Debt Dumpers - 2018

[MamaBelleRN]

Woke up to surprise snow and temps in the teens, so I guess working on my car after work may have to wait! Had a lovely walk to work (insert sarcasm here)... woman's little dog that she was walking lunged at my legs. Bonus ice facial. Good times. Luckily it's a short walk - about 7 minutes.


Car2Go isn't cheap unfortunately. Using it twice a month (3 hours each time) would only be about $10-15 under my monthly fees now for having my car (gas and insurance).

Definitely sounds like replacing your car if you’re unable to fix it is the way to go! It may not warm up before you arrive, but at least it would be free of little dogs

If it makes you feel any better, the walk to my building is that long from the train station. The train is a 20 min ride and I have to drive to the train station near my house and pay to park. All together, about 45 mins. I've never had a dog lunge at me but I work in the city so there's homeless people, crazed junkies begging for cash, pretending to need train fare, then cursing people who decline.
It makes working from home seem dreamy but I'd guess that has it downfalls too.

I need to remember not to complain about my three minute walk across our hospital campus

Yeah, I know I am very lucky to be able to walk to work - I was just joking about my awesome walk this morning. I live close to downtown, and we have a lot of homeless people here. They're on almost every major street corner with signs begging for money, including the major street corners bordering my neighborhood. I've also been cursed at for not giving one money. Grr...

I wouldn't want to work from home - too isolating for me. It would have its upsides though!

I teleworked exclusively for 4 years while on detail to another federal agency and it! Now I am back with my home agency and only get to telework 2 days a week. I so miss the daily telework and hate the 40 minute commute to the office. I was so much more productive just working from home without the distractions of co-workers in the office to socialize with.

Obviously, my job does not have a work from home option. My DH, on the other hand, is allowed to work from home whenever he wants. He does this pretty regularly. It’s a very family friendly company and it’s great to have that flexibility. I don’t think I could be productive in a home office. I would get way too distracted

So I have the flu. I am taking tamiflu and trying to rest. This means that DH has had to take all of the baby care duties again because we definitely don't want DD to get flu right after recovering from norovirus. DD got her bath today. We always weigh her on bath day and sadly her weigh has only increased 7 ounces in the last month. So she has slipped down to the 20th percentile for weight now. This is mainly due to the fact that when she was in the hospital she actually lost weight and since being sick, she hasn't quite gotten back to her normal consumption amounts yet. It makes me sad because we had worked so hard to increase the amount she was eating and she was doing so well, but these several weeks of being sick has really taken the toll.

And our budget is pretty out of wack now. We ended up going $150 over budget for groceries last month. Plus $50 over budget on eating out and completely wiping out out medical/personal care fund. I will be using our tax return money to get us back on level ground and make up for all of the overspending. And then next month is a double paycheck month. We plan to use that money to just budget ahead for the next month. That way, we are truly a month ahead of all expenses since all of our current month paychecks would be going towards next months expenses from then on.

As for my trip, I had a really great time. It was fun to go with my friend and I think she really enjoyed it too. I got to do tons of new things that I had never done before. At Animal Kingdom, I finally got to ride Expedition Everest and we saw Rivers of Light. We also went on the Na’vi River Journey, though I was a bit disappointed in it. I just didn't feel like it told a story or anything. At Magic Kingdom, we ate at the Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen. It was great theming and lots of fun, since the servers as supposed to be skippers from the jungle cruise ride. The Moonlight Magic event was nice, though we ended up leaving around 10:30 since we had already been in the parks since 9am and it was raining. At Epcot, I finally got to visit the DVC lounge. We also grabbed some yummy food at the food booths for the Festival of the Arts, which was all super delicious. And there were also these fun photo spots at many of the countries. They were famous paintings that you could "stand in" and become a part of the artwork. We also rode Frozen at Norway, which I thought was a very good ride with some nice animatronics. At Hollywood Studios, I got to ride the Rock n' Rollercoaster for the first time. It is fun, but definitely felt short. We also did the Frozen singalong, which was pretty fun too. And then after my meeting one night, we went to Disney Springs. I found some super cute clearance items for DD at UNIQLO. They are 18-24 months size, so she can wear them for her first Disney trip in 2019. And I of course bought all of the new Starbucks mugs at each of the parks. I love the new designs. A very nice trip overall.

So sorry to hear about the flu diagnosis! Definitely rest up and I hope you recover quickly. After having norovirus, the fact she was able to gain some (even just a small amount) is great. My fourth is a peanut. He has never even made the charts for weight (except at birth and he was in the 5th percentile). He’ll be three next month and is 21 pounds. We have seen a pediatric endocrinologist, GI, and geneticist. They can’t find a reason he is so small, but they all have said look more at overall development than any one number. He talks up a storm and gets into more mischief than my other four combined! All this to say, take heart. It sounds like she is doing wonderfully. It’s easy to feel stressed about numbers, but you are doing an amazing job!

Despite the hard hits this month, it sounds like you’ll be right back on track by the end of next month. I forgot March is a triple paycheck month for my DH too!

Thanks for the quick trip report! It sounds like you has a great time

 

[MamaBelleRN]

I haven't read all of the replies to this yet, but I'm diving in!

Our goals this year are:

1) pay off and close the line of credit we opened to finish our yard work by the end of April. We won't need it after that and I don't want/need the temptation to utilize it!
2) pay off our credit card debt by the end of October (we only have one joint credit card but it has a pretty significant credit limit (with a very low interest) and we have a high balance on it...but I'm determined )
3) Pay off our loan that we had to get due to my husbands business f'ing him over (even if we don't pay off early, we will have this complete this goal by the end of the year!)
4) pay house and property taxes in full (and not add to our mortgage like we always do!)
5) start increasing our retirement investments
6) living frugally and not spending recklessly until at least 2 of the first 3 goals are met!
7) Once all of the major goals are met, we are going to start paying off our car loan and mortgage!

Wish me luck! Its not an easy target, and I'm determined as all heck, but if we accomplish these goals, we will feel such an IMMENSE relief! We've been living in debt FAR too long!

This is a great group full of wonderful support and advice. Best of luck as you work on dumping your debt!

 

[AmyAnne]

So I have the flu. I am taking tamiflu and trying to rest. This means that DH has had to take all of the baby care duties again because we definitely don't want DD to get flu right after recovering from norovirus. DD got her bath today. We always weigh her on bath day and sadly her weigh has only increased 7 ounces in the last month. So she has slipped down to the 20th percentile for weight now. This is mainly due to the fact that when she was in the hospital she actually lost weight and since being sick, she hasn't quite gotten back to her normal consumption amounts yet. It makes me sad because we had worked so hard to increase the amount she was eating and she was doing so well, but these several weeks of being sick has really taken the toll.

And our budget is pretty out of wack now. We ended up going $150 over budget for groceries last month. Plus $50 over budget on eating out and completely wiping out out medical/personal care fund. I will be using our tax return money to get us back on level ground and make up for all of the overspending. And then next month is a double paycheck month. We plan to use that money to just budget ahead for the next month. That way, we are truly a month ahead of all expenses since all of our current month paychecks would be going towards next months expenses from then on.

As for my trip, I had a really great time. It was fun to go with my friend and I think she really enjoyed it too. I got to do tons of new things that I had never done before. At Animal Kingdom, I finally got to ride Expedition Everest and we saw Rivers of Light. We also went on the Na’vi River Journey, though I was a bit disappointed in it. I just didn't feel like it told a story or anything. At Magic Kingdom, we ate at the Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen. It was great theming and lots of fun, since the servers as supposed to be skippers from the jungle cruise ride. The Moonlight Magic event was nice, though we ended up leaving around 10:30 since we had already been in the parks since 9am and it was raining. At Epcot, I finally got to visit the DVC lounge. We also grabbed some yummy food at the food booths for the Festival of the Arts, which was all super delicious. And there were also these fun photo spots at many of the countries. They were famous paintings that you could "stand in" and become a part of the artwork. We also rode Frozen at Norway, which I thought was a very good ride with some nice animatronics. At Hollywood Studios, I got to ride the Rock n' Rollercoaster for the first time. It is fun, but definitely felt short. We also did the Frozen singalong, which was pretty fun too. And then after my meeting one night, we went to Disney Springs. I found some super cute clearance items for DD at UNIQLO. They are 18-24 months size, so she can wear them for her first Disney trip in 2019. And I of course bought all of the new Starbucks mugs at each of the parks. I love the new designs. A very nice trip overall.

Hope you're better soon -- my co-worker (with the office right next to mine) was diagnosed with the flu last week. She said after two days of taking tamiflu she felt pretty much totally better.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Hope you're better soon -- my co-worker (with the office right next to mine) was diagnosed with the flu last week. She said after two days of taking tamiflu she felt pretty much totally better.

I am feeling quite a bit better today, which means that I can work from home and not have to take a sick day. I love that I am allowed that kind of flexibility.

 

[DisneyMandC]

So I have the flu. I am taking tamiflu and trying to rest. This means that DH has had to take all of the baby care duties again because we definitely don't want DD to get flu right after recovering from norovirus. DD got her bath today. We always weigh her on bath day and sadly her weigh has only increased 7 ounces in the last month. So she has slipped down to the 20th percentile for weight now. This is mainly due to the fact that when she was in the hospital she actually lost weight and since being sick, she hasn't quite gotten back to her normal consumption amounts yet. It makes me sad because we had worked so hard to increase the amount she was eating and she was doing so well, but these several weeks of being sick has really taken the toll.

And our budget is pretty out of wack now. We ended up going $150 over budget for groceries last month. Plus $50 over budget on eating out and completely wiping out out medical/personal care fund. I will be using our tax return money to get us back on level ground and make up for all of the overspending. And then next month is a double paycheck month. We plan to use that money to just budget ahead for the next month. That way, we are truly a month ahead of all expenses since all of our current month paychecks would be going towards next months expenses from then on.

As for my trip, I had a really great time. It was fun to go with my friend and I think she really enjoyed it too. I got to do tons of new things that I had never done before. At Animal Kingdom, I finally got to ride Expedition Everest and we saw Rivers of Light. We also went on the Na’vi River Journey, though I was a bit disappointed in it. I just didn't feel like it told a story or anything. At Magic Kingdom, we ate at the Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen. It was great theming and lots of fun, since the servers as supposed to be skippers from the jungle cruise ride. The Moonlight Magic event was nice, though we ended up leaving around 10:30 since we had already been in the parks since 9am and it was raining. At Epcot, I finally got to visit the DVC lounge. We also grabbed some yummy food at the food booths for the Festival of the Arts, which was all super delicious. And there were also these fun photo spots at many of the countries. They were famous paintings that you could "stand in" and become a part of the artwork. We also rode Frozen at Norway, which I thought was a very good ride with some nice animatronics. At Hollywood Studios, I got to ride the Rock n' Rollercoaster for the first time. It is fun, but definitely felt short. We also did the Frozen singalong, which was pretty fun too. And then after my meeting one night, we went to Disney Springs. I found some super cute clearance items for DD at UNIQLO. They are 18-24 months size, so she can wear them for her first Disney trip in 2019. And I of course bought all of the new Starbucks mugs at each of the parks. I love the new designs. A very nice trip overall.

So sorry about your flu diagnosis, but sounds like you're feeling a bit better. My coworker started feeling bad on a Tuesday and got diagnosed with strain A on Wednesday. They gave him Tamiflu that day and he was back to work the following Monday (actually said he came into the office Sunday to catch up). I was surprised at how quickly he recovered. I feel like Tamiflu has gotten a bad rap this flu season, but it really can make a big difference if you take it at the start of your symptoms.

That sounds like a great Disney trip! I felt the same way about Navi River Journey. I would've been very disappointed if we had waited more than 10 minutes for it. Jealous of your Starbucks mug purchase!! We have the original ones, except for Animal Kingdom. The Starbucks wasn't open there yet when we bought the mugs in 2015. When we made it back to WDW last August, they had pulled the AK mugs from the shelves in order to add Pandora. So I guess we'll just never have an AK Mug other than the new ones!

I wouldn't stress your budget too much. You've been so diligent with it and it sounds like you have a plan to get it caught up. And if there was ever a good reason to break the budget some, a sick baby is definitely it. Hope your DD continues to stay healthy and pick up weight!

 

[Eureka]

Finished filing our income tax returns and received notice that both were accepted. Got an extra $28.10 in my semi monthly check a few days ago. Based on the new withholding rate, the new tax rates for 2018, the increase in the standard deduction for married couples, the elimination of personal exemptions for 2018, the doubling of the child tax credit (and my losing the ability to claim one of my kids because she'll be 17 later this year), etc., I calculated approximately what our tax refund will be for next year. It's going from $3,030 this year to approximately $443 next year! Just a heads up that the lower tax rates may not be enough to compensate for the elimination of personal exemptions, especially for those of us with kids we can no longer claim the child tax credit on. We still won't owe, so that's a good thing, but I'm glad I figured things out early because that's a big reduction in our refund based on only $674.40 more in our paycheck over the course of the year ($28.10 x 2 x 12 = $674.40). Thankfully, we normally just put the refund into savings, so we'll have to make adjustments elsewhere, if we can, to make it up.

The child tax credit is what changed for us. We got like $50 credit where in the past we got much more.

 

[jen7233]

We have a snow day, so the kids don't have school and I couldn't go to work because they don't have school. But that's kids, things come up. I just hate calling in to work, though! After some more thought, I think we are still going to visit grandparents and just limit the days that way maybe it won't feel like I'll be drowning in work. I can probably squeeze three days of vacation time in March.

When the kids have a snow day like this, it makes me think I miss not being a SAHM, with the flexibility. It's nice just to not rush or feel in a constant state of rushing. I miss not rushing them in the morning thinking I'm going to be late (Friday I was late because one kiddo was stuck in the bathroom, lol), not getting to the post office that is not on my lunch break where I'm staring at my watch and thinking hurry up, grocery shopping during the week rather than on the weekend, cleaning the house during the week, and running general errands like refilling prescriptions or doctors appointments which last week, was an issue and back and forth with the doctor office, another medical office visit, and the pharmacy. Every night we had something we had to go to also, that by Friday I was mentally drained and ready for the weekend.

 

[DLgal]

Budget Update:

So, I have just scheduled all our payments for March and our running tally looks like this:

Balance Transfer CC#1: $7000 ($2850 change from Jan 1)- will be paid off by 8/1 with current snowball
Balance Transfer CC#2: $4500 ($550 change from Jan 1)-will be paid off 11/1 with current snowball

Savings towards Disneyland Annual Pass Renewal in late August (Disney and Chase Rewards dollars): $469.37 (Need $2536 total)
Military Retirement emergency fund: $6000 (savings goal is $80,000 by 9/1/2020)-this is the amount of after tax "backpay" that the military owes my husband due to his delayed promotion. Still waiting on this to be resolved but we know for sure he will be getting backpay dated to 9/1/2017. That part has already been approved.
Regular Emergency Fund: $750

In addition, our everyday credit card statement closes in one week and our current balance is only $1885. This is a SIGNIFICANT reduction in our overall spending and I'm very happy. DH finally got on board with me and we have been doing great with holding back on going out to eat and impulse purchases. I have a small grocery shop to do this week and we are going to get take out pizza this weekend, so we should stay under $2000 for the month. We were averaging $4000+ per month on this card.

Plus, about $350 of this month's spending was "one time" stuff that won't recur going forward. My son got the flu and then we had an issue with our insurance Rx copays and some prescriptions going off formulary and costing over $50 for this month's refills, but we moved to the mail order option which brings the cost down to $50 for a three month supply, so we also had to pay an additional $50 for the NEXT three month's worth of my son's medicines, so our cash outlay for Rx and OTC meds was way higher than it usually is. Good thing is, though, we have a $1000 out of pocket maximum per year for our insurance and we are already about $400 into that, so we will just hit our max early this year and then our healthcare will be fee free for the rest of the year.

I think for next month, I am going to try and keep the credit card below $1500. That *should* be doable.

 

[imbatman]

Question: Is anyone nervous about the extra money in their checks and changing their withholdings?

 

[Eureka]

Question: Is anyone nervous about the extra money in their checks and changing their withholdings?

I'm going to increase my withholdings, more because of the child credit we won't be getting as much of anymore. We don't want to owe next year. I don't know if I'll have them take out an extra set amount or claim a different number of exemptions yet.

 

[Eureka]

I'd be curious if any of you signed up for Paribus after @Jen and Ashwin told us about it last year. And how it worked for you. I did but today deleted my account. In November, I got notified I would be getting something like $19 back on price drops from Old Navy. I never heard from Old Navy and never heard back from Paribus. I emailed Paribus customer service to ask about it, and never heard back from them. In my mind, that just is not worth having them have all my info if it's not working for me. Too bad because it seemed like a good concept.

 

[imbatman]

AH!!! You guys! I'm so glad that I included DH in crawling out of this hole he made (instead of another suggestion someone made...). He has stuck to his side of the deal and taken on OT. Just now, I was able to pay an extra $600 towards CC1 and will probably be able to pay it off next month--a whole two months early!

 

[MamaBelleRN]

So the last few weeks I have been semi-obsessed with our budget, life insurance options, 401k/403b savings. My DH and I are both in our 30s and while we contribute to our employer plans, we are definitely behind. I’m not sure if anyone has been following the newly resurrected 401k thread, but it got me thinking more about our retirement. My employer has a track based on age that automatically increases your contributions based on age and years until retirement up to 15% of your income (you have to go through a process to unenroll, but you do have that option). Right now, it has me at 4%. After reading the 401k thread, I feel like we are already impossibly behind

So, looking for advice and encouragement- we are not currently in a position to contribute $1,600/month to our retirement fund which is the figure one of the online calculators suggested to get to $1,000,000 by retirement. Instead, I have a couple of questions-

1) At our ages, what % of our income should we aim to invest?

2) We do have a rental property. We live in a low COL area, so if the value stays the same (currently ~$160k) we could potentially sell it 15 years before retirement and invest that lump sum. Is a 7% rate of return a fair prediction?

I know we need to get a financial advisor, but you all seem to be such a knowledgeable group, I wanted to ask here Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[jen7233]

@MamaBelleRN my disboards quote function doesn't seem to want to work right now. But anyway, in reference to what you should aim to invest. Conventional amount I've seen out there is the 15%. Now, I don't think one size fits all, some are going to save more or save less based on income to expenses ratios at present time. If 15% doesn't work, just save as much as you can now and work on increasing when you can as pay goes up. Being in your 30s in my opinion you've got time and the fact that you are saving for retirement is great. I've been looking at the 401k posting myself that someone resurrected because I'm also questioning our retirement contributions.

Rental property, not sure how you arrived at 7% return. I don't have a number for you, just asking what numbers went into factoring the rate of return? Is it paid off, do you make mortgage payments, condition of property, and how has renting it been? Stable renters?

 

[MamaBelleRN]

@MamaBelleRN my disboards quote function doesn't seem to want to work right now. But anyway, in reference to what you should aim to invest. Conventional amount I've seen out there is the 15%. Now, I don't think one size fits all, some are going to save more or save less based on income to expenses ratios at present time. If 15% doesn't work, just save as much as you can now and work on increasing when you can as pay goes up. Being in your 30s in my opinion you've got time and the fact that you are saving for retirement is great. I've been looking at the 401k posting myself that someone resurrected because I'm also questioning our retirement contributions.

Rental property, not sure how you arrived at 7% return. I don't have a number for you, just asking what numbers went into factoring the rate of return? Is it paid off, do you make mortgage payments, condition of property, and how has renting it been? Stable renters?

For a 7% rate of return, I was thinking if we take the entire lump sum and invest into a stock market account. Currently, we have a mortgage on it, but if we wait to sell it until I’m 52, there would be no Mortgage. We hope to have paid it off within 10 years. It is a solid property and we have always had multiple reliable applicants as ‘high end’ yet affordable rental properties are rare in our area. We live in a Univeristy community, so there is a continuous influx of a transient population looking to rent. Last time we rented it out, we had to stop taking applicants after a week. Although this does not mean we will never have a dud of a renter, we have not had that issue in the seven years we have been renting it out. We currently make a modest income from it for passive income. Obviously, in 18 years it *should* be worth more than it is now, but I am trying to get an idea of what we may be able to get if we invest the entire amount from the sale of the house.

ETA: Another option would be to hold onto the property as retirement income. We currently charge $1,550/month. Long-term financial planning is totally out of my element so I have no idea what the best option would be- invest it as a nest egg before retirement or keep it as continuous monthly income

 

[mco65]

Jan 1. $36,957.81
Feb 1. $36,483.02

not as much as i typically (hope) to reduce my debt by each month.. here's hoping Feb is better.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Woke up to an e-mail this morning saying that my recertification of my income had been accepted for my student loan payments and my monthly bill had been updated. I thought my payment was going to jump $30-$40, but it actually fell $3! DH asked me when I was planning to book our next WDW trip with all that extra money.

I was glad to see it go down some though. This was based off of my 2016 income, which was actually higher than my current income since I worked for 5 months in a job that paid 15% more than I'm currently making. Since I'm maxing my retirement here, my payment should go down more next year.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

For a 7% rate of return, I was thinking if we take the entire lump sum and invest into a stock market account. Currently, we have a mortgage on it, but if we wait to sell it until I’m 52, there would be no Mortgage. We hope to have paid it off within 10 years. It is a solid property and we have always had multiple reliable applicants as ‘high end’ yet affordable rental properties are rare in our area. We live in a Univeristy community, so there is a continuous influx of a transient population looking to rent. Last time we rented it out, we had to stop taking applicants after a week. Although this does not mean we will never have a dud of a renter, we have not had that issue in the seven years we have been renting it out. We currently make a modest income from it. Obviously, in 18 years it *should* be worth more than it is now, but I am trying to get an idea of what we may be able to get if we invest the entire amount from the sale of the house.

ETA: Another option would be to hold onto the property as retirement income. We currently charge $1,550/month. Long-term financial planning is totally out of my element so I have no idea what the best option would be- invest it as a nest egg before retirement or keep it as continuous monthly income

One of my goals is to someday have a rental property (or several) that we can use for income during retirement. I feel like having that available, in addition to retirement account funds, would be a very great benefit in retirement.

As far as how much you should save towards retirement, I would say as much as you can. The more you can save, the more secure you will be in retirement. Generally though, 15% is a pretty decent rule of thumb, but depending on circumstances in your old age, it may or may not be enough to maintain the standard of living that you want.

DH is in his late 20s and I am in my mid-30s. We are currently saving 19% of our income towards retirement. We work for a university and get a generous 10% match when we make a 5% contribution toward our retirement. The other 4% comes from maxing out my Roth IRA. We have worked our way up to the 19% over a little time and my goal is ultimately to get us to the point of maxing out an IRA for both myself and DH. That would put us around the 23% savings mark. And I might even aim for 25% eventually. But I don't think we will be able to get there for some time given our other priorities, such as funding a 6-month emergency fund and wanting to increase our savings towards DD's college fund. Right now we are putting in just $100 a month in her fund, but my goal is to be putting in $500 a month eventually. It is just hard to do it all when we are paying a huge amount towards child care expenses too.

 

[pblack]

AH!!! You guys! I'm so glad that I included DH in crawling out of this hole he made (instead of another suggestion someone made...). He has stuck to his side of the deal and taken on OT. Just now, I was able to pay an extra $600 towards CC1 and will probably be able to pay it off next month--a whole two months early!

Congratulations! That's exciting!

 

[belle032]

This is probably a no-brainer but all the retirement posts and just paying more attention to our own financial situation has got me thinking! Would y’all recommend meeting with a financial planner?

We are newly married, no kids, both with steady local government jobs. But I think it would be beneficial to meet with a neutral party who can answer questions about retirement, savings, etc.

For those that have met with one, did you go through a large company or find a local person? TIA for any advice. This thread has been immensely helpful and eye opening.