Debt Dumpers - 2018

[bababear_50]

iambatman
HUGS to you.....you have made amazing goals and worked very hard to achieve them.
You are right,,, we all work very hard at trying to get our budget under control and should take pride in that.
One of the things I like about this Forum is that everyone is so supportive of everyone's individual styles,wants and needs.
I was afraid when I first started posting here that I'd be judged for my semi retirement plans and Nope not one person has judged me ,,I've received a lot of advise and positive info. Today I am six months into working only 1/2 days and everything is going well.

I will say a prayer for you and your family and I truly hope you stay safe.
Hugs
Mel

 

[Aurora_Australis]

Oh we've seen those fires, and the ones in Greece in our news reports, they're horrendous. We are tracking for a bad bushfire season this summer, 98% of the state is in drought and even along the coast the wind has stopped any hazard reduction burns.

1st of August already here so will attempt to keep transparency too.

Cc#1 $2037.56 owing
Cc#2 was paid off this month. Pending $469.75 as I bought some tickets to the harry Potter play for DD 10 for birthday/Christmas that my family will put in for and I will transfer that when I get it next week.
Emergency fund still $200. Next hurdle after cards. I know that it's backwards order but we have $$$ in places we xan draw on if we really need to, just not too liquid.

 

[Tygerlilly]

iambatman
HUGS to you.....you have made amazing goals and worked very hard to achieve them.
You are right,,, we all work very hard at trying to get our budget under control and should take pride in that.
One of the things I like about this Forum is that everyone is so supportive of everyone's individual styles,wants and needs.
I was afraid when I first started posting here that I'd be judged for my semi retirement plans and Nope not one person has judged me ,,I've received a lot of advise and positive info. Today I am six months into working only 1/2 days and everything is going well.

I will say a prayer for you and your family and I truly hope you stay safe.
Hugs
Mel

I'm also very thankful for the non-judgement. Especially since we've fallen off the wagon a couple times and most days are barely floating above water. But we are getting there, slowly.

 

[StacyStrong]

Delete

 

[jackers]

Staying healthy is definitely a money suck, even when you don’t pay a gym membership. Eating well and having the right equipment (i.e. running shoes) costs more than you think. ETA: and bras! Omg how expensive are those things?!?

I don’t have a July update yet, but will post again when the math is in. We just got back from Orlando last night and still recouperating, but July was an expensive month, so don’t expect much progress on the goals this month. Once I get school supplies and new clothes for DS13 figured out I should be able to focus again. No major known expenses headed our way for the remainder of the year (with the exception of Christmas, of course, which I feel like I need to start planning for).

 

[StacyStrong]

Staying healthy is definitely a money suck, even when you don’t pay a gym membership. Eating well and having the right equipment (i.e. running shoes) costs more than you think. ETA: and bras! Omg how expensive are those things?!?

I don’t have a July update yet, but will post again when the math is in. We just got back from Orlando last night and still recouperating, but July was an expensive month, so don’t expect much progress on the goals this month. Once I get school supplies and new clothes for DS13 figured out I should be able to focus again. No major known expenses headed our way for the remainder of the year (with the exception of Christmas, of course, which I feel like I need to start planning for).

THEY ARE SO EXPENSIVE. I picked up two Brooks bras today that were on sale though. 55 for two when they normally go for 44 a piece. All of this adds up though, it's crazy.

 

[Eureka]

Staying healthy is definitely a money suck, even when you don’t pay a gym membership. Eating well and having the right equipment (i.e. running shoes) costs more than you think. ETA: and bras! Omg how expensive are those things?!?

No kidding. Cross country season is coming up soon and both kids need new running shoes and one needs spikes. That will be a pretty penny. Plus (not health-related) DS17's senior picture proofs came back and the packages are not cheap. I know we don't *need* to buy anything but he wants some pictures and so do we.

 

[imbatman]

Hey, I'm sorry if I implied that we aren't safe--we are! It's SUPER smoky day after day, but I'm so very grateful. My family is safe, my house is untouched, and I'm still paying down my CC.

Staying healthy is definitely a money suck, even when you don’t pay a gym membership. Eating well and having the right equipment (i.e. running shoes) costs more than you think. ETA: and bras! Omg how expensive are those things?!?.

Oh my word. And not even the most expensive ones fit well.

I found my Achilles heel for spending: Black Rifle Coffee. I am going to budget for this, though. It's certainly cheaper than a DB or SB a day and they have an over 50% veteran hiring rate and produced in the U.S. I can get behind a company like that.

Today's lunch will be sponsored by leftovers and catching up my spreadsheet.

 

[pblack]

Hey, I'm sorry if I implied that we aren't safe--we are! It's SUPER smoky day after day, but I'm so very grateful. My family is safe, my house is untouched, and I'm still paying down my CC.

Oh my word. And not even the most expensive ones fit well.

I found my Achilles heel for spending: Black Rifle Coffee. I am going to budget for this, though. It's certainly cheaper than a DB or SB a day and they have an over 50% veteran hiring rate and produced in the U.S. I can get behind a company like that.

Today's lunch will be sponsored by leftovers and catching up my spreadsheet.

I can only imagine how smoky it is with you being so close to it. We're getting a lot of that smoke here in Sacramento too, but it hadn't been terrible. But now that there is/was (I don't think it's out yet) a fire burning up the freeway from us in El Dorado County it's been really smoky here since yesterday afternoon.

 

[imbatman]

I can only imagine how smoky it is with you being so close to it. We're getting a lot of that smoke here in Sacramento too, but it hadn't been terrible. But now that there is/was (I don't think it's out yet) a fire burning up the freeway from us in El Dorado County it's been really smoky here since yesterday afternoon.

Visibility here is about 1/2 mile. The fires in Mendocino County are also pushing out a lot of smoke. Yeah, I have a N95 dust mask. We finally finished unpacking everything last night. And it was the first night I slept more than 4 hours. Friday night to Saturday night last week, I didn't sleep at all. It was nuts. But, I cannot underscore the amount of my appreciation for the firefighters here--it's been over 100 every.single.day since the fire started. And the law enforcement catching the looters. The National Guard sending out so many crews to assist. The linemen going back through and trying to restore power. The inspectors having to try and get people back in.

 

[Jason_V]

Today's lunch will be sponsored by leftovers and catching up my spreadsheet.

Leftovers...one of my favorite words.

Be safe everyone.

 

[Tygerlilly]

2.5 more months. If I keep up with this payment schedule, in 2.5 months we'll have $600/month worth of payments in debt gone. I feel like I'm struggling lately. I've been working 2 extra days a week (which means 2 days a week DF and I barely sleep since one of us has to stay up to keep an eye on the kids) and it's starting to wear on me. I told him I would continue working extra until the beginning of September when school starts and then cut back to a day a week or work 1 every other week. At least until I get into a work/school/momming groove and can handle an extra day occasionally.

And good news for us, we got the full $1.10/hr bonus for work, which will be on our second check this month. I should see a bit more than normal since I've been working an extra 20 hours a week the last few months.

 

[bababear_50]

2.5 more months. If I keep up with this payment schedule, in 2.5 months we'll have $600/month worth of payments in debt gone. I feel like I'm struggling lately. I've been working 2 extra days a week (which means 2 days a week DF and I barely sleep since one of us has to stay up to keep an eye on the kids) and it's starting to wear on me. I told him I would continue working extra until the beginning of September when school starts and then cut back to a day a week or work 1 every other week. At least until I get into a work/school/momming groove and can handle an extra day occasionally.

And good news for us, we got the full $1.10/hr bonus for work, which will be on our second check this month. I should see a bit more than normal since I've been working an extra 20 hours a week the last few months.

Hi Hon
Just sending you an extra Hug and asking you to make sure you take good care of yourself. I remember working fulltime and a partime job together and while it provided my kids with the things they needed it did take a toll every once in awhile (I did it for 15 years).
Take time for you Hon,,even if it's a 1/2 hour break away,,,having a cup of tea with a friend or getting a haircut.
Hugs to you
Mel

 

[OhMari]

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.

Southwest was promoting a sale “again” and they usually only give the price to one person, I swear. They advertise their sales on Facebook. We can usually get a low rate when we fly from Milwaukee to LaGuardia, but anything to Orlando/Milwaukee is always over $150 one way. Anyways, if their computers notice large amount of bookings for a certain price, rates are raised pretty fast. We also noticed they have higher rates for larger amounts of people traveling. We noticed this when we put in for six and my sister was just booking herself. Southwest will give you a credit if the price does lower.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Southwest was promoting a sale “again” and they usually only give the price to one person, I swear. They advertise their sales on Facebook. We can usually get a low rate when we fly from Milwaukee to LaGuardia, but anything to Orlando/Milwaukee is always over $150 one way. Anyways, if their computers notice large amount of bookings for a certain price, rates are raised pretty fast. We also noticed they have higher rates for larger amounts of people traveling. We noticed this when we put in for six and my sister was just booking herself. Southwest will give you a credit if the price does lower.

When I shop for flights I always start with 1 passenger. Then check if 4 passengers are the same price. If not, I keep dropping the number til it matches the price for 1 person. So sometimes we have reservations with all of 4 us, sometimes just 2 of us. I'd rather save money than have 1 confirmation #.

 

[Eureka]

Paid bills today and realized August is a 3-check month for DH. Will come in handy because we are going on a college tour out of state early next week and then doing a night away for our anniversary and those hotels will be a total of $500 not to mention meals - especially since all four of us are going to the college tour. Add that to the running shoes I need to buy the boys, plus anything else we'll need for back to school (and senior year is pricey!). Plus we still haven't gotten our car insurance bill since DS' accident and adding on the new car so not sure exactly how much that will be. Bleeding money this month....

 

[jen7233]

Southwest was promoting a sale “again” and they usually only give the price to one person, I swear. They advertise their sales on Facebook. We can usually get a low rate when we fly from Milwaukee to LaGuardia, but anything to Orlando/Milwaukee is always over $150 one way. Anyways, if their computers notice large amount of bookings for a certain price, rates are raised pretty fast. We also noticed they have higher rates for larger amounts of people traveling. We noticed this when we put in for six and my sister was just booking herself. Southwest will give you a credit if the price does lower.

I checked the rates again, they are going up. We are a budget fail this summer all around. Moving did not help, and I'm just going to say moving is expensive! Even when it's somewhat reimbursed through or get travel allowances through work, it never really covers it all, with all the deposits for utilities, new groceries, change in prices (our car and rental insurance are now higher), window treatments for windows that you don't have the size curtains for, fixing things, furniture that needs to be bought because it doesn't fit the new place or storage needs are not adequate, etc. etc.

We are doing a small trip to Orlando area (not Disney) before school starts, and last minute flights do not help the cause. Well, we had been discussing we only go one place for one week each summer, and would like to add a three or four day trip once or twice in the year also to spend more time traveling, seeing things, not getting younger. OK, this is great in theory for us, but factoring in airfare will need to be a criteria going forward. I know people that do three and four day trips often as in every other month, and fly to their locations, and I'm wondering now how in the world do they afford this? Definitely no flights after this until Disney Land or World next summer.

I have enough air miles on Southwest to have used for the upcoming Orlando three day trip, but with booking so close I didn't have much choice on which flights to book and so I didn't use the points I have. Not a good money move but I think we'll recover.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Well, I should be upset that i missed my overtime shift today, but DD2 decided it would be fun to climb on her little chair, get up on the counter, and grab the bottle of baby Tylenol my mom left up there, and drink the whole thing. So we spent 4 hours in the er last night. If she drank as much as was in there, her levels should have been toxic and we would have been admitted to children's. But by some miracle, her levels came back okay and we got to come home instead. Lesson learned for all of us, but that meant I ended up not going in.

We also just got the official quote for the wedding in from the planner. Our budget is $15k. For venue/catering (dinner and cocktail hour snacks)/bar/all the detail stuff (linens, centerpieces, etc), the estimate came in at $11k. That leave me $4k to get my dress, his tux, photographer, the few flowers and our dj. I should hit right at the 15k mark.

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

Well, I should be upset that i missed my overtime shift today, but DD2 decided it would be fun to climb on her little chair, get up on the counter, and grab the bottle of baby Tylenol my mom left up there, and drink the whole thing. So we spent 4 hours in the er last night. If she drank as much as was in there, her levels should have been toxic and we would have been admitted to children's. But by some miracle, her levels came back okay and we got to come home instead. Lesson learned for all of us, but that meant I ended up not going in.

We also just got the official quote for the wedding in from the planner. Our budget is $15k. For venue/catering (dinner and cocktail hour snacks)/bar/all the detail stuff (linens, centerpieces, etc), the estimate came in at $11k. That leave me $4k to get my dress, his tux, photographer, the few flowers and our dj. I should hit right at the 15k mark.

Oh my goodness that is so scary! I'm so glad she is ok.

 

[crazycatstacy]

Well, I should be upset that i missed my overtime shift today, but DD2 decided it would be fun to climb on her little chair, get up on the counter, and grab the bottle of baby Tylenol my mom left up there, and drink the whole thing. So we spent 4 hours in the er last night. If she drank as much as was in there, her levels should have been toxic and we would have been admitted to children's. But by some miracle, her levels came back okay and we got to come home instead. Lesson learned for all of us, but that meant I ended up not going in.

We also just got the official quote for the wedding in from the planner. Our budget is $15k. For venue/catering (dinner and cocktail hour snacks)/bar/all the detail stuff (linens, centerpieces, etc), the estimate came in at $11k. That leave me $4k to get my dress, his tux, photographer, the few flowers and our dj. I should hit right at the 15k mark.

I'm glad your daughter is okay. That had to be scary!

For the dress don't forget to add alterations. We bought my daughter's dress for $499 which I was happy with and then alterations (which I didn't think she even had that many of) were almost $400!!!