Debt Dumpers - 2015

[ksh1111]

Joining in on this one!

 

[DisneyLifer87]

Joining in. DH and I have struggled with CC debt due to frequent layoffs on his part. This is the year we want to do it... or at least make a significant dent!

 

[jessicaerv]

Joining. I'm usually more of a lurker, so I probably won't be terribly active on the thread, but I WILL be following along to maintain momentum and gather moral support.

My story: my DH and I have always been fairly fiscally responsible. Our only debts are my student loans (at very low interest rates), and our mortgage. In June we sold our home and purchased a larger home in a better neighborhood, doubling our mortgage.

3 weeks ago, my DH passed away suddenly and unexpectedly.

So, now my DD (5 yo) and I are down to one income and her SS survivor benefits, which I don't expect will start paying until March or April. The mortgage payment alone is half my income.

My DH had life insurance policies, so I will be receiving some money, but I do not know exactly how much (the insurance company will not release that information to me). I'm thinking I'll receive enough to pay off the mortgage, but not sure if I want to do that as I may decide to downsize since it's only the two of us now.

Anyway, sorry to bring the discussion "down" but I think I'll need lots of moral support in the next several months and years. Thanks for listening!

 

[gracie1]

Joining. I'm usually more of a lurker, so I probably won't be terribly active on the thread, but I WILL be following along to maintain momentum and gather moral support.

My story: my DH and I have always been fairly fiscally responsible. Our only debts are my student loans (at very low interest rates), and our mortgage. In June we sold our home and purchased a larger home in a better neighborhood, doubling our mortgage.

3 weeks ago, my DH passed away suddenly and unexpectedly.

So, now my DD (5 yo) and I are down to one income and her SS survivor benefits, which I don't expect will start paying until March or April. The mortgage payment alone is half my income.



My DH had life insurance policies, so I will be receiving some money, but I do not know exactly how much (the insurance company will not release that information to me). I'm thinking I'll receive enough to pay off the mortgage, but not sure if I want to do that as I may decide to downsize since it's only the two of us now.

Anyway, sorry to bring the discussion "down" but I think I'll need lots of moral support in the next several months and years. Thanks for listening!

I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your husband. this thread will definitely give you all the support you need. Please post anytime - even if you just feel like you need to vent about just life in general! If you have noticed or followed the 2014 thread, we are always just around for support, regardless.

 

[MAJPLO]

Joining. I'm usually more of a lurker, so I probably won't be terribly active on the thread, but I WILL be following along to maintain momentum and gather moral support. My story: my DH and I have always been fairly fiscally responsible. Our only debts are my student loans (at very low interest rates), and our mortgage. In June we sold our home and purchased a larger home in a better neighborhood, doubling our mortgage. 3 weeks ago, my DH passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. So, now my DD (5 yo) and I are down to one income and her SS survivor benefits, which I don't expect will start paying until March or April. The mortgage payment alone is half my income. My DH had life insurance policies, so I will be receiving some money, but I do not know exactly how much (the insurance company will not release that information to me). I'm thinking I'll receive enough to pay off the mortgage, but not sure if I want to do that as I may decide to downsize since it's only the two of us now. Anyway, sorry to bring the discussion "down" but I think I'll need lots of moral support in the next several months and years. Thanks for listening!

Very sorry to hear about your loss. Best of everything to you and DD.

 

[PrincessKymm]

Joining. I'm usually more of a lurker, so I probably won't be terribly active on the thread, but I WILL be following along to maintain momentum and gather moral support. My story: my DH and I have always been fairly fiscally responsible. Our only debts are my student loans (at very low interest rates), and our mortgage. In June we sold our home and purchased a larger home in a better neighborhood, doubling our mortgage. 3 weeks ago, my DH passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. So, now my DD (5 yo) and I are down to one income and her SS survivor benefits, which I don't expect will start paying until March or April. The mortgage payment alone is half my income. My DH had life insurance policies, so I will be receiving some money, but I do not know exactly how much (the insurance company will not release that information to me). I'm thinking I'll receive enough to pay off the mortgage, but not sure if I want to do that as I may decide to downsize since it's only the two of us now. Anyway, sorry to bring the discussion "down" but I think I'll need lots of moral support in the next several months and years. Thanks for listening!

Very sorry for your loss. We are here if you have questions or need some support. This thread has helped me through some tough times.

 

[LilacBarries]

Hopped over here from the '14 thread...

My DH and I have yet to do our '15 goals/ new monthly budget and I'm a little overwhelmed.

Some of the stuff on the financial to do list:
Some car maintenance- new breaks were planned and we have the money set aside for but now also the check engine light came on

Still need health insurance. We got screwed over and no subsidies for us, and between CC debt and student loans couldn't swing the monthly payments. maybe this year but not hopeful. Deadlines are looming so I really need to figure this out soon.

Pay off a small student loan that's around $600 that went to creditors. It's a long story that's been super frustrating.

Pay off CCs we have 2 left totaling about $1500

Start saving for school.I'm going back next fall and we've resolved not to take out any more student loans. The program I'm doing is only about $3500 a semester (3 semesters) so it's not a ton of money but with everything else it feels like $35000.

Everything points to needing to go back to a super strict budget which we kinda took a break from this year. We know how to do it but it's been so nice being able to go out with friends when they want to, spend a little more on presents,take a real vacation etc. I know in the long run it's worth it but I'm still in the 5 year old " I don't want to!" stage.

 

[hmack]

Hi.

I was active for a short amount of time in 2014 and then (frankly) buried my head back into the sand and kept carrying on without any real changes.

So I'm back and starting the year off with two concrete goals. I have not deposited into my savings account in over a year. I would like to add an additional $1,000 to that account in 2015.

I would also like to pay off my Jeep in 2015, which is nearly a year early. Current balance is $5,374.

These two goals may not seem like much, but it's place to start.

 

[DawnM]

We have not been in debt in years, but this year, we ended up taking out a loan to get some work on the house done with the intention of selling it immediately after fixing it up.

However, due to a VERY bad home repair person, we are now looking at staying much longer than anticipated and so I will be chipping at that debt this year with the hopes of getting it as low as possible so that when we sell we don't have that to pay off.

We also bought a car this year and even though we put down almost 50%, we still have a car loan that we will be paying.


Dawn

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Joining. I'm usually more of a lurker, so I probably won't be terribly active on the thread, but I WILL be following along to maintain momentum and gather moral support.

My story: my DH and I have always been fairly fiscally responsible. Our only debts are my student loans (at very low interest rates), and our mortgage. In June we sold our home and purchased a larger home in a better neighborhood, doubling our mortgage.

3 weeks ago, my DH passed away suddenly and unexpectedly.

So, now my DD (5 yo) and I are down to one income and her SS survivor benefits, which I don't expect will start paying until March or April. The mortgage payment alone is half my income.

My DH had life insurance policies, so I will be receiving some money, but I do not know exactly how much (the insurance company will not release that information to me). I'm thinking I'll receive enough to pay off the mortgage, but not sure if I want to do that as I may decide to downsize since it's only the two of us now.

Anyway, sorry to bring the discussion "down" but I think I'll need lots of moral support in the next several months and years. Thanks for listening!

I'm so sorry. Feel free to lurk/vent here anytime.
Truthfully though I'd say we're probably not the best group to come to for financial advice since our stupid decisions with $ are what got us into debt in the first place.

 

[ToniBeth]

I'm in!! I'm new to the DIS boards, too!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I just paid $1400 of Christmas gift $ toward our current bill that we're attacking. That's so motivating! I'd rather put more but dh wants to hold some aside. We told ds17 if he gets a job we'd get him a little beater car to get to/from work. No way do I want another car loan and I don't want him to have any car unless he has a job & can pay for his own gas and contribute toward insurance. He's applied to many jobs and got a couple interviews but nothing definite yet. I know he's getting discouraged but I encourage him to keep trying. Sooner or later something will stick.

 

[gobledygook]

I am in for 2015, I'm more focused than I have been in the past and hope to make some real progress this year. I just paid off my Kohls card and I should be able to pay my car loan off in the first couple months of the year. Those two payoffs will free up about $500.00 to snowball towards my cc. I plan to sell a few things online and also take the time to really plan for a garage sale this spring (as opposed to throwing one together willy nilly!). Good luck to everyone and I will be checking in frequently to stay motivated.

 

[gracie1]

Sounds like every one has a great plan for 2015!!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Ok so I downloaded the trial for YNAB. Now I'm struggling with assigning a dollar amount to each item. So many things vary in dollar amounts, how do you decide how much to put in?
I plugged in the upcoming credit cards, monthly bills, etc.
The only thing I didn't plug in was DHs income for JAN 1. I don't know what that will be because we maxed out SS for the year in July, around the time he started his new job.

So do I wait until he gets paid to start plugging stuff in?

 

[DisneyLifer87]

I want to plan out a method to snowball our CC debt, but I'm not sure of any great programs. I'd love some suggestions!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

I want to plan out a method to snowball our CC debt, but I'm not sure of any great programs. I'd love some suggestions!

David Ramsey is the snowball guy but I don't follow him.

Most people do it one of 2 ways. the card with the highest interest rate goes first. Then you pick them off from there.
What I do is the card with the lowest balance first, it's more obtainable to me.

Basically I pay the minimum balance on every other card, bill, etc. Then when I have money left over after bills are paid, I will pay any extra I can muster up on the lowest balance card. Once that is paid off I add the minimum balance from that card and add it to the minimum balance of the next card. (Plus anything else I can scrounge up if I can). Same with the third card. Minimum balance from card 1 & 2 go towards card 3.

 

[Ava]

Joining in for the first time for 2015. We have almost $11,000 in CC debt that needs to get gone! It all started a few years ago when our cat got very sick and we ended up putting about $5,000 in vet bills on a CC. It's just snowballed since then and I've been in denial, transferring it around to different 0% interest rate promotions and paying the minimum payments, but it's time to face it and get rid of it for good.

What methods do people here use for budgeting? I'd prefer to try something free to start out, since spending more money when I'm trying to get rid of debt just seems counter productive.

 

[MAJPLO]

Joining in for the first time for 2015. We have almost $11,000 in CC debt that needs to get gone! It all started a few years ago when our cat got very sick and we ended up putting about $5,000 in vet bills on a CC. It's just snowballed since then and I've been in denial, transferring it around to different 0% interest rate promotions and paying the minimum payments, but it's time to face it and get rid of it for good. What methods do people here use for budgeting? I'd prefer to try something free to start out, since spending more money when I'm trying to get rid of debt just seems counter productive.

I think YNAB has a free trial and people seem to like it.

 

[Holly Quinlan]

Joining in