Author Topic: A big "Thank You" to all of you. Truly.  (Read 8420 times)

pennies

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A big "Thank You" to all of you. Truly.
« on: April 12, 2017, 06:57:43 PM »
Hello everyone.

Many of you probably remember me as "The Beatles" from the 27 page long Beatles Case Study Thread.

I just wanted to stop by and say Thank You to everyone who participated in that case study thread and helped us - And those who continue to comment on my blog and email me and give us encouragement and advice that way.

Because of your advice, we have drastically changed our lives.

  • Our grocery bill is down $650 per month
  • Eating out is down $500 per month
  • We have paid off a credit card
  • Our auto loan is now UNDER $2,000 owed
  • Our furniture loan is down UNDER $1,500
  • We have paid $1,500 towards our property tax bill
  • And last but not least, we SOLD our rental property!

We've had some bad moments (like our eating out last month), but overall we are much better.

We sold our rental home (inspection is on Friday!) and are scheduled to close in late May. Barring any setbacks, we should walk away with around $45k in cash. This money will be used to pay off all of our debts.

Specifically, I want to thank Swick, RetiredAt63, MDM, LadyStache in Baja, Poundwise, Bracken_Joy, Zoot, Goldielocks, IpLawyer, former player, Jakejake. And last but not least, Arbelspy, who banned me, because I now realize it was for the best and it got me to focus more on fixing the issue.

The mods don't want me to be part of this forum any longer, and I won't disrespect their wishes. This will be my 1 and only post. I just wanted to express my gratitude one last time.

Thank you to you all. Truly. You changed our lives.




aceyou

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Re: A big "Thank You" to all of you. Truly.
« Reply #1 on: April 12, 2017, 08:24:22 PM »
Wow, good for you.  Seriously.  Sometimes in life we screw up and do things that just don't make any sense.  All we can do at some point is own it, figure it out, and do something about it.  It sounds like that's what you are doing now.  Best wishes and congratulations.

Retire-Canada

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Re: A big "Thank You" to all of you. Truly.
« Reply #2 on: April 12, 2017, 08:42:32 PM »
Keep on trucking. Goodluck to you.

nouveauRiche

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Re: A big "Thank You" to all of you. Truly.
« Reply #3 on: April 12, 2017, 08:45:22 PM »
Wow, what a turnaround!  Sounds like you are on your way.  Rock on.

MDM

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Re: A big "Thank You" to all of you. Truly.
« Reply #4 on: April 12, 2017, 10:43:44 PM »
Best wishes for continued success!

marty998

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Re: A big "Thank You" to all of you. Truly.
« Reply #5 on: April 13, 2017, 01:36:30 AM »
Well done, both you and your wife.

Keep up the great work.

former player

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Re: A big "Thank You" to all of you. Truly.
« Reply #6 on: April 13, 2017, 04:26:21 AM »
Thank you for coming back and telling us - a lot of people who get the facepunches you did would have just slunk off into the night.

Congratulations to you and Mrs Beatles, and best wishes for the future.

Raenia

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Re: A big "Thank You" to all of you. Truly.
« Reply #7 on: April 13, 2017, 05:25:38 AM »
Congratulations!  Sounds like you were able to take some good direction from the advice here, which is more than many can say.  Well done, and keep up the good work!

MightyAl

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Re: A big "Thank You" to all of you. Truly.
« Reply #8 on: April 13, 2017, 05:30:03 AM »
I thought you were locked out of posting for 30 days.  I didn't realize that the mods ran you off.  That is not right.

Good Luck.

RetiredAt63

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Re: A big "Thank You" to all of you. Truly.
« Reply #9 on: April 13, 2017, 07:56:17 AM »
Glad to hear you have made the turnaround.  It gets easier as you go, that first big change is the hardest.  Good luck.

Livingthedream55

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Re: A big "Thank You" to all of you. Truly.
« Reply #10 on: April 13, 2017, 08:03:27 AM »
Heartiest congratulations to you and major, major props for such an amazing turnaround! Way to go!!!!!!!  : 0 )

Bracken_Joy

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Re: A big "Thank You" to all of you. Truly.
« Reply #11 on: April 13, 2017, 09:50:51 AM »
Glad to hear your update! Wishing you the best for continued success. =) Super glad to hear about the rental sale, especially.

And major respect to the ARS hat tip. Being a moderator isn't easy, and they have very hard calls to make sometimes. I really admire the respect and maturity you showed there.

PizzaSteve

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Re: A big "Thank You" to all of you. Truly.
« Reply #12 on: April 13, 2017, 10:03:48 AM »
Good luck.   Perhaps with time a posting amnesty can be offered, but that said social media can be a siren distracting you from real life.  A break from addictive behaviour triggers can be a very good idea. Namaste.

ketchup

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Re: A big "Thank You" to all of you. Truly.
« Reply #13 on: April 13, 2017, 10:17:33 AM »
Good for you.  Many would have been scared off by the reaction you got here, but I'm glad to see you're getting your shit together and on the right path forward.

Tyson

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Re: A big "Thank You" to all of you. Truly.
« Reply #14 on: April 13, 2017, 10:26:48 AM »
Those were some crazy threads.  Glad you turned things around!  I think the hardest part about MMM for people not naturally frugal is that it's really emotion and lifestyle driven.  If you're able to shift your mindset and values, the spending starts to fall pretty naturally. 

Nice work on the progress!

ysette9

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Re: A big "Thank You" to all of you. Truly.
« Reply #15 on: April 13, 2017, 10:31:12 AM »
Hi TheBeatles! Good to see you back, if only for a moment. I am so pleased to hear about your progress, especially selling that rental property. I imagine that will feel like such a relief once that albatross is gone. Keep up the hard work and reference back all of the advice you have been given in the old threads. You can definitely change your situation around completely and you are making good steps in that direction. Fingers crossed for you and your family.

pennies

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Re: A big "Thank You" to all of you. Truly.
« Reply #16 on: June 09, 2017, 11:07:32 AM »
Just an update for those who care.

We closed on the rental, and now are in the process of paying everything off. You can read more here if you so choose. Link to frugal blog

Other than that, not much new. One bummer is that our mortgage went up $300 per month - unexpectedly. They said the escrow was being calculated wrong. Not happy about that.

Thanks again for everyone help.
« Last Edit: June 09, 2017, 11:09:03 AM by pennies »

nouveauRiche

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Re: A big "Thank You" to all of you. Truly.
« Reply #17 on: June 09, 2017, 11:21:52 AM »
Thanks for the update.  Congrats on closing, too.  Sounds like you are on the right track.  I'll be glad to see more updates in the future.

Rock on.

Dicey

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Re: A big "Thank You" to all of you. Truly.
« Reply #18 on: June 09, 2017, 12:21:09 PM »
Just an update for those who care.

We closed on the rental, and now are in the process of paying everything off. You can read more here if you so choose. Link to frugal blog

Other than that, not much new. One bummer is that our mortgage went up $300 per month - unexpectedly. They said the escrow was being calculated wrong. Not happy about that.

Thanks again for everyone help.
Did you ask for an audit? That's a huge shortfall! Now that the debt is gone (congratulations), perhaps you can look into recasting your mortgage?

acroy

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Re: A big "Thank You" to all of you. Truly.
« Reply #19 on: June 09, 2017, 12:55:45 PM »
Badass! congratulations.

life_travel

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Re: A big "Thank You" to all of you. Truly.
« Reply #20 on: June 10, 2017, 05:10:46 PM »
Good job. maybe you didn't seem to follow advice of many people but as long as you know yourself that you ARE digging out of debt , and staying out , it's a win. No one can take it away from you.
Like hundreds of others I followed your story here and last night was surprised to learn that you have a blog .
You are a great writer !! I hope you'll become as good money manager as you a writer :)
I'll be following your blog .

pennies

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Re: A big "Thank You" to all of you. Truly.
« Reply #21 on: June 14, 2017, 09:07:09 PM »
Just an update for those who care.

We closed on the rental, and now are in the process of paying everything off. You can read more here if you so choose. Link to frugal blog

Other than that, not much new. One bummer is that our mortgage went up $300 per month - unexpectedly. They said the escrow was being calculated wrong. Not happy about that.

Thanks again for everyone help.
Did you ask for an audit? That's a huge shortfall! Now that the debt is gone (congratulations), perhaps you can look into recasting your mortgage?

I did not realize an audit was a "thing" (possible). Thank you for the suggestion.

I stopped by again because I actually have a question.

Due to some fortunate circumstances, we will have about $15,000 leftover when all of ours bills are paid off.

We are putting $5,000 into an emergency fund, which will leave us with $10,000 left. Suggestions? Should we start a college fund? Retirement fund? Detailed suggestions would be most helpful.

MDM

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Re: A big "Thank You" to all of you. Truly.
« Reply #22 on: June 14, 2017, 09:15:33 PM »
Detailed suggestions would be most helpful.
There are different forms of detail - is Investment Order useful?

pennies

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Re: A big "Thank You" to all of you. Truly.
« Reply #23 on: June 15, 2017, 08:16:40 AM »
Detailed suggestions would be most helpful.
There are different forms of detail - is Investment Order useful?

That link is awesome. Thank you.

Zoot

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Re: A big "Thank You" to all of you. Truly.
« Reply #24 on: June 15, 2017, 11:15:33 AM »
Do also check in to re-casting your mortgage, if your lender offers it.

For a small fee (in the low hundreds) and a chunk of cash that you pony up, you can get your mortgage re-calculated based on the new principal for the remaining term, which can lower your payment.  The fee is MUCH lower than re-financing, which can cost a few thousand dollars instead of a few hundred.

That might be a good use for your leftover $10K.

Here's a link to more info:  http://www.thetruthaboutmortgage.com/mortgage-recasting-101-how-it-works-and-what-it-does/