Debt Dumpers 2023

[Carol_]

1. What steps do you plan to take to ensure that you are able to pay your taxes this year?
2. Which retirement account do you plan to fund, and why did you choose that particular option? 2a. What factors are you considering in your decision between I-bonds, S&P 500 Schwab, and Vanguard for your retirement account?
3. What steps do you plan to take to fund your child's college education, and what factors are you considering in your decision between different investment options? 3a. What research have you done to determine which investment option is best for your child's college fund?
4. What changes do you plan to make in order to stop spending money on unnecessary items or expenses?

1. Keep hustling
2. Roth IRA because it’s the one I have. I already have Schwab and it’s done better than my Vanguard. I bonds are a distinct possibility but I’m scared of the never done that before unknown.
3. Encourage him to join the military. Save future after-tax income in CDs. Teach him how to make and save $$.
4. Get organized so I know what I have. This is the biggest, most involved and easily pushed aside job.

 

[barkley]

1. Keep hustling
2. Roth IRA because it’s the one I have. I already have Schwab and it’s done better than my Vanguard. I bonds are a distinct possibility but I’m scared of the never done that before unknown.
3. Encourage him to join the military. Save future after-tax income in CDs. Teach him how to make and save $$.
4. Get organized so I know what I have. This is the biggest, most involved and easily pushed aside job.

you owe no one an explanation-but GREAT planning

i see you mention CD's-i LOVE CD's. there's a product that i consider kind of the unicorn of cd's you might want to explore. i've only found them offered at some credit unions (luckily the one i belong to has them)-they work like a traditional cd but let you make additional monthly deposits at the same locked in rate. i consider them like an 'insurance policy' for my existing cd's and future savings in the event rates are not good when the existing come to maturity/i want to purchase a new one. at my credit union i can open one with a $500 deposit and if i want to add to it i'm permitted up to $5000 per month. i was glad to have it when i had some other come to maturity a few years back and rates were so low.

 

[Carol_]

Thanks, guys. I appreciate you having my back. I was surprised by the post but as a socially challenged human myself, I figured it’s possible they didn’t mean any harm and my answering doesn’t hurt anyone… Perhaps it even helps somebody.

 

[Eniale]

Financial Goals for 2023:

Tackle our credit card debt. It was somewhere up around 17k, all interest rates through the roof (22-28%!!!!) and I was paying $500 a month on them. My husband lost his job a few years ago and CCs were how we survived after savings were drained, and after a stint in a really crappy-paid job for me (and Covid destroying his business) we're finally on the mend... Started off with a consolidation loan to put them all together and managed to get an APR of 9%. Been paying the same $500 a month on it (was already paying that to make practically no dent in them before, might as well keep at it!) and in fall I'll be bumping that up. Based on my spreadsheet, I should have it totally paid off by June 2024.

Tackle student loan debt. This one is heftier, it'll take a while, but I'm making strides. Been able to pay an extra $100 a month, and hopefully as of this month will be able to pay another $100 (raise at work). Goal is to be debt-free by summer 2026. Long road, but worth it.

My credit score a year ago was 565. Today is 735 just from the consolidation (and the card companies all increasing my limits trying to bait me to use them... not gonna happen. I'm going to cycle them for small things like lunch here and there just so they don't close them, but that's it.)

 

[Carol_]

Financial Goals for 2023:

Tackle our credit card debt. It was somewhere up around 17k, all interest rates through the roof (22-28%!!!!) and I was paying $500 a month on them. My husband lost his job a few years ago and CCs were how we survived after savings were drained, and after a stint in a really crappy-paid job for me (and Covid destroying his business) we're finally on the mend... Started off with a consolidation loan to put them all together and managed to get an APR of 9%. Been paying the same $500 a month on it (was already paying that to make practically no dent in them before, might as well keep at it!) and in fall I'll be bumping that up. Based on my spreadsheet, I should have it totally paid off by June 2024.

Tackle student loan debt. This one is heftier, it'll take a while, but I'm making strides. Been able to pay an extra $100 a month, and hopefully as of this month will be able to pay another $100 (raise at work). Goal is to be debt-free by summer 2026. Long road, but worth it.

My credit score a year ago was 565. Today is 735 just from the consolidation (and the card companies all increasing my limits trying to bait me to use them... not gonna happen. I'm going to cycle them for small things like lunch here and there just so they don't close them, but that's it.)

Keep up the great work! Sounds like you’re holding it together nicely.

 

[Carol_]

The house has been hit with some kind of stomach bug, so it's been a crappy week (pun intended).

We added a little debt to our names last weekend, but the sales and 0% interest financing were saving us a pretty good amount, so we went for it. While we were gone in December our chest freezer and my laptop fried due to a power surge. Our mattress is closing in on 10 years old and is literally the cheapest thing we could find at the time. And our washer and dryer are a mis-matched set with the washer being a tiny portable one that is apartment sized.
So tomorrow a new mattress, deep freezer, washer and dryer, and computer are being delivered, plus hubby got a new giant TV. He's been asking for a couple years and it just worked out to be a great price.

It's fine, it just means I have to actually work my scheduled days instead of casually taking days off "just because". Lol.

Get a surge protector or two while you’re at it!

 

[barkley]

Get a surge protector or two while you’re at it!

we are getting one of the whole house ones installed

 

[paslaugh]

1. Backdoor Roth IRA for both me and wife for 2022 and 2023 at max contribution.
2. Have servicer release mortgage escrows so I can self manage insurance and property tax payments to earn cc points.
3. Max out HSA pre-tax contribution
4. Invest $25-40K in index funds in 2023
5. Earn 1M credit card points in 2023 - already at 425K Chase and 400K Amex points in the last 6 months (8 sign up bonuses).

 

[jen7233]

My credit score a year ago was 565. Today is 735 just from the consolidation (and the card companies all increasing my limits trying to bait me to use them... not gonna happen. I'm going to cycle them for small things like lunch here and there just so they don't close them, but that's it.)

That's an amazing credit score jump.

We added a little debt to our names last weekend, but the sales and 0% interest financing were saving us a pretty good amount, so we went for it. While we were gone in December our chest freezer and my laptop fried due to a power surge. Our mattress is closing in on 10 years old and is literally the cheapest thing we could find at the time. And our washer and dryer are a mis-matched set with the washer being a tiny portable one that is apartment sized.
So tomorrow a new mattress, deep freezer, washer and dryer, and computer are being delivered, plus hubby got a new giant TV. He's been asking for a couple years and it just worked out to be a great price.

Our mattress is double that age, we need to replace it. Our washer/dryer came with the house, and they've been pleasantly nice compared to our old dinosaur set we got when we lived in El Paso, these here now are LG and they've been great. Also have a deep freezer, and it's a well-used item, love having it, somehow scored during Covid when they were near impossible to find.

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

I'm hopping mad about our oil tank. It's not even two years old and it's had a leak from the bottom for a year. The oil company is trying to make me think I'm crazy that it shouldn't be leaking. We paid $2500 for it to be installed in Feb of 2021, I'm absolutely certain that it shouldn't be leaking! I'm sure they're just trying to get out of replacing it, there's no way I'm paying for it, so we might take on the expense of looking into heat pumps if this keeps up. I'm paying $700 to fill half the damn thing I don't want it on my floor!

 

[amalone1013]

End of Feb Check In

Reduce grocery budget and dining out spending. Goal: Grocery $350/month, Dining $400/month
Final: Grocery $398, Dining $428 + $135 credit card credits
Grocery was ouch and we didn't even eat at home enough to make up for that. I just came back from my work trip and felt like I was playing catchup from being gone, and then had trouble with produce going bad quickly, and running out of something and feeling like I had shopping paralysis because I'd spent most of the budget and what I wanted to get would put us over, because I'd typically buy in bulk at Costco. Which was really silly but stressed me out. I'm thinking of bumping up the grocery budget to $400 and letting it roll over to help cover bulk buying, which should then save money in the long run as long as we use the items...
We fell off on eating out again at the end of the month, a combination of projects and the shopping paralysis - that always comes out of the entertainment budget.
I did get most of our big "shop" is done for March so hopefully we'll get back on the wagon. We really did like how the planning was going, minus need to make sure we add time to shop for our own produce vs pickup.

Home
Stair gate/front hallway project is DONE minus some touch up wall paint. Thank goodness!
Next up is the other half of our master closet - we've been trying to get materials from Ikea since late 2021. We were able to do half last February but only just got the remaining pieces for the other half this past weekend. This is next up because it's the other big project causing things to be lying around *ahem Ikea boxes on our bedroom floor, I'm looking at you* and we'll be having a birthday party sometime in April (how is it already a year???). I budgeted this project way back in 2021 and we have $300 left to put towards trim, paint, etc, and to tackle the last wall... but that was before Ikea price increases, materials increases, and I was expecting one delivery charge not THREE. So I expect that the $300 will go to finishing around the ikea units and the last wall will be an additional project/line item.

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

Personal
No changes here.

Travel
We're talking about Disneyland/Cali sometime late spring/early summer, but going off my brother in laws school schedule and he's a last minute planner.
I spent some time the other day planning out my vacation time for the year. We're definitely planning on Niagara Falls, just need to pick a time, and September for Halloween Horror Nights - those dates are more concrete.
Two of my friends are coming out to visit this summer, which I'm really excited for. Another friend is expecting twins this summer so I'll definitely have a visit to go back for that.

Got taxes filed early on Feb 25th (a Saturday) and received a message saying Federal was accepted that afternoon, and State that Monday so hopefully we'll see those returns soon.

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.

 

[barkley]

I'm hopping mad about our oil tank. It's not even two years old and it's had a leak from the bottom for a year. The oil company is trying to make me think I'm crazy that it shouldn't be leaking. We paid $2500 for it to be installed in Feb of 2021, I'm absolutely certain that it shouldn't be leaking! I'm sure they're just trying to get out of replacing it, there's no way I'm paying for it, so we might take on the expense of looking into heat pumps if this keeps up. I'm paying $700 to fill half the damn thing I don't want it on my floor!

by any chance did you pay with a credit card? if so and it has a provision to extend the warranty you might be able to get action on their end. we've used coverage to help out with items that had one year to multiple year warranties with the manufacturers that the credit card company then picks up to add an additional year on. if it's still under a manufacturers warranty (or you have proof you reported it to the local place during the period of warranty) and you're not getting a response from whomever sold it to you call the manufacturer directly and ask their help.

 

[disney-inspired]

I've been spending like it's going out of style!

I'm curbing it as of now but gotta pay off this credit card as quick as possible. It's a slippery slope for me.

 

[pblack]

Flight prices are so stupid expensive right now. Southwest finally opened up their calendar for the dates I need in October so I went ahead and booked our flights to/from New Orleans for our October cruise. I paid with a mix of travel credits/giftcard/"cash"/points. Over the weekend I saw that Costco was offering a $500 SW giftcard for $430 so I went ahead and bought one. (They usually offer a $500 giftcard for $450.) So I saved a little bit of money, but still. Even with booking Southwest's most expensive fare (business - guaranteed a1-15 boarding) it was still cheaper than booking through another airline.

I still need to book my flights out to Texas in July. I think we've tentatively decided to hit up a Texas Rangers game while we're there since we've never been to Dallas and we want to visit other baseball stadiums other than our home stadium.

We have 23 days until our cruise and i'm sooooo ready for it. I'll probably drag my suitcase out this weekend and start throwing things in that I don't want to forget/won't need between now and then. We've had nothing but rain in our area, so i'm looking forward to some hopefully sunny and warm weather.

 

[jen7233]

Flight prices are so stupid expensive right now. Southwest finally opened up their calendar for the dates I need in October so I went ahead and booked our flights to/from New Orleans for our October cruise. I paid with a mix of travel credits/giftcard/"cash"/points. Over the weekend I saw that Costco was offering a $500 SW giftcard for $430 so I went ahead and bought one. (They usually offer a $500 giftcard for $450.) So I saved a little bit of money, but still. Even with booking Southwest's most expensive fare (business - guaranteed a1-15 boarding) it was still cheaper than booking through another airline.

I agree they are. I saw the Costco deal, thought about it, but I have so much going on right now no deal is good. At least it saved a bit for you!

Next up is the other half of our master closet - we've been trying to get materials from Ikea since late 2021.

We just did our master closet. We went all out with 4 poles I think DH spent about $10-$15 a piece on I was really indecisive on a closet kit, looking at what Home Depot had. I took so long I just relented to putting in the poles for clothes, as that's all he wanted up. One side we already had built in shelves. We had a blank slate in our closet to play with because we walled off another half closet next to it that used to open from the bathroom, and combined it into one instead.

 

[goofytinkerbell]

Tackle student loan debt. This one is heftier, it'll take a while, but I'm making strides. Been able to pay an extra $100 a month, and hopefully as of this month will be able to pay another $100 (raise at work). Goal is to be debt-free by summer 2026. Long road, but worth it.

My credit score a year ago was 565. Today is 735 just from the consolidation (and the card companies all increasing my limits trying to bait me to use them... not gonna happen. I'm going to cycle them for small things like lunch here and there just so they don't close them, but that's it.)

Those student loans are killer! I was well into my 30s before I paid mine off, and they basically destroyed my credit in the process. Just keep doing what you can and try not to get discouraged.
In the meantime, that's a fantastic increase in the credit score! The higher it gets, the easier it should become to get 'cheaper' credit when you do need it, so keep up the good work

we are getting one of the whole house ones installed

If you don't mind me asking, is it terribly expensive? And is it hard to install? I live in an older home with terrible wiring, and I've wondered about this, but it seems to be hard to get any kind of quotes in my area. If I can get a ballpark amount, I can think about if it's something I could ever even consider.

I'm hopping mad about our oil tank. It's not even two years old and it's had a leak from the bottom for a year. The oil company is trying to make me think I'm crazy that it shouldn't be leaking. We paid $2500 for it to be installed in Feb of 2021, I'm absolutely certain that it shouldn't be leaking! I'm sure they're just trying to get out of replacing it, there's no way I'm paying for it, so we might take on the expense of looking into heat pumps if this keeps up. I'm paying $700 to fill half the damn thing I don't want it on my floor!

So sorry to hear that! I don't know much about oil tanks, but that seems wrong in so many ways. Don't let them dismiss you, and good luck

 

[goofytinkerbell]

A bit of progress... This week's update:

Financially:
1. Keep the credit cards empty - DONE! Some big expenses are coming up, so this could be a challenge to keep up.
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)
-I'll be out and about tomorrow, so making a list of things I want to look at and price up.
4. Get a savings plan going for the big stuff that comes due in one lump sum payment (insurance, property tax)
-I'd disputed my property tax, and I called for an update. They haven't even looked at it yet, and the bills are out. I won't be able to 'save' because I'll be paying on that.

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.
-11 items gone this week. Better than last 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.
-Got a little discouraged after last week, and didn't do anything
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 1 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 6 workouts. Personal best? Maybe!
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.
-Nothing this week. I was exposed to covid so I avoided everyone.
8. Organize my stuff!
-Nope

 

[DLgal]

March Update to 2023 Financial Goals:

Emergency Savings:
current: $13000/ goal: $36,000 by end of year
(I might tweak this goal lower, because we don't have a need for such a large emergency fund anymore--see below)

Disneyland Annual Pass fund:
current: $3850/ goal: $6600 by August 15

Chugging right along with the Savings Goals. Will definitely hit these easily this year.

As an update, my husband was offered a job as a result of his Hiring our Heroes fellowship and they are working on his contract now! He will sign it next week and begin work in mid April. WHEW, what a relief! That pretty much completes the military transition, in terms of getting all our ducks in a row. Now we just wait out his final days until his official retirement on May 31. Party and ceremony are in 3 weeks.

Now that he has a job secured (it's a W2 contract role, which will be 2 years in length, to start, so no worry about a layoff), we can start focusing on saving for a house down payment and probably pull back the emergency savings goal. I had wanted a nice cushion in case he didn't find a job right away. It would have allowed us to not have to worry about our spending. I think I'll be happy with $20k in emergency savings.

The house down payment is going to be a MASSIVE goal. I have it set for $250,000 and we'd like to reach it in 2 to 3 years. $70,000 of that will come from the housing allowance he will receive while attending his MBA program, so that leaves $180,000 for us to save up. His pay on the new job is more than we were expecting, so this *should* be a doable goal. I'm breaking it into smaller goals, though. $60,000 at a time. I'd like to have the first $60k saved by December. We will be doing this in a brokerage account that is currently at $3000 or so. I know, it's risky, but Im willing to take the risk. So, adding it in:

Current: $3000/Goal: $60,000 (first wave)

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

Good news! The oil company agreed to replace our oil tank! However, we have to burn down all the oil that's in it, so while the replacement tank will be free...uuughhhhh I need oil to drop in price by like, half :/

 

[ctinct]

Good news! The oil company agreed to replace our oil tank! However, we have to burn down all the oil that's in it, so while the replacement tank will be free...uuughhhhh I need oil to drop in price by like, half :/

Hmmm. They should be able to transfer the oil in your tank to big plastic barrels. That’s what my oil company did when my tank was leaking and had to replaced. Perhaps they don’t want to. My fear would be the leak gets worse and you’re left with big clean up costs. Very glad they’re replacing it though- as they should. Was it guaranteed for a certain number of years? I think my new one is guaranteed maybe 15 years.