Debt Dumpers - 2018

[crazycatstacy]

Enabler alert

It was always a dream of mine to stay in the Contemporary. Something about that MK view and walking to MK just drew me in. I always considered it out of budget also. This past summer we took a splurge and booked two nights in a Garden view room, and while I was excited, I just really wanted that MK view. So we did it. We splurged for the castle at night from our balcony. And to me - it was worth every.single.penny. I knew good and well if we go back for a full week's trip, it's out of the question. And that will be hard. But I'm so glad we did it!

I soooo badly want to do it. We can't get points until January so by then I might have changed my mind and decided to not be responsible. My dream is to stay theme park view room and just watch it from the balcony.

 

[jen7233]

My car maintenance got a push forward to a top priority. It's been acting up over the last six months where I'd have issues maybe 10, then 20% of the time, but now it's pretty much daily and becoming a safety hazard so it's going in the shop Monday. Had to pull over on the highway twice today to restart it because it seems to stick in gear, revs really high then doesn't adjust itself through the gears will stay in really high RPM sometimes unless I stop the car and turn it off and back on, or am lucky to do my gas pedal with just the exactly right pressure while it goes through each gear. Hard to explain, no idea what it's doing but it's now doing this about 80% of the time rather than the great once in a while. This week it happened every single day. I think it's electrical/transmission and then also my steering makes noise, not sure exactly what's going on. I know nothing about cars. Hopefully the estimate to fix the problems won't be too high. I looked up KBB just in case they tell me it's major then I have some deciding to do.

 

[DLgal]

We had a budget buster of a weekend. Ugh.

Friday night, my son decided the dryer door rubber gasket needed to be cleaned so he removed it. I could NOT get it back in, so I took apart the door to reseat it, and the glass door slipped out, dropped, amd shattered all over the floor. My bad...should have taken the whole door off and done this on the ground (our dryer is stacked on top of the washer). I did not anticipate that the glass would fall out like that. New dryer door=$210. Ooof. We barely paid $500 for the whole dryer...

Saturday, we went to Disneyland. As soon as we got there, DH dropped his Ray Bans and they shattered. Was going to buy new ones but found out we could get a 15% military discount online at Sunglass Hut, so ordered them when we got home. $175 more, but those glasses were all chipped anyway and needed to be replaced, so it wasn't totally out of nowhere.

Then, I remembered we have a wedding to go to in 3 weeks. Had to buy a gift off the registry and I need a new dress. Ordered a few online and hopefully I'll like one of them. Another $200-250 spent.

Then I went to Bed Bath and Beyond yesterday for a new wok. I left after spending $140 on stuff I realized we needed as soon as I saw it.

I was doing so good on the spending too.

 

[jen7233]

We had a budget buster of a weekend. Ugh.

Yes, I have those days, too! It's those unplanned things, or the things that suddenly get a push forward, lol, that get me.

Car acted up twice today, the exact two times I drove it, so yes, it's going in the shop without a doubt. I was reading stories like mine in some car forums, checking out the GMC forums also, now I'm scared of possible costs...….I read one story that was exactly like mine, different type of car though same exact thing happening. Also need brake pads, had my car inspected last week to do state registration and he said it was borderline. I was planning to do brake pads soon then this issue with the gears became not random but constant pretty suddenly. Anyway, that's my car stress at the moment I know it's not interesting but I had to get it off my chest! Those big costs that come at you that you know can come, but you hope they come later...

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

We have decided at the last minute to go to Cuyahoga Valley National Park this weekend. This is mostly in an effort for me to get Marriott Platinum status by the end of the year, since I should be just a few nights shy once I finish all of my work trips and we have our vacations in Oct/Nov. So I got a room for 2 nights for just 15k Marriott rewards points total. Breakfast is included and we are packing sandwich fixings for lunches, so we just have to worry about the cost of dinners. We will be taking our bikes and the bike trailer. I am thinking that we might do a scenic train ride through the park as well. And we have to pay for the bird sitter, but otherwise it should be a pretty low cost getaway.

And I have started using Poshmark to buy some things for DD. For what would have cost $105 retail, I got her a set of North face hat and mittens, and Columbia snow pants for $37. And the hat and mittens are still new with tags. I am looking for some snow boots too, but think I might wait a bit longer since I am still a little unsure if she will need a size 3 or 4 shoe. And I also got myself a pair of brand new black suede mules for $30. I am thinking that I might try to sell some items on Poshmark as well.

I have started to work on losing weight in earnest. And DH has now followed my lead. We are both using the Myfitnesspal app to track calories and making an effort to incorporate activity into our day, tracked via our Apple watches. It is so much easier that DH is on board too. Since I started at the beginning of the month, I have dropped 5 lbs and am now back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I already am feeling much better. But my pre-pregnancy weight wasn't great, so my goal is to try and loose another 28 lbs. I think with DH's support, I could reach that.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I have started to work on losing weight in earnest. And DH has now followed my lead. We are both using the Myfitnesspal app to track calories and making an effort to incorporate activity into our day, tracked via our Apple watches. It is so much easier that DH is on board too. Since I started at the beginning of the month, I have dropped 5 lbs and am now back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I already am feeling much better. But my pre-pregnancy weight wasn't great, so my goal is to try and loose another 28 lbs. I think with DH's support, I could reach that.

I have GOT to lose some weight. I've been out of control with eating lately since I've been insanely stressed at work and my grandma has been in the hospital, so I've just been eating total garbage and existing on Starbucks. Things are finally starting to calm down some. I want to lose some weight before our November WDW trip, if nothing else so I can eat all the goodies at MVMCP and not feel guilty!

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

I have GOT to lose some weight. I've been out of control with eating lately since I've been insanely stressed at work and my grandma has been in the hospital, so I've just been eating total garbage and existing on Starbucks. Things are finally starting to calm down some. I want to lose some weight before our November WDW trip, if nothing else so I can eat all the goodies at MVMCP and not feel guilty!

I get this completely. My main motivation is that DD is walking and soon that will be running, jumping, climbing, etc. I want to be an active mom. But also, I want to be in good shape for running around Disneyland/WDW and not feel guilty about splurging on some treats while on vacation.

 

[Aurora_Australis]

I had my monthly gym check-in this morning and while not having a lot lost kg wise, lost 11cm (4 and a bit inches???) overall from bust, waist, hips and thighs and a 1.5% reduction in body fat. Just sharing because I am super proud and as we added in my work's employee fitness pass and spouse pass to our budget, we'd better be getting results if we are shelling out the money.

Eating well is actually being pretty budget friendly too. We're usually only having 2-3 meat meals a week but portion control and not adding on, say, a garlic bread or naan bread is cheaper and healthier too.

We DID end up shelling out for the outdoor setting though. It is a great size, great price and I could not find anything as good second hand, despite searching all week.

I HAVE made it all the way through 2 pay cycles though without floating anything on my cc! With next month being a 3 check month the goal is to budget $$ into the next month for the first time since I started back on YNAB in July.

 

[jen7233]

I had my monthly gym check-in this morning and while not having a lot lost kg wise, lost 11cm (4 and a bit inches???) overall from bust, waist, hips and thighs and a 1.5% reduction in body fat. Just sharing because I am super proud and as we added in my work's employee fitness pass and spouse pass to our budget, we'd better be getting results if we are shelling out the money.

I think that's great! I've been thinking about joining a gym. I have to go cost compare the few choices around here.

I agree with the points of stress getting to the body. I have had so much on the plate with some family legal issues, then death of one parent, and now Alzheimers taking its toll for my other, that I feel like I need to have an outlet and maybe should look into a gym or yoga to get back in body/mind healthy.

 

[Eureka]

I hear you all with the exercising/eating better/weight loss. I lost 9 lbs last winter and have gained 2-3back. Not a ton but I feel it in my clothes. My office moved in June and we have a nice fitness room now but I have yet to visit it to walk the treadmill. I could at least do a mile at lunchtime (20min or so for me) but have made various excuses not to. Really need to start, and to eat better again. I know what I need to do and will feel better. My mom has been visiting this weekend - she and I went to see Elton John last night! - so it has not been a good eating weekend, health wise. (It’s been great, yummy wise, lol). Sigh.

 

[jen7233]

I looked into yoga classes at a yoga only studio this weekend and it's $115 a month. This sounds like so much to me! But I googled a few others and this seems to be a going price. I'm having a really hard time justifying this cost and think it sounds so high. I'd like to try these classes, but don't know if I want to tack that type of amount on monthly budget for fitness, and then yoga specifically? I'm looking into this in particular because I'm kind of interested in the mind/body health and have known quite a few people that rave about yoga, how it changed their lives, and went on to become instructors. But, anyway...

I am walking, which is free, but won't be doing that in winter and sometimes talk myself out of it anyway, like well I need to get laundry done, floors need mopping, need to run an errand, etc., so I think if there's a place to go to, I'm less likely to suddenly decide I have too much to do than to go walk. I used to be a runner, but don't anymore. I have to check into Planet Fitness and see what price that's running at and if they have group classes.

On other budget talk, I'm looking at changing my budget strategy again in October. In September, I went back to tracking everything on Everydollar app and I just absolutely hate tracking every line item. So, I'm looking at this strategy next month: having a 4 category approach with income/outgo. Categories will be bills, spend, save, invest. Estimating spend could get tricky because that's a catchall, bills are usually pretty straightforward. Savings will be my things I'm saving for under 18 months-2 years and have a dollar cap, like Christmas, insurance that's due billed every six months, furniture/appliance replacement for the tv that wants to quit working or something like that, and of course have kids needing braces soon. *And car repair, once I get past the current issue with my car! Investing, Roth IRA, non-retirement saving for things more than 2 years out like a house downpayment.

I could go to YNAB or Mint so I can let that track things without needing to have to do it myself on the free version of Everydollar, but I also don't feel like paying for budgeting apps so I was using free Everydollar. Now I think I'm going back to Excel spreadsheet and paper.

 

[BrerRabbit66]

Jumping in to say this has been a very long, expensive and extremely frustrating summer for me. At the end of May I ended up in the ER with severe abdominal pain. Diagnosis - Diverticulitis...no problem, change diet, drink more water...easily resolved. However, they did a CT Scan and pointed out numerous areas of "concern" in my body that would need follow-up testing to rule out the suspicion of "various types of cancer". I am happy to say that after 3 months of doctor visits for various testing I have been given a clean bill of health. I am thrilled to be considered healthy, but annoyed that they so freely toss around the "c" word to scare the crap out of a person. During this time, my DH retired so my health insurance switched from his policy to one of my own...what great timing...got to cover out of pocket maximums for both policies....8k just for little ole me. Smile, pay it, life is good and praise God because after all....you are healthy.

Two weeks ago, a distracted driver rammed the back of a car shoving it into the back of my daughters car while both vehicles were stopped at a stoplight. All three vehicles were shoved thru and to the other side of a heavily traveled city intersection. Witnesses and the driver estimated she was going 50mph when she hit the parked vehicles...she said she never saw the red light. I cannot thank God enough that all drivers were able to walk away from this accident that totaled all three cars. Airbags did not deploy for my daughter as she was hit from behind, but she does wear her seat belt. Hit her head on the steering wheel and jammed her hand into the dashboard. She was treated for a concussion and is undergoing physical therapy on her shoulder, neck and back. I can only imagine the way the middle driver must be feeling. He got smashed on both ends, but at least he had airbags to cushion some of the impact. I am so very thankful that all were able to walk away from this...including the small child riding in the distracted drivers vehicle.

 

[Aurora_Australis]

On my goodness @BrerRabbit66, thank goodness everyone is ok! And that you have a clean bill of health too.

Our medical oop fund has taken a hit, DD5 is home for another day and we've been through our entire supply of paracetamol and ibuprofen between the two of them this fortnight. Plus DH just got a referral for a minor op that will mean the $800 copay kicks in. Trying to schedule for after Jan 1 so that it counts for next year.

@jen7233, there are lots of free yoga tutorials on youtube you could try for a start. DH subscribed to an app version, DDP Yoga, that he quite likes. Cancelled now he is at the gym though. You could try those and a couple of casual sessions in a real class to fine tune technique and it would be much cheaper?

 

[Alexle2007]

On my goodness @BrerRabbit66, thank goodness everyone is ok! And that you have a clean bill of health too.

Our medical oop fund has taken a hit, DD5 is home for another day and we've been through our entire supply of paracetamol and ibuprofen between the two of them this fortnight. Plus DH just got a referral for a minor op that will mean the $800 copay kicks in. Trying to schedule for after Jan 1 so that it counts for next year.

@jen7233, there are lots of free yoga tutorials on youtube you could try for a start. DH subscribed to an app version, DDP Yoga, that he quite likes. Cancelled now he is at the gym though. You could try those and a couple of casual sessions in a real class to fine tune technique and it would be much cheaper?

So funny to hear you mention “fortnight.” Totally different “Fortnite” is used in our school. DS and his friends are addicted to it!

 

[Aurora_Australis]

So funny to hear you mention “fortnight.” Totally different “Fortnite” is used in our school. DS and his friends are addicted to it!

Oh no, we have Fortnite mania here too, I'm a high school teacher, can't mention the word without the kids going mental! You guys tend to say bi-weekly instead?

 

[jackers]

I’ve been busting the budget right and left lately. Booked an unplanned trip to San Antonio to see my nephew graduate from Air Force boot camp. So proud of him so worth the money. I’m sharing a room with two of my sisters so definitely saving some money there. And with some cooler weather moving in this weekend, I realized after losing over 30 pounds that I have almost no fall clothes that fit me. So spent way too much money on clothes this weekend. Plus two new sports bras. I have been training for a half marathon (which is next weekend - eep!) and my older bras were really chafing me. I’m hoping one of these will work well for the final run.

The clothes were a necessity, the four pairs of shoes.... probably not.

 

[Alexle2007]

Oh no, we have Fortnite mania here too, I'm a high school teacher, can't mention the word without the kids going mental! You guys tend to say bi-weekly instead?

Aw, yes. Bi-weekly is our US word. Maybe I use the Aussie/British meaning and only allow to DS to play Fortnite fortnight. BTW, we absolutely loved Australia when we went there for our honeymoon in 2000. We can't wait to take DS11 for a visit in a couple of years. Such a beautiful, friendly country. We drove from Sydney through the wine country to the Gold Coast up to Coffs Harbour back to Brisbane then flew to Cairns and went to Port Douglas where we went out to the Great Barrier Reef and then even farther north to the rainforest when flew from Cairns back to Sydney for a few days where we had an amazing view of the opera house from our room at the Stafford Apartments and made the trek back to MD through LAX. We were in July right before you held the summer Olympics so we went to visit the venue. We were amazed at how much contrast there was in the beaches from baby powder fine to more like pebbles. When we will return we are going to try for a lesser "winter" feel but with our schools only have off June-Aug that makes it a challenge since we would be coming for 3 weeks or so again. And what a surprise that the koala's fur felt more like a Brillo pad than nice and soft. Best vacation ever!!!

 

[Aurora_Australis]

Ah, we live in that wine country, in Newcastle actually. Great town. But we've been all the way up to the Daintree and to Darwin on different vacations. You did a lot of driving! Our favourite US trip was driving from Seattle down to LA and Anaheim though, it is such a great way to see a country, to stop at all the smaller places along the way.


And just when budgeting might be going well, DH hits me up with a $100 textbook order for work and DD9 needs summer sport rego fees for $160. Not made of money here! Putting off garden beds another month at least. Will aim to have all the materials to complete over the Christmas m break then.

 

[jen7233]

I’ve been busting the budget right and left lately. Booked an unplanned trip to San Antonio to see my nephew graduate from Air Force boot camp. So proud of him so worth the money. I’m sharing a room with two of my sisters so definitely saving some money there. And with some cooler weather moving in this weekend, I realized after losing over 30 pounds that I have almost no fall clothes that fit me. So spent way too much money on clothes this weekend. Plus two new sports bras. I have been training for a half marathon (which is next weekend - eep!) and my older bras were really chafing me. I’m hoping one of these will work well for the final run.

The clothes were a necessity, the four pairs of shoes.... probably not.

Yes, agree that's worth budget busting!

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

DD is going to be turning one in just a few short weeks, which means that we can graduate to milk instead of formula. I went through YNAB and added up our total cost for formula over the past year. Though my Costco stopped allowing me to apply rebate checks towards the Kirkland brand formula a few months ago, we still did pretty well. We will have spent just $530 on a year's supply of infant formula. And we have spent just $465 on a year's worth of diapers and baby wipes.

We are starting to think about our trip to WDW for DD's 2nd birthday. We would like to stay at Villas at Grand Floridian so that we can make sure we like the resort before we buy a contract there. I remember staying at GF when I was a kid and it was great, but we want to be sure. So originally we had planned to rent DVC points to make sure we got a reservation at the 11 month mark. But then I realized that we could borrow from our 2020 points and combined with our 2019 points, we would have enough for the trip with the purchase of just a few one time use points. That will save us money as well as making it so we won't have to rent out our 2020 points if I am pregnant that year. But we wouldn't be able to book until the 7 month mark. So the plan is to book at Poly at the 11 month mark and then to try and rebook at VGF at the 7 month mark. Even if we ended up with a split stay, I would be happy with that.

And I am trying to figure out what to do now that Disney is changing the ticket system. We have some no expiration date 5 day park hoppers that we were planning to use and then upgrade to a DVC annual pass. But now that the system is changing, I feel like we should hold onto all of our no expiration date tickets since they would still be valid for any day of the year. Very early March and mid-October probably aren't going to be considered peak times, so it wouldn't make much to use our no expiration date tickets. That way if we choose to go during a peak time in the years ahead, we would have 4x 7-day hoppers and 2x 5-day hoppers available for such trips.

So that means that we are going to buying 2 DVC annual passes out of pocket instead. I haven't had an annual pass before. Can I buy it now, before all the ticket changes and use it for the first time in March 2019 to then be valid for a year?