Monday Accountability Post

Xstatic3333 · December 2013

Happy Monday everyone!

1. How MM was your weekend? Well, I was able save a lot of money because a snowstorm cancelled my Christmas party plans! I also picked up some extra work, but its all earmarked for Christmas presents, not big goals. Finally, I was bad and bought something (nonreturnable) for myself that wasn't budgeted for. I don't do this much (tend to blow money more on experiences) and it is something I've wanted for a while, but I'm still a bit mad at myself.

2. Any progress toward your goals? No actual project, but I did start budgeting ahead a month to figure out where I can squeeze in extra loan payments and contributions to the DP fund.

3. NMMR-what movie(s) do you most want to see, with a pass purchased at discount, of course! The Hobbit! I am a huge nerd and proud of it. Also really looking forward to American Hustle. DH and I tend to be bad at getting to the theatre, largely because of my cheap-ness, but we'll see how we can do.

hoffse · December 2013

1) How MM was your weekend - mine was sort of bad, but unintentionally so. I had a big grocery run beacuse H is coming home for the holidays today and so I needed to stock up. That was about $70. Had to buy a prescription - $20. And then a bunch of gifts I bought back in October finally got the payment processed this weekend (food that is being delivered). I totally lost track of it. So lesson learned for next year - when I buy early, transfer extra to savings.

2) Any progress toward goals? Not particularly. In fact, I'm super frustrated because I can't even set a budget for the rest of the month (or next month) until I hear about job stuff. Basically, a group of partners are leaving my law firm and taking the associates with them. We've been given hints about it over the last couple of weeks, but nobody has sat down to give us details or even a timeline of when it's happening. It's a large enough group that they have some serious negotiating to do with the partnership... and while I understnad that, the reality is all the associates are sitting around twiddling our thumbs and waiting to be told SOMETHING substantial. I know it will be fine, but I might end up between paychecks and I would like to know that if it's going to happen. It's also ridiculously awkward, and I sort of want to know if I only have another week or two of awkwardness, or if this is going to continue well into 2014....

On Friday we all got so annoyed by it that we quit at 3 and drank scotch in one girl's office until 6. Seriously. It was like Mad Men or something. First time in 2 years we've done that. But it's impossible to focus while waiting for news about this.

3) What movie do I want to see - The Book Thief. Looks great! H had a friend take him to the Hobbit last week as an xmas gift, and he says it was excellent. We'll probably try to get to a matinee of The Book Thief sometime over the holidays.

Ducktale · December 2013

Wow, @hoffse that is a lot of change going on!

1. How MM was your weekend? Eh...not great. It was my birthday so we spent quite a bit of money going out. We don't buy each other gifts, we have more fun on really awesome date nights, so that's what we did. It was pricey though. But again, it was planned and budgetted for, so even though the credit card bill will take a hit, it's no big deal really.

2. Any progress toward your goals? Nothing really over the past week. I was going to end up with the first week of January off in between jobs, but I'm trying to negotiate to be able to work that week, which would be an extra week of pay (only 3 extra days of work, since 2 days are holidays! Hoping they'll make it work)

3. NMMR-what movie(s) do you most want to see, with a pass purchased at discount, of course! American Hustle. Love Jennifer Lawrence, and the whole cast seems great. Also interested in seeing all the movies that got lots of Oscar nominations, even though I don't know much about most of them. And I briefly saw a new Julia Roberts movie is coming out, don't know much about that, but might want to see that.

cbee817 · December 2013

1. How MM was your weekend? Pretty good- we got a lot of snow so we didn't really leave the house except to go grocery shopping, to a play date for DD#1, and a wedding.

2. Any progress towards goals? Nothing new for big goals- just looking forward to having a week off after Christmas to go through clothes/toys/stuff and de-clutter. We are also finishing up our master closet (took down walls to get into attic space, drywalled, painted, put up trim, and closet system) so it'll be wonderful to have all of our stuff back in our bedroom (currently have clothes in DDs' closet, in a dresser in the hallway.. it's a mess!) nicely organized.

3. Movie I want to see? DH wants to see The Wolf of Wall Street so maybe we'll go to that and dinner over x-mas break. Ask the grandparents to watch the girls- have a nice date night.

brij2006 · December 2013

1. How MM was your weekend? It was okay, and all purchases were budgeted. Finished up our Christmas shopping, and got groceries. Overall spent about $300, but it was all budgeted items.

2. Any progress toward your goals? Have our budget put together, and all of our accounts figured up and we realized we'll take out 4 student loans immediately with the DR plan. So that's good. But we're waiting till after the New Year to pay them off. We still haven't received my bill for all of the testing and procedures from the miscarriage, and we know it isn't going to be cheap since there were 5 ultrasounds done along with each office visit.

3. NMMR-what movie(s) do you most want to see, with a pass purchased at discount, of course! I really want to go see Catching Fire again, but we're going to see Anchorman 2 this weekend with a few of H's friends. I would rather go see something else.

vlagrl29 · December 2013

1- ours was pretty good because we were so busy. Spent about $14 in dinner out and $7 on DH's lunch at the church on sunday. He did a little xmas shopping on sunday but that was budgeted for. I had 1 rehearsal and 2 gigs in 2 days and DH was working Fri and Sat night so it really didn't seem like a weekend to us

2- Not much progress on our goals. I did make some unexpected money on the church gig sunday and I will put part of that in our efund.

3- I want to see frozen with DD and DH!

smbenevides1989 · December 2013

1. How MM was your weekend? My weekend was really great overall. I only spent money on Friday night. I spent $71 on groceries, which was only $11 more than budgeted, bought a gift and spent $10 more than planned (only because I would get a $15 gift card to spend at this restaurant, which DH and I mainly go to, so it was worth it) and H spent an additional $5 on food because the cafeteria at work doesn't take cash. We had a snowstorm this weekend, so I stayed home and didn't spend more than I needed to.

2. Any progress toward your goals? I should be paying a credit card off next week, and two other ones at the end of the month. DH worked extra overtime on both Saturday and Sunday, so that extra money the next two weeks will help towards our debt. Whatever we have left on January 2nd will go to our Efund.

3. NMMR-what movie(s) do you most want to see, with a pass purchased at discount, of course! I'm a big cheese for Disney films, so I want to go see frozen with DH and DD. We recently went to see Thor II. I'm would like to see The Wolverine, but you can only buy the movie through On Demand and Netflix. Sorry, but I will pay the $3.99 to see it, not buy it for $19.99. So I'll wait.

Erikan73 · December 2013

1. Pretty good, but then again we were both sick so we spent the weekend at home.

2. Got bonus this weekend, paying off two credit cards with it

3. Lots of good movies, hubby and I plan to hit 1-2 movies next week during the day since we're both off all next week. This way we can pay the cheaper day time prices.

Belthil · December 2013

1. This weekend was fairly bad. We got super busy and ended up having to buy lunches on the go.

2. H is still getting lots of hours at his new job so I'm hoping to put some into savings.

3. I really would like to see American Hustle but H wants to see the Hobbit.

mana8503 · December 2013

1. How MM was your weekend? Meh, went Christmas shopping Friday and Saturday. My biggest save - got our blackout curtains for 50% off plus 30% off at kohl's $42 instead of $120. H works nights so I've been wanting to get this for him for over a year.

2. Any progress toward your goals? Just staying in budget for Christmas so we can finish up our debts in the beginning over next year.

3. NMMR-what movie(s) do you most want to see, with a pass purchased at discount, of course! I'd love to see Catching Fire again. I thought it was amazing! Nothing out right now I want to see, waiting for Divergent to come out in March.

hoffse · December 2013

Edit: I completely forgot Catching Fire was out.... might have to see that one too! Lord knows I need some escapism from all the drama happening around here.

I got some major updates on the job situation today. Some great news and some awful news. I'm still trying to process everything.

lifeonthehill · December 2013

1)Great! I didn't spend a dime! H bought some cheap beer I would say $7.

2) I am still too lazy to drive to the bank and the weather is horrid. We will be down to 6,750 left to save when we do get there though and that is better than expected.

3) Frozen but I will wait till I can redbox it.

SmrBrd2012 · December 2013

1) Eh...once again could have been better and could have been worse. Bought about $70 worth of Christmas presents, ~$30 on groceries, and ~$15 on beer (vitals for the snowstorm that hit this weekend

)

2) Not really. I did go to a job interview today for a position that would most likely pay more, but not sure if they are interested or frankly if I am really interested. Hoping for at least a little COL increase through my current job, but that won't begin til the new year. Also, really hoping H will get a raise. He's been doing an amazing job at a position he has been in since June, so I guess it could go either way.

3) I want to see the Hobbit, but I'm still a little annoyed that they broke it up into 3 ridiculously long movies. I wasn't crazy about the first one but I still enjoyed it for the most part. I also really want to see Anchorman 2. The first one was HUGE back when I was in college. Hoping to get some friends together to reminisce

irishfemme · December 2013

1) Not too bad. DH spent a little on his incidentals at the gas station and about $30 to fix our snowblower. Otherwise, we went to dinner and a show with my parents on Saturday, which they generously paid for. I cooked at home all weekend.

2) We went both ways. I decided to have my car repaired ($1300) to trade it in on a new car...an expense we knew would come, but it is sooner than later. It is looking like we will be able to fit the payment into our budget, though, without detracting from our progress on our other goals.

3) I would really like to see Last Vegas, but haven't made/found the time to do so (nor the discounted tickets).

Wulfgar · December 2013

1) Not too bad once we got through Friday, I had three of my teeth fixed with a cost $415 that I had to put on the credit card. Other than that, all of my other shopping was budgeted including doing most of our Christmas shopping. (so far have spent roughly $330 on Christmas presents this year and have just a few left to get).

2) Not yet, MW got a visit from Mother Nature so we will have additional doctors bills for getting help to conceive our 2nd child. I will also have to go to the lab to get tested. Hopefully next year will be better for us.

3) Most likely for our date night this weekend we will go see the Hobbit but have been warned that to treat this movies as a Tolkien lover's fantasy instead of following the book. (My FIL is a huge Tolkien lover along with MW and SIL).

brij2006 · December 2013

@wulfgar I'm sorry you and your wife have come to needing to see a Dr to conceive your 2nd child. We too are in that same boat, and it doesn't make saving and debt repayment any easier. Good luck. Hopefully you don't need much help.

Xstatic3333 · December 2013

Wow, good job those of you paying off CCs this month! That is not easy in December. @Wulfgar, ditto brij, I hope things will go smoothly for you and your DW! @hoffse hope you get some answers on the job front soon. All of that insecurity would drive me bonkers.

jessica490 · December 2013

How MM was you weekend?

We had a snow storm this weekend, so we ran a few errands ($15) and stayed in the rest of the weekend. I guess snow is good for something! Although on Friday I did buy H and I 2 video games for our new Wii U ($95)

Any progress toward your goals?

No actual progress yet....we've been paying off vet bills and a few healthcare bills so we haven't put any money into savings yet this month. We also didnt put any extra towares the mortgage. Bummer. But we are hoping that for next weeks paycheck, we can pay off the small balances and stash a little bit.

NMMR-what movie(s) do you most want to see, with a pass purchased at discount, of course!

I really need to see Fast and Furious 6!!!

orangehills · December 2013

1. How MM was your weekend? Not too bad. We went to the Nutcracker, which was $140, but we paid for the tix a long time ago. Then dinner out, and DH parents paid, so that was nice. Sunday, my mom took me out to lunch and Catching Fire, so that was 0 too. DH spent $7 on chinese food though, and I spent $36 at Target finishing up XMas gifts and groceries.

2. Any progress toward your goals? There will be no progress until January!

3. NMMR-what movie(s) do you most want to see, with a pass purchased at discount, of course! I just saw Frozen and Catching Fire, so now I really want to see Saving Mr. Banks! I'll wait for Redbox to see Anchorman 2, Thor, American Hustle, Hobbit and Wolf of Wall Street (the other ones I want to see)

orangehills · December 2013

mana8503 said:

Nothing out right now I want to see, waiting for Divergent to come out in March.

YES! I can't wait.

Smonet · December 2013

1. How MM was your weekend? Great. I did holiday baking all day on Saturday. But we did order in on Saturday night. I was just beat and we had nothing in the house. Burgers from the restaurant up the street for $28.00-not too bad. Sunday we went out by my parents took us to lunch. Last week was expensive though. More Christmas gifts ordered and DH convinced me to buy these Threshold book cases for the living room I had been eyeing since they were on sale and I had a pharm rewards cert and my red card. So, I wasn't going to beat the price. Oh, and diapers were on sale so I threw a few boxes on the order..ouch.

2. Any progress toward your goals? Well, since I joined this board I quit the Gym, started tracking money using GoodBudget.com and Mint.com and let my cleaning people go (which actually was good because they were not doing a good job). I hope after Christmas we really start seeing these changes take place. I did find out that DH is only putting in 1% to his 401K when the company matches up to 4%! But we also found out he received a 12% increase as a bonus for his hard work and this is separate from his annual review come January. So, now we can take that and bring his 401K up and beef up savings without feeling anything!

3. NMMR-what movie(s) do you most want to see, with a pass purchased at discount, of course! I'd like to see the new Hunger Games movie. I read the books but with a LO at home we don't see any movies out anymore.

lfk2013 · December 2013

So I'm a little late to the game...

1. How MM was your weekend? It wasn't too bad. We did grocery shopping and laundry, but we budgeted for that. There has been a bit of Christmas present shopping lately. We're trying very, very hard not to eat out for dinner.

2. Any progress toward your goals? I actually made goals! I figured out how long it would take to pay off my credit cards, DH's credit card, my student loans, and my car. The car will be done next October, the credit cards the following year. Unfortunately, the student loans go on in to the next decade (right now - once we have more disposable income, I plan on upping the payments).

3. NMMR-what movie(s) do you most want to see, with a pass purchased at discount, of course! If I didn't have to pay full price, I'd see Frozen or The Hobbit.

hoffse · December 2013

Good job @ifk2013! Setting goals to pay off debt is a great way to start.

Don't be glum about the student loans - it happens sometimes. And with raises and COL adjustments, you never know when you might be able to apply a little extra to the principal. H and I have decided that once he is out of law school, we will split any windfalls (bonuses, gifts, etc.) between loans and savings to pay ours down faster.

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