A Straight Talk on Debt - All Comments

re: Counting the Months to DMP Graduation!

t_pizel — Thu, 23 May 2013 04:07:08 GMT

You're right, Kimmer5000 - October IS for a Halloween party. Well my wife would agree....I'm not big into that sort of thing. Although I have worn some interesting costumes over the years - but again that is all my wife's doing. I'm glad to hear you were able to re-motivate yourself by taking a step back and realizing that you've started to make a dent in your debt. Realizing that if you hadn't enrolled you would have likely spent every penny of what you have now eliminated. We've eliminated close to $90K of debt. I can't even imagine what we would have blown $90,000 on over the last 4 years, but I'm sure we would have done it! Keep going Kimberly, you CAN do it !

re: Timeshare Invitations: Great Mini-vacations?

kimmer5000 — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:52:19 GMT

Will Do! :)

re: Counting the Months to DMP Graduation!

kimmer5000 — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:50:05 GMT

That is so awesome! Yea for you! WOW - that was a LOT of debt. If you can do that, we can overcome our 15,000. We still have 3 years and a few months to go but when I was feeling overwhelmed and depressed about money last week I did something interesting. I took out a calculator and added up all our starting balances. Then I added up all our current balances and subtracted that total from the original. Then we talked about the fact that we were a few thousand dollars less in debt and if we had not joined we would have used every penny of that money up. We would be just as broke but more in debt(More so because of interest). It helped. Your list is lovely. October is for a Halloween party ;) I am excited for you!

re: Timeshare Invitations: Great Mini-vacations?

tiquie — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:06:52 GMT

I think a camp ground time share sounds neat! Definately different. If you go, let me know what it was like. Also, if you go, they usually ask for names for referrals - okay to put mine in.

re: Timeshare Invitations: Great Mini-vacations?

kimmer5000 — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:54:13 GMT

You know I have heard about timeshares that sell specific times. We make our reservations for whenever we want. If we trade for resorts outside of our time share we have to be a little more flexable but once we went to a resort in San Diego on the advice of a friend and after the first horrible night we picked up and went to our timeshare. San Diego - middle of summer - over a weekend - no advanced notice. We walked in and said "Do you have room for us?" They did not have our regular level of rooms so they bumped us up to SUPER nice rooms - no charge since we were owners. Just this morning in the mail I got a time share campground invite... I am thinking we may just go :)

re: Carrots for CareOne

Prudence Debtfree — Mon, 20 May 2013 23:46:22 GMT

I really like your analogy of the carrot and the green top representing true wealth and flashy display. We only grasped the importance of building up true wealth when a "wind storm" caught us off guard in the form of job loss. We're back on our feet again, but the debt hole is big. We'r slowly filling it up, and as we do, the "carrot" gets more substantial. Our "greenery" is looking more and more worn, but I'm starting to be proud of that fact. It's proof of our new found wisdom. Although I wish we had started earlier, I'm glad it's never too late.

re: Timeshare Invitations: Great Mini-vacations?

tiquie — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:28:07 GMT

I kimmer5000 - we have friends who own a timeshare in Florida and we have spent a couple of Christmas' with them. While it is very nice, I don't like the idea of having to use a particular block of time and plan ahead for 6 months to a year. My husband is a planner but I'm more of a "let's pick up and go gal". I agree with you that being able to pass your interest in the time share on to family members is a wonderful feature - we both liked that. It's sort of like the "gift that keeps on giving and giving and giving". However, I'm still waiting for the phone to ring with an invitation to Tennessee. Thanks for reading my blog.

re: Timeshare Invitations: Great Mini-vacations?

kimmer5000 — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:01:46 GMT

My mom owns a time share and intends to pass it on to us. We have done time share pitches a couple times - knowing and announcing in advance that there was NO WAY we were buying. Our experience was similar to yours but took longer than 90 minutes. My advice would be to really plan how to say no. Even as clearly against the idea as we were going in the first time I came close to caving in. The second time our sales guy was creepy and I would not have bought from him even if I was dying to get in the time share. As someone who uses a timeshare and knows how they work I would advise people to really be aware of the maintenance fees that are usually due annually - those can be rough. Also - look for passing it down. We are thrilled that it is something my mom can eventually pass to us and we can pass to our children. We have had some wonderful trips through it. We spent a week in Disney, Florida and a week in Hawaii. We are working on Tahiti for next year. Don't get me wrong - air fair and other expenses still make these trips super pricey and if my mom was not covering a big chunk of those we would never be able to do them - time share or no. Another great post Kimberly :)

re: Retirement Tips from an 11-Year Retiree

tiquie — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:28:06 GMT

Hi Toby - thanks for reading the post, I absolutely agree with you. Since we all have different situations coming into retirement and different needs, it is extremely important to look at all your options. We need to realize that retirement is for the rest of our lives so we better be as ready as we possibly can.

re: Checking and Savings and Money Markets…Oh My!

Toby Mulgrew — Sun, 19 May 2013 15:11:47 GMT

Online bill pay truly makes life easier. Once you set it up, you are able to reduce lost payments and the quantity of time you spend shuffling papers. Like you said "out of sight out of mind".

You can even arrange for money to be automatically transferred into these accounts to truly automate the whole process. (rather than transferring the money into these accounts yourself).

Automating this whole process means you wont forget to transfer money - potentially incur charges for missed payments.

Toby