Debt Dumpers 2021

[Eureka]

My mom never vaccinated me or my brother. When we moved in with my grandmother, she had to take us every week until we were caught up. He and I both now have extreme anxiety about shots. We can’t even watch them on tv, we hide our eyes until our spouses tell us that it is over. I am going to ask for a numbing solution.

That would be a little traumatic. I also hate needles. I just look away. I hope you can find a way to do it. Not to get political, but I work for a science organization and believe in science, so I think everyone that's able should get the vaccine.

 

[Cynt]

I'm in for 2021. We were doing well for 2020 but C19 hit. By 3rd quarter we were stir crazy and we started spending cash like crazy instead of sticking to our payoff and savings goals. SIGH!!

Financial Goal 2021
- Payoff DH Highlander $26K
- Cash roll home improvements (new floors and interior paint job) $20K. We have $10K saved so $10K to go.
- Build emergency fund back to $5K. There's about $500 in there now.

Personal Goal 2021
- Lose Weight and develop better eating habits
- Stay active in my Bible Study group
- Start back hiking twice a month

 

[cjlong88]

Financial Goals 2021:

• Continue to max out my 403(b), 457, and Roth IRA contributions
• Find a cheaper apartment to rent and use the extra money to increase contributions to our brokerage account
• Start saving for our big August 2021 Disney World Super-Splurge Vacation Extravaganza

Personal Goals 2021:

• Continue to improve my speaking/listening skills in German and French
• Shave 30 seconds off my pace per mile
• Call my father every week to catch up with him build a closer relationship

 

[FQLover]

@mom2rb Man, that would be rough as a kid! I hope that a numbing swab on your arm can make the experience easier for you.

 

[M:SpilotISTC12]

2020 has been a wild year for us! Furloughed for 5 months but back to work! Thank god! Baby in November! Refinanced my house and lowered my payment by $300 a month. Most importantly everyone has been healthy!

2021 Financial Goals:

• Pay off $9,000 of credit card debt that has 0% interest until May.
• Save $2000 toward emergency fund.
• Sell my biggest DVC contract. (Saves $120 a month)
• Stash $150 a month towards daughter's 529 plan
• Make 6 Real Estate transactions (Newly licensed Real Estate Agent)

2021 Personal Goals:

• Eat less. I overeat a lot
• Ride my stationary bike more often
• Spend as much time as I can with my daughter
• Help wife more around the house
• Drink less booze
• Landscape my yard come springtime

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

I could have sworn I typed this all up but I think I did the awesome thing where I typed it all up and closed it out without hitting post so here it is again:

Financial:

-We are moving to Florida in the spring. The first priority is to weather the move without incurring debt!

-We want to buy a house in 2022. We will have some help with the down payment but I want to contribute as much as possible as well, at the very least I'd like to have a fund set aside for the costs that come with a new place so we don't incur any debt.

-Our emergency fund always seems to be hovering withing a few hundred dollars above or below $3,000. I'd like to keep this steadily increasing for a little and get it up to $6,000.

-We want to have one more child within the next year or two (trying now). No concrete financial goal for this, just hoping to be financially prepared to welcome another child.

-I have about $4000 put aside for a down payment on a car the next time we need to replace one (hopefully not for a year or two but both of our vehicles are 10 years old). I'd like to get this up to $5000 if possible, but it's definitely a lower priority since i (hopefully, knock on wood) have a little more time before we need to buy a car.

Personal:

-Continue to improve DH and I'd relationship after his struggle with mental illness. 18 months of counseling have helped SO MUCH, but I think it is something we will always have to do with as his struggles will likely be lifelong. So most importantly to continue the awesome work we have been doing on our relationship and family!

-Be as social as safely possible with COVID-19 when we move. Our last move to a new state was a lonely one for me, and I only had a few friends locally. With this move being our last, I really want to work on establishing a good network of friends once we can not help ward off loneliness for both of us, as we will be far from family once again.

 

[disneycat321]

Debt dumping is my main focus of 2021, so I guess I'm here for this, even though I've never posted in one of these threads before!

Financial:
- There's only one this year, but it's a big one and will take aggressive focus: Pay off ALL my student loan debt by the end of the year. We've made a really good start in the last half of 2020, after finishing DH's student loan payoff in the first half (mine is much larger, so we did his first). The frozen interest rates due to COVID have been helping it go much faster!
We’ve paid off $19k in the past 6 months and have $33k to go this year. I’m 9 years out of grad school, and we’re finally in a place financially where we can afford to get this taken care of quickly. I’m ready to be out of student loan prison.

Personal:
- Continue eating better. I've made a start the last few weeks (though I fell off the wagon last week...I am a stress eater.)
- Make exercise a regular habit
- Read at least 60 books (This year I'm going to hit my goal of 52 books, so I'm raising it for next year.)

edit: Added amounts. May as well be totally honest.

 

[WendiDarling]

My big financial goal in 2021 is to give more. I want to give the 1st 10% of everything I receive. Like literally. The minute I receive it. I'm at about 3.5% right now so this is going to require a major shift in my focus for the year. But its' just something that's been on my heart and I feel like I need to move into this new year with a focus on that.

With what's leftover (if there is any...) I want to:
pay off DD16 car loan ($5,500 left)
start Roth IRA for DH (I already have one).

Thanks for starting this thread. I think it helps to have some clarity going into the new year and really think about priorities and what's on each of our hearts in particular. That goal #1 has just been pressing hard on me lately, trying to make sure I absolutely understand that everything that flows into my life is not just for me and my family.

 

[Eureka]

My big financial goal in 2021 is to give more. I want to give the 1st 10% of everything I receive. Like literally. The minute I receive it. I'm at about 3.5% right now so this is going to require a major shift in my focus for the year. But its' just something that's been on my heart and I feel like I need to move into this new year with a focus on that.

With what's leftover (if there is any...) I want to:
pay off DD16 car loan ($5,500 left)
start Roth IRA for DH (I already have one).

Thanks for starting this thread. I think it helps to have some clarity going into the new year and really think about priorities and what's on each of our hearts in particular. That goal #1 has just been pressing hard on me lately, trying to make sure I absolutely understand that everything that flows into my life is not just for me and my family.

My DH is on the board of a local soup kitchen. We have always given but as soon as the pandemic started, we donated some money and then every week when I shop for food, I pick up stuff to donate. They've had to change from sit-down meals to take-out meals and also send bags of nonperishable snacks and things like canned tuna home with the people who come for meals. We also used to do this but I did not buy food weekly for it. We've both been lucky that we've been working from home this whole time so it's given us new perspective of how lucky we are. Sounds like you are thinking about the same issues. I'm sure you'll find a way to give that is satisfying and helping your community.

 

[disneycat321]

My big financial goal in 2021 is to give more. I want to give the 1st 10% of everything I receive. Like literally. The minute I receive it. I'm at about 3.5% right now so this is going to require a major shift in my focus for the year. But its' just something that's been on my heart and I feel like I need to move into this new year with a focus on that.

Please don't take this as a brag, I do not intend it to come off that way, just as encouragement.

We have been doing this for the past couple of years, and I'll never go back. It's really changed my heart and life completely. It's one of the best decisions, and the best financial decision, I've ever made. And it's kind of incredible that a lot of other difficult financial circumstances have just kind of...worked out...after we started doing it. Haven't felt the strain at all. We've always had enough.

 

[npatellye]

I’m in for 2021!


2021 Financial Goals:

• Increase home project account by $8,000
• Increase our giving to our local food pantries, youth and family services, and other organizations to 15% of our income
• Take our Disney Cruise Refund and put it into a savings account to be used for our kids to buy toys next fall for the toy drives held in our area
• Begin a retirement home account so we can buy a retirement home in 15 years (we won’t be ready to retire but I want to have enough together to buy one as soon as we qualify for a 55+ community)

2021 Personal Goals:

• Take more day trips
• Make LegoLand NY a priority for at least 3 long weekends
• Lose 10 lbs
• Be a bit more disconnected from work, especially on weekends and after 7 pm
• Splurge on new furniture for the sunroom and front porch that should be completed by the spring
• Convince my husband that we should drive to WDW at least once

 

[DharmaLou]

Hi! I'm new here, but just started YNAB last month and am committed to turning things around!

2021 Financial Goals

• fund $2000 backyard improvement
• pay off two credit cards - $3500 - $1750 done as of 1.30.21
• stop buying unnecessary crap
• fund approximately $10,000 for travel (WDW Nov 21, possibly DLR Sept 21) - $4100 as of 1.30.21
• Monthly IRA deposits

2021 Personal Goals

• Lose 75 lbs - 14 down
• List, list, list on Poshmark and Mercari
• Declutter home more; clean out basement
• Return to DDP Yoga 3x/wk
• Walk 3x/wk

(I'm coming back to edit/update for my own accountability as time goes by)

 

[imbatman]

Hi! I'm new here, but just started YNAB last month and am committed to turning things around!

We're here to help and encourage you with your victories! I can say that with confidence coming from January of this year until now.

Financial

• CC 1 - $2198.01 (balance 12/9/20 - one more payment to come out in December). This is scheduled to be paid off by February 15th. I'm erring on the side of conservative payments.

GUYS!!! I just was given a bonus at work! Guess who's sliding into 2021 with only ONE CC left to pay off?!?!?!

For anyone reading this board anonymously, let me tell you a story about me. I limped onto this board in 2018, looking for help. And help there was! But stupid me, even though I'm completely anonymous here and no one would shame me on FB, I didn't post my true debt. Even when 2019 came around, still didn't face it. But I learned a lot about how a snowball works. And even learned that while a snowball works for me, budgets work for others. January 2020 rolls around and we're all posting our goals. Yet again, I decided to round down my credit card (CC) debt...by $7k.

If you're new to this board, 2020 was a personal whopper for me after a diagnosis and multiple surgeries. I was certain I couldn't shed the CC debt. But I held fast and kept on track with my payments. I even incurred NEW debt with hotel stays for the hospitalizations. That CC emoji dance you see up there? That's my brain today. I am in a unique position with this bonus to get that much closer to just having a mortgage and student loan left.

You can do it, too. Be brave. You don't have to post if you don't want to. If you do, we're here to celebrate with a when you pay something off! Some of the people here are great with budgeting and moving money around to "buckets." We'd love to have you for the year (or more)!

 

[Cambridgecat]

Hi! New here and would like to join for 2021!

Goals:

• Increase 529 contributions from $400 to $600 per month.
• Switch 401K contributions from pre-tax to Roth (need to see how this will impact paychecks and adjust monthly budget accordingly).
• Save for window replacement for entire house (initial quote is 50K)
• Plan for vacation/trips assuming we feel comfortable traveling - tentative plans to go to Universal in March 2021 and then WDW in Nov/Dec 2021

 

[Tygerlilly]

2020 started out so well and then... dumpster fire. I fell off my game plan, of the boards, off everything. So, here's hoping 2021 looks better financially.

Financial Goals
• Pay off 4 different small loans totaling $4,300.
• 6% company match both of our 401k at work.
• Save $7,000 towards a huge 2 week summer vacation (combined Disney for daughter's birthday and cousin's wedding).
• Save $2000 towards husband's teeth/denture.
• Pay down as much as possible on the car we just bought in September so we can hopefully trade it in in July for a bigger vehicle.
• Save $2000 towards maternity leave for our anniversary surprise.

Personal Goals
• Declutter the crap out of the house.
• Have a baby in July.
• First half marathon in November.

 

[wannabee]

2021 Financial Goals
- pay as much extra on mortgage as possible - 1/1/21 balance $73219
- increase 401k by amount of annual raise ( hopefully between 2-3%)

 

[amalone1013]

2020 started out so well and then... dumpster fire. I fell off my game plan, of the boards, off everything. So, here's hoping 2021 looks better financially.

Financial Goals
• Pay off 4 different small loans totaling $4,300.
• 6% company match both of our 401k at work.
• Save $7,000 towards a huge 2 week summer vacation (combined Disney for daughter's birthday and cousin's wedding).
• Save $2000 towards husband's teeth/denture.
• Pay down as much as possible on the car we just bought in September so we can hopefully trade it in in July for a bigger vehicle.
• Save $2000 towards maternity leave for our anniversary surprise.

Personal Goals
• Declutter the crap out of the house.
• Have a baby in July.
• First half marathon in November.

Congrats on your surprise!

 

[pblack]

Congratulations @Tygerlilly !! Thats so exciting.

 

[nw6675]

2021 Financial:
1. Go back to work part time remote to pay off mortgage early. 15 more years to go, but plan on cutting that down to no more than 7.
2. Pay off the remaining car note early
3. No other debt, but need to continue to increase savings
4. No major vacations. Went to WDW last month, won't plan another until 2022 at earliest. Budget a few days at the beach in off season.

Personal:
1. Eat better, exercise more
2. Be the best mom and wife for my family

 

[PhoenixStrength]

@Tygerlilly congratulations!