Debt Dumpers 2022

[ruadisneyfan2]

I especially loved the electric side doors. We’d park and just press both buttons and never had to worry about the kids whacking our doors into the cars next to ours.

 

[jen7233]

Well, our final big purchase of the year will be here in about a week. I just became a minivan mom. We got a good deal on it for $500 down and $425 a month for a 2017 Dodge Caravan with under 80k miles. After months of trying to find an suv that would fit all 5 of us and all our crap and not pay $800/month, I gave up and conceded to minivan life for a couple years. With all out planned travel next year, it just made sense.

I drive one and don't have young kids, but find it useful often and no plans to trade it in. Some SUVs look like they may as well be a minivan.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

I drive one and don't have young kids, but find it useful often and no plans to trade it in. Some SUVs look like they may as well be a minivan.

That's awesome. I just made my final big purchase too. Got here roughly a month ago. I had been without a car since I got into a wreck in February. It wasn't my fault, so I just held on to the insurance money until I could put some to go with it and get something I wanted. Plus, we were moving about 3 hours away, so I wanted to wait until I got to DFW before buying. But I finally did. Got a 2016 Ford Fusion with 11k miles for $450 a month with a couple grand down. It worked out nice becuase I basically put my insurance check as the down payment. Now just paying it out. And it's only got 11k miles.

 

[Tygerlilly]

I'm not knocking those who love the mini vans. Lol. It's funny, 10 years ago I was fully in the not getting married, no kids camp. 27 year-old me would be laughing hysterically at 37 year old me, married with 3 kids and rocking the mom mobile.

We're heading to Chicagoish area to visit DH family and then to Pittsburgh to see mine on 12/3. It'll be at the dealership and ready to test drive on 11/22. Talk about getting things done right in time lol. Overall. Should be a relatively inexpensive trip. We're staying with family in Indiana and they're hosting 2 different get togethers, so we won't have many expenses there. Pittsburgh our hotel is $600. We'll have food there, but thinking of hitting up Walmart for breakfast stuff and doing cheap lunches (think dollar burgers or sammiches at a family members house) and dinner with family somewhere. Other than hotel, our biggest expense will be gas. No idea what that will look like in the new van, but I'm assuming about the same or less than our current suv would be. Overall, I'm guessing about $1600.

 

[jen7233]

I'm not knocking those who love the mini vans. Lol. It's funny, 10 years ago I was fully in the not getting married, no kids camp. 27 year-old me would be laughing hysterically at 37 year old me, married with 3 kids and rocking the mom mobile.

At least, it has been true in my case, I have gone through phases in life when once I said never-ever about something, then years later mindset changed on something.

This is my second van, and I really am at a place in life I could care less on stigma, I'm driving it. My first van I had I traded in after a year because it was something I felt I needed to do at the time to get out of it, as a physical change after coming through a fog of post-partum and general depression. I bought it when I just left my career and was about 7 months pregnant at the time. When I traded that van in, I traded it for the SUV and kept that until it basically cost as much to fix it than its value, and that was my GMC. Only regret I have on this particular van is I bought now is the entertainment package with the built-in video, totally useless and could have saved some money that way, my kids never use it after the initial interest they had in it blew over.

 

[barkley]

i miss my old mini van-it was like a giant mobile purse!

 

[jen7233]

i miss my old mini van-it was like a giant mobile purse!

Yep, it's a bit cavernous I will say. There's a forum just for certain minivan make/models I check out from time-to-time and actually helped me a couple weeks ago when my Bluetooth was acting up, it's amazing some things people create for their vans. My biggest work is the Viofo dashcam I installed, and some people take these dashcams to a whole other level. Another interest is the 7-seat van model which I have, and what some install in that middle portion between the second-row seats.

 

[barkley]

at one point we had a 2 row, at another we had a 3 row. with the 3 we took out the middle row seat (covered it with a fitted sheet and it became 'the garage couch') and i would have a couple of laundry baskets sitting there. the kid's stuff got plopped into them when they got in from school pickup, stuff that had to go to school (or after school stuff or whatever) got plopped into them as well. they also made for a great grocery shopping tool-it's much easier to plop a bunch of bags into a laundry basket vs. just in a trunk/hatchback cuz if they tip over you don't have rouge stuff rolling around (or spilling out when you open the hatch).

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

at one point we had a 2 row, at another we had a 3 row. with the 3 we took out the middle row seat (covered it with a fitted sheet and it became 'the garage couch') and i would have a couple of laundry baskets sitting there. the kid's stuff got plopped into them when they got in from school pickup, stuff that had to go to school (or after school stuff or whatever) got plopped into them as well. they also made for a great grocery shopping tool-it's much easier to plop a bunch of bags into a laundry basket vs. just in a trunk/hatchback cuz if they tip over you don't have rouge stuff rolling around (or spilling out when you open the hatch).

The Sienna’s 3rd row seats had the small, flat hooks on the back of the seat to put grocery bag handles onto so the bags couldn't roll open.I loved it. It also had a mesh thing to help hold stuff still but I rarely used it.

Now I have a Lincoln MKC and stuff rolls around. The laundry basket is a great idea.

 

[barkley]

The laundry basket is a great idea.

it also gives you the ability to say to your s/o or kid 'i just need you to grab one thing out of the car for me' and accomplish having all the groceries carried in

 

[Tygerlilly]

Sitting down over the next couple days and doing some realistic goal setting and vacation planning. Every year I feel like I make goals and plans and then... nope. Nothing seems to work the way I'd like it to, due to some kind of uncontrolled chaos or my own spontaneous chaos.
The last few months have been some kind of turning point in my brain. I've done a lot more meditation and self correction, focusing on my mental and physical health as well as my family and marital relationships.
We've decided for our mental health to schedule some kind of trip every other month starting in Feb 2023. One big couple trip, one big family trip, a long weekend couple trip, and 3 long weekend family trips. Nothing too crazy expensive for the weekend trips: Branson for 2 nights around Christmas, KC for a couple nights to do Great Wolf Lodge, OKC for the zoo and science museum... April is our big couple trip to Vegas for an event my hubby wants to go to. October will be one of 3 things for the family trip: Disney World, a cruise, or San Antonio. I'm waiting to see about some of the homeschool events happening around that time to see which would be the best option.
We're also going to focus on small, manageable debt dumping. Instead of trying to go crazy with trying to pay off everything, I'm focusing on the furniture and his care credit since they are both 0% interest for a year. Furniture is up in June and care credit will be in October. Both are around $4000 each.
We're still casually looking for a house to buy. Apparently work will pay up to $7k in closing costs so we'll be looking into that a little more, but I'm not actively looking at any homes until after Christmas.

Sorry for the brain dump. Lol.

 

[jen7233]

Sitting down over the next couple days and doing some realistic goal setting and vacation planning. Every year I feel like I make goals and plans and then... nope. Nothing seems to work the way I'd like it to, due to some kind of uncontrolled chaos or my own spontaneous chaos.
The last few months have been some kind of turning point in my brain. I've done a lot more meditation and self correction, focusing on my mental and physical health as well as my family and marital relationships.
We've decided for our mental health to schedule some kind of trip every other month starting in Feb 2023. One big couple trip, one big family trip, a long weekend couple trip, and 3 long weekend family trips. Nothing too crazy expensive for the weekend trips: Branson for 2 nights around Christmas, KC for a couple nights to do Great Wolf Lodge, OKC for the zoo and science museum... April is our big couple trip to Vegas for an event my hubby wants to go to. October will be one of 3 things for the family trip: Disney World, a cruise, or San Antonio. I'm waiting to see about some of the homeschool events happening around that time to see which would be the best option.
We're also going to focus on small, manageable debt dumping. Instead of trying to go crazy with trying to pay off everything, I'm focusing on the furniture and his care credit since they are both 0% interest for a year. Furniture is up in June and care credit will be in October. Both are around $4000 each.
We're still casually looking for a house to buy. Apparently work will pay up to $7k in closing costs so we'll be looking into that a little more, but I'm not actively looking at any homes until after Christmas.

Sorry for the brain dump. Lol.

We decided to go ahead and buy. I wish we bought two years ago rather than keep renting when rates were better.

 

[Tygerlilly]

We decided to go ahead and buy. I wish we bought two years ago rather than keep renting when rates were better.

I feel like if we hadn't had our son last year, we probably would have bought already, but we're looking for 4 or 5 bedrooms and they still haven't come down in price from the crazy hike they took. We're slowly seeing some price decreases and more 4 bedrooms pop up, so I'm hopeful by spring we can really look for one.

 

[princesscinderella]

Sitting down over the next couple days and doing some realistic goal setting and vacation planning. Every year I feel like I make goals and plans and then... nope. Nothing seems to work the way I'd like it to, due to some kind of uncontrolled chaos or my own spontaneous chaos.
The last few months have been some kind of turning point in my brain. I've done a lot more meditation and self correction, focusing on my mental and physical health as well as my family and marital relationships.
We've decided for our mental health to schedule some kind of trip every other month starting in Feb 2023. One big couple trip, one big family trip, a long weekend couple trip, and 3 long weekend family trips. Nothing too crazy expensive for the weekend trips: Branson for 2 nights around Christmas, KC for a couple nights to do Great Wolf Lodge, OKC for the zoo and science museum... April is our big couple trip to Vegas for an event my hubby wants to go to. October will be one of 3 things for the family trip: Disney World, a cruise, or San Antonio. I'm waiting to see about some of the homeschool events happening around that time to see which would be the best option.
We're also going to focus on small, manageable debt dumping. Instead of trying to go crazy with trying to pay off everything, I'm focusing on the furniture and his care credit since they are both 0% interest for a year. Furniture is up in June and care credit will be in October. Both are around $4000 each.
We're still casually looking for a house to buy. Apparently work will pay up to $7k in closing costs so we'll be looking into that a little more, but I'm not actively looking at any homes until after Christmas.

Sorry for the brain dump. Lol.

Make sure you pay off the care credit in the 0% period as the interest jumps to some crazy number like 26% and they charge that percentage based on the day you had treatment not the end of the 0% promotional period and what you have paid off. It can be a great resource but it can end up a nightmare if you don’t pay it off during the promo. We offer it to our patients in our office and we always make sure they know how care credit works. The dr pays a higher percentage on the care credit processing fees and is essentially paying the interest for you during the promotion time, care credit hopes you don’t pay it off because that’s when they really make money.

 

[Tygerlilly]

Make sure you pay off the care credit in the 0% period as the interest jumps to some crazy number like 26% and they charge that percentage based on the day you had treatment not the end of the 0% promotional period and what you have paid off. It can be a great resource but it can end up a nightmare if you don’t pay it off during the promo. We offer it to our patients in our office and we always make sure they know how care credit works. The dr pays a higher percentage on the care credit processing fees and is essentially paying the interest for you during the promotion time, care credit hopes you don’t pay it off because that’s when they really make money.

Oh for sure. Both of the things we are focusing on (furniture and care credit) are both on that same type of plan. The furniture is 'due' first so we're trying to knock that one out before we really start on the care credit. I wish we didn't have to use it, but I didn't realize insurance used so much for the dentures, so our original oral surgeon quote was $2300 more than we were originally quoted.

 

[pblack]

I've been busy since getting back from our weekend cruise. I guess it doesn't help that I caught a cold when we got back. Don't have a debt dumping update at the moment, but I at least wanted to pop on and wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving (for those that celebrate) or a happy almost end of November (for those that don't)!

 

[Tygerlilly]

I don't even know anything right now. My dad had a massive heart attack yesterday and didn't make it. I'm still trying to process everything. But what I have learned over the last 24 hours, is to make sure you're stuff is in some kind of order. Financial wishes, wills, etc. There's so much my mom and I need to deal with, but thankfully their Financial advisor is dealing with the money part.
I've also been busy purging today. Mainly to stay busy and keep my mind occupied, but also because I know I'm going to have to go deal with my parents house and their 2 storage units full of stuff. There's no way my mom can deal with it mentally or physically.

Our fun Christmas trip that was going to happen in 2 weeks will now be a funeral trip home. I'm hoping the stars align and the dates work with what was already planned.

This holiday season just got a lot more complicated.

 

[Bamaclan4]

I don't even know anything right now. My dad had a massive heart attack yesterday and didn't make it. I'm still trying to process everything. But what I have learned over the last 24 hours, is to make sure you're stuff is in some kind of order. Financial wishes, wills, etc. There's so much my mom and I need to deal with, but thankfully their Financial advisor is dealing with the money part.
I've also been busy purging today. Mainly to stay busy and keep my mind occupied, but also because I know I'm going to have to go deal with my parents house and their 2 storage units full of stuff. There's no way my mom can deal with it mentally or physically.

Our fun Christmas trip that was going to happen in 2 weeks will now be a funeral trip home. I'm hoping the stars align and the dates work with what was already planned.

This holiday season just got a lot more complicated.

So sorry for your loss.

 

[barkley]

I don't even know anything right now. My dad had a massive heart attack yesterday and didn't make it. I'm still trying to process everything. But what I have learned over the last 24 hours, is to make sure you're stuff is in some kind of order. Financial wishes, wills, etc. There's so much my mom and I need to deal with, but thankfully their Financial advisor is dealing with the money part.
I've also been busy purging today. Mainly to stay busy and keep my mind occupied, but also because I know I'm going to have to go deal with my parents house and their 2 storage units full of stuff. There's no way my mom can deal with it mentally or physically.

Our fun Christmas trip that was going to happen in 2 weeks will now be a funeral trip home. I'm hoping the stars align and the dates work with what was already planned.

This holiday season just got a lot more complicated.

i am so sorry for your family's loss. you are spot on regarding having one's affairs in order-it is the greatest gift you can give your loved ones.

take it easy, breathe. you can't be of help to your mom if you don't take care of yourself.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

I don't even know anything right now. My dad had a massive heart attack yesterday and didn't make it. I'm still trying to process everything. But what I have learned over the last 24 hours, is to make sure you're stuff is in some kind of order. Financial wishes, wills, etc. There's so much my mom and I need to deal with, but thankfully their Financial advisor is dealing with the money part.
I've also been busy purging today. Mainly to stay busy and keep my mind occupied, but also because I know I'm going to have to go deal with my parents house and their 2 storage units full of stuff. There's no way my mom can deal with it mentally or physically.

Our fun Christmas trip that was going to happen in 2 weeks will now be a funeral trip home. I'm hoping the stars align and the dates work with what was already planned.

This holiday season just got a lot more complicated.

So very sorry for your loss.