Debt Dumpers - 2019

[Jen and Ashwin]

DD is feeling better, but DH is now very sick. We ate out a bunch this weekend because we didn't have time/energy to go grocery shopping or do meal prep. This has been the hardest week in a long time. I am glad that DD is well enough to go to daycare tomorrow.

And I have made $60 so far selling some of DD's old clothes. I washed up a bunch more that had a few small stains and then laid them out in the sun. Everything came out, so I plan to take pictures and list those up as well. Hoping to make a lot more money and clear out items that we no longer need.

 

[DLgal]

DD is feeling better, but DH is now very sick. We ate out a bunch this weekend because we didn't have time/energy to go grocery shopping or do meal prep. This has been the hardest week in a long time. I am glad that DD is well enough to go to daycare tomorrow.

And I have made $60 so far selling some of DD's old clothes. I washed up a bunch more that had a few small stains and then laid them out in the sun. Everything came out, so I plan to take pictures and list those up as well. Hoping to make a lot more money and clear out items that we no longer need.

Well, that explains his cranky mood. Hope he gets better soon, glad your daughter is on the mend, and hope you stay healthy!

 

[StacyStrong]

The wedding I was MOH in was this past weekend. It was really amazing, but definitely expensive. Now that it's over, I can refocus on my debt dumping goals. So, I thought I would give a bit of an update on my goals for the year - updates in red.

2019 Goals:

• Pay off my car loan - $986 left!!!!! It'll be paid by March. I save like a dollar in interest if I pay it early lol. DONE. Paid off.
• Add at least an additional $2k to my emergency fund (likely more because I'll probably throw at least half of my tax return to it) -- I have added 1365.23 to date. It would have been $2288.23, but I withdrew 923 to buy an AP for next year from Sam's when the price increased. I should JUST hit the $2000 goal by end of year if I keep planned and scheduled contributions the same.
• Add 1.2k to my Christmas fund by year end --- On schedule. $800 to date.
• Up my 401k to 8%. I am currently at 7% (employer match). I'll increase with my annual raise. DONE. Increased to 8% back in April. Next goal is 9% with my next annual raise (April 2020)
• Increase my HSA saving contributions DONE. Will increase again next year when I make my benefit elections for next year. I also started investing some of the funds since I have virtually no medical expenses and what I do have I can pay OOP (contacts).
• Add 1k my vacation fund -- I added $930 so far this year (though I have also spent some of it on vacation, lol, but that's what it is there for) I am calling this one DONE because I will easily hit the goal of 1k in contributions in the next month.
• Pay off remaining consumer debt (less than 4k) --- This one has hit a few setbacks due to the wedding. However, I'm down to just $846 remaining!!! My snowball originally had me paid off in October, but it's now looking like December or January. Still, that's a decrease of ~$3,154. I'm happy with that.

Looking at it this way, I'm pretty happy with where I am at. The wedding ended up costing me much more than anticipated, so I'm surprised to see how many goals I have met, I'm on track to meet, or close to meeting.

In non-financial goals, I haven't lost any weight, but I am at 293.1 running miles to date. Last year had a grand total of 52.1 miles, so I'm definitely making some (slow) progress there as well.

Also, here's a pic of me and Jose from the wedding!

 

[Eureka]

DD is feeling better, but DH is now very sick. We ate out a bunch this weekend because we didn't have time/energy to go grocery shopping or do meal prep. This has been the hardest week in a long time. I am glad that DD is well enough to go to daycare tomorrow.

And I have made $60 so far selling some of DD's old clothes. I washed up a bunch more that had a few small stains and then laid them out in the sun. Everything came out, so I plan to take pictures and list those up as well. Hoping to make a lot more money and clear out items that we no longer need.

Glad she is feeling better, sorry to hear DH is sick now. Always the way it goes, once someone is on the mend, someone else catches it. Are you not going to save her clothes in case you have another (future) girl?

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Glad she is feeling better, sorry to hear DH is sick now. Always the way it goes, once someone is on the mend, someone else catches it. Are you not going to save her clothes in case you have another (future) girl?

We are scheduled for embryo implantation in December, but there isn't going to be much of a surprise because both of our remaining embryos are male. I am keeping all of the gender-neutral clothing items, of which there is still a ton.

 

[Eureka]

We are scheduled for embryo implantation in December, but there isn't going to be much of a surprise because both of our remaining embryos are male. I am keeping all of the gender-neutral clothing items, of which there is still a ton.

Makes sense. I didn't know you could find out the sex of an embryo before implantation.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Makes sense. I didn't know you could find out the sex of an embryo before implantation.

We had genetic testing on all of the embryos when they were retrieved. This helps eliminate embryos with any chromosomal anomalies and increases the chance of a live birth. When they do this testing, they also determine if the embryo is XX (female) or XY (male). So we knew that 1 was female and 2 were male. They asked if we had a preference when they did the first implantation and we told them that we didn't. We wanted to be surprised that first time around, knowing that wasn't going to be an option the next time.

 

[jen7233]

Looking at it this way, I'm pretty happy with where I am at. The wedding ended up costing me much more than anticipated, so I'm surprised to see how many goals I have met, I'm on track to meet, or close to meeting.

In non-financial goals, I haven't lost any weight, but I am at 293.1 running miles to date. Last year had a grand total of 52.1 miles, so I'm definitely making some (slow) progress there as well.

That's an amazing amount of miles so that's a win right there! Great wedding pictures!

 

[Eureka]

We had genetic testing on all of the embryos when they were retrieved. This helps eliminate embryos with any chromosomal anomalies and increases the chance of a live birth. When they do this testing, they also determine if the embryo is XX (female) or XY (male). So we knew that 1 was female and 2 were male. They asked if we had a preference when they did the first implantation and we told them that we didn't. We wanted to be surprised that first time around, knowing that wasn't going to be an option the next time.

If the first one had been a boy, then you'd have been surprised twice.

 

[crazycatstacy]

Headed out of town for work for the rest of the week. Going to try my best to stick to a tight budget. I packed water and some soda from home to save me buying it everyday at the convenience store. 74 days till Disney and I am ready for it!

 

[amalone1013]

We had genetic testing on all of the embryos when they were retrieved. This helps eliminate embryos with any chromosomal anomalies and increases the chance of a live birth. When they do this testing, they also determine if the embryo is XX (female) or XY (male). So we knew that 1 was female and 2 were male. They asked if we had a preference when they did the first implantation and we told them that we didn't. We wanted to be surprised that first time around, knowing that wasn't going to be an option the next time.

I find this interesting, I didn't realize you could do this testing and determine male/female!

 

[amalone1013]

Progress as of 9/17/19:
Car Loans = $0 - $41,549 change from the beginning of the year
House Fund = $30,772 - $13,122 change from the beginning of the year
Emergency Fund = $6,057 - $3,778 change from the beginning of the year
Auto Fund = $792 - $651 change from the beginning of the year

Eek, can't believe I haven't officially checked in in 2.5 months! I think part of it is this isn't as exciting as when we were knocking out student loans

Soooo the second car isn't officially paid off, but I've got all of the money set aside and am using it to pick up some credit card rewards.

I feel like things have been crazy lately, so we are just chugging along as best as possible. We had a trip to WDW Labor Day weekend that we shortened due to Dorian, and tomorrow night we head down for 5 nights at Universal and Halloween Horror Nights. Using lots of credit card points to keep the costs down. We've also got a weekend back to my hometown for my cousin's wedding next month, which I think I can mostly cover with a credit card benefit. My job has gone off the deep end even more so than usual so I am job hunting. DH is still waiting on a good chunk of commission money. he got a big check this month, which he wasn't expecting. He's pretty sure that they paid out the wrong one; he said the lady submitting it sent in the wrong job, and then resubmitted to correct it but it didn't get fixed in time for when commission checks went out, so we will see what happens at the end of the month/next month. We'll just keep that money in our high interest savings account until we know what's happening

Right now I just feel like we have a lot of balls in the air, hopefully none fall!

Oh, we also added an auto fund for savings goals and then shuffled around our savings percentages. We had an auto fund before, but just put a flat amount into it monthly and it was basically enough for registration fees and basic maintenance throughout the year incl tires. I thought this might be a good time period to add it to our percentage based for now to help beef it up a bit, especially as both cars are paid off.

2019 starting balances:
Car Loans - $7616 + $33933 = $41,549
House Fund = $17,650
Emergency Fund = $2,279
Auto Fund = $141

Progress as of 1/30/19:
Car Loans - $5216 + $33485 = $37,746 - $3,803 change from the beginning of the year
House Fund = $17,650 - $0 change from the beginning of the year
Emergency Fund = $2,323 - $44 change from the beginning of the year
Weight goal - 0%, 20 weeks to go

Progress as of 3/4/19:
Car Loans - $0 + $33024 = $33,024 - $8,525 change from the beginning of the year
House Fund = $18,290 - $640 change from the beginning of the year
Emergency Fund = $2,704 - $425 change from the beginning of the year
Weight goal - ?%, 16 weeks to go (need to weigh myself...)

Progress as of 4/7/19:
Car Loans - $0 + $29152 = $29,152 - $12,397 change from the beginning of the year
House Fund = $18,694 - $1,044 change from the beginning of the year
Emergency Fund = $2,906 - $627 change from the beginning of the year

Progress as of 5/2/19:
Car Loans = $25,810 - $15,739 change from the beginning of the year
House Fund = $19,339 - $1,689 change from the beginning of the year
Emergency Fund = $3,295 - $1016 change from the beginning of the year

Progress as of 7/3/19:
Car Loans = $16,391 - $25,158 change from the beginning of the year
House Fund = $25,229 - $7,579 change from the beginning of the year
Emergency Fund = $5,082 - $2,803 change from the beginning of the year

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

If the first one had been a boy, then you'd have been surprised twice.

If the first had been a boy, we would have asked for them to implant the girl next. We are only planning for two children and would love to have both a girl and a boy. But if that hadn't worked, then we would have tried for a second boy. IVF has been such a blessing for us, but it is definitely different knowing that for our next two chances, it will definitely be a boy.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Progress as of 9/17/19:
Car Loans = $0 - $41,549 change from the beginning of the year
House Fund = $30,772 - $13,122 change from the beginning of the year
Emergency Fund = $6,057 - $3,778 change from the beginning of the year
Auto Fund = $792 - $651 change from the beginning of the year

Eek, can't believe I haven't officially checked in in 2.5 months! I think part of it is this isn't as exciting as when we were knocking out student loans

Soooo the second car isn't officially paid off, but I've got all of the money set aside and am using it to pick up some credit card rewards.

I feel like things have been crazy lately, so we are just chugging along as best as possible. We had a trip to WDW Labor Day weekend that we shortened due to Dorian, and tomorrow night we head down for 5 nights at Universal and Halloween Horror Nights. Using lots of credit card points to keep the costs down. We've also got a weekend back to my hometown for my cousin's wedding next month, which I think I can mostly cover with a credit card benefit. My job has gone off the deep end even more so than usual so I am job hunting. DH is still waiting on a good chunk of commission money. he got a big check this month, which he wasn't expecting. He's pretty sure that they paid out the wrong one; he said the lady submitting it sent in the wrong job, and then resubmitted to correct it but it didn't get fixed in time for when commission checks went out, so we will see what happens at the end of the month/next month. We'll just keep that money in our high interest savings account until we know what's happening

Right now I just feel like we have a lot of balls in the air, hopefully none fall!

Oh, we also added an auto fund for savings goals and then shuffled around our savings percentages. We had an auto fund before, but just put a flat amount into it monthly and it was basically enough for registration fees and basic maintenance throughout the year incl tires. I thought this might be a good time period to add it to our percentage based for now to help beef it up a bit, especially as both cars are paid off.

You have made some really amazing progress this year! And we missed you here, so please check in more often.

 

[DLgal]

I find this interesting, I didn't realize you could do this testing and determine male/female!

Not only can they do that, they can actually make the embryos the sexes that you want. If you want all Male or all female, it's pretty easy to do that. X and Y sperm can be separated out.

 

[jen7233]

Progress as of 9/17/19:
Car Loans = $0 - $41,549 change from the beginning of the year
House Fund = $30,772 - $13,122 change from the beginning of the year
Emergency Fund = $6,057 - $3,778 change from the beginning of the year
Auto Fund = $792 - $651 change from the beginning of the year

Eek, can't believe I haven't officially checked in in 2.5 months! I think part of it is this isn't as exciting as when we were knocking out student loans

Soooo the second car isn't officially paid off, but I've got all of the money set aside and am using it to pick up some credit card rewards.

I feel like things have been crazy lately, so we are just chugging along as best as possible. We had a trip to WDW Labor Day weekend that we shortened due to Dorian, and tomorrow night we head down for 5 nights at Universal and Halloween Horror Nights. Using lots of credit card points to keep the costs down. We've also got a weekend back to my hometown for my cousin's wedding next month, which I think I can mostly cover with a credit card benefit. My job has gone off the deep end even more so than usual so I am job hunting. DH is still waiting on a good chunk of commission money. he got a big check this month, which he wasn't expecting. He's pretty sure that they paid out the wrong one; he said the lady submitting it sent in the wrong job, and then resubmitted to correct it but it didn't get fixed in time for when commission checks went out, so we will see what happens at the end of the month/next month. We'll just keep that money in our high interest savings account until we know what's happening

Right now I just feel like we have a lot of balls in the air, hopefully none fall!

Oh, we also added an auto fund for savings goals and then shuffled around our savings percentages. We had an auto fund before, but just put a flat amount into it monthly and it was basically enough for registration fees and basic maintenance throughout the year incl tires. I thought this might be a good time period to add it to our percentage based for now to help beef it up a bit, especially as both cars are paid off.

Wow that's an incredible amount in a year particularly on cars! Congrats on paying off cars and the other savings! You must have great incomes! An auto fund separate from repairs makes sense, I had one until repairs were eating into it because my repairs were costly, rendering no point in the other fund as I shifted it over to cover costs, ugh! Then ended up getting a new car way sooner than I intended, and short on car shopping time to know what car to even get. The trick is if going to have a car replacement fund, to get ahead with it before cars get too old and then repairs become more likely to happen.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Not only can they do that, they can actually make the embryos the sexes that you want. If you want all Male or all female, it's pretty easy to do that. X and Y sperm can be separated out.

I have not heard of this and not sure that it is actually possible. They have to wait several days before testing the embryos because they need enough cell division to take 1-2 cells from the embryo without hurting it. A sperm is just a single cell and testing it would destroy it in the process.

 

[Scoobie]

Update on DS24: He has had 3 Dr. appts now, they think it's Crohn's disease. Not going to look up too much until they are sure, though. Also, he was diagnosed with Psoriasis (we suspected this on his scalp, DH also has. DH now has psoriatic arthritis - he gives himself shots for) that is also on his torso (we just thought it was a rash) which DH has never had. DS24 also suffers from massive fatigue and body aches, has for a few years now, that could be related to either since they are both autoimmune. Awesome. Now he'll be going to a gastro and a rheumatologist (probably the same one DH sees). The bleeding has tapered off, at least, and I've been spending a lot of time with him to take his mind off all this (I am playing a video game with him, not well, but I'm in there none the less!!). And we have 76 days to Orlando (Uni) and 82 until Disney, which he is super excited for. Still haven't figured out the driveway mess, may end up having to deal with it after this winter season and hope it doesn't get too much more damage (although we'll have more time to save). I don't even care anymore, I just want my baby to be ok (he is 24, but will always be my baby)!!

 

[jen7233]

Update on DS24: He has had 3 Dr. appts now, they think it's Crohn's disease. Not going to look up too much until they are sure, though. Also, he was diagnosed with Psoriasis (we suspected this on his scalp, DH also has. DH now has psoriatic arthritis - he gives himself shots for) that is also on his torso (we just thought it was a rash) which DH has never had. DS24 also suffers from massive fatigue and body aches, has for a few years now, that could be related to either since they are both autoimmune. Awesome. Now he'll be going to a gastro and a rheumatologist (probably the same one DH sees). The bleeding has tapered off, at least, and I've been spending a lot of time with him to take his mind off all this (I am playing a video game with him, not well, but I'm in there none the less!!). And we have 76 days to Orlando (Uni) and 82 until Disney, which he is super excited for. Still haven't figured out the driveway mess, may end up having to deal with it after this winter season and hope it doesn't get too much more damage (although we'll have more time to save). I don't even care anymore, I just want my baby to be ok (he is 24, but will always be my baby)!!

Sorry that's happening. I know a few people with Crohn's. I have arthritis though not psoriatic, so I commiserate the body aches. Are you doing a combo Universal and WDW trip, I notice you say 76 days and 82 days!? We are planning WDW next spring, so I have many more days in between then and now!

On another note, yet again a letter from the IRS wanting proof of something from some time ago, this time 2015. Come on, four years. Yes, I know about the statute of limitations. The state does this too.

 

[barkley]

And we have 76 days to Orlando (Uni) and 82 until Disney, which he is super excited for

76 days? as in the week following thanksgiving? we will be at universal at the same time! looking forward to it and counting the days here as well, also strongly suspecting that given how early signs of fall (and winter) have hit our neck of the woods already that when we go there will already be some a fair amount of snow on the ground when we depart.

i'm looking forward to the trip but it just recently hit me that when we return it's only a couple of weeks till christmas so i'm going to have to whack out as much shopping ahead of time as possible (and i told dh that the tree will be put up and decorated before we leave (plus side-i always do a good deep cleaning before it gets put up so when we get back the house will be clean so i can just kick back and enjoy the lights while running endless loads of laundry).

are you going to try to hit anywhere other than uni and wdw? our resident household gamer son is very excited to have the opportunity to go to dave and busters (he feels it's a great injustice that the only one in washington is on the west side).