Debt Dumpers - 2017

My new washer and dryer were delivered this morning! And this set is actually set up properly so that the doors don't hit each other when you open them, which will allow me to easily transfer things from the washer to the dryer. Unfortunately, the cord for the dryer doesn't reach far enough in this new configuration, so I had to order a new cord from Amazon which luckily only cost $14. Everything except the power to the dryer is set up, so once the cord arrives I just have to screw it on and plug it in and move everything into place, which I think I can handle without calling out the delivery guys again. The set looks so nice and I can't wait to try out the mini pedestal washer.

And I went on a bit of a spending spree this weekend, though it was all covered from the baby fund and the home improvement fund. I made a few bigger purchases this weekend from the baby fund- mostly nursery decor. My goal is to theme the nursery Winnie the Pooh, but without everything actually having Winnie on it. I want most of the things that I buy to be able to transition into a bigger kids room or into another part of the house. I hate the idea of buying stuff that will only work for the first couple of years and then getting rid of it. So, I got a lamp on clearance from Crate and Barrel that I really love and would happily put somewhere else in the house later on:

https://www.crateandbarrel.com/ella-golden-yellow-table-lamp/s556803#

I also ordered a rug from West Elm, since it was on 30% sale plus free shipping (super rare for rugs to ship free). It is a custom order rug, so it won't arrive until October. But since baby won't be sleeping in the nursery right away, it doesn't really matter. The horizon color should match the lamp very nicely and flow well with the Winnie the Pooh theme:

https://www.westelm.com/products/ho...red-rug%2Frugs-windows|3&cm_src=PRODUCTSEARCH

Some items still on my wish list for the nursery are a white bookcase, a pouf/ottoman to use with the rocking chair and some wall decor. My mom already got us an amazing rocking chair and she plans to buy the crib as well- just waiting on a really good sale for that.

We also bought some plastic ventilated shelves to help organize the basement a bit better. They are on sale for $20 at Home Depot right now, so we grabbed 5 of them. This should help us put almost everything up off the floor now and really clean up the space, something that I have been wanting to do for a while. I am more motivated to do it now because eventually all of my sewing stuff will have to come down to the basement since the spare bedroom will be converted into the nursery.
 
My new washer and dryer were delivered this morning! And this set is actually set up properly so that the doors don't hit each other when you open them, which will allow me to easily transfer things from the washer to the dryer. Unfortunately, the cord for the dryer doesn't reach far enough in this new configuration, so I had to order a new cord from Amazon which luckily only cost $14. Everything except the power to the dryer is set up, so once the cord arrives I just have to screw it on and plug it in and move everything into place, which I think I can handle without calling out the delivery guys again. The set looks so nice and I can't wait to try out the mini pedestal washer.

And I went on a bit of a spending spree this weekend, though it was all covered from the baby fund and the home improvement fund. I made a few bigger purchases this weekend from the baby fund- mostly nursery decor. My goal is to theme the nursery Winnie the Pooh, but without everything actually having Winnie on it. I want most of the things that I buy to be able to transition into a bigger kids room or into another part of the house. I hate the idea of buying stuff that will only work for the first couple of years and then getting rid of it. So, I got a lamp on clearance from Crate and Barrel that I really love and would happily put somewhere else in the house later on:

https://www.crateandbarrel.com/ella-golden-yellow-table-lamp/s556803#

I also ordered a rug from West Elm, since it was on 30% sale plus free shipping (super rare for rugs to ship free). It is a custom order rug, so it won't arrive until October. But since baby won't be sleeping in the nursery right away, it doesn't really matter. The horizon color should match the lamp very nicely and flow well with the Winnie the Pooh theme:

https://www.westelm.com/products/honeycomb-textured-wool-rug-special-order-t989/?pkey=e|honeycomb+textured+rug|3|best|4294967150|1|24|%2Fhoneycomb-textured-rug%2Frugs-windows|3&cm_src=PRODUCTSEARCH

Some items still on my wish list for the nursery are a white bookcase, a pouf/ottoman to use with the rocking chair and some wall decor. My mom already got us an amazing rocking chair and she plans to buy the crib as well- just waiting on a really good sale for that.

We also bought some plastic ventilated shelves to help organize the basement a bit better. They are on sale for $20 at Home Depot right now, so we grabbed 5 of them. This should help us put almost everything up off the floor now and really clean up the space, something that I have been wanting to do for a while. I am more motivated to do it now because eventually all of my sewing stuff will have to come down to the basement since the spare bedroom will be converted into the nursery.
Don't buy too much..I'm sure you'll get tons of things at your baby shower.
 
Don't buy too much..I'm sure you'll get tons of things at your baby shower.

Well, I am not registering for any of the nursery decor items since I want to limit my registry to just one place. I won't be buying much in the way of furniture or decor from Babies R Us. I have registered for a bunch of baby necessities and don't plan to buy anything from there until after the shower.
 


Car is fixed. The serpentine belt broke which makes me angry as it has only been a year that I bought it certified used. Cost me $340 to fix.

I had to replace mine as well this past weekend, it was cracked. Thank goodness for 0% financing over $200. I also need brakes. Just glad my car seems to be running better now than before!
 
Budget doesn't look great for the month of June, but I am expecting several refunds and a couple of checks that have not arrived. We decided to cancel our Oklahoma trip in August, so we will save money on Airbnb and transportation costs for that. Since the Airbnb charge already went through, that's $170 we'll get back. I'm also still waiting on my work reimbursement for travel in August, so we had to put $450 out of pocket for that. I'm also waiting for my horse's show earnings to come through too, so that will be a nice chunk of change back into my horse show fund. I booked another Airbnb for a show in Maryland next month with a $20 credit and my in-laws and I will share a hotel room for another show in North Carolina, so that'll be some good savings.

We had another horse show we ran this past Saturday that went much better than the others. Still not the same amount of money we'd made in past years, but we at least paid our bills this time. In good/bad news, when we arrived to the show grounds we discovered that the group we were renting the grounds from had failed to give us the microphone they do every time that's part of the rental. After they attempted to place the blame on us and were (ahem) soundly rebuked, we will be getting a refund on the rental fee. So that will be $125 back in our pockets.

The good news is I will make the final payment for our August Disney trip before this Sunday, and we are coming in very nicely under budget! I have been working my tail off getting Target gift cards on Swagbucks to buy Disney gift cards, and have accumulated a good chunk of savings considering I only started this process about 5 weeks ago. I'll report back once I buy the last two gift cards this week :)
 


Well, I am not registering for any of the nursery decor items since I want to limit my registry to just one place. I won't be buying much in the way of furniture or decor from Babies R Us. I have registered for a bunch of baby necessities and don't plan to buy anything from there until after the shower.

Just one thought about registries. A co-worker recently registered for her baby at Target. I have to say I appreciated that I could pick up her baby gift at a store that I was already going to. Babies R Us is not a store I ever go to, and I could buy on-line but that would be another thing I would not otherwise do.
 
Just one thought about registries. A co-worker recently registered for her baby at Target. I have to say I appreciated that I could pick up her baby gift at a store that I was already going to. Babies R Us is not a store I ever go to, and I could buy on-line but that would be another thing I would not otherwise do.

I have given the registry a lot of thought and decided on Babies R Us because they offer the best incentives and have the greatest selection of items. We get 10% in gift cards of everything purchased off of our registry, including purchases that I make myself. That 10% could go a long way towards completing some items that we don't actually get. Also, many of the gifts will likely be coming from people that live out of town (aunts, uncles, grandparents, friends, etc.) and won't be attending the shower. They provide free shipping for orders of $29 or more. Target requires $35 or more unless you have the Red Card.

I have also made a Target registry, but plan to keep this private. Target offers a better completion discount (15%) that will also stack with the Red Card discount for a total of 20%. So anything that we don't get from our Babies R Us registry that is available at Target, we will probably order from there.
 
I had to replace mine as well this past weekend, it was cracked. Thank goodness for 0% financing over $200. I also need brakes. Just glad my car seems to be running better now than before!
Mine is also running quietly....I was wondering why it was so so loud...lol
 
:banana: Small Victory!!! :banana:

I made the last payment on our washer and dryer today! We now have an extra $150 to our name every month. As of now that money for the next 3 months will go towards our universal tickets for our October trip, and once home, will be put towards our DD1's birthday and Christmas.

Our next dilemma is this: the place we have our car loan at (it's buy here, pay here because we both have crap credit) is having a $300 down event in July. They have a car now that I absolutely love that's $8500 and they're pretty sure it's going to be part of the $300 down event. We were going to rent a car for our trip, which is going to run about $900 :eek:. We need a second vehicle and were planning on getting one in January. Buuut, with this low down payment, we would actually be able to buy it and make almost 2 months of payments with what we would have spent on the rental. So, it's smarter to just buy the new car, right? At least then that $900 Is going to something we keep instead of just to the rental company.
 
:banana: Small Victory!!! :banana:

I made the last payment on our washer and dryer today! We now have an extra $150 to our name every month. As of now that money for the next 3 months will go towards our universal tickets for our October trip, and once home, will be put towards our DD1's birthday and Christmas.

Our next dilemma is this: the place we have our car loan at (it's buy here, pay here because we both have crap credit) is having a $300 down event in July. They have a car now that I absolutely love that's $8500 and they're pretty sure it's going to be part of the $300 down event. We were going to rent a car for our trip, which is going to run about $900 :eek:. We need a second vehicle and were planning on getting one in January. Buuut, with this low down payment, we would actually be able to buy it and make almost 2 months of payments with what we would have spent on the rental. So, it's smarter to just buy the new car, right? At least then that $900 Is going to something we keep instead of just to the rental company.


I would say go for it, depending on actual interest rates and monthly payment.

I agree that it makes more sense to use the money for a payment rather than for the rental. Just knowing nothing about your finances, are you in a position to add an entire new payment?
 
:banana: Small Victory!!! :banana:

I made the last payment on our washer and dryer today! We now have an extra $150 to our name every month. As of now that money for the next 3 months will go towards our universal tickets for our October trip, and once home, will be put towards our DD1's birthday and Christmas.

Our next dilemma is this: the place we have our car loan at (it's buy here, pay here because we both have crap credit) is having a $300 down event in July. They have a car now that I absolutely love that's $8500 and they're pretty sure it's going to be part of the $300 down event. We were going to rent a car for our trip, which is going to run about $900 :eek:. We need a second vehicle and were planning on getting one in January. Buuut, with this low down payment, we would actually be able to buy it and make almost 2 months of payments with what we would have spent on the rental. So, it's smarter to just buy the new car, right? At least then that $900 Is going to something we keep instead of just to the rental company.
$900 for a rental car??!! :faint:
You could fly for less than that. Both babies would be free if you don't mind them on your lap.
Dh and I are wimps when it comes to long hours in a car. Anything over 6 hrs and we fly.
JMHO. Do what works for you. :goodvibes
 
We are making great progress though unfortunately, it's all about spending, or earmarked for spending, not paying down debt. Our summer vacation budget is fully funded and this week I started our Christmas fund. That will be done by late August. It's amazing how quickly it grows when it's not going toward cc bills.

Some confessions here.
In August we're going to London and Paris. The airfares were just too good. I bought them back in Dec with leftover Christmas funds and tax refund. It's a little scary with the state of the world but I can't just sit home afraid something might happen somewhere. We're doing private tours and avoiding public transportation. Probably only lowers the odds a little bit but all we can do is try to be alert & cautious. I really wanted to take the tunnel train to Paris but the thought of some nut job with a bomb in the tunnel turned me off. (I have a wild imagination.) Flights are cheaper anyway. I can only get 1 week off work in summer so it will be a crammed trip: 3 nts London, 2 night Paris, 3 nts Disneyland Paris, recover on Labor Day. We probably would have only chosen 2 nts at DLP but they were offering buy 2 nts, get 2 nts free. We're only getting the 1 night free but we can't stay any longer than we are. Still, we're excited. Ds20 hasn't been excited for a trip in years and he thinks he's more excited than I am. He's a big history buff so when I cluelessly ask what's the Magna Carta?, I get a 3 min history lesson. We're also touring Normandy/Omaha beach so he is bonkers excited to see this. :hyper::woohoo:

My other confession is we booked a DCL cruise for next summer to Norway. I've been wanting to sail this since the first year it was offered. They've been offering it in early June so many times, conflicting with school schedules, or college stuff, or debt pay down where we were completely unprepared, so when I saw that in 2018 it was being offered in August, I couldn't resist. Dh is completely DCL'd out but now HE is the one bonkers excited. Our good friends and my parents are joining too. So that will be where our fall/early winter snowball gets funneled. I'm using my CSP card for everything I can to earn points and faithfully paying it off every month but I need all the UR points I can get. We have almost enough for 1 free flight but I'm hoping for another by winter.
Omg, I miss the Disney Magic something fierce.:worship: :sail::boat: Haven't sailed her in years. :sad1:

So yes, I've been bad, bad bad. :guilty: :o
Realistically it will be next spring when we will be back to debt dumping but at this point we only have our mortgage and a 10 yr HE loan that is already 25% paid off in less than 1 year. No more credit card debt. Once we get back to attacking our HE loan, that will take about 12-18 months to pay off and then time to attack our mortgage.
My brain nags at me that we should pay down the HE loan first then do Norway, but my heart knows I will not regret it. Our kids are on the cusp of adulthood and these will probably be our last real family vacations together. :cloud9:

Happy a safe & happy 4th of July weekend!! :drinking1 :grouphug: :drinking:
 
We are making great progress though unfortunately, it's all about spending, or earmarked for spending, not paying down debt. Our summer vacation budget is fully funded and this week I started our Christmas fund. That will be done by late August. It's amazing how quickly it grows when it's not going toward cc bills.

Some confessions here.
In August we're going to London and Paris. The airfares were just too good. I bought them back in Dec with leftover Christmas funds and tax refund. It's a little scary with the state of the world but I can't just sit home afraid something might happen somewhere. We're doing private tours and avoiding public transportation. Probably only lowers the odds a little bit but all we can do is try to be alert & cautious. I really wanted to take the tunnel train to Paris but the thought of some nut job with a bomb in the tunnel turned me off. (I have a wild imagination.) Flights are cheaper anyway. I can only get 1 week off work in summer so it will be a crammed trip: 3 nts London, 2 night Paris, 3 nts Disneyland Paris, recover on Labor Day. We probably would have only chosen 2 nts at DLP but they were offering buy 2 nts, get 2 nts free. We're only getting the 1 night free but we can't stay any longer than we are. Still, we're excited. Ds20 hasn't been excited for a trip in years and he thinks he's more excited than I am. He's a big history buff so when I cluelessly ask what's the Magna Carta?, I get a 3 min history lesson. We're also touring Normandy/Omaha beach so he is bonkers excited to see this. :hyper::woohoo:

My other confession is we booked a DCL cruise for next summer to Norway. I've been wanting to sail this since the first year it was offered. They've been offering it in early June so many times, conflicting with school schedules, or college stuff, or debt pay down where we were completely unprepared, so when I saw that in 2018 it was being offered in August, I couldn't resist. Dh is completely DCL'd out but now HE is the one bonkers excited. Our good friends and my parents are joining too. So that will be where our fall/early winter snowball gets funneled. I'm using my CSP card for everything I can to earn points and faithfully paying it off every month but I need all the UR points I can get. We have almost enough for 1 free flight but I'm hoping for another by winter.
Omg, I miss the Disney Magic something fierce.:worship: :sail::boat: Haven't sailed her in years. :sad1:

So yes, I've been bad, bad bad. :guilty: :o
Realistically it will be next spring when we will be back to debt dumping but at this point we only have our mortgage and a 10 yr HE loan that is already 25% paid off in less than 1 year. No more credit card debt. Once we get back to attacking our HE loan, that will take about 12-18 months to pay off and then time to attack our mortgage.
My brain nags at me that we should pay down the HE loan first then do Norway, but my heart knows I will not regret it. Our kids are on the cusp of adulthood and these will probably be our last real family vacations together. :cloud9:

Happy a safe & happy 4th of July weekend!! :drinking1 :grouphug: :drinking:

I have to agree with your about taking these trips now, while your kids are still able to join you. Once my older brother went to college, we took one more vacation as a family before he was too busy. It was an epic trip though, Galapagos/Machu Picchu. I have a picture in my living room from that trip that I really love and it reminds me of all of the wonderful vacations that my parents took us on as a family.

Also, you will love the cruise to Norway. I have no regrets at all for taking our trip. It was worth every penny, especially because my DH loved it so much. And I am sure your DH will love it too. What ports will you be hitting? Where does the cruise leave out of?
 
June continues to be amazing--not in a good way. Had to have a tooth pulled on Wednesday. They're billing insurance right now so we'll see what that comes back as, but it's definitely going to be $800+ for the implant I'm going to eventually need there. Hooray :P

Had someone in (finally) to look at our tiny bathroom. We need the whole thing gutted and redone. It's so small (and our only bathroom) we have trouble even getting people in to see it. The guy confirmed it would be a small job, but that that actually makes it difficult since there's no room to work. He's going to get back to me with a quote...eventually. But until then ugh. Also he said we'd need a place to stay for a couple of weeks while he did it and...ugh. UGH! Not the news I wanted to hear (I wanted to hear that it'd take just a couple of days and not be that expensive. It's so small!)

So I'm pretty glad June is almost over.
 
June continues to be amazing--not in a good way. Had to have a tooth pulled on Wednesday. They're billing insurance right now so we'll see what that comes back as, but it's definitely going to be $800+ for the implant I'm going to eventually need there. Hooray :P

Had someone in (finally) to look at our tiny bathroom. We need the whole thing gutted and redone. It's so small (and our only bathroom) we have trouble even getting people in to see it. The guy confirmed it would be a small job, but that that actually makes it difficult since there's no room to work. He's going to get back to me with a quote...eventually. But until then ugh. Also he said we'd need a place to stay for a couple of weeks while he did it and...ugh. UGH! Not the news I wanted to hear (I wanted to hear that it'd take just a couple of days and not be that expensive. It's so small!)

So I'm pretty glad June is almost over.

Do you live somewhere remote that the guy would need a place to stay? I guess I don't quite understand that. Does he expect you to pay for those costs?
 
$900 for a rental car??!! :faint:
You could fly for less than that. Both babies would be free if you don't mind them on your lap.
Dh and I are wimps when it comes to long hours in a car. Anything over 6 hrs and we fly.
JMHO. Do what works for you. :goodvibes

It's a rental for 2 weeks. When i looked up plane tickets they were around $400 each and we would still need to rent a car when we got there. We're staying in a huge house with family and have plans for things not Disney for 8 days. Plus we love road trips!
 

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