Debt Dumpers 2020

November "where did my money go?" dump incoming. I don't usually track my day to day spending but, rather, just pay attention to the overall money coming in and money going out. I felt particularly spendy this month (on little stuff here and there as opposed to the previous several months where we had multi thousand dollar home repairs, car repairs, and vet bills). So I decided to do more of a drill down and here it is if anyone is interested. This is only the discretionary spending (for a family of three adults in a medium cost of living city.) Does not include mortgage and other monthly house related bills because my spouse pays those from his accounts.

Groceries (includes personal and housecare items from grocery store): 483.02
Gifts (holiday food gifts for family members): 236.73
Over the counter meds for spouse (he got sick but not covid!): 25.25
monthly subscriptions (amazon prime and the local paper's digital version) 21.70
2 new pillows and a fitted sheet: 47.76
water filter for fridge: 45.85
uber (had to go in to work for emergency and spouse had already left with the car): 11.37
bagels (picked up bagels while out doing errands): 14.10
dog bed, food grater, and something else??? from marshalls: 27.04
something from walmart on-line and cant remember what it was: 17.37
parking meter: 0.75
Stepson's internet: 50.15

$981.12 . This is just my spending. I'm sure my husband spent some discretionary money too, but I do the vast majority of the household purchasing so this is most of it (I know we got sandwiches one day but that is not on my credit card bill so he must have paid?) And the month isn't over yet :-) I don't have any insight on this and not sure why I'm posting but now I have it saved and can compare to next month.
 
11 month checkin on 2020 Goals:

Cash flow all of daughter's college tuition/fees/room/board/flights. No student loans! ✅ DONE Covered all of Winter, Spring, and Summer, and she took a Gap Quarter for Fall 2020.

Incur no new debt, even while I am off work without pay recovering from back surgery. ✅ DONE

Pay off $12,000 in debt during 2020. ✅ DONE

Earn $300 from my employer's wellness incentive program. ✅ DONE

Sell extra car sitting on driveway -- daughter does not need a car at her university in California (and I am not sure this one is reliable enough to make it that far anyway). CHANGED MY MIND. With daughter unexpectedly at home since the end of March, I put about $1500 in repairs into the car and it is running great now. I am driving it and letting her drive my car.

Thanks to you all for the “accountability but kindness” I find here. 💕
 
MerissaAndMomLoveDis said:
Sell extra car sitting on driveway -- daughter does not need a car at her university in California (and I am not sure this one is reliable enough to make it that far anyway). CHANGED MY MIND. With daughter unexpectedly at home since the end of March, I put about $1500 in repairs into the car and it is running great now. I am driving it and letting her drive my car.
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even when things get back to you dd being at school and no longer driving the car-before you sell it call your insurer to see if eliminating it might INCREASE your insurance premiums. we get a multi-car discount, we hold on to one that is rarely used b/c of the amount it would cause our policy to increase.
 
You guys!!!! BEST.THANKSGIVING.EVER!!! Wednesday night, after I was off work, I sent a text to my oldest daughter to be careful on the road. She and her roommate were on the road to Las Vegas to spend Thanksgiving with her roommate's family. I arrived at my MIL's house and told my SIL how proud I was of my DD to go on an adventure but that I missed her more with the holidays. I did end my conversation with, "But I just counted the days and it's only 23 more days!" Lo and be-freaking-hold, my DD walks through the door!!! She drove 14 hours to surprise us.

And I bawled like a baby. Happy, happy tears.

My weekend has been watching my kids bicker, wrestle, and snuggle. It's been taking them to town for Christmas shopping and "do you need anything before you go back?" stuff. It's been crying quietly in my bathroom because I'm already missing her again, but want to be happy when she goes. It's been letting her sleep in and helping her create an Excel spreadsheet that is due in an hour. :rotfl2:

I haven't looked at an account at all this weekend and know that I ran up the budget more than I should, but this is also a 5 week pay month for me, so it's covered. I also finished my Christmas shopping with the exception of one person. So that is also off of my plate. Which is huge because I still have Stanford follow-ups.

Back at work today, though I'd rather be home. DH and I have some new considerations, as his work has green-lit him to be a 1099 employee. That means we could move...if we want to and I find a different job in a different state. Is that what we'll do? Dunno. But the option is open now.
 


December-

I closed out our Ally account. Had a few issues with them, and for an extra bank account and we weren't long time customers, figured they can go.
They locked up two transfers, and locked account for transfers out to for 5 business days until it went through the verification process of those external accounts, which we had to send in proof of ownership of the other accounts. And, we had already had them set up in Ally, and had done transfers twice from and to no problem, so it was a like a random tripwire for whatever reason, they gave no good explanation either. Also, had to do a wire, and they didn't send out the wire the same day I set it up, even though I did it early enough in the day to meet their time rules to go out same day. They did waive the wire fee, good, but because the wire didn't go out when it was supposed to it caused another chain of events. So, closed Ally.

Currently just shifted over that balance into checking until deciding what next. Not sure where we are with a home purchase, whether staying in the area which I never really had considered we'd end up doing, but are considering options next year. The single family homes in our area are fairly expensive for what you get, I don't like the houses in the price range we would be at they all seem to need work, at least that's my viewpoint. Unless you go further out in any direction outside the beltway.

-Christmas shopping is done for the most part, mostly using Amazon
-Orthodontist treatment begins this month, will be doing monthly payments on a credit card
-Kids have been online schooling at home since March
-Going to WDW a few days over the holiday
 
What a crazy week it's been! My oldest son had his Phase 2 ortho consultation last Monday. He needs about 15-18 months of treatment, which is not too bad. He will finish right before HS graduation. Our portion came out to $2750, after insurance. They offered a 5% discount to pay in full, so I threw it on my Chase Freedom card to get 1.5x points, which when converted and transferred over to our CSr account can be redeemed for 1.5x value as well, so basically another $60ish dollars back. I've been using the Chase Pay Yourself Back feature because it is the best value for our points right now at the 1.5x payout towards normal expenses (groceries and dining). So, my son was all set to get the braces put on yesterday.

Last Tuesday, DH called me and let me know he was on his way home from work after finding out he was exposed to coronavirus. A co worker had been scheduled to fly out Wednesday to the east coast for work, and took the required PCR test ahead of travel (the state he was going go requires that). It was positive. The guy is completely asymptomatic. So, that began our own 14 day quarantine of sorts. The kids luckily didn't have school anyway last Wednesday, but they did have to stay home yesterday and today. The school nurse cleared them to return tomorrow per our district 10 day quarantine policy.

I have been the only one to leave the house for groceries, and my husband has been masking up at all times and sleeping in our guest room. He took a test Saturday (5 days after exposure) and today we found out it is negative. Whew! He still has to quarantine for another week, but considering that none of the other contacts have symptoms yet nor does the guy who tested positive, I'm not worried he has it, so we are relaxing things in the house. I'm not making him wear a mask and he can come back to our bedroom tonight. We are just not going to share food/drinks or allow him to kiss anyone yet.

So, since the kids have been home, my Chrismas shopping has been delayed. I had wanted to go yesterday and today because I feel like our non essential retail might be ordered to close and I need to actually go to certain stores. Hoping to get it done Thursday when both kids will be back in school. I'm almost done, but a few people are twiddling their thumbs on a wishlist so I'll have to wait.

We had planned to go to Downtown Disney and BVS this afternoon/evening, but we will try next week instead. My son will now get his braces on in 2 weeks, so I guess he has extra time to eat his favorite tortilla chips until he can't for awhile.
 


imbatman said:
Two years ago I was here: (and wish I was there now...)




View attachment 541426
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one year ago today we were on our flight to orlando for our universal vacation. both my kids and my husband were giving me such a bad time about all the disinfecting wipes i kept handing them and telling them to use to wipe down the arm rests on the plane, squirting hand sanitizer into their hands. i just kept saying 'you never know what kind of bug or virus you might catch and i don't intend to spend this vacation sick'. um, yup.
 
jen7233 said:
December-

I closed out our Ally account. Had a few issues with them, and for an extra bank account and we weren't long time customers, figured they can go.
They locked up two transfers, and locked account for transfers out to for 5 business days until it went through the verification process of those external accounts, which we had to send in proof of ownership of the other accounts. And, we had already had them set up in Ally, and had done transfers twice from and to no problem, so it was a like a random tripwire for whatever reason, they gave no good explanation either. Also, had to do a wire, and they didn't send out the wire the same day I set it up, even though I did it early enough in the day to meet their time rules to go out same day. They did waive the wire fee, good, but because the wire didn't go out when it was supposed to it caused another chain of events. So, closed Ally.

Currently just shifted over that balance into checking until deciding what next. Not sure where we are with a home purchase, whether staying in the area which I never really had considered we'd end up doing, but are considering options next year. The single family homes in our area are fairly expensive for what you get, I don't like the houses in the price range we would be at they all seem to need work, at least that's my viewpoint. Unless you go further out in any direction outside the beltway.

-Christmas shopping is done for the most part, mostly using Amazon
-Orthodontist treatment begins this month, will be doing monthly payments on a credit card
-Kids have been online schooling at home since March
-Going to WDW a few days over the holiday
Click to expand...

What a mess with Ally. Very different from our experience but I have to admit, I would do the same if a bank treated me like that.
 
WeatherLights said:
November "where did my money go?" dump incoming
Click to expand...

november whispered in december's ear 'keep the unexpected expenses coming'.

dh mentioned last night one of his teeth seemed loose/was bothering him. was able to get him into the dentist today..........................................extraction to be followed by bone graft to be followed by implant. $434 today/about $4000 spring 2021 :crazy2:
 
My Dec budget is whispering the same ((( blow me))) as our Nov savings/spending
:sad:

Our 3 year old fridge has had some type of manufactures defect that is not fixable and there is no repair kit for the problem. It has infrequent bouts of freezing up behind the lower deli drawer and then defrosting on its own which sends a slow drop running down the edge of the freezer drawer and created a standing puddle on the kitchen floor, just whenever it darn well feels like it. Even though it has two ice makers, the ice production has always been very slow and minimal.

A 4 weeks ago, the fridge starting making a very loud winding noise, so loud you could hear it clear across the house. Had a maintenance guy come look at, his suggestion was to turn off the ice makers and it did resolve the winding issue for a few hour. He said the fridge was sending too much power to the ice makers and it was straining the fridge motor, but the next morning we woke up to a barely cold fridge and temps rising fast. We called mtnc guy back and he basically spelled out that this model fridge isn't worth the repair, (that may or may not work) because with the known problems from this model, even if we fix this current problem, another one will be sure to arise shortly, and it just isn't worth the cost.
So we hightailed it to Lowes and bought a small hold over $400 fridge until we can really shop and find what we want to be the permanent replacement. We had talked about getting a garage fridge for beer and drinks, so this will move out there after we purchase the perm replacement. And HOLY COW, fridge prices have seriously gone up and quality is no where near as good as it used to be.
 
Shanna-like-Banana said:
My Dec budget is whispering the same ((( blow me))) as our Nov savings/spending
:sad:

Our 3 year old fridge has had some type of manufactures defect that is not fixable and there is no repair kit for the problem. It has infrequent bouts of freezing up behind the lower deli drawer and then defrosting on its own which sends a slow drop running down the edge of the freezer drawer and created a standing puddle on the kitchen floor, just whenever it darn well feels like it. Even though it has two ice makers, the ice production has always been very slow and minimal.

A 4 weeks ago, the fridge starting making a very loud winding noise, so loud you could hear it clear across the house. Had a maintenance guy come look at, his suggestion was to turn off the ice makers and it did resolve the winding issue for a few hour. He said the fridge was sending too much power to the ice makers and it was straining the fridge motor, but the next morning we woke up to a barely cold fridge and temps rising fast. We called mtnc guy back and he basically spelled out that this model fridge isn't worth the repair, (that may or may not work) because with the known problems from this model, even if we fix this current problem, another one will be sure to arise shortly, and it just isn't worth the cost.
So we hightailed it to Lowes and bought a small hold over $400 fridge until we can really shop and find what we want to be the permanent replacement. We had talked about getting a garage fridge for beer and drinks, so this will move out there after we purchase the perm replacement. And HOLY COW, fridge prices have seriously gone up and quality is no where near as good as it used to be.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry you're going through all of this. It's so frustrating when appliances don't last as long as they should. We had to replace our fridge when the tree fell on our house in 2016. We got a Samsung with French doors (3) and ice/water through the door. It was around $1600 which wasn't as bad as I expected. We love it except for the mineral build up that collects on the drip pan under the water dispenser. We have hard water so I have to soak some vinegar in there every now and then to get it completely clean. One time I forgot it was soaking there and it eroded the paint near the drip pan and now the paint is peeling. This was my own fault and should never use undiluted vinegar but I was feeling impatient. Maybe if we had stainless steel it wouldn't have happened. Ugh. It looks like crap now but still functions just fine. Eventually we'll have to replace it. I was browsing on Samsung's website for something else and saw that they also make one that has a water dispenser inside the fridge. If I was going to get another fridge, this is what I'd get. JMHO.
 
Shanna-like-Banana said:
My Dec budget is whispering the same ((( blow me))) as our Nov savings/spending
:sad:

Our 3 year old fridge has had some type of manufactures defect that is not fixable and there is no repair kit for the problem. It has infrequent bouts of freezing up behind the lower deli drawer and then defrosting on its own which sends a slow drop running down the edge of the freezer drawer and created a standing puddle on the kitchen floor, just whenever it darn well feels like it. Even though it has two ice makers, the ice production has always been very slow and minimal.

A 4 weeks ago, the fridge starting making a very loud winding noise, so loud you could hear it clear across the house. Had a maintenance guy come look at, his suggestion was to turn off the ice makers and it did resolve the winding issue for a few hour. He said the fridge was sending too much power to the ice makers and it was straining the fridge motor, but the next morning we woke up to a barely cold fridge and temps rising fast. We called mtnc guy back and he basically spelled out that this model fridge isn't worth the repair, (that may or may not work) because with the known problems from this model, even if we fix this current problem, another one will be sure to arise shortly, and it just isn't worth the cost.
So we hightailed it to Lowes and bought a small hold over $400 fridge until we can really shop and find what we want to be the permanent replacement. We had talked about getting a garage fridge for beer and drinks, so this will move out there after we purchase the perm replacement. And HOLY COW, fridge prices have seriously gone up and quality is no where near as good as it used to be.
Click to expand...

Ugh on the fridge. I feel like we won the fridge lottery because it is 5 years old and STILL WORKING. LOL. That's what appliances have to come to these days. We moved into this rental in 2015 and it was a brand new home. Just last year (year 4) the dishwasher died (and it wasn't a cheap builder model, it was an upgraded Whirlpool Gold model. The repair guy said "it's not worth fixing, none of these newer appliances are built to last more than 5 years."

We bought our own fridge, and washer and dryer and they are all 5.5 years old and I am just holding my breath on how much longer they might work.
 
I was able to meet my last goal of the year that I wasn't sure I'd end up meeting. It was to pay at least $500 extra to our Highlander loan and thanks to a retroactive raise for me and my DH getting paid out his sick time, I was able to pay a total of $836 extra to that loan. :cool1: Currently working on my goals for next year and figuring out what I want to accomplish.
 
Update on my goals:

  1. Reduce restaurant spending - I killed this because of COVID. Very very rarely getting food out.
  2. Increase emergency fund by $3000 - I met this goal, but then "transferred" some of the money to another saving's bucket because I maxed out what I consider to be a fully funded emergency fund (for me). But, overall, my long term/emergency savings has increased by a little over 7k this year (not including retirement funds).
  3. $100 per month toward a Christmas fund - Fully funded this month (and also depleted due to Christmas shopping!)
  4. $70 a month + credit card rewards toward Vacation fund - This was completed, but I pulled out money for a new refrigerator because I have zero plans for a vacation any time soon (COVID).
  5. $40 a month toward car maintenance fund - This will be completed this month.
  6. $33 a month toward ARDC yearly fees - This will be completed (and depleted) this month.
I also had a goal to lose about 40 lbs. I'm down 11.4 so far, but didn't get serious about this until October. My running goal was severely missed. I got sick and then COVID hit. Running took a back seat. When I started working out again, I started doing home cardio based workouts with my boyfriend (Insantiy, Max30, etc.) and didn't want to double up on the cardio. I do need to get back into running, but since I've still been working out, I'm not too upset about it.

I've been watching a lot of budgeting and financial planning videos on Youtube recently. I am starting to think about my 2021 goals. I think I want to make them just a bit more difficult because I smashed my goals this year and probably could have done even better if I pushed myself.
 
I know it's been mentioned in the past - can someone who uses YNAB talk to me about it?

What do you like? What don't you like? Is it worth it when you compare it to the free versions out there (Mint, Everydollar). I want to get even more on top of things in 2021, so I'm thinking it might be beneficial, but at the same time paying to budget also seems a bit counterintuitive to me.
 
DLgal said:
What a crazy week it's been! My oldest son had his Phase 2 ortho consultation last Monday. He needs about 15-18 months of treatment, which is not too bad. He will finish right before HS graduation. Our portion came out to $2750, after insurance. They offered a 5% discount to pay in full, so I threw it on my Chase Freedom card to get 1.5x points, which when converted and transferred over to our CSr account can be redeemed for 1.5x value as well, so basically another $60ish dollars back. I've been using the Chase Pay Yourself Back feature because it is the best value for our points right now at the 1.5x payout towards normal expenses (groceries and dining). So, my son was all set to get the braces put on yesterday.

Last Tuesday, DH called me and let me know he was on his way home from work after finding out he was exposed to coronavirus. A co worker had been scheduled to fly out Wednesday to the east coast for work, and took the required PCR test ahead of travel (the state he was going go requires that). It was positive. The guy is completely asymptomatic. So, that began our own 14 day quarantine of sorts. The kids luckily didn't have school anyway last Wednesday, but they did have to stay home yesterday and today. The school nurse cleared them to return tomorrow per our district 10 day quarantine policy.

I have been the only one to leave the house for groceries, and my husband has been masking up at all times and sleeping in our guest room. He took a test Saturday (5 days after exposure) and today we found out it is negative. Whew! He still has to quarantine for another week, but considering that none of the other contacts have symptoms yet nor does the guy who tested positive, I'm not worried he has it, so we are relaxing things in the house. I'm not making him wear a mask and he can come back to our bedroom tonight. We are just not going to share food/drinks or allow him to kiss anyone yet.

So, since the kids have been home, my Chrismas shopping has been delayed. I had wanted to go yesterday and today because I feel like our non essential retail might be ordered to close and I need to actually go to certain stores. Hoping to get it done Thursday when both kids will be back in school. I'm almost done, but a few people are twiddling their thumbs on a wishlist so I'll have to wait.

We had planned to go to Downtown Disney and BVS this afternoon/evening, but we will try next week instead. My son will now get his braces on in 2 weeks, so I guess he has extra time to eat his favorite tortilla chips until he can't for awhile.
Click to expand...
We are in the beginning of ortho treatment. Out of pocket will be $3650 for us and we are doing payments over 24 months. We got an extra discount with this one instead of another place we originally considered going with, but both seemed equal in reviews, but the cheaper one is closer anyway. They quote treatment time from 18-24 months in total, appliance for a few months, then braces or invisalign. He wanted invisalign, but ultimately after thinking about how he'll personally do with them and the requirements that go along with it, we are going with braces.
ruadisneyfan2 said:
What a mess with Ally. Very different from our experience but I have to admit, I would do the same if a bank treated me like that.
Click to expand...
No worries, I just figure with so many choices in banking, and I wasn't attached too much, it didn't have an effect any other banking since that was all we had with them, just the savings, just moved on!
StacyStrong said:
What do you like? What don't you like? Is it worth it when you compare it to the free versions out there (Mint, Everydollar). I want to get even more on top of things in 2021, so I'm thinking it might be beneficial, but at the same time paying to budget also seems a bit counterintuitive to me.
Click to expand...
I don't have it, but from what I understand the paid version categorizes the budget for you with linking to your accounts? And maybe some other fancy stuff :) Something you have to do manually with Everydollar. Hope you get some feedback on YNAB.
 
I haven’t checked in in a long time - not out of shame or anything, but more just anti-socialness. Don't generally have much to contribute to the engaging conversations you all have. But, I have been following along over the months with everyone. Below are my (almost final) results.

2020 Financial Goals:
Pay off my car – final payoff currently scheduled for June (current balance at $12,800). 21 months instead of 6 years, so saving thousands in interest. Paid off in May 2020.

After car is paid off, I will roll car payments over to my mortgage to start chopping away at that. I am years away from a payoff, but the plan is to have my 30 year mortgage paid off in 10. I realize this may appear odd to not just do shorter terms to begin with, but I like to have my required monthly payment be as small as possible, in case something unforeseen happens. This did not happen. Mainly because I wasn’t entirely forthcoming at the beginning of the year with a debt I had added at the end of 2019. I took a small loan out my 401K (I know, I know, but it was less than 5% of my total balance so not substantial) to gift some money to my son and his wife when they bought a house. I had the money in savings, but at the time, didn’t feel comfortable making that kind of withdrawal as it would have been a large percentage of my liquid savings, so went the 401K route. I was paying the loan back via paycheck reductions, and that money goes right back into funding your 401K (with a little going to interest). But, I really hated knowing it was there. When the stock market dipped this past spring/summer, I took advantage of the “buy low” concept and went ahead and used money from my savings to pay off the loan in full. As the market recovered, this extra in there really helped it bounce back faster, I think. All that to say, the extra money I was planning on throwing at the mortgage went to replenishing my savings account instead. Which I did and then some (see below savings update as well). Focus on mortgage will begin next year.

Max out 401K contributions. One more paycheck this year and that will complete this one.

Begin contributing $50/paycheck to my HSA – both DH and I both work for companies that contribute money to our HSAs annually so neither of us have been doing so up til now. But braces and an ER visit last year wiped out mine, so I want to beef mine back up. Contributed a total of $1500 this year. I committed to $100/paycheck for 2021 when I renewed my benefits package.

Contribute $2500 to DS15’s 529. Final contribution scheduled for next week to complete this.

Continue to grow savings – I’d like to get this built up to having a full 12 months of expenses saved – currently we are at about 6 months. That won't happen this year, but that is the long term goal. Well, silver lining of Covid I guess – we saved in so many other areas of the budget (good bye vacations), that I made huge advancements in this area this year - we have about 10 months in savings now.

I am not even going to address the travesty of my personal goals.
 
Found out this morning that our roommate tested positive for covid. He came home on Tuesday not feeling great (his coworker came into work sick and exposed everyone) and went and got tested on Wednesday. Because of this my DH stayed home Thursday and Friday. His boss asked him to stay home until we found out the results. Soo now we both have to get tested. 😒 Luckily I've been working from home since March so it doesn't really affect me, but I'm not sure how this will affect my DHs paychecks. They only get 40 hours of sick time in a year and he only has 2 more days of vacation left before his new 2 weeks kicks in in May. Luckily we do have some savings to cover any days he may not get paid for.

I'm just feeling really irritated right now.
 
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