Debt Dumpers - 2018

[Tygerlilly]

I would drop the dining plan and use your AP discount for dining instead. Upgrade your tickets when you first get there for the APs. Also, keep checking to see if they release room discounts for AP holders. You don’t need the AP to book them but you need to show the AP during the stay so you get that price at check-out.

I'm mainly doing the dining plan because we are overing expenses for his son and gf. We probably won't spend all our time together, so this makes sure they have their meals and snacks covered without us needing to worry about them having the cash. It's pretty much convenience. And honestly, after pricing it out with where and what I *think* we would eat, it's roughly the same cost.

Also, where do you check for AP room rates? Can you still do a package deal with that? We are only upgrading our tickets, not theirs, so would both rooms still get it since I'm the one who is booking them? Universal is new territory for us.

 

[sandam1]

@Tygerlilly - I agree with @Alexle2007 - drop the dining plan. It just isn't as useful at Universal (particularly the full dining plan that comes as part of a package) because so many restaurants (particularly in City Walk) aren't owned by Universal. If you get one (or two) Preferred or Premium APs, you can get a 10% or 15% discount on almost all food and merchandise (including at the hotel). If you want a food budget, you can get gift cards and pay that way. If you want more money-saving suggestions, head over to the Universal board.

 

[Ngwira]

He went through the final interview and told me that he passed. They are supposed to email him some documents for HR and let him know when he starts. So far, he hasn't told me he has received the email. It was supposed to be here today.

Hopefully it comes today.

 

[Tygerlilly]

@Tygerlilly - I agree with @Alexle2007 - drop the dining plan. It just isn't as useful at Universal (particularly the full dining plan that comes as part of a package) because so many restaurants (particularly in City Walk) aren't owned by Universal. If you get one (or two) Preferred or Premium APs, you can get a 10% or 15% discount on almost all food and merchandise (including at the hotel). If you want a food budget, you can get gift cards and pay that way. If you want more money-saving suggestions, head over to the Universal board.

We want to do the plan for convenience for his son/gf. Not really worried about saving money part of it, more so they don't have to worry about having the cash to get what they want, when they want it, since we will not be together constantly. Add in, I haven't found anywhere around here that sells Universal gift cards, so picking those up aren't easy to do.

 

[DLgal]

We want to do the plan for convenience for his son/gf. Not really worried about saving money part of it, more so they don't have to worry about having the cash to get what they want, when they want it, since we will not be together constantly. Add in, I haven't found anywhere around here that sells Universal gift cards, so picking those up aren't easy to do.

Can't they just charge food purchases to the room?

 

[DLgal]

Debt dumping update:

I got tired of dealing with my $4500 balance transfer debt, so I transferred money out of savings and paid it off yesterday. That leaves $3500 in savings and one outstanding balance transfer left, which has a balance of $6850. I scheduled a $1000 payment on that for next month. I have until February 2019 to pay it off, but want to get it done sooner. I will be throwing all of our extra money at it in hopes of paying it off by October or November.

Our WDW trip went great. We stayed 11 nights CL and hardly spent any money on food! We ate most meals in the lounge. We didn't buy much in the way of souvenirs either...a couple pins, a tote bag, and a t shirt. We did buy Memory Maker, but got the military discount price of $99. We didn't end up renting a car, but borrowed my mom's car for the week, which turned out great. So, we saved on the rental car. Our total expenses for 10 days, which includes airport parking at home and all other expenses, was just about $2000, right at our budgeted amount.

I have a girls weekend trip next month to Disneyland with my best friend at the Grand Californian. We are staying 2 nights and splitting the cost. I already paid one night as the deposit back in June, so that's taken care of. I'll probably spend a couple hundred on food and drinks (already have an AP so tickets are covered). After that, our next big expense will be renewing our DL APs on August 28. We have decided to upgrade us all to Signature passes, which will be just under $4000. We have $1000 currently in Disney Visa Rewards dollars, so that will help. I'm debating putting down $500 and financing the rest into $200 monthly payments, or just taking the money out of savings and being done with it. I don't want to add to our monthly expenses, really, but also want to focus on building UP our savings. I have a bad habit of dipping into savings accounts.

Anyway, I'm happy to be In the final stretch of paying off the credit card debts. Going to absolutely NOT allow any more of that to rack up in the future, and focus all efforts on building our savings.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Can't they just charge food purchases to the room?

Huh. I don't know? I'll have to find out about that. If they can do that, I'll definitely go that route instead and pay out of pocket.

 

[Ngwira]

Debt dumping update:

I got tired of dealing with my $4500 balance transfer debt, so I transferred money out of savings and paid it off yesterday. That leaves $3500 in savings and one outstanding balance transfer left, which has a balance of $6850. I scheduled a $1000 payment on that for next month. I have until February 2019 to pay it off, but want to get it done sooner. I will be throwing all of our extra money at it in hopes of paying it off by October or November.

Our WDW trip went great. We stayed 11 nights CL and hardly spent any money on food! We ate most meals in the lounge. We didn't buy much in the way of souvenirs either...a couple pins, a tote bag, and a t shirt. We did buy Memory Maker, but got the military discount price of $99. We didn't end up renting a car, but borrowed my mom's car for the week, which turned out great. So, we saved on the rental car. Our total expenses for 10 days, which includes airport parking at home and all other expenses, was just about $2000, right at our budgeted amount.

I have a girls weekend trip next month to Disneyland with my best friend at the Grand Californian. We are staying 2 nights and splitting the cost. I already paid one night as the deposit back in June, so that's taken care of. I'll probably spend a couple hundred on food and drinks (already have an AP so tickets are covered). After that, our next big expense will be renewing our DL APs on August 28. We have decided to upgrade us all to Signature passes, which will be just under $4000. We have $1000 currently in Disney Visa Rewards dollars, so that will help. I'm debating putting down $500 and financing the rest into $200 monthly payments, or just taking the money out of savings and being done with it. I don't want to add to our monthly expenses, really, but also want to focus on building UP our savings. I have a bad habit of dipping into savings accounts.

Anyway, I'm happy to be In the final stretch of paying off the credit card debts. Going to absolutely NOT allow any more of that to rack up in the future, and focus all efforts on building our savings.

Your trip sounds fabulous. Glad you had a great time!

 

[dina444444]

Huh. I don't know? I'll have to find out about that. If they can do that, I'll definitely go that route instead and pay out of pocket.

They should be able to. Just know that if your going to allow room charges Lowes pre authorizes your credit card against charges. I stayed at RPR back in January and it was a $200/night authorization so my card was authorized for $400 when I checked in since I only stayed two nights.

 

[Alexle2007]

Huh. I don't know? I'll have to find out about that. If they can do that, I'll definitely go that route instead and pay out of pocket.

Yes, you can easily pay using your onsite room key at all of the restaurants and quick service stands. That's all I ever use when we are there. And you can even text them to increase the amount available to charge to the room. I had to do that on our last trip in March. They quickly responded and processed the request. And if you get two APs, maybe you can give them one of the APs once you are in the park so they can get the discount. Or if you are out in the evening at CityWalk...

 

[dayvewc]

Sounds like you are reacting to some of the medication you are taking, I am no way a Dr. But 3 different meds. Can wack any system out. Especially an antibiotic. Good luck and get better.

I've had a few other people mention that. I heard a follow up appointment today, and when they went through the current need list I'm taking about 12 different meds currently.

I also talked to my doctor (PCP) about the mood swings and he just said it can happen, but if it continues I might need to get a touch with a counselor.

Hopefully it comes today.

It came through, and he's supposed to start work tomorrow. YAY!!!!

 

[Aurora_Australis]

I paid off one of my two credit cards today! The one with the super high interest. Still have a good $2.5k on the other one, $900 of rego and car inspections due mid Aug and a bunch of other stuff but that was DH's tax that paid off the card today, mine is still to come and should be about $500, plus $1500+ of work money owing that I can chase up next week when our next term starts. Hopefully we can keep a closer check on the discretionary spending (school holidays is always terrible in winter, we go out for coffee just for something to do far too often).

A question though,


DH is a casual (substitute?) teacher. for the rest of this year, he's available 3 days per week; there are 20 school weeks left. In our budget, I've planned that he'll work at least 1 day each school week (40 in a year) to get an annual amount of income I can somewhat rely on in budget planning, as there are 12 weeks a year when school is on break and definitely lighter weeks at the start and end of the year. Last term, he worked 22 out of 30 days he was available for, so well on the way to my baseline of 40 days in a school year.

How would you manage funds budget wise? Should I budget ahead my forecast amount til he hits the 40 days I've anticipated and keep those 'future weeks' in our savings account? Should I just allocate money as it comes in and trust that it will all even itself out? Something else I haven't thought of yet? I'm really keen to mentally separate the 'base' income he might get from any days on top of that to start doing some serious yard work/ saving for our next holiday/ extra on our mortgage...

 

[StacyStrong]

It came through, and he's supposed to start work tomorrow. YAY!!!!

Congrats to you guys!!

 

[dayvewc]

A question though,


DH is a casual (substitute?) teacher. for the rest of this year, he's available 3 days per week; there are 20 school weeks left. In our budget, I've planned that he'll work at least 1 day each school week (40 in a year) to get an annual amount of income I can somewhat rely on in budget planning, as there are 12 weeks a year when school is on break and definitely lighter weeks at the start and end of the year. Last term, he worked 22 out of 30 days he was available for, so well on the way to my baseline of 40 days in a school year.

How would you manage funds budget wise? Should I budget ahead my forecast amount til he hits the 40 days I've anticipated and keep those 'future weeks' in our savings account? Should I just allocate money as it comes in and trust that it will all even itself out? Something else I haven't thought of yet? I'm really keen to mentally separate the 'base' income he might get from any days on top of that to start doing some serious yard work/ saving for our next holiday/ extra on our mortgage...

Do you have a record for past years on how many days he worked? If so, I would use that average as the base amount, broken down by month, since you know he is less likely to work the first and last weeks. If he gets any extra days in a month, I would bank the first couple just in case the next month is short, and use any days after that for what you have determined to do / save for / pay off. Just my opinion.

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

Our moving expenses are officially paid off! I'm so proud of us for sticking to our budget and not going out to eat and being very careful with discretionary spending until we got it paid!

We went to Ikea and looked at bedroom sets again. I actually found one we like a little better for $200 less than the bed we were going to get. All in all I think the set will cost us about $700. So probably next month we will look into getting that. Then we just need an entertainment center! We'll probably get a new dining room table at the end of the year because ours is so big in the new place and pretty beat up. It's so nice to finally have a place that feels like a home and not a hodge podge of hand me downs and dorm furniture.

Job hunt is going poorly for me unfortunately. Haven't heard back from any of the 15 or so places I applied. it hasn't been too long though so I'm trying to remain optimistic! Currently sick so haven't been applying much, but I sold some things recently and cashed in some cc rewards to wrap up Christmas shopping for DS (or so I tell myself!) I just need to get him an accessory to go with another toy and then he's pretty much done for the holidays which will help a lot, especially if the job hunt doesn't pick up soon.

I was getting pretty disheartened but DH was very nice in pointing out that even if I didn't get a job for months it would be no big deal. We have changed our habits so much in the past year and a half and we have learned to live off of his check completely, including saving for emergencies and retirement (although I want to raise contributions on both of those ASAP). It's tough because I really look forward to having even just a little extra to play around with for trips and such, but hey, we did our upcoming cruise on only DH's check's budget, so I know we can make it work for as long as we need to. I really want to find a place I can stay part time and work for several years until our kid(s) are in school full time and I can rejoin the workforce full time. I also need a place that can work with my schedule since I have to work opposite DH. After talking with him I realized that in the long run, I'd rather have a job that works well for the family and a place I can stay long term than jump into something awful like I did with my last job and have a tough time.

 

[Aurora_Australis]

Do you have a record for past years on how many days he worked? If so, I would use that average as the base amount, broken down by month, since you know he is less likely to work the first and last weeks. If he gets any extra days in a month, I would bank the first couple just in case the next month is short, and use any days after that for what you have determined to do / save for / pay off. Just my opinion.

He's only been doing the casual teaching for a term (10 weeks) since we moved back home at the start of May. He's available Mon-Wed while DD2 is in preschool and missed the first couple of weeks of last term due to our trip and then moving and sick kids, so was only available for 7/10 weeks.



I think I lean towards banking enough of his pay to cover the summer holidays at least. He's hoping to pick up a contract position once DD2 is in school next year, then I won't have to worry about it! But I want to get us used to living on a tighter budget and not dipping into extra money that comes in just because it is there and it gives us breathing room, but applying those extra $$$ to projects and bigger debts.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

How much do you guys keep in your checking versus your savings? Obviously not looking for exact numbers here, but curious how you all handle things.

I have about 2.5 "old" paychecks sitting in my checking account at all times to cover expenses in the event that a bill comes due before a paycheck is deposited in a month. Everything else sits in savings.

I budget for my income monthly so technically that money isn't 'needed' in my checking account, but I like having the buffer so that my account doesn't get super low when I make large payments at the beginning of the month.

Am I missing out on interest by doing this? Or is it smart to have that cash on hand? Can I consider that money in my checking account savings or would you categorize it as something else?

I keep enough to pay the bills for that paycheck plus a $200 cushion. All the rest has some place better to be.

 

[DLgal]

I keep enough to pay the bills for that paycheck plus a $200 cushion. All the rest has some place better to be.

Same. I keep between $100 and $200 just in case we need to withdraw cash.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

It's nice when the government finally comes up off some money It also occurred to me that I've been contributing to my IRA through post-tax deductions when really it would be smarter to do pre-tax deductions. It will lower my AGI for student loans so I should have lower monthly payments next year that way.

Good thing you discovered this now instead of later. That is a great perk. Also it makes you feel better that if you instead wanted that in your paycheck as cash, for every $100 that would be credited to your retirement, you're only missing like $75-80 from your take home pay. It's also nice to see on my W-2 the huge difference between gross pay and federal gross pay, line 1. Anything to lower our tax burden is a good thing!

I would look into changing that account to a Roth IRA asap! Those are funded with after tax income and are not taxable when you withdraw it during retirement. If you don't, those funds will be taxed again when you withdraw it during retirement.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Huh. I don't know? I'll have to find out about that. If they can do that, I'll definitely go that route instead and pay out of pocket.

Yes, they can. We had Uni APs for years but I haven't been since 2015. If you have AAA most shops/restaurants (except some kiosks) give a 10% discount. Not sure if this has changed recently. When we used to go a lot (2-3x/year, 2005-2010) you could search with the promo code APH to find discounted rooms. They are not usually available several months in advance or at busy times. Back then it would knock off like $100/nt off the rack rate. I would do some mock reservations for Sept (low season) both with and without APH code to see if it still works before you have your heart set on getting a huge discount. Who knows if they even have a low season with so much HP attractions.

Not that you asked, there are only 3 Uni hotels that offer unlimited Express Pass and they are Hard Rock Hotel (5 min walk), Royal Pacific Resort (10-15 min walk) and Portofino Bay Resort (stayed there, but never walked, prob 20+ mins.) Once you check in, you get a card like WDW's old KTTW card. This is for charging to your room and in the lobby you use your key to print a paper photo ID card for Express Pass. Once you try it, you are instantly spoiled; it's like an unlimited Fast Pass. I only mention this because you talked about going over Christmas.

Keep in mind that card is valid from early morning of check in to park closing on day of check out, so even a 1 night stay gets you 2 full days of Express Pass.
We will not go to Uni any other way. It has ruined us. Also if we do a split stay with WDW, we have to do WDW first or it's miserable to go from practically walking right onto rides at Uni to waiting in long lines at WDW.

The Universal boards are full of extremely knowledgeable people who love Uni. So much info there.