Debt Dumpers - 2018

[piccolopat]

Doing the happy dance today! My Pell Grant came through and I was awarded about $3100 per semester! That's enough for a full course load, plus all my books and other fees! I'm so excited to go back to school and finally do something with my life (better late than never).
I also saw a flyer in the advisement building that the Kaiser Foundation (who partners with the University of Oklahoma, my #1 choice to go to finish my degree) is paying off all loans for graduates in early education (my major) as long as they work in an Oklahoma school for 4 years post graduation. They'll pay it off, in entirety! We had plans to move away from Oklahoma in the next few years, but this may be something we need to strongly consider weighing in. It would mean 4 additional years in Oklahoma on top of our current 4 year plan. We'd have to really decide on this fairly soon, because it would change a few nearish long term goals completely if we decided to stay.

Congratulations and best of luck with going back to school. Also exciting that you have a way to possibly get your loans paid off by teaching in your state.

 

[DLgal]

While I would never get rid of our six cell phones (also no land line), they are not a necessity. I think about this every month when paying our bill. People can and do live without cell phones. Even at that, every single person in the house doesn't need his or her own personal phones. A cell phone (and multiple in the family) does not meet the definition of a necessity. I do have friends who absolutely refuse to give their kid a phone. Instead they call their parent when they arrive at a location and before departing, using their friends phone or friends parents phone, etc. Just like when I was in high school and cell phones were very rare (I graduated in 1992), I had a driver's license but had to call my parents when I got to my destination and before leaving.

My kid only has a phone so I can track his whereabouts using Google Maps. He is autistic and doesn't use the phone to actually talk or text with anyone. But he was riding his bike to school in middle school and this is how I felt comfortable enough to allow him to do that (I could watch him on Maps and see that he arrived safely. It was cheaper to give him a cell phone than use any subscription based GPS tracking products. $15 per month to add a line. For us, his cell phone is a safety device and necessary.

Plus, DH needs to be reachable all the time for work. It's a necessity for him. Since we don't have a landline, it's also a necessity for me since I'm home alone most of the day while everyone is at school and work. Plus, it's cheaper than adding a landline.

 

[4kids4karen]

My kid only has a phone so I can track his whereabouts using Google Maps. He is autistic and doesn't use the phone to actually talk or text with anyone. But he was riding his bike to school in middle school and this is how I felt comfortable enough to allow him to do that (I could watch him on Maps and see that he arrived safely. It was cheaper to give him a cell phone than use any subscription based GPS tracking products. $15 per month to add a line. For us, his cell phone is a safety device and necessary.

Plus, DH needs to be reachable all the time for work. It's a necessity for him. Since we don't have a landline, it's also a necessity for me since I'm home alone most of the day while everyone is at school and work. Plus, it's cheaper than adding a landline.

I still read your post as a "family priority" over a "family necessity." There is nothing wrong with it being a priority, do what works best for your family. As I said, we have six cell phones. DH work pays for his. My kids all have iPhone 7, except my youngest has an iPhone 8. We use Life360 for tracking and love it. I miss my Samsung, I let my DD talk me into the iPhone If I could switch back, I would.

 

[DLgal]

I still read your post as a "family priority" over a "family necessity." There is nothing wrong with it being a priority, do what works best for your family. As I said, we have six cell phones. DH work pays for his. My kids all have iPhone 7, except my youngest has an iPhone 8. We use Life360 for tracking and love it. I miss my Samsung, I let my DD talk me into the iPhone If I could switch back, I would.

Well, you can call it whatever you want, but I consider having a phone of SOME kind a necessity and without a landline, a cell phone is the only option. Plus, we leave our kids home alone at times so at least ONE kid needs to have a cell phone. I have had to call 911 twice in my life. I could not, in good conscience, leave my kids home alone without a way to do so. Nor would I want to be in that situation. My husband is gone a lot for work. I need a cell phone. It's not optional.

Now, do I need the latest and greatest smartphone? Definitely not. And I don't have one. Mine is a galaxy S7. My 14 year old son has an ancient S4 that is still chugging along and that I got for free back before all the cell companies stopped doing that.

We can easily afford the cell phone bill of $150/month. It's less than our cable/internet bill, our electric bill, etc. It wouldn't even be in consideration if we needed to cut expenses dramatically, which we don't. I'd go after the Massage Envy memberships, the Disneyland Annual Passes, and even the 529 contributions (since I know my kids won't be going to college anyway and they already have a huge amount in their accounts, considering). The cell phones are as necessary as water and electricity.

 

[MEM]

Read Mr. Money Mustache. After reading how he and his wife saved & invested 66% of their paychecks and could retire by age 30, it has certainly slowed my "I want that!" feelings. I even cancelled our Norwegian Fjords cruise for next summer so I could up my retirement acct contributions. It's a great feeling.
He was saying if you could sock away 75% of your paychecks (obviously living frugally) you would only have to work for 7 years to be financially independent. I don't know that we can live that simply but I do like watching our savings grow.
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/02/22/getting-rich-from-zero-to-hero-in-one-blog-post/

I had a severe case of the F-Its in my 30s and early 40s. I chalk it up to getting older that I now feel more of a need for financial security than I felt when I was younger. It's a far stronger need than any material stuff or vacations.

I love MMM and am quite addicted to it now! I feel like such a slacker but we only have one income (mine) and DH is retired and on SS. The elephant in the room about being "FIRE'd" is health insurance. MMM has one with a high deductible and even though he's FIRE'd, he is making a lot of money with his blog. At almost 59 I'm tired of working - have held a job since I shared a paper route with my brother at age 9.

 

[MEM]

Well, you can call it whatever you want, but I consider having a phone of SOME kind a necessity and without a landline, a cell phone is the only option. Plus, we leave our kids home alone at times so at least ONE kid needs to have a cell phone. I have had to call 911 twice in my life. I could not, in good conscience, leave my kids home alone without a way to do so. Nor would I want to be in that situation. My husband is gone a lot for work. I need a cell phone. It's not optional.

Now, do I need the latest and greatest smartphone? Definitely not. And I don't have one. Mine is a galaxy S7. My 14 year old son has an ancient S4 that is still chugging along and that I got for free back before all the cell companies stopped doing that.

We can easily afford the cell phone bill of $150/month. It's less than our cable/internet bill, our electric bill, etc. It wouldn't even be in consideration if we needed to cut expenses dramatically, which we don't. I'd go after the Massage Envy memberships, the Disneyland Annual Passes, and even the 529 contributions (since I know my kids won't be going to college anyway and they already have a huge amount in their accounts, considering). The cell phones are as necessary as water and electricity.

Its a necessity for sure. I have an adult son who is on the Autism Spectrum and DH needs to have a cell phone so he can be reached in case of an emergency. I am the worker bee in the family and also need to be reachable via cell phone. Our phones are not the latest and greatest but they will have to be replaced at some point. The guy at the Verizon store told DH that his iPhone 4 will be obsolete in the near future.

 

[crazycatstacy]

Well I listed a bunch of stuff on Poshmark today. Fingers crossed it sells.

I notice whenever I’m really reading or listening to budget stuff I’m much more content and able to slow my spending it seems

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Well I listed a bunch of stuff on Poshmark today. Fingers crossed it sells.

I notice whenever I’m really reading or listening to budget stuff I’m much more content and able to slow my spending it seems

I agree. Part of the battle is simply paying attention to it. When our kids were little and both of us working FT, life was crazy and we barely paid attention to anything except sending min payments on time. It took me a while to realize when you don't take the time to pay attention to it all, it gets out of control. I'm not suggesting anyone get extreme with cut backs on spending but when you sit down and start looking carefully at the big picture on a regular basis, not just single bills here and there, it makes it easier to be selective about spending and not just making knee-jerk decisions.
Reading any financial advice seems to keep my head in the game.

 

[bababear_50]

I agree. Part of the battle is simply paying attention to it. When our kids were little and both of us working FT, life was crazy and we barely paid attention to anything except sending min payments on time. It took me a while to realize when you don't take the time to pay attention to it all, it gets out of control. I'm not suggesting anyone get extreme with cut backs on spending but when you sit down and start looking carefully at the big picture on a regular basis, not just single bills here and there, it makes it easier to be selective about spending and not just making knee-jerk decisions.
Reading any financial advice seems to keep my head in the game.

I agree 100%
The postings of the past few days got me out of the "have" to spend the reno budget to "oh my god I think I am going to go over the Reno budget".
I stayed up last night going over all the bills and receipts and I now feel so much better.
Today I spent the day just walking around the house just enjoying all the new walls ,flooring, paint,doors,crown moulding and really appreciating it all.
NO more knee -jerk decisions for me (Wayfair).
After the last month and a half of spend! spend! spend! I am finally back to my old self "Got to have something put away for a rainy day".
Whoooh I like myself so much better like this.

It's good to be back Budget board friends.
I often read Money Sense.
https://www.moneysense.ca/save/retirement/single-retirees-the-power-of-one/
and
Retire Happy
https://retirehappy.ca/how-much-money-spend-retirement/
Hugs Mel

 

[jen7233]

I don’t have a landline either. About 3 years ago I got annoyed with the level of telemarketers calling me on it, and never really used it anyway. For me, having a phone is a necessity to be reached regarding my kids.

 

[bababear_50]

No landline for me either.
I have to say that it took over six months for anyone to call me on my landline and then it was a telemarketer.
BUT it did take me a long time to get used to a cell phone and sometimes I hate that everyone and anyone can reach me all the time.
(Just maybe it was nice to answer my calls in the evening)..lol.
Work annoys me because while it's not required it's kind of expected although they don't cover any cost.

Hugs Mel

 

[Dentam]

Work annoys me because while it's not required it's kind of expected although they don't cover any cost.

My work switched this year to requiring us to use our personal cell phones. Saves them money I guess. They give us $25/month toward the bill. That's what prompted me to purchase my first smart phone in January. Up to that point I was using a little cheap phone with a monthly usage bill of about $10-$15/month.

 

[dayvewc]

Has anyone ever stayed at the Hilton Head Disney Resorts? Maybe I'm not doing something right but I'm trying to book for a year out next July or August, and even two years out for two summers from now, and keep coming up with "room unavailable". Are these DVC or do they really book this far out for summer months?

Hilton Head is a DVC resort. It may also have other rooms, and I think it is possible to rent DVC rooms direct. But, DVC only does booking 11 months in advance. So, right now you would only be able to book with a stay beginning on June 30, 2019. I think that might be the issue if you are trying to book July or August of 2019 or 2020.

 

[crazycatstacy]

One item sold on Poshmark. Whoo hoo, I will try not to spend all $16 in one place LOL. I'm going to give the listings a week to see if anything sells and if it doesn't I am going to remove them and just take them to our Plato's Closet to get rid of them. I am going to put any money towards our annual passes. We are about $150 short from having all the money to buy them so it shouldn't be too hard to come up with it from selling and cutting groceries etc.

 

[jen7233]

Yesterday I was looking at flights on SW for a particular timeframe to Orlando, and then while I was trying to look at the hotel reservation costs on another tab on the computer that I had open, went back to the SW site and the price for airfare tickets went up while I was on the other tab. That is aggravating, did SW actually choose that time to raise the rates, or is it going by some sort of cookies or knows somehow I'm looking at the flights? I know it sounds crazy, but really, crazy odds!

Hilton Head is a DVC resort. It may also have other rooms, and I think it is possible to rent DVC rooms direct. But, DVC only does booking 11 months in advance. So, right now you would only be able to book with a stay beginning on June 30, 2019. I think that might be the issue if you are trying to book July or August of 2019 or 2020.

Yes, I was trying to look for next summer or summer 2020.

 

[pblack]

Yesterday I was looking at flights on SW for a particular timeframe to Orlando, and then while I was trying to look at the hotel reservation costs on another tab on the computer that I had open, went back to the SW site and the price for airfare tickets went up while I was on the other tab. That is aggravating, did SW actually choose that time to raise the rates, or is it going by some sort of cookies or knows somehow I'm looking at the flights? I know it sounds crazy, but really, crazy odds!



Yes, I was trying to look for next summer or summer 2020.

I'm thinking they actually raised the rates at that time. Yesterday I was showing one of the new girls at work how to choose and screenshot flights for a meeting and maybe 10-15 minutes after we screenshotted the flight and e-mailed it out, one of our attendees responded saying that particular flight had jumped up by $80ish dollars. Now that you've mentioned this Southwest incident, I'm thinking it was them just raising prices.

 

[amalone1013]

Yesterday I was looking at flights on SW for a particular timeframe to Orlando, and then while I was trying to look at the hotel reservation costs on another tab on the computer that I had open, went back to the SW site and the price for airfare tickets went up while I was on the other tab. That is aggravating, did SW actually choose that time to raise the rates, or is it going by some sort of cookies or knows somehow I'm looking at the flights? I know it sounds crazy, but really, crazy odds!

It could be someone else was booking too. As seats sell on SW they raise the price on the remaining ones, they work via demand.

 

[DLgal]

I don’t have a landline either. About 3 years ago I got annoyed with the level of telemarketers calling me on it, and never really used it anyway. For me, having a phone is a necessity to be reached regarding my kids.

This is why I cancelled our land line and never looked back. It was relentless. My phone would ring all day!

 

[imbatman]

Joining in. This is my anonymous account, although I'm a long-time DISer. Found out my spouse has charged several thousands of dollars in 2017 last night. I'm devastated, to say the least, because we were scheduled to be debt free in May. So, I'm posting here to try and encourage people who read this and feel embarrassed if they are in the same boat. It happens...even after more than 20 wonderful years of marriage. Yes, I cried myself to sleep. Yes, I cried typing this post, but I'm going to get through this. Here's the plan:

#1 - New CC debt $0 -- Paid.
#2 - Main CC debt $12,587.31 -- Chugging along. Projected to be paid by July 2019, if no extra payments are made. But I'm working on getting that down.

Those are my two goals. We have one car payment and a mortgage, too. If you need encouragement, if you want to cry, PM me (although I'm not sure if I can get PM's before 10 posts?). Want to rage? I get it. But I hope that by reading my soul-crushing debt, someone else can make a decision to move forward, one payment at a time.

Here's the latest update for the sake of transparency. And to remind myself and others that it's moving.

Ok- so how do you it? We budget everything we have to pay and then x for groceries and x for gas and x for spending (really minimal amount for spending- just so we can have cash in our pockets for drinks or snacks if needed), then we put the rest towards whatever we have to pay (this would be our snowball). Should we make a goal- like this check pay x amount on the next credit card and then what's left after that could be free or what? I'm confused

I completely agree with @DLgal on this. I project out, using my Excel spreadsheet. I plug in paychecks on the dates of deposit and monthly bills FAR in advance (like, I weird about that and have those projected through December right now). Every week, I begrudgingly pull up the CC account and checking and then plug in the actual numbers. And @ruadisneyfan2 was dead-on saying that if you stop paying attention to it, you'll lose the battle.

I think you might be the exception here. At least walking around disney, you'll see most people with iphones or the new lg. With all the budgets listed in this thread, the phone bill is missing from most of them. Also, many people don't know that the $1000 cost of an iphone x (or whatever new handset you get) is built into your monthly payment.

I feel trolled. If you've been reading for a month, you'd see that we ACTUALLY TRY to get our budgets under control. But thank you for your random, unsupportive message.

I happen to live near Redding, California, were the Carr Fire still rages on. It is over 110k acres and still growing. We were not evacuated, but we packed up to leave, but have three friends who lost everything except their lives. Quite literally, they drove as the fire consumed the road behind them. Let me say what a terrifying experience it was just to have the streets north and east of us evacuated. Over 818 houses have burned to the ground. Over 500 are damaged. Praying for a rain miracle.

 

[pblack]

I happen to live near Redding, California, were the Carr Fire still rages on. It is over 110k acres and still growing. We were not evacuated, but we packed up to leave, but have three friends who lost everything except their lives. Quite literally, they drove as the fire consumed the road behind them. Let me say what a terrifying experience it was just to have the streets north and east of us evacuated. Over 818 houses have burned to the ground. Over 500 are damaged. Praying for a rain miracle.

I didn't realize you are also a northern "californiaer" I'm so sorry to hear that you have friends who lost everything. It's so sad to know so many people now have nothing and that unfortunately that number will probably continue to rise. I hope you guys don't get touched by the fire also.