Debt Dumpers 2024

[disney-inspired]

That is another thing that needs to be taken into account. If it is not a huge difference in payoff time, you need to do things while you can. DH and I have cut back considerably over the past couple of years spending wise. We have not cut vacations entirely because of our age. My mother died at the age I am with plans of traveling when my father retired.

Yes, tomorrow is not promised to anyone.

I've also volunteered for the holiday team at work.
Starting in 2020, the company would shut down for the week between Christmas and New Year's. Anyone who volunteered was given those 4 days as additional floating PTO to use before the holidays. I've done it twice and wasn't planning to again. Well, they decided to put $$ to incentive it this year so they wouldn't struggle finding volunteers. If we work the holiday week, we will be paid for the time we've worked as well as the 4 days everyone else is getting as 'other with pay' on the same paycheck. So basically getting paid twice (all normal time, no OT).
This paired with our annual bonuses (those usually get paid out on our 12/15 paydays), I'm looking to make a chunk of extra money at the end of year. So I'll be starting 2025 flush!

I should have this CC paid off by Oct if not earlier.

 

[pblack]

End of June update:

2024 Financial Goals:

• Add at least $2000 to my main emergency savings on top of my auto contributions - Nothing additional added $200/$2000
• Increase my contributions to my other savings goals by at least $25/each pay period - This has now been completed.
• Look into a living will/trust (We have friends that keep telling us to do this and with everything going on in my life at the moment, I feel like I should actually look into this more.) - I can finally cross this off my list! At least until my DH and I decide to do one for ourselves.
• **New goal** Get our home equity loan down to $20k (currently at ~$26.5k) - I threw an extra $175 at this at the end of June, but I can't update where I'm currently at because the website is down.

2024 Personal Goals:

• Exercise at least 3 times a week for at least 30 minutes - REALLY need to get back into this....
• Travel as much as possible - No travel planned until a camping trip next month, but my best friend comes in this week.
• Replace the patio cover in our backyard - No progress.
• Finally do something with our side yard - not sure exactly what at the moment - No progress.

Not to much of an update from me. We're bracing for a heck of a heat wave this week (hottest temps of the summer so far for us). I foresee a lot of evening swimming in my future for the week.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Yes, tomorrow is not promised to anyone.

I've also volunteered for the holiday team at work.
Starting in 2020, the company would shut down for the week between Christmas and New Year's. Anyone who volunteered was given those 4 days as additional floating PTO to use before the holidays. I've done it twice and wasn't planning to again. Well, they decided to put $$ to incentive it this year so they wouldn't struggle finding volunteers. If we work the holiday week, we will be paid for the time we've worked as well as the 4 days everyone else is getting as 'other with pay' on the same paycheck. So basically getting paid twice (all normal time, no OT).
This paired with our annual bonuses (those usually get paid out on our 12/15 paydays), I'm looking to make a chunk of extra money at the end of year. So I'll be starting 2025 flush!

I should have this CC paid off by Oct if not earlier.

I'd 100% take that offer too! That's a nice chunk of extra cash.

 

[Tygerlilly]

We finally, FINALLY got my dad's jeep down to the dealer and sold it. Granted we got it there and realized the seats weren't folded down in back, they were not in the jeep at all. I spent 15 mins searching the house and everywhere else and couldn't find them. They took 2k off the offer, but I'm happy with what we got. Basically made back what we used to pay it off, so I'm happy with that and now we can drop it from the insurance and bring that down some.

Now I can focus on finding a new place for my mom to live so we can downsize the house and the expenses that come from a 4 bedroom vs a 2 bedroom or, if she finally sees my side of things, a cute little retirement community condo.

 

[Nettlelondon]

We finally, FINALLY got my dad's jeep down to the dealer and sold it. Granted we got it there and realized the seats weren't folded down in back, they were not in the jeep at all. I spent 15 mins searching the house and everywhere else and couldn't find them. They took 2k off the offer, but I'm happy with what we got. Basically made back what we used to pay it off, so I'm happy with that and now we can drop it from the insurance and bring that down some.

Now I can focus on finding a new place for my mom to live so we can downsize the house and the expenses that come from a 4 bedroom vs a 2 bedroom or, if she finally sees my side of things, a cute little retirement community condo.

Good luck with getting her to move!

When my dad died a few years ago he had an almost brand new car - he bought it a few months before he fell ill and never really drove it at all. We made arrangements to sell it and the day before a cabinet in his garage fell off the wall, after being their quite happily for about 20 years, and damaged the hood. Fortunately the dealer we were selling it too was not too bothered and only took off a notional amount for the dent but it was annoying.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Everything is relatively finalized for our trip next week. Hotels came out to around $1,000, with Omaha being $430 and Kansas City being $570 each for 3 nights.
Omaha has free breakfast, but it seems like in all our travels, only 2 have ever been good, so I'm going to hit Walmart before we leave and pack a tote box with breakfast foods: cereal cups, pop tarts, muffins, etc.
We've decided this trip to pack a picnic lunch for the road instead of stopping at some bad fast food. It's only a 5.5 drive, but we'd probably appreciate a little break from the car and the weather should be decent enough that a picnic at a rest area sounds perfect and way cheaper.

So far we have planned 2 days at the zoo in Omaha. I'm anticipating this actually being more like two half days. Add in the extra things like stingray feeding, carousel, train, etc. I'm estimating this to be about $200. There's a really cool museum called the Durham Museum that has a soda fountain in it. We're thinking of doing that on Tuesday after the second day of the zoo. Guessing this will be around $150 between admission and food. They have a children's museum that's also a possibility that we would get free admission to.
Kansas City we're doing the zoo with unlimited wristbands for around $100. Science City at Union Station is free and we'll add on the Planetarium for $35. Other than that we don't really have plans for the rest of the time. It's only 3 hours home from KC so we have most of the day to do something there.

If we eat out it's usually $80-$100 for a sit down place anymore. I'm planning about $1000 for food. Overall, I'm assuming $2000 for admissions, food, and small gifts from where we visit (we always get an ornament/magnet from where we go).

 

[slightly_obsessed]

Everything is relatively finalized for our trip next week. Hotels came out to around $1,000, with Omaha being $430 and Kansas City being $570 each for 3 nights.
Omaha has free breakfast, but it seems like in all our travels, only 2 have ever been good, so I'm going to hit Walmart before we leave and pack a tote box with breakfast foods: cereal cups, pop tarts, muffins, etc.
We've decided this trip to pack a picnic lunch for the road instead of stopping at some bad fast food. It's only a 5.5 drive, but we'd probably appreciate a little break from the car and the weather should be decent enough that a picnic at a rest area sounds perfect and way cheaper.

So far we have planned 2 days at the zoo in Omaha. I'm anticipating this actually being more like two half days. Add in the extra things like stingray feeding, carousel, train, etc. I'm estimating this to be about $200. There's a really cool museum called the Durham Museum that has a soda fountain in it. We're thinking of doing that on Tuesday after the second day of the zoo. Guessing this will be around $150 between admission and food. They have a children's museum that's also a possibility that we would get free admission to.
Kansas City we're doing the zoo with unlimited wristbands for around $100. Science City at Union Station is free and we'll add on the Planetarium for $35. Other than that we don't really have plans for the rest of the time. It's only 3 hours home from KC so we have most of the day to do something there.

If we eat out it's usually $80-$100 for a sit down place anymore. I'm planning about $1000 for food. Overall, I'm assuming $2000 for admissions, food, and small gifts from where we visit (we always get an ornament/magnet from where we go).

I can't remember if you've ever spent time in KC, so forgive me if you already know of these or have done them! If you have never done it, Hallmark's Kalediscope is free and pretty fun. It's in Crown Center, right next to Union Station. My son always loved going to Fritz's in Crown Center too. The food is just burger/fries but they deliver food with trains and it's a fun atmostphere. You can always just go for ice cream too if you don't want to get a meal there.

Deanna Rose Farmstead is also great, though that's 30 minutes away from Union Station and if you are already doing the Omaha and KC zoos maybe save that for another time? It's wonderful.

 

[Tygerlilly]

I can't remember if you've ever spent time in KC, so forgive me if you already know of these or have done them! If you have never done it, Hallmark's Kalediscope is free and pretty fun. It's in Crown Center, right next to Union Station. My son always loved going to Fritz's in Crown Center too. The food is just burger/fries but they deliver food with trains and it's a fun atmostphere. You can always just go for ice cream too if you don't want to get a meal there.

Deanna Rose Farmstead is also great, though that's 30 minutes away from Union Station and if you are already doing the Omaha and KC zoos maybe save that for another time? It's wonderful.

We've been before but it was just 2 separate overnight trips basically. We're actually planning Fritz's for lunch or dinner one day because my son LOVES trains. We walked thru Crown Center last time, but it was a super quick trip because we went to grab lunch in between Lego/Sea Life. We'll have to check out Kalediscope while we're there! I think it's supposed to rain on the day we transfer over so that sounds like the perfect thing to do.

 

[goofytinkerbell]

1

 

[slightly_obsessed]

We've been before but it was just 2 separate overnight trips basically. We're actually planning Fritz's for lunch or dinner one day because my son LOVES trains. We walked thru Crown Center last time, but it was a super quick trip because we went to grab lunch in between Lego/Sea Life. We'll have to check out Kalediscope while we're there! I think it's supposed to rain on the day we transfer over so that sounds like the perfect thing to do.

My son was train obsessed too, yours will love Fritz's! Have a wonderful time!!

 

[goofytinkerbell]

1

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

Small update on wife's car. When she got in the wreck, her AC stopped blowing cold. So I started making her drive mine since it had AC. I wasn't putting her in a car with no AC in summer in DFW. So I drove it for about 6 weeks. Took to 1 place, and they said the ambient air sensor had broken. But in order to fix it, we had to fix the damage to the car. So we took it for a 2nd opinion, and they were able to fix it for $265. So the AC is now blowing cold again. I drove it the last 3 days of this week after picking it up, and it seemed to do ok. So I'm going to put her in it tomorrow.

But the AC is the only thing we're going to fix. We're going to trade it in before the end of November when our registration goes out. Our plan is to trade it for something small for her. Something like a Kia Sorrento or something like that. But as of right now, it's got front end damage from the wreck, brakes are squeaking, gas cap sensor (up in the wheel well) is out and we've already fixed 2 of the 6 fuel injectors. And now it feels like another fuel injector may be going out. So just too much work for a car that is worth about $5k. With all that in mind, and since it's paid off, we're just going to try and trade it in.

 

[dpswift]

Had an interesting morning yesterday. We canceled our Verizon Fios package in Ma. Apparently they never canceled our phone service, so instead of getting a refund we got another bill. Spent over 2 hours on the chat. They refused to cancel retroactively and had issues even canceling it. I am going to give it a few days and check my bill again

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Small update on wife's car. When she got in the wreck, her AC stopped blowing cold. So I started making her drive mine since it had AC. I wasn't putting her in a car with no AC in summer in DFW. So I drove it for about 6 weeks. Took to 1 place, and they said the ambient air sensor had broken. But in order to fix it, we had to fix the damage to the car. So we took it for a 2nd opinion, and they were able to fix it for $265. So the AC is now blowing cold again. I drove it the last 3 days of this week after picking it up, and it seemed to do ok. So I'm going to put her in it tomorrow.

But the AC is the only thing we're going to fix. We're going to trade it in before the end of November when our registration goes out. Our plan is to trade it for something small for her. Something like a Kia Sorrento or something like that. But as of right now, it's got front end damage from the wreck, brakes are squeaking, gas cap sensor (up in the wheel well) is out and we've already fixed 2 of the 6 fuel injectors. And now it feels like another fuel injector may be going out. So just too much work for a car that is worth about $5k. With all that in mind, and since it's paid off, we're just going to try and trade it in.

Can you transfer your registration to the next car?
Here in NJ we can do that. Maybe not all states do that.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

You have to register your car every year. However, when you get a new car, your registration is good for 2 years.

Can you transfer your registration to the next car?
Here in NJ we can do that. Maybe not all states do that.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

You have to register your car every year. However, when you get a new car, your registration is good for 2 years.

Is that same for new and used cars?

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

Yes. It's like $90 every year, whether a used car or new. And if you have specialty plates, it's even more. My wife's car was $225 per year to register.

Is that same for new and used cars?

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I'm so annoyed. Dh just got summoned for Grand Jury Duty starting in August. It is once per week for 20 weeks which means it wreaks havoc with our Vegas trip with Garth Brooks concert in October and our November cruise. That is ridiculous to demand 5 months from people on command like that. He doesn't have any medical conditions that could get him out of it.
He could ask for a postponement but then it might get pushed out to spring and we have another concert/cruise combo in April. At least with that trip, I haven't bought flights but we did buy the concert tickets (Alan Jackson in Tampa) and we're going with friends so I really am looking forward to that too.

Sorry I just need to vent. Sometimes I hate our government.

 

[sandam1]

I'm so annoyed. Dh just got summoned for Grand Jury Duty starting in August. It is once per week for 20 weeks which means it wreaks havoc with our Vegas trip with Garth Brooks concert in October and our November cruise. That is ridiculous to demand 5 months from people on command like that.

My best friend had to serve on a grand jury last year and, as she explained it, it is quite a bit different than a regular jury. Apparently, it is possible to get excused for specific dates. You can't just, on a whim, skip a day, but if you have something preplanned, they will work with you.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

My best friend had to serve on a grand jury last year and, as she explained it, it is quite a bit different than a regular jury. Apparently, it is possible to get excused for specific dates. You can't just, on a whim, skip a day, but if you have something preplanned, they will work with you.

Oh good! I suggested he write to them and explain we have plans already paid for and then offer to serve different days.