not at the top of the class, good grades but not spectacular, never did a sport or any of the higher profile activities but we encouraged applying for every scholarship we learned of (and searched out in our community through simple Google searches). those little ones add up and we found that once you crafted a basic letter it was easily edited for whatever scholarship you were applying for. the other thing on the smaller dollar ones-many are renewable for every year so the $7K or so mine netted through these rounded up to around $25K over the course of college I don't know if it had an impact or not but I think it might have with the university b/c they had already offered a dollar amount but when we called their financial aid office to get information for the community groups and they heard the dollar amount we got a letter informing us they were still awaiting receipt of formal acceptance to attend but wanted to offer an additional scholarship on their part

I'm in the same boat as you, we only have the mortgage which I am trying to tackle with some extra payments, but my oldest is a junior in high school. We don't have a lot set aside for college, just a paltry amount in a 529 and then custodial brokerage accounts (of which I'd actually prefer they don't use for school and instead use as a starting point for investing when they graduate). If I throw TOO much at the mortgage, that will leave us with less wiggle room to cash flow a little bit towards her (and the other 2 kids) college tuition. We won't be able to fully cover the cost either way, but I would like to be able to cash flow a certain amount to help. But I'm also a very debt-averse person and I hate getting that auto-withdrawal notification for the mortgage every month. All about figuring out that life balance...

we are debt averse as well so we did pay off the mortgage early. what we could help with on tuition (we wanted our kids to pay a portion and allot of that was paid via on campus jobs that helped get some work experience as well) we had ours do fed loans (not those awful parent plus) so no interest was accruing during years of attendance. we squirrelled away money and even at modest CD rate interest it grew so it went further. our share of cost was paid on the highest interest rate loans immediately upon graduation so any remaining balance on their part was at the lowest rates.

 

[LadybugsMum]

It went really well! They want to go to the next stage; so I could possibly be employed by the end of the month.

 

[princesscinderella]

encourage your dd to apply for any and every scholarship she can-esp. what many of her classmates might consider 'cheap' and 'not worth my time'. our oldest was not at the top of the class, good grades but not spectacular, never did a sport or any of the higher profile activities but we encouraged applying for every scholarship we learned of (and searched out in our community through simple Google searches). those little ones add up and we found that once you crafted a basic letter it was easily edited for whatever scholarship you were applying for. the other thing on the smaller dollar ones-many are renewable for every year so the $7K or so mine netted through these rounded up to around $25K over the course of college I don't know if it had an impact or not but I think it might have with the university b/c they had already offered a dollar amount but when we called their financial aid office to get information for the community groups and they heard the dollar amount we got a letter informing us they were still awaiting receipt of formal acceptance to attend but wanted to offer an additional scholarship on their part


we are debt averse as well so we did pay off the mortgage early. what we could help with on tuition (we wanted our kids to pay a portion and allot of that was paid via on campus jobs that helped get some work experience as well) we had ours do fed loans (not those awful parent plus) so no interest was accruing during years of attendance. we squirrelled away money and even at modest CD rate interest it grew so it went further. our share of cost was paid on the highest interest rate loans immediately upon graduation so any remaining balance on their part was at the lowest rates.

She is a national merit semifinalist and if she gets finalist then a lot more scholarships open up to her. She’s on the small scholarship hunt now so USC and Yale are her top 2, USC gives merit and Ivies do not. USC tuition is surprisingly more expensive than Yale however and board in SoCal is more than New Haven. She wants to be in the entertainment industry so USC is the best choice for her due to the connections to the industry it has. I’m sad because it’s so far from FL but she’s fiercely independent so I’m not worried about her. If she stayed to go to a state school instead she would literally get paid to go to school with a full ride scholarship with extra for books and supplies too.

Our son is cheaper now in college than he was when we were paying for private school due to the Florida lottery college scholarship program called bright futures. It provides 100 or 75 percent tuition coverage based on your grades and standardized test scores and a minimum of 100 service hours. My daughter has a full academic scholarship to her HS so she’s been cheap in HS and will be expensive for college. My son wants to go to dental school so we will help him with his tuition if we end up paying a lot towards his sister’s as we do try to keep it fair so there’s no sibling resentment.

 

[princesscinderella]

It went really well! They want to go to the next stage; so I could possibly be employed by the end of the month.

Good news!!

 

[barkley]

She is a national merit semifinalist and if she gets finalist then a lot more scholarships open up to her. She’s on the small scholarship hunt now so USC and Yale are her top 2, USC gives merit and Ivies do not. USC tuition is surprisingly more expensive than Yale however and board in SoCal is more than New Haven. She wants to be in the entertainment industry so USC is the best choice for her due to the connections to the industry it has. I’m sad because it’s so far from FL but she’s fiercely independent so I’m not worried about her. If she stayed to go to a state school instead she would literally get paid to go to school with a full ride scholarship with extra for books and supplies too.

Our son is cheaper now in college than he was when we were paying for private school due to the Florida lottery college scholarship program called bright futures. It provides 100 or 75 percent tuition coverage based on your grades and standardized test scores and a minimum of 100 service hours. My daughter has a full academic scholarship to her HS so she’s been cheap in HS and will be expensive for college. My son wants to go to dental school so we will help him with his tuition if we end up paying a lot towards his sister’s as we do try to keep it fair so there’s no sibling resentment.

if you don't mind sharing-what aspect of entertainment? performance, production, managment?

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

It went really well! They want to go to the next stage; so I could possibly be employed by the end of the month.

That is such great news. Hope it all works out. And quickly.

 

[princesscinderella]

if you don't mind sharing-what aspect of entertainment? performance, production, managment?

She would love to be an actress, but she knows she need to have a strong degree if it doesn’t work out. She has a Disney princess singing voice and has near perfect pitch and can identify any note just by hearing it. I told her I fully expect her to get the EGOT as she is a triple threat. Her choir teacher thinks she would make an excellent music producer. The degree she applied for at USC is Business for the cinematic arts. It would put her in the center of that industry and if she makes it as a performer she would be her own business so the degree would help her keep her money and not get taken advantage of. We have the ability to help support her while she chases her dreams.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

Has anyone used Spectrum for their cell phone service? I have a chance to cut my cell phone bill down significantly (currently pay $125/month for 1 line). I am currently with Verizon, and I owe $177 to pay the phone off. I'm paying $22/month for the phone until the phone is paid off. However, I've sold enough stuff from around the house and of my sports cards this week to pay that $177 off. That would then drop my bill to $100/month, and I would own the phone.

And this is where Spectrum comes into play. We currently have them for our home internet. They've offered me $0/month for 12 months then $40/month after that for my cell phone service. And there's no contract. So, I can switch over and use it. If I use it a month and don't like it, then I can go pretty much anywhere I want with my phone service, including back to Verizon. But I've never used Spectrum cell phone service (and I don't know anything that has ... so that might be the clue I should be looking at), but the Spectrum rep told me use Verizon towers, whatever that means.

So I'm just curious if anyone has used Spectrum cell phone. And if they have a review of it, if they have used it before now.

 

[barkley]

(currently pay $125/month for 1 line)

that kills me! I pay $206.73 for 4 lines (at&t).

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

that kills me! I pay $206.73 for 4 lines (at&t).

I’ve been with Verizon since the late 1990s since they were AllTell. So I hate to leave them. I feel like I’m cheating on them. I went in today and asked them about lowering my bill. She said I could pay $177 to pay off my phone and that’s lower it $22. Other than that, there was nothing they could do.

 

[AquaDame]

I’ve been with Verizon since the late 1990s since they were AllTell. So I hate to leave them. I feel like I’m cheating on them.

They had a good run.... going on 30 years of your hard earned money and loyalty! If they wanted to keep you, they'd cut you a better deal. That said I haven't heard of Spectrum. Reddit doesn't seem to like them, but since you use their internet you know what they're like to deal with already. If they use the Verizon towers they should have about the same coverage, but if the network has a power failure that degrades service they'll prioritize their own customers before Spectrums'. It'd be best to find someone in your area that uses them to see how reliable it is.

 

[barkley]

She would love to be an actress, but she knows she need to have a strong degree if it doesn’t work out. She has a Disney princess singing voice and has near perfect pitch and can identify any note just by hearing it. I told her I fully expect her to get the EGOT as she is a triple threat. Her choir teacher thinks she would make an excellent music producer. The degree she applied for at USC is Business for the cinematic arts. It would put her in the center of that industry and if she makes it as a performer she would be her own business so the degree would help her keep her money and not get taken advantage of. We have the ability to help support her while she chases her dreams.

that's great that she plans on getting a strong marketable degree. I performed with a number of insanely talented people over the years and for some reason it just seemed as though the ones that ended up the most successful as professional performers vs. our equally talented peers were those that had also pursued some form of outside professional education, training or certifications. I always wondered if having in the back of their minds that they had a backup plan in place to pay the bills made them a bit more willing to take on smaller/lower profile jobs (get experience) others would'nt or just that they seemed a bit less stressed and recovered more quickly to go on to the next audition but they've largely been the most successful of the bunch (and several found that those fallbacks served them well during the pandemic and equity strikes).

 

[LadybugsMum]

Has anyone used Spectrum for their cell phone service? I have a chance to cut my cell phone bill down significantly (currently pay $125/month for 1 line). I am currently with Verizon, and I owe $177 to pay the phone off. I'm paying $22/month for the phone until the phone is paid off. However, I've sold enough stuff from around the house and of my sports cards this week to pay that $177 off. That would then drop my bill to $100/month, and I would own the phone.

And this is where Spectrum comes into play. We currently have them for our home internet. They've offered me $0/month for 12 months then $40/month after that for my cell phone service. And there's no contract. So, I can switch over and use it. If I use it a month and don't like it, then I can go pretty much anywhere I want with my phone service, including back to Verizon. But I've never used Spectrum cell phone service (and I don't know anything that has ... so that might be the clue I should be looking at), but the Spectrum rep told me use Verizon towers, whatever that means.

So I'm just curious if anyone has used Spectrum cell phone. And if they have a review of it, if they have used it before now.

Look into mint or cricket. Both are much cheaper.

 

[Twilghtsprkle]

Look into mint or cricket. Both are much cheaper.

Any prepaid really. I have AT&T prepaid and pay $90 for 4 lines.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Look into mint or cricket. Both are much cheaper.

My mom has Cricket and pays $30/month for pretty much everything you could need. Never has any issues with service.

 

[LadybugsMum]

I've already gotten an LinkedIn invite to connect with my potential manager; so that seems promising.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

There was some earlier insurance talk and this news story popped up on my Google News feed a bit ago. It wasn't the insurance company I worked for but described the situation where kids weren't on the policy and they denied the claim because they were listed in this case they were young kids but they signed documents saying only the husband and wife were the individuals in the household which was required in Michigan to state all regardless of age. And the resolution that Geico insurance company paid out eventually is a common thing to happen, but they do it for PR/goodwill when that happens.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/geico-refused-cover-crash-michigan-b2896430.html

 

[DisneyHardin]

Has anyone used Spectrum for their cell phone service?

My parents recently switched to Spectrum for their cell phone and they have been pleased.

$125/month for 1 line is a ridiculously high price. I pay $91/month for 2 lines and that includes the monthly payment on one of the lines for a new phone. We have ATT.

 

[JamJam2021]

First time poster. My goals for this year are to begin to focus on paying off my mortgage debt about 300,000 and start saving for 2026.