Debt Dumpers - 2018

[Tygerlilly]

The bad news is they're taking away the safety part of the bonus, which was a flat $125 for each quarter, as long as you didn't have an injury. I mean, it's not hugely substantial, but it's kind of a bummer to lose a guaranteed $500 a year.

We used to get a bonus for safety as well, plus fun safety dinners (think steaks and such) and rewards for days off with pay. Then they decided they can't "reward" us for doing things we should be doing anyway. I miss those days.

We should find out our final bonus numbers next week. Hoping we end with the $1.10/hour worked we've been trending towards the last 3 months.

 

[jen7233]

Oahu, I think? It's the same island as Honolulu. Aulani is in the southwest portion of the island.

Yep, there's a lot to do there and can't beat the weather!

 

[DisneyMandC]

Cruising along here...

Spent WAY too much on food on our four day weekend in Asheville for our anniversary, but had a wonderful time. Overall the cost of the trip wasn't terrible since we stayed at an Airbnb and my MIL gave us a Biltmore gift card for Christmas which covered most of the cost for our tickets. We did a lot of clothes shopping at the outlets down there too, but we typically do a big spring shopping trip for clothes every year so I just considered it as that. Other than that we just checked out the city, so everything else was free. It was so nice to get away since we haven't had a vacation since Disney last August. Now I'm saving up for our Disneyland trip at the end of July.

I set aside part of DH's stock bonus for some home repairs and put the rest into savings, so I just need to call and book the appointment to get that rolling. DH said his bigger bonus will be in his paycheck two weeks from now so once I get that I'll go ahead and pay off my student loan. Can't wait to do that! I'll literally be so excited to see that money come out of my account!

In other news, I traveled to a conference for work last week where I had a TERRIBLE hotel experience. I ended up not getting a room until 10:30 PM. Because work was paying, I didn't want to ask for a refund that would be useless to me, so instead I requested my rewards account be credited. I thought they were going to give me a total of 11,000 points, which wasn't too bad but not great. Instead I ended up with 26,000 points! Those points will cover our hotel stay the night before we fly out to DL, and we'll still have points leftover, so that's really nice!

 

[imbatman]

Backtracking...this past weekend, after the previous "oops" on page 71, DH informed me that weed trimmer was totally DOA and unsalvageable. I stared at the $300-$400 price tags thinking in that long, drawn-out silent scream, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Miracle #1 happened: coworker gave us his father's trimmer. It's a $400+ one, new. Miracle #2: it runs fine, just needed a new battery, to the tune of $31!!!

So, guess what I'm doing tonight?! That's right. Mowing 2 acres.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

So, I have news.

The dumping of debt has not gone very well the past couple of months. There has been a pile on of unusual bills, and two of my now (recently) 3 roommates were out of work, so they weren't paying anything towards the house bills. I'm not behind on anything yet, but that's only because the month hasn't ended. I don't think I'll be able to make the payments on a couple of the bills. :-( I've juggled and finagled every way I can find and it just isn't there.

Brighter side, one of the roommates moved out last weekend, so while I won't get any income from him anymore, he's the one that hasn't paid consistently over the past several years, so I think I'll actually come out ahead with him gone. The other jobless roommate has a job that he should start literally any day now. He'll be making around $14/hour with a good chance for consistent overtime, and has agreed to work as much overtime as they will let him until he catches up on what he owes. Just waiting for the trainer to get back in town so he can finish training and get put on the schedule.

Best news (though not for debt dumping). I found someone that I'd like to spend the rest of my life with. And he wants to spend it with me. So, we're looking at having a wedding next June. We're waiting that long because we both decided to kind of go all out and have a small-ish extravaganza on the wedding and honeymoon. And I'm not going to add to the debt to do so, but I am willing to extend the time to payoff. So, I'll keep chugging away on the debt, but the biggest bulk will be going to pay for the wedding. My personal hard deadline on the decision is this July. If we have managed to save at least $1500, then we will have the ceremony in front of the Bellagio fountain in Vegas, with a honeymoon in Hawaii after.

We will see how things go in the next few weeks as to whether I can get this dream to fly or not.

Congratulations!!!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Hello everyone!

Haven’t read through the thread so sorry if this has already been asked but do you all think it’s a good idea to do a lump sum of my credit card debt? Just searching the internet and found this as an option. It’s a retail credit card. I’m 21 and had it since a few months after I turned 18. I haven’t used it responsibly at all. I’ve racked up a little bit over 3.6k on a 3.3k limit as of now. I just want to be done with it. I’m finally willing to part with some really valuable items that I’ve got great offers on already to make enough for a decent lump sum offer.

Welcome! I just wanted to say, I hope we didn't frighten you off but if any of the items you are selling are sentimental, I'd hold off a while and see if you can find another way to earn $. I have old jewelry that I rarely wear and have wondered what it's worth but just can't part with it to sell. If I did, I would truly regret it. OTOH, I still have really old stuff from a HS boyfriend that I should have sold when gold prices skyrocketed. Oh well…
If your valuable things are just stuff you know you don't want, then just sell them and send the payment to your cc bank.

If you want to pay off your cc, find something that will allow you to pay much more than the minimum payment. Try to pay at least double, triple, or more of the minimum and it will steadily get paid down. It takes a lot of patience and probably a couple years of trying to only buy what you really need. Usually any method that is a quick fix doesn't really teach us to spend/budget in the long run. Paying it consistently on time and more than the minimum will help improve your credit score. It's better to have no credit than bad credit.


I would highly recommend googling Dave Ramsey Baby Steps/Total Money Makeover. I’m on Step 3. It’s good advice for paying off anything but most of us here tweak his method a bit. His methods are more drastic than I can stand but I did pay off a ridiculous amount of debt by mostly following his advice. The key is learning to live below your means and that does happen with his method.


Good luck to you!


I have a son who is 21 (and afraid to get a credit card) but he does have a small car payment and pays me for his car insurance. He works PT at an ice cream store and is hoping to join the Navy this year. He’s really not a spender, not into clothes etc. so it’s easy for him to avoid credit cards but car loan is still debt and he just paid off a student loan since 2015. We’re all battling something.

 

[Ngwira]

No big debt dumping news but I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with my student loans. Solar loan is coming down too. Other than that, I’m swimming.

 

[dayvewc]

It took a day longer than I meant, but I couldn't find the correct forum.

But here is my wedding / honeymoon / pull-my-hair-out pre-report.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/i...-plan-a-wedding-david-zeke-6-10-2019.3679231/

 

[imbatman]

I have a son who is 21 (and afraid to get a credit card)

Yesssssssss. Indoctrinate them young.

No big debt dumping news but I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with my student loans. Solar loan is coming down too. Other than that, I’m swimming.

You know what's kinda funny? I'm going into month 5 soon. And now I stress out if the baby cash bumper isn't in place. I'm all like, "STOP EATING! NO MORE GAS. SELL OUR SOULS AND DISNEY PINS!" But seriously, it's so stressful/peaceful to look ahead at the spreadsheet balance and now what is planned. I can buy birthday presents without losing my cool and still look at the big ticket items I need to by in two months. Tweaking Dave Ramsey is good because it lets us be able to function at our own levels. If I was on such a stringent plan, I'd fail and fail and fail.

 

[imbatman]

Okay...made a budget decision. We purchased the airline tickets for our December trip. DH is going to try and get extra OT to cover the cost outright, but we both agreed it was better to buy them now than wait and possibly have another flight cancelled (the original one was). We figured one month of interest was worth it. But, we also were able to get 5 tickets from San Fran to MCO for just over $1200, using points and codes. Hurray!!! Crossing off of my to-do big purchases.

 

[disney-inspired]

Okay...made a budget decision. We purchased the airline tickets for our December trip. DH is going to try and get extra OT to cover the cost outright, but we both agreed it was better to buy them now than wait and possibly have another flight cancelled (the original one was). We figured one month of interest was worth it. But, we also were able to get 5 tickets from San Fran to MCO for just over $1200, using points and codes. Hurray!!! Crossing off of my to-do big purchases.

I wish our dates were cemented because I saw RT air from LAX to MCO for $230. I had to let it go!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Yesssssssss. Indoctrinate them young.




You know what's kinda funny? I'm going into month 5 soon. And now I stress out if the baby cash bumper isn't in place. I'm all like, "STOP EATING! NO MORE GAS. SELL OUR SOULS AND DISNEY PINS!" But seriously, it's so stressful/peaceful to look ahead at the spreadsheet balance and now what is planned. I can buy birthday presents without losing my cool and still look at the big ticket items I need to by in two months. Tweaking Dave Ramsey is good because it lets us be able to function at our own levels. If I was on such a stringent plan, I'd fail and fail and fail.

Exactly. DR is correct in that if we choose bare-bones survival method to pay it down asap, the agony is not so long. Still, it's that starvation-diet feeling that makes me feel like I doomed to failure.

I can't even take credit for ds's reluctance to get a cc. In 10th grade he took Financial Literacy (graduation requirement) and learned all about earning interest by investing and paying interest on loans/cc's and the power of compounding interest. It must have had a profound effect on him. When he first left for college we added him to our CSP as an authorized user just for emergencies. He still has it and has only needed it a few times. It's convenient when we send him to a store or for take out. We tell him to use it for pizza delivery if he doesn't want to come on vacation with us. Eventually I'm sure he'll get his own.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

You know what's kinda funny? I'm going into month 5 soon. And now I stress out if the baby cash bumper isn't in place. I'm all like, "STOP EATING! NO MORE GAS. SELL OUR SOULS AND DISNEY PINS!" But seriously, it's so stressful/peaceful to look ahead at the spreadsheet balance and now what is planned. I can buy birthday presents without losing my cool and still look at the big ticket items I need to by in two months.

Were you this organized before you learned how much cc debt your dh accumulated? I'm guessing no. So in the long run it was a good thing. Not that you should go thank your dh for nearly giving you a heart attack but much was learned from the whole process. It made you stronger and now you're more secure (and your future is more secure) because of it.
If you recall when you first came on here all stressed out and wondering if your marriage was strong enough to endure all the stress, I told you I was the guilty party that got us in a pickle. Looking back, I had cc debt all of my adult life, slowly creeping up and up, until the sh*t hit the fan. I can't really call it "hitting rock bottom" because things certainly could have gotten much worse, but it was as low as I could stand to be and knew I had to be strong to pull us back up to the surface to breathe. I had to completely change my ways. Now I'm so organized, I surprise myself. I know I never would have been this way if I was always carrying a "comfortable amount" of debt. We'd keep chugging along, wondering why we can't save much $ and be amazed how quick $100 from an ATM gets spent.
So glad those days of being oblivious are over.

 

[Eureka]

We bought a Weber Genesis II 310 yesterday. No sales, so with a cover, it was $800+ which I will pay off as soon as I get my overtime pay, probably in a couple of weeks. Used it for dinner last night and it was awesome. Love that Weber has a 10-year warranty, so hopefully this will last us a good long time. Thanks to all who mentioned this series of grills.

Got back from San Diego on Wed. - great weather, ate at a couple of nice places, worked 23 hours total over the weekend - and trying to get back into the routine. We had a college visit Sat. with DS17 and another one next week. These have been all day affairs so we have been having lunch out. Nothing too expensive, but still need to remember that when I am food shopping and/or planning for the week's bills.

DS17 has been applying for summer jobs but hasn't heard back yet. It's still early, but I say get the apps in now and leave time to follow up before school is even out. DS15 is an officially certified lifeguard now after a grueling weekend course, and is starting to look for jobs. Lots of pools in our area; he has to decide if he'd rather be on a sub list with one set of pools (what they do for first years, no regular schedule for them yet) and a higher pay rate or apply for another set where he is likely to get regular hours but $3 less per hour. He is leaning toward the regular gig. Unfortunately for that, he will need rides for that job and that could get tricky depending on what DS17's work schedule ends up being (plus DH and I each work one day from home). The other pools he can ride his bike to. Decisions, decisions...and I realize it's a first world problem. But, they both really want to make some money to save for college and we think the responsibility is good for them. I just can't believe we are at the point where both of them are old enough to work!!

 

[imbatman]

Were you this organized before you learned how much cc debt your dh accumulated? I'm guessing no. So in the long run it was a good thing. Not that you should go thank your dh for nearly giving you a heart attack but much was learned from the whole process. It made you stronger and now you're more secure (and your future is more secure) because of it.
If you recall when you first came on here all stressed out and wondering if your marriage was strong enough to endure all the stress, I told you I was the guilty party that got us in a pickle. Looking back, I had cc debt all of my adult life, slowly creeping up and up, until the sh*t hit the fan. I can't really call it "hitting rock bottom" because things certainly could have gotten much worse, but it was as low as I could stand to be and knew I had to be strong to pull us back up to the surface to breathe. I had to completely change my ways. Now I'm so organized, I surprise myself. I know I never would have been this way if I was always carrying a "comfortable amount" of debt. We'd keep chugging along, wondering why we can't save much $ and be amazed how quick $100 from an ATM gets spent.
So glad those days of being oblivious are over.

Definitely wasn't this organized before everything hit the fan in December. It is good to be organized and on the same page. And I won't lie, we still slip up sometimes, but now I get all proactive about getting it covered.

We bought a Weber Genesis II 310 yesterday. No sales, so with a cover, it was $800+ which I will pay off as soon as I get my overtime pay, probably in a couple of weeks. Used it for dinner last night and it was awesome. Love that Weber has a 10-year warranty, so hopefully this will last us a good long time. Thanks to all who mentioned this series of grills.

Got back from San Diego on Wed. - great weather, ate at a couple of nice places, worked 23 hours total over the weekend - and trying to get back into the routine. We had a college visit Sat. with DS17 and another one next week. These have been all day affairs so we have been having lunch out. Nothing too expensive, but still need to remember that when I am food shopping and/or planning for the week's bills.

DS17 has been applying for summer jobs but hasn't heard back yet. It's still early, but I say get the apps in now and leave time to follow up before school is even out. DS15 is an officially certified lifeguard now after a grueling weekend course, and is starting to look for jobs. Lots of pools in our area; he has to decide if he'd rather be on a sub list with one set of pools (what they do for first years, no regular schedule for them yet) and a higher pay rate or apply for another set where he is likely to get regular hours but $3 less per hour. He is leaning toward the regular gig. Unfortunately for that, he will need rides for that job and that could get tricky depending on what DS17's work schedule ends up being (plus DH and I each work one day from home). The other pools he can ride his bike to. Decisions, decisions...and I realize it's a first world problem. But, they both really want to make some money to save for college and we think the responsibility is good for them. I just can't believe we are at the point where both of them are old enough to work!!

LOVE my Weber. It's 5 years old now and still is amazing. Sometimes, I use lemon juice to clean it back to its original splendor.

Sorry about the job situation for your DS. It's rough. I was just talking with a friend yesterday about the same thing and how our oldest "lucked" into her job because we know the owner of the store. Gone are the days when I was working part time, with a paycheck and taxes, at 13 years old. I worked at a local nursery, trimming plants, potting, and general grunt work. It was perfect.

The "free" weed trimmer wasn't free. Besides the battery, we paid for a mobile repair guy who came out and rebuilt the carb. Granted, it was only $55, bringing the total up to $103, that's still a far cry cheaper than a $400 new one! It works like it's brand new now and the repair guy said it's in great shape.

And though we made the decision to buy the tickets, I'm still all stressed out about carrying a balance. Hopefully, I get some time in today to work with the spreadsheet to chill out.

 

[Eureka]

LOVE my Weber. It's 5 years old now and still is amazing. Sometimes, I use lemon juice to clean it back to its original splendor.

Sorry about the job situation for your DS. It's rough. I was just talking with a friend yesterday about the same thing and how our oldest "lucked" into her job because we know the owner of the store. Gone are the days when I was working part time, with a paycheck and taxes, at 13 years old. I worked at a local nursery, trimming plants, potting, and general grunt work. It was perfect.

Tell me more about the lemon juice to clean it. I took the grates out and scrubbed them last night/ We have a Weber wire brush but I don't want to scratch anything. Should I be using cooking spray on the grates before I turn it on to minimize the mess? Unfortunately I missed the window between hot and warm to clean it and it was kind of cold by then.

DS did apply to a small business that's owned by someone who used to teach at his elementary school, so I would hope she would at least call (email) him back. He applied for a couple of internships in our county and really wants one of those but he's at the younger end in terms of qualifications, so he's also applied to local fast/casual foods places etc. We have a lot of shopping in our area so I would hope he'd find something.

 

[DLgal]

Tell me more about the lemon juice to clean it. I took the grates out and scrubbed them last night/ We have a Weber wire brush but I don't want to scratch anything. Should I be using cooking spray on the grates before I turn it on to minimize the mess? Unfortunately I missed the window between hot and warm to clean it and it was kind of cold by then.

DS did apply to a small business that's owned by someone who used to teach at his elementary school, so I would hope she would at least call (email) him back. He applied for a couple of internships in our county and really wants one of those but he's at the younger end in terms of qualifications, so he's also applied to local fast/casual foods places etc. We have a lot of shopping in our area so I would hope he'd find something.

DO NOT wash your weber grill parts! They will rust! Allow everything to burn and then scrape it with a wire brush. Don't worry about scratches. You only need to scrape the grill grates with each use. What I do is after I am done cooking, shut it off and let it cool. The NEXT time I grill, preheat at the highest setting for 10 minutes. THEN, scrape the heck out of the grates. Then grill. You can use a cooking spray, but I don't recommend it. Rather, lightly spray your food, not the grates. I use an Olive Oil spray (JUST olive oil, no chemicals).

The very best way to keep your Weber in good shape is to buy a fabric cover and use it every day. When it rains, water gets into the grill and will eventually rust the grates and flavorizer bars. I just had to replace both these parts in a less than 3 year old grill because I wasn't good about covering it. The warranty does not apply to grill grates or flavorizer bars, and they WILL rust out if they get wet, or if you use a lot of marinades or sauces that are high in acid content. If you have SS grates, you can clean them with water, no problem.

I actually advise to replace the standard grill grates with stainless steel ones (unless yours already came with SS grates). The porcelain coated enamel doesn't hold up very long.

Do NOT worry about any build up on the inside of the grill hood. That is normal and will flake off on its own. Once a month, take the grill grates off and scrape down the flavorizer bars, and check for gunk in the v shaped tray underneath. That stuff, if it builds up long enough, WILL CATCH FIRE. If your grill ever catches fire along the bottom, throw some baking soda on it. Will put it right out. This can be avoided by keeping the drip pans clean.

 

[Eureka]

DO NOT wash your weber grill parts! They will rust! Allow everything to burn and then scrape it with a wire brush. Don't worry about scratches. You only need to scrape the grill grates with each use. What I do is after I am done cooking, shut it off and let it cool. The NEXT time I grill, preheat at the highest setting for 10 minutes. THEN, scrape the heck out of the grates. Then grill. You can use a cooking spray, but I don't recommend it. Rather, lightly spray your food, not the grates. I use an Olive Oil spray (JUST olive oil, no chemicals).

The very best way to keep your Weber in good shape is to buy a fabric cover and use it every day. When it rains, water gets into the grill and will eventually rust the grates and flavorizer bars. I just had to replace both these parts in a less than 3 year old grill because I wasn't good about covering it. The warranty does not apply to grill grates or flavorizer bars, and they WILL rust out if they get wet, or if you use a lot of marinades or sauces that are high in acid content. If you have SS grates, you can clean them with water, no problem.

I actually advise to replace the standard grill grates with stainless steel ones (unless yours already came with SS grates). The porcelain coated enamel doesn't hold up very long.

Do NOT worry about any build up on the inside of the grill hood. That is normal and will flake off on its own. Once a month, take the grill grates off and scrape down the flavorizer bars, and check for gunk in the v shaped tray underneath. That stuff, if it builds up long enough, WILL CATCH FIRE. If your grill ever catches fire along the bottom, throw some baking soda on it. Will put it right out. This can be avoided by keeping the drip pans clean.

Thanks. I will let my DH know about not WASHING We did buy the cover that goes with it. We have the porcelain grates I think.

 

[DLgal]

Thanks. I will let my DH know about not WASHING We did buy the cover that goes with it. We have the porcelain grates I think.

If the grates are dark grey, they are the porcelain ones. Stainless are shiny silver.

 

[Eureka]

If the grates are dark grey, they are the porcelain ones. Stainless are shiny silver.

That's what I've got then, thanks. I hope that one wash didn't hurt them.