Debt Dumpers - 2018

[Eureka]

First, awesome news on the ACT score!!

Re: license and insurance. We are in the same situation in my house--DD 16 is scheduled to take her driving test at the DMV and hopefully walk out with her license on March 13. My insurance calls every dang month to bug me to see if she has her license yet--nope, still the learners permit only (which does not raise my rates). Got home yesterday and my renter got his six month renewal for April and they put her as a covered licensed driver (I guess because we live in the same address??? We do have the same insurer) This irritated me to an extent that was probably unreasonable--i told you people I would let you know when and if she ever passes the test and gets her license!!! And she has never and will never drive his truck. It went up an extra $750 for the six months. So I will have to see what can be done to fix that. I have heard some insurances will let you sign an exclusion affidavit saying that a person in the household will not drive the vehicle???

Anyway, I wanted to write and tell you I feel your pain and I am right there with you--Driver's license, insurance rates going up, taking SAT and ACT, prep for those, college planning, college tours. Today DD is at a regional science fair all day. I feel like the rest of junior year, all summer, and fall of senior year is going to be really stressful with all the college prep stuff. She is my first, and I am rapidly learning how much I don't know. Haha.

I don't know if you have been over to the Disboards thread for Parents of the Class of 2019. If not, check it out! We "share and care". I actually have learned quite a bit from it and from lurking on the Parents of Class of 2107 and Parents of Class of 2018 threads.

Thanks for your post. I will check out that thread, which forum is it in? Yes, lots to think about right now and he is our oldest so it’s all new to us and very different from when we were applying to college. He wants to get a job this summer, plus will have plenty of summer work for next year’s classes, does summer swimming and preseason training for cross country. It makes me tired just thinking about it all.

We didn’t have to put DS on insurance until he got his license, with his permit he was covered under us. Turns out it’s only $425 more every six months. More manageable than I expected.

 

[jen7233]

Yeah my SW points posted for the signup bonus after meeting the minimum requirements. So, with that bonus along with my big charge I put down and the extra points I already had on rewards points, I'm now at 65,000 SW points. I never get anywhere close to being able to use airline points, so this is surprising to me. So, love to see it but am I making plans? Nope! Can't afford to, only can afford the one vacation trip this summer we've already booked. Can I take more time off off work than the 4 days vacation days I have booked this summer and the other two in Spring? Nope! Definitely not, lol. But, it's fun seeing that amount of points and thinking maybe a Disney trip will be in the works next year and what that will save on airline costs to get there.

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

I am an avid lurker throughout the whole DISboards and never knew these existed! I would love to look at these threads since I have a Class of 2018 DD and Class of 2019 DD. Could you direct me where to look?

It is in the Community Board. Please come check in with us!!

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

Thanks for your post. I will check out that thread, which forum is it in? Yes, lots to think about right now and he is our oldest so it’s all new to us and very different from when we were applying to college. He wants to get a job this summer, plus will have plenty of summer work for next year’s classes, does summer swimming and preseason training for cross country. It makes me tired just thinking about it all.

We didn’t have to put DS on insurance until he got his license, with his permit he was covered under us. Turns out it’s only $425 more every six months. More manageable than I expected.

Wow—$425 is not bad at all and better than I would have thought! I am anxious to see what mine does. The forum is the Community Board. Please do come check it out. I think you will find most of us there are feeling the same things you are. I read more than I post, but it has been nice to have a little group support, since none of my close friends have a child near my DD age. No one is snarky or judgy or competitive like I have heard horror stories about occurring on some parent discussion boards. We mostly just ask questions, share victories, and feel out our league together. At times the thread lies dormant, then wham gets a lot of chatter.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Ruadisneyfan2
Hi Hon
I had over 2 years of sick days banked--then contract negotiations between my union and our Board Of Education happened--with one computer stroke POOF all my banked sick days disappeared,,now being a single parent I was always worried and almost religiously banked days. That day I just sat and looked at the computer and cried.

Last year I took a sick leave and did get 90% pay but I also spent half my time at the doctors office paying and filling out forms. This Feb my sick leave ran out and I had two options return to work fulltime or apply for LTD--which I pay into at a very hefty monthly premium.
No one tells you that to get LTD that there will be a fight and the process can mentally wear you down.
I have a friend-co worker that has Lupus and she has been fighting for 4 years.
I am fortunate that I received my inheritance from my brother which allowed me to reduce my hours to part time.

My current sick day banking system--we can't bank them--so its use them or lose them--this has actually cost our Board more money.
When I went part time they (HR) tried to tell me I would not get any sick days or Family days until next year--
well I challenged them (HR) on this and just got a new bank of sick days /family days and I will use every one of them.

I know it's hard to fight a good fight when you are mentally and physically worn down but just know you can win and I respect you for trying.
Hugs Mel

Thanks! Your so sweet!
I do have LTD through my employer at 50% pay that would kick in after 6 months of STD but I have read other websites that most private LTD insurance companies don't want to pay people for 20+ yrs and I'm not sure if they can just cut me off if SSDI was denied. I like my job and my coworkers and I'd rather just be FT again but I might have to cut back to PT. I honestly don't know how I'm going to get through a day on my feet, being busy, with a typical day at work being 8000 steps on my phone. Today, all I did was shower, dress, do 1 load of laundry and walked around Bed, Bath & Beyond with dh while he looked for a thing to make homemade ravioli. I could hardly walk through the store. He keeps saying it would be good for me to get back into my old routine and that will eventually build up my strength, and I want to believe him but seriously, I've had 2 c-sections so I know how it feels to start slow and eventually get stronger and start doing more and at some point you feel like your old self again. I've had a few hours here and there where I feel 100% like myself but it doesn't last and then the fatigue is back and I can hardly sit at the dinner table.
I don't know how it works if I return to work & then go back out; I would no longer have any FMLA time to protect my job.
I have to be seen in Employee Health before I can actually report for duty so I will just be honest with them about my concerns and tell them I only got the return to work note from the doctor because after Wednesday, they will no longer hold my job, not because I actually feel well enough to work. We'll see how it goes & thanks again for the pep rally!
So sorry for the loss of your brother. I would think as a brother he would be happy to know his last gift to you was able to make such a beneficial lifestyle change for you.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

For all of you stressing over car insurance and young drivers in the house, shop around! We had AAA for years but when ds21 first started driving, they wanted to raise our rates astronomically and he didn't even have a car. I called around and GEICO was way more reasonably priced so we switched. We then lost our multi-policy discount on our AAA homeowers' insurance so we called GEICO again and got a better deal on that too. For HOI, they act as agents so they have many companies they work with and we ended up with Travelers for HOI, and it was cheaper than going directly through Travelers and having them together got us the multipolicy discount again for HOI and car insurance.
GEICO (and I'd guess they all offer something similar) has a defensive driving course online for $20 and once you complete & pass it they give another discount off the car ins. So I took it and had ds21 take it a couple years ago and dh gets one anyway through his employer and the discount applies for 3 years. They emailed me when my 3 yrs was about to expire so I took it again. It takes a few hours but you can stop & save your progress and return back anytime. I though it was easy, all common sense stuff for anyone who has been driving a long time but all good stuff to be reinforced for new drivers. The course is geared to the test-taker's age/experience level.
Sometimes it pays to switch.

 

[bababear_50]

Thanks! Your so sweet!
I do have LTD through my employer at 50% pay that would kick in after 6 months of STD but I have read other websites that most private LTD insurance companies don't want to pay people for 20+ yrs and I'm not sure if they can just cut me off if SSDI was denied. I like my job and my coworkers and I'd rather just be FT again but I might have to cut back to PT. I honestly don't know how I'm going to get through a day on my feet, being busy, with a typical day at work being 8000 steps on my phone. Today, all I did was shower, dress, do 1 load of laundry and walked around Bed, Bath & Beyond with dh while he looked for a thing to make homemade ravioli. I could hardly walk through the store. He keeps saying it would be good for me to get back into my old routine and that will eventually build up my strength, and I want to believe him but seriously, I've had 2 c-sections so I know how it feels to start slow and eventually get stronger and start doing more and at some point you feel like your old self again. I've had a few hours here and there where I feel 100% like myself but it doesn't last and then the fatigue is back and I can hardly sit at the dinner table.
I don't know how it works if I return to work & then go back out; I would no longer have any FMLA time to protect my job.
I have to be seen in Employee Health before I can actually report for duty so I will just be honest with them about my concerns and tell them I only got the return to work note from the doctor because after Wednesday, they will no longer hold my job, not because I actually feel well enough to work. We'll see how it goes & thanks again for the pep rally!
So sorry for the loss of your brother. I would think as a brother he would be happy to know his last gift to you was able to make such a beneficial lifestyle change for you.

Hugs
Many people told me to go for LTD but I love my job,and would miss the social interaction it provides. I am slowly rebuilding my strength,,with limitations,,,somethings I can still not do.
I have 4 more years until I can completely Early Retire with an Unreduced Pension so that was also a factor.
I know all about c-sections (3),,lol,,it takes so much longer to recoup than a natural birth.
The funny thing is my family (sons) seems concerned that I might be bored working PT and have each voiced ideas to keep me busy,, good lord I am exhausted when I get home and just want to have an afternoon nap. It is often hard for family members to see us going through struggles and wanting things to just be back to "normal", when often the new normal is far different than in the past,,,and different is ok.
I am fortunate that I have such a great doctor,,I can't say enough about how caring and compassionate she is.
I think being honest about your concerns is the best course of action.No matter what happens at least you will have a few answers to your concerns which should lessen the stress of not knowing what is going to happen.
So rest well and think positive Hon~~~~~~~~~~~~PEP RALLY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hugs Mel

"Be Kind Whenever Possible~~It's always possible~~Dalai Lama"

 

[Alexle2007]

For all of you stressing over car insurance and young drivers in the house, shop around! We had AAA for years but when ds21 first started driving, they wanted to raise our rates astronomically and he didn't even have a car. I called around and GEICO was way more reasonably priced so we switched. We then lost our multi-policy discount on our AAA homeowers' insurance so we called GEICO again and got a better deal on that too. For HOI, they act as agents so they have many companies they work with and we ended up with Travelers for HOI, and it was cheaper than going directly through Travelers and having them together got us the multipolicy discount again for HOI and car insurance.
GEICO (and I'd guess they all offer something similar) has a defensive driving course online for $20 and once you complete & pass it they give another discount off the car ins. So I took it and had ds21 take it a couple years ago and dh gets one anyway through his employer and the discount applies for 3 years. They emailed me when my 3 yrs was about to expire so I took it again. It takes a few hours but you can stop & save your progress and return back anytime. I though it was easy, all common sense stuff for anyone who has been driving a long time but all good stuff to be reinforced for new drivers. The course is geared to the test-taker's age/experience level.
Sometimes it pays to switch.

We’ve had GEICO for years and I’ve never heard of this defensive driving test. Time to look into it.

 

[Ngwira]

Back from Washington DC and overall spent about $300 including food, a few souvenirs, tips, tolls, gas and a car rental for the weekend. Hotel was booked using free night certificate and suite upgrade.

Disney MandC -We toured the NMAACH first and for a Saturday, it was pretty packed. Lots of great info, although it was very sad. The Museum starts telling the story of black people from the 1500s (slavery) through modern day history. It ends with the election of Barack Obama. It was excellent.

We also went back to the Museum of Natural history and we enjoyed that as well. So much to see- mummies, Dinosaurs, bugs, wild animals, butterflies and even gems and minerals. I told DH that I’d love to have some of the diamonds on display. He just laughed.

Kids were really impressed although it’s still cold and flu season so I didnt really want them to touch too much.

Overall a great time, we know DC traffic is notorious so we ate breakfast and high tailed it back to NJ. Weather was cold and wet and I saw a terrible accident on BWI parkway so it took longer to get home. Roads were slick but traffic was light and not too bad. $30 in tolls both ways was pretty ridiculous to travel 300 miles but that’s the northeast for ya.

 

[colormegreen]

So, I joined late to the thread in year 2017, and I was to continue working towards debt dumping.

So, it hasn’t gone exactly great. While I did not add towards debt during Christmas, I haven’t been adding to my savings either as I had to take money out. This year, registration killed me for one of my cars, as a smog check was due and had to make the car pass ready. I was able to pay my husband’s 6 month insurance with our monthly income, but had to dip into savings again to pay mine...since we still haven’t done out taxes. I will be making $150 payments to my savings to replace what I took for the insurance in addition to what we already transfer each month..

I am not sure where I am with my other bills, as I have bee not paying them...but with stress from work and debating to applying to other places, it has taken a back seat to that.

All I know I said that February isn’t a great month for me as it is a short month workwise, but we will manage. Glasses for my son and I are also a part of this months expense...so just hanging in there til March.

 

[Dentam]

I managed to be pretty productive this weekend despite getting very little sleep due to anxiety over current circumstances. Got my car emissions test done and just need to wait for that to be added to their online system so I can then update my registration. Gave a talk at our local home show. Got some things together for goodwill and did some cleaning of the garage. Ordered my contact lenses for the year. Got my badge for the new rec center and checked that out. Took my dog to a meetup at a dog park nearby. I need to go through and declutter some more before moving. Hoping the anxiety will go down enough so I can get some quality sleep this coming week.

 

[DisneyMandC]

My final loan payment FINALLY posted this morning (12 days later!). So 0 balance on that! My IRS refund says it will be sent to my bank account by Wednesday, so the final loan payment I put on my credit card for points is scheduled to be paid off Friday. It'll be nice not to budget that $150 in for March's budget!

Other than that, I had a pretty disappointing weekend, though mainly just first world problems-type stuff. I can't remember if I had mentioned here before that DH and I were taking a three day trip to Miami this week for a work conference. They were putting us up in a nice hotel and I was very excited since our only expense was my plane ticket that I was able to purchase through credit card points. I had told everyone at work that I was going and was ecstatic since I've never been to Miami. Well, at 4:30 Friday DH's work informed him that they needed him on a huge work project and were taking away all his work for the next two weeks for him to focus solely on that- including the conference. So trip is canceled, no vacation for me, and, of course, my plane ticket is non-refundable. I was pretty bummed, to say the very least. I realize it is not DH's fault at all, and in fact the project he has been asked to work on is very important, but it's still disappointing. He told me he would take me somewhere else to make up for it this summer, but it's not like we just have the money lying around right now to take a three-day trip somewhere. So we'll see. We've been tentatively discussing a birthday trip for him to Universal this year, but that wouldn't be until November.

And of course now I'm at work and everyone is excitedly asking me when I'm leaving tomorrow

 

[bethwc101]

This is going to be a great place for me. let me just say 2017 was not our year. I had several medical issues with my seizures, heart problems, and lung failures. Going into 2017 we had a couple thousand on credit cards, but were not making any charges and doing giant payments. And then my health crashed. Leaving 2017 into 18 this is what we are looking at.

$20,000 loan
$1,200 medical
$350 apartment fees
$7,000 car.
$and approx. $13,000 in credit cards

Our goal this year is to get the car, medical, and apartment taken care of, and credit cards paid off. I was just cleared by my DR. to go back to work, so now I have a great job and hoping to have pretty much all my income going to these debts while DH takes care of day to day items like utilities, gas, food, etc.

It will be a wonderful place for me to talk about my progress/ success/ issues I am having here, since DH and I end up arguing whenever finances come up. It was a real struggle not being able to work the last 9 months due to my health. Both financially and mentally for me.

 

[Dentam]

This is going to be a great place for me. let me just say 2017 was not our year. I had several medical issues with my seizures, heart problems, and lung failures. Going into 2017 we had a couple thousand on credit cards, but were not making any charges and doing giant payments. And then my health crashed. Leaving 2017 into 18 this is what we are looking at.

$20,000 loan
$1,200 medical
$350 apartment fees
$7,000 car.
$and approx. $13,000 in credit cards

Our goal this year is to get the car, medical, and apartment taken care of, and credit cards paid off. I was just cleared by my DR. to go back to work, so now I have a great job and hoping to have pretty much all my income going to these debts while DH takes care of day to day items like utilities, gas, food, etc.

It will be a wonderful place for me to talk about my progress/ success/ issues I am having here, since DH and I end up arguing whenever finances come up. It was a real struggle not being able to work the last 9 months due to my health. Both financially and mentally for me.

I'm sorry to hear that 2017 was hard on you guys. 2018 is turning out to be that way for me, so I can sympathize! I hope this year goes much better for you and that your health continues to improve. Feel free to vent here, ask for advice, share successes, etc. It's a nice support group to have.

 

[jackers]

Dentam, thinking of you and your housing situation. That just plain sucks.

For those of you with teenagers and driving - I have State Farm and they added my son as a driver to the cheapest/oldest vehicle (which was what he drove anyway) He can still drive any of our vehicles, but by only naming him as a primary driver on the cheapest vehicle, it did keep costs a little lower for us. Our insurance costs doubled when we added him, so it was definitely a budget buster at the time, but it starts to tick down over time as they get older.

Expensive February, but still stayed within budget and able to make progress towards all of my goals. Biggest expense was my trip to visit my son, who made it safely home from his Okinawa deployment. But it was all planned for and I had the money in my account to cover everything I put on the card for the trip and it’s already paid off.

Unexpected expense was me catching the flu and making an Urgent Care and pharmacy run. But, I have money in my HSA account that covered those expenses so nothing needed to come out of our regular budget. This flu has knocked me out, but finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, I think. I had to use 3 extra days of PTO as sick days, which I hate doing, but you do what you have to do, I guess. I have the option of working from home when sick, but I really just wasn’t well enough to do even that, so I took the time off and slept.


Anyway, year to date progress towards 2018 goals:

Car Loan: $2700 towards a $14,000 goal (updated goal)

Savings: $1,800 towards a $5,000 goal

Mortgage Overpay: $400 towards a $4,000 goal

DS2 College Fund: $700 towards a $5,000 goal

Personal goal: 15 pounds lost (35 total goal). Pretty excited about this progress – it’s been a while since I have been able to maintain this level of will power.

 

[bethwc101]

I like the thought of setting quarter goals. But since i'm late to the game I will go to half. By June 30th i want to have paid.
$My Discover, AmEx, and Cap One paid off and closed. Aprox $9,500
And $1500 towards personal loan payment.

 

[Ngwira]

My final loan payment FINALLY posted this morning (12 days later!). So 0 balance on that! My IRS refund says it will be sent to my bank account by Wednesday, so the final loan payment I put on my credit card for points is scheduled to be paid off Friday. It'll be nice not to budget that $150 in for March's budget!

Other than that, I had a pretty disappointing weekend, though mainly just first world problems-type stuff. I can't remember if I had mentioned here before that DH and I were taking a three day trip to Miami this week for a work conference. They were putting us up in a nice hotel and I was very excited since our only expense was my plane ticket that I was able to purchase through credit card points. I had told everyone at work that I was going and was ecstatic since I've never been to Miami. Well, at 4:30 Friday DH's work informed him that they needed him on a huge work project and were taking away all his work for the next two weeks for him to focus solely on that- including the conference. So trip is canceled, no vacation for me, and, of course, my plane ticket is non-refundable. I was pretty bummed, to say the very least. I realize it is not DH's fault at all, and in fact the project he has been asked to work on is very important, but it's still disappointing. He told me he would take me somewhere else to make up for it this summer, but it's not like we just have the money lying around right now to take a three-day trip somewhere. So we'll see. We've been tentatively discussing a birthday trip for him to Universal this year, but that wouldn't be until November.

And of course now I'm at work and everyone is excitedly asking me when I'm leaving tomorrow

So it totally may not work for you, but Chase was able to refund me 8,000 UR for a non refundable hotel booking that I was no longer able to use. I cancelled about 3 months in advance, though, so not sure we're comparing apples to apples. The Chase rep ( I have the CSR) called the hotel (Hampton Inn Calgary Airport) and they made an "exception" for me. Not sure if it would work for airline bookings so close to departure but it's worth a shot! I hope you and DH are able to get away soon.

 

[Eureka]

To everyone who chimed in about car insurance....we went with the company we're already with because we have our homeowners with them and get a discount. I was surprised it's "just" $850/year but he got a good student discount and we did not put him as primary on any of the cars. The old minivan is going to be "his" car and just has liability coverage but even so, it was cheaper (and legal) for him to be secondary on that and me as primary, I think (or DH but I think it's me). I just added him to AAA today, that's prorated until next fall when we renew but it's an additional $77.50 to add him yearly. We have heard the student parking lot is full for the year but when the time comes we'll find out (you need your license for a month before applying) but he'll definitely get in for next year and that's only $25. So, overall, not so bad. He drove by himself yesterday afternoon to the store and it was surreal to watch him leave. I made him text me when he got there (like 3 miles away!). And I get to start the whole process again in less than a year with my younger DS!

 

[DisneyMandC]

So it totally may not work for you, but Chase was able to refund me 8,000 UR for a non refundable hotel booking that I was no longer able to use. I cancelled about 3 months in advance, though, so not sure we're comparing apples to apples. The Chase rep ( I have the CSR) called the hotel (Hampton Inn Calgary Airport) and they made an "exception" for me. Not sure if it would work for airline bookings so close to departure. I hope you and DH are able to get away soon.

Thank you! I tried, but it was a no go. I booked with my CSP but the rep said there was nothing they could do. I haven't been a Chase customer very long (barely 6 months), otherwise I might have tried the "I'm a long time customer, spent a lot of money with you..." yada yada, but I'm sure it wouldn't have worked in this scenario. I guess the bright side is I haven't lost any cash out of my pocket, but I would've happily kept those extra UR points to use towards our Disney vacation for 2019.

 

[ariel1025]

Ugh. I just needed somewhere to release a bit. Ok, let's be real. Whine This summer we had planned to do a 10 day CA trip. Two nights at Legoland in the new Castle Hotel and then 7 nights at DL split between a DVC room and an off-site hotel. When cramming numbers I realized that if we cut back on the trip we could pay off a big credit card, with a big monthly payment, several months ahead of schedule. So, the Hubs and I decided together, last night, that we are going to cut out most of our sit down meals (saving roughly $400) and the Legoland portion of the trip (saving about $1500). Now, we've been so I know it isn't the greatest park ever or anything. But our family had a blast there last time and the kids were super excited about it. We are telling them tonight that we had to cut that piece of the trip out. And I just feel so. darn. guilty. I know that they are lucky they still get to go on a trip. And I know that even though they don't understand (and they are too young to even explain the specifics) this is the smart, adult, right decision. But it still sucks. First world problems. I know. Sigh.