Debt Dumpers 2026

[Twilghtsprkle]

I had a coworker who's neighbor got pregnant at 14 and the boyfriend was 14 too. They're equally clueless.

My daughter has a classmate that is 16 and pregnant - she was freaking trying to get pregnant. The girl will be finishing up her junior year & then dropping out of high school. Her parents are ecstatic which feels wrong. The father has been living with the girl and her parents and details seem sketchy. He may be over 18.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

My daughter has a classmate that is 16 and pregnant - she was freaking trying to get pregnant. The girl will be finishing up her junior year & then dropping out of high school. Her parents are ecstatic which feels wrong. The father has been living with the girl and her parents and details seem sketchy. He may be over 18.

When I was 16, my boyfriend was 21. It didn't seem weird. Most of my friends were a few years older than me. Kids in my own grade seemed very immature.

 

[DanceDisney23]

Sorry, I have no answers. I come in, shoot a portable xray, sometimes hear somethings, some stuff the nurses would tell me, and I'm out the door. I never got to stick around for the drama.

I had a coworker who's neighbor got pregnant at 14 and the boyfriend was 14 too. They're equally clueless.

Teenagers do dumb things, sure. But a girl who was pregnant six times by the time she is 18? That’s beyond not knowing how to use a contraceptive.

 

[pblack]

Sorry, I have no answers. I come in, shoot a portable xray, sometimes hear somethings, some stuff the nurses would tell me, and I'm out the door. I never got to stick around for the drama.

I had a coworker who's neighbor got pregnant at 14 and the boyfriend was 14 too. They're equally clueless.

Luckily I didn't expect answers lol. Just stating that I definitely have a lot of questions.

 

[Nettlelondon]

We got back from our trip Sunday - I haven't yet had the courage to open the credit card app and see what we ended up spending but I will soon. Not all of the costs are ours though - we need to sort out who paid for what between us and the in-laws and then square off between the two. The main thing that we need to split is dinner each night. Breakfast we had in our room, everyone came down to our room as we had more useable space.

On arrival I realised the hotel was a Marriott brand and as a Bonvoy member we were upgraded to a suite which was handy. The in-laws were already booked in to a suite as there were the 3 of them (nephew was sleeping on the sofa bed) and it turned out they were directly above us which was useful.

Eating breakfast in was a real cost saver, and SIL had brought a lot of protein bars and candy bars (saved from various Christmas bits and pieces) which saved a lot of minor expenses for the skiiers in the group. It doesn't take long for those minor costs to add up. The leftovers of those were also useful on the flight home. DH and I were fine as we got a meal but they had run out of main courses by the time the crew got to SILs row, which was less than helpful.

Our cab arrived within a few minutes of us exiting arrivals and we were home exactly at the time the satnav had predicted. As our journey involvef the most unpredictable road in the UK this was pretty impressive.

We didn't spend much on souvenirs as we have a rule - any souvenir must be physically small and useful so I bought some earrings and DH has a new pair of cufflinks. Some boxes of cookies formed the balance of the items we bought home as gifts for family (they don't need more junk either).

Whilst we were away we were discussing an upcoming short trip that involves a flight and I realised I had not booked any parking for that. I sorted that out today using a cashback site - as a result I have saved money over the cost of on the day parking and saved a lot of stress over realising as we drove to the airport that there was no booking. It would not have got the trip off ot a relaxed start!

And on a personal note I made progress on one of my "60 Before 60" challenges. I have never, ever been able to do a push-up. I had a gym class today and at one point one of the options on a round of exercises was a push-up from the knees. I was going to go with the other option, but I thought "why not - give it a go" and I managed about 5 push-ups. And then did a second round. I wouldn't win any prizes for them, and the form was not perfect, but it was a significant step forward - physically and mentally.

 

[FreeTime]

This month, our DD finally got tired of hearing about our debt free journey and asked for help on reaching it herself. I’m so relieved that she is ready to get at it. Together we developed a 12 month plan. At the end of it, we are going to then get to plan a fun trip somewhere as a celebration - that she will save for before we do it.

For my 50 in 50, like @Nettlelondon (great Job on the push up!) had a physical item listed. Mine is a flat foot downward dog by year end. I’ve never done any type of yoga or stretching really. I have about a 1/2 to go.

One of my financial 50/50 was to stockpile some cash to build up the liquid savings, I am behind on that as I need to round out the 2025 Roth. But the big goal, which in line with this thread, is to take on no debt after having kicked it to the curb. Good there so far. Hoping to be able to save enough for new windows and a roof which is likely needed soon.

 

[Tygerlilly]

I'm having the small dilemma of phones for my kids. With both kids in sports in 2 different places at the same times, I'm feeling like they need to have one for emergencies. I'm torn between adding to our plan, buying a cheap prepaid, or going to ultra-censored bark phone.

 

[barkley]

I'm having the small dilemma of phones for my kids. With both kids in sports in 2 different places at the same times, I'm feeling like they need to have one for emergencies. I'm torn between adding to our plan, buying a cheap prepaid, or going to ultra-censored bark phone.

granted it's been many moons since mine were young but we went with dirt cheap burner phones (flip/no screen to entice usage) and bought minutes on cards as needed. they were strictly for emergencies so it was next to no cost and we weren't heart broken if one was lost/broken (we purposely only put a handful of minutes on periodically so no loss there either).

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

This month, our DD finally got tired of hearing about our debt free journey and asked for help on reaching it herself. I’m so relieved that she is ready to get at it. Together we developed a 12 month plan. At the end of it, we are going to then get to plan a fun trip somewhere as a celebration - that she will save for before we do it.

For my 50 in 50, like @Nettlelondon (great Job on the push up!) had a physical item listed. Mine is a flat foot downward dog by year end. I’ve never done any type of yoga or stretching really. I have about a 1/2 to go.

One of my financial 50/50 was to stockpile some cash to build up the liquid savings, I am behind on that as I need to round out the 2025 Roth. But the big goal, which in line with this thread, is to take on no debt after having kicked it to the curb. Good there so far. Hoping to be able to save enough for new windows and a roof which is likely needed soon.

Don't you love that feeling when your kids finally 'see the light'?
Our younger ds listens to DR prophylactically. Mostly just to hear what NOT to do. He is shocked at some of the calls. I have to admit I am too with some of them.
He refuses to have any debt besides his mortgage and even though there are so many things he could use, he says he would rather suffer without than to have debt. After a year there he is finally carpeting the bedrooms and downstairs den. Last year I suggested dropping his retirement savings from 10% to 5% just for the first year after house buying so he would free up some cash to fix it up and furnish it. He says no way; he doesn't want to struggle financially when he's old. His job is very physical and he sees his older coworkers who are my age and doing their job over the years has really taken a toll on their bodies.

He is a firm believer of "living like your grandparents did". Back then no one had credit cards. If you didn't have the money, you couldn't afford it. You gradually furnished your home a little at a time by saving up for a living room set or bedroom set and you made do however you could until you could afford them.

 

[Nettlelondon]

For my 50 in 50, like @Nettlelondon (great Job on the push up!) had a physical item listed. Mine is a flat foot downward dog by year end. I’ve never done any type of yoga or stretching really. I have about a 1/2 to go.

Well done.

Lifting in to downward dog from plank (or "properly" as my old Pilates teacher would call it) is also on my list. I used to do this all the time, but 3 years of being a sloth during my cancer treatment and the various challenges caused by having to have a surgeon rooting around in my lower abs as they tried to find a potential "mass of interest" in my groin had turned my abs in to jelly and whilst I was sending the messages from my brain to my abs to lift, nothing was happening at all. I managed it, sort of, at the end of Feb but I have some rotator cuff injury going on that is slowing progress on that one.

But I shall get there again.

I have finished one of my tasks - 60 days of Duolingo Dutch. But I have now decided to go with a stretch target on that one of making it 600 days.

 

[Nettlelondon]

Don't you love that feeling when your kids finally 'see the light'?
Our younger ds listens to DR prophylactically. Mostly just to hear what NOT to do. He is shocked at some of the calls. I have to admit I am too with some of them.
He refuses to have any debt besides his mortgage and even though there are so many things he could use, he says he would rather suffer without than to have debt. After a year there he is finally carpeting the bedrooms and downstairs den. Last year I suggested dropping his retirement savings from 10% to 5% just for the first year after house buying so he would free up some cash to fix it up and furnish it. He says no way; he doesn't want to struggle financially when he's old. His job is very physical and he sees his older coworkers who are my age and doing their job over the years has really taken a toll on their bodies.

He is a firm believer of "living like your grandparents did". Back then no one had credit cards. If you didn't have the money, you couldn't afford it. You gradually furnished your home a little at a time by saving up for a living room set or bedroom set and you made do however you could until you could afford them.

DR is not a thing in the UK, but he has been appearing in my Facebook feed a bit over the last few months, probably thanks to this forum.

Some of the people who phone in as in such a mess that I think they would serve as a warning to many! Your son is a bright lad.

One of the things that has been lovely during our holiday is getting to spend concentrated quality time with our nephew. We have always been reasonably close but it was good to chat over several days. He is 21 tomorrow, chose not to got to university as he didn't want a ton of debt and found a job. He isn't necessarily doing what he would like to do long term but the jobs market isn't great here at the moment so he is just biding his time, earning & saving. He signed up to his company pension scheme on day one and is putting in about 10% of his income. He sees his parents and us talking about retirement early but well and likes what he sees and understands that the more he does early the better it is in the long term.

 

[MattB2G]

I'm having the small dilemma of phones for my kids. With both kids in sports in 2 different places at the same times, I'm feeling like they need to have one for emergencies. I'm torn between adding to our plan, buying a cheap prepaid, or going to ultra-censored bark phone.

We got our 2 teenage girls Apple Watches with their own data plans, which is about $45/month for both lines. We didn't really want them to have phones because of all the issues with them, and this still lets them text and make phone calls.

Of course you have to pay for the Apple Watches, but I'm sure you can find last years models for quite a discount.

 

[QueenIsabella]

Don't you love that feeling when your kids finally 'see the light'?
Our younger ds listens to DR prophylactically. Mostly just to hear what NOT to do. He is shocked at some of the calls. I have to admit I am too with some of them.
He refuses to have any debt besides his mortgage and even though there are so many things he could use, he says he would rather suffer without than to have debt. After a year there he is finally carpeting the bedrooms and downstairs den. Last year I suggested dropping his retirement savings from 10% to 5% just for the first year after house buying so he would free up some cash to fix it up and furnish it. He says no way; he doesn't want to struggle financially when he's old. His job is very physical and he sees his older coworkers who are my age and doing their job over the years has really taken a toll on their bodies.

He is a firm believer of "living like your grandparents did". Back then no one had credit cards. If you didn't have the money, you couldn't afford it. You gradually furnished your home a little at a time by saving up for a living room set or bedroom set and you made do however you could until you could afford them.

We've been fortunate with our kids--not frugal, but we talk about "not spending on what's not important, so you have money for what IS" This varies from person to person. DS28 contributes to his company 401k--UPS, he puts in 6%, they match with 8%. DD22 puts 10% in her Starbucks plan, with a 5% match.

In addition, they have small trusts (roughly 100k) from their grandmother, that pay out at intervals. When they get a payout, I suggest they put some in their Roths. Especially if they don't have immediate plans for the money. On Roths, to the kids, I emphasize that, in 5 years, they could withdraw their initial amount, tax and penalty free. I think this is important, because asking a 21yo to save for retirement, 45 years out, is a tough sell. Of course, we all know the value of compounding, and I hope that they just ignore the accounts, mostly. But, 45 years might as well be forever. It helps that I've told them that the trusts are a final gift from their grandmother, not to be squandered. My intent was for them to not consider the trusts to be "party money". So far, the only child who's mentioned tapping their funds is my oldest--for a house down payment. Grandma would approve!

 

[Nettlelondon]

In the UK there is a savings product aimed at people saving to buy their first home, you can put in £4000 per year and you get a government bonus of £1000 (plus any interest or investment growth). The money can only be withdrawn to buy a first home and there are conditions attached regarding the price of the property and so on. If you never purchase a home you can withdraw the money once you reach 60 or are diagnosed with a terminal illness.

Any other withdrawals lead to the loss of the government bonus.

Our nephew's paternal grandparents have started giving him money on the condition he puts it in to this type of product, reducing the potential tax on their assets whilst ensuring he is being sensible with the cash. He is some way off buying his own place but any help with the deposit is going to be very useful.