Debt Dumpers - 2017

[Ngwira]

I am a big advocate of repair, not replace too. If I can get a free replacement from the manufacturer, then I try that route first. If I can reasonably fix something myself, I will. If I can't fix it, but I can reasonably pay a professional to do it, then that is my next step. And if something brakes and I can live without a new item, then I will seriously consider not buying a new one. Replacement is always the last resort.

DH's fitbit recently stopped working just over the 1 year warranty. After about 20 emails back and forth, I convinced them to send him a new one for free. Saved us over $100. But if he didn't get the free replacement, he probably would have just not bought a new one.

I've gotten about 4 new Fitbits as they all seem to break within one year. A few months ago my charge hr strap broke and they let me get a blaze by paying the upgrade fee.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

I've gotten about 4 new Fitbits as they all seem to break within one year. A few months ago my charge hr strap broke and they let me get a blaze by paying the upgrade fee.

I had to send so many emails until they finally offered me a free replacement Charge HR for DH. His was about 2-3 weeks outside the 1 year warranty when it broke and I was so mad. My Charge HR strap also broke, but it was in the 1 year warranty period. I paid to upgrade to the Charge 2, which I like much better since the strap is replaceable.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Robeys lawnmower repair 609 654 0955. It's in Medford.

Thanks!

 

[Ngwira]

I had to send so many emails until they finally offered me a free replacement Charge HR for DH. His was about 2-3 weeks outside the 1 year warranty when it broke and I was so mad. My Charge HR strap also broke, but it was in the 1 year warranty period. I paid to upgrade to the Charge 2, which I like much better since the strap is replaceable.

I really love the blaze. It's the best Fitbit yet and I've had the charge, charge hr, Alta and charge 2.

 

[Ngwira]

Thanks!

Welcome.

 

[DnA2010]

I haven't been really active on this thread or on the DIS in general but I got DS21's hospital bill paid off, finally. Trying to snowball stuff, sick and tired of debt.
We got a bunch of money back from our taxes and a bonus check from work which we planned to use for a trip to England this summer ($99 one way tickets to Scotland) but we really had to put a new roof on the house so we did that and paid off a bunch of little things.
Next up is my car. Audi is buying it back (VW diesel scandal) and we are getting a lot more back than I thought. We toyed with getting another Q7 but have opted to get the new VW Atlas. It's almost as nice as the Q7, has many of the same features and is $20,000 less than the Q7. So I should only have a $300 car payment for a few years instead of a $700 car payment for many years. Now I just have to wait for the car to get here.
Other than that we are just moving along slowly.

Also interested to hear about the Atlas

 

[DnA2010]

My mom decided she wanted some family time with all of us (my family and sisters family) and is taking us on an Alaskan cruise! Not on Disney but that's ok - we've heard Glacier Bay is really worth seeing and Disney doesn't go there, and although we loved our cruise on DCL it wasn't worth double the cost to us.
She's covering the cost, so we will just need to get gratuities and and spending/port costs. We won't be doing any expensive excursions as both my sister and I have babies that will be 11 months.
So excited for a vacation!
First week back at work was good and DH is so happy to be off with the baby!

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

My mom decided she wanted some family time with all of us (my family and sisters family) and is taking us on an Alaskan cruise! Not on Disney but that's ok - we've heard Glacier Bay is really worth seeing and Disney doesn't go there, and although we loved our cruise on DCL it wasn't worth double the cost to us.
She's covering the cost, so we will just need to get gratuities and and spending/port costs. We won't be doing any expensive excursions as both my sister and I have babies that will be 11 months.
So excited for a vacation!
First week back at work was good and DH is so happy to be off with the baby!

So exciting! Alaska cruises are great and there are plenty of things you could do with an 11 month old. I think whale watching is worth the expense of an excursion and you could easily take the 11 month old on such a trip. We also took a train trip into Yukon on my trip and the views were great. That would probably be easy with an infant as well.

I am so glad that your first week back to work went well! I am just starting to officially plan out my maternity leave now with the university, figuring out what paperwork I need, etc. I am now at 25 weeks and things are feeling like crunch time to get everything planned out before too long.

 

[DisneyMandC]

So exciting! Alaska cruises are great and there are plenty of things you could do with an 11 month old. I think whale watching is worth the expense of an excursion and you could easily take the 11 month old on such a trip. We also took a train trip into Yukon on my trip and the views were great. That would probably be easy with an infant as well.

I am so glad that your first week back to work went well! I am just starting to officially plan out my maternity leave now with the university, figuring out what paperwork I need, etc. I am now at 25 weeks and things are feeling like crunch time to get everything planned out before too long.

Wow, can't believe you're so far along already! How exciting!

 

[DisneyMandC]

Woke up and was a little frustrated this morning. I was out of the house most of the day yesterday, and DH did some laundry and cleaned a little bit--which is great. Except for when I throw my sheets and towels into the washing machine this morning and the overwhelming smell of bleach hit me. As I called out to him to ask if he'd bleached something, I pulled open the laundry detergent dispenser to find what looked like about a full cup's worth of bleach immediately spill out ALL OVER my sheets and towels. Apparently, he decided to bleach some his his undershirts yesterday and put the bleach in the soap dispenser, not the specifically designed bleach dispenser, and it did not dispense. And he also apparently did not feel it was necessary to run a rinse cycle in the washing machine afterwards. So, after yanking my now bleach stained towels and sheets out, I had to run a rinse cycle and scrub out the detergent dispenser. I really tried not to be angry about it, especially since it was towels and sheets, and he's usually very good about household tasks. Now if it had been our clothes, I probably would've gone through the roof!

Since I decided we probably needed to go ahead and invest in another set of sheets anyways, we went out shopping and I did a little pre-Disney shopping as well. Picked up a cute set of sheets on clearance for $23.99 at Target (a steal for king-sized sheets). I also got us a filtered water bottle for our Disney trip, that way we can fill it up at water fountains and hopefully get rid of the nasty Florida water taste, while also not spending a fortune on bottled water. I had a $10 birthday reward at Kohl's too, so I bought a new pair of shorts for the trip for $8. 23 days to go!

 

[amalone1013]

Woke up and was a little frustrated this morning. I was out of the house most of the day yesterday, and DH did some laundry and cleaned a little bit--which is great. Except for when I throw my sheets and towels into the washing machine this morning and the overwhelming smell of bleach hit me. As I called out to him to ask if he'd bleached something, I pulled open the laundry detergent dispenser to find what looked like about a full cup's worth of bleach immediately spill out ALL OVER my sheets and towels. Apparently, he decided to bleach some his his undershirts yesterday and put the bleach in the soap dispenser, not the specifically designed bleach dispenser, and it did not dispense. And he also apparently did not feel it was necessary to run a rinse cycle in the washing machine afterwards. So, after yanking my now bleach stained towels and sheets out, I had to run a rinse cycle and scrub out the detergent dispenser. I really tried not to be angry about it, especially since it was towels and sheets, and he's usually very good about household tasks. Now if it had been our clothes, I probably would've gone through the roof!

Since I decided we probably needed to go ahead and invest in another set of sheets anyways, we went out shopping and I did a little pre-Disney shopping as well. Picked up a cute set of sheets on clearance for $23.99 at Target (a steal for king-sized sheets). I also got us a filtered water bottle for our Disney trip, that way we can fill it up at water fountains and hopefully get rid of the nasty Florida water taste, while also not spending a fortune on bottled water. I had a $10 birthday reward at Kohl's too, so I bought a new pair of shorts for the trip for $8. 23 days to go!

Oh no! It just really stinks when something is ruined by bleach. I avoid it unless absolutely necessary because I am a klutz. I think when we get our own place I might hide the bleach from DF, because this is something he would do without thinking...

 

[Dentam]

I try to avoid using bleach since the time I used a detergent that had bleach in it to wash my comforter. As soon as I put it on my bed my cat jumped up and peed on it. I was so mad but then looked it up and read that the scent of bleach apparently makes cats think that another cat has been there and so they have to mark their territory. Good grief - never again! lol

 

[Aurora_Australis]

I've been jinxed! I got bleach on my favorite pants yesterday! I got them on our b last trip to the US so I can't even replace them. Near the fly and waist so covered by a longer top but I'm still annoyed!

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Woke up and was a little frustrated this morning. I was out of the house most of the day yesterday, and DH did some laundry and cleaned a little bit--which is great. Except for when I throw my sheets and towels into the washing machine this morning and the overwhelming smell of bleach hit me. As I called out to him to ask if he'd bleached something, I pulled open the laundry detergent dispenser to find what looked like about a full cup's worth of bleach immediately spill out ALL OVER my sheets and towels. Apparently, he decided to bleach some his his undershirts yesterday and put the bleach in the soap dispenser, not the specifically designed bleach dispenser, and it did not dispense. And he also apparently did not feel it was necessary to run a rinse cycle in the washing machine afterwards. So, after yanking my now bleach stained towels and sheets out, I had to run a rinse cycle and scrub out the detergent dispenser. I really tried not to be angry about it, especially since it was towels and sheets, and he's usually very good about household tasks. Now if it had been our clothes, I probably would've gone through the roof!

Since I decided we probably needed to go ahead and invest in another set of sheets anyways, we went out shopping and I did a little pre-Disney shopping as well. Picked up a cute set of sheets on clearance for $23.99 at Target (a steal for king-sized sheets). I also got us a filtered water bottle for our Disney trip, that way we can fill it up at water fountains and hopefully get rid of the nasty Florida water taste, while also not spending a fortune on bottled water. I had a $10 birthday reward at Kohl's too, so I bought a new pair of shorts for the trip for $8. 23 days to go!

DH is very good about household chores too, but laundry is definitely not his stronger suit. He has managed to shrink several of my wool sweaters, to the point where I just don't buy them anymore. But I try never to get too mad because I definitely don't want him to stop with those kind of chores. We recently got the new washer/dryer and I took about 30 minutes with him to show him all of the new features and make sure he understood how to use it all. Especially the new sidekick pedestal washer, since it uses very little detergent. I usually end up running the white cycle and I always put in bleach to keep his undershirts as white as possible. I also always wash bedding, since the bulk of them can be tricky. DH manages darks, colors and towels well, so I want him to keep that up.

The other area that DH struggles with is loading the dishwasher. He just doesn't put things in efficiently or he puts things into it in a way that they will bang against each other and break. So we now work on the model that he will unload and I will reload. He also washes anything by hand that can't be put into the dishwasher. It has worked well for us and ultimately saves us both a bit of sanity.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I also always wash bedding, since the bulk of them can be tricky.

Yes, we've had to have a number of discussions on putting too many items in the washing machine too. Usually when the washing machine starts banging around and making a ton of noise and he goes "jeez, why is it so loud?" Well, you put 4 towels and a comforter in it, so that's probably why.

 

[amalone1013]

DH is very good about household chores too, but laundry is definitely not his stronger suit. He has managed to shrink several of my wool sweaters, to the point where I just don't buy them anymore. But I try never to get too mad because I definitely don't want him to stop with those kind of chores.

My fiance is always very concerned about ruining my laundry. I now have a delicates basket that he only washes with me or when I'm around for questions, and another basket for clothes that can't be ruined or doesn't matter (like my work clothes - goodwill jeans and packs of men's plain tshirts, or socks).

The other area that DH struggles with is loading the dishwasher. He just doesn't put things in efficiently or he puts things into it in a way that they will bang against each other and break. So we now work on the model that he will unload and I will reload. He also washes anything by hand that can't be put into the dishwasher. It has worked well for us and ultimately saves us both a bit of sanity.

Sounds like a good system. My college roommates where terrible dishwasher loaders. We ended up on a similar system. We also had a year where we had one of those little half size dishwashers, and we hand washed all pots and large items. Somewhere I have a picture of the dishwasher they loaded, I wish I could find it. I mean, I didn't know a lot when I got my first apartment and called my mom a lot to ask questions like, how do I know when the chicken is done? How do I cook the chicken? But there were also a few calls like - mom... they loaded the dishwasher really weird again...

I try to avoid using bleach since the time I used a detergent that had bleach in it to wash my comforter. As soon as I put it on my bed my cat jumped up and peed on it. I was so mad but then looked it up and read that the scent of bleach apparently makes cats think that another cat has been there and so they have to mark their territory. Good grief - never again! lol

Oh no! I didn't know that about cats.

 

[amalone1013]

I found them! They're good for a chuckle now.

Yes, that plate on the right is on the other side of the silverware basket.

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

hahaha those pictures are great! As someone who is not that far out of college these bring back great memories

We are chugging right along getting ready for our friend's visit next week and our baby shower at the end of the month! My family has started mailing gifts this way and thankfully we've already gotten many of the big ticket items from them which will help us so much later!

I'm excited but also kind of want to get the shower over with, I hate being center of attention

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

We are a VW family (Tiguan and Golf Wagon), so I am very interested to hear what you think of the Atlas once you get it. Please come back then and give us a review.

Also interested to hear about the Atlas

I will definitely come back with a full review. I did test drive 2 of them, one was the Launch edition and the second was the Premium with the in dash navigation system and upgraded seating. The ride was comfortable, not very loud at all. The cockpit area definitely doesn't have the bells and whistles like the Q7 does but it's roomy and everything seemed to be easy to reach. The only down side I found is I wish the butt of the seat would lift a few more notches. The hood of the car is very boxy and high up and I'm short so I couldn't see over the hood enough to my liking but I'm sure I'll get used to it, if not I will get a wedge to put in the seat. I will be using my bumper sensors more than I did with the Q7.

I brought all the kids with me as well and they had plenty of the room in the third row. We also looked at the Toyota Highlander and they said they were cramped in the Highlander. It is great that they claim you can put 3 car seat across (where were you 15 years ago when I had to trade the Passat for that very reason?!?!) But I can say that is comfortable for 3 teenage boys and 1 pre-teen girl. So your family can grow with the car without having to trade up in size. My chief complaint with the middle seat is the center seat in the middle row does not fold down like my Q7, so getting things like long pieces of lumber etc, will be a bit more of a challenge. The seats do tip up and slide forward for easier access to the third row which is an improvement. You can also leave a car seat attached to the middle row and still move it out of the way to access the 3rd row. Not that I need this feature anymore, but it definitely would have come in handy when my kids were little.
Plenty of cargo room in the back behind the third row for groceries and sports equipment which is very important to me. The only drawback here is the manual fold down seats. They have the long strap down the back of the seat for lowering and lifting. I would have liked to have seen power seats but for the price point I can't complain too much.

Misc stuff:
The arial camera on the Atlas was cool. I didn't spend a lot of time looking at it but I'm sure I will play with it a bit when the car gets here.
The center console had a big open space which was nice, I can put a small purse in there.
Plenty of USB ports and 150w DC to AC inverter in the center row.
There is an option to get Captains chairs in the center row instead of a bench seat.

 

[pblack]

No big update on my end. Still plugging away at paying off credit card debt. We're down to $6600 owed total on credit cards, which i'm pretty excited about as we we're close to $10,000 at the beginning of the year. I hope to be able to pay off one more, if not 2, credit cards by the end of this year. We canceled our weekend trip to South Lake Tahoe this coming weekend. We were supposed to be going to the celebrity golf tournament, but we decided we'd rather put that money towards our weekend Disneyland trip next month for our anniversary. (3 years married, 5 together!) This Disney trip will be kind of a teaser trip as we'll be going the first week of October for 4.5 days (and 1 day at Universal).

Hard to believe we're already halfway through the year!