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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.
So that is where the $ is going...
So DH and I decided we are going to start snowballing our student loan debt and figured out how much extra we need to add to our payments to pay it off within 18months which was even to what we were putting away each month for the wedding so we know we can do it no prob. We also need to bolster our emergency fund since right now it only has 2 months worth of bills in it and it ideally needs 6 months of funds. So we decided to look over our past three months of statements to see where we are spending on frivilous stuff we can cut out so we can save more. I almost vomited when I realized we spend an average of 750 bucks a month on clothing/shopping. That is rediculous and if we cut that to a reasonable 250 that will be an extra 500 a month into our emergency fund. It honestly made me feel sick, but I am glad we atleast know where dumb money is being spent. No more shopping sprees for us!
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Re: So that is where the $ is going...
Yikes, but it so easy to get to that $750 mark on that stuff! For awhile, DH and I noticed we were spending a ridiculous amount on going out to dinner and just random stuff. It really puts things into prospective when you can actually see where the money is going!
Good for you guys for making the decision to cut back and to put the money in a more useful area. I know it can be hard since shopping sprees and dinner dates can be so much fun!
It's really kind of scary, isn't it? We plugged everything into mint.com at the first of the year and were surprised to see how much we spent eating out. We also set up budget reminders and get emails when we approach our spending limits in each category. We do okay with our money, but I feel like there's no such thing as saving too much with all of his med school expenses about to start. The less we use in student loans now, the less we'll have to pay back later. I'm being more aggressive with it than I use to be.
The little stuff adds up so quickly. We were at the grocery store last night and DH wanted to buy a fancy $6 LED night light for the bathroom. It was "only" $6, but it wasn't on the list and we didn't need it so I made him put it back.
When we were laying in bed last night he thanked me. Progress!
06.24.11 OBX, NC
Planning Bio
Married Bio
It's a free website where you input all of your online banking info and it updates and tracks all of your spending in one place every day. I linked it to our ING account, both checking accounts, savings account, rewards credit card, my car loan, and both student loans. When I log in, it automatically connects to the banks and updates so I can see all of my accounts down the left side of the page. I like it because it also gives me a running total of my cash available across all accounts (debt too).
Then it tracks spending across the top of the page. So, when I just logged on it yelled at me because I overspent "shopping" this month by $21. It reminded me a week ago but I went shopping this weekend and picked up a new pair of work shoes, which sent me over budget. Oops. Maybe I shouldn't have been so hard on DH about the night light.
It also shows that we have $53 left in our "dining out" budget and there are only 3 days left this month. We'll roll that over into our savings if we don't use it.
It took a while to get it set up the way I wanted and I had to go in by hand and adjust a few transactions that were automatically assigned to the wrong category, but it remembers that for all future transactions from the safe place.
Sorry that was so long, but it's really helped us a lot to get serious about all the little purchases we make.
06.24.11 OBX, NC
Planning Bio
Married Bio
Um, if I could stop freaking eating so much, that would be fabulous and I would be rich. I looked back a while ago and it's an average of 500 a month. WTF stomach!!! And that was before getting married. And half the time DH paid for dinners.
Wahhhhhhhhh.
No wonder why your closet is so stuffed!!!
There's More To Life Than Lists (blog)
We also use mint.com. It's really cool. Matt started using it when I moved in and we started saving for the wedding. I could tell you probably to the dollar how much our wedding cost bc he did a really good job of marking all things wedding.
Michaela you should really check it out.
~The Married Blog~with Wedding Pics!
~Planning Bio - Updated 4.27.11~ *aukelly in a former life*
What do you mean by it's linked to your accounts?
There's More To Life Than Lists (blog)
You can set it up sort of like bill pay. But you can link all of your accounts (cc's etc) to it so it will let you know when say your latest visa purchase comes through. Basically you can set it up like your bank account. I'm not sure I'm making much sense. But if I go to lunch and put it on my cc it will show up on mint and my bank account. It takes some time to actually add all of your accounts but it is really neat.
~The Married Blog~with Wedding Pics!
~Planning Bio - Updated 4.27.11~ *aukelly in a former life*
You can set it up sort of like bill pay. But you can link all of your accounts (cc's etc) to it so it will let you know when say your latest visa purchase comes through. Basically you can set it up like your bank account. I'm not sure I'm making much sense. But if I go to lunch and put it on my cc it will show up on mint and my bank account. It takes some time to actually add all of your accounts but it is really neat.
~The Married Blog~with Wedding Pics!
~Planning Bio - Updated 4.27.11~ *aukelly in a former life*
This is what I'm thinking...that would make me pretty nervous because that would make it sooo easy to just take everything I have with all the info given.
There's More To Life Than Lists (blog)
Yes you have to put in your account info. Mint.com is the online version of Quicken. So it is safe and secure. Matt is a total researcher and would never put our info anywhere that wasn't secure.
~The Married Blog~with Wedding Pics!
~Planning Bio - Updated 4.27.11~ *aukelly in a former life*
Yes, it's free. Some of my banks require me to use a separate log-in code other than my user name and password (like ING) but most of them use your same password. So I go to Mint and log into Chase through Mint and then Mint remembers it and logs me in automatically in the future. Every so many days I have to provide my passwords again to make sure it's still me. I can't, however, access any of my funds on Mint to move money around.
I was unsure at first, but it's totally safe and legit. It's been on MSN, money blogs, NY Times, etc. It would be the same as making online purchases.
06.24.11 OBX, NC
Planning Bio
Married Bio
I should try that. I've heard of it but didn't really know exactly what it did. It sounds a lot like the budgeting program that comes with my bank account. I forget what that one is but it's the same thing from one of Quicken's competitors, I think. I try to use it because it's linked to my checking account and that's where most of my purchases are made, but I haven't linked it to my CC accounts, ING etc because I don't really like the format. I'm not willing to commit for that reason. I should try out mint.com and see if that one is more practical for me.
This month I am actually trying a new budgeting method of taking a set amount of cash out each week, after bills, rent, commuting fare etc, and sticking to that for groceries, dining out, extras, alcohol, etc. If I can manage to keep some of it by the end of the week, that can roll over into a special treat for later this month or savings. I need to help DH figure out a similar system.
Wedding Bio
New Married Blog
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