Debt Dumpers 2026

[Nettlelondon]

Update for Jan. 20.
Paid an extra car payment yesterday, so ALL BILLS ARE NOW CAUGHT UP!!! And on time. The means no more late fees. Not sure how long things will stay that way, but they are caught up to date for now. So, no more late fees. That was the No. 1 goal this year. Small step taken, but a step nonetheless.

Good work, well done. Keep it up


I had a yoga class this morning. A delivery vehicle was blocking our road so I ended up walking to the gym as I suspected they were going to take a while to complete their task, even though they said "we will only be a few minutes", as they were delivering a hospital bed to the IVF clinic at the end of the road.

By walking there and back I somehow managed 5,000 steps and have walked on the spot whilst watching TV getting up to the 7,000 steps I need to get points for treats on with my health insurance.

 

[barkley]

I really need to find an insurance broker to find better homeowner's insurance. I'm paying over $4k which seems really high. My car insurance is very reasonable though, but still I should shop around.

you don't have to go through a broker-you can call individual companies on your own. one of the downsides of using a broker is that they won't price compare with companies they don't have a commission set-up with so there could be some less expensive options outside an individual broker's network. in the past i've just called different companies to get quotes.

 

[afan]

you don't have to go through a broker-you can call individual companies on your own. one of the downsides of using a broker is that they won't price compare with companies they don't have a commission set-up with so there could be some less expensive options outside an individual broker's network. in the past i've just called different companies to get quotes.

I looked at one on my own that the broker couldn't do and I still will get calls from them every 4 to six months. I got the quote at least 2 years ago. I get enough spam calls I don't need to create more.

It was so much better before when they used to quote without having to provide info.

 

[LadybugsMum]

you don't have to go through a broker-you can call individual companies on your own. one of the downsides of using a broker is that they won't price compare with companies they don't have a commission set-up with so there could be some less expensive options outside an individual broker's network. in the past i've just called different companies to get quotes.

I'd rather someone else do the work for me and as @afan said above, I get enough spam as it is.

 

[barkley]

I looked at one on my own that the broker couldn't do and I still will get calls from them every 4 to six months. I got the quote at least 2 years ago. I get enough spam calls I don't need to create more.

It was so much better before when they used to quote without having to provide info.

I'd rather someone else do the work for me and as @afan said above, I get enough spam as it is.

I guess i'm lucky-no bothersome calls from any insurance company i've ever contacted for a quote (though I DO get regular snail mails from 2 that I've never reached out to-liberty and progressive, and 3A which I dumped 35 years ago).

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Insurance agents buy lists. The lists contain basic information about you and your insurance. Sometimes the information is out of date or incorrect but if you've ever gotten a mailer with "switch and save" stuff that's an agent who has bought your information off a list. In addition to those we recently got one from a local Ford deal about our car (which is a Hyundai) because they knew exactly how long we had left on the lease, it's information they bought.

Someone may get calls from a company they have done an online quote with (or reached out to an individual office with) even periodically because that is the agent's job in order to net grow their book of business (same with buying lists).

Our agent, since I switched off of my mom's, when I graduated college has been my step-father-in-law (I've been with him for many years at this point) who is an independent agent (that's who ideally you'd want). In his particular agency he can get cross company discounts that they write through depending on the company. Right now we have our home with Openly but our cars are with Progressive. We switched several years back on the home from Progressive to Openly when Openly came to our market thus we have an auto/home discount on our policies despite being with two different companies (it's a lesser discount than if we had both lines of business with the same company but it is still one). When I first switched to my step-father-in-law (this was technically before I got married to my husband) we had put me with AAA for renters and auto which I had had for years as roadside service but a few years in we had to switch when AAA pulled independent agents from my state in order to only do business with captive (meaning they can only write for the one company they are employed with) agents in the state.

 

[Tygerlilly]

The only good thing about the snowpocolypse coming this weekend is that I've been insanely busy with deliveries every morning.

We're now expected to get something along the lines of a foot of snow which is not normal for here. I'm fine with snow, I'm not fine with ice. Fingers crossed the next few days pass without too much chaos.

If you're in the path, stay safe and warm everyone!

 

[LadybugsMum]

I had the interviews with company #2 today which finished up by 2:30 and by 4:30, I already had an offer. It's good and it seems like a great place to work, but I need to put off giving them an answer as I have the phone screen tomorrow with company #3. I'm thinking I'll tell them that I will give them answer by next Friday 1/30.

 

[Bellex917]

Update for Jan. 20.
Paid an extra car payment yesterday, so ALL BILLS ARE NOW CAUGHT UP!!! And on time. The means no more late fees. Not sure how long things will stay that way, but they are caught up to date for now. So, no more late fees. That was the No. 1 goal this year. Small step taken, but a step nonetheless.

That's not a small step- it's HUGE. It's the entire foundation of your financial "home." Paying late fees on multiple bills every month is horrible for your financial health- this is HUGE. Don't say "not sure how long things will stay that way"... say "Now that we've fixed that, we're NEVER going back" and then make it happen.

 

[mmbrad02]

The only good thing about the snowpocolypse coming this weekend is that I've been insanely busy with deliveries every morning.

We're now expected to get something along the lines of a foot of snow which is not normal for here. I'm fine with snow, I'm not fine with ice. Fingers crossed the next few days pass without too much chaos.

If you're in the path, stay safe and warm everyone!

I'm not in your area but I'm one of those with a delivery scheduled today for groceries Now, we don't need anything major, but when everyone else wants bread and milk, I'm making sure I have some Diet Mountain Dew (my "coffee" if you will) and I did want to get a few items to have on hand just incase. Honestly I'm expecting several out of stock messages to come in before my delivery though. And we will manage, this is just some things that would make it nice to have on hand.

 

[piglet1979]

I am in Northeast Ohio so we are used to it but we weren't supposed to be apart of this storm until last night. Now we are looking at getting 6-12 inches. On top of that we will be sub zero with the wind chill starting tomorrow. Schools were closed last week for a snow day (much of the same that we are supposed to get this weekend), this past Tuesday for -15 wind chill, a good possibility of being closed tomorrow for the cold and Monday for the snow. Things are usually fine and back to normal one the storm as ended but I am not sure this time. Lots of talk of a huge salt shortage and the cities don't have enough salt. So we will see how it goes.

I never go for the bread and milk. We tend to go to the store and get snacks. Then we hunker down and chill out until it is over.

Stay safe everyone!

 

[firefly_ris]

I'm in Buffalo so we're used to all of that...

However, I have to go downtown on Saturday for a wedding, where I'll be in a dress and heels, and the low is zero. Add in the lake breeze and it'll feel like -15. I also love when I am dressed up and accidentally brush against my road salt-encrusted truck on the way into the ceremony so I can get it all over me. Super fun times.

 

[barkley]

just a reminder-those of you in for these fridged temps would do well to turn on your faucets in your bathrooms to a trickle of water to prevent pipes from freezing (and if you don't have pets or little ones that might get into them-open the doors of cabinets below sinks to let the household heat flow through to help warm the pipes).

 

[disney-inspired]

This is my first winter storm - I'll be staying at my sister's house and will be headed over Fri afternoon.
I will leave my sinks dripping, heater on set to 55 (per my apt complex's email) and sink cabinets open.

Here's to hoping to no serious ice issues because that means power goes down.
I bought a bunch of random things as I have no clue what will actually be useful.

 

[Twilghtsprkle]

This is my first winter storm - I'll be staying at my sister's house and will be headed over Fri afternoon.
I will leave my sinks dripping, heater on set to 55 (per my apt complex's email) and sink cabinets open.

Here's to hoping to no serious ice issues because that means power goes down.
I bought a bunch of random things as I have no clue what will actually be useful.

An inverter is what most people should have. Allows you to run your car and use it to keep you portable electronics charged up.

 

[Tygerlilly]

We got a couple neat little solar powered flashlight/power banks. They're pretty handy and hold a charge for a long time.

 

[PhoenixStrength]

I'm in Maryland, we are expected to get up to 18" of snow and ice here. I hope everyone in line of the storms stays safe and keeps their power! We don't have a generator, but my parents live only 15 minutes away and have a generator for their house and an RV with a propane generator, so we will go there if we lose power and it will take a while to come back on. We will just need roads to be clear enough to get there!

Definitely make sure to charge any and all power banks, laptops, tablets and rechargeable batteries you may have! Anything you can use for entertainment, communication and light!

 

[barkley]

I'm in Maryland, we are expected to get up to 18" of snow and ice here. I hope everyone in line of the storms stays safe and keeps their power! We don't have a generator, but my parents live only 15 minutes away and have a generator for their house and an RV with a propane generator, so we will go there if we lose power and it will take a while to come back on. We will just need roads to be clear enough to get there!

Definitely make sure to charge any and all power banks, laptops, tablets and rechargeable batteries you may have! Anything you can use for entertainment, communication and light!

if your power company lets you track outages (or you have a neighbor you can keep in contact with) do so to know if you will have to empty your fridge and/or freezer. our power company lets you set up alerts so you know when power has been lost/restored so if it exceeds the 4 hour max reccommended for the fridge you know what to prepare for/the 24-48 for the freezer to plan as well.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

In the last 2 days, we've seen predictions from 11" to 24".
I hope they're wrong. My work opened up a Saturday schedule to offer some screening patients the opportunity to come in Saturday instead of Monday.
They will torture us saying we have to be in no matter what so we practically break our necks to get there and then when very few patients come in, they ask, "Who wants to flex?" meaning take ETO or take it unpaid. That is so annoying.

I worked in our general radiology dept back in '96 when we had 33" of snow. They asked people to come in on Sunday whenever they felt comfortable, to sleep over, to have staff ready for Monday morning. It was around 12" when we left the house in dh's F150 which plowed right through it. (Loved that truck.) I brought in some microwave popcorn and Apollo 13 on VHS.
Around 6 of us sat in the classroom for radiology residents, having a little pajama party. We pulled the mattresses off of stretchers to sleep on.
By morning, there were no registration staff, radiologists or patients either, except those already admitted to the hospital. National Guard was picking up doctors at their homes by later in the day. We'd go out and play in the snow every now and then. Even the ER was empty.The best part, it was ALL OT!!!

After 2 days, they put up signs in the cafeteria to only take the food you will definitely eat and please don't waste any food. No deliveries had been made and they needed enough to keep inpatients fed too. Crazy times. Everyone who was there through the storm got a bonus vacation day too.

One of our coworkers is in WDW right now. Sunday's forecast: 85 and partly sunny!

Anyway, everyone dealing with this storm, take care and stay safe!!