Debt Dumpers 2021

[ruadisneyfan2]

Congratulations @Tygerlilly

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

2021 Financial Goals:
1. Pay down $6300 I owe on my Discover card at 0% for ds20 to attend welding school last summer. This should take me until the first week in April. I was going to dump this on him but he is desperately saving for a truck with 4WD after our recent snow snow here in the Northeast. We lucked out last winter with barely a dusting of snow and he worked so close to home, about 2 miles away. Now he commutes from NJ to DE almost 50 miles each way. Last Wednesday it took him 3+ hours to get home in the snow. He did pay his car off super early and has a few thousand saved but that will now be a down payment. I feel bad because he LOVE, LOVE, LOVES his little 2-seater convertible but he is realizing how impractical it is.

2. Pay dh approx $600 I owe his slush fund for all the times I need cash and take it from his safe. I do keep a very accurate log of this and pay him back every few months. He has become my ATM.

3. Return to stomping out our mortgage. I've been kicking a$$ on it since we haven't travelled at all. This is giving me something to focus on instead of vacation planning. I started paying extra on Aug 6 and paid over $32,300 toward our mortgage since then. This includes regular payments too. If I can keep hitting it hard, it will be gone by mid to late 2022. I am continuing this from this past Aug through Jan 1 at which time I will temporarily knock out numbers 1 and 2, then return to 3. I know as soon as we can start sailing DCL safely again, I will not be able to resist it but I will not let it keep me away for very long. This is just too important.

Personal Goals:
1. Eat less sugar. I crave it so badly. I never used to be a candy eater until I hit my 40s. Before that I could resist it all the time. Now it's crazy. My coworkers are the same way. Seriously, we have an entire cabinet full of candy, mints, etc. It looks like Halloween every day.
We try to restrain ourselves until at least 10am. I need more willpower and to become better at recognizing that eating junk in response to stress doesn't remove the stress.

2. Read more. I used to love to read before I had children. Ever since, it's been hard to find the time. Lately, I've been reading Bob Iger's book while on the train going into work. It's a great way to relax and escape the world for a little while. I read 2 books last spring when I was home for 2 months due to covid shutdowns and I had forgotten how much I enjoy reading a good book.

3. Get more sleep. I stay up way too late. It's 1:30 am but I'm off tomorrow. I need to strive toward getting at least 7 hours per day on work days.
Maybe I should reverse numbers 2 and 3. It's way past my bedtime so I'm not thinking straight.

 

[Sarah'sMomfrom PA]

I have lurked on this thread for the past few years and promise to post my 2021 goals to keep me accountable but I would like some advice regarding my 401 K that I have through work. I currently contribute 7% to my work 401 K and the company matches my contribution (by June 30th) by 3.5%. I turned 64 last week but was thinking of switching my contributions from the traditional 401 K to a Roth 401 K that I can do through my employer. My husband is already retired (he is 74) and we have several retirement accounts (small Roths; 401 K's; IRA and annuities) so this 401 K from work is not my main retirement vehicle. I plan on working at least another 3-5 years (health permitting) because I love my job and the people that I work with so would it be beneficial to switch my 401 k contribution over to a Roth 401 K with only having to work for the next 3-5 years or shouldn't I even bother (I do understand that my paycheck would decrease with not receiving the 401 K pre tax deduction and that would be fine) but is it worthwhile for me to even bother to do this for the short amount of time that I have left to work. You guys are my go to for financial goals! Everyone stay safe and have a great holiday season. I work in healthcare so I am supposed to receive the Moderna vaccine on Monday (12-28). Hopefully not too many side effects or I might be feeling lousy for the new year (not that anyone can do anything around here!!)

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I have lurked on this thread for the past few years and promise to post my 2021 goals to keep me accountable but I would like some advice regarding my 401 K that I have through work. I currently contribute 7% to my work 401 K and the company matches my contribution (by June 30th) by 3.5%. I turned 64 last week but was thinking of switching my contributions from the traditional 401 K to a Roth 401 K that I can do through my employer. My husband is already retired (he is 74) and we have several retirement accounts (small Roths; 401 K's; IRA and annuities) so this 401 K from work is not my main retirement vehicle. I plan on working at least another 3-5 years (health permitting) because I love my job and the people that I work with so would it be beneficial to switch my 401 k contribution over to a Roth 401 K with only having to work for the next 3-5 years or shouldn't I even bother (I do understand that my paycheck would decrease with not receiving the 401 K pre tax deduction and that would be fine) but is it worthwhile for me to even bother to do this for the short amount of time that I have left to work. You guys are my go to for financial goals! Everyone stay safe and have a great holiday season. I work in healthcare so I am supposed to receive the Moderna vaccine on Monday (12-28). Hopefully not too many side effects or I might be feeling lousy for the new year (not that anyone can do anything around here!!)

Does your employer, or the company that manages your retirement fund, have a representative who can guide you? While it’s flattering that you say we are your “go to” for financial advice, keep in mind the name of our thread and that we all finally posted here because we were not doing a good job of managing our money. There are probably other ways to get good professional advice. Retirement saving is too important to find out the hard way that you have regrets.

 

[dayvewc]

On Roth IRA, I wrote January, but will not do a lump sum in January. Just want to see how things shake out a little after the first few weeks in January. Dollar cost average or several spread out larger contributions for us. Max Roth for us is 13k, file jointly.

Dollar cost averaging tends to have the better long term yield, statistically speaking. Unless you just happen to hit when the market is low.

 

[dayvewc]

Ok. I have survived. So far. I'm here for 2021. I did not just drop off the face of the earth. But once classes started back, I did get really busy. We are doing both online and face-to-face. Which means, instead of 7 classes a day, I'm teaching 14 classes a day. The past 4 months have been brutal as a teacher. But, I made it. If I can make it through the next half year, I'll be grateful beyond belief.

My financial goals are:

• Buy a house.

I know the one I want, just need about 4 more months saving for the down payment​

Fingers crossed it will still be on the market come April.​

Ideally, would like to close mid-May, so that I can use the last 2 weeks of May to move.​

• Sell my old house.

Preferably before I buy my new house, but honestly just as long as it sells.​

• Increase my savings by at least $5000 (above the down payment)
• Pay off my last credit card

I had this paid off, and then Covid hit, and even though I didn't lose much of my income, I did lose a little. I wound up running up charges that were a bit unnecessary, but more than I should have with a slightly reduced income. Plus I had to move twice, so wound up paying more for rent. The pandemic just was not pleasant in any sense.​

Personal goals:

• Lose 50 pounds. This is more of a dream than a goal. Not sure how I'll manage this, but it is an interim goal.
• Take at least 2 cash vacations this year.
• Get the VA to approve my shoulder for disability (and backpay) <-- this is big
• Get the VA to approve the other remaining items I've filed for
• Find a life partner (without having to use duct-tape)

Obviously, the last personal goal is not something I can accomplish by myself. But maybe, if I put it out to the universe that I am seriously looking, the universe will stop laughing at me, and maybe only laugh with me.

 

[pblack]

Keep on swimming @dayvewc! I'm glad to see you popping in with your 2021 goals. Hopefully 2021 is better for all of us.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Merry Christmas everyone!

I'm just drinking coffee and waiting for our oldest son to wake up.
Take care and stay safe.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Well, not much has changed with us really but ds20 cannot part with his beloved convertible. He decided to get an older vehicle with 4WD to get to work in the snow, go fishing, etc, all those things that are impractical with a 2-seater. We found a very well cared for 2001 Jeep Cherokee for a fair price that he could afford to pay with his savings. It was owned by a mechanic who had an amazing shop in his garage. Apparently, the Jeeps made from 1995-2001 are known for having super reliable engines with amazingly long lives. Whatever. He is happy and the next time it snows I won't be pacing for 3 hours imagining him spun off the road in a ditch, buried in a snow drift and missing until spring thaw.
The next Saturday appt with DMV is not until Jan 16 so it will have to just sit in our driveway undriveable until then. Of course, that won't stop him from doting on it, detailing it every chance he gets.

 

[Nettlelondon]

Our Christmas got a bit more expensive than I had expected when I managed to drive in to a post at the entrance to a car park. Big dent down the middle of the passenger door from the handle to the very bottom of the car. Once we are in to the New Year I will sort it out with the insurance company. Oh well, it is what insurance is for - but could have done without it. Hubby wasn't very impressed with me - but he did point out it was a long time since I had collided with a post in a car park. 30 years ago I had 3 similar accidents in about a year.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Our Christmas got a bit more expensive than I had expected when I managed to drive in to a post at the entrance to a car park. Big dent down the middle of the passenger door from the handle to the very bottom of the car. Once we are in to the New Year I will sort it out with the insurance company. Oh well, it is what insurance is for - but could have done without it. Hubby wasn't very impressed with me - but he did point out it was a long time since I had collided with a post in a car park. 30 years ago I had 3 similar accidents in about a year.

Aww, that sucks. We've all done dumb things at one time or another. Several years ago, after talking on the phone with my grandmother, devastated from the news that my uncle (her son) had terminal cancer, I backed out of our garage thinking my husband was at work but he was off and I sideswiped his truck. I saw right away and it only left a long scratch and a tiny ding, not a big dent, but still. The car I had was only a year old at time. I was so mad at myself but I know I wasn't thinking clearly.
My uncle died less than 2 months after his diagnosis. Every time I saw that scratch it reminded me of getting that news and how upset my grandmother was.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Checking in here for the new year!! While I still have student loan debt, I am still on the public service loan forgiveness train and a little over halfway through now. We managed to pay off DH's student loan in 2020! Our big news going into 2021 is we are refinancing the house and our monthly payment will go down $400!! We're very excited about this not so much because of the money back in our pockets, but because we'll finally get rid of the pointless PMI that was just throwing money away at the rate of $160/mo. We're also dropping down from 4.25% to 2.875%.

That being said, here are our goals for the new year:
1. Decide what to do with the $400 from the refinance. We're discussing options from paying down the principal or investing it (in something a little more stable like an index fund). We are planning to do a major home renovation in 5 years so trying to decide if we want more equity in our home or my cash on hand.
2. Up retirement contributions. I upped mine more this past year (one of my goals at the beginning of 2020!) but I want to get it up to 15% of my income. I plan to do this as soon as the home refinance is complete. Only reason I'm waiting is we have to send paystubs every pay period until the refinance is done, and I just don't want to have to explain why my paycheck is lower.
3. Continue to save long-term for another car. Hopefully this won't be needed any time soon since we just but DH's car a year ago and the engine was replaced (for free!) in mine in March, but I want to cash flow our next vehicle again so want to make sure we have money set aside for that.
4. Continue to save for a December 2021 Disney trip. We'd like to take our whole family back again. So far we have about $8000 saved, which should come pretty close to doing a value resort stay for a week for the 6 of us again.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

I'm just sitting over here reading everyone's posts and thinking about what my goals are. I'm not sure I'm ready to post them just yet. I made some in last year's thread, and I completely failed on all aspects. I believe it's because I made them too grand and not what I thought I could really do in reality. So that's what I'm trying to figure out.

I see people in here trying to pay x amount of dollars into their vacation fund or home renovation fund or onto their car or school loans. And I'm like heck I don't even make that much. That's why part of me doesn't want to post in this thread.

With no more than I make, I'm kind of embarassed to post what I think I can pay. But I will do it eventually. Just need time to figure out what is feasible.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I'm just sitting over here reading everyone's posts and thinking about what my goals are. I'm not sure I'm ready to post them just yet. I made some in last year's thread, and I completely failed on all aspects. I believe it's because I made them too grand and not what I thought I could really do in reality. So that's what I'm trying to figure out.

I see people in here trying to pay x amount of dollars into their vacation fund or home renovation fund or onto their car or school loans. And I'm like heck I don't even make that much. That's why part of me doesn't want to post in this thread.

With no more than I make, I'm kind of embarassed to post what I think I can pay. But I will do it eventually. Just need time to figure out what is feasible.

You don't have to post any numbers at all. I didn't for years. I felt embarassed to post at all but I know I needed to get control of my financial life. Prior to that I kept putting my head in the sand so to speak, and avoided confronting my debt problem head on. After a while I felt like I was walking along the edge of a cliff: one wrong step and it's over.
We had some loose goals the first time we refinanced our home from 30 years to 15, we would have our home paid off before our first child graduated HS. Perfect.
Well, when we ended up refinancing again and pulling lots of equity out to pay off credit cards with ridiculous interest rates, our mortgage was more than what we paid for our house. Still, I didn't learn a thing from that on how to better control spending and sticking to a budget. Credit card balances started creeping up again and I couldn't take it any more. Credit cards were sucking up huge portions of our paychecks and really it was the desire to keep all of our paychecks that made me want to get it together. Dh said to me, "Imagine if all that was going to a savings account instead of paying off old spending."

Post whatever you feel comfortable talking about. For me, I came here just asking about Dave Ramsey and the snowball system. I googled his website and realized we could pay off our credit cards in about 1.5 years so I did. Then I paid of dh's truck early. Over the years since I joined we had some new debt: a parent plus loan, I bought a car, paid for my younger son's trade school. Each time I acquired new debt, it didn't stick around long. I beat the dog crap out of it as fast as I could til it was gone.
Admitting it's a problem is the first step. Personally, I find the Dave Ramsey baby steps extremely helpful. It's a very methodical approach. I didn't cut my spending back to the extreme that he suggests such as stopping retirement savings and cutting cable. Just know that if you can, it will shorten the time it takes to pay off debt. Before I found DR, I was throwing a little extra at each card but really getting nowhere.
Check out his website and baby steps and come back with any questions you have. I'd explain it further but it's 11pm here on the east coast and I need to catch the 6:25 train tomorrow. So much for my goal of getting to be at a reasonable time. Yeah, we're all human.

 

[pblack]

I'm just sitting over here reading everyone's posts and thinking about what my goals are. I'm not sure I'm ready to post them just yet. I made some in last year's thread, and I completely failed on all aspects. I believe it's because I made them too grand and not what I thought I could really do in reality. So that's what I'm trying to figure out.

I see people in here trying to pay x amount of dollars into their vacation fund or home renovation fund or onto their car or school loans. And I'm like heck I don't even make that much. That's why part of me doesn't want to post in this thread.

With no more than I make, I'm kind of embarassed to post what I think I can pay. But I will do it eventually. Just need time to figure out what is feasible.

First off, welcome! As ruadisneyfan2 said, post whatever you are comfortable with! Most of us, me included, find posting our goals makes us more accountable for them. Only you know what your financial situation is. I know that sometimes when I post numbers they feel really small in comparison to others on here, but they're big numbers to me and thats what matters. I promise we're a friendly bunch and offer nothing but encouragement.

 

[Buzzsgramma]

If DR works for you that's great....Discipline is key......Here's to all of you for trying to improve...

 

[FQLover]

@WDW_fan_in_TX Try not to compare your own situation to someone else's, although I know that is hard to do. @ruadisneyfan2 is so great at encouraging new folks on this thread by sharing her debt story and how she overcame it.

Whatever you income is, and your non-negotiable bills are, is where you start in laying out a personal budget for yourself. It doesn't matter how much or little you have, you need to examine your own spending habits and see where there is some fat that can be trimmed. The excess you can take away from groceries, restaurants, new clothes, vacations etc. is what you have to work with to establish a small emergency fund and then start chipping away at your debt. I used Dave Ramsey, and he advocates for getting rid of your smallest debt first, with all the extra "fat" you can purge from your budget. He suggests we eat rice and beans and beans and rice in order to get some extra money to funnel to debt. While not doing that literally, I did find that cutting out most eating out and organizing my cook-from-home meals more than I had been doing, did allow me to get some extra money to start my emergency fund and then start attacking my smallest debt.

It definitely is doable; please don't give up. You will end up feeling so proud of getting your finances (large or small) in better control. It will be a load off your shoulders once you are underway with your own plan. I know this from personal experience!
You do have to be very honest with yourself, though, about where your current spending is going. One thing I did for a month or two before starting to make a budget was to just track in a notebook every penny I spent during the pay period--down to the Diet Coke I got from a vending machine or the 50 cent newspaper I picked up at the gas station. Doing this will help you see where you are spending too much or too carelessly. Later on, you will be able to afford more "extras" but right now it is time to cut back so that you can get out of the weeds.

Another thing I did once was to make an appointment with a bank official at the physical bank where I had accounts. I presented him my income and my debts and asked what he suggested. He gave me the lesson of "MMM" which stands for Minimize, Minimize, Maximize for debt repayment (which is the Dave Ramsey method, as well, that I learned about later).

There are people who can counsel you for free, books you can check out and read, articles you can find online, and this group right here on the Budget Board who will help you get going. If you want to turn things around, you can! It doesn't matter how much you make or how much you owe--you can turn the ship around so that you lessen stress along with lessening debt and begin to have hope that you can carve out more of the life you want for yourself.

Good luck! Please don't be afraid to post, and you never have to use real numbers. You can talk in terms of % or in terms of just what you are working on now (DR's first baby step is to save $1000 for an emergency fund). You can talk about what budget category you want to spend less in--whatever you like. No way do you have to reveal more than you are comfortable with--at all!

 

[comicguy]

I'm just sitting over here reading everyone's posts and thinking about what my goals are. I'm not sure I'm ready to post them just yet. I made some in last year's thread, and I completely failed on all aspects. I believe it's because I made them too grand and not what I thought I could really do in reality. So that's what I'm trying to figure out.

I see people in here trying to pay x amount of dollars into their vacation fund or home renovation fund or onto their car or school loans. And I'm like heck I don't even make that much. That's why part of me doesn't want to post in this thread.

With no more than I make, I'm kind of embarassed to post what I think I can pay. But I will do it eventually. Just need time to figure out what is feasible.

Try using the SMART Goal method.
The link below is for business but is easily adaptable to finances. I use this method for my yearly goals. You will get lots of advice and encouragement from this board it is really helpful and nobody will judge you. I have been steadily setting goals in finances, professional, health, life, house, and adventure for several years now and it seems to work (at least for me) Do I accomplish every goal? No, but I do accomplish most! Also it allows me to see what is more important to my life over time. An example, I wanted to start learning a foriegn language this past year, I set up a goal of practicing for 100 days (10 mins/day), I even found the websit I wanted to use and signed up for the free version. I found that even with doing all that and with some extra time I had thanks to COVID, I still did not do it. Why? I figured out it was just not that important to me right now, maybe in the future, maybe not we will see.

Link for SMART Goals
https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/other/smart-goal/

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I just wanted to add onto what FQLover brought up when she mentioned keeping a log. Time!
Being organized and all of this tracking and budgeting takes time, in the early stages at least. This is the part I was ignoring when our debts were increasing. I never felt like taking the time to sort it all out, to do the math and total it all up. I barely read our bills and I'd quick pay the minimum to have it done and out of the way.
I didn't track every Coke purchase but I did have to cut out some of our snowball initially, realizing I couldn't stick to our old spending amounts because we were overspending. "Do the Math!" became my guiding light. Wait, our Friday night pizzas are over $120 per month???!! Yikes, cut that out. For about 1 year I only bought clothing and household items we truly needed. It's amazing how few clothing purchases we really NEED to make. Pretty much everything I was buying, I stopped to ask myself, "Is this a need? or a want?" We cut our eating out and take out amounts waaaaay down. Even now we rarely go out to eat except birthdays or anniversaries; it just became a habit.

Also the word budget has sort of a negative connotation our society in general, as in, "Oh, you want the budget hotel?"
No. Budget means having a PLAN. Knowing where your money goes and why it's going there.
Even Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk have budgets. Disney has a budget and can't spend willy nilly on whatever pleases them.

Another thing I had to accept was being able to say, "No I can't afford that right now." I didn't like the feeling of declining invites out to dinner, etc. We have friends with much larger incomes that I can't even come close to keeping up with, not that I was ever trying to, but just that once I got over telling my closest friends "I need to save more" they understood without having to get into the nitty gritty of why. It's hard to tell our friends no but the good thing is now with covid people have gotten much more accustommed to saying it. This was much harder, for me at least, back in 2013 when I first joined.

Hope this helps. Gotta run!

 

[Nettlelondon]

It doesn't matter how much or little detail you post on this group, the fact that you are here at all shows you have a goal in mind and want to achieve it. This forum is just about the most supportive group of "strangers" I have ever encountered on the internet - and on the rare occasion that someone negative pops up being less than kind to a poster they are very quickly, but politely, put back in their box.

I always think it is a bit like dieting - whenever you start a diet you lose weight partly because you are paying attention to what you are eating, it doesn't matter what method of losing weight you have opted for, the mere fact of thinking about it / writing it down makes you more accountable so you reduce the calories.

If you start paying attention to what you are spending money on you will likely find you are spending less - opting for the cheaper version of something (own brand cereals, a filter coffee rather than soy chai latte with three pumps of syrup), or deciding to skip something altogether (meal planning to avoid takeout, skipping the coffee completely) and all those little bits start to add up.

Facing up to having a debt issue, or not having as much in savings as you would like for comfort, is always the first - and biggest - step. And every step along that path will take you to a better place. This forum will support you along the way - and gently nudge you back on to the right path if you stumble off. Without judgement.