Monday Accountability Post

cbee817 · December 2015

1. How MM was your weekend?

2. Any progress towards goals?

3. Any plans for the holiday season (vacation, time off at home, travel to see family, etc)?

cbee817 · December 2015

1. How MM was your weekend? Not bad- groceries ($154), Dinner out with DH on Saturday ($30)

2. Any progress towards goals? Last sewer bill payment made today ($700)!

3. Any plans for the holiday season (vacation, time off at home, travel to see family, etc)? We have Christmas Eve at DH's parents with FIL's side of the family. Christmas morning is at our house for the girls, then we go back to DH's parents for dinner with MIL's side. My mom works a lot (pharmacist at an emergency room) during the time between Christmas and New Years so we'll see them on the 21st for dinner and gifts for the girls. I'm taking off about 10 days- even though we'll be at home, it'll still be nice to have time off and we'll be able to get some housework/cleaning/organizing done.

jessica490 · December 2015

1. $13 Dollar Store, $20 Gas, $38 Home depot, $33 Chinese food,$15 Stop and Shop

2. $682 to savings. $530 towards a Bose radio we bought and furniture

3. Our family is all local so we don't travel for the holidays luckily. Xmas eve at my aunts house and my sister will be doing Xmas this year. I have every Friday off this month along with a couple other days so I will enjoy my long weekends! I love this month!

abrewer5 · December 2015

1. How MM was your weekend? Good! $20 for take out on Friday, $10 to pay for Christmas Dinner for a senior I adopted for the holidays, and $15 at the grocery store yesterday. ETA: I returned some Black Friday online purchases to Kohls so +$122 back from those

2. Any progress towards goals? My auto payment went to my student loan this week. I'm a year ahead on payments and my balance is down to $8250!

3. Any plans for the holiday season (vacation, time off at home, travel to see family, etc)? We're having H's family over on Christmas Eve for dinner and then I'll see my family on Christmas day while H works. H's family usually celebrates Boxing Day on the 26th too so I'll plan to go to that.

simplyelise · December 2015

1. How MM was your weekend?

We spent a lot of money, but it was all budgeted and frugal. $151 on property tax, $312 on medical bills, $84 on XMas gifts, and $35 on groceries. Only 6 gifts left to buy plus our gifts for each other.

2. Any progress towards goals?

$100 towards car replacement, so it's up to $1200! Nothing else this week.

3. Any plans for the holiday season (vacation, time off at home, travel to see family, etc)?

Xmas with my parents and sibs this saturday. We're going up and back in one day, so 4 hours roundtrip will let us sleep in our own bed. Going to MIL/SFIL's on the 23rd and staying until the 27th - they're about 4.5 hours away. We will go with DH's sibs to visit FIL/SMIL for a couple hours on one of those days (FIL is about an hour away from MIL). Then I am taking a vacation day on the Monday after Christmas so that I actually get a break after the family visits!

hoffse · December 2015

1. How MM was your weekend?

Meh, so-so. Groceries were around $130, but we won't do much shopping next weekend. $50 on a Christmas gift for H's brother, and then I spent about $50 on a new palette at Sephora that I'm obsessed with. I had a coupon, and it's pretty much the only time of the year I buy serious makeup.

2. Any progress towards goals?

Still waiting to hear about bonuses for both of us. I know H nailed down his, but ours are more discretionary. So we'll have to see about that. We should find out for sure this week or next week.

3. Any plans for the holiday season (vacation, time off at home, travel to see family, etc)?

Last Christmas party is the 17th, driving to Atlanta on the 18th, flying to Frankfurt on the 19th for the Christmas markets, training to Brussels on the 23rd to see family, flying home on the 27th, back to work on the 28th, back to Atlanta on the 31st for NYE, then back home on the 2nd for another party for H's firm. My classes resume on the 4th. I'm tired just thinking about it. Our goal this weekend is to pack and get the house ready for a few weeks of neglect.

dragonstarjk · December 2015

1. How MM was your weekend? It was pretty good, other than being about $25 over-budget on groceries

2. Any progress towards goals? Nothing out of the norm

3. Any plans for the holiday season (vacation, time off at home, travel to see family, etc)? We're not traveling. We are having my dad and his wife and my siblings over for a pre-Christmas party the weekend before Christmas. Christmas Eve is usually our time together as a couple, and we usually make dinner, exchange gifts, and watch a movie. Christmas Day we will go to my mom's house for Christmas dinner.

csuave · December 2015

1. How MM was your weekend?

Good. We hung out with friends without spending any money. Meal planning went very well too. $15 on groceries, $25 on gas (yay lower gas prices!) and $10 on Shutterfly Christmas cards. The cards weren't in budget but we put a picture of the dog on it and since this may be her last Christmas with us $10 didn't seem like a big deal.

2. Any progress towards goals?

H started driving for Uber and has a good start for his Dec goal. And I finally completed photo albums from trips I took 17 and 15 years ago! I have now gone through and organized all loose old photos and the book shelf section dedicated to albums is completely neat and organized. I always intended to finish that project "one day." Finally made it happen!

3. Any plans for the holiday season (vacation, time off at home, travel to see family, etc)?

This year the rotation has us going to the IL's house. I'll have about a week off so we can spend time with them in FL. Then we'll be home for New Years and I can't wait for a quiet long weekend at home. I'm thinking some binge watching will be in order.

blondie42107 · December 2015

1. How MM was your weekend?

$78 on groceries - nothing else.

2. Any progress towards goals?

Paid our auto insurance on the 1st - it's a six month term so it hurts a little to pay all at once but we save money by doing it that way. H should get his bonus today.

3. Any plans for the holiday season (vacation, time off at home, travel to see family, etc)?

Time away from work, more time with the kids, a few family and friends "get togethers."

smetter04 · December 2015

1. How MM was your weekend? Not great but not the worst, either. $12ish on brunch with book club on Saturday, $262 at Target for an impulse Xmas decoration (a cute reindeer!), additional lights for our tree ($10 off a $50 or more Xmas purchase), and sound bar w/sub woofer ($100 off plus 5% off, and was our St. Nick's gift to each other ). $13 on groceries for veggie platter for our after-concert social on Sunday. $15 to church, $8 for a 1-lb box of assorted cookies as a church fundraiser, $35 on dinner after the concert. I'm getting used to the fact that we'll be bleeding money all month due to Christmas. And I'm ok with that - we're going to restrict our budget quite a bit starting in January to get used to living on one salary, so I'm ok with the spending this month.

2. Any progress towards goals? We met with our financial adviser on Friday, and he reassured us that we are right on track for retirement investing, and that we are doing great financially. I know we're lucky financially but lately I've had some concerns about the future, so it was great to hear from a professional that we're doing things well and on the right track.

3. Any plans for the holiday season (vacation, time off at home, travel to see family, etc)? Most of our family is in the area or only 1.5 hours away, so we don't travel much at the holidays, which I'm grateful for.

brij2006 · December 2015

1. How MM was your weekend?

Pretty MM.

$268 for car maintenance items (budgeted $350, still need a new battery for my car)
$20 on ornaments
$10 on lunch out
$20 on pictures of DD with Santa (hilarious!)
$8 on 2 movies
$50 on MIL's Christmas gift
$5 to finish up my secret santas gift.

2. Any progress towards goals?

H ended up working Friday and he went in for a little bit on Saturday as well. They had told him that there would be no overtime this month, but it's looking like there will be. That will help.

3. Any plans for the holiday season (vacation, time off at home, travel to see family, etc)?

We are actually putting our foot down and for the first time in 13 years, we aren't running to 5 different Christmas' within a 24 hour time period. Still need to figure out the logistics, but we'll have family come to our house.

And the picture of DD with Santa. :-)

KatieCutie05 · December 2015

1. How MM was your weekend?

Um not too good - 26 at Kohls, 21 at Five Guys, 85 at Maurices, 63 on a Christmas tree and not one thing of that was budgetted. My bad. Oh yea and gas and groceries....

2. Any progress towards goals?

No idea. Haven't even finalized November yet. Because my genius husband decided to order me a christmas gift and then after he tells me i'm not allowed to look at the bank account till christmas! um WHAT thats not happening! Use your darn credit card then! we have a budget, i cant just not look at the account! I'm now waiting for him to send me an excel sheet of the transactions so he can edit out the name. oyyy veyyy i didn't even want anything for christmas!

3. Any plans for the holiday season (vacation, time off at home, travel to see family, etc)?

FIL is coming here for our son's first christmas. And my mom and my sister will be here for New Years! I'm really excited to actually have visitors for the first time since we moved, 5 years ago. We all of a sudden became worth seeing when we had a baby. lol

jessica490 · December 2015

@brij2006 Cute pic! Santa is so scary at that age lol!

Mustard76 · December 2015

simplyelise said:
1. How MM was your weekend?
We spent a lot of money, but it was all budgeted and frugal. $151 on property tax, $312 on medical bills, $84 on XMas gifts, and $35 on groceries. Only 6 gifts left to buy plus our gifts for each other.
2. Any progress towards goals?
$100 towards car replacement, so it's up to $1200! Nothing else this week.
3. Any plans for the holiday season (vacation, time off at home, travel to see family, etc)?
Xmas with my parents and sibs this saturday. We're going up and back in one day, so 4 hours roundtrip will let us sleep in our own bed. Going to MIL/SFIL's on the 23rd and staying until the 27th - they're about 4.5 hours away. We will go with DH's sibs to visit FIL/SMIL for a couple hours on one of those days (FIL is about an hour away from MIL). Then I am taking a vacation day on the Monday after Christmas so that I actually get a break after the family visits!

@simplyelise I'm totally jealous of your personal property tax bill. I honestly thought the state of MO would prorate, but they don't. When we called, we were told if you live in the state one day, you owe tax for the whole year. Well, there went almost $800 I wasn't planning to spend!

brij2006 · December 2015

@katiecutie05 It's funny how everyone will happily come for a visit once a baby is in the picture. We're all old news though.

Mustard76 · December 2015

1. How MM was your weekend?
- We did the remainder to our Christmas shopping this weekend. So that hurt. And we got our personal property tax bill from the State of MO. That was almost $800 that wasn't planned at all.

2. Any progress towards goals?
- $500 to our vacation/liquid cash fund.

3. Any plans for the holiday season (vacation, time off at home, travel to see family, etc)?
- My extended family is coming to our house on Christmas Day. H and I will probably go to my parents' house at some point the following week. H's parents are coming up on NYE. We don't have any time off in there though, except for Sundays and Christmas Day.

julieanne912 · December 2015

What is this personal property tax bill in MO you all speak of?

Mustard76 · December 2015

julieanne912 said:
What is this personal property tax bill in MO you all speak of?

What is it? It's a sham!! haha. We only lived there for 14 months, so I may not be 100% accurate. But it's tax that you owe on (I believe) any motor vehicle. We have two cars, so we owe on those, but I'm pretty sure you're taxes on RVs, boats, trailers, etc. The tax was waived the first year we lived there, so I didn't really know what to expect this time around.

vlagrl29 · December 2015

Mustard76 said:

What is this personal property tax bill in MO you all speak of?
What is it? It's a sham!! haha. We only lived there for 14 months, so I may not be 100% accurate. But it's tax that you owe on (I believe) any motor vehicle. We have two cars, so we owe on those, but I'm pretty sure you're taxes on RVs, boats, trailers, etc. The tax was waived the first year we lived there, so I didn't really know what to expect this time around.

Yes we owe on our 2 cars and house. I haven't gotten our car bills yet so I need to call this week. We save for them throughout the year.

julieanne912 · December 2015

Mustard76 said:

What is this personal property tax bill in MO you all speak of?
What is it? It's a sham!! haha. We only lived there for 14 months, so I may not be 100% accurate. But it's tax that you owe on (I believe) any motor vehicle. We have two cars, so we owe on those, but I'm pretty sure you're taxes on RVs, boats, trailers, etc. The tax was waived the first year we lived there, so I didn't really know what to expect this time around.

Hmm strange. Do you pay separate registration/plate fees? We have that here in CO and it's a ridiculous amount, and based on the MSRP of a car (instead of what you paid for it). My registration this year was something like $450.... it's originally a percentage based on the original MSRP of the car (not what you paid for it), and then the percentage goes down every few years or something like that.

vlagrl29 · December 2015

julieanne912 said:

Mustard76 said:

What is this personal property tax bill in MO you all speak of?
What is it? It's a sham!! haha. We only lived there for 14 months, so I may not be 100% accurate. But it's tax that you owe on (I believe) any motor vehicle. We have two cars, so we owe on those, but I'm pretty sure you're taxes on RVs, boats, trailers, etc. The tax was waived the first year we lived there, so I didn't really know what to expect this time around.

Hmm strange. Do you pay separate registration/plate fees? We have that here in CO and it's a ridiculous amount, and based on the MSRP of a car (instead of what you paid for it). My registration this year was something like $450.... it's originally a percentage based on the original MSRP of the car (not what you paid for it), and then the percentage goes down every few years or something like that.

Its been so long since I've bought a new car I don't know. We do renew our plates ever 2 years ($50). I know for my car last year the property tax was $60 and Dh's was $130 - yea for 12 year old cars lol

simplyelise · December 2015

If you want to be jealous of my MO property tax bill, you have to be jealous of our 2000 Malibu and 2010 Elantra lol!

This is actually my first year paying property tax. My parents waited to sign the deed of my car over to me until I had changed my name after the wedding last year. I had to pay a small amount for the registration and license back then (maybe $60?), but it was not much.

There are plenty of things I don't appreciate about MO politics and regulations, but I when I heard y'all talking about how much your taxes were on your houses each year, I couldn't believe it. When we buy, we're looking at a 150k or so house and our property taxes will be about $1200/year.

als1982 · December 2015

Mustard76 said:

julieanne912 said:
What is this personal property tax bill in MO you all speak of?
What is it? It's a sham!! haha. We only lived there for 14 months, so I may not be 100% accurate. But it's tax that you owe on (I believe) any motor vehicle. We have two cars, so we owe on those, but I'm pretty sure you're taxes on RVs, boats, trailers, etc. The tax was waived the first year we lived there, so I didn't really know what to expect this time around.

Ouch. And I always though the worst part of owning a car in MO would be the regular inspections! I cross the state line for work and do enjoy their lower gas tax though!!

lbonga1 · December 2015

1. How MM was your weekend?

We did good. $20 on the last Christmas gift I wanted to get for my kids, and the rest of the weekend we stayed home. We worked on something for our side business, which should net us about $400.

2. Any progress towards goals?

Not much, but I won't have tuition payments for a little while, so that should help a bit.

3. Any plans for the holiday season (vacation, time off at home, travel to see family, etc)?

I actually don't know what we're doing yet. We'll probably have the kids open presents at home, then we'll go to FI's parents' house.

simplyelise · December 2015

als1982 said:

What is this personal property tax bill in MO you all speak of?
What is it? It's a sham!! haha. We only lived there for 14 months, so I may not be 100% accurate. But it's tax that you owe on (I believe) any motor vehicle. We have two cars, so we owe on those, but I'm pretty sure you're taxes on RVs, boats, trailers, etc. The tax was waived the first year we lived there, so I didn't really know what to expect this time around.
Ouch. And I always though the worst part of owning a car in MO would be the regular inspections! I cross the state line for work and do enjoy their lower gas tax though!!

I knew a lot of people growing up who would figure out a way to register their vehicles in IL instead of MO to avoid the property taxes here. But it's actually not completely unheard of for states to charge property tax on vehicles: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/states-where-youll-pay-the-lowest-property-and-vehicle-taxes-2015-04-09

MO's vehicle property tax is definitely on the higher side, but I'll freely admit that I'm glad to pay taxes in MO as opposed to not funding schools or repairing highways in KS! Now if only we could actually raise the cigarette tax here...

als1982 · December 2015

simplyelise said:

als1982 said:

Mustard76 said:

julieanne912 said:
What is this personal property tax bill in MO you all speak of?
What is it? It's a sham!! haha. We only lived there for 14 months, so I may not be 100% accurate. But it's tax that you owe on (I believe) any motor vehicle. We have two cars, so we owe on those, but I'm pretty sure you're taxes on RVs, boats, trailers, etc. The tax was waived the first year we lived there, so I didn't really know what to expect this time around.
Ouch. And I always though the worst part of owning a car in MO would be the regular inspections! I cross the state line for work and do enjoy their lower gas tax though!!

I knew a lot of people growing up who would figure out a way to register their vehicles in IL instead of MO to avoid the property taxes here. But it's actually not completely unheard of for states to charge property tax on vehicles: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/states-where-youll-pay-the-lowest-property-and-vehicle-taxes-2015-04-09

MO's vehicle property tax is definitely on the higher side, but I'll freely admit that I'm glad to pay taxes in MO as opposed to not funding schools or repairing highways in KS! Now if only we could actually raise the cigarette tax here...

Lol. At least our schools are accredited.

simplyelise · December 2015

als1982 said:

als1982 said:

What is this personal property tax bill in MO you all speak of?
What is it? It's a sham!! haha. We only lived there for 14 months, so I may not be 100% accurate. But it's tax that you owe on (I believe) any motor vehicle. We have two cars, so we owe on those, but I'm pretty sure you're taxes on RVs, boats, trailers, etc. The tax was waived the first year we lived there, so I didn't really know what to expect this time around.
Ouch. And I always though the worst part of owning a car in MO would be the regular inspections! I cross the state line for work and do enjoy their lower gas tax though!!

I knew a lot of people growing up who would figure out a way to register their vehicles in IL instead of MO to avoid the property taxes here. But it's actually not completely unheard of for states to charge property tax on vehicles: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/states-where-youll-pay-the-lowest-property-and-vehicle-taxes-2015-04-09

MO's vehicle property tax is definitely on the higher side, but I'll freely admit that I'm glad to pay taxes in MO as opposed to not funding schools or repairing highways in KS! Now if only we could actually raise the cigarette tax here...
Lol. At least our schools are accredited.

Hmmmm, we have 519 school districts and only 2 aren't accredited with 5 provisionally accredited. But from someone who graduated from a provisionally accredited school, they're just fine, I promise.

julieanne912 · December 2015

I think in the end, they get you no matter what. Here in CO, it's the ridiculously high registration/plate fees annually. In CA, the registration was low, but the gas taxes are higher, so you're paying way higher prices at the pump. I think IL was the same way in terms of gas taxes (and just taxes in general). And, sounds like MO will get ya with personal property tax.

The good news, our property taxes here for the house aren't too bad at all... we haven't gotten the bill yet but it looks like it'll be around 3k a year, for a house we paid $437,000 for. We paid 3k in our last house, and it was half the price, but we were in a different area/metro district. In Chicago, my taxes on my 580 sq ft condo that I paid $182k for were like $3500 haha!

Xstatic3333 · December 2015

1. How MM was your weekend?
Not great. We spent $60 on a night out with friends and around $80 on some Christmas presents. I can work it into the budget but it's not great.
2. Any progress towards goals?
Slight progress on saving ($60). Really just staying the course. December's tough.
3. Any plans for the holiday season (vacation, time off at home, travel to see family, etc)?
Well we love to celebrate with our tree here, but we won't be traveling or getting any time off of work except for the federal holiday. Hopefully we'll see some friends while they're in town visiting.

I feel you MO people on the car tax. In RI it varies by city or town, and my city has one of the highest rates for both property and car taxes. Car tax for me is around $240 a year for a car valued at $5,500. Unfortunately they only take model year into account, not mileage. My car is a 2012 but has 140,000 miles on it. I almost wish it was just wrapped into registration so I didn't have to think about it so much. I do also agree that they get you one way or another....

vlagrl29 · December 2015

I thought everyone had personal property tax on vehicles. So this is kinda shocking to me. My dad even has property tax on his trailer on the back of his pick up. This year its only $50 for my car and $117 for DH's Car. $3k for our house - the house was bought at $195k. We live in MO.

vlagrl29 · December 2015

1 - Our weekend was great. Surprise 40th bday party went off amazing for DH. We ended up having 21 guests and everyone had a great time. I spent $50 at the restaurant for us. Saturday DH filled my car up with gas - $18 (loving these gas prices). Sunday I spent $37 on hair product at Ulta. A little bit of Xmas shopping which came out of our budget - $9 at Ulta and $35 at JCPenny.

2 - Not really. I did add up all of our medical bills for 2015 so I can get that done with our HSA by the end of the year for tax purposes. Its the least amount since before we had DD which is awesome.

3 - I take the last 2 weeks of the month off from teaching for my break and DH takes off the last week of the year so we usually have a great time hanging out as a family. I need to call the spa soon to set up a day for me with a facial and massage. I treat myself usually the last week of the year.

Monday Accountability Post

Re: Monday Accountability Post

Choose Another Board

Search Boards