Debt Dumpers 2020

[DLgal]

I guess we dodged a bullet on the Star Wars hotel thing. DH was interested in it until he went to Galaxy's Edge and was completely unimpressed/let down by it. He has no faith that this hotel will give him the Star Wars experience he'd like to have, so we're out. Whew! LOL

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

It’s suppose to also be all inclusive like cruise line pricing.

I am paying $1k per person for a 7-night European cruise. We plan to do this someday, but likely not until kids are older, so I have time to save up, I guess.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I am paying $1k per person for a 7-night European cruise. We plan to do this someday, but likely not until kids are older, so I have time to save up, I guess.

Anything with the Disney name attached to it is at least 2-3x what others charge. This goes for parks, land tours, cruises, anything. Also once your kids are teens, it becomes really tight to have 4 adult-size people (with adult-sized clothes) in one cabin and you end up paying extra to have the kids in their own room which means all 4 pay adult pricing.
Enjoy them being little while you can!

 

[jen7233]

Anything with the Disney name attached to it is at least 2-3x what others charge. This goes for parks, land tours, cruises, anything. Also once your kids are teens, it becomes really tight to have 4 adult-size people (with adult-sized clothes) in one cabin and you end up paying extra to have the kids in their own room which means all 4 pay adult pricing.
Enjoy them being little while you can!

You know, I was thinking about the space for four two adults, two kids, in one cabin on a cruise. When did it seem the time to get the adjoining room, age or size?!

 

[DLgal]

You know, I was thinking about the space for four two adults, two kids, in one cabin on a cruise. When did it seem the time to get the adjoining room, age or size?!

I started thinking about this too. On our last cruise on DCL, our kids were 9 and 7. We had a Deluxe family oceanview stateroom and it was plenty large enough. Our kids are now 13 and 15 (almost 14/16) and they aren't huge kids, still sleep in twin bunk beds at home, and I honestly feel we would still be okay in a deluxe family stateroom (category 4/8 on DCL). Those rooms are huge! But, we also live in an 1800sq ft home, and are used to sharing small spaces. As mentioned, the boys still share a room at home. We have not yet needed to get 2 hotel rooms anywhere...we are fine in one. The ONLY thing that has changed is that my husband and I want more privacy, because now they aren't little kids who pass out early and are oblivious to us trying to have "adult time" while they sleep

Size wise, though, the larger family staterooms have plenty of space, storage space, the privacy curtain between the beds, etc.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

You know, I was thinking about the space for four two adults, two kids, in one cabin on a cruise. When did it seem the time to get the adjoining room, age or size?!

The first time we booked 2 cabins was for our Alaskan cruise in 2012. Our kids were 12 & 15 at the time and very experienced cruisers. (Prob our 15th cruise.) I only booked that way because we really wanted a balcony but it was actually cheaper to put 2 in the balcony cabin + 2 across the hall in an inside cabin than it was to book all 4 in a balcony cabin. We requested blank keys for all of us so that we could all enter either cabin. I encouraged the kids to come over any time they wanted to have some views. It worked out better than we expected. Not only was it nice to have 2 TVs but also 2 closets. (Not that we watch a lot of TV but it's nice to drift off while watching Pinnocchio or something and we don't always agree on what to watch.)
We later used the same set up for our Med cruise.
For Norway, we booked a restricted fare which means you'll only choose the type of cabin (inside, window or balcony). You get what you get and can't change it. I was afraid we might get very separated so I chose 2 balcony cabins. The cabins we were assigned were connecting and the balcony dividers could be unlocked and kept open so we had a double-wide balcony. It was very spacious and cost over $2000 less than the way we had originally booked it.

Sharing a cabin is easy when the kids shorts are a size 3T and you can roll them up and fit 10 in a small drawer. When your sons are shaving and their clothes can be mistaken as your dh's, then it's time for more space. Also around that time when my oldest was 15, his feet hung off the bunk beds on the Fantasy. He is around 5'8" now at 23 and the tallest in our immediate family and on my side as well. He started pleading for a real bed.

And yes, DLgal, it's nice to have real privacy with a door that locks. We also have stayed in the family size cabins in both Cats. 4 and 8 and love the space. Our home is close to your size so we are also used to small spaces but you will see eventually that while it's not IMPOSSIBLE to fit 4 in one cabin, it's much more enjoyable to have more space. Also, the Wonder and Magic have Cat 8 but those are not any more sq ft of space than a cat 9 or 10. Also classic ships have fewer balcony cabins so it's typically more expensive to jump from a window to a balcony. Back when we first started with DCL it was approx $1000 more to go from cat 9 on deck 2, to any kind of balcony. On those ships, the cheapest balconies are cat. 7A, "Navigator's Verandah", which is slightly enclosed, with a wide, open port-hole but these only sleep 3 passengers so they were never an option for us until we split up. Depending where you want to visit (Alaska, Med, etc.) the classic ships are sometimes your only option.

 

[DLgal]

Ok, guys, I need some advice on how to allocate my savings buckets in Ally.

I have 4 main savings goals right now, which I will list in order from highest $$$ goal to lowest:

Military Retirement (no set amount, just as much as possible)
Car loan payoff ($7200)
Balance transfer payoff ($7000)
Disneyland Annual Pass Fund ($4500)

I HAD been putting the bulk of my monthly savings towards the military retirement goal, as that was the main priority for later this year. However, now that retirement is 3 years away again, that goal isn't as urgent.

So, I had the thought to attack these goals using the snowball method, and save from smallest goal up to largest. The three goals that aren't military retirement have a timeline of this year. I need the DL AP money first, in late August. I need the other two complete by December. I want to hold the money in savings until the end of the year to earn interest. The car loan is at 0.9% and the balance transfer is at 0%.

I currently have about $10,200 in the savings account to "distribute" among the buckets.

Should I go ahead and put $4500 in the DL AP bucket, meet that goal, and put the rest towards the balance transfer? Then, continue to put money towards the balance transfer before moving to the car? Or should I continue to allocate monthly amounts so that by the end of the year, all the goals are met?

I know it doesn't REALLY make a difference, and it's all just really one account anyway, but this is just my hyper organized mind at work.

What would you all do?

 

[DLgal]

@ruadisneyfan2

That's a good idea to book a balcony and a nearby inside. We will consider that in the future.

If we ever do an Alaska cruise or a Europe one, it won't be on DCL unless they send the newer ships there. I have no desire to ever sail the classic ships. We like big ships with bells and whistles.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

@ruadisneyfan2

That's a good idea to book a balcony and a nearby inside. We will consider that in the future.

If we ever do an Alaska cruise or a Europe one, it won't be on DCL unless they send the newer ships there. I have no desire to ever sail the classic ships. We like big ships with bells and whistles.

We have sailed both, multiple times, and hands down my whole family prefers the classic ships. The bells and whistles lose their charm when you start feeling the impact of almost double the passenger capacity. You really feel the difference at Castaway Cay and in the demand for seats at the WD Theater. I will still sail both but the Magic was our first (and 2nd and 3rd) and will always hold a special place in our hearts. We also prefer the adult pool and fwd/aft elevator layout on the classic ships. The aft elevators on Fantasy/Dream force us to walk through Cabanas restaurant to get to the pool deck. The fwd elevators open right into the adult pool area so their is a constant stream of children walking through the adult pool area. Some adults think that their babies are just so special and "good" therefore they decide to just plunk themselves down in the adult area with their baby and get offended when asked to bring their baby back in 16 yrs.
Believe me, we sailed many times knowing we'd never have a chance to set foot in the adult area.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Funny thing, ds soon to be 20, did a through cleaning of his room a few days ago, under his bed, etc. He is quite a sentimental "saver", (aka: some hoarder tendencies) and found a Ziploc bag of Flubber that he made in the Lab. Not sure right now but back then the Lab was for kids 8-10 IIRC.
Did he throw it out? Of course not! That went into the sentimental pile.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Ok, guys, I need some advice on how to allocate my savings buckets in Ally.

I have 4 main savings goals right now, which I will list in order from highest $$$ goal to lowest:

Military Retirement (no set amount, just as much as possible)
Car loan payoff ($7200)
Balance transfer payoff ($7000)
Disneyland Annual Pass Fund ($4500)

I HAD been putting the bulk of my monthly savings towards the military retirement goal, as that was the main priority for later this year. However, now that retirement is 3 years away again, that goal isn't as urgent.

So, I had the thought to attack these goals using the snowball method, and save from smallest goal up to largest. The three goals that aren't military retirement have a timeline of this year. I need the DL AP money first, in late August. I need the other two complete by December. I want to hold the money in savings until the end of the year to earn interest. The car loan is at 0.9% and the balance transfer is at 0%.

I currently have about $10,200 in the savings account to "distribute" among the buckets.

Should I go ahead and put $4500 in the DL AP bucket, meet that goal, and put the rest towards the balance transfer? Then, continue to put money towards the balance transfer before moving to the car? Or should I continue to allocate monthly amounts so that by the end of the year, all the goals are met?

I know it doesn't REALLY make a difference, and it's all just really one account anyway, but this is just my hyper organized mind at work.

What would you all do?

JMHO but being organized in your mind is what brings peace of mind.
I am a huge snowball fan, which means hammering out one goal at a time. I would start with the 4500.
I find that when I'm throwing $ at multiple things, it feels like I'm not getting anywhere. By snowballing, you can now cross the 4500 off your list and attack the 7000, which is really only 1300 after you apply the remaining funds from the original $10,200.

If you snowball it would look like this:
DL AP fund Done
Balance Transfer 1300
Car Loan 7200
Mil Retirement x


Also what do you mean by military retirement savings? Why not get a Roth IRA then? My Vanguard is kicking a$$.

I use a Word document but yes, I copied and pasted the little green thumbs up smiley each time I cross out a goal.

 

[jen7233]

Ok, guys, I need some advice on how to allocate my savings buckets in Ally.

I have 4 main savings goals right now, which I will list in order from highest $$$ goal to lowest:

Military Retirement (no set amount, just as much as possible)
Car loan payoff ($7200)
Balance transfer payoff ($7000)
Disneyland Annual Pass Fund ($4500)

I HAD been putting the bulk of my monthly savings towards the military retirement goal, as that was the main priority for later this year. However, now that retirement is 3 years away again, that goal isn't as urgent.

So, I had the thought to attack these goals using the snowball method, and save from smallest goal up to largest. The three goals that aren't military retirement have a timeline of this year. I need the DL AP money first, in late August. I need the other two complete by December. I want to hold the money in savings until the end of the year to earn interest. The car loan is at 0.9% and the balance transfer is at 0%.

I currently have about $10,200 in the savings account to "distribute" among the buckets.

Should I go ahead and put $4500 in the DL AP bucket, meet that goal, and put the rest towards the balance transfer? Then, continue to put money towards the balance transfer before moving to the car? Or should I continue to allocate monthly amounts so that by the end of the year, all the goals are met?

I know it doesn't REALLY make a difference, and it's all just really one account anyway, but this is just my hyper organized mind at work.

What would you all do?

If these were my savings buckets and timeframes, I'd do shortest timeframe first. So, the annual pass. Then, I'd go after the Balance Transfer just because it would be bugging me more than the car loan. Car loans while yes, I do want to pay off, if it has a very small interest I don't put ahead, I rather pay off the credit card first. Our emergency fund is in Vanguard Prime Money Market. Ally I use for shorter term things I see as 18 months or much less in using funds for, I like the ease of the transfers to and from Ally savings to our checking! I guess I like it very separate. I don't have the same buckets (I do have Ally, and got the email about the feature last week just haven't messed with it yet), but my Excel spreadsheet for Ally is *currently* the following:

Vacation
Car/Rent Insurance
Memberships/Registrations
Car repair/replacement
Christmas
Dog Vet Care/Boarding
Big Items (i.e. Major dental work, eyeglasses, replace washer/dryer/furniture, computer, etc.)

 

[jen7233]

Funny thing, ds soon to be 20, did a through cleaning of his room a few days ago, under his bed, etc. He is quite a sentimental "saver", (aka: some hoarder tendencies) and found a Ziploc bag of Flubber that he made in the Lab. Not sure right now but back then the Lab was for kids 8-10 IIRC.
Did he throw it out? Of course not! That went into the sentimental pile.

This sounds exactly like my 11 going on 12 year old, he will not throw anything out, everything is sentimental!

 

[DLgal]

Also what do you mean by military retirement savings? Why not get a Roth IRA then? My Vanguard is kicking a$$.

By that we mean savings for when my husband transitions out of the military. He will need to start a second career because his military pension won't be enough for us to live on. We want to be prepared in the event that he doesn't find a job right away and we need to supplement the pension income with extra to cover monthly expenses. His pension will leave us short about $3000/month based on our spending habits.

I already have a Vanguard Roth and he has a TSP (Gov't version of 401k) that are the bulk of our investments for actual retirment (after 65).

This would be more like an emergency fund, of 9-12 months of expenses. It will serve as that after he finds a second job as well, in the event of a layoff. Right now we don't really need a 6-12mo emergency fund because his income is guaranteed.

 

[DLgal]

If these were my savings buckets and timeframes, I'd do shortest timeframe first. So, the annual pass. Then, I'd go after the Balance Transfer just because it would be bugging me more than the car loan. Car loans while yes, I do want to pay off, if it has a very small interest I don't put ahead, I rather pay off the credit card first. Our emergency fund is in Vanguard Prime Money Market. Ally I use for shorter term things I see as 18 months or much less in using funds for, I like the ease of the transfers to and from Ally savings to our checking! I guess I like it very separate. I don't have the same buckets (I do have Ally, and got the email about the feature last week just haven't messed with it yet), but my Excel spreadsheet for Ally is *currently* the following:

Vacation
Car/Rent Insurance
Memberships/Registrations
Car repair/replacement
Christmas
Dog Vet Care/Boarding
Big Items (i.e. Major dental work, eyeglasses, replace washer/dryer/furniture, computer, etc.)

Yeah, since we now have a longer timeline to save for the military retirement, I was thinking of opening up an investment account for that money. However, the fund you mentioned only returns around 1.6% which is what I get from Ally, so not really worth having another account, IMO. I may look into a more aggressive growth fund for a portion of that money, though.

 

[jen7233]

Yeah, since we now have a longer timeline to save for the military retirement, I was thinking of opening up an investment account for that money. However, the fund you mentioned only returns around 1.6% which is what I get from Ally, so not really worth having another account, IMO. I may look into a more aggressive growth fund for a portion of that money, though.

This is true, you have to watch the Vanguard PMM fund and decide to keep it in there or move it to a higher savings rate account, and then what the estimated use or timeframe is to be. It's not especially great or competitive true, I'd say compared to what one can get with high yield saving accounts. I mainly just use it as a separate spot for longer term emergency fund sort of like a just in case break glass fund, or as a placeholder for sliding over to fund the Roths, which I did this year.

I don't allocate too heavy on some of the categories on Ally, like big items or car repair, but I put a little there $50 or $100 each month, somehow always gets used for something in the timeframe of 18 months. DH needed all new tires not too long ago on the car category, and I'm looking at some dental work root canal on one and a removal on another in March or April on me, depending on how my March exam goes as last year's exam it was a watch and see.

 

[DisneyMandC]

We filed our taxes today too. DH is getting $2400 back and I'm getting $1550 back. By the time we actually get our refund, DH's student loan should be down to about $3600 so we'll have a little bit extra after we pay that off. We'll be back to building our savings back up afterwards.

10 more days until we go to Orlando! I can't wait!

 

[jen7233]

We filed our taxes today too. DH is getting $2400 back and I'm getting $1550 back. By the time we actually get our refund, DH's student loan should be down to about $3600 so we'll have a little bit extra after we pay that off. We'll be back to building our savings back up afterwards.

10 more days until we go to Orlando! I can't wait!

That's great on the loan down! Are you going to WDW or doing something else?

 

[npatellye]

2020 Financial Goals:

• Save for Disney (meals, APs, and DVC fees) by purchasing gift cards each month
• Pay off all of DVC contract 1 and contract 2 (purchased direct in December 2019 and sitting on 0% credit card until 5/2021)

2020 Personal goals

• Eat cleaner
• Cut out soda
• Lose at least 20 lbs by May
• Reduce screen time
• Reduce overall stress
• Coupon
• Buy less stuff (I’m looking at you, Amazon Prime!)

Work in progress so far but I’m pleased! We haven’t filed our taxes yet but I’ll get cracking on this next weekend. I deleted my first bullet because preschool hasn’t ended yet. So far, here is where I am:

• DVC dues, APs, and Villains After Hours paid for with BJs gift card deal; extra cards saved for food and MVMCP tickets
• DVC contract 1 will be paid in full at the end of the month. Half of DVC contract 2 will be paid off by May, before preschool ends. With preschool payments finally ending in June, I’m hoping to pay off all of DVC contract 2 by December. I would love to purchase a week or two on Cape Cod or in Vermont so I’m also going to see if I can make that happen by Christmas.
• Eat cleaner-in progress for the past 4 weeks
• Cut out soda-check
• Lose at least 20 lbs by May-10 lbs down!
• Reduce screen time-check
• Coupon-working on this every couple of weeks but would like to make this a weekly thing
• Buy less stuff (I’m looking at you, Amazon Prime!)-check! This added up so quickly!!!! I never realized how much I was spending with random things for the kids, dance shoes here, dance tights there, spirit week items as needed, etc.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Yeah, since we now have a longer timeline to save for the military retirement, I was thinking of opening up an investment account for that money. However, the fund you mentioned only returns around 1.6% which is what I get from Ally, so not really worth having another account, IMO. I may look into a more aggressive growth fund for a portion of that money, though.

I tend to look more at the average annual returns for 1 yr column to see its performance over the past 12 months or even the 5 yr column to get a bigger picture of how it's doing. JMHO.
We have the Vanguard US Growth (VWUSX) fund for a non-retirement investment acct. Ds23 has it too. It's not as low cost as the index funds but earns more.
We put $17,000 in 2 yrs ago in Jan. Last April I had to pull out $2000 to pay IRS. It grew back the $2000 pulled out and still gained another $3k. Just hit the $20k mark.