Debt Dumpers 2024

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

Ok, so question since we've never dealt with this.

Is it better to push funds and build up an emergency fund first then start paying off debt? Or just start paying off debt and pushing all available funds to that? Never know what to do first. We've got enough extra cash this week to start a $500 emergency fund, but we wouldn't be able to put any toward getting the car fixed or paying off debt. Or we can put it toward paying off the car? Or toward paying off our CCs/loan (the one with the 345% APR).

 

[Bellex917]

Ok, so question since we've never dealt with this.

Is it better to push funds and build up an emergency fund first then start paying off debt? Or just start paying off debt and pushing all available funds to that? Never know what to do first. We've got enough extra cash this week to start a $500 emergency fund, but we wouldn't be able to put any toward getting the car fixed or paying off debt. Or we can put it toward paying off the car? Or toward paying off our CCs/loan (the one with the 345% APR).

In your situation I'd say that 345% loan has to be priority #1.

Then I'd build up $1000, then work on your debts. I'm not a huge Dave Ramsey fan for everyone, but for your situation I think his baby steps would work really well. Except I'd take care of that crazy loan first!

 

[Tygerlilly]

If your central heat has floor vents, I'd look at improving it vs a ductless. We have them in Seattle and most of the time it's fine, but they will cycle through a frost cycle whenever they need to. Also had, to us, record cold of 15 low and only 22 high for a couple of days. You'd have to blast them to get them to heat enough.

I'm not a fan of heat that starts at/near the ceiling since heat already rises. You also have to consider where on the wall they are going, what's under and near them. You may not be able to angle them like you'd want, we can't angle them down as much as some would due to this issue.

They are great when it's in the 40s during the day and 30s/above freezing at night. But I wouldn't want them in a colder temp.

I'd ask around if people in your area have them and like them. Also look into insulation as improving that in the attic, walls and under the house along with fixing any drafts may solve things a lot more so the heats not escaping.

Now they are great for ac, but that's to be expected imo.

We have a 2900sqft two story house. They added on a living room, bathroom, and laundry room. The additions are where we are having the problems. The original house is heating nicely, which I'm surprised since it's -8° for the second night in a row and Temps have been a high of 2° for 2 days.
The previous owners already have a mini-split in the addition, but it doesn't work. At this point, there's no reason to do anything to the central heat when it's an issue in just this one section of house.

In your situation I'd say that 345% loan has to be priority #1.

Then I'd build up $1000, then work on your debts. I'm not a huge Dave Ramsey fan for everyone, but for your situation I think his baby steps would work really well. Except I'd take care of that crazy loan first!

Agree with this 100%. Putting $500 on that will knock out most of that loan and get you a lot closer to making it go away.

 

[amylevan]

Ok, so question since we've never dealt with this.

Is it better to push funds and build up an emergency fund first then start paying off debt? Or just start paying off debt and pushing all available funds to that? Never know what to do first. We've got enough extra cash this week to start a $500 emergency fund, but we wouldn't be able to put any toward getting the car fixed or paying off debt. Or we can put it toward paying off the car? Or toward paying off our CCs/loan (the one with the 345% APR).

My mind can’t even wrap around a 345% loan. If it takes you a year to pay that off, you’re looking at $23,000 in interest right? (Is my math right? Because that’s insane!) It needs to go. Immediately.

Edited to add, my math is not right. it’s early. $230 in interest. Decimals matter.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

They take $230 out of our bank account every 2 weeks. It was an $800 loan that we'll end up paying $2,500 for once we pay it all off. I called them and told them I had $600 to put toward the loan. They said if I could add a little more then that would cover 3 payments. So I'm going to do that. That'll knock 3 payments off of our 12.
.

My mind can’t even wrap around a 345% loan. If it takes you a year to pay that off, you’re looking at $23,000 in interest right? (Is my math right? Because that’s insane!) It needs to go. Immediately.

Edited to add, my math is not right. it’s early. $230 in interest. Decimals matter.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

That's what we're going to do. I called them, and they said we could make 3 payments at 1 time. That'll knock off 3 of the 12 payments we owe on it.

In your situation I'd say that 345% loan has to be priority #1.

Then I'd build up $1000, then work on your debts. I'm not a huge Dave Ramsey fan for everyone, but for your situation I think his baby steps would work really well. Except I'd take care of that crazy loan first

 

[slightly_obsessed]

This speaks to me so deeply. Getting things done perfectly is always my issue. It stops me from tackling things I need to do because the thought of completing a task perfectly freezes me in my tracks and overwhelms me into not starting anything. Then nothing gets done and I shame spiral.

So yes, I hear you!

100% yes! Glad I am not the only one.

I did that this year for the first team ever. My word for the year is simplicity. Make things simple. Quit stressing by making things so difficult. At work, simplify things. But I love your word. So many things are incomplete, whether projects, goals, relationships. Such an awesome word you came up with. Good luck with it.

Thank you! I love the idea of simplicity too... it is such a good word. It's so easy to overcomplicate and overthink things.

Tomorrow is day 8 of 12 in a row and I’m mustering all the energy I can to get through to the weekend. Before we did our end of year budget review and made an aggressive debt pay off plan, we had planned a weekend out of town to see Disney on Ice. While we can enjoy the weekend without adding to debt, I have mixed feelings about having a ‘fun’ weekend when I **really** want to start building a solid buffer and pay down debt. But, the kids are SOO excited (this was a Christmas present) and since we can do it without adding to debt, I’m going to do my best to focus on the quality time we’ll have and enjoy ourselves. Off to slumber land now since 4am will be here before I know it

That is a lot of in a row. I have never had to do that but those kind of weeks always wiped my husband out. The burnout is real. Good luck and enjoy the weekend, no need to feel guilty over it! You're going to need the decompression time for sure.

Ok, so question since we've never dealt with this.

Is it better to push funds and build up an emergency fund first then start paying off debt? Or just start paying off debt and pushing all available funds to that? Never know what to do first. We've got enough extra cash this week to start a $500 emergency fund, but we wouldn't be able to put any toward getting the car fixed or paying off debt. Or we can put it toward paying off the car? Or toward paying off our CCs/loan (the one with the 345% APR).

I know you already made your choice but I would have said the high interest loan too. It's insane to me that loans with that high an interest even exist. Glad you were able to knock some of that down.

 

[MamaBelleRN]

That's what we're going to do. I called them, and they said we could make 3 payments at 1 time. That'll knock off 3 of the 12 payments we owe on it.

Yes, if one of my debts had a 345% interest, I would absolutely tackle that before starting a baby EF (we’re starting with $1k). I’m also not a Dave Ramsey fan as I think YNAB offers much better pathway to financial health. And it makes sense to have your priority be to knock out that 345% before building an EF.

That is a lot of in a row. I have never had to do that but those kind of weeks always wiped my husband out. The burnout is real. Good luck and enjoy the weekend, no need to feel guilty over it! You're going to need the decompression time for sure.

Yes, 12 is A LOT! Although I just signed up for shifts in February that will put me at nine in row The nice thing is we can cancel on call shifts anytime >24h before the shift and rotating between three departments (pre-op, post-op and PACU) helps with burnout. I really appreciate the encouragement to enjoy the weekend. I get a bit hyper focused sometimes (thus 12 in a row ) and being reminded to not feel guilty for taking a pause is helpful

 

[princesscinderella]

That's what we're going to do. I called them, and they said we could make 3 payments at 1 time. That'll knock off 3 of the 12 payments we owe on it.

You don’t want to make three payments at one time because that’s just locked you into paying this over the course of a year and at that crazy rate. You need to tell them you want all the $500 applied to the principal balance not as a payment. That should make your payment drop considerably as they can then only charge interest on the balance left. They don’t want you to pay it quickly which is why they are saying you can make early payments instead of applying it directly to the principal balance which is the $800 loan.

 

[princesscinderella]

I just wanted to shoot a little update before the weekend comes to an end.

We decided to pay off the loan with the Christmas money we were given, some of the money I made from selling baseball cards the last couple of weeks and put it with some of my paycheck and get that stupid thing paid off.

However, we saw a couple of oil spots under my wife's car when we came back from New Year's out of town, so I took it in Friday. We just had it in the shop in early December because of an oil leak. Now they found another. So we're going to have to put it back in the shop again. We got a quote of $4k. After talking to my wife, we decided to take it to another place and get a 2nd quote. Also, we want to ask around at church (we just started there last February) and see if anyone owns a place that can fix it for cheaper. The place we took it want to charge $200 per hour, and they think it'll take 16 hours.

Once that happened, we decided we needed to put whatever money we could toward the oil leak and put off paying our big loan until another time. However, the car place said the oil leak wasn't bad, and the oil level wasn't low. So it might be something we can go with another month or 2 and just keep an eye on the levels. That way we can indeed pay off that loan.

But we did pay on a couple of credit cards. Were supposed to pay a minimum payment of $25 on each, but we paid $40 on each. I know it's not much more, but it helped us pay on time (to help our credit score) and pay down some more.

We did go to the grocery store, so hopefully we don't have to eat out much. I tried to find something I could do for breakfast every morning, but I didn't see anything that I thought would work (I typically just grab something on the way to work). I don't like to eat too early, so don't like eating breakfast at home. Plus, I don't have time to make breakfast in the mornings. Thought about oatmeal packets, and I did do that a couple of times last week with hot chocolate. But that old fast. So not sure what I'll do going forward on that.

That's a small recap to the week/weekend. We've planned dinners at home this week and also got enough to cook to be able to take leftovers since we don't like sandwiches (there's not a toaster at work to be able to make a sandwich). So we're hoping not to spend any money this week.

It might be worth purchasing something like this. My husband uses it all the time at work it’s kind of like a crock pot lunch box. Just plug it and and no need to worry about cooking anything in the break room.

Hot Logic Mini Portable Oven, Food Warmer Electric Lunch Box with Wall Plug, Mini Personal Heated Box for Cooking and Reheating Meals in Office, Travel, Potlucks, Hotel, Home Kitchen (Black) https://a.co/d/0qW4IIc

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

So how do you keep the food cold from the time you leave the house until the time you cook? Can you put this whole thing in a fridge? Or bring the food seperately? Or what do you do?

It might be worth purchasing something like this. My husband uses it all the time at work it’s kind of like a crock pot lunch box. Just plug it and and no need to worry about cooking anything in the break room.

Hot Logic Mini Portable Oven, Food Warmer Electric Lunch Box with Wall Plug, Mini Personal Heated Box for Cooking and Reheating Meals in Office, Travel, Potlucks, Hotel, Home Kitchen (Black) https://a.co/d/0qW4IIc

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

I will call in the morning and ask if that's an option. I'll update afterward. Thanks for the advice. I don't know anything about money and loans and all that. I do know that APR is pretty steep (my car is 26%, and I thought that was outrageous). I was pretty upset when my wife told me she went and took this loan out. No reason given.

You don’t want to make three payments at one time because that’s just locked you into paying this over the course of a year and at that crazy rate. You need to tell them you want all the $500 applied to the principal balance not as a payment. That should make your payment drop considerably as they can then only charge interest on the balance left. They don’t want you to pay it quickly which is why they are saying you can make early payments instead of applying it directly to the principal balance which is the $800 loan.

 

[princesscinderella]

So how do you keep the food cold from the time you leave the house until the time you cook? Can you put this whole thing in a fridge? Or bring the food seperately? Or what do you do?

Typically I use two small rectangular glass containers with lids that fit in there side by side and I will put a protein in one and a frozen vegetable mix in the other with a bit of butter and whatever spice you like. One larger rectangular container would work too if you have something like chili, pasta or anything you don’t mind touching. You don’t really need to keep it cold because as soon as you get to work you can plug it and and it will start cooking and keep the food hot until you are ready to eat at a safe temperature so you don’t worry that it will spoil. It’s a low and slow cooking method so it would take a couple hours to be ready but it won’t overcook it either. If your job has you on the road a lot they also make one that uses car charger adapter instead of a regular plug.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

They take $230 out of our bank account every 2 weeks. It was an $800 loan that we'll end up paying $2,500 for once we pay it all off. I called them and told them I had $600 to put toward the loan. They said if I could add a little more then that would cover 3 payments. So I'm going to do that. That'll knock 3 payments off of our 12.
.

That does get it paid off sooner but if it only gets you 3 months ahead on payments, that helps but also doesn't. It simply means you could coast for 3 months and not make any payments and still not be counted as late. It's not lowering the amount of interest being charged. They are scheming to make as much off of you as possible. Don't let them.

When you make additional payments, tell them you want to apply it to the principal. Don't let them steer you onto some other idea. Stick to your guns. Applying to the principal lowers the balance from which the interest is calculated. That will make your next month's interest MUCH lower. That means when you do make another regular payment, more of that payment will go toward the principal than the interest. Once your regular payment for the month is made, any extra payments should be applied to the principal.

 

[pblack]

It might be worth purchasing something like this. My husband uses it all the time at work it’s kind of like a crock pot lunch box. Just plug it and and no need to worry about cooking anything in the break room.

Hot Logic Mini Portable Oven, Food Warmer Electric Lunch Box with Wall Plug, Mini Personal Heated Box for Cooking and Reheating Meals in Office, Travel, Potlucks, Hotel, Home Kitchen (Black) https://a.co/d/0qW4IIc

I have one of these at work and I love it! I hate trying to use the communal microwave and it also can take my food multiple times in the microwave to heat through to the temp I want. It was definitely a good decision for me. I tend to bring my lunch in a lunchbox with ice packs and then ill put whatever needs to be heated in it a couple hours prior to when I want to eat. I especially love it for heating up pre-made frozen meals. They taste so much better using this than in the microwave.

 

[pblack]

Mid-January update:

2024 Financial Goals:

• Add at least $2000 to my main emergency savings on top of my auto contributions - nothing added yet other than my auto contributions
• Increase my contributions to my other savings goals by at least $25/each pay period - Also have not done this yet. For this last paycheck period I focused on adding to my travel savings to cover some upcoming trips.
• Look into a living will/trust (We have friends that keep telling us to do this and with everything going on in my life at the moment, I feel like I should actually look into this more.) - Talked to our friends that would help us with this about it...well talked about getting one set up for my dad lol. No forward progress, but they know we want to get it done within the next few months.

2024 Personal Goals:

• Exercise at least 3 times a week for at least 30 minutes - I'm trying. I don't think I've quite hit 3 days a week per say, but it's been at least 2 times a week. Hoping this should become easier/more doable once I'm not going back and forth from the rehab center (4.5 hours RT).
• Travel as much as possible - We have lots of stuff planned for this year already. Over my Christmas break from work I was busy with this as a distraction from my life. So far we have: Vegas planned for the end of the month (this was supposed to be Cabo, but with everything going on with my dad we cancelled Cabo. It's a lot easier to get back quickly from Vegas if the need were to arise.) We have an 8-day cruise planned for the end of May (also kind of to make up for not going to Cabo). We also have 2 day concert tickets for May (debating trying to sell them though) and 3 day concert tickets for October. For our 10 year wedding anniversary we decided on doing an 8 day cruise out of Miami and that will happen the end of August/beginning of September. So lots to look forward to on this front!
• Replace the patio cover in our backyard - No progress. Still trying to patch up the leaks we have for now to kind of limp it along.
• Finally do something with our side yard - not sure exactly what at the moment - No progress.

So not a whole lot of progress yet (other than travel plans), but that's too be expected seeing as it's only the 3rd week of January lol.

 

[Tygerlilly]

I will call in the morning and ask if that's an option. I'll update afterward. Thanks for the advice. I don't know anything about money and loans and all that. I do know that APR is pretty steep (my car is 26%, and I thought that was outrageous). I was pretty upset when my wife told me she went and took this loan out. No reason given.

Just curious if they fixed it for you? I really hope they did.

 

[goofytinkerbell]

Ok, so question since we've never dealt with this.

Is it better to push funds and build up an emergency fund first then start paying off debt? Or just start paying off debt and pushing all available funds to that? Never know what to do first. We've got enough extra cash this week to start a $500 emergency fund, but we wouldn't be able to put any toward getting the car fixed or paying off debt. Or we can put it toward paying off the car? Or toward paying off our CCs/loan (the one with the 345% APR).

Is that supposed to say 3.45%?

Normally it's good to get a very small emergency fund available before tackling debt, but if you have something that charges more interest than your credit card I'd suggest tackling that first. The idea of an emergency fund is so you don't have to put an emergency bill on your credit card. HOWEVER, you're not going to be earning anything to speak of on that money, so it would actually cost you less to pay down a higher interest debt and if there's an emergency you may have to fall back on the credit card. It happens, just don't do it unless you have to and this route makes sense.

If it makes you feel better to have a few bucks set aside instead, then there's nothing wrong with that. Just be aware it's not the most economical option.

 

[huggybuff]

Weekly update! It was a rough go this week wrt my checking account and making it to payday Friday, but I did it! Savings untouched.

Week 3

2024 Financial Goals

1. Pay off my credit cards and car loan in 2 years by using the debt avalanche. So my card with the highest interest rate turns out to be my Lane Bryant card. The balance is about $500. This will be paid off by March.

2. Increase my monthly payments to my husband for household expenses by $800 a month beginning in May and open a joint checking account where we will each contribute monthly. We figured giving me until May to sock some extra cash into my checking would be a good idea since my personal loan is now paid off and that was sucking $1000 off the top of my paycheck once a month. Snoozed until May.

3. Set aside $285 per month from January-June to cover the cost of our hotel for our anniversary trip in July to Monterey. $285 into my HYSA (1/6)

4. Begin paying for our 2025 spring break cruise to Mexico in March. Payments will be $400 a month from March-December. Also set aside $50 per month during that time period to cover our upgrade package. Snoozed until March.

5. Continue using the YNAB app and website to track my money daily. I'm still tracking my money the old fashioned way with a register but I really like the budgeting aspect of YNAB and am getting more and more used to it. I sent my husband an invitation to use this app with me on my account. This weekend I will remind him to sit down and set up his budget. (3/52)


2024 Personal Goals

1. Finish deep cleaning and organizing my kitchen. My husband is basically the Swedish Chef so he makes quite a mess when he cooks. I appreciate the fact that he does all of the cooking but it's a lot to keep on top of TBH. I need to do a better job and put in more effort. I will track this weekly. This week was much more productive. Our new dishwasher is doing it's job so far and I'm almost caught up with things that can be dishwashed. Tonight the husband is coaching his boys varsity soccer team until late so I've got no excuse but to hit the kitchen hard while he's out and I have no distractions. (2/52)

2. Once I feel like my kitchen is back under control I'll transition to organizing my clothes that are in boxes in our bedroom. I will tackle this at least one of the days of my weekend. Snoozed.

3. Reorganize and deep clean my bathroom. I have too much on the countertop and need to make use of the cabinets in a more organized manner. Snoozed.

4. By July I'd like to be at the point I can begin to tackle my boxes that are still unpacked in the garage. I had a storage unit for years and now they're just sitting untouched since we moved into the house 3 years ago. Snoozed.

5. In August I'd like to make my stepson's room into a workout room. He's a senior in high school this year and he'll be starting college next fall. He's only staying over 1 or 2 nights a week at most at this point since he lives with his mom so I don't feel I'll be booting him out or anything. I am at my highest weight ever and I honestly don't even know what that is since I'm scared to get on the scale. I can have all of the DVDs and online workouts in the world but they do no good if you don't use them. I think having a space set aside will really help me out. Snoozed.

6. Get my passport at some point this year to be ready for the cruise in 2025. This probably won't happen for at least a few months.

7. I came up with a new goal. Get back to baking on a weekly basis. This will begin when my kitchen is 'done'. JK, I know a kitchen is never truly caught up on. Snoozed until I cross #1 off of my list.

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I will call in the morning and ask if that's an option. I'll update afterward. Thanks for the advice. I don't know anything about money and loans and all that. I do know that APR is pretty steep (my car is 26%, and I thought that was outrageous). I was pretty upset when my wife told me she went and took this loan out. No reason given.

How did this turn out? Did they let your last payment be applied to the principal?
If they don't, please don't let this discourage you. We're all human and none of us were born with this knowledge. We all keep on learning from our past mistakes as we go through life.
You can't change the past but you can change your future.
Like Nemo says, Just keep swimming!!