As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Not sure if this is one of hose taboo conversations that shouldn't be brought up, but would like to know wha the general census is.
Do you keep a certain cushion in your checking account for unforseen expenses that could arise outside of your budget?
We have always kept a cushion in our checking account and a seperate savings for those same expenses. Lately, with us trying to pay off credit card debt before the baby is born, our budget has had some major loopholes. Our cushion is disappearing and I can't keep replacing it or the credit cards will not get paid off. We now had to pick up medical coverage for my son due to my ex husband losing his job. That also means no child support rolling in.
It seems now that we are living paycheck to paycheck. Is this the norm for the middle class or should I say the lower class as well? How do you deal with it?
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I try to keep a cushion, but it generally isn't a lot. I also have a seperate savings acct set up for the house ins and taxes. Plus a Christmas Club acct (2 actually, one at the bank I work in, the other at our bank in Wichita that dh uses for me for birthday, valentine's day, mother's day, and Christmas), and a seperate checking that I use for vacation savings. It sounds like a lot, but if I tried to just leave it in my regular checking, it would disappear! It's just a fact of life! But, as our pay tends to stay the same but bills keep going up, I'm noticing that my "cushions" seem to be getting smaller and smaller!
We only keep around $500 as a cushion in checking. Our emergency fund is our go-to for big expenses like appliances breaking down or major car repairs. I get very nervous if we don't have something put away for emergencies.
We used to have nothing in terms of an EF and I bounced more checks in the first 10 years of the 20 years we've been married than I care to admit. Living hand to mouth is hard. We tightened up as much as humanly possible to get our credit cards and car paid off and started using cash for everything. If we didn't have the cash for it, we didn't buy it. It sucked, quite frankly. I hated it, but when it was over and done with I was very, very glad we did it.
I think a lot of middle, lower, and upper class folks live paycheck to paycheck. I try to keep a months worth of costs as a cushion at all times, but there have been plenty of times that I didn't have that. I don't do credit cards- I only have one and its a small limit that gets paid off each month- I only keep it for credit building purposes. So all vacations and even vehicles (I don't do car payments) get saved for in advance so that I don't have debt. So, on one hand I'm in a good situation in that I don't have debt, but on the other hand I don't have near as much savings as I'd like to have.
We don't have much of a cushion now due to DH being unemployed. I try to follow Dave Ramsey's emergency fund principle, which is $1000 in an easily accessible emergency fund that gets replenished after use BEFORE debt reduction. In other words, if I dip into that $1000 (which I needed to a few weeks ago) it gets built back up before any additional debt gets paid down. That avoids having to put emergency stuff on a credit card.
We are not anywhere near where I would like to be, though. When DH goes back to work, we are going to really concentrate on a bigger cushion and getting rid of all our debt.
Location: Texas Baby!!!! Where Else would anyone wana live
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all that sounds nice, but the reality of my world is paycheck to paycheck. single, paying home, utilities, ins. (health for kids and auto), motorcycle....so by the time i know it, i am left with enough for groceries, gas, and some form of minor entertainment.
and it gets to me...i mean really gets to me when i penny pinch at the grocery store; and then watch these younger people pay with welfare (while wearing name brand clothes, gold jewelry up the wazoo), and then enter a fancy car and drive away. Here i am tho, tightening and watching what i spend my money on, working extra duties to try and get ahead. busting my butt just so these freeloaders can rub it in my face that they have what they have......because of my hard work.
Sorry, this aint the place to vent, but i just had to because it goes hand in hand with the topic. and I dont think i answered, so to finally answer, no, i really cant afford that right now. i know its a must to have something to fall back on, but im just trying to stay above water first. on the brighter side, 5 more years and the house is mine, all mine
and it gets to me...i mean really gets to me when i penny pinch at the grocery store; and then watch these younger people pay with welfare (while wearing name brand clothes, gold jewelry up the wazoo), and then enter a fancy car and drive away. Here i am tho, tightening and watching what i spend my money on, working extra duties to try and get ahead. busting my butt just so these freeloaders can rub it in my face that they have what they have......because of my hard work
You are absolutely not alone in thinking this. We do too.
and it gets to me...i mean really gets to me when i penny pinch at the grocery store; and then watch these younger people pay with welfare (while wearing name brand clothes, gold jewelry up the wazoo), and then enter a fancy car and drive away. Here i am tho, tightening and watching what i spend my money on, working extra duties to try and get ahead. busting my butt just so these freeloaders can rub it in my face that they have what they have......because of my hard work.
Sorry, this aint the place to vent, but i just had to because it goes hand in hand with the topic. and I dont think i answered, so to finally answer, no, i really cant afford that right now. i know its a must to have something to fall back on, but im just trying to stay above water first.
I totally agree with you!!!! There was a time, when my ex and I split 5 years ago, that I went on WIC. I didn't want to, but I had no job, one child and one on the way so I really had no choice. EVERY TIME I went to the office to pick up the months worth of checks, I swear, I was the frompyest looking person in there....and I was just wearing jeans and a t-shirt (or sweatshirt-weather permiting). Everyone else had their nails done, their hair done, GIANT hoop earrings, heals, and pancake make-up.....OH, and I think English was the second language for most. I didn't stay on it for long (about a year after my DD was born--I really just needed it to afford her formula) but I just don't get how the people that really need it get denied, while others who don't (just cut out all the frivolus expences and you'll have the money for food, people) get it handed to them!!!! Welcome to America, here's your free pass! ARGH!!!!!!
Okay, done with my venting, I am a paycheck to paycheck girl. Being a single mom makes it hard to save any kind of cushion. I did just get my tax refund so now that my only debt is my car/insurance/gas/food/school/activities/etc...(we live with my awesome brother so no rent....I pay for vacations), I can FINALLY start saving for Disney. I just need to put a cap on my new EBay addiction. LOL
I completly agree with the welfare. I see alot of that here in Houston when I go to the grocery store. If you really need it , then that is ok, but if you don't and are just lazy and don' want to get a job. That's not right in my book at all.
You guys have given me inspiration that I am not alone out there. We are doing the dave ramsey thing also. We do have the 1000.00 in savings but that is it. I was putting child support in there until that stopped. Don't have a clue when I will get anything from him.We have paid off 4 which were somewhat small and have only 3 to go. But, then I think of all the baby stuff we are looking at buying. We have had alot of petty stuff due in the last 3 months that are only a once a year thing but it adds up.
I try but there are many times that I have to use it and it does nto get replenished as fast as I would like. For us it is pretty much check to check, I do have seperate savings account that I have direct deposit into, a savings account, one for vacations, another for the girls tutiton payments so it builds up slowly but I wish I could put more away faster. I feel that the prices are going up and up, I am thankful for my job but these raise freezes really hurt when everything else is going up except my paycheck.
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