November/December Goals

lifeonthehill · December 2014

Thought I would get us all started!

November

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month?

2. What did you do differently this month that helped?

3. What were your greatest achievements?

4. What were your biggest downfalls?

December

1. What are your goals for this month?

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal?

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that?

Wulfgar · December 2014

November

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month? Not too good, we ate out more then what we have done in the past.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped? Both got raises recently so we used the new amount to spend a little extra.

3. What were your greatest achievements? Being able to cash flow everything for the month.

4. What were your biggest downfalls? Eating out or ordering food in too much.

December

1. What are your goals for this month? To cash flow Christmas again.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal? Keep an eye on how much we spend.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that? To pay off my credit card and to cash flow Christmas. To be able to pay for our LO's birth without using credit.

lifeonthehill · December 2014

November

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month? We kept our goals but spent more in our entertainment budget than I thought we would. We had a great thanksgiving break from school and it was well worth the money.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped? Nothing. We had no leftover money to boost goals for the first time in months.

3. What were your greatest achievements? Finished saving for my spring semester! Thank heavens that is over. I ordered books tonight and it looks like we came in $100 under budget for the semester.

4. What were your downfalls? Thanksgiving break. All the teachers like to hang out and drink at a local place that is pretty pricey. We blew $75 on dinner and drinks but it was worth it.

December

1. What are your goals for this month? We are back to saving for the E-Fund! $2,899 to go!

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal? With Christmas travel, me out of work half the month and a trip to FL there will be no leftover money again this month. We are just hoping to stay on track.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that? I am skipping this one this month. Christmas is a killer with 4 houses to visit in different states. I just want to pay the bills and meet the minimum goals.

jessica490 · December 2014

November

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month?

Decent. Yesterday I realized our cell phone bill has higher than it was supposed to be. The guy had set my H up for the wrong plan so I had to call and get that fixed. Overall I think we will be saving $10-$20/mo on our new plan. We have no car/home insurance bill for nov/dec so that helped! We should also be getting a dividend check in the mail this month $$. We also had an increase with Comcast which we had to pay for Nov, but we got the planned lowered to what it used to be, so were happy with that until we sell the condo. We also had some extra vet apts for health issues we are still trying to resolve so that didn't help either. But all in all we able to save a good amount of $. We also have a possible outstanding school bill from H dropped out that we are trying to resolve. $500 something dollars!?!

2. What did you do differently this month that helped?

Just being cautious about what we spend.

3. What were your greatest achievements?

Not having to pay car/home insurance, lowering the cell phone plan, saving $ (the part-time job helps)

4. What were your biggest downfalls?

Same as #1

December

1. What are your goals for this month?

To find out about that school bill and take care of it, keeping low costs for Xmas, Paying off our flights for our May trip, and save,save,save!

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal?

The same, just being stingy and frugal LOL

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that?

See #1

cbee817 · December 2014

November

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month? Pretty good- added some money to savings, moved our CDs to Roth IRAs and savings accounts.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped? Kept to our usual budget

3. What were your greatest achievements? Saved $1,000 for savings this month

4. What were your biggest downfalls? N/A

December

1. What are your goals for this month? Save $500 from my paychecks and add $1,000 to our vacation savings account.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal? N/A

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that? Most of our holiday shopping is complete, so December is all budgeted for. The only big thing we'll have for the next year is our $8,200 main line sewer replacement. It's going on a credit card I opened at 0% for 15 months. The 2015 budget already has the $683 monthly payment built in. I would like to pay it off in the 2015 year so that we don't have to worry about it in 2016.. we have some other home repairs we want to do in the next few years anyway (gut the upstairs bathroom, new garage door, and replace our porch with trex instead of painted wood).

Xstatic3333 · December 2014

Thought I would get us all started!

November

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month?
We were better. We stayed on budget and if we went over, were able to take it from another category.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped?
We realized that, although we never carry a balance, we were doing a fair bit of "borrowing from next week" on our CCs. We committed to stop doing that, and only use CCs for work reimbursement or big things we have money in the bank to pay right off (i.e. our boiler purchase). This has caused us to spend much less. If we do need to borrow ahead, we instead borrow from our "short term savings" and pay it right back on payday. This feels more shameful than using the CC so we try harder to avoid it.

3. What were your greatest achievements?
Adding $400 to the e-fund, and paying cash for our high-efficiency boiler/hot water heater upgrade.

4. What were your biggest downfalls?
My best friend's 30th cost us about $200 total. She has always been such a great friend and so generous to me, however, that I was glad to do it.
December

1. What are your goals for this month?
Get through Christmas and not go over budget, keep donating $100/week to the e-fund, automate my Roth IRA contribution, add $200 to travel fund

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal?
Any cash birthday presents I get will go to our travel fund, as will the money I'll earn teaching a December dive class. I'll set up automatic Roth IRA contributions for payday so I stop cheating in this area.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that?
Travel and retirement savings. I need to find a place to cut to keep these going as we rebuild our e-fund. My current strategy is being a bit of a jerk about water usage. Since we have high monthly sewer bills in our town, saving on water reduces 3 bills (gas, water, and sewer) and could really save us around $100.

brij2006 · December 2014

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month?

Great! We were able to cash flow the remodeling stuff and everything else, and still put money into our baby/debt pay-off account.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped?

We actually didn't watch things as closely, but I did sell a lot of policies and TS products to get more commissions. H picked up some extra shifts at work, even though they're in their slow time, and got my bonus that I completely forgot to factor in.

3. What were your greatest achievements?

Putting $1,500 aside while cash flowing $550 in remodeling expenses and $600 in tires for H's car.

4. What were your biggest downfalls?

Going over on eating out and entertainment budget. Also forgetting to budget in Christmas cards that I needed to order.

December

1. What are your goals for this month?

Cash flow everything that is coming up.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal?

We're going to try and watch the eating out and entertainment. There's a lot to get through this month, and it isn't going to be cheap.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that?

We are getting 1/4th of a cow processed, need to buy Christmas presents, and have a weekend out of town coming up this month. Along with hopefully finishing up the remodeling (we only need insulation for the walls and the mud and tape). We're really hoping to be able to cash flow every bit of this and not touch savings. It isn't going to be easy, but we're hopeful that we can do it.

hoffse · December 2014

November

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month? We made it - barely - but we did meet each goal for this month.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped? N/A

3. What were your greatest achievements? Finally being able to tap into our short-term savings for annual subscriptions! It seems like all of them come due between November and January, and it was nice to have that pot of money ready.

4. What were your biggest downfalls? We hosted Thanksgiving and it was a LOT more expensive than I originally planned. However, it was a success, so I can't really complain! I'll know to budget more in future years.

December

1. What are your goals for this month? Cash flow the rest of our Christmas gifts and have a decent chunk leftover for our vacation fund. We aren't actively budgeting for vacations after our trip in July, but I have my eye on Spain for 2016, as the final hurrah while we're TTC. So every little bit extra is going toward that. If it doesn't work out, we should at least have enough to take a babymoon to some destination that's closer.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal? We're changing how we are budgeting - I moved away from having just 5 or 6 categories to being super specific. The super specifci categories really started to stress me out though because there is always something random that pops up. I'm going back to my 5 or 6 categories. I truly don't think we spend any more by tracking it that way (in fact, I think we spend less because we don't have all these categories to "borrow" from). It's easier for both of us to see the big picture, and honestly that's what I like to focus on instead of getting bogged down about whether we spent $10 on a haircut this month or $15.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that? At the end of each year I try to spend very little until I get my first paycheck of the new year. Our tax withholdings will be changing in the new year and I may or may not be getting a raise. I need to see how all that shakes out before I can set a good budget for January. Since we use credit cards we are usually a half a month ahead. So mid-December is when I put a hold on any non-routine spending until we see our paychecks.

formerlyGDaisy09 · December 2014

November

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month?

we were good, this was our first month we went into with a plan after H's job-loss mid-october, we were over budget in some areas (shopping and household goods) and under in others (grocery, gas, and haircuts) overall we came out $160 under budget for the month.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped?

we just watched everything carefully. I'm growing out a pixie-cut so when I realized we could take advantage of a few holiday deals to get a few things on our list (I've outfitted the bedroom we're finishing in the basement with linens!) I pushed my hair appointment back a couple weeks into december to allocate that money elsewhere...my appointment is on saturday, getting a little shaggy, but I think it's finally getting long enough I can get away with every 8 week appointments instead of every 6.

3. What were your greatest achievements?

$750 into savings! despite H's lowered income

4. What were your biggest downfalls?

we get swept-up in the deals this time of year...despite being under budget we need to continue to reign it in a bit.

December

1. What are your goals for this month?

keep spending under control

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal?

we're going to do our best to just stay out of the stores...I've got the nieces and nephews taken care of, my family is only doing very limited gift exchange (i'm handmaking most things) H sent his sister $100 earlier in the fall, and I made his other sister a wreath over thanksgiving...so we don't have a reason to go to the store.

I do tend to go a little crazy with cookies at Christmas....I'm going to try to limit myself there as well.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that?

we've tightened things up pretty well, now its just maintenence and fine tuning.

strickland8052 · December 2014

November

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month?
Not good. Didn't put anything into savings, with exception to retirement.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped?
Everything did more "hurt" than it did help.

3. What were your greatest achievements?
I did pay off my car. YAY!!!!!!!!!!! And we got caught up after a month of vacations and home projects.

4. What were your biggest downfalls?
Home projects. I always say that we will do the project a little bit at a time, then I get anxious and we finish it all in one weekend.. leading to huge spending at once.

December

1. What are your goals for this month?
Put $500 into general savings.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal?
Hopefully pick up some more dog sitting opportunities.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that?
Should be fewer home projects and vacations, and it will therefore be a better month.

abrewer5 · December 2014

November

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month? Honestly, I fell off track this month. I did not pull my allowance out in cash and used my CC's way too much. Budgeted to pay them off though which is great.

2. What did you do differently this month that helped? N/A I did not do good this month. Really need to refocus next month.

3. What were your greatest achievements? I dropped my "allowance" down to $100 a pay check versus $150. And started reseaching transferring my low earning IRA certificate to a higher earning account.

4. What were your biggest downfalls? Spending too much, not sticking to my allowance, our vacation did not help

December

1. What are your goals for this month? Stick to my $100/pay check allowance, eat out less, watch my spending on my CCs. Not MM related: Get my butt to the gym more.

2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal? Take out my allowance in cash, stop using my CCs for cash back for the time being with the exception of Christmas which I will cash flow.

3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that? Paying off my CCs without interest is big one for me. I'm excited to stick to this. Sit down with H and go over our spending. We really need to refocus for the new year and start working towards our goals together.

formerlyGDaisy09 · December 2014

@abrewer5 If I'm reading that right... you take $100/pay-check allowance (usually $150) and you're struggling to pay-off credit cards without paying interest?

I'm not sure how often you get paid...but if it's bi-weekly you should be able to cut your "fun-money" budget to less than $200-300 each month to get on top of your CCs.

I could just be interpreting what you're writing wrong.

noffgurl · December 2014

alyssa32713 said:

Thought I would get us all started!

November

1. How good were you at keeping your money goals for this month?
Not terrible, not great.
2. What did you do differently this month that helped?
I don't know about helping but different with the separating accounts.
3. What were your greatest achievements?
No car repairs in awhile.
4. What were your biggest downfalls?
Eating out
December

1. What are your goals for this month?
To build up the emergency fund in my account.
2. What do you plan to do differently to get to your goal?
NO MORE EATING OUT
3. What area of your budget do you want to work on this month, and how do you plan to do that?
Emergency fund by not eating out and having done all Christmas shopping already I should be ok.

abrewer5 · December 2014

Gdaisy09 said:

@abrewer5 If I'm reading that right... you take $100/pay-check allowance (usually $150) and you're struggling to pay-off credit cards without paying interest?

I'm not sure how often you get paid...but if it's bi-weekly you should be able to cut your "fun-money" budget to less than $200-300 each month to get on top of your CCs.

I could just be interpreting what you're writing wrong.

@gdaisy09: I'm paying off my CC before interest, thankfully I've adjusted my budget to cash flow those purchases. The $100 a pay check I take out (bi-weekly so $200 per month) goes towards any fun money, eating out, clothes, small grocery trips, household items, etc. so it's really not much in grand scheme.

I'm doing much better than I was! And no longer carrying a balance on my CCs, just need to get my spending in check on them so I don't have to cash flow them. This past month was difficult with a vacation and buying Christmas gifts. H also owes me $400 that I put on my CC for cash back so that will take a big chunk away too.

vlagrl29 · December 2014

November was good but we did go over in a couple areas. I had this idea for the 3 of us to have casual winter sweaters for our family holiday photo this year. We send out holiday xmas cards to friends and family. Needless to say, we went way over in our clothing budget in November. We also went a tad over in our eating out budget because my dad's birthday was on the 19th and it was a slightly more expensive restaurant. We were in budget with every other category and actually spent $25 on "entertainment", which we barely do anymore. I was able to book 3 gigs in November which was great and all that money went into savings. DH officially closed on his lot so that's pretty exciting.

December we will use cash for all xmas gifts - our budget is $300. I'm keeping a tally on everything so we don't go over. I pretty much want to keep a tight belt on everything this month and put a little bit in savings. I will treat myself to a spa day the last week of December and will use xmas cash for that

brij2006 · December 2014

@abrewer5 I know a lot of people on here are fine with the use of CC's as long as the balance is paid off, but I'm with you that it really is a mental thing. It's much easier to swipe a CC and not worry about it and just pay it off at the end of the month. When you have to borrow from short term savings to flow you into the next week for those same purchases, or when you see the money being taken directly out of your account, it has a whole different behavior to it. I was an avid points builder on CC's until H told me he wanted to do Dave Ramsey's plan full throttle and not use the CC's. I told him he was crazy and we never carried a balance so it wasn't an issue for us. We used debit only for 2 months (that's what I told him I would "try"), and we haven't used them since. I didn't realize how much mindless spending we were doing with them, "just to get points."

hoffse · December 2014

brij2006 said:

@abrewer5 I know a lot of people on here are fine with the use of CC's as long as the balance is paid off, but I'm with you that it really is a mental thing. It's much easier to swipe a CC and not worry about it and just pay it off at the end of the month. When you have to borrow from short term savings to flow you into the next week for those same purchases, or when you see the money being taken directly out of your account, it has a whole different behavior to it. I was an avid points builder on CC's until H told me he wanted to do Dave Ramsey's plan full throttle and not use the CC's. I told him he was crazy and we never carried a balance so it wasn't an issue for us. We used debit only for 2 months (that's what I told him I would "try"), and we haven't used them since. I didn't realize how much mindless spending we were doing with them, "just to get points."

***Stuck in the box****

For me, a big advantage of credit card use is cash flow for reimbursable expenses. My employer reimburses us once a month - at the very end of the month. I just charged over $5,000 of school tuition to my credit card. I will be reimbursed by my employer before that card payment is due - but if I hadn't been able to charge the tuition, then that money would be out of my personal account for 30 days before my employer reimbursed me. Any number of things could happen in the next 30 days to make that scenario be a huge problem.

I personally like having a card that's designated for reimburseables only (we actually have two fidelity AmEx's and use one for us and one for job stuff). That way if I ever have to show them a credit card statement - and that has happened a couple times - the person looking at that card statement doesn't see what I make or what my husband and I spend our personal money on.

I do agree that it's a mental game of spending vs. points. It's senseless to spend more than you would otherwise spend just to get points. They aren't worth that much.

abrewer5 · December 2014

brij2006 said:

@abrewer5 I know a lot of people on here are fine with the use of CC's as long as the balance is paid off, but I'm with you that it really is a mental thing. It's much easier to swipe a CC and not worry about it and just pay it off at the end of the month. When you have to borrow from short term savings to flow you into the next week for those same purchases, or when you see the money being taken directly out of your account, it has a whole different behavior to it. I was an avid points builder on CC's until H told me he wanted to do Dave Ramsey's plan full throttle and not use the CC's. I told him he was crazy and we never carried a balance so it wasn't an issue for us. We used debit only for 2 months (that's what I told him I would "try"), and we haven't used them since. I didn't realize how much mindless spending we were doing with them, "just to get points."

@brij2006 This is my problem exactly, I spend mindlessly with credit cards versus using cash which is why I really need to stick to taking my allowance out in cash and not using my cards. I used to carry a balance on my card, a ridiculous one at the that, but I got myself out of that hole so now I'm trying to make sure I don't get back to that point. I have started using them for monthly bills as long as it doesn't incur a fee and that's worked out pretty well.

I had a situation last month where I didn't realize the bill was due 1 day before pay day instead of the day after like I was tracking so it helped a lot to just put it on my CC and pay it off immediately the next day. I won't make a habit of that, but it was helpful in that case. I didn't want to dip into savings for a $40 bill.

@hoffse You do a great job at managing your CC and points/rewards, I'm hoping to get to that place eventually, I'd hate to get back into a situation where I carry a balance/ pay interest when I just got myself out of that hole a few months ago. It's a work in progress!

formerlyGDaisy09 · December 2014

Like Hoffse I often have to pay for work stuff well ahead of when I'll get reimbursed. an example being going to a research conference...my company has a policy that they don't reimburse for travel expenses until after the travel has happened, and it generally takes them 3-4 weeks to process a reimbursement. so if I have a trip in december, I buy plane tickets at the end of november and reserve a hotel room I'd be out that cash for 6-7 weeks if I didn't put it on a CC. most trips I go on cost $1500-$2000 once I've paid for transportation and hotels connected with the conference. I don't have a dedicated card I do that with (though I love the idea!) often I pick which card it goes on based on when the travel falls in the statement cycle so I try to plan it so I have the maximum amount of time between when I pay for plane tickets (usually the first thing I buy) and when the payment would be due, most the time I can give myself a good buffer to give my company time to process the reimbursement.

For everyday purchases we always reference our budget to make sure that ancellary shopping trips or anything we're buying fits the budget...anything that doesn't fit we don't buy or there is serious conversation about needs and wants before we charge it.

@abrewer5 you have a lot more built into your "allowance" spending than I do (we separate out entertainment, shopping, household, and lump little grocery trips into our overall grocry budget) does your H have a similar allowance? it just seems that if you're struggling to pay off CCs each month maybe that line item needs to shrink.

when things are tight for us our entertainment budget is $50 (one dinner out), shopping is $50 (most often reserved for needs from homedepot...when things are tight we make do with the clothes we have), $75 for household (cat litter, cat and dog food take up a good portion), we stick to a strict $350 grocery budget (including little trips) and we each get $25 of "mad money" (for coffee, or a beer with friends)...we find it's easier to keep everything in check with more smaller pots. if your H has a similar allowance that's quite a bit of money each month that might help you feel less pressure from CCs if you monitored it more closely.

abrewer5 · December 2014

@gdaisy09:Thanks for the advice! $200 per month works best for me considering it covers eating out, groceries, household items, and pet expenses, etc. My H and I don't combine finances so I'm not sure how he budgets his personal money. And not struggling to pay CC's just need to stop spending mindlessly, everything is cash flowed to have them paid off without interest/carrying a balance, so I'm good.

I'll just be sure to take out cash for my Dec allowance, which I failed to do in Nov.

November/December Goals

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