New rules on credit card minimums...

[Raevyn_Wolfe]

strange it edited my thread. . . . I didn't even write anything naughty. lol
I think it was something like "look at" or "think about" or something. . .. I don't even remember. lol

 

[Chicago526]

I completely agree, I am giving up on a loosing battle with my 98 Plytmouth Breeze. I am tired of dumping money in to it over and over, it's time to let it go. I should have researched it better before I bought it, cause from my understanding 98 was a BAD BAD BAD year. SO I'm paying out right for a newer car with better ratings and MUCH better gas miliage.
So, I think you're right, sometimes it really does make sense to get that new car.

Also, this thread keeps giving perfect examples that there are exeptions to every rule and that all we can do is intellegently ***** our own financial situations and make a decision for ourselves.

Refinancing my house with a cash out refinance is probably considered dumb by alot of people, my parents especially. . . but it makes perfect sense to me and my husband.
When we bought the house 4 years ago we bought it for $69,000. We had a BOOM in real estate here and this year our house was worth $160,000. We jumped and refinanced, although the interest rate is great for right now, it was higher than our interest rate on our old loan. BUT our old loan was a variable, so it was only going to go higher, and I predict much higher than what we locked in at on our new fixed loan.
We cashed out but left 20% equity to avoid PMI and to leave some equity cause you never know.
We used all the money to pay off all of our debts (which was ALOT), pay off our current car, and we have some set aside to pay off our new car we're getting, and add an extension to the house (which will add more value). We had some "free" money left over -but it will be spent at Disney I'm sure.
Yes, now we have a $1,000 a month mortgage payment, BUT it is less than the $2,000+ a month we were paying on mortgage, credit card minimums, car payments, etc.
I'm not afraid of our house value going down, as we have 2 airforce bases that are not part of the ones being shut down, and are in fact going to be recieving a lot of new air force people from other base closures.

The one thing I asked myself too was, would I buy my house NOW if I was in the market. Yes. And I would have to pay that $160,000 to get it. But since I had bought it much cheaper, I now get the house, a new car, all my debt paid off, and I get to make the house even better with an extension. And I didn't have to magically come up with a 20% down payment. All for the same price I would have to pay to buy it right now.

Sounds like you made the right move then. Plus the interest on the new mortgage is tax deductable, where the CC and other loan interest was not. You've still got 20% equity and seem to live in an area that won't have a bubble burst. You sound like that rare exception that proves the rule!

Edited to add: But it's still only a good move if you NEVER run up a balance on your CC's again! If you just run up your CC's then you'll be right back where you started from in a few years, only then you'll have an even bigger mortgage payment to boot! But it sounds like you've got a good head on your shoulders, so somehow I think you won't make that mistake!

 

[barbeml]

I want to point out that *sometimes* buying a new car rather than keeping an old one makes sense.

When the repairs start to cost more than half of a monthly car payment averaged over a year, it's time for a new car, otherwise you are just dumping money into a losing battle.

In my case I traded in a car with three years left at 6% interst for a brand new car at a zero interest rate. My payments went down fairly significantly, and I added one year to the time the car will be paid off-I'm in no rush to pay it off early as it's a zero interest loan--but it's a two year newer car. Bottom line, it was a sound financial move.

Anne

I totally agree! My last car was nearly 8 when we realized a major repair would be needed soon. DH knows cars and is always researching our next car "just in case." We were able to combine a $4,000 GM rebate, $3400 in GM Card reward account (free money, since I paid all bills in full each month), dealer discount for end of model, and trade in to save 50% on my current car. Sticker was about $22,000. We paid $11,600 cash (including taxes & fees). My car is loaded and they gave us an XM Satellite Radio free because the car we test drove had a squeak and the XM came on the only other one like it on the lot).

If you bank car payments once the loan is paid, you can set yourself up to take advantage of a great deal.

 

[SleepyatDVC]

LOL! This sounds very familiar. This conversation happens a lot in our house.

I remember years ago we were at a meeting from our Disney collector club. The couple hosting were quite well off and lived in a gorgeous home with a large inground pool, a built in barbecue grill station and a large pool house with kitchen and showers. DW and I had recently purchased our brick outside of MK and were showing our certificate and photo of the brick. The host's son asked why they couldn't get a brick and dad said, "We can't afford it." We all pick and choose what we can "afford."

I usually agree with 99% of your posts but I got a laugh out of the above.

I couldn't agreed with you more about "We all pick and choose what we can 'afford'."

As for me though, I would definitely pick a "gorgeous home with a large inground pool, a built in barbecue grill station and a large pool house with kitchen and showers" over a Disney brick!! But I know what point you were trying to make - NOT that those two options were equal.

A very close friend of mine (who use to be my Disney buddy before I got married) has a very different vacation style (and life style) than me. When we went to WDW (or anywhere else together) we hardly spent any money on food which she thought was a complete waste of money. We bagged our meals and kept a cooler in our room. While I enjoyed fine dining, I was fine just being at WDW and had no trouble bagging my meals. She instead dropped hundreds on souveniers which I considered "junk." Why spend $3 on a pen with a Mickey on it when a 10 cents Bic works just as well? For me, a couple of Disney napkins (free), a map (free) and a shopping bag or enough souveniers!

Even at home, when we would go out to dinner or hang out with friends, she never had any money to spend on meals. She would order something to drink (because she "wasn't hungry") and then eat off everyone else's plate. (This drove my then boyfriend, now DH, nuts) However, she would spend $500 on a Gortech (sp?) ski jacket and several more hundreds/thousands on top of the line ski equipment.

I used to annoy me that she was always complaining about being broke or not having any money when she would buy these expensive things. But it was all about priorities. She considered having those items more important than spending it on food. Which was fine except she wanted to go out with us and then eat off our plates! To her credit, she always saved and paid for all her purchases with cash so there was technically no "living beyond her means" with borrowed money. She is now married to a man who enjoys eating out when on vacation so that has changed her vacationing style a lot.

My DH and I are really not into "things." He has Polo and Tommy shirts (all gifts) in his closet but finds the Bugle Boy shirts just as comfortable and actually prefers them. We don't spend much money when at home - we hardly eat out or go shopping. We both still wear clothes from pre-marriage days. I actually had to pul out clothes from when I was in HS and college when baggy clothes were in because of my weight gain after birthing kids. The shoppiing we do is usually on the internet for stuff for the kids and electronic stuff (DH's weakness).

However, we like to eat out and spend money when necessary when on vacation. So, based on our priorities, we would NEVER buy a Disney brick ourselves. But we have a WDW brick somewhere between the MK and the wedding pavillon - a wedding gift in 1999 from my wonderful Disney buddy! We've seen it, I think twice? The good thing about it being not right in front of the MK is that it won't get that heavy wear and tear!

Your brick story just reminded me about the different priorities in our life!

Oh, and another thing. We take our kids to WDW (DVC) and Florida at least once a year and sometimes more. We live modestly but comfortably. When we visit my DH's brother in NC, my kids do envy their cousins' nice house and ask why we don't have a house like theirs. I told then that houses cost a lot of money to buy and to maintain which is why their cousins can't go on vacations as much as we can because all their money is tied to their house. If our family really wanted a house, we too could save and sacrifice to do it but we would definitely have to give up all the vacations especially Disney. I asked them what they thought would be more important to them, a nice house to live in ALL YEAR long or nice vacations a few weeks a year. They really thought about it and told me that they really liked our home (apt) and their rooms and they liked to visit their cousins to enjoy their nice house but they especially liked being about to vacation to Disney and other places, so not having a house is o'kay with them. Wow, I'm glad we are on the same wave length as our kids!

 

[disneysteve]

I would definitely pick a "gorgeous home with a large inground pool, a built in barbecue grill station and a large pool house with kitchen and showers" over a Disney brick!!

But we have a WDW brick somewhere between the MK and the wedding pavillon - a wedding gift in 1999 from my wonderful Disney buddy! We've seen it, I think twice? The good thing about it being not right in front of the MK is that it won't get that heavy wear and tear!

LOL! Yes, I'd have to pick the house and pool over the brick, too, but I still think those folks could have scraped together $100 for a brick.

As for brick location, I'm glad we've got ours right out in front where we've gotten to see it every time we've entered the park since 1994. And it has held up just fine. I hope it's there for a long, long time.

 

[ziggystardust]

Which was fine except she wanted to go out with us and then eat off our plates!

A friend of a friend does this. We all went out one night. She ordered an alcoholic bev. and nothing else. The table ordered 2 appetizers of guacomole and our food. She not only drank her drink, she ordered a 2nd, ate all of one order of guac and finished everyone else's plates when we were done. And when the bill came, she was no where to be seen. But she did show me her really expensive shoes earlier in the night.