Debt Dumpers 2024

[AmyAnne]

Every bill we pay is used with our current paycheck. We're one of the few that lives paycheck to paycheck.

I think most of us on this board are or have been in that position. I still recall the feeling of glee I felt when I realized it was payday and we still had a little left over from the last paycheck. Some lucky breaks boosted our income over the years and now with all of the kids more or less launched, we are focusing on catching up our retirement accounts. But there were many years of living paycheck to paycheck.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I get it. Most of us have been there(or are still there). Do you have access to a flexible spending account? They take money out pretax so you can use it to go to the doctor.

If it isn’t hard to find food for the next few weeks check sales. Breakfast for dinner is another inexpensive dinner. I don’t know if you eat smoked sausage but that and a jambalaya mix make an inexpensive meal. Also ham is super cheap this week.

Just keep chugging along. I have a cookie jar where I am putting cash towards Christmas (emergency money if necessary). I will also buy gift cards for our favorite restaurants when they go on sale. It is important to keep going along and not feel overwhelmed.

I know people who have access to a FSA but blow it off saying they need "all" of their paycheck and don't want the extra deduction from their take home pay. They don't realize it saves money in the long run because it lowers your taxable income. Why would you want to give more $$ to the IRS?

With our FSA we can either use their debit card to pay medical expenses or pay it ourselves and submit a receipt.
The first year we tried it (after both kids getting braces) we started with $1000/year for 4 of us and blew right through it by May. This year, I think we spent more than that just on eyeglasses and prescription sunglasses, and that is with vision insurance.

 

[jackers]

Aren’t FSA’S “use it or lose it?” You should only put money into one if you have guaranteed guaranteed expenses, not maybe expenses.

 

[dpswift]

Aren’t FSA’S “use it or lose it?” You should only put money into one if you have guaranteed guaranteed expenses, not maybe expenses.

Even a small amount is a good idea. I put the minimum in mine.$10 every 2 weeks. If it gets close to the end of the year and there is money left we use it for eye glasses or health items.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Aren’t FSA’S “use it or lose it?” You should only put money into one if you have guaranteed guaranteed expenses, not maybe expenses.

Yes, they are. It’s good to have a rough estimate of what your expected medical expenses will be.
OTC meds also qualify as well as sunscreen.
I have bad allergies so that alone amounts to several hundred $ for Allegra, Singulair, Flonase, sinus rinse, and prescription antibiotic ointment and steroid to dissolve into the sinus rinse.
If you never take medicines and only need an annual physical it may not be worth it.

I was shocked when we did the $1000 trial (for 4 of us) thinking it would last all year and it lasted less than 5 months.

ETA: We are both fair skinned and see a dermatologist every 6 months. That’s $400 in copays right there and he usually removes something so the pathologist copay is in addition to that.

I like to see my dentist 3x/year instead of 2. That means I pay out of pocket for one visit. That’s $150. For a few years, dh and I seemed to take turns with cracked molars needing crowns so they were $500+ each.

It adds up really fast.

 

[AJollyHoliday]

With the FSA we sit down each year and look at our "doctor/medical" budget category as well as our doctor visits we did the previous year. We have an estimate of what we spent there as well as what we spent on glasses which we get about every other year. We blew through out FSA last year by May as well with some unplanned events, but it was nice to have that money already set aside. It is a tax benefit savings account. Yes, you have to use it all, but they usually extend the "use it or lose it" into the next calendar year. I see 4-5 doctors yearly or every 6 months for my 2 cancers, plus dentist and dermatologist, those visits add up!

Report back on my "budget saving moment" which was repairing my espresso machine. The YouTube video I found was amazing since it was my exact machine. I took it apart, had all the replacement pieces already on hand, and was able to get it all cleaned up and back together. I am happy to report that no water is leaking yet (fingers crossed). I am engineer so these projects make me happy. DH is working on repairing our washer and tub drain. We have a washer that is about 15 years old and we just don't want to replace it since washers today don't seem to last as long. We are definitely in the repair not replace camp with our appliances. We want to remodel our kitchen, but right now all that money is going to our daughter's HS tuition. It's ok, our kitchen appliances have been working and we have been able to repair them when they haven't.

While we don't live paycheck to paycheck anymore, I still have to rely on my paycheck depositing to pay the mortgage. You may say isn't that paycheck to paycheck, but we put away into many savings accounts throughout the month so technically we have the money. Until we don't have a mortgage, we will always need our paychecks, haha.

 

[disney-inspired]

.

 

[disney-inspired]

I know people who have access to a FSA but blow it off saying they need "all" of their paycheck and don't want the extra deduction from their take home pay. They don't realize it saves money in the long run because it lowers your taxable income. Why would you want to give more $$ to the IRS?

With our FSA we can either use their debit card to pay medical expenses or pay it ourselves and submit a receipt.
The first year we tried it (after both kids getting braces) we started with $1000/year for 4 of us and blew right through it by May. This year, I think we spent more than that just on eyeglasses and prescription sunglasses, and that is with vision insurance.

I have been enrolled in the 'Gold' level insurance plan for a few years now - higher paycheck premium but flat $55 copay for specialty visits. I have aggressive rheumatoid arthritis so I see a rheumatologist every 3 months or so and if I were to choose the silver plan, I'd have to pay the full appt cost ($850/visit) until meeting my deductible to have the insurance start paying. So it makes way more sense to pay more from the get go to avoid a huge bite into my paycheck.

I enrolled in the FSA and estimated the cost of so many visits per the year to the rheumatologist, primary care MD and my host of meds. It's worked out well so far.

Before getting sick I would choose the high deductible health plan to have access to an HSA, which has more lax rules than FSA.

 

[CinderEmma94]

End of March update!

We actually stayed on track this month and that makes me so happy. I track our net worth monthly and this month for the first time since we combined finances when we got married (we are 32 and 30, married for 9 years in April) we are actually in the positive by quite a bit! Years of hard work is paying off and its so satisfying to watch. At this point our finances are basically automated with a couple of tweaks here and there each month. We follow the Budget Mom budget-by-paycheck method (started with DR but his methods and delivery of those methods don't work for me personally).

We booked our flights for our May CA trip and it was so nice to be able to just pay for it with cash (we are funding this trip with the bonus my husband received). We decided we are going to do 2 days at Disneyland when we are there to celebrate our two older kids turning 8 and 5 and I am SO excited. We are WDW locals now so that's what they are used to, but I was born and raised in Southern CA and was a DLR pass holder until I moved out of state for college. I am so excited to be able to take the kids and watch them enjoy my "home park".

Financial:
1. Pay off card #1 (starting balance $11,600) Current balance: $6,860
2. Pay off card #2 (starting balance $6,500) Current balance: $5,575
3. Grow emergency fund to $15,000 (currently at $7,350) Paused, debt is taking priority right now.

Personal:
1. 30 minute workout at least 5 days/week
Still on track! I still work out for at least 30 mins daily. It is usually more like 45min-hour. I switch between walk/run and cycling and I also take a 10min peloton stretching class every day.

2. Read 100 books
I passed my yearly goal this month!! I am currently at 122 books for the year and will likely finish 2-3 more before April starts. Next year my goal will be more like 400

 

[Danicat77]

Aren’t FSA’S “use it or lose it?” You should only put money into one if you have guaranteed guaranteed expenses, not maybe expenses.

Everyone should double check their plan, but ours covers everything from medical and dental, OTCs, and even things like tampons and Band-Aides. I think there’s even some lotions and sunscreen that can be covered! We’ve never used it for any of that because we’ve had enough in dental, orthodontics and medical with our family of 6. But we’ve gone less in past and then regretted it. Plus up to a certain amount actually can be carried over on my plan. Which is nice just in case.

 

[disney-inspired]

Payday so time to update my ticker! Favorite part of payday.

 

[pblack]

2. Read 100 books
I passed my yearly goal this month!! I am currently at 122 books for the year and will likely finish 2-3 more before April starts. Next year my goal will be more like 400

You can always up your goal now. Great job on so many books and your other goals!

 

[AJollyHoliday]

We follow the Budget Mom budget-by-paycheck method (started with DR but his methods and delivery of those methods don't work for me personally).

I like Budget Mom a lot! Her planners are so pretty! DR can be tough in terms of methods/delivery. I also had to really separate the political/religious aspect and focus on the core money advice. But I really like Budget Mom and there is also The Budgeting Wife who I really like as well. The core principles of each are similar/the same, it is just the delivery that works for each person.

I really like finding frugal/budgeting people to follow, but I struggle when it comes to the food/grocery advice. I just don't eat quite the same. We focus on organic/free range meats and more whole30/paleo eating. I have been thinking about finding frugal whole30/paleo people to follow. Any suggestions?

 

[pblack]

End of March 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 - No set increase, but I did add some one-time money towards a couple of my goals.
• 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.) - Dad has a zoom appointment with the lawyer on Monday and then I assume everything will be written up and filed. Not sure how much this will cost just yet (still waiting to see if we'll get a friends and family discount or not.)

2024 Personal Goals:

• Exercise at least 3 times a week for at least 30 minutes - I think I hit at least 3 times most weeks in March. I might have missed 1 week. I've been keeping track by coloring in the dates on a "calendar" that someone here shared at the beginning of the year. Maybe Barkley?
• Travel as much as possible - We finally made out to watch my niece play softball in Sonoma. We stayed overnight and checked out a couple breweries and the casino that's down here. No overnight travel planned for April, but we do have a couple activities planned. A brewfest/90s party at one of our local breweries and then I was invited to a women-only wedding for one of my co-workers.
• Replace the patio cover in our backyard - No progress.
• Finally do something with our side yard - not sure exactly what at the moment - Talked to my brother about helping us level out our side yard, but haven't made any actual progress yet other than pulling all the weeds (which I need to do again).

We have lots of different travel plans coming up in May so i've been focusing a lot of our "extra" money towards our travel fund. My dad's doing OK, but he was diagnosed with COPD (not surprising - he smoked for 40+ years). His memory stuff has been kind of hit or miss. He had a really bad day a few days ago. It's been a lot to deal with emotionally and i'm just so ready for a vacation. But on the other hand i'm worried about being on vacation and something happening (not that I think it will, but still). Trying to get him to do things he should be doing or things that would help benefit him is a challenge as he thinks he knows best.

In the brief times we've had nice spring like weather, i've been trying to get work done in the backyard. We have a small section we've been working on since last year that really just needs to be finished. I hoped to work more on it this weekend, but it's rainy so that's not gonna happen. Hopefully we can get it done throughout April and be ready for the summer pool season.

Glad to see everyone is plugging along and working towards the goals! Even if the progress isn't as much as you'd like, small progress is better than nothing!

 

[pblack]

I really like finding frugal/budgeting people to follow, but I struggle when it comes to the food/grocery advice. I just don't eat quite the same. We focus on organic/free range meats and more whole30/paleo eating. I have been thinking about finding frugal whole30/paleo people to follow. Any suggestions?

I don't know if she's whole30/paleo, but InstantLoss on Instagram (maybe on other platforms, not sure) does a lot of organic/whole foods type recipes. She may be worth checking out. She also has a website https://instantloss.com/

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

With the FSA we sit down each year and look at our "doctor/medical" budget category as well as our doctor visits we did the previous year. We have an estimate of what we spent there as well as what we spent on glasses which we get about every other year. We blew through out FSA last year by May as well with some unplanned events, but it was nice to have that money already set aside. It is a tax benefit savings account. Yes, you have to use it all, but they usually extend the "use it or lose it" into the next calendar year. I see 4-5 doctors yearly or every 6 months for my 2 cancers, plus dentist and dermatologist, those visits add up!

Report back on my "budget saving moment" which was repairing my espresso machine. The YouTube video I found was amazing since it was my exact machine. I took it apart, had all the replacement pieces already on hand, and was able to get it all cleaned up and back together. I am happy to report that no water is leaking yet (fingers crossed). I am engineer so these projects make me happy. DH is working on repairing our washer and tub drain. We have a washer that is about 15 years old and we just don't want to replace it since washers today don't seem to last as long. We are definitely in the repair not replace camp with our appliances. We want to remodel our kitchen, but right now all that money is going to our daughter's HS tuition. It's ok, our kitchen appliances have been working and we have been able to repair them when they haven't.

While we don't live paycheck to paycheck anymore, I still have to rely on my paycheck depositing to pay the mortgage. You may say isn't that paycheck to paycheck, but we put away into many savings accounts throughout the month so technically we have the money. Until we don't have a mortgage, we will always need our paychecks, haha.

Our appliance repairman is a one-man company. He said he used to be an engineer for Lockheed-Martin. It paid very well but it was also very high stress. He always enjoyed tinkering with things to see how they work. So he eventually opted to leave the rat race and start his little business.
He says it doesn’t pay as well but he sets his own schedule/pace and is a much happier person.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

End of March 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 - No set increase, but I did add some one-time money towards a couple of my goals.
• 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.) - Dad has a zoom appointment with the lawyer on Monday and then I assume everything will be written up and filed. Not sure how much this will cost just yet (still waiting to see if we'll get a friends and family discount or not.)

2024 Personal Goals:

• Exercise at least 3 times a week for at least 30 minutes - I think I hit at least 3 times most weeks in March. I might have missed 1 week. I've been keeping track by coloring in the dates on a "calendar" that someone here shared at the beginning of the year. Maybe Barkley?
• Travel as much as possible - We finally made out to watch my niece play softball in Sonoma. We stayed overnight and checked out a couple breweries and the casino that's down here. No overnight travel planned for April, but we do have a couple activities planned. A brewfest/90s party at one of our local breweries and then I was invited to a women-only wedding for one of my co-workers.
• Replace the patio cover in our backyard - No progress.
• Finally do something with our side yard - not sure exactly what at the moment - Talked to my brother about helping us level out our side yard, but haven't made any actual progress yet other than pulling all the weeds (which I need to do again).

We have lots of different travel plans coming up in May so i've been focusing a lot of our "extra" money towards our travel fund. My dad's doing OK, but he was diagnosed with COPD (not surprising - he smoked for 40+ years). His memory stuff has been kind of hit or miss. He had a really bad day a few days ago. It's been a lot to deal with emotionally and i'm just so ready for a vacation. But on the other hand i'm worried about being on vacation and something happening (not that I think it will, but still). Trying to get him to do things he should be doing or things that would help benefit him is a challenge as he thinks he knows best.

In the brief times we've had nice spring like weather, i've been trying to get work done in the backyard. We have a small section we've been working on since last year that really just needs to be finished. I hoped to work more on it this weekend, but it's rainy so that's not gonna happen. Hopefully we can get it done throughout April and be ready for the summer pool season.

Glad to see everyone is plugging along and working towards the goals! Even if the progress isn't as much as you'd like, small progress is better than nothing!

I’ve never heard of a women only wedding.
All of the guests are only women too?

 

[CinderEmma94]

You can always up your goal now. Great job on so many books and your other goals!

Thank you!!

 

[pblack]

I’ve never heard of a women only wedding.
All of the guests are only women too?

I didn't have the chance to ask her, but from what i've Googled yes. She's muslim and while she is having a "normal American" wedding, she's also opting to do a traditional women only wedding. My little bit of Googling told me that in her culture oftentimes women only weddings are observed. It's a way for the bride to be able to "let her hair down" so to speak as I believe they are allowed to not wear their hijab since only women will be in attendance. Traditionally there's also a male only wedding ceremony, but i'm not sure if they are partaking in that one as well. So i'm not quite sure of all the details and how everything works, but i'm excited to be a part of it and learn something new.

 

[huggybuff]

Payday Friday! Car registration has been paid today - on time and in full. There were years that wasn't happening for me.

Week 13

2024 Financial Goals

1. Pay off my credit cards and car loan in 2 years by using the debt avalanche. I paid a total of $380 above my $90 minimum payment on my Q Card account in the month of March. The balance is just about $2000 now. My Sephora card will technically be paid off before the Q Card though because the balance is so low that the minimum payment will pay it off next month.

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. I will pay my husband $300 extra in April and begin paying him the full extra amount beginning in 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 more into my HYSA (3/6)

4. Begin paying for our 2025 spring break cruise to Mexico in March. Payments will be $450 a month from March-December. (1/10)

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'm a bit behind on YNAB because my sister and her family are here from Michigan and staying with us so I've only been at the office here and there. That's where I get all my accounting done. Next week I'll catch up. (12/52)


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. With my sister arriving, my husband and I buckled down on getting this done. He mopped and wiped things down and cleaned the refrigerator. I've almost caught up on the rest. I feel like a weight has been lifted off of my psyche. (6/52)

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. My BODi bike arrived yesterday! Everything is put together and ready to go. I have new workout clothes and cycling shoes as well. There's a 20 minute calibration ride I need to do to assess where I'm at before I start any programs. I'm starting this when my sister and her family are on their way back to Michigan.

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.

Enjoy your weekends everyone!