Debt Dumpers 2023

[piglet1979]

Unfortunately there are a fair amount of false negatives for the blood test for celiac and the only definitive way it to check the intestines for death of the cillia.

This is what we learned with my mom. She was missed diagnosed for almost 20 years before finding out she had celiac. I had some of the same symptoms as her so this is why I had the endoscopy a few years ago. Thankfully I do not have it.

I really think they should just remove the artificial coloring to all Gatorade so if I want cherry flavor, I still can.

I agree. It was so hard finding a flavor that I liked that didn't have the dye.

 

[barkley]

Ooops. I didn't even update!

We are up to $7600 in saving for our bathroom remodel. I started to look at tile, etc. but dh has been working OT every Saturday for over a month, it's starting to wear him down. He has something like another 10 weeks of this too. He is allowed to turn it down but I know he never will. He never turns down OT. Ever.

So instead of pleading to him to shop with me for faucets, etc, I decided to push that goal back a while. It's not urgent. We're going to pilfer that savings fund and take a 5-nt cruise in March. He really wants some time to unwind and relax in the sun.
After 26 Disney cruises, we are going to try Celebrity. We still have our 14-nt WBPC on the Magic booked for October and I can't imagine loving Celebrity that much to make me want to cancel it. Celeb is a lot cheaper than DCL. Even when we add their package that includes drinks, wifi & gratuities, it is still almost $800 less than 5 nts on the Dream for the same dates. I try to be open-minded when trying another cruise line but both times on RC only left me wanting DCL more. We'll see.

So I'll switch gears to saving for the Oct cruise first and then start on the bathroom remodel fund. This should take me til around Halloween or Thanksgiving. I'll have to crunch the numbers.

Ds26 applied to our local IBEW for their electrician apprenticeship. Typically, it's very hard to get accepted but I'm hoping & praying, that his age might help if he's competing with a bunch of 18 year olds. Maybe they want someone a little more mature. He has to take an aptitude test first and I'm confident he will do well. He scored in 98th percentile when he took the ASVAB. All this waiting & wondering is torture for me.

well, your savings on the delayed bathroom remodel is being spent on our kitchen. i don't know if i shared last summer but we went through a nightmare dealing with a local appliance store trying to replace our microwave and oven/stove. ended up keeping the microwave but since our oven still works we refused it. flash forward and with all the talks of feds over regulating gas stoves we were fearful the waits would push out further (don't want to be in the position of our oven/stove going out and waiting months). ended up at another store and of course fell in love with a much more expensive model (thermador).

celebrity cruises-did a mini one (2 nights/3 days) in the pacific northwest about a decade or so ago after several disney cruises. WONDERFUL-different vibe but great food, great staff. nice little details-it was late summer but a bit chilly in the evenings so staff would walk the decks offering warmed blankets, when we did the tender ride from the ship to shore it started drizzling so we were offered umbrellas to borrow/were greeted on our return trip with cups of hot chocolate.

Now I’m 26 yrs older it’s even more a PITA to clean and modern doors with wheels at the top just make more sense.

our bathroom remodel last year had us exploring new shower doors-we went with the frameless so no wheels anywhere we went with a door that opens both inward and outward (in case we need to use a shower chair at any point). i highly recommend opting for the glass door treatment that helps repels water and stains-that stuff is freaking amazing (not having a track on the bottom to clean is heaven).

 

[pblack]

Well the federal government is on it this year. I checked our bank account this morning and our federal tax return has already been deposited. I just filed our taxes on 2/1. I think this is the quickest i've ever received a return.

 

[Woth2982]

February Update:

Amazon - $13,000 - Paid this in full. $3k in January and the balance today with proceeds from the life insurance
Jet Blue - $16,000 - Paid $6,000 with the remainder of the life insurance policy
DH Student Loan - $13,000 all federal
My Student Loan - $4,000 private

Taxes - Hoping to file our taxes this weekend. DH's old job claims they sent out W2s the first week of January. We still don't have it. They were supposed to send him a copy yesterday via a secure portal, we still don't have it. No clue how much we will get back until we file. Guessing around $4k since that is what we got last year, we added a second child, but the CTC is half of what it was last year, so that brings us to the same.

LTIP/STIP - Won't know if I am getting this until April at the earliest, but more likely June. If I get this we should be close to debt free at this point so the focus will shift to saving as I want to build a gym and play room in our basement in 2024.

Going to try this again! We were doing so well in 2022 then my DH lost his job and was out of work from March to September! I didn't think he was looking hard enough for a new job, seemed perfectly happy just playing with the baby (btw we were paying for TWO baby sitters while he was out of work because they are family/close friends we had made a commitment to and I felt obligated). He kept reassuring me we were fine financially and there were no issues. Then a couple months ago it all came to a head when he got a notice his car was being repossessed. Needless to say this caused a little strain on our marriage. His car was thankfully NOT repossessed and he has worked it out with the bank and is caught up on payments. We have worked through a lot of this, but it has left us with a little more dept than I anticipated. Namely two credit cards with a balance around $10k each. This felt good typing it out! I have not been able to vent to anyone.

After the first of the year we sat down and put a plan together to pay down the debt. He has a life insurance policy that has a cash value, we were saving it for no particular reason, so we are going to cash that in. He is working on getting the paperwork together. His mom has to full transfer it from herself to him, but it should be about $10k so that will wipe out the first card!

Our Amazon card was at $13k. I paid off $3k yesterday with my savings. We should get about 4k back on our taxes so our entire tax return will go to that. I am HOPING to get both my LTIP and STIP payments this year. I am uncertain how it will go because while my company is hitting our forecast/budget, we did have a major layoff as one of our big label products is going generic this coming year (I work in pharma). This was not unexpected, but it could affect my bonus payments. IF I get both, it will wipe out the remainder of the CC debt, then I will start focusing on rebuilding my savings.

Once school starts in the fall we will be going down to one babysitter as DS will be about 18 months and DD will be in school 2 days a week, but possibly 5 if she qualifies for the towns head start program. She will be evaluated over the summer. She is currently in Early intervention for gross motor and is going to get evaluated a second time for speech. She will be 2.5 next month and does not yet speak in sentences. Tons of words, knows all her letters and colors, just wont put the words together.

Wow that was a lot! If you made it this far thank you for reading! Good luck to everyone with their goals in 2023!

 

[disney-inspired]

Well the federal government is on it this year. I checked our bank account this morning and our federal tax return has already been deposited. I just filed our taxes on 2/1. I think this is the quickest i've ever received a return.

Same! I just checked my account and it posted today.

 

[goofytinkerbell]

After me saying last time that I was going to try and keep up with weekly updates... I didn't. So this is a 2-week update.

Financially:
1. Pay off my credit cards (it's not a lot, but it's debt)
-Had to put a bit on it so there's a small balance, but that'll be paid today. I just had to wait for everything to hit the card so I knew what the payment would be.
-The government money finally showed up. It's not much, but everything helps with bills. Not enough to do anything fun with.
2. Figure out a way to put some sort of extra on the mortgage, even if it's the $100 minimum
-DONE! I put an extra payment on it with the government money I got. Doing the math, it was actually better to do this than put it into retirement savings (which has been losing money)
3. Get some things I NEED to have (rims/tires for the car, etc)
-Still no
4. Get a savings plan going for the big stuff that comes due in one lump sum payment (insurance, property tax)
-Nothing happening with this. Arguably, I should have used the government money, but it was a coin toss

General stuff:
1. Make a will. A marriage voids your existing will, a divorce does NOT. My Dad had a heart attack recently, so this is especially important to me now.
-Not yet. I started making a list of what I'd need to cover.
2. Continue to clear out the crap. I need to go through my clothes and that sort of thing. I got a pile done in 2022, but it really wasn't enough.
-348 items gone since the last update. They're small items, but it's good progress
3. Look for a new job. The reason nothing has been getting done is because I'm burned out from my existing job and I'm being severely underpaid for the work I do.
-No.
4. Get my passport.-DONE!
5. Knock some half-finished projects off the list. Everything from making a scarf to some jewelry. Lots of stuff has been started, but not finished. Enough already!
-Worked on a project, nothing completed
6. Get into better shape. I'd like to say 'lose weight', but I'd be happy to be able to run up my own steps without getting winded. The weight loss may or may not come, but it's not as important.
-Did 3 workouts. I feel like I did more and may have forgotten to track it, but whatever.
7. Spend more time with loved ones. I don't see friends/family much. I guess I really need to do #3 in order to facilitate this one.
-Spent some time with friends once, and visited with family
8. Organize my stuff!
-I spent some time digging through craft supplies, which is how I got rid of some of the stuff I did.

 

[pblack]

Apparently the state of CA is also on top of things this year as my state refund hit my account this morning. Today was also the first paycheck on my DH's new pay schedule. It wasn't a full paycheck because of the way the dates fall, but it was at least enough to cover 2 big bills until he gets paid next.

With the tax refunds hitting my account i've now paid just over $4500 to our highlander loan which should bring it down to somewhere in the $14k range. The rest of our refund is being put into savings to pay for a vacation later on in the year. Could I have taken all of our refund and paid it towards our highlander loan? Yeah, I could have, but gotta enjoy life too. If our entire refund would have paid off that loan entirely I would have done it, but it would have only made another small dent in it.

I think that's about the only update for me so far. I need to go in and re-work my bill spreadsheet to accommodate DH's new pay schedule. Happy Friday!

 

[pblack]

It was an expensive weekend for us, but since we had nice weather we finally got the fence replaced. It was about $500 (we did it ourselves) and took us the majority of the weekend. It really shouldn't have taken this long, but the gate proved to be a pain in the butt. It also doesn't help that where our gate opens the concrete is uneven, but we figured it out. I wish we had the money to replace the concrete, but that's just out of our budget at this point in time. I also bought some plants for the backyard that I've been wanting (Costco finally had them again). I already bought pots last year after summer, so now I just need to repot the plants and place them where I want them. I have some more backyard projects planned and I can't wait to see the end result come summer time.

 

[disney-inspired]

I had to wait until a specific form was cleared for filing my state return in CA. I filed today and hopefully will have that money in my account within a week.

I'm moving my tax return money to my general savings account until I decide how I want to use it.

 

[amalone1013]

Mid Month Check In

Only real update is where we are on grocery and dining spending, and I survived my work trip. Going to try and get taxes done this week.

Reduce grocery budget and dining out spending. Goal: Grocery $350/month, Dining $400/month
Current: Grocery $284, Dining $67 + $25 credit card credits
Haven't eaten out much this month, though we'll pick something up tonight. We basically have everything we need for the month for groceries... except 2 things which I'd typically buy from Costco. It's just not terribly convenient. So I'm thinking of getting enough to last through end of March, and then take any overage from the March budget.

Home
Stair gate/front hallway project is still rolling along. Lights are up, drywall is up. DH has plans for it this weekend. Update - ready to get trim this weekend! Then paint I'll be so glad when this project is done.

Budget
Reworked
Added baby spending line
Covered overspending on home projects with barn savings for now. Haven't done anything else.

Personal
The only thing here is I think I've worked out a reward system, which was motivating to me before for this.

End of Month Check In

Reduce grocery budget and dining out spending. Goal: Grocery $350/month, Dining $400/month
Final: Grocery $246, Dining $411 + $135 credit card credits
I originally wasn't going to do another Jan check in but I messed up my grocery budgeting in the other post! I forgot I purchased $100 in Kroger gift cards for a deal, that I didn't use and was planning to put against the Feb budget and use them then. So really we came out with $246 for January, which is wayyyyy better considering I bought little protein in January. This last week here was A DAY and we ended up eating out Mon and Tues, so went just over on dining - that always comes out of the entertainment budget. I did get most of our big "shop" in this week for February so we'll see how month 2 goes for meal planning! We did pick up the restaurant freezer meals which were/are handy, I plan to do that again this month with credit card credits.

Home
Stair gate/front hallway project is still rolling along. Lights are up, drywall is up. DH has plans for it this weekend.

Budget
Reworked
Added baby spending line
Covered overspending on home projects with barn savings for now. Haven't done anything else.

Personal
I did so well with the vending machine and then Tuesday was A DAY. I think I hit up the vending machine and a bunch of snacks that were out Tues/Wed because I spent all day in meetings, like 10hrs a day.

Today I'm doing some budget/money housekeeping and finalizing the Feb budget. Also I think I may have all the tax forms now so may do that too!

 

[zebrastreyepz]

I think I was in the 2022 thread and went off the rails.

But 2023 is going to be different because there have been a lot of changes around here.

I have a budget laid out for the year...for every paycheck. We have assignments for all overtime, bonus money, and tax refund money which is debt freedom.

I have 12 goals altogether:

1. Lose 50 pounds
2. Reduce debt by $15,000
3. Teach 1 cardmaking class
4. Complete 48 new scrapbook pages
5. Finish editing four books from my friend's back catalog
6. Edit four new books for her this year
7. Complete my first book series, which means completing one book
8. Complete my second series, which means writing four books
9. Stick to the budget
10. Organize my scrapbooks and get completed pages into albums
11. Produce content for all four blogs consistently
12. Read and review 48 books

February mid-month check-in:

1. Down 6.8 pounds
2. Down $1554
3. Not done yet
4. Not started yet
5. One of four completed
6. One of four completed
7. Added words to my WIP and scheduled a cover reveal - could be doing better on this.
8. Not started yet
9. Done to here.
10. Not started yet
11. I have 10 out of a needed 26 done this month. - could be doing better on this.
12. I have done 2. I'm behind, but not for lack of trying. I've added three books to my DNF list so far this year. I started one yesterday that looks promising for a finish.

 

[slightly_obsessed]

Checking in for the first half of February:


1. Emergency fund - no change.

2. Debt Focus -Student Loan #2 $4247.47 $4211.62 I probably won't make an additional payment this month, so this is just down the monthly payment minus interest. We received notice that our insurance increase will increase our mortgage/escrow payment significantly unless we make a one time payment by the end of the month. I want to make sure I take care of that before I send extra to this loan.

3. Vacation - Purchased our airline tickets partially with points. I'll pay this off with a combo of my paycheck I will get next week and tax refund if needed. We wanted to fly out of our regional airport instead of drive 1.5-2.5 hours away and since there is only one flight out of our town a day, I went ahead and bought these so we have them.

4. Additional $5000 to either my IRA or our non retirement investment account before the end of the year. This is in addition to what we already invest retirement wise. No change.

5. Food Budget/Planning (decrease wasted food and money) - We ate out less last month and so far this one, but I still haven't gotten on top of meal planning.

6. Finish taxes asap. Taxes are done as of yesterday! Changing this bullet point to actually do our trust.

7. No/low buy January/February. Exceptions will be household projects we have in the works (laundry room is getting a makeover next week with the help of a friend) and buying plane tickets. Mainly I want to cut down on impulse buying and work on those food costs. Bought the plane tickets and what was needed for the laundry room. Lights and paint were more than I intended but we have the money set aside for household projects so we are good there. I've done well on curbing impulse shopping but not so much on food costs yet. Going to continue this into March since I'm still saving for parts of our vacation.

 

[goofytinkerbell]

This was NOT a good week for progress but this weekend is a long one, so I'm hoping to find some time to do "all the things".

Financially:
1. Pay off my credit cards (it's not a lot, but it's debt)
-Empty! Still not calling this "done" until winter is over, but then I might change this to say "keep the cards empty".
2. Figure out a way to put some sort of extra on the mortgage, even if it's the $100 minimum - DONE!
3. Get some things I NEED to have (rims/tires for the car, etc)
-Still no. I looked into winter boots (which I desperately need) but am having trouble finding anything. I might be stuck with the leaky ones for another year.
4. Get a savings plan going for the big stuff that comes due in one lump sum payment (insurance, property tax)
-Nothing actually completed with this, but I looked at the budget to see what kind of auto-payments I might be able to afford to set up.

General stuff:
1. Make a will. A marriage voids your existing will, a divorce does NOT. My Dad had a heart attack recently, so this is especially important to me now.
-No progress this week
2. Continue to clear out the crap. I need to go through my clothes and that sort of thing. I got a pile done in 2022, but it really wasn't enough.
-4 items gone this week.
3. Look for a new job. The reason nothing has been getting done is because I'm burned out from my existing job and I'm being severely underpaid for the work I do.
-Tried to get some gig work, but that fell through
4. Get my passport.-DONE!
5. Knock some half-finished projects off the list. Everything from making a scarf to some jewelry. Lots of stuff has been started, but not finished. Enough already!
-Worked on a project, nothing completed
6. Get into better shape. I'd like to say 'lose weight', but I'd be happy to be able to run up my own steps without getting winded. The weight loss may or may not come, but it's not as important.
-Did 1 workout. It was a stretch even to get one done.
7. Spend more time with loved ones. I don't see friends/family much. I guess I really need to do #3 in order to facilitate this one.
-Spent some time with friends once
8. Organize my stuff!
-Opened a closet, looked at it, and closed it again. I just couldn't do it this week.

 

[jackers]

Over $1300 in car repairs/maintenance this month. Blah. I had $2K budgeted for the full year, so kinda hitting that one a bit early.

 

[disney-inspired]

I planned to surprise my mom with a weekend beach getaway at her favorite beach town at these cute rental cottages. I booked it and then was notified that they only book monthly reservations and ain't no way I can swing $6,000. I had already set the dates with her and my job so had to find an alternative which was much more than I had anticipated so I put it on the CC to secure the airbnb. I'll have to adjust my sinking funds accordingly but should be paid off before next billing cycle.

I hope she loves it b/c it's super close to the beach and we even have the trolley stop right on our street.

I'm also interested in traveling for my birthday so need to figure out where I want to go - and it's so hard to not look immediately at WDW since I know it's doable for my mobility issues but I want to try something new. I also need to set up that budget.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Every week I get free play at my local casinos. One of them has been giving me $75/week for the last two months. I go down before work each week and take $40 with me and try to convert it to actual dollars.

Well, this week was a week I don't think I can ever top. My $75 in free play turned into $9,112 in cash. I literally could not lose and ended up hitting a high limit major jackpot of $7900 (after faxes taken out I got $6000). I played for almost 8 hours and just kept winning a few hundred at a time, split the ticket, played off another $100 and repeated until I lost $300 in a row. Needless to say, our Vegas trip is fully funded, I paid off all lingering little payments, put $1000 back into an extra emergency fund, an extra month of rent put back, and have the money set aside for Disney tickets with the homeschool group when they open registration.

We're going back for DH's bday on Friday (with money from winnings, so nothing oop) and I can't wait to see how we do.

 

[crazycatstacy]

We leave for Disney Sunday and I am ready! Just trying to convince myself I don't need to eat every meal out between now and then. We didn't get groceries because of being gone for two weeks. We have food just nothing you necessarily want LOL. We are also expecting a big snow storm (which won't impact my travel) and I am guessing my office will be closed tomorrow. I think this will be my first snowstorm where I don't go buy a bunch of snacks to have at home. I guess I will survive

 

[dayvewc]

Ok, I am doing a drive by whining. This is/has not been a good year.

Last April, I was in a car wreck that totaled my roommates car. I am still waiting on the insurance (lawyers, actually) to settle the claims on it. Mostly because I am still having to go to doctors because of health problems due to the accident.

Over the summer, my oldest sister was in a car wreck that totaled the car my mom had loaned her to drive back and forth from where she lived (New Mexico) to where my mom lived (Arkansas).

In November, my mom died.

In January, my brother in law married to my youngest sister had his work truck hit by an 18 wheeler on the interstate and totaled his truck. He had to be chopped out of the cab with the jaws of life, it was a miracle he survived; even more so that he was un-injured.

Then the day after Valentines day, my youngest sister died of a heart attack. She was 53. No one expected that. She had been on dialysis for 4 years, and that statistically shortens peoples lives. But she was happy and full of life on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday, she was gone.

I'm just not sure what is going to happen next.

Plus in all of that, I have moved, moved jobs, and am still having to fight with the VA over correctly diagnosing injuries I sustained during my military service. I just am ready to crawl into a hole and pull the top over me and hide from the world for a long while.

And that is my current pity party.

Right now, I am happy if my debt just doesn't increase. I'll get back to focusing on dumping debt when some of the other stress abates a bit.

 

[MsOnceUponATime]

Ok, I am doing a drive by whining. This is/has not been a good year.

Last April, I was in a car wreck that totaled my roommates car. I am still waiting on the insurance (lawyers, actually) to settle the claims on it. Mostly because I am still having to go to doctors because of health problems due to the accident.

Over the summer, my oldest sister was in a car wreck that totaled the car my mom had loaned her to drive back and forth from where she lived (New Mexico) to where my mom lived (Arkansas).

In November, my mom died.

In January, my brother in law married to my youngest sister had his work truck hit by an 18 wheeler on the interstate and totaled his truck. He had to be chopped out of the cab with the jaws of life, it was a miracle he survived; even more so that he was un-injured.

Then the day after Valentines day, my youngest sister died of a heart attack. She was 53. No one expected that. She had been on dialysis for 4 years, and that statistically shortens peoples lives. But she was happy and full of life on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday, she was gone.

I'm just not sure what is going to happen next.

Plus in all of that, I have moved, moved jobs, and am still having to fight with the VA over correctly diagnosing injuries I sustained during my military service. I just am ready to crawl into a hole and pull the top over me and hide from the world for a long while.

And that is my current pity party.

Right now, I am happy if my debt just doesn't increase. I'll get back to focusing on dumping debt when some of the other stress abates a bit.

Big hugs to you! I don't know you, but I admire your willingness to put this out there. So many people suffer in silence and it's nice that this can be put on a board and people are compassionate and kind in response. I am sending you virtual hugs...

 

[pblack]

Oh my gosh, i'm so sorry to hear of all that @dayvewc. Take it one day, one hour, one minute at a time if you need too. Don't forget to take care of yourself as well. I can only imagine how all the stress can be taking a toll on you.