Debt Dumpers - 2018

No debt dumping news but I did book our November trip to the world today. Dates are November 5th to the 10th which is considered “Jersey week” since NJ schools are normally closed for the teachers convention and many NJ residents go to Disney that week. Used JetBlue points for flights and my travel agent booked us at Port Orleans French Quarter for $180 a night. Annual passes, so no ticket costs. Decided to hold off on buying MVMCP tickets until August so we can use our AP discounts.
How exciting! I hope one day we get enough airline miles to book on points! The lodging rate sounds pretty good. All around sounds like a good priced trip!
 
How exciting! I hope one day we get enough airline miles to book on points! The lodging rate sounds pretty good. All around sounds like a good priced trip!
Thanks, the rate is pretty good as I’m paying $300 a night for PO Riverside in June. The JetBlue points I acquired from sign up bonuses and transfer promotions on various cards. Hang out in the I love credit card thread to learn.
 
Ok, now you've all got me thinking about braces.... I had them in high school, about a year total from when I got spacers between my molars to when I got them off. But like @Jen and Ashwin said, I was also terrible about wearing my retainer. I can feel where my front teeth have moved a bit with my tongue. I still have a wire on the inside of my bottom teeth and last year at one of my dentist appointments they mentioned taking it out and wearing a retainer instead. I wanted to cry, I think there are few things I hated worse than my retainer.

It's hard enough to gauge for 1 household how long something might last and be able to make plans around that. Having your plans involve 2 households makes for double trouble. jmho. Is there some reason you want them to buy your dh's car?
Other than they would know who they're buying from and trade in isn't a great deal.

When ds21 was a teenager, I was hoping my parents would be ready to get rid of my mom's Explorer by the time he turned 17 so I could buy it from them. I'd pay them more than a trade in deal would get them and at least I'd know the vehicle was well cared for. Not only did they not want to sell it 4 yrs ago, I probably couldn't get them to part with it now either for ds17.
I gave up on that idea and can't plan around other people plans. I have to just make my own plans. I can only dealing with Murphy in one house.

Yeah, this is definitely a one time thing for trying to work around Murphy for 2 households :) It's really just as you said, they know it was taken care of and we get a better deal than trade in without having to do the work of a private sale. We knew it was coming, but we weren't expecting to be so close to paying off my car loan at all, so I just got excited over that, and then ILs car finally breathed it's last.

Were you moving to a different state? Sorry I can't recall. I know the frustration of things going totally opposite with money that one gets set in the mind because life just goes in an opposite direction, I've been dealing a lot with this lately.

We're discussing if we want to stay here or move. COL is just pretty crazy here. Neither of us are overly attached to our current jobs. Mine should be an okay job, like an easy job for the pay, and it has pretty good benefits... but some of the stuff with how it's run takes an okay job and makes it stressful, frustrating, and lots of OT time.
 
Hey all you former retainer-wearers! Please tell me the scoop (I never had braces).

My 17 year old is getting her braces off this coming week. She will be given a retainer to wear. I am hoping for 100% compliance as I paid several thousand dollars for this endeavor which was cosmetic, not crucial. I am already skeptical because she had a custom-made night guard to start wearing 20 months ago when head x-rays showed an alarming problem with a jaw joint. I am guessing that she wears it 50% of the nights (and this is to save herself scary jaw surgery in her future)!

What did you guys hate about your retainer? Thanks for any info!
 


Hey all you former retainer-wearers! Please tell me the scoop (I never had braces).

My 17 year old is getting her braces off this coming week. She will be given a retainer to wear. I am hoping for 100% compliance as I paid several thousand dollars for this endeavor which was cosmetic, not crucial. I am already skeptical because she had a custom-made night guard to start wearing 20 months ago when head x-rays showed an alarming problem with a jaw joint. I am guessing that she wears it 50% of the nights (and this is to save herself scary jaw surgery in her future)!

What did you guys hate about your retainer? Thanks for any info!

A lot of it depends on the type of retainer she gets. My orthodontist gave me the standard metal ones on top and bottom, but a lot of my friends had the clear ones. The only issue I really had was that the plastic covered the roof of my mouth, so I had a lisp. This was really only an issue when I had to wear it 24/7, which was only for a few months. It's been 7 years since I got my retainer, and I still wear it at night 98% of the time. Sometimes I'll forget to wear it, and I can tell the next time I put it on that my teeth have moved a little bit.
 
I did better last night - watched a movie from my dvd collection then read some of my book. I'm going to try to go without it until the fall and plan to get it hooked up again then to get me through the winter months. Plus I'll want to watch the new season of Stranger Things on Netflix!

I just got the keys to my place this morning and will be moving in this weekend. They did some improvements like fresh paint and a new bathroom medicine cabinet, plus they already have the new fence up in the backyard to divide the two units (it's a duplex) which is awesome. She said she's excited to see what I do with the yard space. She also said they would be interested in hiring me to look at a couple of their other properties and give them some plant suggestions and maybe help with planting those! I'm a horticulturist, if I hadn't mentioned that before. :) So, I'm excited about the opportunity to do that and offset some of my increased expenses with this new place.

Hi Hon
I hope the move goes smoothly and I am so happy that they are interested in your special skills,,maybe a win win situation?
I went back to school a few years ago to take a Horticultural program and after the second week I gave up as I just couldn't learn the latin words for plants. People ask me what I want to do when I retire and I say "just give a watering can,,some dirt and plants/flowers and I'll be happy".
Welcome to you new home and a fresh start!
Hugs to you
Mel
 
Hey all you former retainer-wearers! Please tell me the scoop (I never had braces).

My 17 year old is getting her braces off this coming week. She will be given a retainer to wear. I am hoping for 100% compliance as I paid several thousand dollars for this endeavor which was cosmetic, not crucial. I am already skeptical because she had a custom-made night guard to start wearing 20 months ago when head x-rays showed an alarming problem with a jaw joint. I am guessing that she wears it 50% of the nights (and this is to save herself scary jaw surgery in her future)!

What did you guys hate about your retainer? Thanks for any info!

I can only speak as a parent; I never had braces either. My kids have the clear plastic type of retainer for the top teeth and a permanent retainer on the bottom teeth. My older ds has a repair of a chipped front tooth that needed another repair after the braces came off but ds never mentioned it so as soon as the braces came off, they fitted him for a retainer and sent it home with him same day. Once the repair was done over, that first retainer no longer fit so we needed another on at $180. grrr...

A year later ds#2 got his braces off and was sent home with a retainer. Within a month he lost it. They made another one for him, another $180, and before we even got the bill for that one he lost it. When I ordered the 3rd one, I asked if they had binky-style retainer that he can clip onto his shirt because I’m not buying another. It killed me to say that after $6000 for his braces but really, I’m not buying another one. 3 retainers in 3 months just puts me over the edge. He wears it to bed a few nights per month and won’t take it on vacation. He lost the case for it so it’s usually sitting on his nightstand. Ick..

I told both kids that the only way to keep their teeth as perfect as the day their braces came off is to wear their retainer FOREVER. I have coworkers who had braces as kids, stopped wearing their retainer as soon as they were allowed, and their teeth eventually shifted. Some got braces a 2nd time as an adult, others just regretted that they gave up their retainer use.

One coworker who grew up poor and couldn't afford braces until she paid for them herself as an adult, said that she still wears her retainer 20 yrs later, not every day but just wears it to sleep a few nights per week. Her teeth are still perfect.

I told my kids these same stories when their braces came off so they know it's a lifetime commitment if they want to maintain their alignment. If they choose to stop wearing them, that's on them. I paid for the first set of braces, they can pay for the 2nd set.
 


No debt dumping news but I did book our November trip to the world today. Dates are November 5th to the 10th which is considered “Jersey week” since NJ schools are normally closed for the teachers convention and many NJ residents go to Disney that week. Used JetBlue points for flights and my travel agent booked us at Port Orleans French Quarter for $180 a night. Annual passes, so no ticket costs. Decided to hold off on buying MVMCP tickets until August so we can use our AP discounts.
DH and I talked and we are skipping MVMCP to allow more spending at Epcot for Food and Wine. The $400 we’d save could buy a lot of tasty food (we don’t drink). I’m ok with this as we are still doing the Halloween party.
 
I am probably an outlier, but I stopped wearing my retainer maybe a year after my braces came off and haven’t had any issues. I got braces VERY early since I lost all my baby teeth very young and had a serious overbite with my adult teeth. I got my braces just before I turned 8 and they came off right after I turned 10. I might have worn my retainer until I was 12... I started high school right after I turned 14 and I know I wasn’t wearing it then for sure. My dentist said I still have a very slight overbite, but I don’t think it’s noticeable and I have a lot of people tell me I have really nice teeth (not to sound weird or like a braggart!). I’m 28 now and no one has ever suggested braces to me again, so I’m thankful!
 
Got my car looked at today, recommeded work is $1800, have to call around for different pricing and see if it can be done cheaper. Plus spent $260 on it today for diagnostic and things. Ugh. It’s running, so that’s fine but will have to fix some things soon. Unless I’m getting another car, have to do some thinking repair car or replace sooner than my projected time in two years.
 
Thanks for the responses, guys. My DD was a very late teether and by the time she was 15 the ortho said, "We are going to go now," even though she still didn't have all her 12 year molars. He had been "watching her" for 3 years. He learned with a whole head x-ray though that she has a damaged joint where her jaw connects to her skull, on the lower right. He said that it is such that he cannot put braces on her lower teeth because moving those teeth would de-stablize the jaw. He was very concerned and surprised to see it. Those lower teeth were already straight, but it meant that he couldn't fix her overbite. It was her uppers that were very crooked, though, and those he could fix. So she has had braces on them for almost two years. They moved quickly and easily.

I think that they will really need to have the retainer in order to stay straight, given that he couldn't change the whole bite (it looks improved to my untrained eye). But she is a bit of a stubborn gal, goes to bed late after studying, and I foresee her just skipping it with some frequency but telling me she is using it. Sigh. I guess I am imagining that it is just over night, but maybe it has to be 24/7 for awhile?
 
Thanks for the responses, guys. My DD was a very late teether and by the time she was 15 the ortho said, "We are going to go now," even though she still didn't have all her 12 year molars. He had been "watching her" for 3 years. He learned with a whole head x-ray though that she has a damaged joint where her jaw connects to her skull, on the lower right. He said that it is such that he cannot put braces on her lower teeth because moving those teeth would de-stablize the jaw. He was very concerned and surprised to see it. Those lower teeth were already straight, but it meant that he couldn't fix her overbite. It was her uppers that were very crooked, though, and those he could fix. So she has had braces on them for almost two years. They moved quickly and easily.

I think that they will really need to have the retainer in order to stay straight, given that he couldn't change the whole bite (it looks improved to my untrained eye). But she is a bit of a stubborn gal, goes to bed late after studying, and I foresee her just skipping it with some frequency but telling me she is using it. Sigh. I guess I am imagining that it is just over night, but maybe it has to be 24/7 for awhile?
I wore mine 24/7 for the first year or so. I wasn’t the best when I first switched to nighttime only so my bottom retainer had to be remade and I had to wear just that one 24/7 for a bit. About 10 years ago (2.5 years after braces came off) I started wearing a night guard on my top teeth for grinding and I still wear my bottom retainer every night with it even though my ortho said I only needed the retainer every other night.
 
I had to wear my retainer 24/7 for a few months. I was good about wearing it at night for maybe a year or so before I petered off - I even took it to college freshmen year even though I didn't really wear it. My 4 front teeth were the worst from what I remember, and I can feel with my tongue that they've shifted a bit, but not really noticeable to me in the mirror. I used to have a gap between the 2 front teeth (big enough I could fit a spoon...) and the 4 teeth were angled in towards the back of my mouth at the bottom. That was why my parents took me in originally, for the gap and they thought my front teeth didn't come down enough. My mom told me I looked like I had fangs because it made my canines very prominent. But really the front teeth were just angled, so they looked short/not far enough down. I don't remember my bottom teeth being too bad, but I've always had the permanent retainer there now. My dentist only mentions removing it because it's difficult to clean around - and especially for me, I think, as my mouth is on the small side. My dentist growing up used to give me (and my mom) kid's toothbrushes :rotfl: I'm just scared to have it removed and have my teeth shift - my dad's dentist took his wire out and his teeth are terribly crooked again (this was all before I was born, but still scares me). I wish we had at least asked about doing that for my top teeth, though I'm not sure what they would have said.
 
Hi Hon
I hope the move goes smoothly and I am so happy that they are interested in your special skills,,maybe a win win situation?
I went back to school a few years ago to take a Horticultural program and after the second week I gave up as I just couldn't learn the latin words for plants. People ask me what I want to do when I retire and I say "just give a watering can,,some dirt and plants/flowers and I'll be happy".
Welcome to you new home and a fresh start!
Hugs to you
Mel

Thanks, Mel! Moving was exhausting today and I still have a few last items to get moved over, then need to do a final cleaning of floors at the old place. Yesterday it snowed and rained all day long so I didn't get as much moved on my own as I'd hoped. Had a few friends helping today and it still took us about seven hours making three trips back and forth. I'm ready to take a hot shower and plop down with a movie, but still have to do a few things first. Eating dinner at a place with free wifi. Haven't eaten since early this morning.

For the latin names, it's all about repetition to learn them - I found flashcards were helpful! I still remember the latin names for a bunch of animals that we learned in high school zoology classes. My teacher had us repeat them at the beginning of EVERY class and boy did they stick! :)

Thanks again for your kind thoughts/wishes!
 
I also stopped wearing my retainer about a year after EXTENSIVE orthodontia (5 years total). My teeth haven't moved. I was 16 when I stopped wearing the retainer and I'll be 40 this year.
 
Money comes in, money goes out.

DH's new car's windshield has a HUGE horizontal crack right at eye level. Well, because his car is new, there isn't an aftermarket windshield available yet. Also, his car has a windshield mounted camera/sensor system for Honda Sense...the repair requires specialty windshield mounts that are $200 each (need 2). THEN, the camera may need to be recalibrated after the replacement, which runs another $350-400. The total repair cost...$1450. Yikes!!!

Of course, we have a $1000 deductible on our car insurance. I figured, I'd rather save on the premium and pay out the $1000 when needed, and believe it or not, this is our FIRST claim in 17 years, so I'm sure I saved more than $1000 in premium costs over the years, but it still bites. We also don't live in a state that mandates insurance coverage specifically for windshields.

I never imagined a windshield could be so expensive, but now that I know,I will probably drop the deductible for comprehensive damage down to $250. Because DH drives exclusively on freeways and a cracked windshield is practically a given.

Looks like we will have to suspend May's savings to pay for the repair, but then will be back on track.
 
Money comes in, money goes out.

DH's new car's windshield has a HUGE horizontal crack right at eye level. Well, because his car is new, there isn't an aftermarket windshield available yet. Also, his car has a windshield mounted camera/sensor system for Honda Sense...the repair requires specialty windshield mounts that are $200 each (need 2). THEN, the camera may need to be recalibrated after the replacement, which runs another $350-400. The total repair cost...$1450. Yikes!!!

Of course, we have a $1000 deductible on our car insurance. I figured, I'd rather save on the premium and pay out the $1000 when needed, and believe it or not, this is our FIRST claim in 17 years, so I'm sure I saved more than $1000 in premium costs over the years, but it still bites. We also don't live in a state that mandates insurance coverage specifically for windshields.

I never imagined a windshield could be so expensive, but now that I know,I will probably drop the deductible for comprehensive damage down to $250. Because DH drives exclusively on freeways and a cracked windshield is practically a given.

Looks like we will have to suspend May's savings to pay for the repair, but then will be back on track.

That sucks! Is the windshield not covered under warranty?
 
That sucks! Is the windshield not covered under warranty?

It's not covered against accidental damage, like from a flying projectile on the road. There is a large chip in the glass at the center of the crack. If it just randomly cracked and there was no visible chip, it might be covered as a defect in the glass. My DH heard something hit the windshield, but the crack developed when the car was parked in the sun later that day.
 
It's not covered against accidental damage, like from a flying projectile on the road. There is a large chip in the glass at the center of the crack. If it just randomly cracked and there was no visible chip, it might be covered as a defect in the glass. My DH heard something hit the windshield, but the crack developed when the car was parked in the sun later that day.

I would definitely try and see if it is covered under the warranty since the crack appeared after the time in the sun. The worst that can happen is they say now and you pay your deductible. But they might see it as covered.
 

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