Money Matters
brij2006
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Middle of the month check-in
It's slow in here. Let's liven it up.
How's everyone doing so far this month?
Is there a part of your budget you'll need to change or revisit?
How are you doing so far to get to your goal for October?
Anything you're doing differently that you hadn't originally planned on this month?
How's everyone doing so far this month?
Is there a part of your budget you'll need to change or revisit?
How are you doing so far to get to your goal for October?
Anything you're doing differently that you hadn't originally planned on this month?
TTC since 1/13 DX:PCOS 5/13 (long, anovulatory cycles)
Clomid 50mg 9/13 = BFP! EDD 6/7/14 M/C 5w6d Found 11/4/13
1/14 PCOS / Gluten Free Diet to hopefully regulate my system.
Chemical Pregnancy 03/14
Surprise BFP 6/14, Beta #1: 126 Beta #2: 340 Stick baby, stick! EDD 2/17/15
Riley Elaine born 2/16/15
TTC 2.0 6/15
Chemical Pregnancy 9/15
Chemical Pregnancy 6/16
BFP 9/16 EDD 6/3/17
Beta #1: 145 Beta #2: 376 Beta #3: 2,225 Beta #4: 4,548
www.5yearstonever.blogspot.com
Re: Middle of the month check-in
The biggest budget revamp we need to work on is restaurants and take-out. Whenever I feel tired and crappy we get super lazy since I'm the cook in the house.
Well we had $34 left in the eating out budget by the 5th. Out of $100. Lol. We've spent $0 since then though so there's that.
Is there a part of your budget you'll need to change or revisit?
We had to adjust our "extra" spending. H wanted to order some car cleaning products to get the cars detailed before winter.
How are you doing so far to get to your goal for October?
Our goal was to put as much as possible toward our Hawaii savings for spending cash. We need $1,200 to get to the lowest amount we're comfortable with, but we would prefer $1,700. We could fit $900 into this months' budget. So I went back through and I think we might be able to swing $1,200. We cut in a few areas and H worked some more overtime, as well as my commissions were higher than anticipated. So we just might hit it or be close to it.
Anything you're doing differently that you hadn't originally planned on this month?
I'm going to try and use more food from our freezer and pantry to meal plan. Really hoping I can knock $100 off of our grocery budget and have that to put toward Hawaii.
TTC since 1/13 DX:PCOS 5/13 (long, anovulatory cycles)
Clomid 50mg 9/13 = BFP! EDD 6/7/14 M/C 5w6d Found 11/4/13
1/14 PCOS / Gluten Free Diet to hopefully regulate my system.
Chemical Pregnancy 03/14
Surprise BFP 6/14, Beta #1: 126 Beta #2: 340 Stick baby, stick! EDD 2/17/15
Riley Elaine born 2/16/15
TTC 2.0 6/15
Chemical Pregnancy 9/15
Chemical Pregnancy 6/16
BFP 9/16 EDD 6/3/17
Beta #1: 145 Beta #2: 376 Beta #3: 2,225 Beta #4: 4,548
www.5yearstonever.blogspot.com
We have quick and easy things in the house because of this. There's always frozen bbq and taco meat in the freezer for these nights. As well as frozen pizzas, chicken patties, fish fillets, etc. They may not be the healthiest dinners those nights, but I figure they're still healthier than eating out.
TTC since 1/13 DX:PCOS 5/13 (long, anovulatory cycles)
Clomid 50mg 9/13 = BFP! EDD 6/7/14 M/C 5w6d Found 11/4/13
1/14 PCOS / Gluten Free Diet to hopefully regulate my system.
Chemical Pregnancy 03/14
Surprise BFP 6/14, Beta #1: 126 Beta #2: 340 Stick baby, stick! EDD 2/17/15
Riley Elaine born 2/16/15
TTC 2.0 6/15
Chemical Pregnancy 9/15
Chemical Pregnancy 6/16
BFP 9/16 EDD 6/3/17
Beta #1: 145 Beta #2: 376 Beta #3: 2,225 Beta #4: 4,548
www.5yearstonever.blogspot.com
We also have reservations at Mesa and Bouchon. So yes... it's going to be $$$ on food. But instead of doing shows and shopping, we are renting a car and hitting some of the national parks to go hiking. So the "entertainment" portion of the Vegas budget will also be very cheap. It's just the food.
Not going to lie, I'm also really excited about the RTR dress I have rented for the trip. I had a $50 birthday credit for being a member, and I rented a sparkle cocktail dress for free! My H is skeptical, but if I can't wear a sparkle dress in Vegas and blend in then I don't know where.
Ask me after we get back - I'm sure we will end up skating right to the edge of our October budget based on food and drinks, but I'm perfectly fine with that plan.
How's everyone doing so far this month?
Hanging in there
Is there a part of your budget you'll need to change or revisit?
We decided to change our outdoor faucets to the frost-free ones (it was talked about but not officially planned) and we just used paycheck money that we were going to bank, but at least it's not on a credit card. This is our second to last big house project this year
We also booked our Antigua flights for May so we just took money from our vacation fund to pay for them
How are you doing so far to get to your goal for October?
Pretty good so far- we seem to have a lot of bills this month but we are still able to save something.
Anything you're doing differently that you hadn't originally planned on this month?
No, not really
How's everyone doing so far this month?
Good. On budget for the most part.
Is there a part of your budget you'll need to change or revisit?
We continue to go over in groceries. Even though I upped our limit to $75/week, it seems that whatever line we draw we always exceed by about $15. This is a discipline issue, clearly.
How are you doing so far to get to your goal for October?
Our savings goals for this month were low since we have two OOT weddings, but we will be meeting them.
Anything you're doing differently that you hadn't originally planned on this month?
I decided to start adding to our home and car repair funds again. This was easy to skip while saving for our medical bills, but it is still important. I feel like when those accounts are padded, we end up less likely to need them.
Yup. Pretty much. I can't keep anything down right now and the only thing that sounds remotely good is Subway. Eating that every day is definitely not an option. So I've been loading up wraps with meat, cheese, and veggies. It's helping, but our dinners have still been horrible to plan for. There's been pork chops and hamburger thawed in the fridge since Monday. I want nothing to do with it. That's where the big box of cereal has come in handy.
TTC since 1/13 DX:PCOS 5/13 (long, anovulatory cycles)
Clomid 50mg 9/13 = BFP! EDD 6/7/14 M/C 5w6d Found 11/4/13
1/14 PCOS / Gluten Free Diet to hopefully regulate my system.
Chemical Pregnancy 03/14
Surprise BFP 6/14, Beta #1: 126 Beta #2: 340 Stick baby, stick! EDD 2/17/15
Riley Elaine born 2/16/15
TTC 2.0 6/15
Chemical Pregnancy 9/15
Chemical Pregnancy 6/16
BFP 9/16 EDD 6/3/17
Beta #1: 145 Beta #2: 376 Beta #3: 2,225 Beta #4: 4,548
www.5yearstonever.blogspot.com
Is there a part of your budget you'll need to change or revisit? We have to think about how we want to handle the $400 we spent on a new chest freezer. I think it will end up coming out of our personal budget as an anniversary gift to ourselves.
How are you doing so far to get to your goal for October? We're doing really well on not eating out for lunch and that's about it. My regular goal of saving money to build up another 6 month e-fund is on hold until January. I just got my first check after adjusting my W-4...$700. :'( I'll still keep socking away some money into savings but it won't be on the same scale.
Anything you're doing differently that you hadn't originally planned on this month? Giving all our extra money to Uncle Sam because we didn't give it earlier in the year.
Fun! I used to go to Vegas 3-4x/year when I lived in So. CA. A sparkly cocktail dress is perfect attire! Perhaps not so much at 10AM in the morning lol, but then people would just think you were still up from a good night of gambling.
I was once playing blackjack at a table filled with friendly people and we were all chit-chatting and cheering each other on. A cocktail waitress came and everyone ordered non-alcoholic beverages. Except me. I got a White Russian. When our drinks were delivered, one of the guys joked about mine and said, "Isn't there alcohol in that? It's only 9 o'clock in the morning!" I responded with, "Yeah, but there's milk in it also, so that's okay."
I have managed to be really good about not thinking about this trip too much (AKA: not overscheduling us) up until this week. I finally started doing some research on the national park options and the stores that are in our hotel.
I have never been to Vegas before other than flying through the airport, so I'm excited!
It has been slow in here!
How's everyone doing so far this month?
Not MM, but I got a flu shot today. My company brings a couple medical people to our office every year to administer to any employee that wants a shot. Free AND convenient!
Is there a part of your budget you'll need to change or revisit?
Not really, other than my spending/saving is different than usual because I'm trying to cash flow as much of my rehab as possible.
How are you doing so far to get to your goal for October?
My goal for October is to get my rehab done for the new duplex or close to it. My actual, realistic goal is done by Nov. 4th. and start showings that weekend.
The plumbing repairs are almost done. That will be under $1,000 when all is said and done. Less than I expected, usually it is the opposite, lol. No inspections were needed to turn the water back on, that was really good news. I was worried about it. Otherwise, it would have been $1600 for nothing.
All the kitchen cabinet doors have been taken off and the repainting of those has started. My husband spent hours washing all the interior walls yesterday. Primarily with a mop, lol. Tomorrow we're (finally!) going shopping for the paint color and repainting the interior walls will start tomorrow or Saturday.
My window guy is meeting my H sometime today to give us an estimate on new windows. I already have a good idea
. All I can do is hope for less than $4K (ugh). I'm also worried about the installation timeframe. They take a long time. I'm mad at myself for not calling a couple weeks ago.
Anything you're doing differently that you hadn't originally planned on this month?
Looking for a new job. So hateful. I almost never talk to the big boss, but he has twice come and talked to me in the last few weeks with questions/comments about how much work I have left on X, why have I been charging so much time to Y, we're running out of budget for A/B/C in the THIS department so start doing more work for THAT department. Just all bad signs!
I'm not in desperation mode. But I figured it doesn't hurt to dust off the resume and at least apply to the more "plum" looking job openings that I'm qualified for.
We had planned on celebrating our anniversary and planting the 3 trees we bought in our yard for October. Trees will be planted next week and cost $400 - that includes the dead tree being cut down.
I was able to acquire 3 new beginner violin students so that's great. November starts my slow season for gigs. We won't have very many left for the year but I'm hoping to book some for next year.
I am slowly putting money aside for the rock wall that we want in the front of the house and wood floors one day. We decided to replace DH's 2 nearly bald tires on his car. We were hoping to sell his car this fall but can't afford a car payment right now so we will wait till spring next year. We don't want to put much more money in it so the 2 tires were $266. Then he noticed a small oil leak a couple days ago. We spent around $500 last spring with Honda fixing it so I'm hoping its work they did and we don't have to spend anymore money. I'm done putting our savings in it.
Is there a part of your budget you'll need to change or revisit? Not really- just looking forward to getting all of the bathroom expenses complete so we can finally move on.
How are you doing so far to get to your goal for October? Good! We have the roof vent being installed next week ($180). Before it would just blow into the crawl space above, now it'll be properly vented out of the house! Finish up the bathroom, clean up the basement (we've been storing all of the bathroom boxes and extra stuff down there).
Anything you're doing differently that you hadn't originally planned on this month? Didn't realize DH would be getting that extra money this month- that helps a lot since we were a little tight with the plumbing bill.
--Not too bad. We paid off all of our credit cards which were fairly high (no interest paid) because I put my grad school tuition on it which was about $3,500 to get rewards points and bought new tires for my car with it.
Otherwise, just plugging away at building our savings, increasing our retirement contributions and paying off car loans.
Is there a part of your budget you'll need to change or revisit?
--DH needs to increase his retirement contributions.
--Also, considering doubling our car payments to just get them paid off much sooner. Have to revisit some projected costs for the next few months.
How are you doing so far to get to your goal for October?
--Really need to sit down and establish some clear financial goals. After we paid off DH's student loans and built up our e-fund, we have not had very many specific goals. We have been good about maintain finances, but need to actually define some new goals.
Anything you're doing differently that you hadn't originally planned on this month?
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