Debt Dumpers - 2017

[Tygerlilly]

Well, instead of doing anything for Mothers day after I got off work, hubby went in for some overtime. I think he was there about 9 hours, which gives him a good bit of extra. He's also on the call in list for tonight. If he works both shifts, he'll have an extra $500 or so on his check. I'm also signed up to be called in this week, so fingers crossed they call me. Also, our bonuses will be in our June 1st check, which is nice since that's rent check and it usually leaves us a little tight on the first check of the month. And since June is a 3 check month for us, we will be able to catch up on a few things we are behind on thanks to me being off an unexpected 2 weeks longer than planned.

One furniture lease and one personal loan should also be paid off either in june or early July, so fingers crossed that works out.

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

Got into the daycare we wanted! We will now be saving $600/month!!! I'm so excited! That's basically most of a student loan payment a month!!

 

[pblack]

My husband started a new job last Monday. He'll be making more a month, but he now also has a commute to work (we were carpooling) so the raise is a bit of a wash. We'll at least have some "extra" money from his paychecks until his health and retirement benefits kick in. I'm hoping that with the "extra" we can pay off/down a credit card or two. Plus we need to sock away about $600 for the week he's taking off in October that he won't be paid for. We had two vacations planned for August and October, but since he started a new job we cut it back to only the one vacation in October. We could have cut both out completely, but 1: we both would have been itching for a vacation and 2: we just bought disneyland AP's in January and we want to try and get the most out of them that we can.

I possibly might have a raise on my checks starting in July, but I will for sure have a raise on my checks starting in August. Same plan for the "extra" money from these.

On Friday I discovered that someone got ahold of one of my credit card numbers and found two fraudulent charges on my card. I caught them just a few hours after it had been charged. Citibank is currently in the process of sending me a new card. So that was a lovely start to the weekend.

Hope everyone has a good Monday!

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

Some changes/updates to our end

Still no word on DH state pay he should hear something this week. The good news is when it does kick in (I figure July as the state moves slow with everything) they will also have to back pay him to April so the first payment will be $2000.

We owe his grandpa about $1400 from a loan we took out last year from him. His grandpa was diagnosed with cancer back in the fall so instead of making payments DH has been doing work around their house to help pay off the loan. He mows the grass (6 acres) and takes care of minor stuff. But his grandpa is not doing well so we plan on paying it off just as soon as we get that bonus. Really his grandpa would not care if we did not pay it back but more to keep family peace so DH uncles (who are greedy) don't start a fuss.

DH is getting out of the expensive Ford F250 truck today and downgrading to a Toyota Tacoma we only had to finance $10k which is better than the $17K we still owed on Ford (we are not upside down and the Tacoma is a very nice used truck we got at an amazing deal) Our goal was to sell our travel trailer and pay off the truck it didn't happen quite like that and it put is about $3000 shy of where we needed to be. But it is what is. Our note has been cut in half but we will just double up and should have it paid off in about a year and half.

I redid our overall debt snowball plan with the 2 vehicles (my camry his Tacoma) my credit card (balance is about $950 I charged some this weekend) and then our student loan debt. It should be done around 2022 which isn't that bad considering we don't make a ton of money and don't follow a super tight beans and rice style repayment plan. I want the debt gone but I want to live life also.

 

[Ngwira]

Back from Baltimore Inner harbor and spent about $200.00 for food for my family of 4. Way under budget and happy .

 

[pblack]

I want the debt gone but I want to live life also.

This statement is very much how I view things also.

 

[amalone1013]

I want the debt gone but I want to live life also.

This statement is very much how I view things also.

It's all about balance as we all know! DF and I have a lot of disposable income due to our current situation, and I know that our responsibilities will only grow, so we want to do something useful with it. But I also don't feel bad that we took a quick trip to Disney in January, or that I went to Vegas with him on his work trip, because again, right now we have a lot of disposable income and the future might make it harder to do things like that

 

[pblack]

It's all about balance as we all know! DF and I have a lot of disposable income due to our current situation, and I know that our responsibilities will only grow, so we want to do something useful with it. But I also don't feel bad that we took a quick trip to Disney in January, or that I went to Vegas with him on his work trip, because again, right now we have a lot of disposable income and the future might make it harder to do things like that

Gotta live life while we can!

 

[Eureka]

We also went to Busch Gardens Williamsburg yesterday with my mom.

Is the food pricing in line with other amusement parks? DS14 is going on a band trip to BG later this week and needs to bring money for both lunch and dinner. (I hate when the price of the trip does not include a food voucher!) He will probably get a burger or pizza and I have not been there in probably 30 years to know how much to tell him to bring. Thanks.

 

[amalone1013]

So far this month we've only made minimum payments on our student loans, even though we have extra cash... but it was part of a plan. We were looking at using it for a credit card sign up bonus, and paying ahead on auto insurance or something similar. Well, we got hail last Monday and my car got hit at work. No big dents or busted windows, but tons of small dimples on the roof/hood/trunk and the chrome around the windows is just as bad. I plan on keeping the car for a long time, in good condition, so it's a little early for me to live with My deductible is $500, and we've got that put aside so no issues there. Hey, maybe I'll basically get to meet the credit card spend with insurance money...

 

[Alexle2007]

Back from Baltimore Inner harbor and spent about $200.00 for food for my family of 4. Way under budget and happy .

Where did you end up eating? My son would have picked PF Chang's.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Is the food pricing in line with other amusement parks? DS14 is going on a band trip to BG later this week and needs to bring money for both lunch and dinner. (I hate when the price of the trip does not include a food voucher!) He will probably get a burger or pizza and I have not been there in probably 30 years to know how much to tell him to bring. Thanks.

Yes, I would say so. DH and I ate at the smokehouse and split one of the samplers, which was $16. It came with bbq chicken, two different kind of ribs, fries, and a roll though, so plenty of food. We got a side of mac and cheese as well as a drink and spent around $25 including tax I think. We usually always eat at the smokehouse so I haven't checked out any of the burger places or anything in a while, but I'm sure it's all comparable. The food is excellent there though, I will give them that. There are plenty of tempting treats such as funnel cakes and ice cream spread around the park though, so I might give him extra money for that or tell him to limit the snacks, depending on your preference.

 

[Ngwira]

Where did you end up eating? My son would have picked PF Chang's.

We ended up at Brio Tuscan grille one night, Cheesecake factory for lunch one day, shake shack for lunch one day and Watertable restaurant at our hotel, the Renaissance Harborplace, for dinner the last night. Lots of half price frapps at Starbucks too .

 

[DisneyMandC]

We ended up at Brio Tuscan grille one night, Cheesecake factory for lunch one day, shake shack for lunch one day and Watertable retsaurant at our hotel, the Renaissance for dinner the last night. Lots of half price frapps at Starbucks too .

Man, just reading that made me hungry...

 

[Dentam]

I had a few of those half price frapps at Starbucks too in the past couple of weeks - yum!

I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't get over how quickly the months are flying by. Two weeks until June already - good grief!

Not much luck in the debt dumping area this past couple of months. Just bought my plane ticket to go home to see my family over the 4th of July. It is crazy expensive to fly to their area and the only other airport option is four hours away, so they know they can overcharge you and get away with it I guess. Luckily I still had part of the voucher I was given over Christmas for volunteering to skip an overbooked flight and fly on Christmas Eve instead, so that brought the price of this ticket down to $240. Would have been over $550 otherwise.

So... my next cc to be paid off is now pushed back to August and I should have two others paid off by the end of the year. No lottery wins to help me out so just chugging along!

Oh, and I will have about 8 hours of overtime in my next paycheck, so that will help!

 

[Eureka]

Yes, I would say so. DH and I ate at the smokehouse and split one of the samplers, which was $16. It came with bbq chicken, two different kind of ribs, fries, and a roll though, so plenty of food. We got a side of mac and cheese as well as a drink and spent around $25 including tax I think. We usually always eat at the smokehouse so I haven't checked out any of the burger places or anything in a while, but I'm sure it's all comparable. The food is excellent there though, I will give them that. There are plenty of tempting treats such as funnel cakes and ice cream spread around the park though, so I might give him extra money for that or tell him to limit the snacks, depending on your preference.

Thanks. I'll make sure he has plenty of money. Usually on these trips, the kids don't snack much, they are too busy. He'll also have a band awards ceremony to attend. It's going to be hot though, so I want him to make sure and drink.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Thanks. I'll make sure he has plenty of money. Usually on these trips, the kids don't snack much, they are too busy. He'll also have a band awards ceremony to attend. It's going to be hot though, so I want him to make sure and drink.

I discovered this weekend that you can carry in water bottles! No coolers or anything but if he's carrying a small backpack (I had one of those drawstring ones) he could bring in a couple bottles with him.

 

[Eureka]

I discovered this weekend that you can carry in water bottles! No coolers or anything but if he's carrying a small backpack (I had one of those drawstring ones) he could bring in a couple bottles with him.

He usually does bring a drawstring bag for his phone, sunblock, hat, etc. so I will mention that to him. Thanks.

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

Hi guys! Sorry I've been MIA lately... my life has gotten crazy!

So in March I started a new job in Human Resources The job itself was fine (albeit extremely disorganized- a nightmare for someone like me!) but still I liked it well enough. Two problems ended up arising though: 1) The job was supposed to be part time but I was working 50 hours a week and 2) I got a positive pregnancy test result a week after starting!! : D *I'm 13 weeks now, and we just found out through Harmony what we are having, but unfortunately can't post online because I have real life friends on here that I want to be surprised at the reveal shower in August!*

So I ended up staying a few months while I decided what to do but as I enter my second trimester we have decided I need to leave. The job is HR at an amusement park and frequently involves walking/standing for long period of time in the heat, and the building I work in is connected to a warehouse where they frequently use high levels of spray paint and other chemicals. They definitely would have found a way to accommodate me if I'd asked, but since I actually made more money at my other part time job I decided I'll just go back there 2 days a week or so (I only left that job in the first place because I was hoping to gain some experience in my field). My husband's check pays all of our bills and retirement contributions and my check is our vacation savings and emergency fund, so at least with me not working for a few weeks we will just be saving a little less, not going into debt.

We are now 6 months without CC debt and let me tell you to all you of guys who are struggling- the feeling of freedom is worth EVERY sacrifice. Keep it up!

Other than being pregnant and getting a new job- not much else to report! DH got his cost of living raise- not much but every little bit helps! His company just got bought so there's a possibility he might be able to get a new job with better pay within the company soon- we will see!

We also are booking a 3 night Bahamas cruise through DCL for Sept 2018. I could kick myself for not booking a few days ago when it was $300 cheaper- but you live and you learn! The baby will be about 10 months old so I think we will enjoy ourselves!

For those of you with kids or who are expecting- what kinds of budget strategies have you put in place to help you save? I have amazing insurance through my mom (I'm only 24) and will owe next to nothing for delivery. I'll be hopefully breastfeeding and we plan to use cloth diapers to save money, (with the added bonus of helping the planet too!) Since I'll be just working part time opposite my husband, we don't need to worry about childcare very often. My family already told me they are planning a shower, and I'm keeping the sex a secret until then so I can "hopefully" get more neutral gifts that can be used for the opposite sex of what we are having now in the future!

But.. even with knowing all this, I'm sure I'm missing a TON of things I've never considered before with having a baby- what are your suggestions?

 

[MrsTurnerLovesDisney]

@fifthdimensiondweller

I have a 2 1/2 year old I would def say hit yard sales/consignment sales/facebook groups for a lot of the gear like swings, bouncy seats, etc.

So many of these things my DD would only use or like for about 6 weeks. Buying new wasn't an option in our budget but we found great gently used things for about $15-$20 each. Then when she out grew them we would resell for about $10-$15. We didnt' have room to store a lot of baby gear for another baby down the road we only kept the stroller and basinett set.