Debt Dumpers - 2014

[ruadisneyfan2]

Just checking to say hi. We have been getting whacked by Murphy.
The house painting is finally done. Because of some rotted wood that needed repairing, rescreening the back porch, running out of paint & ended up buying take out for lunch & dinner for approx. 12 days while painting, our SW visa bill is pretty high this month. I vowed years ago that I will never not pay in full so I will need to stop paying off debt to get it paid in time. I didn't mind that so much since it would have cost at least $5k to pay a professional painter to do our house.
Also, I have to add, my dbil is a professional painter but has been on disability for approx. 6 mos for his lower back (I can now see why!) so we didn't want to ask for his help but he visited last weekend and was amazed at our fine paint job! He said dh is meticulous and no way would a pro have focused on such tiny details that we did. Yay!

Now the worse part... While sweeping up the back porch, we noticed lots of flying/winged ants. Quick Google search: No, actually they're termites.
So we save some in a baggie and call dh's exterminator-friend. It's $1200 to do a whole-house termite treatment, including boring holes in the foundation to treat that too. ugh! Luckily, we don't have any evidence of termite damage so I guess it could be worse. It was one of his employees that came today but dh's friend would be giving the treatment so I hope he offers to knock something off the price. Dh trusts him 100% so I don't even suggest calling another exterminator. He's been in business for 30 years.

Then next weekend my BFF's daughter graduates college so that will need to be a decent-sized gift and deposit is due for ds17's senior trip to WDW next year. I did pre-plan that since it's a 5-week month, that's no problem.

Ds13 had a bat mitzvah to attend last Saturday and my BFF's first & only grandbaby will be having his 1st bday party in early June.

Ds13's birthday is less than 2 weeks away and asked for a new bike which I totally understand. His old one is tiny and he literally wore the thing down over the last 7 years. It doesn't owe him a dime.

Next weekend is Mother's Day. Early June our family has a get-together for all the May/June birthdays so I'll need to get something for my Grandmom. She'll be 97.
Omg, some days it's enough to make my head spin. I've had a killer sinus infection since last weekend, missing 2 days of work last week, literally in bed for 90% of the days and finally starting to feel like myself again today. That's what I get for opening all the windows, acting like I don't have horrendous allergies, and letting the "fresh" air (ahem, pollen) in.

Sigh.... so just when card #7 got down to a mere $73, I need to divert the snowball again. They're all important/milestone things which I can't ignore. It just stinks that it's all at once.
At a quick glance, I estimate that May & June's snowball will go toward this stuff. I'm afraid to tap our emergency fund in case something else goes wrong.

 

[Eureka]

Way to go!!!

We had a setback this month -- DH started a new job, and the hiring paperwork was slow which ended up delaying his start date and costing us 1/2 a month's income. We sat down yesterday with our May budget and had to make some serious adjustments to account for the temporary income reduction. The good news is that I had $800 ready to be sent to our HELOC as an extra payment, so while I'm a bit sad we could not make that extra payment, at least we can weather this temporary blip without taking on any new debt or completely emptying our savings. A year ago that would not have been the case, but after a full year of YNAB we had padding in quite a few budget areas that we were able to use to help handle the income dip. I'm ready for June to be here, when we get to budget with 2 normal salaries again

That's great. That's the whole point to me, to be able to weather the unexpected without draining everything.

 

[AndreaO1983]

I've been following along, but haven't posted on this forum yet. I've been obsessing over a Disney Trip for a few months now, and my husband agreed to it as long as we are out of debt before we go. So this has been my plan since January.

My CC - $3000 debt - paid off by January 2015
DH CC - $3000 debt - paid off by January 2016
LofC - $15,000 debt - paid off by January 2017

So far, my CC is paid off. And DH is down to under $1500. I can't believe that in 4 months I've been able to make such a big dent in our CC's. I just hope that something doesn't come up to throw me off track. After seeing how well I've done, I'm now motivated to get my mortgage paid off sooner. I hope to be Mortgage free by 2022. Our mortgage was set up for 45 years. By having it paid off by 2022, we'll take 34 years off our mortgage. That's insane.

 

[Chelley00]

I haven't been here forever, but that's because I was lucky enough to land a part time job. My "real" job is only part time too, so I'm really not working much more than full time....NOW. Since March we've been working on opening the store and most of March and April I was working 60-80 hours a week. I'm way too old for that so I'm glad the hours have slowed down, but those first several checks were a nice way to send a chunk of change to medical bills.

 

[zy144622]

Love dropping in to hear good news! I am doing well dumping extra money into debt whenever possible. I became an independent TA last June and have been working hard to build my business. I am still working my full time job also so the extra income goes to debt. Fingers crossed I can leave my full time job in the next 3-5 years because my business will booming ! I love what I do and getting out of debt faster is a perk too.

 

[pigletto]

Seeing all the excitement and posting about free dining today is making me wish we were going on a trip sooner. So I thought I would post in here to stay on top of my goals.
We've always gone during free dining because it provides our family of of four a significant savings. But the good news is we are on track and saving for a February 2015 trip. I have 2 day tickets left over that we will upgrade. That and a modest room only discount actually will make this trip the same price as if we went sooner with free dining. And it will all be paid for in it's entirety upfront and with cash.

Just have to keep my eye on the prize. I am still loving YNAB. Like some of you the next two months are heavy gift months for me. I also got a notice yesterday that our gas bill will be going up by about 40%. Thanks polar vortex. Oh well… just meant I had to adjust some other categories. I'm telling you, you'd have to push me pretty darn hard to take anything from the vacation savings. It will be a more modest trip than we usually take but I consider myself lucky that I can save, pay down dh's student loans faster and still go away.
Onward.

 

[AirGoofy]

.... After seeing how well I've done, I'm now motivated to get my mortgage paid off sooner. I hope to be Mortgage free by 2022. Our mortgage was set up for 45 years. By having it paid off by 2022, we'll take 34 years off our mortgage. That's insane.

45 year made mortgage? I can't believe your loan term would be set that way. Congrats on all the progress and keep up the good work.

Love dropping in to hear good news! I am doing well dumping extra money into debt whenever possible. I became an independent TA last June and have been working hard to build my business. I am still working my full time job also so the extra income goes to debt. Fingers crossed I can leave my full time job in the next 3-5 years because my business will booming ! I love what I do and getting out of debt faster is a perk too.

My admiration and best wishes on running your own business. I am either too dumb or lack the confidence to do so. Keep up the good work.

 

[rani8600]

Hi everyone… I have been on the boards for a while, but have just discovered this section. I would really like to move in a direction that makes me feel more secure about my finances. I don’t carry a tremendous about of debt, but any debt can seem overwhelming and become stressful. I have a car loan and a student loan that are set to be paid off in another 5 years. It feels like forever. I would also like to move in the direction of buying my first home. I would be nervous to do this while I still carry my current debts. The idea that my entire paycheck goes to a debt that I am locked into for a long period of time can be anxiety inducing

I have seen some great ideas and support on this thread. You all are great motivators. Now I would like to try to pay down those debts sooner. I would like to set a goal of getting these paid for at least a year ahead of time. I think I can do it if I am more careful with my monthly budget.

 

[pryncess527]

Seeing all the excitement and posting about free dining today is making me wish we were going on a trip sooner. So I thought I would post in here to stay on top of my goals.
We've always gone during free dining because it provides our family of of four a significant savings. But the good news is we are on track and saving for a February 2015 trip. I have 2 day tickets left over that we will upgrade. That and a modest room only discount actually will make this trip the same price as if we went sooner with free dining. And it will all be paid for in it's entirety upfront and with cash.

Just have to keep my eye on the prize. I am still loving YNAB. Like some of you the next two months are heavy gift months for me. I also got a notice yesterday that our gas bill will be going up by about 40%. Thanks polar vortex. Oh well… just meant I had to adjust some other categories. I'm telling you, you'd have to push me pretty darn hard to take anything from the vacation savings. It will be a more modest trip than we usually take but I consider myself lucky that I can save, pay down dh's student loans faster and still go away.
Onward.

I'm right there with you! The Free Dining rumors had me planning a trip all last week and trying to figure out if I could work it into our budget for this October. I finally had to back away and acknowledge it's a bad idea and that even if I could do it without debt, it would derail our goals to funnel so much into a vacation right now . . .

 

[pryncess527]

Love dropping in to hear good news! I am doing well dumping extra money into debt whenever possible. I became an independent TA last June and have been working hard to build my business. I am still working my full time job also so the extra income goes to debt. Fingers crossed I can leave my full time job in the next 3-5 years because my business will booming ! I love what I do and getting out of debt faster is a perk too.

Good luck! Building a new business is exciting, I hope it takes off!

 

[pryncess527]

I've been following along, but haven't posted on this forum yet. I've been obsessing over a Disney Trip for a few months now, and my husband agreed to it as long as we are out of debt before we go. So this has been my plan since January.

My CC - $3000 debt - paid off by January 2015
DH CC - $3000 debt - paid off by January 2016
LofC - $15,000 debt - paid off by January 2017

So far, my CC is paid off. And DH is down to under $1500. I can't believe that in 4 months I've been able to make such a big dent in our CC's. I just hope that something doesn't come up to throw me off track. After seeing how well I've done, I'm now motivated to get my mortgage paid off sooner. I hope to be Mortgage free by 2022. Our mortgage was set up for 45 years. By having it paid off by 2022, we'll take 34 years off our mortgage. That's insane.

Wow, I've never heard of a 45 year mortgage, that's nuts! Paying it off so early would be huge, you'd save a fortune in interest. Congrats on your awesome progress so far, good luck!

 

[pryncess527]

Hi everyone… I have been on the boards for a while, but have just discovered this section. I would really like to move in a direction that makes me feel more secure about my finances. I don’t carry a tremendous about of debt, but any debt can seem overwhelming and become stressful. I have a car loan and a student loan that are set to be paid off in another 5 years. It feels like forever. I would also like to move in the direction of buying my first home. I would be nervous to do this while I still carry my current debts. The idea that my entire paycheck goes to a debt that I am locked into for a long period of time can be anxiety inducing

I have seen some great ideas and support on this thread. You all are great motivators. Now I would like to try to pay down those debts sooner. I would like to set a goal of getting these paid for at least a year ahead of time. I think I can do it if I am more careful with my monthly budget.

Welcome to the thread! It can be so nice to have the support of others as motivation. Good luck watching your budget and sending extra towards debt

 

[Twingle]

Hi all. Don't even know where to start or begin. Long, long story short, I found out last night that my husband has $150k in credit card debt.
He is a self employed soil scientist who's company took a hit during the recession, and has been doing better since last summer.
I'm a stay at home mom for almost 15 years.
We own two cars outright.
Have 19 years left on a 30 year mortgage.
For lack of anything else - help?

 

[rusafee1183]

Hi all. Don't even know where to start or begin. Long, long story short, I found out last night that my husband has $150k in credit card debt.
He is a self employed soil scientist who's company took a hit during the recession, and has been doing better since last summer.
I'm a stay at home mom for almost 15 years.
We own two cars outright.
Have 19 years left on a 30 year mortgage.
For lack of anything else - help?

So sorry you're going through this. What a nightmare! I am not someone who should be giving advice yet, I just started my 'debt free journey' with my husband a few weeks ago. As a beginner, the only real piece of advice I can give is sit down and make a plan together. You need to make sure you are both on board with whatever you come up with. You can't do this alone, and you need to both be on the EXACT same page.

We started following a combination of Dave Ramsey and YNAB (thanks to a lot of helpful advice here) and it's been working very well for us. We sit down and have a weekly 'budget meeting' together, and plan how we are going to allocate our income. Tomorrow will be our 4th budget meeting, and so far we have paid off a $500 store credit card.

I work full time, and I am taking a 2nd full time job for as long as I can stand it and we hope to be nearly debt free ($40,000 debt) in 1 year.

People are really nice here, and I'm sure you will get a lot of good advice. My advice for now is to sit down, come up with a plan together to attack that debt and try to stay focused. It won't be a fast/easy/pretty process.

Good luck!

 

[pigletto]

Hi all. Don't even know where to start or begin. Long, long story short, I found out last night that my husband has $150k in credit card debt.
He is a self employed soil scientist who's company took a hit during the recession, and has been doing better since last summer.
I'm a stay at home mom for almost 15 years.
We own two cars outright.
Have 19 years left on a 30 year mortgage.
For lack of anything else - help?

You must be just reeling right now. I am so sorry. I agree with the previous poster, the program "You Need A Budget" is fabulous and you can try it free for a month to get the hang of it. It helped us see where every penny was going and that we actually had a lot more to throw at dh's student loan than we thought. Seeing everything laid out in front of you gives you much better control of your money and spending. While you might have a much bigger amount of debt to tackle, the principals are the same.. cut spending , bring in more income, and throw every cent you can at that debt. This is a wonderful and supportive thread and I am sure others will be along to help.

 

[AirGoofy]

Hi everyone… I have been on the boards for a while, but have just discovered this section. I would really like to move in a direction that makes me feel more secure about my finances. I don’t carry a tremendous about of debt, but any debt can seem overwhelming and become stressful. I have a car loan and a student loan that are set to be paid off in another 5 years. It feels like forever. I would also like to move in the direction of buying my first home. I would be nervous to do this while I still carry my current debts. The idea that my entire paycheck goes to a debt that I am locked into for a long period of time can be anxiety inducing .

How intense do you want to be? I've heard Dave Ramsey tell people to sell stuff, sell the car, pay off negative balance if applicable, and buy a beater car to get by with. Then, there is the beans n rice plan. That is more intense than DW wanted to go, so we worked it out at a slower rate. You can do it my making cuts, and even faster when adding income.

Hi all. Don't even know where to start or begin. Long, long story short, I found out last night that my husband has $150k in credit card debt.
He is a self employed soil scientist who's company took a hit during the recession, and has been doing better since last summer.
I'm a stay at home mom for almost 15 years.
We own two cars outright.
Have 19 years left on a 30 year mortgage.
For lack of anything else - help?

That is a really large amount. Has he kept you in the dark about the finances over the years or did this amount happen since last summer? Hopefully, the business has ability to produce the type of income needed to get out of that debt.

 

[OhMari]

How intense do you want to be? I've heard Dave Ramsey tell people to sell stuff, sell the car, pay off negative balance if applicable, and buy a beater car to get by with. Then, there is the beans n rice plan. That is more intense than DW wanted to go, so we worked it out at a slower rate. You can do it my making cuts, and even faster when adding income.



That is a really large amount. Has he kept you in the dark about the finances over the years or did this amount happen since last summer? Hopefully, the business has ability to produce the type of income needed to get out of that debt.

If this is business related, could you call the credit card company and try to get some of it knocked down. You could go talk to a lawyer and file bankruptcy on the card, it would be no different than a medical bankruptcy.

 

[dmross]

Hi all. Don't even know where to start or begin. Long, long story short, I found out last night that my husband has $150k in credit card debt.
He is a self employed soil scientist who's company took a hit during the recession, and has been doing better since last summer.
I'm a stay at home mom for almost 15 years.
We own two cars outright.
Have 19 years left on a 30 year mortgage.
For lack of anything else - help?

This is a good place to be. Welcome! I'm also new at paying down debt, but I agree with some of the other advice. Pick everything apart, adopt a philosophy about money that engages and empowers you, and then get the resources that you need.

While you are at it, stop into this board now and again to get encouragement. There are great people here!

 

[Twingle]

Thanks for all the welcomes and support. I don't know how to multi quote from my phone, so I apologize for just lumping all my replies into one post.
The debt was 8+ years in the making. When we'd have our semi-regular budget talks, he simply wouldn't present all the bills, and there were many I didn't know about. He finally had to come clean when too much of what he was saying wasn't adding up.
Some of it is business related. We're meeting with a financial advisor, and looking more into the Ramsey and other plans you've suggested.
I'm looking for employment.
We're looking into all non necessary monthly expenses (cable, daily paper) and canceling them.

Thank you again.

 

[yupikgal]

Hi everyone! I decided to join back up again after lurking for a while, I had joined the old thread (2013) but have just been reading the new one since the first of the year. Congratulations to all of you for making the conscious effort to reduce your debt!

A lot has happened since I last posted on this topic, things changed about 8 months ago -my husband accepted a new job (within the same organization) and we moved, mostly to start fresh & because his income has increased, his retirement will as well. He's got about 6.5 years left, so God willing, we will stay here and finish off his working years. I found a job that pays well, it's very busy, but I like that it makes the time go by fast

Most of our debt is cc, unfortunately, so I'll start there. Last year before we moved here and had sold some vehicles & our RV, I was determined to set a schedule for paying off our debt. We still own one truck (an older one that we have a loan out on) a house that we are still paying a mortgage on, so I won't factor those in until we get our cc's paid off. We considered selling the house since we are renting here, and it's not cheap, but we wanted a place to go to when we fly out of here (very remote-no other way to get out) and our kids are living in our house - we wanted to help them for now (youngest is out of high school and working-daughter is working and in college) until they get more financially stable. They have a friend who will be moving in in June who will be paying rent. Our kids are helping us out by watching the place & doing some repairs, etc. so it's a win win. We want to have a place to go to when we leave here and retire to.

Anyway, I'm happy to announce that since we've been here, I've paid off the Sears Bill (it was $2450 at it's highest) and I'm going to pay off Best Buy (promo deal-18 months interest free) by the end of this month!! The next one that I'm tackling is the Discover card. At it's highest, it was around $7800, after this months payment, it will be down to a little over $5000! My pay off goal date for that card is December 2014. Because it has the highest interest rate, I've considered getting a new card with a 0% interest rate to pay it off even faster, because the monthly int. is about $92, which adds up.

We have 3 others, but I won't mention the balances or other information until I pay off the current one I'm working on, it simplifies things in my mind that way.

Since we do live in a very remote area, over the years we live here, we are going to be going on some trips to more urban areas now and then for mental health. For instance, we have a trip planned & booked for November to Southern California, and of course, Disney. I always try to look for the best deals airfare wise, and use miles when I can. I'm also paying down a Costco pkg every month, so that is helping. I know we could pay down our debt a lot faster without trips, but seeing as we cut back a lot of other expenses and are willing to sacrifice and pay a bit longer to get out of debt, we are ok with that.

My goal pay off date for all our cc's is my birthday month, September 2016. I will continue to read everyone's successes and cheer everybody on, & every now and then I'll do an update with our situation. Thanks for starting this thread and here's to everyone living a happier and stress free life!! We can do this!!