Debt Dumpers - 2018

[bababear_50]

I'm here a few days early to get ready for 2018!
I will be making lots of financial changes in the New year and instead of becoming overwhelmed I am going to take baby
steps.
My baby step yesterday.................... take some time to review..............
I reviewed banking charges and fees for the last 6 months ........Holly Molly
I am a Mcdonalds coffee junkie,,lol.........
So instead of using my debit card 5 or 6 times a week and paying banking fees I am just going to cash pay or load a Gift card.
I downsized from two banks to just one bank,,so no more double monthly banking fees.
I paid off my VISA and cancelled it..............bank lady cut it up for me.
( I still have an emergency back-up one,,,no bells and whistles,,,,just a low interest rate,,currently 0 balance owing.).
It's a start.
Hugs Mel

 

[JacknSally]

Joining in. This is my anonymous account, although I'm a long-time DISer. Found out my spouse has charged several thousands of dollars in 2017 last night. I'm devastated, to say the least, because we were scheduled to be debt free in May. So, I'm posting here to try and encourage people who read this and feel embarrassed if they are in the same boat. It happens...even after more than 20 wonderful years of marriage. Yes, I cried myself to sleep. Yes, I cried typing this post, but I'm going to get through this. Here's the plan:

#1 - New CC debt $3472.98 -- According to my snowball chart, I'll have this paid off in June. But I'm going to throw anything I can at it to try and pay it off by April.
#2 - Main CC debt $18,509.99 -- Without a doubt, this hurts the most to post. We even have a WDW trip planned in December that I'm considering canceling, but I dread telling our kids. We've been planning it for 2 years. My goal for this one is to pay down, according to the snowball.

Those are my two goals. We have one car payment and a mortgage, too. If you need encouragement, if you want to cry, PM me (although I'm not sure if I can get PM's before 10 posts?). Want to rage? I get it. But I hope that by reading my soul-crushing debt, someone else can make a decision to move forward, one payment at a time.

If it's any consolation, we've got more CC debt than that, plus I have just under $20,000 in student loans. It definitely makes me sick to think about it all like that, and it really feels like despite all of our plans, we'll never be out of this boat. You're not alone.

Our "YAY WE CAN DO THIS" enthusiasm is quickly being drowned out by financial anxiety, and the year hasn't even started yet. The majority of our bills are due at the 1st of the month, and it really makes things tight for a few weeks every month. This is one of the months where it looks like we can't cover all the bills in time since the next paycheck doesn't come until the 5th, so into our small savings we go. The money we were given for the holidays to go out and buy the few things we asked for will instead go to groceries and bills. It's so frustrating and stressful and just flat exhausting.

Our 18-24 month payoff plan may be derailed, too, which is stressing me out a LOT. When I was hired at my current job in October, I was told it would be full time. Twice now I've only been scheduled 4 days in a week instead of 5, and this week I was only scheduled 3. I talked to my general manager who reiterated that he told me full time and he wants me there 5 days a week, and that he would make sure the woman who makes the schedule knows that, but until it actually starts happening I won't be able to rest easy. This week he found odd jobs for me to do for two days to pick up the hours I was short. Definitely not ideal. One of those days I ended up being sick and not able to come in, so that's two weeks of just 4 days, which shorts us $150 on my next check. DH has been able to work overtime the last two weeks, but because of my hours being short, his overtime really just puts us right back where we should've been had I been scheduled 5 days each week.

 

[Judique]

I'm here a few days early to get ready for 2018!
I will be making lots of financial changes in the New year and instead of becoming overwhelmed I am going to take baby
steps.
My baby step yesterday.................... take some time to review..............
I reviewed banking charges and fees for the last 6 months ........Holly Molly
I am a Mcdonalds coffee junkie,,lol.........
So instead of using my debit card 5 or 6 times a week and paying banking fees I am just going to cash pay or load a Gift card.
I downsized from two banks to just one bank,,so no more double monthly banking fees.
I paid off my VISA and cancelled it..............bank lady cut it up for me.
( I still have an emergency back-up one,,,no bells and whistles,,,,just a low interest rate,,currently 0 balance owing.).
It's a start.
Hugs Mel

I don't like bank fees so I don't have a bank. I have a credit union - Navy Federal. I only would have to pay fees if I messed up.

I think you are in Canada?? Do they have credit unions with less fees for banking?

As far as the credit card goes, its a tool. If it doesn't work for you, then cutting it is probably best. When I was younger, I remember cutting one up after I paid it off. Now I just toss them in a drawer.

 

[imbatman]

If it's any consolation, we've got more CC debt than that, plus I have just under $20,000 in student loans. It definitely makes me sick to think about it all like that, and it really feels like despite all of our plans, we'll never be out of this boat. You're not alone.

Thank you!

I'm torn between becoming debt free and taking our vacation. If we do cancel, my spouse has to inform the kids as to the why. That's non-negotiable. But I want to go as badly as they want to go. I've waited and planned for years.

 

[mommy2mrb]

Was soooo good today. DD got a target gift card for Christmas and I didn’t buy a thing!!!

Have gotten my budget made for next 6 months until we move in late June. Looks like I can really get a good chunk paid down and saved. Going to be better about putting my $ saved from coupons/sales into trip funds along with any extra “found $”.

I will be getting a $.50 per hour raise in January and my DD is getting 2% ($35) increase in her SS (death benefits from her daddy) which all will go into trip funds until she ages out in June at graduation.

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year and hopefully a debt free end of 2018!

 

[bababear_50]

I don't like bank fees so I don't have a bank. I have a credit union - Navy Federal. I only would have to pay fees if I messed up.

I think you are in Canada?? Do they have credit unions with less fees for banking?

As far as the credit card goes, its a tool. If it doesn't work for you, then cutting it is probably best. When I was younger, I remember cutting one up after I paid it off. Now I just toss them in a drawer.

Hi Hon
Yes I am in Canada where we are freezing right now, I leave for Cuba on Monday and can hardly wait for the warmth and sunshine. I am a member of the Educational Credit Union and I utilize it mostly for savings.I will check into utilizing it as a source of banking in a few months when I semi retire (going fulltime to part time).Thank-you for the suggestion.
Hugs Mel

 

[pblack]

I sort of worked on my budget today, but can only really plan for now till march. Our lease is up in march and we arent sure what we're doing yet. Plus our car lease is up in may and we need to figure out what we want to do about that.

We got paid for the first time in 2018 today. ( i get paid once a month at the end of the month, hubby gets paid on the 15th and end of the month) good news is we have enough money to pay off our everyday card, plus the 350 we had to put on another card due to vet bills. I was worried about the balance of the everyday card because of the vet bills, so being able to be off the other 350 now is amazing.

Starting off the year with just under $5000 left to pay off in credit card debt. This is about half of what we had at the start of last year. Unfortunately i don't know how much of it will be paid off this year. At least not until we know what we're doing in regards to where we live. We also have about $20k in student loans, but im not focused on those at all right now.

Im torn between taking our tax return and paying off credit cards or saving it towards a down payment on a house or condo. We live in ca with ridiculously high housing costs. Id like to try and save more money this year as well.

I think thats about it for now. Good luck to everyone with their goals!

 

[bababear_50]

I got my hair done today --highlights and a cut and *PAID CASH*--another baby step for me....
Hugs Mel

 

[piccolopat]

Thank you! I'm torn between becoming debt free and taking our vacation. If we do cancel, my spouse has to inform the kids as to the why. That's non-negotiable. But I want to go as badly as they want to go. I've waited and planned for years.

If I were you, I would delay the trip and work at being debt free. You'll be able to enjoy the trip so much more if you don't have to worry about how you will pay things off when you get home. You can also teach your kids a valuable lesson on the importance of being debt free and saving up for things first (assuming they are old enough to understand). Find free or cheap fun things to do near home.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

I'm wondering how people budget their income when they make a significant amount of it off commission or overtime pay?

Last year was easy as we just threw everything extra at our student loans, and we had almost non-existent living expenses. But as we look at moving out and budgeting for rent/morgage, utilities, etc I'm not sure how to plan. A third of our take home last year was from OT and commission. I don't really like the idea of budgeting off that, as what if we have less OT/commission in a month? But going off our base pay asa monthly budget makes things look a little tight for extra goals like savings or vacation. When commission checks come they're random and larger, and my OT is all over the place - for 2018 I'll start off with 40-55 OT hrs a paycheck, but at some point should settle to 16 OT hrs or less a paycheck.

So I was wondering if anyone else is in a similar situation, and how they handle that?

I'm wondering about basing other goals on a percentage basis, so when extra money comes in it is allotted like X% goes to Emergency fund, X% to debt payoff, X% to vacation... etc.

Ironically (or fate) Dave Ramsey had this question on the podcast I listened to today. This is from his website about budgeting for irregular income:

1. Create a budget.

When you make your budget, base your income on your lowest-paid month from the previous year.(We’ll cover how to handle more or less income in step three.) Then list all your expenses—everything from the electric bill to retirement savings to groceries. After your expenses are listed, put the amount you’ll spend next to each item, such as $100 for the cable bill or $200 for eating out. Once it’s all in front of you, the next step is to list your expenses according to importance.

2. Account for irregular income.
Now that you’ve got a basic, bare-bones budget, it’s time to plan for any income you bring in over that worst-case scenario you sketched out. list all other possible expenses you couldn’t cover in your budget, in order of priority. Ask yourself, If I had enough money for one more thing, what would it be? Mark that down. From there, continue to list expenses from the most essential to the least. Do this according to your needs. Don’t let some credit card collector scare you into thinking that paying them is a bigger deal than buying your child’s school supplies. Now that the plan is set, it’s time to spend.

3. Go down the list.
When you receive a paycheck, take the amount and spread it out among the items in your budget, prioritizing food, shelter, clothing and transportation. After that, cover the rest of your bills. If your check doesn’t cover everything listed, that’s okay. Use it to pay as much as you can. If you get an additional check during the month, pick up where the last check left off. If you end up with extra money after all expenses have been paid, then you can save more, spend more, or pay more on your debts. (If you have debts, definitely start paying them first!)

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

So I'm back in for 2018, got a bit derailed with life but we have tons going on with the kids so I need to tighten up the purse strings again.
I spent the day working on my January budget, paid bills, and got my debt snowball ready to go for 2018.

Today I paid off CC #1. YAY!
Next up is DH's car. That will be done in Feb.

Tomorrow I start working on my Taxes, oh the joy. LOL

My ultimate goal for 2018 is to get as much paid off as possible and cash flow new floors through the house and new kitchen cabinets.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Thank you so much for this! I wasn’t sure what exactly the onboard booking perks were with DCL!

omg, I could talk about DCL all day. That brings about a whole other addiction that makes the parks feel like manual labor. Not exaggerating.
At dinner our table is waiting for us. They pull out my chair, put my napkin on my lap and say, "Patti, how was your day?" They remember that dh and I like ice tea with our meal and that I prefer whole milk vs. half n half for my coffee after dessert. I don't have to keep reminding them every night.
When my kids were little, the servers would cut their meat and crack their lobster. If I tried to get up to do it, I'd be told, "No, no Mommy. You're on vacation too!" (We didn't cruise until our youngest was 4 so I doubt it would be THAT relaxing with a baby but you get the gist of it.)

Dh stays in touch on FB with one server from Hungary. He was so phenomenal, besides being good at his job, just all around nice guy with a great sense of humor. He taught my kids cool magic tricks and we would request him over and over.
One time when ds20 was around 12, on the first night at dinner ds asked if there would ever be creme brulee on this cruise and our server told him he would get him some. When ds pointed out that it's not on the menu that night, the server grabbed his pen and wrote it on the menu.
They are incredibly humble and just want you to be happy. (It was probably being served in a different dining room that night but he went out of his way to get some and made ds feel like a king.) We always tip extra, beyond the recommended amounts, when they go way beyond like that.

Castaway Cay is wonderful; no lugging chairs and umbrellas like I would if at our local shore. Just grab some towels as you step off the ship, however many you like, with used towel bins along the main path to toss them when they're wet. As a comparison, Carnival and Royal Caribbean make you sign out a specific # of towels with your stateroom # and you're charged $20 per towel if not returned, and be sure to save your proof that they were returned. So I'd be constantly pestering my kids where their towels were left, which of course they weren't sure so we'd guess. Freakin' cheapskates...as if I want to keep their used towels.
With DCL, the whole thing is a little slice of heaven. They bring drinks to your chair and it's all soooo relaxing.

I never, EVER leave the ship without rebooking. It's expensive enough already and I refuse to pay full price when there's a way to avoid it. Also prices tend to rise, not drop, so it's best to book early. TAs can't discount the cost of the cruise (sort of like Kohl's coupons and Nike, Levi's etc) but they do offer OBCs that are stackable on top of the DCL onboard booking OBCs. My TA matches what DCL gives. Like a WDW trip, you don't NEED a TA but hopefully it helps to keep her job and makes me happy.

Seriously, it's why I'm here on this thread to begin with and probably why I'll never be able to retire early. Oh well, no one ever puts on their tombstone, "If only I had spent more time at work." My kids have amazing memories not just the 4 of us but many with my parents, dh's parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.
Just a great family vacation. Be prepared for the 12-step program. I'm booked for our 20th cruise.

Check out the DCL boards, there is LOTs of helpful info there.

 

[martikus]

Thank you!

I'm torn between becoming debt free and taking our vacation. If we do cancel, my spouse has to inform the kids as to the why. That's non-negotiable. But I want to go as badly as they want to go. I've waited and planned for years.

I am normally a don’t do take the trip unless you can afford it without taking on debt and you have no cc debt, but in this case.....as long as the trip isn’t adding to your debt, I’d take the trip. You and the kids shouldn’t have to suffer for spouse’s choices. If you don’t take the trip I think you will resent this entire situation even more.

And if I may be so bold - you need to take over finances immediately. Spouse gets no credit cards, maybe a cash allowance weekly? You risk your financial future if these financial choices continue by spouse.

Hang in there!

 

[DnA2010]

If it's any consolation, we've got more CC debt than that, plus I have just under $20,000 in student loans. It definitely makes me sick to think about it all like that, and it really feels like despite all of our plans, we'll never be out of this boat. You're not alone.

Our "YAY WE CAN DO THIS" enthusiasm is quickly being drowned out by financial anxiety, and the year hasn't even started yet. The majority of our bills are due at the 1st of the month, and it really makes things tight for a few weeks every month. This is one of the months where it looks like we can't cover all the bills in time since the next paycheck doesn't come until the 5th, so into our small savings we go. The money we were given for the holidays to go out and buy the few things we asked for will instead go to groceries and bills. It's so frustrating and stressful and just flat exhausting.

Our 18-24 month payoff plan may be derailed, too, which is stressing me out a LOT. When I was hired at my current job in October, I was told it would be full time. Twice now I've only been scheduled 4 days in a week instead of 5, and this week I was only scheduled 3. I talked to my general manager who reiterated that he told me full time and he wants me there 5 days a week, and that he would make sure the woman who makes the schedule knows that, but until it actually starts happening I won't be able to rest easy. This week he found odd jobs for me to do for two days to pick up the hours I was short. Definitely not ideal. One of those days I ended up being sick and not able to come in, so that's two weeks of just 4 days, which shorts us $150 on my next check. DH has been able to work overtime the last two weeks, but because of my hours being short, his overtime really just puts us right back where we should've been had I been scheduled 5 days each week.

I was noticing all your awesome trips in your sig (you got to the world 4 times this year! so jealous!) and I’m sure you have tones of awesome memories from those although I have no cc debt and have paid off my student loans, I kinda wish I’d done a bit more in my 20s, even if it meant dealing with a bit of debt - my mom had always drilled us away from spending

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I'm wondering how people budget their income when they make a significant amount of it off commission or overtime pay?

Last year was easy as we just threw everything extra at our student loans, and we had almost non-existent living expenses. But as we look at moving out and budgeting for rent/morgage, utilities, etc I'm not sure how to plan. A third of our take home last year was from OT and commission. I don't really like the idea of budgeting off that, as what if we have less OT/commission in a month? But going off our base pay asa monthly budget makes things look a little tight for extra goals like savings or vacation. When commission checks come they're random and larger, and my OT is all over the place - for 2018 I'll start off with 40-55 OT hrs a paycheck, but at some point should settle to 16 OT hrs or less a paycheck.

So I was wondering if anyone else is in a similar situation, and how they handle that?

I'm wondering about basing other goals on a percentage basis, so when extra money comes in it is allotted like X% goes to Emergency fund, X% to debt payoff, X% to vacation... etc.

Our checks are VERY predictable but if I were in your shoes, I would budget necessities off of your base pay and then use the OT and commissions toward "optional" things like savings and vacations. You don't want to have to dip into your vacation fund to cover an extra high gas bill in Feb or high electric bill in July. This is where having a Capital One 360 account is very handy. You can have up to 36 savings accounts (IIRC) listed under one log in and you can nickname each one whatever you like. So mine are named Car Insurance, Sewer, Christmas, Vacation, New Car, Escrow (for taxes and HO ins.)
It really helps keep me organized. If that were all swimming around 1 pot together called "Savings" I would have no idea if I'm ahead or behind in each category.
Dh was never good at paying bills and I've been doing it so long he really has no idea what things cost but when I recently showed him all our accounts and how I can set a goal for each account and it graphs how close I am to that goal, he was so impressed. His eyes nearly bugged out when he saw how much I had saved. Really it's mostly $ that is earmarked for future bills but it's so much easier on our minds to know it's just a matter of moving funds from one account to another to pay the bills instead of our old way of scrambling to scrape up for those infrequent bills or Christmas gifts.

 

[dosekies]

I am in!

Main goal - pay off as much of my student loans as possibly. I have been throwing all I can at them so far, but it will be harder now that I have a rent payment. If I can pay as much towards them in 2018 as I did in 2017 I would be ecstatic. I started with about $65,000 after graduation in 2015 and have paid off just under $30,000 so far.
-hoping to have a court house wedding towards the end of the year, so save for a honeymoon in 2019
-stop eating out so much and cook healthier meals at home
-get back into a workout regiment

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Joining in. This is my anonymous account, although I'm a long-time DISer. Found out my spouse has charged several thousands of dollars in 2017 last night. I'm devastated, to say the least, because we were scheduled to be debt free in May. So, I'm posting here to try and encourage people who read this and feel embarrassed if they are in the same boat. It happens...even after more than 20 wonderful years of marriage. Yes, I cried myself to sleep. Yes, I cried typing this post, but I'm going to get through this. Here's the plan:

#1 - New CC debt $3472.98 -- According to my snowball chart, I'll have this paid off in June. But I'm going to throw anything I can at it to try and pay it off by April.
#2 - Main CC debt $18,509.99 -- Without a doubt, this hurts the most to post. We even have a WDW trip planned in December that I'm considering canceling, but I dread telling our kids. We've been planning it for 2 years. My goal for this one is to pay down, according to the snowball.

Those are my two goals. We have one car payment and a mortgage, too. If you need encouragement, if you want to cry, PM me (although I'm not sure if I can get PM's before 10 posts?). Want to rage? I get it. But I hope that by reading my soul-crushing debt, someone else can make a decision to move forward, one payment at a time.

You will get through this. Baby steps. Ours was far, far worse than this. Probably triple that or more when I confessed to dh that I hadn't done well in making a budget or even thoroughly reading all our statements . Our kids were little and I rarely had a free minute to just ponder a simple thought in my weary brain and so I'd just pay a bit more than the minimum on each bill with no definite plan or focus. We had a ton of equity in our home and interest rates on CCs very high, >25%. So it made sense at the time to refinance and cash out to pay them off. Great!

Except that really doesn't teach us how to budget and learn self control over spending & temptation, right? It simply moved the debt from one column to another. It was just a matter of time until it started creeping up again. It was probably up to $30k and I had finished saving $8k for a new roof and had prepaid a LOT of aspects of a Med cruise we had booked (flights, excursions, etc.) and that's when I found this thread. 2013. I would have lost money to cancel the trip so I kept our plans (with NO regrets still) and kept moving forward. In the months before the trip, I started making my snowball list, trying to add up how much leftover we'd have with no debt besides a mortgage. Ahh, it looked so so far away and still a pipe dream but wow! imagine having all that leftover going into savings every month instead of paying bills with it.
When the trip was done I hunkered down and got right to work in saving up an emergency fund of $1000 then started my snowball. Since then I have paid off all our CCs, then paid off dh's truck 6 months early. Then took on $15k for a Parent Plus Loan for ds to attend college (besides loans in his name)which he later changed his mind and quit, putting all loans into repayment mode instead of deferred. Paid that off too and now all we have is our mortgage and a small home equity loan for an office addition last year, originally $35k @ 10 yrs, now under $25k 18 months into it.
FWIW, the Parent Plus loan went into repayment mode and dh really pleaded for the HE loan for the office just 2 weeks before I was scheduled to be debt free except a mortgage. Gosh, one day I could see the light at the end of the tunnel and next thing you know we're back in the dark again .Then once ds returned home from college and though he would attend our county college, so he needed a car. ugh! So there we were close to $60k again.
We hunkered down again and I will never ever stop. Sadly, my in-laws passed away and dh + 5 siblings sold their parents house this week so hopefully in the next week or 2 that loan will be gone plus some extra to actually invest.

Wow! Never thought this day would come and it would have come sooner if we hadn't taken a couple trips each year but my job is physically and emotionally stressful (women being screened for &/or being diagnosed with breast cancer) so I feel those little breaks keep me sane and I return with renewed strength to tackle our debt.

So yes, with a strong marriage you can get through this. I was the one on the receiving end of forgiveness. Dh didn't even yell at me or get angry or upset. Just an attitude of, "Hmm, how do we handle this?" I was surprised. Now I think we are stronger than ever.

Do your trip and move forward. Tell your kids in advance, if they're old enough to understand, that saving for the trip means not having extra to spend on other things for a while, both before and after the trip. Maybe you can trim it down so it's not a huge splurge? Like 1 day at each park and 1 rest/non-park day instead of a full week. That saves not just on hotel but food costs too. Stick to what's most important and you will get through this.
Seriously, read Dave Ramsey's baby steps. It was very inspiring.

Good luck to you!!

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

With DCL, the whole thing is a little slice of heaven.

THIS. Seriously you hit the nail on the head! This will technically be our third Disney cruise, but in a way it's like it's my first. I went on the Wonder when I was 12 and barely remember, plus I didn't have much say in the booking process obviously. We got married on Castaway Cay last year, which was just a dream come true and like something out of a movie, but I feel like with all of the wedding stuff I didn't get to experience a lot of the things cruise guests typically get to experience, so I'm like a newbie and am REALLY looking forward to these experiences.

Dh stays in touch on FB with one server from Hungary.

This is amazing!! How incredibly special!

Be prepared for the 12-step program. I'm booked for our 20th cruise.

Oh yes I feel this way already- and it's only going to get worse I'm sure!! What's your favorite ship? I've only been on the Wonder and the Magic so far, we're booked on the Dream this Sept!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

THIS. Seriously you hit the nail on the head! This will technically be our third Disney cruise, but in a way it's like it's my first. I went on the Wonder when I was 12 and barely remember, plus I didn't have much say in the booking process obviously. We got married on Castaway Cay last year, which was just a dream come true and like something out of a movie, but I feel like with all of the wedding stuff I didn't get to experience a lot of the things cruise guests typically get to experience, so I'm like a newbie and am REALLY looking forward to these experiences.



This is amazing!! How incredibly special!



Oh yes I feel this way already- and it's only going to get worse I'm sure!! What's your favorite ship? I've only been on the Wonder and the Magic so far, we're booked on the Dream this Sept!

Wow that’s awesome to get married on CC! We have seen wedding parties there and on the ship and part of me felt what a great place to be married but then you would miss out on the relaxing part of it. Lol. I think you need a do over!

Hands down our fav is the Magic. Probably because she was our first (and only) for maybe our first 5 cruises. We always said we would NEVER do a 3-nt sailing, that’s just a tease, like having 2 licks of a lollipop then having someone take it away from you.

After a while I found sometimes we only have a 4 day weekend off school (Jewish holidays in Sept) and I really need a day at CC and being hurricane season and early in the school year, it’s a cheap time to fly and sail.
We couldn’t wait for them to build larger ships but it only seemed to add more people, and made CC and WD theater more crowded.

I have stayed away from the cruise boards a lot while paying down our debt because all that discussion makes me wanna say F it, let’s just charge and sail!
So I need to be strong. Not just for me and dh but for our kids too. I dont wanna be one of those parents who has to borrow from their adult kids.

We were booked for the Norwegian Fjords cruise in Aug but I couldn’t get that week off work but hopefully it will be possible in 2019.

Enjoy it now while you dont have to be concerned with school schedules. Holiday & summer sailings are so high.

Ds17 graduates in June and wants to do all the cruises we could never do while he was in school. Lol
All those 14-night sailings during the school year.

 

[seb65]

Although I don't post often, I still read the 2017 thread and would like to join this thread.
Last year, I finally paid off my student loan. We paid down our credit card debt, but not all. We were able to pay, in cash, two family trips. And, for my husband's health, installed central air (also in cash). So, I feel like the credit card debt *could* be gone.

My goal for 2018 is to pay the remaining credit card debt and this year pay down my auto loan as my husband's car isn't getting younger! Our house deck is worn and needs replacing, so I am going to have to look into the best way to do this (obviously cash would be ideal, but not sure how much I could afford for that??).

We paid cash for Christmas, so did well there. Although I love it, my husband took money out of our savings to buy a necklace for me for Christmas. I would have rather our bathroom re-tiled, lol.

Our son will be going to college in 2021....we have nothing for that. He wants to join the Air Force, but with his ADHD, I am afraid he will not be let in. We shall see. If not, I will need to figure out his tuition and hope for as many scholarships as possible. It just stinks that it took him his whole life for us to even get to a position to save. (My job didn't always pay well and my husband only recently got a job that was steady and paid well enough).