Monday Accountability

simplyelise · November 2015

1. How MM was your weekend?

2. Any progress towards goals?

3. Do you decorate your home for holidays or seasons?

als1982 · November 2015

1. Not too bad. We had friends visiting from out of town and didn't end up spending too much more than we would have on a regular weekend: $20 for the zoo, $25 for BBQ lunch, $15 for Chinese takeout dinner, $20 for Sunday brunch.

2. $917 to ROTHs. Second to last month. We no longer qualify in 2016! Slight set back with new washer and dryer to the tune of $1,500. We bought it at 24 months no interest, but plan to pay $250 a month for the next 6 months in order to keep rolling on our student loan.

3. Minimally. For the fall I have a single wicker pumpkin from Pottery Barn for the dining room table (bought with a house warming gift card over 6 years ago). For Christmas, I have my grandparents old tree from the 1960s and lights but no ornaments and one wreath for the door (Michael's last year at 75% off!) Home decor is clearly not a financial priority for us!

simplyelise · November 2015

1. How MM was your weekend?

Not bad. $28 on date activities, $75 on groceries and toiletries, $8.13 for my niece's bday gift, and $17 for a christmas gift for my nephew which we grabbed while it was on sale.

2. Any progress towards goals?

$1257 to student loans on Friday. Current balance is $22,804

3. Do you decorate your home for holidays or seasons?

I don't have any fall or thanksgiving or halloween decorations. So we really only decorate for christmas with a small (maybe 3 foot) hand-me-down tree and our combined ornaments. My mom gets every family member an ornament each year and has since I was little, so our 3 ft tree is pretty well covered! We got a very nice willow tree nativity set as a christmas gift last year and I think we're going to try and make an advent calendar to hang up as well.

short+sassy · November 2015

1. How MM was your weekend?

Pretty good. Nothing spent Friday. Bought a chest freezer for $130 on Saturday. It wasn't budgeted, but my H and I have been talking about getting one for a long time and this was a crazy good deal. It is twice as big as the typical chest freezer and $70 cheaper. It was a special buy at HD for $158, but I bought the last floor model and asked for a discount. They gave me $15 off, plus I had a 10% off coupon...so that was another $14 off. MM win!

On Sunday, we rarely order out pizza, but were in a mood. Spent $30 on Dominoes.

2. Any progress towards goals?

No progress on paying off my HELOC, but the rehab on my duplex is almost done and today should be the last day I'll regularly be having my two construction guys working there. Phew!They've been bleeding me dry! They charge a very fair price, but its still a huge chunk of money because it has been 5-6 days/week for many weeks.

3. Do you decorate your home for holidays or seasons?

I've never decorated outside my house, other than a wreath on my door, but I usually put up a Christmas tree and pull out a few X-mas décor items and start drinking coffee out of my mug that looks like peppermint candies, lol.

I don't decorate for Halloween anymore, though all I ever did in the past was put out a jack-o-lantern. Don't even do that now! For the Mardi Gras season (I live in NOLA), I put a Mardi Gras decorated wreath on my door.

PurpleBookmark · November 2015

1. Great! We spent $0 Friday, $167 on groceries and diapers Saturday (budgeted) and $0 Sunday.

2. No progress yet but hopefully by the end of the month.

3. We decorate for Christmas and I also have seasonal door decorations - a snowflake in winter, heart for Valentine's Day, bunny for Easter, sunflowers for summer, scarecrow for fall and a turkey for Thanksgiving. I bought all of these at the Dollar Tree throughout the last few years!

julieanne912 · November 2015

1. How MM was your weekend?

It was... ok. We went to Costco on Friday night, which was budgeted on my end. I told my H I had $100 to spend, and he'd be responsible for anything over that. He tends to add extra things to the cart. Ended up spending $198, but he stuck to his word and picked up the extra $98. On Saturday, we dropped my car off to get tires rotated (free), but then that meant he had to go to the grocery store with me, which always means I end up buying some extra items. But, all in all still ok.. budget was $75 and I spent $80, but that included our Thanksgiving turkey. We also had to go buy a part for our washing machine to fix the latch, that was $13 but H paid for that, and I bought us lunch at a burger place, that was $17. Sunday didn't spend anything.

He's trying to convince me he needs to get an RZR offroad vehicle. He says he can afford it, which he can, but of course this is where we differ... I'm like well, sure you can afford it, but you don't need it. He wants it. We ended it at the dealership with him deciding we needed to go home and measure our toy hauler camper to see if it'll fit. We measured, and it'll be tight. He has now decided to take the camper down there to really make sure if it'll fit. Sigh. I hope it doesn't fit.

2. Any progress towards goals?

Moved $125 towards savings. Didn't get much else done in terms of non-monetary goals as we were out of the house most of the weekend.

3. Do you decorate your home for holidays or seasons?

Yes, some. We were gifted a new artificial tree for the wedding so I'm going to put that up, I hope I have enough ornaments for it... have a couple bins full but my old tree was tiny. Also have a wreath for the door. I'm contemplating doing lights outside. H doesn't want to do the lights, but we already have them left over from the wedding. We'll see... we would have to borrow a ladder and I worry about the extra cost to the electric bill. We aren't actually in town for Christmas so I tend to not go overboard.

formerlyGDaisy09 · November 2015

1. we're just in a spendy place right now. I spent $80 at home depot for another rod for the closet in the nursery, some shelving, batteries (totally forgot all the little baby things that need batteries!). Then I spent $130 on groceries, all our trips now are including stock-up for the week and some extras so we've got easy meals on hand post-baby. We've not pulled the triggor on our baby registry completion yet (and I had all the feels at work this morning when I saw my boss and his wife bought us our fancy jogging stroller), but it looks like to finish out basically everything else we need is about $700.

2. Lots of progress this month, we sold the car we've been trying to sell, so we stuck half of that in an account to be used on a future down-payment and have used the other half for needs to finish-up construction and baby stuff.

3. Christmas is basically the only holiday we decorate for, I do have some fall-seasonal stuff, but the last couple years that has just stayed in storage. We usually put up a tree, hang a wreath on the door, and I have a collection of nutcrackers that decorate the hutch under our TV, I am starting to think about stockings and where those might go.

cbee817 · November 2015

1. How MM was your weekend? Pretty good- groceries ($170), gas ($25), post office ($10), sold more fabric online (+$33), and cleaned out our guest room/my sewing room this weekend. Feels good to have that more organized.

2. Any progress towards goals? $1,000 went to savings and we moved DH's Roth IRA to fidelity (from AXA where his 403b is) so it'll be easier for us to manage. Also only have 1 more payment on the sewer bill- $700 left!

3. Do you decorate your home for holidays or seasons? Yes we have a few things for each holiday (wreaths for the door, tablecloths, etc), but Christmas is the main holiday we decorate for. Our outside is done but we don't turn the lights on until the day after Thanksgiving. DH likes to put them up when it's decent out and it was in the 50's on Veterans Day. We put the tree up and decorate inside (stockings, small things for the mantel and sideboard) the day after Thanksgiving because we're all home and it's easy to get it done then. We don't have too much but it's fun to show the girls everything- DD#1 is really excited about decorations this year. She was really disappointed when I put up 1 Halloween decoration, so I'm hoping Christmas will make up for it.

lbonga1 · November 2015

1. How MM was your weekend?

Really good. We were actually doing well with not spending anything most of the week; I was having trouble remembering the last time I swiped my debit card. We were also trying to clear out out fridge/freezer/pantry all week, and we spent about $50 yesterday to restock on produce, drinks, and other perishables.

2. Any progress towards goals?

Not yet. I'm hopefully hearing back about a job today, but I also have another interview for a job I can do from home and only have to commit 15 hours to. So if I get that, it'll be a nice side income.

3. Do you decorate your home for holidays or seasons?

I have a fake tree, but we haven't put it up the last couple years because there hasn't been room in our apartment. We tell our girls that we told Santa to leave their gifts at their grandparents' house, since we go there on Christmas morning anyway. We will decorate when we own a house, though.

abrewer5 · November 2015

1. How MM was your weekend? It was so-so. I had off 5 days (woo hoo!) so I went thru my closet and got rid of 75% of my clothes which resulted in me going shopping. So I spent about $15 at Marshalls (gift card for the rest), $8 at consignment shop for a shirt, $35 on lunch out 3 days, $80 on new shoes/socks (100% an impulse buy that was not budgeted but they were 101 Dalmatian vans which is my all time favorite, I'm still a kid at heart), returned stuff to The Limited so +$120(covered my impulse shoe buy), and then $50 for dinner last night because we had my family over.

2. Any progress towards goals?

Nothing out of the ordinary. Not MM but home goal: We replaced all the door knobs and hinges in our house this week to finally get rid of the brass stuff. We're about 80% done with replacing all fixtures/knobs/etc. with brushed nickel.

3. Do you decorate your home for holidays or seasons?

I have a few decorations but we don't do much. I usually have a sign up on the front door for the different holidays and then we do a Christmas tree at Christmas. My outdoor decorations are always lacking.

Mustard76 · November 2015

1. How MM was your weekend?
- $30 for gas on Saturday and $64 for takeout to feed my parents, my girlfriend, her daughter, and me.

2. Any progress towards goals?
- Non pay week, so no.

3. Do you decorate your home for holidays or seasons?
- Minimally for Halloween, but I have a ton of Christmas decorations. Our tree is small, and we change the color scheme of our decorations every few years. 5 or so years ago, everything was red and gold, now everything is blue and silver. We don't have sentimental ornaments, just the plain glass ball ornaments in whatever the current color scheme. My wrapping paper even matches the colors of the tree. I know, I'm crazy. We have stockings for the two of us, and one for the dog. I have Christmas dishes and serving trays, too. Most of the kitchen stuff has been given to me, though. I love everything about Christmas time, and I love having the house decked out. We don't decorate outside, though.

jessica490 · November 2015

1. Spendy weekend but all cash $60 Sears, $184 Lowes $13 Mcdonalds, $23 Gas

2. $200 to vacation fund

3. Yes! We decorate for Christmas of course, Halloween and Easter pretty much

smetter04 · November 2015

1. How MM was your weekend? It wasn't terrible. Saturday - about $80 on blinds at Menards, $3 something on eggs and a snack from the gas station (their eggs are cheaper than the grocery store, the snack was needed to get me through Menards without getting hangry/crabby at H), $20 on dinner upgrades for me at a dinner theater with my friend. Sunday - $93 on groceries/alcohol, $15 to church, $5 toward brunch with family.

2. Any progress towards goals? Friday I emailed our financial profile to the financial advisor we are starting to work with. This is the first step toward working with him/purchasing life ins/investing more. Purchasing/installing the blinds means we can check another item off the home-goals list, which feels good.

3. Do you decorate your home for holidays or seasons? I love decorating for the seasons! I can't wait to decorate for Christmas. The process of putting the tree up, reminiscing about the ornaments, and displaying the creche are all important parts of the Christmas season to me.

brij2006 · November 2015

1. MM Weekend:

Very good. Spent $28 on groceries, H spent $25 at the casino. Then our usual tithe to church.

2. Progress toward goals:

We looked at 3 houses, and had the realtor go through our house. We feel a lot more comfortable about listing our house now, but things are starting to get real. We had the discussion about just staying at our current home and putting up with the 1 hour commute for H because this is our home. But then we think about living there for 5 more years and him commuting, and we know it isn't the right decision.

3. Decorating for holidays:

I decorate for each fall/winter holiday. We only decorate outside for Halloween, though. Too cold here to do Christmas.

csuave · November 2015

1. Weekend was pretty spendy but I think we are good overall with spending this month so it should be fine. Friday spent had dinner and played cards at a friend's house. Spent about $14 on dessert to take there. Saturday and Sunday went out to eat and spent about $60 each night. Saturday was with a friend that was in town and it was nice to catch up and try the trendy new place downtown. Sunday was a romantic dinner out and was a nice date night. $4 on groceries.

2. Our current MM goal is to stay the course. Not the best weekend for saving but OK since we are buckled down pretty tight.

3. I decorate for all of the holidays. I have bathroom hand towels and kitchen towels thanks to my mom and something to put on the front door. Christmas we don't decorate outside other than a snowman wreath on the door but we usually put up a fake tree and garland inside along with other decorations.

hoffse · November 2015

1) Ours was really spendy, but most of it was going way over budget on clothes for our angel kids. We decided to buy them both winter coats, fleece jackets, sneakers, an extra pair of shoes, and multiple pairs of jeans, shirts, underwear, socks, etc. We basically got them stuff for all seasons. H got super into it, trying to make sure everything coordinated and looked good (!) I figure we'll end up spending a couple hundred on each of them by the time we've bought toys also. It's more than we originally planned, but whatever.

Other than that, $100 on groceries, $25 on gas, and $35 on all the star wars movies at a used bookstore, and then we went to see Spectre for $17. I also found a place selling plastic ribbed drawer liners for $1.20 per roll. I bought a dozen of them and may go back and buy the rest to just line everything in the kitchen and protect our new cabinets. It was a crazy good price, and I LOVE that they are plastic and waterproof.

2) H and I both got paid on Friday, and a tuition reimbursement also appeared. It was crazy. Anyway I paid my last tuition bill for the year!

3) We have a lot of Christmas decorations. I'm excited for this year, because I might do some decor in the butler's pantry to show off our holiday dishes. As for the tree, we have a picture window in our living room that is perfect for a tree so you can see it on the street. We got a tree on black friday last year that is prelit and changes colors. Last year I alternated between white and colored lights every other night. Our neighbors across the street are older and were super confused by it, lol.

This year, we have a new kitten whose kitty brain is going to explode when he sees a tree in the house that he can CLIMB! Seriously, he's going to lose it. So I don't think we'll be putting out glass ornaments this year. I have every expectation that he will take the wooden ornaments and hide them around the house. That is one of his favorite games, lol.

short+sassy · November 2015

@hoffse, cats are super cute with trees! We're lucky that our cat never tries to climb the tree...amazing, because she climbs everything else...but she LOVES smacking at the ornaments on the bottom branches. So its always unbreakable stuff on the bottom two branches. She'll sit there for hours...smack one, watch it swing to and fro a couple times, smack it again, and repeat.

formerlyGDaisy09 · November 2015

@hoffse, our cats both love the tree, but don't try to climb it, mostly they like to curl-up on the tree-skirt and sleep under it. I second making sure to put unimportant and/or unbreakable ornaments on the lower portion of the tree. We have a big box of plastic shiny balls from target that i put all over the tree, and then I hang our more personal/important ornaments higher up.

Xstatic3333 · November 2015

1. Spendy! We finally bought an area rug for our living room, which is a purchase I've been procrastinating for a year and half ($130). I spent $80 on groceries (a bit over budget) and $20 on a yoga and brunch friend date (within fun budget). H spent $60 pre-ordering a video game and now we need to scramble to find where that will fit in to next week's budget. He also spent $10 on beer out of his fun budget.

2. Not this week, other then small routine savings and retirement contributions.

3. For Halloween we did some door hanging decorations and Jack O'Lanterns on Halloween night. For Christmas we will probably just do a tree and wreathes. I really want to do outside lighting but it's not a financial or time priority right now. It will be interesting to see how our dog and the tree coexist. I'm pretty sure he's going to want to pee on it; he was neutered late and although he's basically house trained still has a strong marking instinct.

MissKittyDanger · November 2015

Sorry I tend to pop in and out of these boards! I am going to try to be more consistent!

1. How MM was your weekend?
We realized we need to review budget. Ended up buying some xmas stuff and then a pots and pans set {sale $99, regular $399!}

2. Any progress towards goals?
Not really. Although next weekend should be better! I've started selling tea through a company on the side and I have a party next weekend. Any extra cash I get will be split between debt and xmas gifts {2 more!}

3. Do you decorate your home for holidays or seasons?
Nope. Although this year we're doing a few decorations since we're hosting a dinner for family. It won't be Christmassy, it'll be more winter themed. The blues out now match my apt.

vlagrl29 · November 2015

1 - Great! Friday was dinner out ($35) and $4 donation on Sunday Yoga

2 - Besides clearing up the appeal process with our old insurance we decided on a new plan for 2016. Blue Cross PPO with Max OOP for family of $1000 and $90 premium. Next baby will only cost us $1k max. SO excited about that!

3 - I decorate for the holidays - minimal decorations for halloween and thanksgiving. More decorations for xmas with the tree inside and lights on the outside of house.

hoffse · November 2015

formerlyGDaisy09 said:

@hoffse, our cats both love the tree, but don't try to climb it, mostly they like to curl-up on the tree-skirt and sleep under it. I second making sure to put unimportant and/or unbreakable ornaments on the lower portion of the tree. We have a big box of plastic shiny balls from target that i put all over the tree, and then I hang our more personal/important ornaments higher up.

Our older cat is exactly like this. Our kitten though.... he's wild. He climbs everything. The curtains, furniture, lamp shades, our cabinets, the washer and dryer to get to the top shelves in the laundry room... H jokes we need to get him a cat tree/ramp set up throughout the house. I think he's going to lose it with the tree.

He also tries to swipe things and take them to his various hiding spots. Yesterday I was vacuuming and found my eye mask in his cat bed. The stopper to H's sink in our master bathroom was under the guest bed. Poor kitty has become a bit of a scapegoat when we can't find something, lol.

It will be interesting to see what he thinks of the tree. He's adorable but really can't be trusted. I'm not putting anything breakable on it this year.

blondie42107 · November 2015

1. How MM was your weekend?

Pretty good but spendy. Girls shopping trip (planned and budgeted for) to start on Christmas shopping. We packed snacks but did grab coffee and a late lunch. Otherwise H spent $50 ish on some hunting stuff.

2. Any progress towards goals?

The same - keep plugging away. I should be finding out soon about a raise at work. H will as well.

3. Do you decorate your home for holidays or seasons?

Yes! Outside we do Halloween/fall/Thanksgiving and Christmas. Indoors I do all the holidays. For Valentine's Day and St Patrick's Day, I just have a few things I put out. For Easter we do more. 4th of July is lower key. Christmas is the biggest. I've always enjoyed decorating for the holidays but now that I have kids and I see how much they enjoy it, it makes me want to do more.

bmo88 · November 2015

1. How MM was your weekend?

So-so. I bought about $90 in groceries to re-stock on essentials.
Purchased $200 worth of gear for our trip to Europe--included 2 travel backpacks, 1 day pack, 2 sets of packing cubes, 2 sets of luggage locks and hidden wallet pouches--at least I used Ebates and got 6% cash back plus my 5% credit card cash back!

2. Any progress towards goals?

Paid about $500 extra toward debt
Kept up with the increased ROTH IRA contribution

3. Do you decorate your home for holidays or seasons?

No, haha. We don't really decorate for Thanksgiving, other than a wreath. We haven't been home for Christmas in the past 8 years. Usually we travel to see my family for the holidays, but this year we will be spending Christmas and New Years in Europe.

KatieCutie05 · November 2015

1. How MM was your weekend?

Very good considering my FIL was visiting this weekend. We did some shopping and went out to eat but he treated. And then on Sunday me and him went to Carters and he bought LO 100 worth of clothes!

2. Any progress towards goals?

Not yet but we just had a 500 car repair bill for just a stupid windshield wiper motor.... and my car really needs brakes so i don't think we are going to be able to get my husbands car paid off next month.

3. Do you decorate your home for holidays or seasons?

A little - we have never done much because no one is ever here to see it except us. But this year my FIL will be here Christmas Day and then my mom and sister are coming a few days after. So i'm excited to actually do some decorating instead of acting like total scrooges.

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