Debt Dumpers - 2013

[SpaceGirl]

I don't know where to start... have been lurking on this thread all year.

Other than mortgage, our only debt was a car loan that we took on about 2.5 years ago (I think I posted about it, it's was an impulse buy...) and then last year we had to start paying on my husband's student loans. When I started my nursing job we were doing really well and stopped watching every penny. When our son was born last year I went back part time for 3 months, and then in January I went down to PRN (I work 16 hours month if they need me). Somehow it's taken me since then to realize that we are spending more than we are making... we had a decent savings account build up and had to dip into it. It probably didn't help that my husband broke his foot and had to stay off work for 8 weeks and his STD checks were basically a joke. Anyway... I'm back to budgeting and watching every penny. We really don't spend a lot of money on things, we're not "stuff" people. We don't have credit card bills. Last month was a wake up call when I realized this Anyway... we've talked about it and we would love to be debt free but I don't know where to start... right now we have the house, which I'm not worried about but would love to get rid of the car payment, and my husband's student loans. The payment is small on the student loans but at this rate we will be paying on them until 2031 - no thanks! I keep seeing posts on this Dis about people that used Dave Ramsey's method and were debt free in 2 years, and it sounds like they had a whole lot more debt than we have. We're working on building our savings account back up, but my husband also wants us to continue going to Disney. I'm not sure we can get rid of the car payment, student loans AND still keep up with Disney. We aren't "stuff" people, we would rather spend our money on vacations and memories with our son and I'd hate to give that up while he's little (and still free!) how do you find a balance? We don't live paycheck to paycheck and we don't go on vacations unless we have the money to pay for them (we save the money in a vacation savings account). Do we have to give up Disney or is there a way to save for Disney AND pay down those loans?

dtr_angel

Since January you have cut way back on your work hours, to the point of not working but a few hours a week, then your husband was injured and also had a pay cut. Both of these events are major. While you say you are not "Stuff" people I guess you mean that you didn't have credit cards but trust me you are "Stuff People" because you are spending more than you make on something which is stuff....

Your mortgage payment is good, I wouldn't worry about this payment just keep paying as scheduled.

Your SUV payment is something that you would like to get rid of, the payment on the SUV is only part of the expense of owning a large vehicle like this, your insurance rates are higher and your gas expenses are major depending on how much you drive a month The price of gas just to keep it on the road could equal the payment. You said it was a impulse buy and that you would like to get rid of it what about your husband? You could trade this car in on something much less expensive to maintain. You need to go over your expenses and see just how much it is actually costing to operate a month. If you decide to keep it just try to cut down on the expense of operating it fewer trips to store, shopping anything to save gas. Then check on lowering insurance anything you can do to leave you more cash available during the month that you could then use to pay off the vehicle early. Every thing extra should go to paying off this loan or the replacement so that once it is paid for all the extra money can go toward paying off those student loans.

The student loan payments are usually low to help young people just getting started, but by keeping the payments low and extending the pay off allows them to charge interest making MORE MONEY off you. You could start slow on extra payments then snowball you car payment to them.

You said you went over your expenses last month, where is your money going?...the other Stuff is where you can cut back and save money...eating out, cell phones, land lines, cable packages, internet, food, eclectic bills, water bill, insurance homeowners and car.

I believe in vacations so if you can cut back in other areas and still be able to save for trips to Disney...go for, it but it's like PrincessKymm said it will take longer to reach other goals.

While some people can pay off all their debt in two years it can take other less time and others much longer I think it took me four years total.

The first goal should be no new debt.

You can do this we are all striving for the same goal, to be Debt Free.

 

[SpaceGirl]

I have a ticker finally!!!!! I haven't been posting on here lately but I have been reading about everyones progress! ceemys -don't stress everything will be fine! How very exciting for you!!!! Well my debt snowball has stalled because I decided to slow down and cash flow a Disney vacation!!! I made our reservations this morning and now have a ticker again, its been three years! I am so excited to be getting out of the cold North in February and heading to sunny Florida! My commission checks have been good so my debt snowball should start rolling again soon!

Danielle
Congratulations on your Trip !!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Ok, I can finally spill the beans.
We gave my mom a surprise 70th birthday dinner party at Brio Tuscan restaurant last night. We had a private room for the night and invited my aunts and some cousins too that we don't get to see very often.
It was great!!

As a last-minute splurge I hired a caricature artist whom I met at my neighbors' anniversary party over the summer. He just sat quietly in the corner and whoever wanted one could go do it. Some of them were hilarious and we all had a good laugh.

So this set my snowball back a bit but it was so worth it!

My goal today, besides raking leaves that are now up to knee level, is to rewrite my snowball plans.

I officially paid off my overdraft protection on Thurs and sometimes I even log into my banking website just to look at the 0 again. I love it.

 

[ceemys]

Danielle - Yea for a ticker!!!

ruadisneyfan2 What an awesome birthday gift for your mom. Bills are important, but sometimes those special family occasions are more important. glad it all turned out great. yea for ZERO overdraft protection. Does your bank charge for that "perk"? Since you are now out of that hole, do you think you would need it anymore? If they charge maybe get rid of it then the temptation is not there.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Danielle - Yea for a ticker!!!

ruadisneyfan2 What an awesome birthday gift for your mom. Bills are important, but sometimes those special family occasions are more important. glad it all turned out great. yea for ZERO overdraft protection. Does your bank charge for that "perk"? Since you are now out of that hole, do you think you would need it anymore? If they charge maybe get rid of it then the temptation is not there.

I considered that but it's not tempting at all. It's 14% interest rate but I was just a slacker at having the determination to pay it off. I never even looked at the rate or if I did, I didn't really take notice. They don't charge any fees unless you use it so that's good. If they ever did, I'd get rid of it.

We originally signed up for it because I sent dh to the bank to deposit $ back in the mid 90s, pre internet days. Checks started bouncing all over and I freaked out with the deposit receipt in hand, sending him to the bank to show them we did deposit $ and why wasn't it credited to our account!!??? As it turned out, he put it in our SAVINGS acct. ARRGH! A very expensive mistake and I swore it would never happen again. We chose an amount that would cover a mortgage payment so that would never be returned.
I'm determined to get out of this hole before it gets too deep and hopefully before ds starts college in 2015.

Before I found this thread I was like many who just accept debt as a part of life, like "everyone does it" so it's ok. We weren't struggling so I didn't worry about it. Even now I hear coworkers say they expect to have it for life, at least that's what their parents told them. I sure hope not.

Thanks everyone for your support.
Just keep swimming, just keep swimming... (Too bad there's no Dory smiley.)

 

[bababear_50]

I considered that but it's not tempting at all. It's 14% interest rate but I was just a slacker at having the determination to pay it off. I never even looked at the rate or if I did, I didn't really take notice. They don't charge any fees unless you use it so that's good. If they ever did, I'd get rid of it.

We originally signed up for it because I sent dh to the bank to deposit $ back in the mid 90s, pre internet days. Checks started bouncing all over and I freaked out with the deposit receipt in hand, sending him to the bank to show them we did deposit $ and why wasn't it credited to our account!!??? As it turned out, he put it in our SAVINGS acct. ARRGH! A very expensive mistake and I swore it would never happen again. We chose an amount that would cover a mortgage payment so that would never be returned.
I'm determined to get out of this hole before it gets too deep and hopefully before ds starts college in 2015.

Before I found this thread I was like many who just accept debt as a part of life, like "everyone does it" so it's ok. We weren't struggling so I didn't worry about it. Even now I hear coworkers say they expect to have it for life, at least that's what their parents told them. I sure hope not.

Thanks everyone for your support.
Just keep swimming, just keep swimming... (Too bad there's no Dory smiley.)

I'm swimming I'm swimming




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But this VISA guy is chasing me




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Your family celebration with the caricature artist sounds wonderful,I'm glad you got to experience this time with your mom.

Hugs Mel

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I'm swimming I'm swimming




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But this VISA guy is chasing me




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Your family celebration with the caricature artist sounds wonderful,I'm glad you got to experience this time with your mom.

Hugs Mel

Thanks!

 

[ceemys]

I'm swimming I'm swimming




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But this VISA guy is chasing me






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Your family celebration with the caricature artist sounds wonderful,I'm glad you got to experience this time with your mom.

Hugs Mel

Awesome!

 

[SpaceGirl]

KEEP SWIMMING EVERYONE

 

[ceemys]

KEEP SWIMMING EVERYONE

Too Cute!

 

[crazycatstacy]

Almost done with all my Christmas shopping and I am on budget! Yippee!!! FINALLY have my husband 100000% on board with the new budget in January and then today I get an email about buying advance tickets to Disney Live which is in January. I want to blow the budget and spend the money on tickets to take my youngest nephew (he is 3 1/2 and I adore him!). Husband says no and I am now pouting! lol. I have not given up that I will find a way to get tickets to take him- maybe I can win some on the radio or something!

 

[dtr_angel]

Are you paying the minimum on the student loans to afford a Disney trip? Also, it's nice when kids are free but really it's because he won't remember it. Now believe me, I'm not one of those who says wait til their older. My first ds went at 3 and younger ds at 18 months. But I have to say since then we've been around 15x and they are now 13 & almost 17. The most magical time is around 4-6. (Think along the lines of Santa Claus. Young enough to believe but old enough to know what's going on & really enjoy all that WDW has to offer. ie: tall enough for Splash, etc. Well, maybe it was 7 when they went on RnR.)


So my vote would be pay down the loans now while he's a baby & go back when he's 4. Is there any way you can pick up more hours? I work in xray & see the great perk in nursing is you can get some weekend hours maybe while your dh is home if you don't want him in day care. Actually I had a coworker who worked part time, 12 hr days every Sat & Sun just to avoid day care. That may be more than you want but I'm just saying with hospital work, it can be done.

Of course, I'm here because I'm not so good at budgeting either so you might take my advice with a grain of salt.

We took him at 9 months old, I know he won't remember it but those memories were priceless in DH & I's opinion. We have never regretted spending money on a vacation. I think we are just going to go once a year instead of twice a year like we had planned for 2014/2015 before he turned 3. On our next trip(s) we will also be driving instead of flying, staying off site instead of on site, and eating more meals in the condo/off site so they will be cheaper as well.

I work PRN (not sure if I explained that) right now I work 16 hours/month. If they don't need me those days/hours, it doesn't count against me. The last few times I've been scheduled, they haven't needed me because our census has been low. Last month instead of canceling me they sent me to another floor to work. Childcare is a huge issue, and is one of the reasons I really can't work anymore. I haven't been able to find anyone to watch DS when I am on call and don't know when I will get off. My husband also works entirely on call and doesn't know when he will be home ever. The only family we have here are my parents who work full time, and my MIL who has a young child at home and works full time in another town. My mom who volunteered to be available "any time we needed her" before baby was born turned out to be super flaky. It turns out "any time" means only if its convenient for her. She canceled on us so many times at the last minute it was getting ridiculous. My husband and I had to jump through hoops with work because we just didn't have anyone to watch him. So basically what has worked out is when my DH is home for a day, I call and see if they can use me the day. I know my MIL would like to watch him but her availability is terrible and she just broke her ankle. Lately they haven't needed me when DH has been home because our census is low.

My answer to your question is Yes you can go to Disney and get out of debt BUT it will take longer. Budget and track and you will see a difference. Is the car loan smaller than your student loan? If yes then just tackle that. Take your car payment and throw it at the student loans once the car is paid off. Calculate how long it will take to pay those off then work out a plan to pay off your house. If you can pay off everything within a year or two ask yourself is it worth not going to Disney? And then ask yourself is it worth going to Disney to be in debt X amount of time longer?

Only you and your husband can answer those questions. Ask yourselves what else you can do to increase income to be able to do both. Good luck with whatever you decide and ask away if you have questions!

Thanks! If we could pay off car, house, and student loans in a few years I would totally give up Disney! DH and I have been talking and we've come up with a plan that works for us. Disney once/year instead of twice and getting rid of car before student loans and knocking them out! It won't be as quick as if we gave up Disney but life is too short to not enjoy the things we love and to make precious memories with our baby boy.

dtr_angel

Since January you have cut way back on your work hours, to the point of not working but a few hours a week, then your husband was injured and also had a pay cut. Both of these events are major. While you say you are not "Stuff" people I guess you mean that you didn't have credit cards but trust me you are "Stuff People" because you are spending more than you make on something which is stuff....

Your mortgage payment is good, I wouldn't worry about this payment just keep paying as scheduled.

Your SUV payment is something that you would like to get rid of, the payment on the SUV is only part of the expense of owning a large vehicle like this, your insurance rates are higher and your gas expenses are major depending on how much you drive a month The price of gas just to keep it on the road could equal the payment. You said it was a impulse buy and that you would like to get rid of it what about your husband? You could trade this car in on something much less expensive to maintain. You need to go over your expenses and see just how much it is actually costing to operate a month. If you decide to keep it just try to cut down on the expense of operating it fewer trips to store, shopping anything to save gas. Then check on lowering insurance anything you can do to leave you more cash available during the month that you could then use to pay off the vehicle early. Every thing extra should go to paying off this loan or the replacement so that once it is paid for all the extra money can go toward paying off those student loans.

The student loan payments are usually low to help young people just getting started, but by keeping the payments low and extending the pay off allows them to charge interest making MORE MONEY off you. You could start slow on extra payments then snowball you car payment to them.

You said you went over your expenses last month, where is your money going?...the other Stuff is where you can cut back and save money...eating out, cell phones, land lines, cable packages, internet, food, eclectic bills, water bill, insurance homeowners and car.

I believe in vacations so if you can cut back in other areas and still be able to save for trips to Disney...go for, it but it's like PrincessKymm said it will take longer to reach other goals.

While some people can pay off all their debt in two years it can take other less time and others much longer I think it took me four years total.

The first goal should be no new debt.

You can do this we are all striving for the same goal, to be Debt Free.

Our money was going to our normal expenses (mortgage, car, utilities, gas, groceries...) I just didn't realize how much we had been spending a month on groceries & other necessities. We also went to Disney in May so a lot of our earnings went towards that.

We've made a lot of cutbacks already - we got rid of our cable earlier this year. We got our phone/internet company to cut us a better deal. Cell phone contract is up in January and I'm looking to switch to get that cheaper as well. Baby is in cloth diapers. We rarely eat out. This summer I sold our extra car which cut our car insurance rate (and gave us extra cash to replace what we borrowed to pay bills while DH was off)

Like you we also believe in vacations. We're going to do Disney once a year instead of twice a year like we had been talking about doing the next 2 years. We'll also be driving and staying off site which dramatically reduces the cost.

We've been talking a lot and came up with a plan that should get us back on the right track. Thanks for your reply!

 

[dtr_angel]

Almost done with all my Christmas shopping and I am on budget! Yippee!!! FINALLY have my husband 100000% on board with the new budget in January and then today I get an email about buying advance tickets to Disney Live which is in January. I want to blow the budget and spend the money on tickets to take my youngest nephew (he is 3 1/2 and I adore him!). Husband says no and I am now pouting! lol. I have not given up that I will find a way to get tickets to take him- maybe I can win some on the radio or something!

Yay for almost being done with Christmas shopping! I am sorta cheating this year and don't have to shop

KEEP SWIMMING EVERYONE

Ok, I can finally spill the beans.
We gave my mom a surprise 70th birthday dinner party at Brio Tuscan restaurant last night. We had a private room for the night and invited my aunts and some cousins too that we don't get to see very often.
It was great!!

As a last-minute splurge I hired a caricature artist whom I met at my neighbors' anniversary party over the summer. He just sat quietly in the corner and whoever wanted one could go do it. Some of them were hilarious and we all had a good laugh.

So this set my snowball back a bit but it was so worth it!

My goal today, besides raking leaves that are now up to knee level, is to rewrite my snowball plans.

I officially paid off my overdraft protection on Thurs and sometimes I even log into my banking website just to look at the 0 again. I love it.

Congratulations on paying off the overdraft protection! The surprise for your mom sounds like it was worth it for sure

I have a ticker finally!!!!! I haven't been posting on here lately but I have been reading about everyones progress! ceemys -don't stress everything will be fine! How very exciting for you!!!! Well my debt snowball has stalled because I decided to slow down and cash flow a Disney vacation!!! I made our reservations this morning and now have a ticker again, its been three years! I am so excited to be getting out of the cold North in February and heading to sunny Florida! My commission checks have been good so my debt snowball should start rolling again soon!

Congratulations on having a ticker! My DH and I were just saying this morning (it was sooooooo cold) how awesome it is going to be to go to Disney in the middle of winter someday!

 

[crazycatstacy]

How are you cheating and not buying gifts? I love buying gifts and if I was rich I would buy them all the time!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

I haven't been around much but we've been plugging away.
The bad news - my fridge died tonight.
The good news - I had the cash to buy a new one.

I was doing the 52 week savings plan (but backwards) so I had over $1300 in the savings that I used for the fridge. Now I just need to replace that money by Feb for our WDW trip. Thankfully DH gets his bonus in Dec.

 

[danielle79]

Thank you for all the kind responses to my ticker!!! B&MB sorry about the fridge but I am super glad you had the cash to replace it. Spacegirl you are so encouraging to everyone ceemys what's going on with the house? So excited to hear your news!

 

[gracie1]

Hi everyone I haven't posted in a long time, but I still follow the boards almost daily!! I just wanted to hop on real quick to tell you all that you are doing a fantastic job!!
I am still plugging away at my dental visits - have them scheduled throughout the rest of the year into January, but I only have 2 crowns and 2 fillings to go
And we booked our trip for next year - decided on Niagara Falls. I have always wanted to go there, and originally it was going to be myself and my mom, and then we found out her sister was planning on going with her daughter and granddaughter the same month, so were doing a girls trip, leaving on Mother's Day!

Is everyone getting ready for the holidays? I actually have put up the Christmas tree already! And for some crazy reason, I decided that I should host Thanksgiving this year - what was I thinking

 

[ceemys]

Almost done with all my Christmas shopping and I am on budget! Yippee!!! FINALLY have my husband 100000% on board with the new budget in January and then today I get an email about buying advance tickets to Disney Live which is in January. I want to blow the budget and spend the money on tickets to take my youngest nephew (he is 3 1/2 and I adore him!). Husband says no and I am now pouting! lol. I have not given up that I will find a way to get tickets to take him- maybe I can win some on the radio or something!

Now that you have your husband on board, he is moving forward. lol Yea for being almost done with Christmas shopping!

I haven't been around much but we've been plugging away.
The bad news - my fridge died tonight.
The good news - I had the cash to buy a new one.

I was doing the 52 week savings plan (but backwards) so I had over $1300 in the savings that I used for the fridge. Now I just need to replace that money by Feb for our WDW trip. Thankfully DH gets his bonus in Dec.

I'm so sorry about your fridge, but so glad you had the emergency money! awesome savings plan!

As for me!!!! I JUST now got the email that states "Hi Christine, Your loan has been cleared to close! Congratulations! I am so excited I am shaking. lol My pre-walk through was yesterday. A lot of stuff to fix on their end, but I was assured that it will be done.

I just need to say THANK YOU TO EVERYONE! Y'all have been through this with me from the beginning and helped me through my rough days and helped me stay positive. I close next Tuesday and move on Wednesday. I will post a picture of me and my family when we move. I might not be on here much this coming week....need to finalize packing and do the utilities stuff! Y'all are the best support team!

 

[gracie1]

Now that you have your husband on board, he is moving forward. lol Yea for being almost done with Christmas shopping!



I'm so sorry about your fridge, but so glad you had the emergency money! awesome savings plan!

As for me!!!! I JUST now got the email that states "Hi Christine, Your loan has been cleared to close! Congratulations! I am so excited I am shaking. lol My pre-walk through was yesterday. A lot of stuff to fix on their end, but I was assured that it will be done.

I just need to say THANK YOU TO EVERYONE! Y'all have been through this with me from the beginning and helped me through my rough days and helped me stay positive. I close next Tuesday and move on Wednesday. I will post a picture of me and my family when we move. I might not be on here much this coming week....need to finalize packing and do the utilities stuff! Y'all are the best support team!

Congrats!! What a fantastic Thanksgiving you will have! You have done a fantastic job for your family and should feel so proud!!

 

[PrincessKymm]

As for me!!!! I JUST now got the email that states "Hi Christine, Your loan has been cleared to close! Congratulations! I am so excited I am shaking. lol My pre-walk through was yesterday. A lot of stuff to fix on their end, but I was assured that it will be done. I just need to say THANK YOU TO EVERYONE! Y'all have been through this with me from the beginning and helped me through my rough days and helped me stay positive. I close next Tuesday and move on Wednesday. I will post a picture of me and my family when we move. I might not be on here much this coming week....need to finalize packing and do the utilities stuff! Y'all are the best support team!

Whoo hoo!!!! Congrats!!! It's amazing what you've done!!! Lots of people would've just walked away or paid a higher interest rate. You've done fantastic!!!! Good luck with everything and update us when you can!!!