Debt Dumpers - 2017

[Tygerlilly]

Hi guys! Sorry I've been MIA lately... my life has gotten crazy!

So in March I started a new job in Human Resources The job itself was fine (albeit extremely disorganized- a nightmare for someone like me!) but still I liked it well enough. Two problems ended up arising though: 1) The job was supposed to be part time but I was working 50 hours a week and 2) I got a positive pregnancy test result a week after starting!! : D *I'm 13 weeks now, and we just found out through Harmony what we are having, but unfortunately can't post online because I have real life friends on here that I want to be surprised at the reveal shower in August!*

So I ended up staying a few months while I decided what to do but as I enter my second trimester we have decided I need to leave. The job is HR at an amusement park and frequently involves walking/standing for long period of time in the heat, and the building I work in is connected to a warehouse where they frequently use high levels of spray paint and other chemicals. They definitely would have found a way to accommodate me if I'd asked, but since I actually made more money at my other part time job I decided I'll just go back there 2 days a week or so (I only left that job in the first place because I was hoping to gain some experience in my field). My husband's check pays all of our bills and retirement contributions and my check is our vacation savings and emergency fund, so at least with me not working for a few weeks we will just be saving a little less, not going into debt.

We are now 6 months without CC debt and let me tell you to all you of guys who are struggling- the feeling of freedom is worth EVERY sacrifice. Keep it up!

Other than being pregnant and getting a new job- not much else to report! DH got his cost of living raise- not much but every little bit helps! His company just got bought so there's a possibility he might be able to get a new job with better pay within the company soon- we will see!

We also are booking a 3 night Bahamas cruise through DCL for Sept 2018. I could kick myself for not booking a few days ago when it was $300 cheaper- but you live and you learn! The baby will be about 10 months old so I think we will enjoy ourselves!

For those of you with kids or who are expecting- what kinds of budget strategies have you put in place to help you save? I have amazing insurance through my mom (I'm only 24) and will owe next to nothing for delivery. I'll be hopefully breastfeeding and we plan to use cloth diapers to save money, (with the added bonus of helping the planet too!) Since I'll be just working part time opposite my husband, we don't need to worry about childcare very often. My family already told me they are planning a shower, and I'm keeping the sex a secret until then so I can "hopefully" get more neutral gifts that can be used for the opposite sex of what we are having now in the future!

But.. even with knowing all this, I'm sure I'm missing a TON of things I've never considered before with having a baby- what are your suggestions?

Congratulations!!! We do cloth here too and now that we just had baby #2 the savings are definitely there.

With our first, I scoured babies r us clearance on the website pretty much every day. I snagged a $600 crib for $180 That converts into toddler and full size beds. We also used their layaway for the stroller/car seat combo and pack n play and combine with a 20% off coupon. So we saved some and the payments were manageable and it gave us somewhere to keep everything until we were ready to pick it up.

We also just bought a little here and there for the smaller things during our regular grocery shopping.

My big suggestions are to get more of those smaller flannel and muslin swaddle blankets than you think you'll need. They work amazing as burp rags. We had her nursery set up, but the first few months she slept in the pack n play next to our bed. We also had a ton of sleepers and pretty much lived in them unless we went out.

 

[DnA2010]

Hi guys! Sorry I've been MIA lately... my life has gotten crazy!

So in March I started a new job in Human Resources The job itself was fine (albeit extremely disorganized- a nightmare for someone like me!) but still I liked it well enough. Two problems ended up arising though: 1) The job was supposed to be part time but I was working 50 hours a week and 2) I got a positive pregnancy test result a week after starting!! : D *I'm 13 weeks now, and we just found out through Harmony what we are having, but unfortunately can't post online because I have real life friends on here that I want to be surprised at the reveal shower in August!*

So I ended up staying a few months while I decided what to do but as I enter my second trimester we have decided I need to leave. The job is HR at an amusement park and frequently involves walking/standing for long period of time in the heat, and the building I work in is connected to a warehouse where they frequently use high levels of spray paint and other chemicals. They definitely would have found a way to accommodate me if I'd asked, but since I actually made more money at my other part time job I decided I'll just go back there 2 days a week or so (I only left that job in the first place because I was hoping to gain some experience in my field). My husband's check pays all of our bills and retirement contributions and my check is our vacation savings and emergency fund, so at least with me not working for a few weeks we will just be saving a little less, not going into debt.

We are now 6 months without CC debt and let me tell you to all you of guys who are struggling- the feeling of freedom is worth EVERY sacrifice. Keep it up!

Other than being pregnant and getting a new job- not much else to report! DH got his cost of living raise- not much but every little bit helps! His company just got bought so there's a possibility he might be able to get a new job with better pay within the company soon- we will see!

We also are booking a 3 night Bahamas cruise through DCL for Sept 2018. I could kick myself for not booking a few days ago when it was $300 cheaper- but you live and you learn! The baby will be about 10 months old so I think we will enjoy ourselves!

For those of you with kids or who are expecting- what kinds of budget strategies have you put in place to help you save? I have amazing insurance through my mom (I'm only 24) and will owe next to nothing for delivery. I'll be hopefully breastfeeding and we plan to use cloth diapers to save money, (with the added bonus of helping the planet too!) Since I'll be just working part time opposite my husband, we don't need to worry about childcare very often. My family already told me they are planning a shower, and I'm keeping the sex a secret until then so I can "hopefully" get more neutral gifts that can be used for the opposite sex of what we are having now in the future!

But.. even with knowing all this, I'm sure I'm missing a TON of things I've never considered before with having a baby- what are your suggestions?

Congratulations! I'm on my first (I have a 13 year old SD also) who is now 8 months and although it's crazy, it's great! I'm also much older than you (was 34 when I had her)

Ways to save money: buy all the "stuff" used off facebook etc- I am soooo glad I didn't spend much on things like bouncy chair, swing, bumbo chair as my baby hated them all! We were given loads of clothes from people and I would imagine you will be too, otherwise just buy stuff used as they will outgrow it so quickly. We use cloth diapers but actually use a service- love doing it and when everyone is having blowouts and wrecking outfits, our cloth contain

Yay for keeping the sex a secret- we are soo glad we did!

Oh and sign up for the formula companies clubs- you may not need formula but they send you all sorts of stuff, and you can always give the coupons away

 

[Tygerlilly]

Oh yeah, definitely also do registries at babies r us, buy buy baby, and target. You get some awesome gift bags with some useful things and good coupons. I signed up for all of them and used one as my main registry and just added books and small essentials to the others then used the completion coupons to buy everything.

 

[amalone1013]

2017 starting balances:
Student Loans - $12560 + $2075+ $12685 = $27,320
Car Loans - $22034 + $18100 = $40,134

Balances as of 2/8/17:
Student Loans - $10280 + $1052+ $9875 = $21,207 - $6113 change
Car Loans - $21584 + $17389 = $38,973 - $1161 change

Balances as of 3/15/17:
Student Loans - $9036 + $0 + $7685 = $16,721 - $10,599 change from the beginning of the year
Car Loans - $20685 + $17061 = $37,746 - $2388 change from the beginning of the year

Balances as of 4/5/17:
Student Loans - $6009 + $0 + $7702 = $13,694 - $13,626 change from the beginning of the year
Car Loans - $20685 + $17061 = $37,746 - $2388 change from the beginning of the year (this is the same due to timing of my posts, we haven't made the payments yet this month)

Balances as of 5/15/17:
Student Loans - $5948 + $0 + $7505 = $13,453 - $13,867 change from the beginning of the year
Car Loans - $19785 + $16705 = $36,490 - $3644 change from the beginning of the year (this is the same due to timing of my posts, we haven't made the payments yet this month)

Not as exciting as previous months, but exciting overall because this is just a hair over the year mark from when we decided to focus on paying down our student loans.

If I take off our minimum payments we've made this month, I should have the 12 month number...

So in the last 12 months, we've paid off....

$39,620

I had no idea it was that much until I just added it up. That's only $6k shy of my take home pay last year, and I was the higher earner. I guess it's one thing to know, "Oh we paid $XXX amount extra this month" and another to look at what we did over a year. Though if I had known this in April, I might have pushed to make it an even $40k

 

[amalone1013]

Hi guys! Sorry I've been MIA lately... my life has gotten crazy!

So in March I started a new job in Human Resources The job itself was fine (albeit extremely disorganized- a nightmare for someone like me!) but still I liked it well enough. Two problems ended up arising though: 1) The job was supposed to be part time but I was working 50 hours a week and 2) I got a positive pregnancy test result a week after starting!! : D *I'm 13 weeks now, and we just found out through Harmony what we are having, but unfortunately can't post online because I have real life friends on here that I want to be surprised at the reveal shower in August!*

So I ended up staying a few months while I decided what to do but as I enter my second trimester we have decided I need to leave. The job is HR at an amusement park and frequently involves walking/standing for long period of time in the heat, and the building I work in is connected to a warehouse where they frequently use high levels of spray paint and other chemicals. They definitely would have found a way to accommodate me if I'd asked, but since I actually made more money at my other part time job I decided I'll just go back there 2 days a week or so (I only left that job in the first place because I was hoping to gain some experience in my field). My husband's check pays all of our bills and retirement contributions and my check is our vacation savings and emergency fund, so at least with me not working for a few weeks we will just be saving a little less, not going into debt.

We are now 6 months without CC debt and let me tell you to all you of guys who are struggling- the feeling of freedom is worth EVERY sacrifice. Keep it up!

Other than being pregnant and getting a new job- not much else to report! DH got his cost of living raise- not much but every little bit helps! His company just got bought so there's a possibility he might be able to get a new job with better pay within the company soon- we will see!

We also are booking a 3 night Bahamas cruise through DCL for Sept 2018. I could kick myself for not booking a few days ago when it was $300 cheaper- but you live and you learn! The baby will be about 10 months old so I think we will enjoy ourselves!

For those of you with kids or who are expecting- what kinds of budget strategies have you put in place to help you save? I have amazing insurance through my mom (I'm only 24) and will owe next to nothing for delivery. I'll be hopefully breastfeeding and we plan to use cloth diapers to save money, (with the added bonus of helping the planet too!) Since I'll be just working part time opposite my husband, we don't need to worry about childcare very often. My family already told me they are planning a shower, and I'm keeping the sex a secret until then so I can "hopefully" get more neutral gifts that can be used for the opposite sex of what we are having now in the future!

But.. even with knowing all this, I'm sure I'm missing a TON of things I've never considered before with having a baby- what are your suggestions?

Congratulations! How exciting!

 

[Eureka]

So in a round about way, I found out through what I thought was a paycheck errror, that I got overtime pay for the extra hours I put in on a work trip in April. Long story but I thought I was getting comp time instead and already took some of it but due to the same error, they didn't pay for all the hours so I think it's going to actually even out. Bottom line is I had some extra cash in my most recent check. Which was great bc I was thinking with all the things we have going on right now that I was going to need to take from savings for regular bills this month. Now I won't have to, and I paid off that one credit card today . I'm actually a little upset and confused that my boss and I didn't understand my work status (exempt/nonexempt) and can't believe I didn't realize it after 8.5 months. But I know I'm just being silly and it doesn't really matter in the real world.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Guys... why have I been pricing weekend Disney trips the last two days? I'm out of control...

 

[bababear_50]

My son just shared this article with me. It really offers a look at what many Canadians are going through.
I consider myself lower middle income but strive constantly not to take on debt,,sometimes being a single parent though I do.
Retirement plans and goals are an ever increasing thought for me also.
Hugs Mel

article here
https://thewalrus.ca/canadas-middle-class-is-on-the-brink-of-ruin/

 

[Ava]

Guys... why have I been pricing weekend Disney trips the last two days? I'm out of control...

I am constantly pricing out vacations that I know I can't go on. It's either a hobby or a sickness, I haven't decided which.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

My son just shared this article with me. It really offers a look at what many Canadians are going through.
I consider myself lower middle income but strive constantly not to take on debt,,sometimes being a single parent though I do.
Retirement plans and goals are an ever increasing thought for me also.
Hugs Mel

article here
https://thewalrus.ca/canadas-middle-class-is-on-the-brink-of-ruin/

Great article. Thanks for sharing. We, too, struggle not to take on debt, but it's a challenge each month to make sure each budget category is properly funded.

 

[Ngwira]

Received an IRS notice today that we underpaid our 2015 taxes. The software I used made an error. I don't think I'll use h and r block tax act again. Sticking with turbo tax which is what I used in 2016.
Luckily, we underpaid only $118 with $6 in interest owed. Mailing the check tomorrow.

 

[amalone1013]

Received an IRS notice today that we underpaid our 2015 taxes. The software I used made an error. I don't think I'll use h and r block tax act again. Sticking with turbo tax which is what I used in 2016.
Luckily, we underpaid only $118 with a $6 penalty. Mailing the check tomorrow.

That's annoying. I think the one time my parents had trouble with taxes and getting audited was when they took it to an H&R office. Otherwise they used turbo tax or something similar. I usually compare turbo tax/taxact and see which charges me less to efile

 

[amalone1013]

Decisions, decisions...
It's time to buy contacts. I've got two options:

• Get them from Target for $230 - insurance $115 - redcard discount 5% on $115 = $109 - $60 rebate = $50
• Get them from Costco for $160 - insurance $100 - $10 rebate = $50

What are the odds? I mean technically Costco is less out of my HSA, but Target has one pro - in network so I don't have to do an out of network claim. And my company puts $500-$750 into my HSA each year (and next year will be double that because DF will be DH and on my insurance ).

Soooo I might take the $60 and put it in the vacation fund.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Received an IRS notice today that we underpaid our 2015 taxes. The software I used made an error. I don't think I'll use h and r block tax act again. Sticking with turbo tax which is what I used in 2016.
Luckily, we underpaid only $118 with a $6 penalty. Mailing the check tomorrow.

Can't believe it took them that long to tell you! Glad it wasn't a ton of money for you though.

 

[DnA2010]

My son just shared this article with me. It really offers a look at what many Canadians are going through.
I consider myself lower middle income but strive constantly not to take on debt,,sometimes being a single parent though I do.
Retirement plans and goals are an ever increasing thought for me also.
Hugs Mel

article here
https://thewalrus.ca/canadas-middle-class-is-on-the-brink-of-ruin/

My husband and I just had a really similar conversation to this article- our conversation did discuss "our generation" and their openness to debt- how easy it is to get credit cards and to spend, how everyone drives a new-ish car, eats out and drinks Starbucks, and how our parents didn't do any of these things, and now they are sitting pretty. When I was little (I'm 35) there were not eight million coffee shops, restaurants, fast food chains, big box stores and ease of credit- it's a vicious circle for sure

 

[DisneyMandC]

So, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think we're going to take a little mini vacation to Disney in August!

DH said something to me the other day about how he wanted to take me to Disney World for my birthday this summer, just out of the blue. I started just looking at prices as a joke and found that we could get a value resort for $119/night- not a bad price at all. I started playing around with tickets and dates to see what would work, and then realized that I am off work the first Thursday and Friday of August for a conference at the beach. This conference turns into a really nice oceanfront vacation for us (since DH can go), and the conference doesn't technically start until Friday but I'm not "allowed" to go into work Thursday and do not use my PTO for that day. So then I thought to myself, what if we took a Tuesday-Thursday trip to Disney, flew back home, and drove down to the beach for the conference? We could basically get a full week's vacation and I would only have to use my PTO for Tuesday and Wednesday!! I went back and forth on it a lot, and then I found the absolute perfect flights- direct flights with a 9:30 a.m. arrival on Tuesday, and a 5:30 p.m. return flight Thursday evening. DH and I talked about it last night and both agreed it seemed like a really great deal, but I wasn't sure I was ready to pull the trigger. I woke up this morning though and decided, you know what, in the ten years DH and I have been together we have taken TWO week-long vacations. One for Hawaii in 2012, and one for our honeymoon in 2015. We NEVER take a full week off work! Combine that with the fact that DH just got a raise and a bonus, and I will get a raise July 1, so we are in a better financial situation than we have ever been. We will not take on any additional debt with this since our credit cards are always paid in full. I decided if there was ever a time to live a little, it's now- So I told DH this morning I wanted to go and he said let's do it!!

So, we haven't booked yet, but our plan is book Tuesday and Wednesday nights in Pop Century and buy two-day tickets. We will plan to go to AK our first day to see Pandora and Rivers of Light. We will go to MK our second day for the full day and to see Happily Ever After that evening. On Thursday, we will go to Disney Springs since we haven't been since it was redone. Then we'll fly out that afternoon and drive from our home airport down to my conference at the beach and get 3 nights at an oceanfront hotel (work pays for that). I'm beyond excited!

We will plan on packing our snacks to save on that and splitting meals everywhere we can. I'm thinking the only nice meal I may splurge for is dinner at Jiko. DH and I had planned to eat there the last night of our honeymoon as a romantic send-off... and then the entire restaurant got closed down an hour before our reservation with literally our only other option on a Saturday night being Tony's in Magic Kingdom... less than romantic and really honestly bad service. We were both really looking forward to Jiko so I think maybe we'll hop from AK over to AKL for that and then back to AK for Rivers of Light.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

So, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think we're going to take a little mini vacation to Disney in August!

DH said something to me the other day about how he wanted to take me to Disney World for my birthday this summer, just out of the blue. I started just looking at prices as a joke and found that we could get a value resort for $119/night- not a bad price at all. I started playing around with tickets and dates to see what would work, and then realized that I am off work the first Thursday and Friday of August for a conference at the beach. This conference turns into a really nice oceanfront vacation for us (since DH can go), and the conference doesn't technically start until Friday but I'm not "allowed" to go into work Thursday and do not use my PTO for that day. So then I thought to myself, what if we took a Tuesday-Thursday trip to Disney, flew back home, and drove down to the beach for the conference? We could basically get a full week's vacation and I would only have to use my PTO for Tuesday and Wednesday!! I went back and forth on it a lot, and then I found the absolute perfect flights- direct flights with a 9:30 a.m. arrival on Tuesday, and a 5:30 p.m. return flight Thursday evening. DH and I talked about it last night and both agreed it seemed like a really great deal, but I wasn't sure I was ready to pull the trigger. I woke up this morning though and decided, you know what, in the ten years DH and I have been together we have taken TWO week-long vacations. One for Hawaii in 2012, and one for our honeymoon in 2015. We NEVER take a full week off work! Combine that with the fact that DH just got a raise and a bonus, and I will get a raise July 1, so we are in a better financial situation than we have ever been. We will not take on any additional debt with this since our credit cards are always paid in full. I decided if there was ever a time to live a little, it's now- So I told DH this morning I wanted to go and he said let's do it!!

So, we haven't booked yet, but our plan is book Tuesday and Wednesday nights in Pop Century and buy two-day tickets. We will plan to go to AK our first day to see Pandora and Rivers of Light. We will go to MK our second day for the full day and to see Happily Ever After that evening. On Thursday, we will go to Disney Springs since we haven't been since it was redone. Then we'll fly out that afternoon and drive from our home airport down to my conference at the beach and get 3 nights at an oceanfront hotel (work pays for that). I'm beyond excited!

We will plan on packing our snacks to save on that and splitting meals everywhere we can. I'm thinking the only nice meal I may splurge for is dinner at Jiko. DH and I had planned to eat there the last night of our honeymoon as a romantic send-off... and then the entire restaurant got closed down an hour before our reservation with literally our only other option on a Saturday night being Tony's in Magic Kingdom... less than romantic and really honestly bad service. We were both really looking forward to Jiko so I think maybe we'll hop from AK over to AKL for that and then back to AK for Rivers of Light.

Isn't it great when things fall into place like that? Enjoy your trip.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Isn't it great when things fall into place like that? Enjoy your trip.

It really did, and that's what makes the difference! If the flights hadn't been like that I really wouldn't have been interested, but it set itself up pretty well. I think we're going to book tonight just so we know we have the room. I really weighed whether we should wait until a quieter time in early December or January, but then it wouldn't be the full week vacation experience, which is really what I want here. Plus, we're from a humid southern state and have done several trips to WDW in August, so we are familiar with the crowds and heat.

 

[Ngwira]

Can't believe it took them that long to tell you! Glad it wasn't a ton of money for you though.

Well apparently the IRS picked it up because my former employer (medium size law firm) JUST filed their business taxes for 2015. H & R block software listed my referral fees/self employment income on the form, but didn't populate the taxes owed field so it showed "0" taxes owed on that income on my return. Thank God I listed it..otherwise I would likely have paid a penalty. I mailed the check off today!

H & R block also overstated our income and gave us less deductions and the IRS fixed it which ended up reducing the tax owed overall.

 

[Ngwira]

So, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think we're going to take a little mini vacation to Disney in August!

DH said something to me the other day about how he wanted to take me to Disney World for my birthday this summer, just out of the blue. I started just looking at prices as a joke and found that we could get a value resort for $119/night- not a bad price at all. I started playing around with tickets and dates to see what would work, and then realized that I am off work the first Thursday and Friday of August for a conference at the beach. This conference turns into a really nice oceanfront vacation for us (since DH can go), and the conference doesn't technically start until Friday but I'm not "allowed" to go into work Thursday and do not use my PTO for that day. So then I thought to myself, what if we took a Tuesday-Thursday trip to Disney, flew back home, and drove down to the beach for the conference? We could basically get a full week's vacation and I would only have to use my PTO for Tuesday and Wednesday!! I went back and forth on it a lot, and then I found the absolute perfect flights- direct flights with a 9:30 a.m. arrival on Tuesday, and a 5:30 p.m. return flight Thursday evening. DH and I talked about it last night and both agreed it seemed like a really great deal, but I wasn't sure I was ready to pull the trigger. I woke up this morning though and decided, you know what, in the ten years DH and I have been together we have taken TWO week-long vacations. One for Hawaii in 2012, and one for our honeymoon in 2015. We NEVER take a full week off work! Combine that with the fact that DH just got a raise and a bonus, and I will get a raise July 1, so we are in a better financial situation than we have ever been. We will not take on any additional debt with this since our credit cards are always paid in full. I decided if there was ever a time to live a little, it's now- So I told DH this morning I wanted to go and he said let's do it!!

So, we haven't booked yet, but our plan is book Tuesday and Wednesday nights in Pop Century and buy two-day tickets. We will plan to go to AK our first day to see Pandora and Rivers of Light. We will go to MK our second day for the full day and to see Happily Ever After that evening. On Thursday, we will go to Disney Springs since we haven't been since it was redone. Then we'll fly out that afternoon and drive from our home airport down to my conference at the beach and get 3 nights at an oceanfront hotel (work pays for that). I'm beyond excited!

We will plan on packing our snacks to save on that and splitting meals everywhere we can. I'm thinking the only nice meal I may splurge for is dinner at Jiko. DH and I had planned to eat there the last night of our honeymoon as a romantic send-off... and then the entire restaurant got closed down an hour before our reservation with literally our only other option on a Saturday night being Tony's in Magic Kingdom... less than romantic and really honestly bad service. We were both really looking forward to Jiko so I think maybe we'll hop from AK over to AKL for that and then back to AK for Rivers of Light.

Sounds like a great plan! I'm with you on the spontaneous vacations, especially if they can be done on a budget. Will you be there the week of August 20-27? If you are, we will see you there!