Debt Dumpers - 2017

[Dentam]

I am so sorry for your loss, @dayvewc. Sending a hug your way.

 

[Eureka]

So sorry to hear about your dad, @dayvewc. I'm glad you could be there and tell him you loved him.

 

[MEM]

Dear @dayvewc

I am saddened to hear about your Dad. I lost my Dad 10 years ago on Christmas Eve at the age of 70. I couldn't be there with him to say goodbye
so at least you have that. Your year can only get better from here, eh?

 

[saucymb]

The bad news - my dad has been in bad health for a few years now, and back in August was diagnosed with a form of leukemia. He went through a couple of rounds of chemo, and seemed to be doing a lot better. All of the "bad cells" they looked for were gone. So, we celebrated Christmas and he was doing about the same as he had been before the leukemia diagnosis. On December 30, he was unable to walk - even assisted with a walker and people to help support him. We got a hospital bed for him to stay in, but by Jan 2 he was in and out of a comatose state (completely non-responsive most of the time, confused if he did respond, and unable to speak clearly). I alerted work and took off Jan 4-6 to go back home and stay with him. My other sisters also came in the night of Jan 4th. He passed away about midnight on Jan 5th, but only after all of the family was there to hold his hand and let him know that we loved him and knew he loved us. It has been a major roller-coaster of a week, and doesn't look to really end in the near future. He and mom had pre-arranged most of the funeral, but there are still lots of other loose ends that have to be taken care of.

In light of how the year started, I seriously hope that this year improves. But I also don't know how regular I will be in posting for a while. Remember me, and know that even if I don't post, I do read to stay current on how everyone else is doing. There are times when just knowing that all the people here are so friendly and helpful is all that helps me get through the day.

So sorry to hear about your father. Praying for peace and comfort for you and your family

 

[dvc at last !]

Sorry for your sorrow - good thoughts and prayers sent.

 

[PrincessKymm]

I'm very sorry for your loss @dayvewc. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

 

[mco65]

Condolences dayvewc...

My first paycheck of the year was (expect-idly) short. I get a stock bonus every quarter and have to pay taxes on it spread out over 2 checks.. On the flip side, i immediately went to my brokerage account to sell the newly acquired stock (~1200). Once settled, I will immediately put that money on my credit card used to fund our latest Disney trip which will bring that card down to under 5k.

Another card i noticed just recently that got out of hand (2k plus) was my Amazon chase card. Those are so convenient to use but if your not careful, BAM! I was at or near zero on that card this time last year! UGH. It spiraled some after i gave my wife access to my Amazon account. I wasn't holding it from her per say... My mother in law passed away on Christmas eve, sad but no unexpected. My wife's plan was to cremate her mom and spread her ashes near her mom and dads grave.. I told i wanted to get a small necklace vile and give it to our youngest daughter. Our youngest daughter was the closest person to her grandmother, especially during her final months.. She would visit her room often (she lived with us) and make she all she needed, food, water, sweets, tv, etc.. She doted on her and truly made my mothers in laws final months pleasant. I felt as though she needed something to remember her grandmother. My wife looked at the funeral home prices and of course they were ridiculous so she went to Amazon and found some.. I told her to use my account, tied to my Chase.. she did but then decided to get ALL the grandkids a vile as well as small urns for her brother and two sisters. I was a bit anguished but recognized that this was in a way, therapeutic for her..

So now i have another card to fret over.. I immediately put $150 towards after my first pay check.. now my problem is to keep my wife from buying more stuff on Amazon.. i swear.. you give her an inch and she takes a mile.

 

[DisneyMandC]

@dayvewc I am so, so sorry to hear of your loss. I was hoping to hear good news from you after your last update. Thinking of you and your family and looking forward to hear better news from you in coming days.

 

[LisaSunshine]

So sorry for your loss, @dayvewc. My thoughts are with you and your family.

 

[BrerRabbit66]

Sorry to hear about your father @dayvewc. Take comfort that you and the family were able to be with him to say your goodbyes. Prayers to guide you through the days ahead.

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

@dayvewc im sorry for your loss! At least you got to be there and hopefully things will get better for you and your family soon.

 

[fallonkendra]

Well, I think my goals for 2017 will now be changed. Originally, I wanted to really focus on paying down our debt (between us, we have 4 credit cards and 3 lines of credit), and adding to our emergency account and our USD account (we are Canadian, but we both set up US accounts with our banks that allow us to transfer money from CAD to USD through online banking. We started each transferring $50 CAD each payday (bi-weekly for my boyfriend, weekly for me) - which doesn't work out to a ton because of the terrible exchange rate right now, but it added up! We were able to go on our 9 night WDW trip this month and pay for all our food and the majority of our souvenirs with cash we had saved! We only put a few things on a credit card because I forgot my wallet in our hotel one day and we didn't want to waste time going back to get it. We have a trip to California next week, so the leftover cash in my wallet will help pay for our food/souvenirs there.)

However, while we were on our WDW trip, the half marathon my boyfriend was supposed to run was cancelled due to thunderstorms. One of the options was to transfer your registration to another runDisney event, so it looks like we will be going back to California in November for the Avengers half marathon (it falls on a long weekend for us, and it's an event my boyfriend has wanted to participate in for awhile). So, we'll have to pay for flights and hotel for that trip, but we're planning on making that one as cheap as possible.

Also, and this is really exciting, my boyfriend proposed to me while we were in Animal Kingdom last Tuesday! We haven't figured out dates or locations or anything, but we have decided we want to get married in 2018 - so that means we need to save/pay for a lot of wedding things in 2017.

I think I would be very happy if we could end the year at the exact same point we're at right now. That would mean paying off our November flights and our flights for our already planned WDW trip next January, and our hotels for both trips, as well as any wedding items we buy, deposits we make, etc.

 

[disneyduonj]

Wow. Congratulations!

 

[dvc at last !]

Congrats - Keep us informed about the wedding plans !

 

[Dentam]

Congratulations, @fallonkendra!! I have enjoyed reading your TR and PTR and look forward to reading another report about this latest trip with the proposal! How exciting!

 

[mco65]

Congrats Kendra.
I love reading happy stories!!!

 

[OregonMomToWDW]

Well, I've been away for a bit. Time to catch up some:

The bad news - my dad has been in bad health for a few years now, and back in August was diagnosed with a form of leukemia. He went through a couple of rounds of chemo, and seemed to be doing a lot better. All of the "bad cells" they looked for were gone. So, we celebrated Christmas and he was doing about the same as he had been before the leukemia diagnosis. On December 30, he was unable to walk - even assisted with a walker and people to help support him. We got a hospital bed for him to stay in, but by Jan 2 he was in and out of a comatose state (completely non-responsive most of the time, confused if he did respond, and unable to speak clearly). I alerted work and took off Jan 4-6 to go back home and stay with him. My other sisters also came in the night of Jan 4th. He passed away about midnight on Jan 5th, but only after all of the family was there to hold his hand and let him know that we loved him and knew he loved us. It has been a major roller-coaster of a week, and doesn't look to really end in the near future. He and mom had pre-arranged most of the funeral, but there are still lots of other loose ends that have to be taken care of.

In light of how the year started, I seriously hope that this year improves. But I also don't know how regular I will be in posting for a while. Remember me, and know that even if I don't post, I do read to stay current on how everyone else is doing. There are times when just knowing that all the people here are so friendly and helpful is all that helps me get through the day.

So sorry for your loss.

 

[momtosam]

Mildly annoyed with DH. He took a call from a lady affiliated with his union and set up an appointment with her on Wednesday night for her to "explain" his union death benefits. Ugh. #aintbuyingnoinsurancepolicylady

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

We sat down and reworked our budget yesterday! We are trying to put $300 a month in savings for an emergency fund and putting $150 a month in a separate fund (that we already started) to start slowly saving to buy a house. It's going to be tight and means making a lot of sacrifices as far as going out to eat and other entertainment ventures but I'll feel so much better knowing we have a savings to fall back on in an emergency. Next pay will be our "trial run" with us paying off anything on the cc and adjusting to the new budget, and then the pay after that we go live! I really hope we find this savings plan doable because it would really help us.

 

[mco65]

Good plan 5thD...
One thing i do is set my account to do is automatically move $100 from checking to savings every pay period. That way the money is gone before i ever see it.. By having my savings setup as overdraft protection, its a big relief. I don't stress when my checking account gets sub $100, which it does often.. of course my savings never swells far about $500 because invariable the kids need a new pair of shoes (or something of that nature). My oldest son needed new pants ....spent $117 on 5 or 6 pairs this weekend.. argh, it never ends..