Money Matters
jessica490
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.
Monday Accountability Post
1. How MM was your weekend?
2. Any progress towards goals?
3. We are just about halfway through the year, what has been your biggest financial accomplishment so far?
Re: Monday Accountability Post
1. How MM was your weekend?
Friday- $0
Saturday-$118 dog supplies/meds, $62 Oil change/tire rotation
Sunday- $43 Gas, $37 lunch, $62-misc at Target
Total-$322 oof!
2. Any progress towards goals?
I just transfered $470 ea. into our house fund and e-fund (finally!)
3. Biggest financial accomplishment?
Just building our 2 savings accounts up (house, e-fund) as well as increasing 401K contributions...we still have a little bit of work to do with H's...he's being a stubborn procrastinator.
2. No. The birthday issue will cut into our vacation spending budget.
3. Although I paid off my PLUS loan, that happened due to a windfall so wasn't a true accomplishment. The biggest thing I've worked for is consistently putting 15% (with my vested match) into my Roth IRA.
Not too bad. $11lowes for sand, $115 groceries and shampoo etc, $25 breakfast, $30 dinner.
2. Any progress towards goals?
Just ready to make my first huge payment towards my last student loan! It goes out tomorrow. $850. Idk why but it scares me seeing that go out...
3. We are just about halfway through the year, what has been your biggest financial accomplishment so far?
Paying off my jeep in April. My first car I got to pay off. H wants to get me a new one, but I have 2-3 more years if the jeep if it can handle it!
1. How MM was your weekend?
HAHAHAHA!
Friday: $93 Home Depot (Tomato, pepper, and herb plants for the veggie garden, some geraniums and petunias for planters, a new watering can, and some ground cover perennials)
Saturday: $913 on a new Weber grill, grill cover, and grill tools (this was a purchase we'd been planning, we nursed a charcoal grill along for 4 years and decided last year it was time to set $$ aside for a nice grill that wouldn't take an hour to be ready to cook on)
Sunday: $80 Groceries
$100 + $6 on a box of dog treats for a fundraiser for the humane society
2. Any progress towards goals?
No big steps, but we're on track
3. We are just about halfway through the year, what has been your biggest financial accomplishment so far?
We've paid off H's CC debt ($26K gone!!) he racked-up in college and we've paid for our vacation in 5 weeks (first big trip in 5 years)!
1. How MM was your weekend?
Our house was on our neighborhood's Tour of Homes, which caused us to spend a little more. I spent $15 on candles, $15 on pizza Friday night, and $10 on lunch for Sunday. I also took my mom and MIL to brunch for a late Mother's Day present, so that was $50. H also spent some on eating out too, but I don't know how much. We usually don't eat out so much, but I didn't want to dirty our kitchen since 200 people were walking through it through out the day on Saturday and Sunday. However, I am proud that I didn't go out and buy a ton of new furniture and decorations to make our house more presentable for the Tour. So, overall, that is about $90, plus whatever H spent on fast food.
2. Any progress towards goals?
I found cheaper car insurance, and that is going to save us $30 a month. Every little bit helps!
3. What has been your biggest financial accomplishment so far?
I graduated with my master's degree last weekend with NO student debt. I paid it off as I went, taking only one class at a time. I wasn't able to save much during this time, but I'm hoping that I can now start saving the $500 a month that was going towards school and put it towards baby fund instead! Woohoo!
1. How MM was your weekend? Not bad. We went on a Thomas the Train ride with the girls and my parents on Saturday (parents paid for it). DH and I went out to lunch after ($40) while the girls played at my parents' house. Sunday, groceries ($140), Target ($18), and we cleaned up the yard ($60 on plant food, tree spikes, grass seed, multch).
2. Any progress towards goals? Nothing new. We have a CD that is up on Saturday so I think we'll cash it out and put $11,000 of it into our Roth IRAs for the year. The rest we might open a mutual fund account with Vanguard... still looking into that.
3. We are just about halfway through the year, what has been your biggest financial accomplishment so far? Biggest financial accomplishment for this year is paying for our big sewer repair ($6,500) and only having to "borrow" $1,500 from our savings to cover the balance. We'll repay the $1,500 back by July.
1. How MM was your weekend? Meh, we spent a bit but most of it was budgeted for. Saturday we decided at the last minute to go to the Renaissance Fair ($40) and ended up spending about another $50 on food and stuff while we were there. Then on Sunday, DH had his monthly massage ($59 + Tip-budgeted for), we bought graduation presents for family members ($250-budgeted for) and put gas in the truck ($80-budgeted for). DH worked OT last night though, so that more than made up what we spent.
2. Any progress towards goals? I was able to make an extra payment towards DH's CC, so that was nice. Other than that, just trudging along.
3. We are just about halfway through the year, what has been your biggest financial accomplishment so far? Buying a house, for sure. Even though we didn't have as much money down as we would have liked, and we've put a decent amount of money into the place already, our house payments are about half of what our rent was which has allowed us to up our savings significantly.
1. How MM was your weekend? It was pretty good. We got food a few times out because we weren't home, and it was fairly cheap. We went to a free garden party and ended up getting all sorts of free stuff and my husband won a $25 gift card. I also worked an extra 9.5 hours at my 2nd job.
2. Any progress towards goals? We were able to save about $400. Not bad. We also went window shopping so we can estimate our paint/flooring/molding at the house we are buying. Now we have an idea of the costs. I have also called for a few quotes on other items for our house so we can start budgeting and prioritizing.
3. We are just about halfway through the year, what has been your biggest financial accomplishment so far? Biggest accomplishment has been saving up our down payment for the house we are buying. We are doing a 20% down payment which was important to us so we can keep our monthly mortgage low (at 15 years) and have no PMI. I just feel so accomplished. I have never in my life been able to save money, and now we have been able to save quite a bit.
We haven't been to one in years and this past weekend was all about Celtic heritage, so DH being the red-headed Irish boy that he is really wanted to go. Considering how we tend to go overboard buying stuff at those kinds of events I think we did pretty good as far as controlling our spending, although I really did want to buy something at just about every store!
@CHICK1250 Happy Birthday!
Last time we went, we accidentally went the same day as the "corset cleavage" competition. It was hilarious!
1. How MM was your weekend?
Yikes...pretty bad. We had a graduation dinner, a birthday trip, a bachelorette party, a bridal shower gift, gas to get to these things...We spent probably about $250. May is always a bad month for us...so much going on!
2. Any progress towards goals?
H got reimbursed for all his business travel earlier this month so that has made our account look nice.
3. We are just about halfway through the year, what has been your biggest financial accomplishment so far?
Oh...wow. I guess finding a condo way within our means. We were looking at properties up to 100k higher than the place we are now purchasing. Our monthly payment is going to phenomenal compared to what it could be and we will almost be able to live on one of our salaries while saving the other's. I'm hoping that once H gets some raises (he has a lot of potential for this whereas I do not), I will be able to be a SAHM for at least a little while. So this condo purchase really works well with our goals for the next several years. I'm very excited!
1. How MM was your weekend?
Not bad but we did go a little crazy at Costco.
2. Any progress towards goals?
Had a convo with DH last night about things I wanted to do next year MM wise and made him promise we would fulfill them and he was on board so we'll see
3. We are just about halfway through the year, what has been your biggest financial accomplishment so far?
Using income tax wisely to pay off, pay down and make extra payments on debt.
1. How MM was your weekend? Not terrible. $50 for H to play in a 6 game hockey tournament, $1.89 for a new water bottle for him, $37 on groceries and $20 on gas. All planned for but still hate to see the money go.
2. Any progress towards goals? We paid $1,550 on a SL. I am itching to get it paid off on June 15th.
3. We are just about halfway through the year, what has been your biggest financial accomplishment so far? I am really not sure. I don't feel like we have really accomplished much even though I know we have. I am just feeling a little defeated. I think my favorite thing we have done is finished building our 9.5 month living expenses. It is making H feel more relaxed about paying off debt and starting a family in a few years.
Love: March 2010 Marriage: July 2013 Debt Free: October 2014 TTC: May 2015
When I used to go with my friends I used to dress up (DH isn't into wearing costumes, not even at Halloween haha), but that was mostly because one of my best friends out in Colorado is an awesome seamstress and she would create these fantastic outfits for each of us to wear every year. I'm too cheap to buy a costume from a store, and I can't sew to save my life so this year we didn't dress up. It's really fun to dress up, but it can be crazy expensive too!
1. How MM was your weekend?
Um i've had worse. DH and I both went out to dinner separately with friends from small group - him with the guys and me with the girls - about 14 each. not much but it wasnt budgetted so i don't know where its coming from.
2. Any progress towards goals?
My husband got a 450 check from his 2nd job so i'm trying to decide if we should put it toward debt as planned or pay our car insurance upfront. Or use it to pay our life insurance upfront. hmm...
3. We are just about halfway through the year, what has been your biggest financial accomplishment so far?
We paid off our credit cards... and lowered our debt load by 17k in the last 9 months! Our goal is to pay off another 41k in the next 18 months! But really our biggest accomplishment right now is just coming to an agreement and agreeing on a plan we both like. Because we've had one too many money fights in the last few weeks then i care to have in a lifetime. 2 weeks ago i came up with this plan as a compromise and he said it was "the worst idea ever" and i don't mention it again... now its the one we settle on...I sware one of these days he really needs to learn to just listen to me in the first place. lol
1. How MM was your weekend?
I swear, once the warmer weather shows up, we always end up spending more because we like to not be home on the weekends. With that being said:
Friday: Dinner $15 (budgeted)
Saturday: Spent $63 (budgeted), and about $176 on clothes and food (not budgeted)
Sunday: Stuff for oil change $19 (budgeted)
I eventually needed to buy the clothes for both DD#2 and myself, so I charged them and will pay them off next week.
2. Any progress towards goals?
No progress this week, but NMMR, I was finally able to go through our closets (one of my spring projects I've been putting off) and found out exactly what I have for DD#2. So this saves me money since I don't need to buy any large items or clothes until next year.
3. We are just about halfway through the year, what has been your biggest financial accomplishment so far?
Well, my accomplishments have been skewed, but I'm making most of what I have already done. I have paid off every credit card that DH and I had racked up from last year/beginning of this year (~$13,000). We only have $3200 left to pay off and that should be done in July. Also, it hasn't happened yet, but we will be paying off our Disney Vacation in cash and we have put away $1200 in an Efund (which I know isn't much, but is enough for us for right now). This is a big accomplishment from the last year.
2) No real progress this week
3) We have rebuilt our one emergency fund/ house/ car repair/ medical account to where it was around last summer. We both have increased our retirement accounts a little this year