Debt Dumpers 2021

[ruadisneyfan2]

My inlaws messaged my husband on Friday saying they were coming down this weekend to pick up a project truck for his step dad, but they wanted him to go with his step dad to help load and secure it. Luckily we were both able to schedule tomorrow and Saturday off, because her brilliant plan while I was at work was "just bring the kids to the hotel and we can hang out in the room while they go get it". You're going to entertain a 4 and 5 year old in a hotel room for 7 hours?!
Even better, we tried for 2 days to get them to give us an idea when they'd be here tomorrow so we could get *some* kind of game plan going. They showed up at 2:00pm TODAY. We found out they would be here an hour and a half before they showed up. Nice way to stress out your 8 months pregnant DIL.

I was supposed to be joining in the neighborhood garage sale tomorrow and Saturday. I think I might still try to set up in the morning for a couple hours, but Saturday is up in the air depending on when they want to leave. I'm super nesty and have just been crazy purging and I just want to get rid of stuff in our house. This seems perfect because there will be a ton of people in the neighborhood for it.

Does the hotel have a pool? Maybe your MIL can take the kids for a few hours while you do the yard sale and you can all swim in the afternoon? Is she the type that would be understanding that you already had plans for the weekend? or more like the demanding type?

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

And future years, I plan to max my contributions. A financial advisor I met casually once said that a lot of people will bulk up their HSA and not use it if at all possible until retirement, where it fills the gap of perhaps not having Medicare available right away. I thought that was a great idea and we don’t, thankfully, have a lot of medical expenses right now so I am hoping I can make this part of my retirement plans.

I am doing the same!

 

[AlohaNow]

A financial advisor I met casually once said that a lot of people will bulk up their HSA and not use it if at all possible until retirement, where it fills the gap of perhaps not having Medicare available right away. I thought that was a great idea and we don’t, thankfully, have a lot of medical expenses right now so I am hoping I can make this part of my retirement plans.

There is also a not very often spoken of option to rollover money from an IRA into an HSA. The rollover is tax-free and each taxpayer can do this once in their lifetime. For some it may be a great way to get an HSA started. For anyone, it is a great way to make taxable money magically turn into non-taxable money. The HSA is the triple whammy of tax advantages anyway, so may be something to look into!

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Had to fund our daughter's new laptop for the same reason. She's paying us back in small doses, but we were happy to have the savings for it!

My daughter is 3, so no chance she could pay for the repair. It was definitely an unintended accident. She instantly said, "Oops mommy, I just spilled your water. I am so sorry." She ran and got a towel and helped me wipe everything up. Then later that night, after I had taken the laptop to be serviced, she asked me why I wasn't working on my laptop but on a different computer. I told her that the water had damaged the computer and I took it somewhere so they could try to fix it. She asked me how long it would be gone and I told her 1 or 2 days. I picked up the laptop yesterday right before I went to get her from preschool. While I was putting her to bed last night, she thought about the laptop and asked me when it would be back. I told her that I had picked it up earlier that day and that everything was working well. She was so happy and gave me a big hug. I was really surprised she even thought to ask me about it. I could tell that she cared a lot about what happened. To me, her display of empathy felt like a parenting win.

 

[jen7233]

My inlaws messaged my husband on Friday saying they were coming down this weekend to pick up a project truck for his step dad, but they wanted him to go with his step dad to help load and secure it. Luckily we were both able to schedule tomorrow and Saturday off, because her brilliant plan while I was at work was "just bring the kids to the hotel and we can hang out in the room while they go get it". You're going to entertain a 4 and 5 year old in a hotel room for 7 hours?!
Even better, we tried for 2 days to get them to give us an idea when they'd be here tomorrow so we could get *some* kind of game plan going. They showed up at 2:00pm TODAY. We found out they would be here an hour and a half before they showed up. Nice way to stress out your 8 months pregnant DIL.

I was supposed to be joining in the neighborhood garage sale tomorrow and Saturday. I think I might still try to set up in the morning for a couple hours, but Saturday is up in the air depending on when they want to leave. I'm super nesty and have just been crazy purging and I just want to get rid of stuff in our house. This seems perfect because there will be a ton of people in the neighborhood for it.

Yes, in the middle of the day hanging out at the hotel with 4 and 5 year olds, might be more than they are used to doing. Now, maybe if there is a park or something they plan to drive the kids over to? I don't know, no real answer mine have only visited three times total just a couple days, short visits, and my kids are teens. Last visit my older son was in second grade and is now in high school.

 

[imbatman]

My budget-minded thing today: I didn't go to DL with my brother, niece, and my kiddos. But I love getting their pics! They are currently trying to get a boarding group for Webslingers.

 

[jen7233]

My budget-minded thing today: I didn't go to DL with my brother, niece, and my kiddos. But I love getting their pics! They are currently trying to get a boarding group for Webslingers.

Great budget-minded thing and kids enjoy! I have DL on a wish list trip for next summer, hopefully will have enough points between Chase and SW for the flights next year, or will be a 2023 trip.

 

[ajanderson84]

Well I guess I straight up missed May! Sorry guys, my job has been a whirlwind of crazy and now as we approach summer my kids' and their needs are getting crazy too. Updates are in Green

2021 Financial Goals:

• Continue building house fund to 9k or so (3 months worth of house payments) Currently at 4,500 We are now at 7558 We are now at 9788.67, which surpasses the three months worth of house payments! I think I'll keep going.
• Continue to build savings to 60k (6 months worth of savings) lllllooong way to go with this goal, currently about 3k. I've lost track of this, too many pots of money trying to keep track of. There's savings, but it'll have to wait until after vacation to figure out how much there is. This goal is all messed up because I changed how we were saving. I will have to reset this goal and try again.
• Work on spending less, although we are in a high cost area (DC) I feel like our budget for Groceries and such is far too high We are currently on track to spend our budgeted amount for groceries, so that's a win. Thanks to weird things the state did during COVID for school aged children we have spent significantly less on food these last few months.
• Start an IRA (I am late to this retirement game). We have a long standing TSP for DH and I have a 401(k) but nothing else for retirement (I am 36, DH is 40) Although I still haven't done this, I've started having the convo with my hubby about it. Do you just go to your bank to start this? Haha, I am terrible at doing the things I set for myself.
• Start saving for Vacations, I would like to take them more often... I think maybe 4-6k may be needed to be saved. I have 5884 saved for the next trip, but 1500 is for my daughter who is going on a cross country road trip this summer. I have saved 7915 so far. 1500 of it is for my DD's trip this month
• Save for potential move, if no move, use to improve current house. No Change here yet We didnt move, and I didnt save to move LOL... so I think this goal is out the window.
• Pay off 1 CC for Lowes: $600.00 - Complete by June 2021. I had to replace the dishwasher in Sept of 2020. The balance on the card is interest free for 12 months so I will just continue to pay $50/paycheck until it is paid off, roughly 6 more months. (Edited to add this, as I forgot about it earlier.) This is paid off now due to my annual bonus!

2021 Personal Goals:

• Continue college classes for Bachelor's Degree (Using DH's GI bill for this) I aced the two classes I was in, the next ones start in May Two classes did start in May. We are now five weeks into them. I have another class that starts in July and then I take a break until September. Only 20 more credits to go.
• Maintain PMP certification I have already finished this for this year
• Obtain additional IT related Certification (Perhaps Sec +) I haven't had a moment to start on this yet. I may have strongly overestimated how much free time I have.
• Lose Weight (total needed to lose is 102lbs, but I'd be happy if I lost 40) I went to the Doctor... they are concerned and running tests. I lost 1lb this week but am still up a lot. Vacation did not help this goal. Still making Youtube videos for accountability, and also doing 75Hard. Somebody save me from myself. I have only gained. This is getting crazy and out of hand. I am sad and angry with myself.
• Learn to cook better... I mean I can cook, its just not very exciting... and I like food so if I can learn to make healthy exciting meals, all the better. This week we are making (homemade) habachi shrimp and veggies, turkey burgers, steak fajitas (no tortillas), beef pot roast, and grilled chicken skewers. See above. I am a lost cause.
• If staying, paint upstairs of house, replace upstairs carpet either way, and perhaps paint kitchen cabinets. If not staying, finish outstanding small repairs and deep clean all the things to list the house. The plants are outside and growing large. Inside I have some ideas on how to paint the kitchen cabinets. All of the ambition, none of the motivation. However, the garden is taking over and I have a ton of fresh romaine lettuce.
• New Goal: Both 17 year old boys are joining the United States Coast Guard this year. One leaves in April, One is graduating High School in June and then leaving in August. I have not prepared to send them off into the world and need to figure this out asap! I think I am still in panic mode. How do you prepare for this? I went to IKEA, I spent like 1000 on plates pans, bowls, etc for the boys. All the things I didnt know I wanted or needed when I started out. I hope they find it useful. One of the boys headed out at the end of April. He is in Cape May now getting his boot camp completed. He should graduate end of June. I am so excited for him. The other boy is graduating High School this Saturday and will ship out in Sept.

Unplanned Things I Managed Anyways:

• I had bought a Peloton Tread + in Feb. of 2020 with an interest free loan of $4550. I had intended to simply pay the monthly over the three years since it was completely interest free, but I actually paid it off with part of the stimulus. This saves me $117/mo
• I then bought a Peloton Bike + for $2,700 on the same interest free loan over three years. The new payment is $79/mo. I am going to pay the full $117 from the Tread instead and pay it down faster, and maybe pay it off early, because I don't like having debts, even interest free ones. This arrived finally and we've begun the payment plan. Now to pay it down fast. Saving up to make that one big payment! Currently at $615.00 saved over the regular payment
• I got myself an Electra Townie Bike, for outdoor riding. I really want to try to be more active this year. I bought it cash, so no debt.
• I upgraded our phones, but because there were other older phones that paid off our cell phone bill actually went down $80/mo and I got a new phone. I use the much higher quality cameras for our YouTube Channel so it's Win/Win.

Unplanned Things I Am Considering:

• I am considering buying a short term rental in Reunion Resort (Just a condo, nothing too crazy).... thoughts? Opinions? I am still looking into this but man that real estate market is crazy right now.

 

[RamblingMad]

Well I guess I straight up missed May! Sorry guys, my job has been a whirlwind of crazy and now as we approach summer my kids' and their needs are getting crazy too. Updates are in Green

2021 Financial Goals:

• Continue building house fund to 9k or so (3 months worth of house payments) Currently at 4,500 We are now at 7558 We are now at 9788.67, which surpasses the three months worth of house payments! I think I'll keep going.
• Continue to build savings to 60k (6 months worth of savings) lllllooong way to go with this goal, currently about 3k. I've lost track of this, too many pots of money trying to keep track of. There's savings, but it'll have to wait until after vacation to figure out how much there is. This goal is all messed up because I changed how we were saving. I will have to reset this goal and try again.
• Work on spending less, although we are in a high cost area (DC) I feel like our budget for Groceries and such is far too high We are currently on track to spend our budgeted amount for groceries, so that's a win. Thanks to weird things the state did during COVID for school aged children we have spent significantly less on food these last few months.
• Start an IRA (I am late to this retirement game). We have a long standing TSP for DH and I have a 401(k) but nothing else for retirement (I am 36, DH is 40) Although I still haven't done this, I've started having the convo with my hubby about it. Do you just go to your bank to start this? Haha, I am terrible at doing the things I set for myself.
• Start saving for Vacations, I would like to take them more often... I think maybe 4-6k may be needed to be saved. I have 5884 saved for the next trip, but 1500 is for my daughter who is going on a cross country road trip this summer. I have saved 7915 so far. 1500 of it is for my DD's trip this month
• Save for potential move, if no move, use to improve current house. No Change here yet We didnt move, and I didnt save to move LOL... so I think this goal is out the window.
• Pay off 1 CC for Lowes: $600.00 - Complete by June 2021. I had to replace the dishwasher in Sept of 2020. The balance on the card is interest free for 12 months so I will just continue to pay $50/paycheck until it is paid off, roughly 6 more months. (Edited to add this, as I forgot about it earlier.) This is paid off now due to my annual bonus!

2021 Personal Goals:

• Continue college classes for Bachelor's Degree (Using DH's GI bill for this) I aced the two classes I was in, the next ones start in May Two classes did start in May. We are now five weeks into them. I have another class that starts in July and then I take a break until September. Only 20 more credits to go.
• Maintain PMP certification I have already finished this for this year
• Obtain additional IT related Certification (Perhaps Sec +) I haven't had a moment to start on this yet. I may have strongly overestimated how much free time I have.
• Lose Weight (total needed to lose is 102lbs, but I'd be happy if I lost 40) I went to the Doctor... they are concerned and running tests. I lost 1lb this week but am still up a lot. Vacation did not help this goal. Still making Youtube videos for accountability, and also doing 75Hard. Somebody save me from myself. I have only gained. This is getting crazy and out of hand. I am sad and angry with myself.
• Learn to cook better... I mean I can cook, its just not very exciting... and I like food so if I can learn to make healthy exciting meals, all the better. This week we are making (homemade) habachi shrimp and veggies, turkey burgers, steak fajitas (no tortillas), beef pot roast, and grilled chicken skewers. See above. I am a lost cause.
• If staying, paint upstairs of house, replace upstairs carpet either way, and perhaps paint kitchen cabinets. If not staying, finish outstanding small repairs and deep clean all the things to list the house. The plants are outside and growing large. Inside I have some ideas on how to paint the kitchen cabinets. All of the ambition, none of the motivation. However, the garden is taking over and I have a ton of fresh romaine lettuce.
• New Goal: Both 17 year old boys are joining the United States Coast Guard this year. One leaves in April, One is graduating High School in June and then leaving in August. I have not prepared to send them off into the world and need to figure this out asap! I think I am still in panic mode. How do you prepare for this? I went to IKEA, I spent like 1000 on plates pans, bowls, etc for the boys. All the things I didnt know I wanted or needed when I started out. I hope they find it useful. One of the boys headed out at the end of April. He is in Cape May now getting his boot camp completed. He should graduate end of June. I am so excited for him. The other boy is graduating High School this Saturday and will ship out in Sept.

Unplanned Things I Managed Anyways:

• I had bought a Peloton Tread + in Feb. of 2020 with an interest free loan of $4550. I had intended to simply pay the monthly over the three years since it was completely interest free, but I actually paid it off with part of the stimulus. This saves me $117/mo
• I then bought a Peloton Bike + for $2,700 on the same interest free loan over three years. The new payment is $79/mo. I am going to pay the full $117 from the Tread instead and pay it down faster, and maybe pay it off early, because I don't like having debts, even interest free ones. This arrived finally and we've begun the payment plan. Now to pay it down fast. Saving up to make that one big payment! Currently at $615.00 saved over the regular payment
• I got myself an Electra Townie Bike, for outdoor riding. I really want to try to be more active this year. I bought it cash, so no debt.
• I upgraded our phones, but because there were other older phones that paid off our cell phone bill actually went down $80/mo and I got a new phone. I use the much higher quality cameras for our YouTube Channel so it's Win/Win.

Unplanned Things I Am Considering:

• I am considering buying a short term rental in Reunion Resort (Just a condo, nothing too crazy).... thoughts? Opinions? I am still looking into this but man that real estate market is crazy right now.

I gained weight over the pandemic. Now, I'm slowly losing it. I suggest having less prepared food available around the house. If most of your food requires preparation, you'll have to cook to emotionally eat, which should leave you eating less. Also, don't cook enough food to have left overs. Those are my two tips.

 

[npatellye]

I’ve eliminated the goals that were already met.

2021 Financial Goals: Already met before this post

2021 Personal Goals:

• Take more day trips-in progress
• Make LegoLand NY a priority for at least 3 long weekends-LegoLand is not yet officially open so we are waiting
• Convince my husband that we should drive to WDW at least once-done! But this is something he will only consider once the kids are order. I’ll take it!

The stone veneer came in as scheduled on May 18th, while we were at Disney. We had the final inspection for everything yesterday. The porch and sunroom are FINALLY finished!!!!

We really enjoyed our trip in May: stayed 1 night in a 1 bedroom savanna view (booked for value) at Jambo and then 7 nights in a 2 bedroom lake view at VGF. I decided we definitely are one and done with VGF. We only stayed there because we treated my in-laws and my MIL has always wanted to stay at GF. While we were at Disney, we decided we really do need to add more DVC points. We currently have a contract in ROFR now for 160 points at SSR and I’m just hoping Disney doesn’t take it. Our original plan was that, if they took it, we would add on direct. But they just raised SSR to $180/pt so our new backup is to add on direct at OKW or RIV.

We were hoping to get a full bathroom in the basement this summer but literally no contractors around us are available until the late fall. So we will wait it out for now. Oh and all star cheer is finally over so I actually have some time now to relax instead of spending 15 hours a week driving to all star cheer, sitting in my car, and driving back home. Plus it’s a nice boost to my wallet to not have to pay the all star cheer fees for two kids. I plan on tucking that money away this summer for spending money for our January Disney trip.

Otherwise, most of my 2021 goals have been met. That must mean it’s time to set new goals!!!!

 

[crazycatstacy]

Leaving for Florida in the morning. We booked the cheapest flights so of course, the airline has things a million times and since we chose the cheap seats we can't choose seats. I was trying this morning to pay to choose our seats but was too slow so missed the window. Called Delta and am awaiting a call back to see if I can pay to upgrade for one leg of the journey. We are currently flying from Rapid City to Minneapolis to Atlanta to Jacksonville. The Minneapolis to Atlanta is the longest portion and since I'm not the greatest flier I am hoping to upgrade that one. I have very few miles so not sure if I can use those or pay but I guess we will see!

 

[imbatman]

Addition: save $2000 for a Christmas trip to the coast. This was decided yesterday after a rather interesting Christmas. This will probably change due to Dad's passing.

Got an email today: owners sold the house and moved to England. Well...that's off the list. Think I'll let my mom take the lead on this. Christmas is her favorite time of the year.

 

[Nettlelondon]

Got an email today: owners sold the house and moved to England. Well...that's off the list. Think I'll let my mom take the lead on this. Christmas is her favorite time of the year.

We have always found it is safest to leave Christmas / birthday plans to the those who have had the major change in circumstances for the first few years - be it new child or bereavement. Fitting in around them - within reason - always seems to be the most harmonius in the longer term, even if it means you need to have several options in play until the last minute.

 

[jackers]

I’ve applied and interviewed for a new job at work. I’m a strong contender but probably won’t know if I get it for another week or two. It would be a great fresh restart for me so fingers are crossed. I am not happy with how my current role has evolved. The new position is the same pay scale, but I would still be taking on a lot more responsibility so am hoping for a small raise. If I get the job and raise, I will most likely throw all the extra at the mortgage. I have this burning desire to be mortgage free so any amount of time that I can shave off my current 5 year plan is a bonus.

Quoting myself because I received the job offer today! 6% increase in pay (I was hoping for 5%) so for that. Don’t officially start until mid July but will be working those spreadsheets to see how this changes plans.

We also finally planned a family vacation and booked a condo in Destin for the week of Labor Day. I will most likely try and make it a working vacation due to starting a new job. But it should still be enjoyable and relaxing. My sister lives in the area so I’ll get some family time with her as well.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

Quoting myself because I received the job offer today! 6% increase in pay (I was hoping for 5%) so for that. Don’t officially start until mid July but will be working those spreadsheets to see how this changes plans.

We also finally planned a family vacation and booked a condo in Destin for the week of Labor Day. I will most likely try and make it a working vacation due to starting a new job. But it should still be enjoyable and relaxing. My sister lives in the area so I’ll get some family time with her as well.

Congratulations!!!

 

[jen7233]

Quoting myself because I received the job offer today! 6% increase in pay (I was hoping for 5%) so for that. Don’t officially start until mid July but will be working those spreadsheets to see how this changes plans.

We also finally planned a family vacation and booked a condo in Destin for the week of Labor Day. I will most likely try and make it a working vacation due to starting a new job. But it should still be enjoyable and relaxing. My sister lives in the area so I’ll get some family time with her as well.

Congratulations! And they will let you do a working vacation can't beat that!
*Do you have a booking website you'd recommend for condos in Destin?

 

[Tygerlilly]

The house we want to build finally had one that was done enough that we could go see it in person and really see the layout. Before we even get started with anything, I wanted to be sure the layout and the space would be exactly what we wanted and something that would grow with our family.

Y'all, it's perfect. It's exactly what I hoped for, only bigger. Lol. It's currently a 7-8 month build time and since we aren't even getting started for another 4ish months, that gives us almost a year to really get our finances, credit, and down-payment together. I'm so excited for our family!

 

[jackers]

@jen7233, despite the bashing it took in another thread, we have always done well with vrbo, so that is what I used. However, I have not used it for a beach condo before, just cabins in Gatlinburg, so we will see if location makes a difference at all.

 

[jen7233]

@jen7233, despite the bashing it took in another thread, we have always done well with vrbo, so that is what I used. However, I have not used it for a beach condo before, just cabins in Gatlinburg, so we will see if location makes a difference at all.

I didn't read another thread regarding that, probably for the better! We used Vrbo once about 10 years ago in San Diego on the Mission Beach side, and had an excellent experience with renting it for the week great place well-maintained and lots of extras provided (in fact the person who's condo/townhouse it was was a full-time realtor). I wish I had kept the address if ever needing a place in the San Diego area, we really liked it. Complete with beach cruisers in the garage, which we ended up using two on bikes and one in the car canvasing the neighborhood when we lost our dog accidentally when DD didn't realize she left the door open taking out the trash when we asked (our dog we had then was super quiet, tiny, and loved to follow us around everywhere so didn't notice she was gone until a few hours later, and had it not been a rental we think she would have stayed put outside the door but was confused). That was the horrible experience, for a full day and night, ruined a day as I was devastated she was lost and cried hard thinking we'd never see her again, but had a good ending when we found her a day later thanks to some good citizens!)

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

I just spent a bunch of money on 4-day park hopper Disneyland tickets for 3. Our October dates just opened up for park reservations and DL is opening to non-residents on Tuesday, so I felt comfortable booking our tickets. I am so excited to stay at the Grand Californian. It was a risk to book before DL had even reopened, but I felt it was worth the risk. This will be an awesome close to our Hawaii vacation and celebrating DD's 4th birthday.

I also booked flights for our December cruise out of Miami, though I am not sure what it is going to look like yet. I figured that we could shift the money towards our flights for our March 2022 WDW trip if we needed to cancel.

And I had my first meeting with the career coach. It was so helpful! My performance review is due this month and she gave me some great suggestions around writing up my portion as well as some great ideas for 1-on-1 meetings with my boss. And she also gave me some great things to think about regarding waiting to see if things improve versus looking for a new position. I think this is going to be a really helpful investment in myself. I am all about knowing when I don't know enough and taking advantage of the expertise of others. After trying a lot of things on my own, I think this was the right choice to help me move forward in my career.