Debt Dumpers - 2018

[Dentam]

I have an appointment for a mechanic to come to my house tomorrow to install the new starter I bought. Didn't even know there was such a service but the online reviews for my area are very positive, and the charge will be $78 according to the quote which is worth it if it gets my car running again. Can't do it myself since I would need to get the car back up on ramps and I can't do that when it won't start. Not willing to crawl under the car with just a jack holding it up - no way!

Anyway, hopefully I will be good to go tomorrow after he comes out. It's estimated to take an hour or less. I have a meeting to go to on Saturday over a half hour drive away, so fingers crossed.

One positive thing I have learned from this is that I can get by with only shopping twice a month and spending less money each month than I was doing. Since it's been over three weeks now, I'm hoping that's long enough to have formed a new habit of reducing my spending and getting by with just the necessities!

 

[Eureka]

EZ pass count: Have used it five times since Jan. 1. We still have several hundreds of dollars on the EZ pass account, so if we keep it up, it will be a LONG time before they rebill. With that money we have not needed for it this month, I bought DS14 running shoes and shirts to get ready for track starting, paid our homeowners association dues (close to $500) and just wrote a check for DS17's AP tests (he's taking 4, so not cheap).

 

[pblack]

Hi Debt Dumpers! If you would be so kind to send pixie dust and prayers my way tomorrow, I have my interview at 9:30am. I am confident that I have a lot to offer, but feeling nerves nonetheless. I’ll let you all know how it goes!

Good luck to you! I'm sure you'll knock it out of the park.

 

[MamaBelleRN]

Thank you all so much for the well wishes! The interview was GREAT! Waiting to hear from them about pay. I know this will be lower than what I make at the hospital, but once I get full time, the benefits are amazing and help make up for that. Best of all, when a full time position opens, it’s a 9 month, fully benefited position since the clinic is typically only open when students are on campus. This means I would be off half of May, all of June, all of July, half of August and a smattering of fully paid holidays including two weeks at Christmas. This is a total DREAM job for me!! Plus, the nurses there said it’s the best job they have ever had. One nurse is nearing retirement, so I should be able to slide into her place eventually

 

[Tygerlilly]

Thank you all so much for the well wishes! The interview was GREAT! Waiting to hear from them about pay. I know this will be lower than what I make at the hospital, but once I get full time, the benefits are amazing and help make up for that. Best of all, when a full time position opens, it’s a 9 month, fully benefited position since the clinic is typically only open when students are on campus. This means I would be off half of May, all of June, all of July, half of August and a smattering of fully paid holidays including two weeks at Christmas. This is a total DREAM job for me!! Plus, the nurses there said it’s the best job they have ever had. One nurse is nearing retirement, so I should be able to slide into her place eventually

That is amazing! I would definitely take a pay cut in order to have a fantastic schedule like that. Best of luck!

 

[JacknSally]

Wow, I stopped getting notifications for this thread for some reason and I have missed so much! Update on me:

Debt Goals:

1) Pay off my car note ($2552 remaining - will hopefully have that done by the end of March)
2) Pay off Credit Card #1 ($2400)
3) Pay off Credit Card #2 ($5000)
4) Pay down Credit Card #3 to at least 75% of its current balance ($6750)

Our tax return came in yesterday, and with that, today I paid the final payment on my car note!

Now we start trying to take chunks out of our credit cards.

DH's truck died over the weekend and while we've known for a while we needed to get rid of it ASAP (we got it a little less than 6 months ago and it's just been one problem after another ever since) we haven't been and still aren't in a position to really move on anything else. We were hoping to get some money out of it by selling it or trading it in, and using that money toward something else used just to get by for a while until we made a bigger dent in our debts and felt comfortable taking on another car note... but now it won't start so that plan is out the window.

Still three jobs between the two of us. I'm supposed to be full-time at my job but have only been consistently getting 4 days a week instead of 5, and that adds up. I applied Friday to a new job which pays 2.5x what my current job pays. It would make such a difference for us. Fingers crossed something good comes from the application!

 

[Tygerlilly]

Wow, I stopped getting notifications for this thread for some reason and I have missed so much! Update on me:



Our tax return came in yesterday, and with that, today I paid the final payment on my car note!

Now we start trying to take chunks out of our credit cards.

DH's truck died over the weekend and while we've known for a while we needed to get rid of it ASAP (we got it a little less than 6 months ago and it's just been one problem after another ever since) we haven't been and still aren't in a position to really move on anything else. We were hoping to get some money out of it by selling it or trading it in, and using that money toward something else used just to get by for a while until we made a bigger dent in our debts and felt comfortable taking on another car note... but now it won't start so that plan is out the window.

Still three jobs between the two of us. I'm supposed to be full-time at my job but have only been consistently getting 4 days a week instead of 5, and that adds up. I applied Friday to a new job which pays 2.5x what my current job pays. It would make such a difference for us. Fingers crossed something good comes from the application!

I think a good bit of my tax return is going to pay off one car loan since we have to get a second one asap. Congrats on knocking that off your list!

And fingers crossed for your application!

 

[Ngwira]

Window loan is paid off (yay)! Taxes were filed on Sunday and will be deposited by 2/20 (double yay). We've had a lot of irregular bills pop up this month which has my account looking quite paltry. I paid the deposit on DD's summer camp today ($500). We also paid our six month premium on our car insurance today ($700). I should be able to recoup all of the monies going out next month since it's a three paycheck month. I also plan to use the leftover monies (about $650) from the Vegas trip we just took for our trip next month to Calgary/Banff and Lake Louise. I need cash for a tour we are taking to the Icefields Parkway and to Jasper NP. I will use the cc for points for all other expenses although I'm sitting on an $850 ($1,000 CAD) Fairmont hotels gift card courtesy of AMEX. That should cover all food at the Fairmont Lake Louise.

Our washer is fixed (for now) so i don't know whether to preemptively purchase a new one. DH and I will be scoping out new models so when we need to pull the trigger, we are ready. We're also celebrating Valentine's day this weekend. Dinner at our favorite restaurant will be paid with a gift card we purchased over Christmas which gave us a bonus card on top of it and we plan to see the new Black Panther film with tickets purchased last month using fandango credits and promo codes. Should be a fun, cheap weekend.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Window loan is paid off (yay)! Taxes were filed on Sunday and will be deposited by 2/20 (double yay). We've had a lot of irregular bills pop up this month which has my account looking quite paltry. I paid the deposit on DD's summer camp today ($500). We also paid our six month premium on our car insurance today ($700). I should be able to recoup all of the monies going out next month since it's a three paycheck month. I also plan to use the leftover monies (about $650) from the Vegas trip we just took for our trip next month to Calgary/Banff and Lake Louise. I need cash for a tour we are taking to the Icefields Parkway and to Jasper NP. I will use the cc for points for all other expenses although I'm sitting on an $850 ($1,000 CAD) Fairmont hotels gift card courtesy of AMEX. That should cover all food at the Fairmont Lake Louise.

Our washer is fixed (for now) so i don't know whether to preemptively purchase a new one. DH and I will be scoping out new models so when we need to pull the trigger, we are ready. We're also celebrating Valentine's day this weekend. Dinner at our favorite restaurant will be paid with a gift card we purchased over Christmas which gave us a bonus card on top of it and we plan to see the new Black Panther film with tickets purchased last month using fandango credits and promo codes. Should be a fun, cheap weekend.

You just reminded me that next month is a three paycheck month for me and DH!

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

It seems with the tax changes that DH is getting about $32 extra per paycheck. I won't know how much more my paycheck gets until the end of the month, but I imagine it will be somewhere between an extra $100-150 per month combined.

We have decided to join the reform temple. Dues have been my main concern and the reason that I hadn't joined sooner. I emailed the rabbi to find out if we could have a hebrew baby naming ceremony for DD without being members. He said that it was totally possible, but also mentioned that they never deny anyone membership due to finances. I spoke with VP of Finance and she assured me that we could contribute whatever we felt comfortable with right now. So we decided that some of the extra money in our paychecks would go towards temple dues. And tonight we will be meeting with the rabbi about a hebrew baby naming ceremony for DD. I am hoping that they can do it in a few weeks because my parents would be able to make it then. And because we will now be members of the temple, I bought DD an adorable peacock costume to wear for Purim.

And we have decided that the rest of the extra funds would go towards DD's college fund. It makes me happy that we can start putting in a bit more, since I feel like what we started at was so low.

 

[Ngwira]

I get to make ADR's for our August trip a week from today (wohoo)! I also checked my car rental and it dropped $45.00 and I am able to drop the car off at MCO instead of the Marriot. Much more convenient for us.

 

[Eureka]

You just reminded me that next month is a three paycheck month for me and DH!

March is a three-check month for DH too, yay. I get paid twice a month, so that never happens for me.

 

[JacknSally]

You just reminded me that next month is a three paycheck month for me and DH!

For us, too! SO excited about that!

 

[pblack]

I get paid once a month.

 

[Tygerlilly]

I have to wait until May for my 3 paycheck month, but that's also a good month for us as one of our loans will be paid off, so I'm hoping to roll all of that onto our other loan and get that gone in may also.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I received a packet of $5 coupon checks for Enfamil formula today in the mail from a Swagbucks offer I did. I have no need for them and would be happy to pass them off if any of the moms here use them. The only catch is they have my name on them, so I don't know if that will matter or not for your use. If you're interested, just be the first one to send me a message and I'm happy to mail them to you!

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

I did the BARBRI self study course. I am not sure how I did it honestly, but I forced myself to study from 9am until 5pm every single weekday for the first 5 weeks. And then for the next 4 weeks, I even studied on weekends from 9am to 5pm too. I think I just looked forward to chatting and playing video games each night with DH (we weren't even dating then, just online friends). Because of some unforeseen issues that caused me to miss the deadline for the July bar exam, I ended up taking the February bar. It was so scary because everyone at my table during the exam had taken the July bar exam and failed! I was so nervous to begin with, but knowing that all of these people had already had to do this once already made me even more scared.

And it was such a grueling experience. The February bar was only administered in Dallas, so I had planned to drive the 4 hours from Austin to Dallas for the test. My mom thought that was a stupid idea and bought me a plane ticket. I am so thankful to her for that. After 3 days of test taking, I was completely brain dead. It was the most exhausting academic experience of my life. There was no way I would have been able to drive those 4 hours home after the test.

Sorry to go off debt dumping topic again, but I am curious--when I was in law school, most people took the course in person with a live teacher teaching the subjects, but I think that has changed??? Do most people do an online self-study now? I also took the Texas bar. One of my friends had graduated early and taken the February bar and did not pass, so she was taking it again with us in July. I think that added some to my study group's anxiety, to have a smart friend that somehow did not pass the first time. I can't imagine having the heightened anxiety of so many sitting around you that were re-taking it.

"It was the most exhausting academic experience of my life." I completely agree with you!

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

Back on topic, in debt dumping news: my car and tire situation turned out way differently than I thought it would. Tow was only $10 to the AAA tow truck driver. Had to have the rotor and the hub replaced. Dodge parts plus mechanic labor fee = $360, plus gas money and a two drive through dinners for my friend who picked me up after the tow and drove me back and forth for two days. But here is where I got surprised--the mechanic said the after market wheels that had been put on were not the right fit, and the other front tire was dangerously loose. There was about a half inch of loose space between the hub and the wheel, which was putting a lot of stress on the lug bolts and is likely the cause of the tire sheering off. He said I was lucky to be alive, and I needed to go raise heck at the tire place and insist on four new wheels that fit. That got me scared to drive the car anymore. To their credit, when I told the tire store all of this, Discount Tire (this was a different location than the one that sold and installed the wheels) recognized the poor fit when it was pointed out and replaced all of my wheels with completely different wheels, replaced all lug bolts, and replaced the one damaged tire, all free of charge. Also, public service announcement, I was told by Discount Tire that they discontinued use of the lug bolts they used on the original wheels I purchased last year due to complaints of poor product integrity and them failing. They now use a totally different lug nut and lug bolt manufacturer. If you have aftermarket wheels purchased there, you may want to go back and ask for new lugs to be used. My dad thinks I should insist they also pay for the damage to my car (the $360 plus repairing the dent on the fender), but this whole 3 day experience has been so exhausting that I just did not have the energy to go down that trail and decided to just pay out of pocket and be glad that I am alive and it is done.
Thanks everyone for your hugs, advice and kind concern while I was going through this.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Sorry to go off debt dumping topic again, but I am curious--when I was in law school, most people took the course in person with a live teacher teaching the subjects, but I think that has changed??? Do most people do an online self-study now? I also took the Texas bar. One of my friends had graduated early and taken the February bar and did not pass, so she was taking it again with us in July. I think that added some to my study group's anxiety, to have a smart friend that somehow did not pass the first time. I can't imagine having the heightened anxiety of so many sitting around you that were re-taking it.

"It was the most exhausting academic experience of my life." I completely agree with you!

I'm not sure what most people do honestly. I took the bar exam in 2010 and BARBRI's self study option was brand new. The videos weren't actually online. You had to buy an iPod and download the videos/audio to the iPod to listen/watch them. The reason I took the self study was because I had just moved to Texas and didn't really know anyone. I figured that I wouldn't likely find a study group since pretty much everyone taking the course would have gone to UT and already had friends/study groups. Also, I lived pretty far from the place where the course was taught and Austin traffic is awful. It just seemed easier to me to study from the comfort of my apartment, in my PJs.

 

[speedyfishy]

I am doing a self study course online with Themis. They sent physical books and I have access to material online.