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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.
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Thrifty Thursday - late
I think we missed Thrifty Thursday last week. I know I was running around getting ready for my event and perhaps no one else thought to post it. Anyway.....
Share anything you'd like.
QOTD: Now that spring/summer is just around the corner - are you planning vacations? Have you budgeted for them? Are you taking less vacations this year?
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Re: Thrifty Thursday - late
Well the past month has been an adjustment for me and my budget. My 2nd job is done and my final paychecks are in. I'm sad to see that extra $400 a month go away. But, my 90 day raise kicked in at my full time day job so that makes up for most of what I lost. I'm waiting to see how my taxes turn out and then I might adjust my withholdings so I can have a larger tax home pay and thus pay stuff down quicker - we'll see.
As for cc's - I combined everything into 3...well two cc's and one home equity line that I've had for 4 years. I'm paying down as much as I can and am really happy with my progess.
QOTD: We are trying to get to Philly at the end of this month. Part of it would be for K's dissertation though so her part would be covered under a grant :-) I have been setting aside some money for a vacation and I would really love to use it to go home later this summer. We'll definitely be doing less weekend trips than in previous summers.
Only our obligated 1 week drive in to MO and back home trip to have the truck re-registered.
We are saving out pennies for baby to be.
We will probably drive out over the summer unless Im pregnant in which case we will drive out in early fall half way through 2nd trimester... Im afraid I will MC and I dont want to have to deal with any doctor but my own if it does happen.
Things are finally balancing out here. I got a loan modification (Thank you Obama!) on my house and it took my payments down $500 a month. I did a little calculating and i should be able to use this to get all my cc debt paid off in 2 years, even sooner if T ever gets back to work. I did have to take my out my first student loan though but I think with my mortgage being less everything should be fine!
No vacations planned for us. T isnt well enough to travel right now, and we might as well use our money for other things, but If she gets to feeling better we may take a little road trip to Seattle to visit her Aunt or to Portland to see my gay boys and maybe get together with Rikki?!?!
We are doing well. We made it through my month of unemployment mostly unscathed. We had paid off our cc debt just before I lost my job, so that was great timing. A month isn't long at all, but we had no idea how long it might take for me to get a job, so we started cutting back right away - we have a pretty lean budget to begin with, and I was really proud of us for cutting back a little more in the face of uncertainty. And now, we're back on track.
My new job pays more than I made before (wahoo!), so it's a saving bonanza!! We both are seriously, like, high on life that we are saving. This is the first time in our relationship that we are finally debt free and really saving.
For the rest of this year, we are focusing on cutting back on charging. For the most part, whenever expenses have come up in the past, like, one of us needing work clothes, or wanting/needing something for our apartment, we'd charge it and pay it out of the next month's budget - but the stuff didn't always get paid off and our balance would build. So now we're trying to minnimize those kinds of expenses by paying for things out of our "spending money" (a set amount we each get monthly to spend on whatever - dinners out and other non-essentials). So far, it's going well, and keeping us more in check on the spending. You pay more attention when it comes out of your own "fun" money than when it just goes on the cc.
sahm ~ toddler breastfeeder ~ cloth diaperer ~ baby wearer
QOTD: We are going on less trips this year for two reasons - 1. We're saving for baby and house 2. We travelled so much last year between vacations and family obligations that we really overdid it.
Right now we have 1.5 vacations planned: PTown in June and Key West in October.
We have been planning on the PTown trip since last year, and budgeted for it. We paid 1/2 upfront as a deposit (we're renting a condo) last year, and next month the balance is due - it looks like our tax returns are going to cover the cost of that, which is really sweet. As for Key West, that is the half vacation, because it's not yet set in stone. We didn't do anything for our anniversary last year becuase it was such a crazy year, so we thought it would be nice to do something really special this year (especially since this could be our last baby-free anniversary). Looks like we can afford it - we're just going to wait a couple of months before booking to be sure we want to spend the cash.
sahm ~ toddler breastfeeder ~ cloth diaperer ~ baby wearer
To see me!?!?! Reallly?!?! I'm totally game, we could even drive up to Seattle.
My update is simple me getting back to work means, we'll be caught up in a few weeks. Yaya! For being able to pay my cc's
We're doing okay this month. its nice not to have any cc debt to work on but its also pretty stressful to have to prep for a baby in 6 weeks. all the spending makes me a little nervous despite the fact that we're doing a great job finding deals, searching craigslist, buying used, ect. Fortunately, I recieved a larger than expected bonus this year so the money needed for baby prep didnt have to come out of already-established savings and we banked quite a bit. I'm also going to be contacting our mortgage broker in the next couple weeks so hopefully we'll be able to refinance and save a few hundred on our mortgage payments - that would be fantastic for the daycare fund!
QOTD: we havent really cut back our vacations this year, our usual is three and if things pan out w/ Chicago in september it'll be 3 again this year, but this will definitely change for 2010....i love to travel and am obsessed w/ vacations, so the fact that we dont have any trips in the works for next year is sad, but we will have waaay more important things to spend money on and traveleing with an infant (or two!) makes it much less appealing.
Blogs: Our Growing Family - CT Working Moms
We are taking our trip to Puerto Rico in a little over a week. That will be it for us for a while. This summer I will be too big to do anything much and we will have no $ for that anyway. I think we will be spending many weekends at the lake house. We are saving for the smaller paychecks I will be getting while I am on maternity leave. We also will be credit card debt free as of next week. So we will be in the save mode as well. S's job is not as solid as either of us would like and she may be laid off in may. So we are bracing for that. We can make it on my salary...it just won't be pretty. We are also selling as much as we can. This is becasue we don't have room in the apt. for all our stuff and any baby gear that comes in. So we are selling items we don't use and then buying baby gear with the money.
We've had a crappy money month.
First our (1997) van broke down and after some debate about whether or not we should just surrender and get a new car, we decided to have it fixed. So that was $900 we weren't particularly expecting to spend.
Then, we found out via a collection agency that S's niece had been EVICTED from an apartment that S co-signed for. Neither the niece nor anyone else in the family (several people knew) bothered to mention it to S (hello?!), so now we have a collection agency breathing down our necks for the balance. Unfortunately, we'll probably end up paying it to keep it from going on S's credit report (that is, if it hasn't already been reported-- I'll be pulling her reports tonight). The kicker? It is over SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS. I am furious. Furious that S co-signed for the niece without talking it over with me, furious that we have to put a $6k chunk of debt on a credit card as I have been working so hard to pay our debt off, furious at the irresponsibility of a 24-year-old to a) get evicted in the first place and b) not own up to it.
I had a bit of a "discussion" with the niece after I found out about this all, and she is promising to direct deposit a couple hundred a month into one of our accounts. But with interest, we'll be carrying this loan for her for almost 4 years. And we have very little recourse if she decides to not pay.
All I can think about is how many IUIs we could get for $6k.
Needless to say, there will be no vacations for us this summer. (Well, one short trip down to meet my brother's brand new twins, but no other vacations!)
IUI #3 gave us the best 2nd anniv. gift ever: 2 babies! (born 03/09/10)
Peanut and Little Man are getting so big! 2 years old already!
finally blogging again at This Will Be: An Adventure
Wow - I'm so sorry! I'm be p!ssed and really frustrated too. How long ago did S co-sign for her niece?
I think this is a perfect solution! We do something similar - only our money goes to house projects.
IUI #3 gave us the best 2nd anniv. gift ever: 2 babies! (born 03/09/10)
Peanut and Little Man are getting so big! 2 years old already!
finally blogging again at This Will Be: An Adventure
$6K and she was barely there a year - she must have started falling behind relatively quickly. I sincerely hope the niece is learning something and will stick with her plan to repay you and S. Oh - and I'd charge her interest. Can you write up some sort of contract for repayment?
Oh Christine, what a nighmare!!!! I cannot imagine how furious you must be! Isn't there anyone else in the family who could help shoulder this burden?? S's niece should be paying you back WITH INTEREST! I'm glad you had a "discussion" with her and I hope you made it plain how significantly this is going to impact you and S. SIX thousand....oh my god. 24 is way too old for that kind of stunt. I'm so sorry that you two are having to deal with this.
sahm ~ toddler breastfeeder ~ cloth diaperer ~ baby wearer
What a bad month! Im sorry!!!
We do the same in respects to selling things and purchasing baby stuff with the earned money...or we put the money in the long term savings account.
Thanks, everyone, for the empathy. I have been so burnt up about this, but trying really hard to not get on Sylvia too much (she feels bad enough as it is), so I've been stuffing it all down inside. With chocolate, lol.
Yes, the niece will *definitely* be paying interest. Specifically, the interest of our highest-interest card (because if we didn't have this debt then our money would be going towards the highest-interest card rather than this). I am going to do a written contract as well, as soon as I can figure out what the penalties might be. Obviously she doesn't care about her credit being ruined, so threatening to put it on her credit report won't do any good. And I don't think we can sue her for nonpayment. I'm a little afraid we'll be SOL if she doesn't pay us.
As for other family, unfortunately, no one else can help. The niece's mom already owes us nearly $1k. S's mom has offered to help but a) it would be silly to take money from her because we *give* her several thousand dollars a year, so we'd just be borrowing our own money and b) we don't want to seem like we can't afford to carry this debt because we're ttc and don't want S's family to think we can't afford a kid if we get pregnant (how's that for some convoluted logic?).
IUI #3 gave us the best 2nd anniv. gift ever: 2 babies! (born 03/09/10)
Peanut and Little Man are getting so big! 2 years old already!
finally blogging again at This Will Be: An Adventure
So sorry about the $6K ....it is hard to describe one's money stuff to family - meaning why you might want them to help out yet are worried about how that will reflect on your ttc plans. I just finally decided people have their reasons for how they spend their money....if you're TTC and people question money stuff - just remember you are doing what is best for your family. I have to remind myself of that...so we keep some money stuff on the DL so that people don't feel like they can question. Like some of our wedding expenses/debt.
So sorry for the tough times...that is rough.
Christine - That is horrible. I am so sorry. I would be burning if L did that. Argh.
We paid off L's credit card last month (which used up way too much of our savings.) I got my new Mac paid off this week. YAY. We really need to get better about not eating out. We've really curbed it since L isn't home most weeknights, but we are so bad about the weekends.
We just got back from my ILs in TN. We are taking an overnight "vacation" to Lancaster, PA next month. They have a cute amusement park geared for kids 2-10. We took the kids last year and they were a bit too young. I think they'll really like it this year. We are going the weekend before their birthday because they are free till they are 3.
Then we'll go to my parents in September. I doubt we'll do anything in June, July, and Aug. Although I might lobby for a weekend trip to Philly. But no where far. Now that we have to buy 4 plane tickets, it is really pricey - so that limits us.
we're going to sc for a wedding the first weekend in may. c will be at exactly 12 weeks, so hopefully she won't be having any tummy issues at that point since she'll be stuck in a car for 10+ hours. we're driving there with c's sister and her gf so there will be four of us to share driving and pay for gas, and we're staying with our friend for the weekend and won't be paying any lodging. it's also right before our anniversary, so the trip will probably also be a bit of an anniversary trip as well since we won't really be able to get away for it.
i would love love love to be able to take a vacation at some point when she's a little farther along, like a long weekend getaway to niagara falls or something, but there's so much going on right now i'm just not sure that will happen. we'll probably still be doing some camping/cabin trips this summer, but with the baby on the way we'll have to play most of that by ear i think.
we're trying to be really aware of what we're spending and saving since we're going to have some pretty major expenses leading up to november--and of course beyond. we're still working on our bathroom remodel, but we're so close to being done and almost all of the major expenses (tile, fixtures, etc) are already bought and paid for. the only major thing left is the shelving and storage stuff for the closet. we're so ready to be done.