Money Matters
simplyelise
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
1. How MM was your weekend?
2. Any progress towards goals?
3. What's your favorite holiday and how do you like to celebrate it?
Re: Monday Accountability
1. How MM was your weekend?
$28 on groceries, $14 at Target for dishwasher tabs and an inside door mat. All on budget.
2. Any progress towards goals?
$1192 to student loans - we're down to $33,284 in debt now.
3. What's your favorite holiday and how do you like to celebrate it?
I really like Thanksgiving. I especially loved how we celebrated it last year, Thanksgiving day with my parents, helping my mom cook and bake and playing with the nieces and nephews. Then the next day we drove to MIL's house for the Mizzou vs. Arkansas football game (we're from MO and BIL is from Arkansas, so it's a good rivalry). My family has better food but his family drinks, so it's a good mashup weekend!
1. How MM was your weekend?
Okay. We could have done better.
$200 on groceries, $55 on eating out, and $40 donation. All within what was budgeted, but the eating out was unexpected. We met up with friends for dinner, for the first time in a year. We both had a drink, and also split an appetizer. It was amazing to actually go out to dinner and enjoy ourselves instead of watching every penny. We had a wonderful night with our friends and the kids.
Thankfully we had plenty left in the eating out budget to still keep us within budget.
2. Any progress towards goals?
We sold one of my brothers' trailers, his dirt bike, and his crop sprayer. So my 1/3rd will be $8,500 within the next few weeks. All of that will go toward the next student loans.
3. What's your favorite holiday and how do you like to celebrate it?
Halloween. We decorate our entire front yard, and the inside of our house is decked out with fall/Halloween items. We have a dress up party as well.
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
1. $10 Post office, $22 Mall
2. $1168 to house account
3. I love Christmas- I love driving around and looking at the all Xmas lights, I listen to Christmas music starting after thanksgiving until xmas day, I love decorating, sitting by the tree, baking my favorite sugar cookies and of course presents
2.nothing. Working on July budget to see where we can save extra this month to get us on track for baby and hospital costs. The extra pay check this month will definitely help.
3. Christmas because it is a family holiday. We always have a lot of people together, whether we are at home or with my parents or the in laws.
2. $750 to student loans.
3. I always loved May Day as a kid. Christmas is probably now my favorite as its the only time when all our families get together.
1. How MM was your weekend? Pretty good - groceries (only $90!.. got a lot of produce, canned sauce, jams from my momma's garden), graduation check $50
2. Any progress towards goals? No $ to checking this week either- had to pay the auto insurance for the year ($843 for 2 cars) with this week's transfer. DH goes to his new district's HR office tomorrow so we'll find out his new salary/benefits.. very exciting!
3. What's your favorite holiday and how do you like to celebrate it? Thanksgiving- I love the food and that there aren't gifts involved. We have it at our house usually around lunch time (my parents bring/cook all of the food at our house too), the girls can nap, and after the dishes are done, we can relax.
I also love Christmas morning when it's just the 4 of us.. the girls are so sweet and really take their time opening gifts (they even get excited about handmade items (they're getting quilts for their beds this year!), books, clothes, socks in their stockings). We make a big breakfast and coffee cake.. wish the entire day could stay that way.
1. How MM was your weekend? It was pretty expensive, I had 2 showers and a birthday... $30 at Walmart for shower gifts/wrapping materials/cards. $45 for lunch with my grandmother/cousin for her birthday, $23 gas, $20 for another shower gift, and $30 for dinner last night as a thank you to my neighbors for letting me carpool with them on a 5 hour round trip to go to a shower.
2. Any progress towards goals? Upped my student loan payment to $300. I think I have everything straightened out with all my autopayments now and signed up for budget billing on electric/gas.
3. What's your favorite holiday and how do you like to celebrate it? Halloween is always fun! I love handing out candy and going on ghost tours. From a family aspect, Thanksgiving. It's a lot less pressure than Christmas and I have less places to run to.
1. How MM was your weekend?
Didn't spend any money this weekend. In fact, we saved $50 by grooming our dog ourselves.
2. Any progress towards goals?
Paid $250 toward credit card debt.
3. What's your favorite holiday and how do you like to celebrate it?
Neither my family nor my H's family live anywhere nearby, so we spend both Thanksgiving and Christmas at home making yummy food and pigging out. Of the two, my favorite is probably Thanksgiving because it is a 4-day weekend for me. Plus the weather is awesome at that time of year.
All budgeted for. $108 groceries, $15 for mini golf, $138 for bathroom tile/supplies.
2. Any progress towards goals?
Cash flow for the tile.
3. What's your favorite holiday and how do you like to celebrate it?
Christmas - baking, decorating, family time, advent, giving to others, etc.
1. How MM was your weekend? Not very good. I had Relay for Life Friday night and ended up over-donating by about $50. I guess that's not the worst way to go over budget, but still.... Also $25 for a bridal shower gift on Saturday, $140 groceries (budgeted), and $28 gas (budgeted). And I think we grabbed sandwiches or yogurt a couple times so throw in an extra $20.
2. Any progress towards goals? Not especially. We really need to buckle down and watch our spending since we are going forward with our porch build and we still need about $2K to be comfortable paying for that. It has been hard for us with all the fun summer stuff happening to not want to do stuff! We have a short summer and long winter, so when summer comes around we feel like we have to take advantage of as much fun as possible
3. What's your favorite holiday and how do you like to celebrate it? Does our wedding anniversary count??? We celebrate our anniversary every year by taking a vacation around the end of May/beginning of June. It's what I look forward to all year!
1. How MM was your weekend? This weekend was actually good! $27 on food/drinks at a street festival on Saturday.
2. Any progress towards goals? Progress toward goals of our landscaping project and having fun...yes. MM progress, not really. We currently have the same sentiments as @dragonstarjk - summer (as in, warm weather but keep a sweatshirt handy just in case) only lasts a couple months, so we're taking advantage of it at the expense of our fun budget. Also, landscaping supplies are expensive. At least with landscaping comes the potential ROI of curb appeal.
3. What's your favorite holiday and how do you like to celebrate it? I feel like I'm in a favorite holiday rut because of the work that they require in adulthood and the drama that the ILs bring, lol. But I have always enjoyed the 4th of July because of the parade, fireworks and community togetherness.
Okay. A new cigar bar opened down the street, so H bought a cigar and we had a few beers, $25. $20 for lunch on Saturday. $20 for movie tickets on Sunday. $70 for groceries. 2. Any progress towards goals?
It was a non-paycheck week around here; nothing to report. 3. What's your favorite holiday and how do you like to celebrate it?
I love everything about Christmas. H and I always do something fun, just the two of us. We used to spend the weekend downtown Chicago at the German market. When we moved to New Mexico, we went skiing. Last year, our first year in MO, we stayed at a super cute bed and breakfast in a town that has a Christmas festival/market. We don't see each other all that much, so it's a fun time for us to just spend some time together. We always drink Christmas-y beers during the day and have roasted nuts and hot chocolate at night. When we first moved, it was really hard being away from family, but it totally takes the "holiday pressure" off. Now we just FaceTime with both of our families, but we're always together at least.
2. Given my overspending, the only progress this week is a Roth contribution since those are on auto draft.
3. This is hard! I guess I'll go Christmas but I love Halloween, 4th of July, and New Years too. My favorite tradition is decorating our tree. I'm hoping to build to hosting soon so that we aren't spending most of the day in the car...
Oh what a difference location makes! Here in the Deep South, I only want to be indoors during the summer, lol. It is excruciatingly hot and is the most miserable time of year. And it's uncomfortably hot for a good four months. But, with the exception of a few days here and there, it's comfortable to be outside in the wintertime with gloves and a coat on. So, not a bad trade off.
I was just joking to my H the other night that, when we retire, we are going to be "summer birds" and flee NOLA in the summertime for cooler weather elsewhere.