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.
Tuesday Accountability
1. How MM was your weekend?
2. Any progress towards goals?
3. Who is your "financial" idol?
Re: Tuesday Accountability
1. How MM was your weekend?
Friday- $0
Saturday- $14 new watch battery for H
Sunday- $43 Home depot (deck paint)
Monday- $38 Gas, $25 Michaels craft store
Total- $120
2. Any progress towards goals?
Nothing new
3. Who is your financial idol?
My dad, he's taught me a lot. I hope to be like my parents in the future and be financially well off so H and I can travel 3-4 times a year
1. How MM was your weekend?
Our weekend was pretty good - spent about $40 on groceries and another $20 at the baseball game for parking and stadium food. Other than that, nothing.
2. Any progress towards goals?
Not this week.
3. Who is your "financial" idol?
My dad. He took my parents from flat broke to millionaires in 15 years on two teacher salaries. He is a college professor at a state school, and my mom was a tech specialist before she retired. She actually made LESS than public school teachers because she doesn't have a teaching certificate.
He also made a point to start funding my Roth for me from the very first time I earned money (I was 8). He and my mom matched every dollar I earned (primarily through odd jobs here and there) and invested it. So when I graduated from high school, I already had about $10K in my retirement to start adulthood.
He also took a different approach to college than most of my friends' parents. I was never required to have a consistent part-time job in high school, because his perspective was that my "job" was school. I needed to focus on the things that actually earn you college scholarships (grades, SAT scores, leadership, volunteering, etc)... and unfortunately, a part-time job doesn't do a damn thing for college admissions because so many kids have them. His point was that by focusing on the things that did earn scholarships, I would end up earning more than the kids who had to work part-time. Turns out he was right - I earned $70K in college scholarships that I was able to use.
Finally, he taught me lessons about plastic very early on. He arranged a VisaBuxx for me (which is like a pre-paid credit card) in the seventh grade, which was funded through his account. He controlled the funding, and my allowance, my birthday gifts, etc. were put on the card directly. If I earned extra cash, I could turn it into him, and he would add it to the card. I learned that I had to track it frequently to know how much I had left. As a result, I've never had credit card debt.
1. How MM was your weekend?
MM wise our weekend was horrible- but completely planned. We went on a 3 day vacation to Texas wine country knowing we were going to spend a ton. But it was so worth it, as it was our first vacation together in over a year. We brought back 12 bottles of wine, did some historical stuff, and checked out a couple state parks in the area. The hotel was the hugest part of the weekend at $600, but we kept it under $1000 for the weekend. We save every month for vacations so this was planned.
2. Any progress towards goals? just paid for this year's life insurance for DH- hate sending that check off, but love having the security it buys.
3. Who is your "financial" idol? Dave Ramsey. Love him! Believe he is very encouraging to people wanting to get started, and yet doesn't accept crap either.
Edit: after going back to read the last ones- I feel like I should edit this to be my dad too. After all where else do you learn about money but from your parents? He opened a checking account for me when I was 16 with my first job, and got me a credit card to learn with shortly after that. Always explained how to use it, and showed me what a sale shirt would cost if you don't pay it off at the end of the month. Helped me realize a good deal is only good if you can afford to pay for it at the time!
1. How MM was your weekend?
Just basically groceries and thats about it. We did spend a lot on groceries tho but I'm still within budget.
2. Any progress towards goals?
I wouldn't call it progress. DH and I talked a bit more as to how to handle budgetting without losing our mind and still stick to our goals. I'm the one saying lets increase our spending money cus we both want to quit every other day and he's like or we could just not change anything and get the debt paid off sooner...He's wierd... you catch him on the weekend when he's off work and calm and he's talking about spending less so we can get the debt paid off and trying harder to not go over budget.... but i gaurantee you by the time friday gets here he'll be back to saying "i can't live like this, i'm just gonna buy w/e i want" ... actually he should be due to go another 10 over budget in about an hour. work just stresses him out sooo much.
3. Who is your "financial" idol?
I have one. Dave Ramsey. Everyone else i know is broke and taught me how to be broke forever.
HAHA well its definitely NOT my parents.... My parents who had very little money all my life.... and allowing their daughter to borrow over 100k for a bachelors degree jumping back and forth between private and public schools. telling me to not pay it until i graduate because i "don't have to"... when i ran out of money to live on because i didn't get enough hours at work their advice was to "just borrow more in your student loans so you can get money back"....i was 18 with no money and no idea what having money was like... to me that was just free money. I remember having faint thoughts like "wow i am borowing a lot i'm going to be in debt forever" but again that was normal and i thought i had no choice so thats what i did. People say "how could you possibly be so stupid" when they hear how much my student loans are but that was normal for me. i had no idea i was even borrowing that much... they put it all in their name and said you pay it back when you graduate...if i literally had to sign my name to pay back 100k i prolly would have dropped out of school.
1. How MM was your weekend? Not too bad. Had to take my car in for its 60,000 mile checkup- $381 for that. Groceries ($140), Gas ($40), Old Navy for DH ($50). We also had a baby shower ($50) and a graduation party ($100).
2. Any progress towards goals? Not much new. We gave copies of our wills/HCP to our parents this weekend. We're not really saving much until the sewer job is paid off in July ($6,500 on a 0% credit card). Then DH is off of school so we won't be getting his paychecks for July and August- summer months are always a little tight. I did bump my 401K to 10% (was 9%) and I plan on going to 11% by the end of the year.
3. Who is your "financial" idol? I guess my mom- she was a single mom and we had some financial struggles when I was younger. As a result, I'm a saver and a planner- pretty much have been doing that since I got an allowance and birthday money.
I'm finally starting to realize that some of our savings that I have been hoarding (currently in CDs) could be put to better use- plan on putting $15,000 into something a bit riskier (probably the Vanguard STAR fund) in order to get a decent return.
2) Not really. Still just waiting to close on our condo and since I stayed at home and spent $0 all weekend, I at least did my part, lol. **Edit**: I just remembered....I upped my 401k savings from 11% to 15% last week.
3) I have a similar answer as @cbee817. My mom was also a single mom and although she did not make the best decisions which lead to some hard times when I was younger, it helped shape me into who I am now. She taught me to be careful with credit cards and to be mindful of how I spend my money. I've always been financially responsible and more of a saver than most of my friends and family.
1. How MM was your weekend? Spent a lot of money, but it was all budgeted! I think we spent about $850 or so on our trip to Las Vegas. We were there 4 nights and that city is SO expensive, even though we skipped out on doing quite a few things because we have seen the real life versions or plan to do them in the future.
2. Any progress towards goals? We still managed to put $550 into savings.
3. Who is your "financial" idol? Dave Ramsey. I really enjoy listening to him on podcast. Sometimes he is a little opinionated, but usually he has really good advice. We are following the 20% down-payment, 15 year mortgage advice. I don't really know many people in my personal life that I truly admire for money, because my family seems to always have money issues. I grew up thinking how I don't want to be like my family in that regard.
1. How MM was your weekend?
Well we only made one purchase this weekend, but it was a biggie, at $1,100 but it was in the budget. DH and I finally gave in and purchased a new Sleep Number mattress--I'm hoping this helps his back problems and that we can start sleeping in the same room together again (for the most part he sleeps in the den on his recliner or on the living room sofa because they hurt his back less)
2. Any progress towards goals? I was able to put an extra $100 towards my retirement account this week--yay!
3. Who is your "financial" idol? I don't really have one, but I guess I would pick my In-Laws. My parents are notoriously bad with money so the only thing I really learned from them was how to spend money like crazy. They did manage to save money for my college education, so I have to give them props for that, although I'm not sure how they managed it because currently there isn't anything left over for them to put towards retirement or savings at the end of the month. To give you an idea of my parent's philosophy on money, when I started my first ever job (I was in college and it was a weekend job that paid $10 an hour), my mom convinced me that I needed a whole new wardrobe and got me to take out a store credit card from The Limited, where I/We nearly maxed out my card for almost $1,000 worth of new clothes. At the time I thought that was normal.
My in-laws on the other hand have been the kind of people that shop at thrift stores, buy used cars and drive them forever and have always made saving a priority. My FIL has been helping me learn about investing and was the person who taught me how to do my taxes when I got my first job. FIL makes about the same amount of money that my dad does, but they live very modestly compared to my parents. They own 2 houses outright (one is a rental), have tons of money saved aside for their retirement and a rainy day, and are pretty much financially set. Meanwhile my parents have 2 mortgages on their house, are making payments on 3 cars and have a boat load of credit card debt. It's like night and day comparing our families.
1. How MM was your weekend?
It was good overall. I did buy some more clothes this weekend, but we will use next month's budget to cover it. We also overspent on oil for DH's car (I underbudgeted). We also had an unexpected expense that we charged.
2. Any progress towards goals?
We were able to pay off another credit card. I also called RI State regarding why my taxes never came in. Turns out I made a mistake on DH's tax return. Everything got solved and I will be getting more that I expected. I was also able to rebudget our monthly budgets and gave a little more to ourselves to help curve our spending and assist us on paying down our debt. It looks like its going well.
3. Who is your "financial" idol?
My parents. They taught me the importance of money in both bad and good. My parents really screwed up financially and ended up in bankruptcy. It has taken a few years, but they are starting to get back on financial feet. I've watched my parents suffer and stress trying to keep the house together. I vowed I never wanted to get like that, and my parents place that in our minds everyday. I'm proud of my parents for stepping up to their mistakes and trying to get themselves out of it.
1. How MM was your weekend? Not good, but not too bad. Had gift certificates at DXL that expire at the end of the month so I spent $40 more than the certificates. Worked on some yard jobs that ran us $250 more, we had $100 that MW's grandfather gave us so actually only $150. We also did go to eat out on Friday at Red Robin where my meal was free.
2. Any progress towards goals? I did pay an extra $70 on our one home improvement loan.
3. Who is your "financial" idol? I would say Robert Kiosaki and the Rich Dad/ Poor Dad author. My parents never really taught me how to manage money, their solution was to either let me be or want to take over completely. My ex-wife helped to push me into bankruptcy, we were both working low paying jobs then went unemployed.
Just in case anyone is reading who might be interested in easements, in a lot of places you can also get them for working lands (like ag or forestry) not just places that are strictly for nature or ecological values. They do include restrictions that can make some landowners uneasy, but they can also be a huge boon from a tax perspective. If you deal with a gov't agency or a larger non-profit you can also often get a cash payment upfront.
1. How MM was your weekend?
Great! We spent $8 at the ice cream shop and $12 on groceries for the week.
2. Any progress towards goals?
None last week.
3. Who is your "financial" idol?
I have no idea. I feel like I am pulling from so much. My grandparents taught me to have fun without spending a lot of money, I watched my mom go through bankruptcy after my fathers suicide, I have read and followed the Dave Ramsey plan quite closely and happily, and of course my husband. He grew up in northern NH with little heat and even less food. He has been a rock in teaching me how to keep our spirits up while being intentionally broke.
Love: March 2010 Marriage: July 2013 Debt Free: October 2014 TTC: May 2015
1. How MM was your weekend? Not as bad as it could have been. We had friends staying with us for 5 days, and only spent $100 total on entertainment and extra food we grabbed.
2. Any progress towards goals? Still cash piling our extra money in case my car sells. If it does not, then we will take it down at the middle of this month and keep it.
3. Who is your "financial" idol? H's old boss he had for about a year. He lives debt free along with being a cash only person. They even built their house with cash and have a $100k sports car he paid cash for. He's also very driven and is always setting goals along with pushing himself. We meet with him once a year to catch up with life and he's always an inspiration.
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