Debt Dumpers - 2018

[DnA2010]

I learned something over the weekend that is really awesome and I had to share for all the new moms/moms-to-be/grandparents. Someone on a local Facebook mom's group mentioned that you can use the rebate checks from Similac and Enfamil at Costco towards the Kirkland brand formula. I went today and tried it out. I had 5 $10 rebate checks and they allowed me to apply one rebate check per can of formula. So I saved $50 overall and spent just $6.99 per can! It cost me just $35 for over a month's supply of formula! This will really be helpful savings over the next several months.

ETA: I just signed up at Gerber's site to hopefully get rebate checks from them as well.

My daughter in Virginia actually gets Enfamil $5.00 checks in the mail every month...sometimes it is 2-$5.00 checks and sometimes she gets $8.00 checks and sometimes 4 or 5 $5.00 checks--mostly every month...only problem is that she is single and only has 4 dogs...I keep asking her, is there anything you need to tell me about grandchildren (would love them along with grand dogs and she told me that I would be the first to know!!)--Anyway, I currently have sitting on my desk, 4-$5.00 so if anyone would like me to send them to either their house or work, just let me know. I just hate to throw these away if someone could actually use the $20.00. If not, they go in the garbage. Just PM me and I will mail them out to you (monthly is you want!!)

Wow I did not know this! I will def pass on to the people I know here using Kirkland and see if they can do it here also.


I was super lucky as one store here actually allowed you to stack formula coupons, so through facebook I was able to get lots of extra, and through stacking was able to get most of my formula for free.

Sarah's Mom, if no one else can use on here (but I'm sure Jen and Ashwin can) , I can prob pass on to people here

 

[Eureka]

Oh yes, I remember waiting in excruciating pain with those ear infections for the doctor to see us and then for the pharmacy to fill the prescription. I'm so glad kids grow out of those infections! I also got really sick right before Christmas during my freshman year of college. First test that came back positive was for hepatitis and the doctor thought she was going to have to hospitalize me for Christmas, which was upsetting to her and to my family and me! Then the mono test came back positive and she was very relieved. Hepatitis is apparently sometimes a side effect of mono so I just had to rest for days on end. Did a LOT of sleeping. Man, I'm realizing that I have not been the healthiest person, lol.

This kid is almost 15 but I guess he is kind of growing out of it because it's the first time we've had to take him in to urgent care in 3.5 years. At least you were home for the break that year you had mono. Would have been harder being away at school. I had shingles when I was a senior in college and it was not fun.

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

Ugh Murphy has struck!

My car had two flat tires over the weekend. Then the engine started smoking today! And my phone broke over the weekend. luckily DH and i decided to downgrade our iphones to a lower end smartphone so we got two moto e4 pluses for around $200 after paying off DH 's at&t next plan and trading in 3 old iphones.

Nothing like draining your emergency fund the second week of the year, eh? income tax can't come soon enough this year!

 

[MamaBelleRN]

HSAs are better than FSAs in that you get to carry the money over year to year. With my FSA, I have to spend whatever I have saved in it before March of the next year or else the money goes poof. If I had an HSA, I would always max it out because of the carry over and the great tax benefit. The tax benefit alone might outweigh credit card interest, but you really have to run the numbers on it. There is a lot of information that I have read saying that fully funding your HSA is a really good way to save towards retirement as well, since that money continues to grow in your account and you can use it for health expenses in retirement, when most people have the highest health care expenditures in their life. I would try to keep it fully funded if you can while still working towards paying off the CC debt. Can you get a 0% transfer offer with an existing card or get a new card with 0% to help decrease interest while you work to pay it down?

Yes, I don’t think a FSA would work well for me! We seem to go in fits and spurts of high medical care costs and low costs. With my luck, my FSA would likely have a low balance when I needed it and a high balance at the end of the year I like the fact a HSA is a ‘safe’ investment as it does roll over. They also start to invest for you once you get to a certain level, so you can make a little extra on your investment. Technically, to fully fund we’d have to put $260/paycheck to meet the federal max. I don’t want to bump it up right now, but we may just keep it where we have it. We still have couple months of zero interest on the current cards. We may be able to pay them off between our tax return, any overtime my DH gets, extra shifts I work, and my DH’s annual bonus before interest kicks in. I don’t really plan on any of that money as none of it is guaranteed. We did Dave Ramsey for a bit which is why I was concerned about the HSA investment, but in the end I think Dave is a bit too extreme for me. Thanks for the perspective, Jen!

 

[MamaBelleRN]

Ugh Murphy has struck!

My car had two flat tires over the weekend. Then the engine started smoking today! And my phone broke over the weekend. luckily DH and i decided to downgrade our iphones to a lower end smartphone so we got two moto e4 pluses for around $200 after paying off DH 's at&t next plan and trading in 3 old iphones.

Nothing like draining your emergency fund the second week of the year, eh? income tax can't come soon enough this year!

Oh no!! That is a rough start. I hope it’s smoother sailing from here!

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

Welp, my car's shot. It needs a new radiator and exhaust. Coupled with the new heat and air it already needs and the repairs needed more than double its current value. I'm so sad, this was my first car, and I've had it since I was 16! I've been hard on it, running it up the east coast 5 times and long distances when I lived in a rural area, plus in rough conditions when I lived in the great lakes region. Still, I'd hoped to get another 2 years out of it.

I've never had to buy a car on my own before- what do I even do with a car this broken down- sell it for scrap value? Take it to a dealer for their minimum trade in?

 

[DisneyMandC]

I looked into my tax info at work today. Apparently I was withholding at the single rate instead of the married filing separate rate? I don't know. I changed it and we'll see how my next paycheck looks. I've started setting some money aside for filing my taxes. My work is actually sending out our W2s online this year so hopefully I'll have that fairly soon and can get started to assess the damage.

The arctic freeze is finally over for us and I think my heat pump turned off for a full ten minutes last night! Electric bill comes the 20th...

In good news, I logged in to my Marriott account yesterday to book a hotel for a work conference and saw an three day stay at a hotel in Miami under my upcoming trips. I texted DH who informed me he had just booked it for a work conference in Miami for the end of February for three days and wanted to know if I wanted to join him. A $350/night hotel in Miami for three days in February? YES PLEASE! We can get direct flights from our city for under $200 and I have credit card points to cover mine. All of DH's expenses will be paid for so our only out of pocket costs will be my food and whatever I do to occupy myself while DH is in his conference (mainly walking around Little Havana and Miami Beach). Please let me know if you have any recommendations for things to do/see/eat! I'm so far planning to do a tour of Vizcaya since I love historic homes, and spend some time on Miami Beach (we'll be staying in Miami right across from the Carnival Cruise port). I thought about the Everglades but I don't do boats so I don't really know if it would be worth it for me to go out there.

 

[Dentam]

My car had two flat tires over the weekend. Then the engine started smoking today! And my phone broke over the weekend. luckily DH and i decided to downgrade our iphones to a lower end smartphone so we got two moto e4 pluses for around $200 after paying off DH 's at&t next plan and trading in 3 old iphones.

Sorry to hear about your car and phone! I actually just got a moto e4 plus - my first ever smartphone. I was feeling like it's becoming more and more necessary to have one and had lost my old pay as you go cheapo phone from AT&T before Christmas. So far I'm liking this phone. I got it on sale through Ting, a carrier that also has no contract and is supposed to be more affordable in terms of monthly bills. The phone was on sale for $169 I think. I haven't gotten my first month's bill yet, but am hoping it will be $30 or under.

ETA: I just read the update on your car. I'm in the same boat with a 17 year old car that has been cross country a couple of times and on many road trips. I'm planning to donate it to charity (probably a pet shelter) when the time comes. So far it is still running well, so I'm hoping it will make it until at least the end of this year. If you donate your vehicle, you can write it off on your taxes while also helping a cause that you care about.

 

[mco65]

1877 Kars for Kids, K A R S Kars for kids,
1877 Kars for kids, donate your car today.

Thanks, got that jingle stuck in my head now!

 

[Dentam]

I made the decision today to not join my parents on their DL trip in mid February. I will apply the great airfare I got through SW to my flight to Orlando in September once they make those dates available on their website. I feel a lot better about putting the money I would have put toward my park tickets toward debt dumping instead. It's the best decision, but still a bit of a bummer. I'm also sick with a cold right now, and the thought of flying and then going to theme parks during what is looking like a severe flu season made my decision a bit easier. I need to save up sick time since I've used more than I'd like already this year.

 

[belleelc77]

Joining.

2018 Goals:
1) pay down home equity loan - $35,736
2) pay down student loans (4 totaling $15,854)

All credit card debt will be paid off by the end of the month including $505 on home store card to replace the fridge that died last week. Plus, I made an extra payment to the home equity loan this month. Planning on using my income tax refund to totally redo my bathroom and replace the floors in my townhouse. I should have some extra to pay 6 months in full of car insurance in April and some to put toward my home owner's insurance that comes due in July. I have 3 months in emergency savings and can cover the car and home owner's insurance from separate savings for those if the remodel goes over budget.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Well, looks like the car is a total loss. So now I'm faced with 2 options:
Option one is my dad sells me my grandfather's old car. It's an 06 cobalt. It's tiny and I can't rear face my 2 year old in it because the car seat won't fit with the drivers seat all the way back. It's not ideal and I have no idea how much he'll try and sell it to me for (it's paid off and probably worth $1500 max), but it's a working vehicle and hopefully, cheap enough that I can make it work for approximately 6 months and then use it as a trade in.
Option 2 is to pay off half our suv instead of the full thing (we owe $3500). If we pay half, we will be done paying it in 5 months. Then I'd take the other half and put it as a down payment on a new car that will fit us all comfortably. Downside is we'll be right back into another car payment, which is what I was trying to get us out of. And for about 5 months, we will have 2 car payments.

I think my fiancee is leaning more towards option 2, and maybe I am too, but if I could pay off a lot of our debt first before we decided to buy, I think I could save up a little more to put down in addition to the trade. It just means we would be renting a car ($200-300) for our two mini vacations in Feb and May. I just wish I had some kind of game plan in mind.

 

[isabellea]

In good news, I logged in to my Marriott account yesterday to book a hotel for a work conference and saw an three day stay at a hotel in Miami under my upcoming trips. I texted DH who informed me he had just booked it for a work conference in Miami for the end of February for three days and wanted to know if I wanted to join him. A $350/night hotel in Miami for three days in February? YES PLEASE! We can get direct flights from our city for under $200 and I have credit card points to cover mine. All of DH's expenses will be paid for so our only out of pocket costs will be my food and whatever I do to occupy myself while DH is in his conference (mainly walking around Little Havana and Miami Beach). Please let me know if you have any recommendations for things to do/see/eat! I'm so far planning to do a tour of Vizcaya since I love historic homes, and spend some time on Miami Beach (we'll be staying in Miami right across from the Carnival Cruise port). I thought about the Everglades but I don't do boats so I don't really know if it would be worth it for me to go out there.

That's a nice and cheap mini-trip! Last time we went to Miami and the everglades I was pregnant so I couldn't do the air boat tours. We did a tram tour in one of the state park and it was great! We saw many gators and birds. If you're interested, I'll check the exact name of where we went.

 

[pblack]

Well, looks like the car is a total loss. So now I'm faced with 2 options:
Option one is my dad sells me my grandfather's old car. It's an 06 cobalt. It's tiny and I can't rear face my 2 year old in it because the car seat won't fit with the drivers seat all the way back. It's not ideal and I have no idea how much he'll try and sell it to me for (it's paid off and probably worth $1500 max), but it's a working vehicle and hopefully, cheap enough that I can make it work for approximately 6 months and then use it as a trade in.
Option 2 is to pay off half our suv instead of the full thing (we owe $3500). If we pay half, we will be done paying it in 5 months. Then I'd take the other half and put it as a down payment on a new car that will fit us all comfortably. Downside is we'll be right back into another car payment, which is what I was trying to get us out of. And for about 5 months, we will have 2 car payments.

I think my fiancee is leaning more towards option 2, and maybe I am too, but if I could pay off a lot of our debt first before we decided to buy, I think I could save up a little more to put down in addition to the trade. It just means we would be renting a car ($200-300) for our two mini vacations in Feb and May. I just wish I had some kind of game plan in mind.

Personally i'd also lean toward option #2, unless your dad is giving it to you for ridiculously cheap. Otherwise, why put money toward a car that you aren't going to want and probably won't get a whole lot of trade in value for?

 

[Tygerlilly]

In happier news, I had my taxes done yesterday. While I didn't realize it would be $344 to have H&R Block do them, I wanted to do it early and take advantage of their refund advance. I managed to be approved for $500, not as much as I wanted, but I'll take it. She also found an extra state credit that came up to about $150. Filing as early as I did means I should be one of the first to get my state return back. And since federal is held due to the child credit, I should get it right on the 27th when they're released (the day we get back from visiting his family). So, I can now make a successful budget for taxes and see what will get me the best bang for my buck.

 

[DisneyMandC]

That's a nice and cheap mini-trip! Last time we went to Miami and the everglades I was pregnant so I couldn't do the air boat tours. We did a tram tour in one of the state park and it was great! We saw many gators and birds. If you're interested, I'll check the exact name of where we went.

That would be great! I saw tram tours as an option, but it looks like one of them is closed due to Hurricane Irma. I think I'm going to check Groupon too for deals and see if I can find anything.

 

[isabellea]

That would be great! I saw tram tours as an option, but it looks like one of them is closed due to Hurricane Irma. I think I'm going to check Groupon too for deals and see if I can find anything.

We did the tram tour at Shark Valley. http://www.sharkvalleytramtours.com

 

[mommy2mrb]

Opinions please...

Just received email from my Marriott/Chase CC staying I can request a credit line increase without it dinging my score.

Already have $21,500 limit with a balance of $9,254.

Should I go for it? Know it might help my score which is at 740 now.

TIA!

 

[Ngwira]

Welp, my car's shot. It needs a new radiator and exhaust. Coupled with the new heat and air it already needs and the repairs needed more than double its current value. I'm so sad, this was my first car, and I've had it since I was 16! I've been hard on it, running it up the east coast 5 times and long distances when I lived in a rural area, plus in rough conditions when I lived in the great lakes region. Still, I'd hoped to get another 2 years out of it.

I've never had to buy a car on my own before- what do I even do with a car this broken down- sell it for scrap value? Take it to a dealer for their minimum trade in?

I’d look into scrapping it. I got $1100 for our 2006 Honda CR-V with a bad engine. Dealer wanted to give me $75. I went through peddle.com.

 

[jen7233]

Opinions please...

Just received email from my Marriott/Chase CC staying I can request a credit line increase without it dinging my score.

Already have $21,500 limit with a balance of $9,254.

Should I go for it? Know it might help my score which is at 740 now.

Hmm, do you need an increase or need the score up more for anything in the near future?