Debt Dumpers 2020

[PhoenixStrength]

So, we cancelled our DCL cruise completely. It was originally going to be next week, but that changed of course so we rescheduled for April of next year. DH and I talked about it a few days ago and just don't feel it will be safe still by then, especially with no vaccine in sight. We already have a WDW trip planned for next fall so we decided to cancel the cruise versus reschedule since we don't know when we would go instead. We were already talking about an Alaskan cruise for 2022, so looks like that will be our first DCL cruise. The cruise was mostly paid for via Disney gift cards, so we will use them to pay off our WDW trip for next year and will even have extra left over so that's a plus.

We still want to do a Spring 2021 vacation, so we are looking at a road trip with our dog end of April. That way it is much more flexible, and therefore less risky with not knowing how COVID19 will be affecting things then. Plus, most of our activities would be state parks, beaches, hiking, etc so social distancing will be easy.

 

[jen7233]

It doesn't seem too many are on here anymore. As the end of year approaches, we have no outstanding debt. The vehicle title from the car paid off last month came in the mail and is in the safe, along with the payoff letter. I cancelled the autodraft, and received the final check closing out the account. Done!

 

[pblack]

It doesn't seem too many are on here anymore. As the end of year approaches, we have no outstanding debt. The vehicle title from the car paid off last month came in the mail and is in the safe, along with the payoff letter. I cancelled the autodraft, and received the final check closing out the account. Done!

Thats amazing!! Congratulations!

 

[imbatman]

It doesn't seem too many are on here anymore. As the end of year approaches, we have no outstanding debt. The vehicle title from the car paid off last month came in the mail and is in the safe, along with the payoff letter. I cancelled the autodraft, and received the final check closing out the account. Done!

I think there are lurkers. But some of us keep hanging around.

 

[barkley]

It doesn't seem too many are on here anymore. As the end of year approaches, we have no outstanding debt. The vehicle title from the car paid off last month came in the mail and is in the safe, along with the payoff letter. I cancelled the autodraft, and received the final check closing out the account. Done!

congrats! if you haven't already, remember to notify your insurance carrier so they know you no longer have any lien holder on the vehicle they have to involve in the event (god forbid) of a claim.

 

[jen7233]

congrats! if you haven't already, remember to notify your insurance carrier so they know you no longer have any lien holder on the vehicle they have to involve in the event (god forbid) of a claim.

Yes, thank you! I did that last week online, and also made some other car insurance adjustments.

 

[Nettlelondon]

A check in from the UK. Hubby is still working flat out, his main client works mainly for various UK government departments so they are busier than ever - and they pay promptly - so his client has no trouble paying him and needs his skills more than ever. In many ways this is great, but there are times he would just like to ease up a bit.

He did take a week off in early October. We were supposed to go away for a week to Portugal but Covid put paid to that. However we spent the week doing touristy stuff in central London - including a night in a 5 star hotel that we love. We stayed there for our 20th Wedding Anniversary and hubby thought that a birthday in Covid times warranted a similar level of treat. We were upgraded to a room that was bigger than the ground floor of our house and got a bottle of champagne thrown in so it was rather fab. We went to London Zoo and met up with a friend of mine who works there (in finance, not with the animals) which was lovely as I haven't seen her for several months.

My brother hasn't had any more financial catastrophes that he needs bailing out from so I haven't been able to access the shared inheritance to pay off any more of my mortgage - a shame, but probably good that he has gone a couple of weeks without anything going wrong.

England is going back in to lockdown on Thursday which means no travel, eating out, meeting up with friends and all non-essential shops are closing so the only significant spending out of the ordinary we are likely to have for the next few weeks is the annual service on our car - about $300.

I was due to go and stay with some friends for a few days to help out with their children - 2 boys under 3 - but that has also been put on hold. While that shoudn't cost much other than fuel to get there and back, I always seem to end up spoiling the boys along the way. But they are gorgeous so it's worth it

 

[PhoenixStrength]

I want to post about a few tiny wins we've had over the past month:

1. We have only eaten out once in the past 3 weeks, and it was paid for by an unexpected bonus I got of $100, only $30 of which we used for the food, the rest went to debt. A huge win as we used to get food out 3x a week, and it was the biggest problem with our budget! Oh, and the place we got the food from was a local place that has huge servings, so we actually got 2 full meals each from it and I still have about half of ones of the sides leftover that will supplement our dinner tonight, so we made that one time eating out last!

2. I found a way to save us $15/month in bills, and eliminate the need for another $10/month bill we were going to add. While it's not much, we don't really have any extra bills we pay beyond necessities so finding savings in our budget can be difficult. The $15/month savings was from switching companies. The $10/month never needed was for something I was going to add, but found a free alternative that is just as good!

3. I quit soda completely 12 days ago, and I have already lost 7 lbs!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Checking in. I'm surprised it's been over a month since my last update.
Still kickin ars on the mortgage. Since Aug 6 it has gone from $105,790 to $80,310 on Thursday. I love the pace we're on but I can't keep it up until it's paid off. I do have a balance tranfer on my Discover card at 0% that I'll need to pay back by May. It was originally $9000 for ds20 to attend welding school. I also had a smaller BT on dh's Discover card, also 0%, for anticipated lost wages due to minimal hours back when covid first hit but turns out I didn't need it. I have the $ set aside to pay back that BT. I keep it in my Varo savings account which earns 2.8% so that helps to offset the BT fee.
So ds20 starts his new welding job on Friday. Just 3 months of training gets him a 54% raise over his service station job so he is happy. It still is entry level pay for his field so hopefully it increases soon as he gets more experience. I'm on the fence about whether or not to make him pay part of it back. When our older son attended college, we paid a lot more than $9000 toward it so I feel bad to ask him to pay. I probably will just pay it off and move on. By my calculations, it will take Jan-early April to pay it back. I'll be glad when that's gone.
He really is trying hard to be thrifty with his $$ and spending. I'm proud of him and how much he has matured since HS. What a difference 2 years makes! So much advice that I gave to him as a teen that you think at the time it's like water rolling off a duck's back but a lot really did sink in.

I got my flu shot today, required for work.

Hope you're all staying well and still keep swimming!

 

[sandam1]

I'm on the fence about whether or not to make him pay part of it back. When our older son attended college, we paid a lot more than $9000 toward it so I feel bad to ask him to pay.

Maybe ask him to pay it back, put the money in a savings account, and once he has paid it all, give it back to him with the interest to start an IRA with.

 

[DisneyMandC]

We got the refund check where I accidentally overpaid DH's student loan when I paid it off, so that's all finally done! I'm beefing up our emergency fund a little more for the winter, and that will be done with our next paycheck. After that I think I'm going to continue putting some money away for a future car. I don't need anything immediately, but I'd like to start saving up to pay cash again next time we have to buy one.

Hope everyone is doing well!

 

[Eureka]

Hi all, hope everyone is doing well. Some good things on our side:

• Our bathroom reno is done, looks great, and is paid off.
• Hopefully our deck doors are going in later this week as scheduled. Cross your fingers they ordered it right this time. If not, that's the third strike, I will fight to get our deposit back and we'll go elsewhere. As soon as they are in and the payment is processed, I'll pay the card off.
• We're done with this semester's college tuition payment plan, and we have overpaid so we'll probably be able to just pay a small amount out of savings for the spring semester. And that's even with DS deciding to take a winter class (which is fully paid for already). We give DS money monthly for rent/utilities and food and that won't stop, but that's already accounted for out of our paychecks.
• We finally got rid of our landline a few weeks ago, so saving $56/month. Which works out great because both kids want a phone upgrade for Christmas so we'll do a payment plan for those. They still both have the iphone 6.
• I've already done a bunch of holiday shopping to spread out the spending.
• DS17 did really well on his college board testing and all of his applications are in. Now he can start looking for scholarships. And DH did both kids' FAFSA too, so now it's just the waiting game.

 

[jen7233]

Hi all, hope everyone is doing well. Some good things on our side:

• Our bathroom reno is done, looks great, and is paid off.
• Hopefully our deck doors are going in later this week as scheduled. Cross your fingers they ordered it right this time. If not, that's the third strike, I will fight to get our deposit back and we'll go elsewhere. As soon as they are in and the payment is processed, I'll pay the card off.
• We're done with this semester's college tuition payment plan, and we have overpaid so we'll probably be able to just pay a small amount out of savings for the spring semester. And that's even with DS deciding to take a winter class (which is fully paid for already). We give DS money monthly for rent/utilities and food and that won't stop, but that's already accounted for out of our paychecks.
• We finally got rid of our landline a few weeks ago, so saving $56/month. Which works out great because both kids want a phone upgrade for Christmas so we'll do a payment plan for those. They still both have the iphone 6.
• I've already done a bunch of holiday shopping to spread out the spending.
• DS17 did really well on his college board testing and all of his applications are in. Now he can start looking for scholarships. And DH did both kids' FAFSA too, so now it's just the waiting game.

wow, I've done no holiday shopping yet! I don't think I'm going to do any mail for Christmas this year, other than Christmas cards and gift cards.

We got a surprise $1300 check this week, so that was great. It was for a home buyer rewards program back in 2012 for a home we bought then and was discontinued. No longer own the home, and I almost ripped up the mail, I thought it was junk mail but decided last second to open it since it wasn't prepaid postage

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

I just went over our budget earlier this week. I haven't been finding time to do it each week as I normally would and so it took me so many hours to get it all reconciled and apply everything to proper categories. I need to cut back on spending. I have been a little loose with buying Hanukkah gifts and need to stop now.

I start back to work on November 30 and will be working part-time in December, just 7 days in the whole month. I am using pandemic leave time to cover the additional time off. My university is also giving us 3 additional "season days," so I will have 2 full weeks of paid leave from before Chirstmas until after New Year's. The plan is to return to work full time starting January 4 and then have the baby start daycare January 15 when he is just shy of 5 months old. I wish we could keep him home a bit longer, but I imagine it will start getting a bit harder to watch him and work full time. Plus we don't want to loose our daycare spot. They already pushed back his start date by almost 2 months without charging us.

 

[crazycatstacy]

Went to Ross today and got a Disney holiday welcome mat for $7. Ordered my mom and her husband Harry and David for Christmas. Bought my two nephews their gift cards and ordered another one a book. Got my list ready for Thanksgiving so I know what to buy and don't overbuy like I'm prone to do!

 

[barkley]

Ordered my mom and her husband Harry and David for Christmas

i miss the harry and david's outlet we used to live near. the best time to go was right after thanksgiving and christmas b/c they would have all the stuff they make those great gift baskets and towers with for phenomenal prices. we got really spoiled buying those wonderful pears they sell (i'm hoping trader joes gets them back again this december like they did last year).

 

[crazycatstacy]

Is anyone a black Friday shopper typically? I know things will be different this year, but I am not liking the ads that I have seen so far. Nothing seems to be a great deal. We always go Friday morning to PetSmart and get a years worth of litter and this year they don't have it and we go to Lowes and get poinsettias for every door on our floor of the building for 50 cents each and this year they are $2 a piece!

 

[dina444444]

Is anyone a black Friday shopper typically? I know things will be different this year, but I am not liking the ads that I have seen so far. Nothing seems to be a great deal. We always go Friday morning to PetSmart and get a years worth of litter and this year they don't have it and we go to Lowes and get poinsettias for every door on our floor of the building for 50 cents each and this year they are $2 a piece!

I am, I’m still waiting on Walmart and target’s Ads. I needed stuff from kohl’s and the pre Black Friday sale last week was better priced than actual Black Friday for what I wanted so I bought the stuff last week. I think supply constraints are definitely going to make this the year of not the best deals.

 

[Eureka]

Not budget related, but DS17 got his first college acceptance letter! It's not even close to his first choice, but still, he can now officially go to college.
And the guys are here now putting my deck door in. Apparently someone along the way (and many of you know what a story it has been) measured wrong so they have to take a few inches off the side of the wall/doorway. But as long as they fix everything, it should be fine and I won't have to yell at the office on the phone. Seriously, 3.5 months of drama for a door.

 

[imbatman]

Is anyone a black Friday shopper typically? I know things will be different this year, but I am not liking the ads that I have seen so far. Nothing seems to be a great deal.

This. I have found very few deals.
Still got my payments in place. Ended up having an emergency surgery on Tuesday, so we'll need to absorb those costs. I have to keep reminding myself that as bad as 2020 has been for me personally, I'm still getting debt paid off and down.

On a hilarious note, I applied for an Asst. City Manager position halfway across the country while I was in pre-op. Thought I'd try to shoot the moon this year too.