Debt Dumpers 2024

[pblack]

2025 Thread for those of you that are ready for it: https://www.disboards.com/threads/debt-dumpers-2025.3958979/

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

Thank you. Was just thinking about the 2025 version at lunch today while eating my sandwich. Was curious if someone would start one soon since a lot of folks are already planning ahead to 2025. So thanks for posting.

2025 Thread for those of you that are ready for it: https://www.disboards.com/threads/debt-dumpers-2025.3958979/

 

[barkley]

We moved to an all electric car last year thanks to great tax incentives for business purchases. Thanks to our local authority being very slow to adapt to changes in the modern world (and not having worked out yet how to make money from it) we have to rely on public chargers which mean recharging is a lot more than it would be if we could charge at home, but it is what it is for now.

As a result we are reasonably good at spotting ways to maximise the miles per chargee and not having the in car heating on is one of those as it takes about 10% off the economy. The heated seats, however, don't affect it so we use those a lot. They have definitely been added to the required list for any future vehicle.

yeah-that would not work for us. we personally have allot invested in a propane powered whole house generator b/c we learned after a region wide wind storm several years back (pre popularity of electric cars and charging stations) that the infrastructure in our region is helpless absent power. we saw hospitals, lodging, grocery stores, gas stations and such down and out b/c their generators were only set up to operate for a few days (not a week or more). I don't know what upgrades they've done since then but I suspect the public charges are a lower priority than the hospitals and warming shelters. I know some neighbors have home chargers for their cars and I'm not sure how/if they can operate off a generator but I know their costs in general will be increasing b/c the local utility just notified that it's rates will be increasing by 15% in 2025.

 

[Nettlelondon]

yeah-that would not work for us. we personally have allot invested in a propane powered whole house generator b/c we learned after a region wide wind storm several years back (pre popularity of electric cars and charging stations) that the infrastructure in our region is helpless absent power. we saw hospitals, lodging, grocery stores, gas stations and such down and out b/c their generators were only set up to operate for a few days (not a week or more). I don't know what upgrades they've done since then but I suspect the public charges are a lower priority than the hospitals and warming shelters. I know some neighbors have home chargers for their cars and I'm not sure how/if they can operate off a generator but I know their costs in general will be increasing b/c the local utility just notified that it's rates will be increasing by 15% in 2025.

Fortunately the suburbs of London (and the majority of the UK to be honest) are largely immune from extreme weather issues.

I am very much an urban animal - if a major supermarket chain is not my corner shop it is too remote for my liking. Over here there is a very popular TV show called "Escape to the Country" where an expert helps people find new homes in the country. It is a horrific idea to me. So the thought of living somewhere that requires a generator is just really not my thing at all. We are fortunate that just after we purchased the car a bank of 12 Tesla superchargers was put in 2 minutes drive from home so it isn't a big issue to charge.

 

[firefly_ris]

yeah-that would not work for us. we personally have allot invested in a propane powered whole house generator b/c we learned after a region wide wind storm several years back (pre popularity of electric cars and charging stations) that the infrastructure in our region is helpless absent power. we saw hospitals, lodging, grocery stores, gas stations and such down and out b/c their generators were only set up to operate for a few days (not a week or more). I don't know what upgrades they've done since then but I suspect the public charges are a lower priority than the hospitals and warming shelters. I know some neighbors have home chargers for their cars and I'm not sure how/if they can operate off a generator but I know their costs in general will be increasing b/c the local utility just notified that it's rates will be increasing by 15% in 2025.

Same, we have a gas/electric non-plug-in hybrid as our second vehicle and that works great for us, except it's not great in real bad weather, the F-150 does the heavy lifting there (and camper towing). We live rurally and between lake effect snow and wind we lose power probably 7 or 8 times per year and run a generator... it's not a whole house generator but it runs 6 breakers worth of stuff so I can still run the furnace (gas furnace but blower needs power obviously), fridge, upright freezer in the basement, some lights, and our router as long as the internet isn't also down. I don't think it would have enough juice to also charge a car in the garage. The only public chargers I ever see around here are in the city. Our electric rates also went up a significant amount in the last year so not sure exactly how much it would affect that bill -- my natural gas is more affordable so I has as many appliances as I can continue to run on gas... not to mention the whole cooking with the power out thing.

My younger BIL lives downtown and doesn't drive a lot and has a Tesla and it works really well for him. It's nice because he doesn't need to worry about oil changes or transmission fluid leaks or stuff like that. For our personal family purposes and location it's just not there yet.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I really wanna do DCL, but their prices . I just can't justify it lol. It will happen eventually though. I really wanna go on the treasure because of the haunted mansion bar.

They just announced kids sail half price for Disney+ subscribers.
https://dclfan.com/discounts/disney-subscribers-save-50-off-for-kids-on-select-cruises/

 

[pblack]

They just announced kids sail half price for Disney+ subscribers.
https://dclfan.com/discounts/disney-subscribers-save-50-off-for-kids-on-select-cruises/

Nice!! I don't have kids, so it wouldn't help me any. But I'm sure there are some people on this board who may benefit from it!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Nice!! I don't have kids, so it wouldn't help me any. But I'm sure there are some people on this board who may benefit from it!

Oops! I thought I was sending it to tygerlilly. With 3, that could be significant savings for her.
Ours are grown so it doesn't help us at all either.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Thanks. I wasn't sure what a sinking fund was. But I did look it up to understand it better. Ours would be like car repairs and medical bills/doctors visits, although those might be more suited for the emergency fund category, and vehicle registration, stuff like that. We don't really celebrate birthdays, and we don't buy gifts for Christmas. We simply get together, eat, play games and hang out. Also, our insurance comes out monthly for 12 months. So that's figured into the monthly budget. But I appreciate your help with everything.

You could also use a sinking fund for a monthly bill that takes more than one paycheck in order to pay it such as rent. So for example, choosing random easy numbers, let's say your rent is $1000/month but it would be difficult/impossible to take the full amount from one paycheck, but $500 from 2 checks is doable, just put the first $500 in its own savings account until you have the other $500, then pay the whole $1000 right away from that account, even if you pay it early. This is what I love about Ally Bank, that it's so easy to keep adding more savings accounts and giving them nicknames.

I also use sinking funds for bills that are not monthly such as car insurance, quarterly sewer bill (even though it's only $83) property taxes, etc. EF is for unexpected expenses such as running over a nail and needing a new tire. Sinking funds are for planning ahead for known expenses. If they tell you that your tires have another 5000 miles on them, start a tire fund. When the time comes, the money is there and ready to roll. So much less stressful than being shocked that a car needs tires and wondering how to pay for it.

Most car insurance companies will give you a discount for paying the bill in fewer payments. On your bill, compare the cost of 12 monthly payments vs. 1 annual lump sum payment. This is probably down the road for you, after all your debt is gone and bill paying/saving gets smoother for you. At some point, you could save a little each pay into a car insurance fund, so that when your new insurance policy is issued, you just pay it from the car ins fund. Of course, if it's not any cheaper to pay in full, and monthly is easier, then keep at it.

I hope your wife is warming up to the idea of being financially organized and out of debt.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Oops! I thought I was sending it to tygerlilly. With 3, that could be significant savings for her.
Ours are grown so it doesn't help us at all either.

This is dangerous info. The only downside is it has to be for travel before June 2025 and I'm not sure we can swing it that soon.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Ah well then yes, that isn’t much time to save. It’s almost Jan already.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

I've been trying to find things around the house to sell, stuff like clothes, books, extra baseball cards, lol. Well Saturday I took about 20 books up to 1/2 Price Books. They offered me $1.25, which I politely declined. So where is the best, quickest way to sell books? And what about clothing? Like brand new, tags still on them, clothing? I've tried eBay for both without success. And I'm kind of hesitant to try Facebook meet and greets as I hear too many stories of things going wrong when the person goes to meet up with the buyer. So just curious what everyone else does before I wind up just throwing them in the dumpster.

 

[CinderEmma94]

I've been trying to find things around the house to sell, stuff like clothes, books, extra baseball cards, lol. Well Saturday I took about 20 books up to 1/2 Price Books. They offered me $1.25, which I politely declined. So where is the best, quickest way to sell books? And what about clothing? Like brand new, tags still on them, clothing? I've tried eBay for both without success. And I'm kind of hesitant to try Facebook meet and greets as I hear too many stories of things going wrong when the person goes to meet up with the buyer. So just curious what everyone else does before I wind up just throwing them in the dumpster.

I like selling and buying books on Pango Books and Thrift Books, but if they're just basic paperbacks (not special edition covers, signed, etc) you won't get a ton for them honestly. That said, anything is better than nothing IMO. Clothing I would try Mercari. I sell on facebook marketplace all the time (and have for years) and have never had an issue, but I always meet in a public place in the middle of the day (Target parking lot, sheriff station parking lot).

Please don't throw them in the dumpster if they don't sell. Take the clothes to a charity drop off (we take ours to a local domestic violence shelter that is always looking for clothing donations) and donate the books to your local public library -- they are always looking for new books and they can either sell what they don't want to support the library or put them in rotation. Public libraries need all the help they can get, and though the system is flawed in a lot of ways, they need support from the general public.

 

[pblack]

I second what cinderemma said. Books you probably won't get anything for. For the clothes I'd definitely try mercari. But I'm finding it's difficult to sell stuff at the moment, just not a lot of buyers. If selling doesn't work and you just want it gone, please donate it somewhere instead of throwing it out.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

I tried to donate to Goodwill when we moved 2 years ago. But they weren't accepting donations at the time. I assumed it was still that way, and that's why I said to toss them. I threw out 65k baseball cards in 2022, lol. About to throw about probably 15k more. I've been seeing videos about selling stuff around the house, and I"m just trying to figure out what's the best way to do it. Even if I make a buck per book, that's $20. If I make $5 per brand new, tags on outfit, that's probably $100. So that's why I was trying. I might try and take the clothes to a resale shop and see if they will buy them.

I like selling and buying books on Pango Books and Thrift Books, but if they're just basic paperbacks (not special edition covers, signed, etc) you won't get a ton for them honestly. That said, anything is better than nothing IMO. Clothing I would try Mercari. I sell on facebook marketplace all the time (and have for years) and have never had an issue, but I always meet in a public place in the middle of the day (Target parking lot, sheriff station parking lot).

Please don't throw them in the dumpster if they don't sell. Take the clothes to a charity drop off (we take ours to a local domestic violence shelter that is always looking for clothing donations) and donate the books to your local public library -- they are always looking for new books and they can either sell what they don't want to support the library or put them in rotation. Public libraries need all the help they can get, and though the system is flawed in a lot of ways, they need support from the general public.

 

[afan]

I tried to donate to Goodwill when we moved 2 years ago. But they weren't accepting donations at the time. I assumed it was still that way, and that's why I said to toss them. I threw out 65k baseball cards in 2022, lol. About to throw about probably 15k more. I've been seeing videos about selling stuff around the house, and I"m just trying to figure out what's the best way to do it. Even if I make a buck per book, that's $20. If I make $5 per brand new, tags on outfit, that's probably $100. So that's why I was trying. I might try and take the clothes to a resale shop and see if they will buy them.

Covid caused a lot of places to stop or reduce the stuff they were getting. Everything should be back to normal by now.

As much as you don't want to deal with fb market or something else. I'd give the cards away before I tossed them. Some kid that's just getting into it will love it. I gave most of mine away to my chiropractor years ago for his son or nephew, someone that wouldn't care they were crappy cards from the early 90s and would just enjoy them.

Sew what your church does, at minimum they may know good places to donate or be able to take them.

Also check with your library, not all take donated books. Also not all secondhand stores take books.

 

[barkley]

I've been trying to find things around the house to sell, stuff like clothes, books, extra baseball cards, lol. Well Saturday I took about 20 books up to 1/2 Price Books. They offered me $1.25, which I politely declined. So where is the best, quickest way to sell books? And what about clothing? Like brand new, tags still on them, clothing? I've tried eBay for both without success. And I'm kind of hesitant to try Facebook meet and greets as I hear too many stories of things going wrong when the person goes to meet up with the buyer. So just curious what everyone else does before I wind up just throwing them in the dumpster.

my oldest started clearing out some stuff via Facebook marketplace so rather than take some books I had to donate I had him list-i was surprised at the stuff that actually sold. he always does it at a public place convenient to him so he's not wasting gas on a low end sale. you might consider doing the baseball cards as one big lot at a low price. someone might want them for an art project (I have a tabletop someone took the time to cut superheros out of worthless comics for and decopogued with, my oldest just did a footlocker with anime pictures from worthless sources). If you list the cards make sure to put into the description the term 'arts and crafts' cuz if people do a search it will pull it up.

books-we sold quite a few on the marketplace. broke them into genre or a specific author. new clothes you could try via a lot as well-and then someone who is into listing it individually or on another site can do all the work. do you have any consignment shops near you? they like tagged stuff.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We took our gently used baby clothes to a local consignment store. Whatever it sold for, we split, half went to the store, half to me.
This was back in 2003 so this may not even be an option. Since then our kids became so hard on their clothes we couldn’t even donate a lot of it by the time it was outgrown.

We have also sold furniture at a furniture consignment store.