Debt Dumpers 2026

[pblack]

I'll definitely be considering ALL of this. For now I think we have definitely marked arrival day park tickets OFF the list. For all the reasons you mentioned. Plus if we really want to see the beach, this seems like the best time to squeeze it in. Which beach remains a mystery - if we Uber, we will just make the decision spontaneously depending on when we land, get our luggage, etc. If it's all smooth and "on time" I would like to splurge for 1000 step beach. But if time becomes an issue, we may go to Huntington Beach, dip our toes in the sand, etc.

My hang up with renting a car is what seems like the hassle of returning it. We would have to step away from the park on Monday, drive it the return location, and uber back. So while that may be super easy, just kinda sounds like a pain. So it's not completely off the table, but that does keep me from settling on that option.

I've honestly not been to Disney Springs since it became Disney Springs - Well, we did go one evening in 2024 but it was dark by the time we arrived, super crowded, we went to the Coke store (left because the lines were nuts), went to Kendra Scott where we had to wait to get inside, and left. So I still think of it back in its DTD set up myself - back in like 2008 I said that to say, I'm okay with a smaller DTD to browse!

You could look into renting from enterprise, I believe they'll either pick you up/drop you off to get your rental, or they may even just pick up the rental from you. Ive never done it, but know ive heard advertisements for it.

 

[disney-inspired]

Out main problem with wherever we decide to stay is fully dependent on which rooms will hold 5 people. Luckily little dude will be about 5.5 when we go so the flip down bed in most rooms will be just fine for him and the girls can share the second bed, but I'm not 100% sure what the deluxe hotels at Universal offer vs Surfside/Dockside or Cabana Bay that have the more family oriented rooms.

If you're just going to book w/ Disney (and not rent DVC), I suggest Port Orleans Riverside. I love that resort.

If you are looking at renting DVC - Not all 1 bedroom villas can sleep 5 as some do not - but there are several deluxe studios that can (go figure).

You can always check out the family suites at AOA.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I'm still spending my tax return 2378234879 different ways in my head What Do you all do with yours? Save? Spend? Pay off bills? My options are endless - haha!

We could pay off some same as cash CC's but the whole point of that was.... 0% interest. So while I like to knock out some monthly bills, it's not necessarily what I consider the best option. We could stick it in our regular savings.... normally I do put like $1K in there to have on hand for upcoming things that arise in the next year. We could throw it all at our HELOC (still wouldn't pay it off, but is our highest interest rate expense). DH needs new tires for his truck so we could just set aside cash for that and keep all of last years debt We could take a small part as a fun thing for vacation this summer. See, it's endless

When it hit our checking account I immediately moved it to savings till I decided. It's been almost a month now and while I guess it's not hurting anything, I feel like I need to stop being so indecisive.

We almost always owe but I would pay it towards a debt. Do you keep a list of goals for debt paydown? I would put it on the current goal.
How much time do you have until your carriage turns into a pumpkin on your 0% interest debt? If it's only a few months, I'd knock that down. If it's closer to a year I'd put it toward some debt that is charging you interest. I did the DR snowball so I always knew what goal I was working on and anything extra went to that but I realize not everyone here follows that path.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Same! Everyone I know lectures me about 'letting the government keep your money' but I would much rather get it back in February than do my taxes and find out I owed something! I would never have that kind of money just laying around!

That becomes a lot easier to handle when you have no debt and can put more in savings.
Owing the IRS doesn't stress me out anymore.

Paying down debt always reduces stress in the long run.

 

[Cfabar1]

One year we had a major refund due to us due to overpaying our taxes/some new deductions that we became eligible for, etc.

Processing it took a very long time, and resulted in me having to call the IRS, there were some issues around it..

It worked out in the end, but I decided after that I would much rather pay than have to deal with trying to get my own money back... I try to make it as close to exact as possible.

 

[DisneyHardin]

We always owe at tax time because DH works a side gig where he makes about $25,000/year as a 1099 employee, so we have to pay the taxes on that at tax time.

If we ever did get a refund, it would probably go toward vacation.

 

[Nettlelondon]

We are on stage 1 of our Canadian trip- 4 days in Vancouver before we go to Whistler for skiing later today.

So far the budget is holding up well, mainly because things seem to have the same number price as we would expect in the UK (or at least in London) but as there are 1.75 Canadian dollars to our £ it's working out OK. For example a burger in a bar type restaurant is about CAD23 but we would be paying about £22 for the same thing at home so it feels reasonable.

Most of the major expenses were paid months ago as well which always helps things to feel cheaper.

My SIL and husband have come up with a plan to help stretch our budgets - every time our nephew gets carded he will have to buy the next drink. As he is a very young looking chap that is going to be every single time. Whoopee - free drinks for us.

I think this is partly as punishment for misplacing his expensive ski jacket sometime over the last few months. And only discovering a few days before he needed to pack it, when there was no time left to find a discounted replacement.

 

[barkley]

We are on stage 1 of our Canadian trip- 4 days in Vancouver before we go to Whistler for skiing later today.

So far the budget is holding up well, mainly because things seem to have the same number price as we would expect in the UK (or at least in London) but as there are 1.75 Canadian dollars to our £ it's working out OK. For example a burger in a bar type restaurant is about CAD23 but we would be paying about £22 for the same thing at home so it feels reasonable.

Most of the major expenses were paid months ago as well which always helps things to feel cheaper.

My SIL and husband have come up with a plan to help stretch our budgets - every time our nephew gets carded he will have to buy the next drink. As he is a very young looking chap that is going to be every single time. Whoopee - free drinks for us.

I think this is partly as punishment for misplacing his expensive ski jacket sometime over the last few months. And only discovering a few days before he needed to pack it, when there was no time left to find a discounted replacement.

love Canada! gorgeous, such nice people. I gotta say though-if I were there on a trip I would be finding whatever tv station/streaming service was running a show that was exported for a couple of seasons to the u.s. but is nowhere in sight for it's newest-'son of a critch'. that would be icing on the cake of a vacation there for me (and likely a low cost activity ).