Debt Dumpers 2020

[DnA2010]

No mortgage. We rent. Our rent is around $3300/month. Never want to buy really. We live in an area where renting is FAR cheaper than buying, over time. My husband earns good money as a military officer. I have no complaints. I'm a SAHM. We are earning a bit extra each month right now since my husband is stationed overseas away from us. We get about an extra $1000, tax free, in allowances and COLA, plus we get to skip paying CA state taxes which saves us a few hundred dollars every month. The quarantine has our spending WAY down. Normally, we save about $2000-3000 every month.

Nice! Both rent and buyer are pricey here, rent is probably at least equal to the same cost of the mortgage on the house sort of thing. $1000 tax free is pretty nice too, hopefully he's not away too long? That would be really hard for sure. We aren't big spenders, but our spending is way down too, although just paid house insurance and car insurance for one of our cars and they were both up a chunk, so balances out a bit.

We would have to have DL passes, we joke about making some year the year of Disney...who knows

 

[jen7233]

Well, maybe averting moving next month. Talked to DH to just stay here another year and renew the lease as an option. It may shift the issue to next summer, but right now I would rather not add the stress of moving! I know the house is not in great shape, but another year to me is fine. Truly, the money spent on a new rental would be as a deposit that we get back on the end (minus some non-refundable things like a credit check and pet deposit), and a little overlap in rents moving out of one and into the other (so a bit of a $ loss) but I just don't feel like dealing with moving at this time!

 

[DLgal]

Nice! Both rent and buyer are pricey here, rent is probably at least equal to the same cost of the mortgage on the house sort of thing. $1000 tax free is pretty nice too, hopefully he's not away too long? That would be really hard for sure. We aren't big spenders, but our spending is way down too, although just paid house insurance and car insurance for one of our cars and they were both up a chunk, so balances out a bit.

We would have to have DL passes, we joke about making some year the year of Disney...who knows

He's been over there since last July. He will be home at the end of June. 1 year. He did come home for a week in October and then 2 weeks for Christmas. I haven't seen him since New Year's Eve.

 

[crazycatstacy]

I was planning on going to see my nephew in Florida over labor day weekend with my mom. She has decided she doesn't want to go now even if everything opens up. I'm hoping everything opens and I can make the trip. I was pricing it out today for my husband and I to go to Jacksonville (No Disney this trip unfortunately) with flights (we don't live somewhere that has cheap flights typically), hotel and rental car it is $1,000. I'm so hoping the rates stay as he cannot request vacation time until closer to the end of June.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Here's a funny, "Well this sucks...oh wait..." story from your friend Batman.

We spent the stimulus money on the flooring, right? Ordered the rest of what we needed to get the vinyl planks installed. Planned on our own installment to save money even though I have back issues and DH just had foot surgery. Whatever, we're on a budget but we have time. Get an email today that "Gee, that flooring you ordered last week and spent $1k on? We don't have it AND it's discontinued." Great. This means we'll have to return what we have and suffer a 25% return fee. Okay...still doable with the funds. So I get ready to order the new flooring and just hold off for some reason. DH calls about 7 mins later trying to be all mysterious and downcast, but he's a generally happy guy and failed miserably. He got a bonus. Now we not only order new flooring but pay for installation! We lose out on $100 for the returns but I've never been so happy to have something installed!!!

Wow, lots of ups and downs there. Glad it all worked out in the end.

Speaking of being happy to have something installed, that little hand held bidet sprayer that I posted about before when tp was scarce, well we have 2 of them now. Since we live in the northeast where tap water is just above freezing in winter, I bought the hot/cold mixer knob too but of course, one would need a hot water tap near the toilet to work. Dh was just not into going down to do a big job in the crawlspace. He used to be more into those ideas 20 yrs ago. So I called a plumber and voila! 2 days later we have hot water for our sprayers. It was a good thing I did too because he found 2 tiny leaks in other piping so dh went down there with him and could see it was very oxidized like it had been happening for a while. So we got that fixed too.
We joke that our kids will never move out now.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Happy Cinco de Mayo! We've started May off with hiring a painter to do the exterior of our home. I'm soooo excited to see what it will look like. I'm going to get the deposit out of the bank today and he'll start most likely next Monday as long as the weather this week doesn't interfere with his current job (supposed to rain all day here today). We had to go to Home Depot to pick out paint colors the other day after hiring him so we picked up a couple other things for home improvement projects as well. I got new front door lights for our house since the base of one of ours has completely broken now. We also placed some Amazon orders for a few items to redo our kitchen cabinets. I'm going to get us Chick Fil A for lunch today when I run out to the bank but otherwise I'm hoping to keep our restaurant costs super low again this month. We have a ton of food in the house right now so hopefully we won't need to go to the grocery store again for a while.

I love that feeling of big home improvement projects. Even getting a new roof really cleaned up the look of the house.
We painted the exterior ourselves twice now. It's a rancher and not very big so it's doable.

 

[pblack]

I feel like all the days have seriously blended together. I'm still working from home. Our shelter in place order goes through May 22nd at this point, but I almost have a feeling it will end up getting extended again. Funny enough I received a jury summons in the mail for May 26th, and it will be really interesting to see what happens with that if I end up having to go down. But I don't see how they will be allowed to open back up since you can't easily social distance at the court house with the amount of people they call in. But I guess we'll see.

This weekend we will hopefully be finishing up my "easy" fireplace mantle project. I stripped the paint off our mantle 2 weeks ago (thinking it would be an easy job) and my end goal was to stain it. It definitely has not been as easy as I thought it'd be. Long story short, we're now going to build a box to slide over the mantle that I can stain (and it will also bulk up my mantle some which I'm ok with.)

How is everyone else doing?? I'm definitely tired of being stuck at home and staring at the same 4 walls.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We are hanging in there. Dh and both of our sons are essential. They are working their usual hours except dh gets done a few hours early each day. I could work more but there are several coworkers have spouses laid off or big trips coming in the fall. They need the hours more than me. So me staying home gives them more hours and less vac hours used up. My vac hours would have been depleted by the March cruise we would have taken. I’m collecting unemployment and will probably be back to work FT the week after next week.
The days do blur after a while. I’m getting a crazy amount of cleaning done. So far I’ve cleaned out the fridge, pulling shelves out and all that, scrubbed kitchen cabinets , small house but big kitchen. I scrubbed all the baseboard trim but then started doing all of it around the doorways, doors and windows. Omg it’s crazy how dirty things are. Today I cleaned the glass on all the windows. Good thing they fold in to get the outside. I’m not that energetic.
I’m contemplating cleaning out my closet. It’s small and cramped but then I’d just have bags of stuff sitting since the charities I’d donate to are closed. NJ governor extended another month so early June minimum.

It is what it is. I’m just glad none of my family are sick.

 

[OhMari]

2020 Financial Goals:
Pay December Disney Trip $20,000
Pay Mortgage Off $17,000 (be nice to have this done)
Invest into retirement, would like to retire at 50

2020 Personal Goals:
Would like to lose 25lbs
Invest in my health. (eat better, excercise)
become a better me

I would cancel Your December trip, pay off your mortgage. Use the left over Money and keep it in savings for a rescheduled trip. I would snowball your house payment, half to trip and half to retirement savings. So many people have rebooked their Spring trips year yet, especially Easter people, going in December. And who knows, Disney May still not be up and running decent.

 

[WeatherLights]

Hi all. Just checking in. Nothing new. So grateful to still have a job, although my spouse's position may be in jeopardy due to budget cuts at his organization. I'm still taking the one-day-at-a-time perspective because the future is too uncertain for hopes and dreams. But, all things considered, I'm pretty okay today, so that's good.

Well, maybe averting moving next month. Talked to DH to just stay here another year and renew the lease as an option. It may shift the issue to next summer, but right now I would rather not add the stress of moving! I know the house is not in great shape, but another year to me is fine. Truly, the money spent on a new rental would be as a deposit that we get back on the end (minus some non-refundable things like a credit check and pet deposit), and a little overlap in rents moving out of one and into the other (so a bit of a $ loss) but I just don't feel like dealing with moving at this time!

Yeah, the thought of having to move during this crisis sounds awful!

He's been over there since last July. He will be home at the end of June. 1 year. He did come home for a week in October and then 2 weeks for Christmas. I haven't seen him since New Year's Eve.

June seems both so soon and so far way. Time is not working correctly since this pandemic started!

I was planning on going to see my nephew in Florida over labor day weekend with my mom. She has decided she doesn't want to go now even if everything opens up. I'm hoping everything opens and I can make the trip. I was pricing it out today for my husband and I to go to Jacksonville (No Disney this trip unfortunately) with flights (we don't live somewhere that has cheap flights typically), hotel and rental car it is $1,000. I'm so hoping the rates stay as he cannot request vacation time until closer to the end of June.

I hope you are able to make your trip!

Wow, lots of ups and downs there. Glad it all worked out in the end.

Speaking of being happy to have something installed, that little hand held bidet sprayer that I posted about before when tp was scarce, well we have 2 of them now. Since we live in the northeast where tap water is just above freezing in winter, I bought the hot/cold mixer knob too but of course, one would need a hot water tap near the toilet to work. Dh was just not into going down to do a big job in the crawlspace. He used to be more into those ideas 20 yrs ago. So I called a plumber and voila! 2 days later we have hot water for our sprayers. It was a good thing I did too because he found 2 tiny leaks in other piping so dh went down there with him and could see it was very oxidized like it had been happening for a while. So we got that fixed too.
We joke that our kids will never move out now.

Warm bidet water! Sounds oddly decadent

I feel like all the days have seriously blended together. I'm still working from home. Our shelter in place order goes through May 22nd at this point, but I almost have a feeling it will end up getting extended again. Funny enough I received a jury summons in the mail for May 26th, and it will be really interesting to see what happens with that if I end up having to go down. But I don't see how they will be allowed to open back up since you can't easily social distance at the court house with the amount of people they call in. But I guess we'll see.

This weekend we will hopefully be finishing up my "easy" fireplace mantle project. I stripped the paint off our mantle 2 weeks ago (thinking it would be an easy job) and my end goal was to stain it. It definitely has not been as easy as I thought it'd be. Long story short, we're now going to build a box to slide over the mantle that I can stain (and it will also bulk up my mantle some which I'm ok with.)

How is everyone else doing?? I'm definitely tired of being stuck at home and staring at the same 4 walls.

The blending of days is definitely a thing I'm experiencing. I stopped doing home improvement projects many years ago because nothing was ever as easy as it should have been. At least you'll have a new, nicely stained mantle box to stare at!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I would cancel Your December trip, pay off your mortgage. Use the left over Money and keep it in savings for a rescheduled trip. I would snowball your house payment, half to trip and half to retirement savings. So many people have rebooked their Spring trips year yet, especially Easter people, going in December. And who knows, Disney May still not be up and running decent.

I agree. I would so love to have no mortgage anymore. That would free up so much of our income for other things.
I'm not that close to the end that I could choose to pay it off with savings. We have around 8 years remaining. I did use an amortization calculator to see how much we could shave off by applying all of our snowball toward the mortgage, just hammer it with "gazelle intensity" as Dave Ramsey would say. It would lower it to 2.5 yrs. I don't think I could go that long with no vacation all that time. I was having a hard enough time just going July to March, and then the March trip was cancelled. Wow, I think 10 months with no vacation is some kind of record for me.

ETA: I just remembered our cruise to Norway last September. I was wondering how I went 10 months with no vacation. I didn't; I'm a wimp. 6 months is right about my max.

 

[jen7233]

I agree. I would so love to have no mortgage anymore. That would free up so much of our income for other things.

I love the thought of freeing up income, but then I do think about what situations would it be okay to not rapidly pay down the mortgage and to just make the payment? It's not a serious consideration for me at the time, just some housing thoughts that I have wondered about in general. Currently we rent, but will buy when DH retires and not around here. I can't decide when we do eventually buy one day, how much of a mortgage I'm comfortable with based on the area we go to, and what I'd even be willing to buy. And, if I want to use the savings we earmarked for a house, or to keep it in the taxable account. I'm not certain I would want to take it all out of the mutual fund. If we take it out of there, how much we'll get hit with taxes, or to mortgage and then use the account to pay the mortgage.

 

[barkley]

what situations would it be okay to not rapidly pay down the mortgage and to just make the payment?

when the time comes, that's a question that's best answered by a cpa with knowledge of your individual income situation (sources, taxable nature of...).

when dh and were about to get married it was near tax time so i met with my then cpa and brought up the question of changing my payroll deductions in anticipation of the next tax year filing married. she brought up the question of if we were planning on continuing renting or would buy. hadn't really thought about it but when she ran the numbers on our combined income and what we were paying for rent vs. likely would pay for a starter home it was a no brainer. the then tax breaks of paying a mortgage offset such that we saved over rent and qualified to itemize allot more deductions so it was a win-win. flash forward to when we moved to where we live now. we could have paid in full but still had youngish kids so i wanted to keep a bigger chunk in accessible savings 'just in case' and continue to take advantage of itemizing. we did throw more money at the mortgage when we could, when rates dropped we changed from a 30 to a 15 year but continued to pay the 30 year payment amount. we hit a point where we were not seeing a tax benefit so we paid it off (about 7 years from original purchase). we flipped from paying the mortgage company to paying ourselves which is a nice feeling.

w/someone retiring it can be so different person to person. if a person has the kind of pension that isn't taxable it can mean other income sources aren't taxed at a rate where itemizing is worthwhile, in that case i guess you look to what you can safely/securely earn on money saved/invested vs. how much in interest you are paying for a mortgage.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I love the thought of freeing up income, but then I do think about what situations would it be okay to not rapidly pay down the mortgage and to just make the payment? It's not a serious consideration for me at the time, just some housing thoughts that I have wondered about in general. Currently we rent, but will buy when DH retires and not around here. I can't decide when we do eventually buy one day, how much of a mortgage I'm comfortable with based on the area we go to, and what I'd even be willing to buy. And, if I want to use the savings we earmarked for a house, or to keep it in the taxable account. I'm not certain I would want to take it all out of the mutual fund. If we take it out of there, how much we'll get hit with taxes, or to mortgage and then use the account to pay the mortgage.

Why would you pay taxes for moving money out of a mutual fund?
We did that to pay our 2018 taxes owed when we filed April 2019. It was only around $2000 that we pulled out. If it's not a retirement account, it shouldn't cost you anything to tap your own savings, that is, assuming the value of your mutual fund isn't lower when you tap vs. when you invested. I'm no CPA but if you invested that $ using after tax/take home pay and put it in a taxable fund, I don't understand how you can be taxed again for taking that out of the account.

Overall the option to rent vs. buy is dependent on so many factors; everyone has to follow what works best for them.

 

[jen7233]

Why would you pay taxes for moving money out of a mutual fund?

I thought there would be long term capital gains reported on the 1099, and in our tax bracket if we sell shares or close it out (taxable, not tied to a retirement account) I think we would be in the bracket that would be taxed. It may not even be that significant of a tax once we plug in all the numbers on the tax form, I don't know. I'd like to find something online to run hypothetical numbers when considering selling a taxable fund.

when the time comes, that's a question that's best answered by a cpa with knowledge of your individual income situation (sources, taxable nature of...).

Probably so! Our current CPA is Turbotax

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I thought there would be long term capital gains reported on the 1099, and in our tax bracket if we sell shares or close it out (taxable, not tied to a retirement account) I think we would be in the bracket that would be taxed. It may not even be that significant of a tax once we plug in all the numbers on the tax form, I don't know. I'd like to find something online to run hypothetical numbers when considering selling a taxable fund.


Probably so! Our current CPA is Turbotax

You will still have capital gains to declare whether you leave it in or pull it out and maybe that could vary if your account balance changes, but barkley is correct that it would be best answered by a CPA.

 

[RamblingMad]

https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc409

 

[jen7233]

I found a few capital gains calculators online at moneychimp and smartasset, to name a few. Vanguard has the total cost and the current balance listed under the holding, so I could play with those numbers. Well, none of that is happening now anyway. If and when the time comes, have some homework to do.

On another note:
Happy Mother's Day to the moms out there, past and present, whether mom to your own, or touched someone's life and cared for another!

 

[npatellye]

Well, the good thing about being home since March 13th is that my bills for extras (Starbucks, lunch at work) and gasoline have gone way down. And since I’m alone with the kids 24/7 until my husband feels safe coming back in the house (he’s living in a camper bc he’s a frontline worker and is still working), we aren’t running around to dance/cheer/gymnastics and grabbing snacks or meals on the go.

That savings has put me on track to pay off DVC contract 2 by October, earlier if my job orders me to work from home in the fall or even do a hybrid work week in the fall. The contract is sitting on a 0% until May 2021 card but I really despise having debt. My goal was to pay it off by December 2020, to mark the 1 year anniversary of the purchase.

My tenants at the beach house have expressed interest in buying the house. My fingers are crossed that they qualify for a mortgage. I would love to be rid of that house. It has emotional ties for me since I bought it at 25 and lived there for so long before getting married but I know that we are never going back there. I probably should have sold it years ago but I’ve had the same amazing tenants for almost 8.5 years. If I could sell it to them, it would be amazing. They’re fantastic people and they never thought they would be in a position to ever think of buying the house.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I feel like all the days have seriously blended together. I'm still working from home.

How is everyone else doing?? I'm definitely tired of being stuck at home and staring at the same 4 walls.

I just read this and thought of your comment.
I know what you mean. Your day with working at home is probably much more structured than mine. I stay up til 3 am and sleep til 10:30am. Breakfast is at noon, light lunch around 4pm and dinner at 6:30-7.
I have to work on Monday so it will be a shock to go back to waking up at 5:30am.

Today I finished scrubbing down all the trim around the windows, washing/ironing kitchen curtains, cleaning the blinds, wiping all the nasty pollen/dirt out of the window sills, and cleaning the windows in all of the house. These big jobs are the things you just never get around to doing after working all week. So glad it's done and now if I'm still home Tues-Friday it will be some "Me" time: reading books I never get time to read and get some walking done every day. Dh gave me a great mask that seems to block pollen too. yay!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you who are moms and to those of you who still have your mom in your life, absolutely cherish this day.