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.
Monday Accountability Post
Now that we are back to reality on this lovely Monday:
1. How MM was your weekend?
2. Any progress towards goals?
3. What do you like about winter?
Re: Monday Accountability Post
2. We sent about $1,800 to student loans and made our first mortgage payment after our refinance - the bill is only about $100 more but nearly triple the amount goes toward principle as before!
3. It makes me greatly appreciate summer!!
1. I got some crazy cheap deals at Kohls $20. I also got my new car- got it at dealer cost, put down $2K + $4500 for my paid off car and 0% financing for 5 years. Luckily my sister works at a dealership! Will pay off early of course
2. $315 towards furniture bill
3. The only things I like about winter time is that it means Christmas, my favorite holiday! Also, I love when it snows (not when I'm driving in it). But I love being outside watching and listening to the flakes fall...it's such a quiet, calming, peaceful thing to me for some reason and brings me a feeling of little kid joy. I know that sounds cheesy, lol. My dog also loves when it snows so we run him around outside, it's so cute.
1. How MM was your weekend? It was pretty good- groceries ($143), gas ($29), car repair for me ($212).
2. Any progress towards goals? Not a paycheck week so no change
3. What do you like about winter? I like being able to have relaxing weekends at home with the girls- bad/cold weather means we're not out doing a lot, so it's a nice time to hang out and be home with them. This is the first week where we actually have snow and it's really cold!
1. How MM was your weekend?
Good. We went to a friend's house for a NYE party but stayed in the rest of the weekend, for the most part. We spent some money on gas and during the week we probably spent $100 or so on grocery stock up.
2. Any progress towards goals?
Staying the course. Got a good start on menu planning and had several nice meals at home this weekend. Aldi had hams at $3 off so I got a small one for $4.50. We'll probably get at least 6 meals out of it from ham dinners to soups.
Booked our first 2 Air BnB reservations over the weekend. It is nice to know that money will be coming in.
H switched from his old AT&T unlimited data plan to the prepaid Go Phone. I think it will save him at least $30 per month but I need to see the bill to be sure with taxes and everything. I'll update my phone thread later when I have a good report on how it is going with the Go Phone but thanks to the poster that gave us the prepaid idea!
We got a letter from our mortgage company that we will need to increase our payments by about $400 per month. They handle our taxes and they screw something up every year so that the end of the year has a big swing. The first year with them on our new house was a half year and they gave us a $3K check at the end of the year because they didn't handle the abatement correctly! Now they are saying we are $4-5K short! We know we have a tax abatement running out mid year so we expected the payment to go up but the figure they are giving is really screwy. H is going to look into it.
3. What do you like about winter?
I like the slower pace, nights in cuddling with the dog, and the snow. We usually do some indoor activities during the winter like have friends over for game night or go bowling. I also really like wearing sweaters and warm fuzzy clothes.
1. Pretty good. We used a gift card for dinner Friday, grocery shopped within budget on Saturday and spent nothing Sunday. Our only unplanned expenses were a $20 co-pay for a Saturday doctor visit and $5 co-pay for pink eye medicine for DD.
2. Yes! Our last paycheck of December went into savings.
3. I like winter clothes, sweaters, boots, scarfs, etc. I am super pale summer's shorts are always hard on me lol.
1. How MM was your weekend?
Good. $93 on groceries including beer for entertaining Saturday night. $14 on lunch out for both of us because my friend just got back from 14 months in Thailand and we wanted to catch up. H and I each spent a little of our christmas giftcards on clothes purchases.
2. Any progress towards goals?
Not this week.
3. What do you like about winter?
I like the look of fresh snow and don't usually mind the cold temps because then I can snuggle up under my electric blanket. Unfortunately in MO it's not winter, it's rain season lol.
Now that we are back to reality on this lovely Monday:
Can we go back to the long weekend now?? Ugh.
1. How MM was your weekend? Not bad! NYE we stayed in with friends so we saved money. Friday $10 at outback for tip we had a gift card for the rest, Saturday $18 for pizza, Sunday $10 for tip at a local place we had a gift card for the rest. So much eating out but at least most was paid for with gift cards. And $120 for a sound bar for our living room. H has been wanting one so I bought it for him for our 10 year dating anniversary (we don't usually exchange gifts) I will be using part of my salary award to cover it.
2. Any progress towards goals? Not a pay week so not really. My auto payment for my SL should post in the next few days and I will officially be under $8K on it!
3. What do you like about winter? That eventually spring will come... I actually don't like much about winter except boots! I love wearing boots and baggy sweaters.
1. How MM was your weekend?
Don't ask. H got the idea of painting our master bathroom, then the toilet in our guest bath started leaking so we had to take it out, then that turned into replacing the floors and the toilet and pretty much a complete remodel of our guest bathroom. Planning on spending around 500 which i suppose isn't too bad considering.
2. Any progress towards goals?
no
3. What do you like about winter?
absolutely nothing.
1. How MM was your weekend? Pretty good. H was hunting with some friends out of town, so he'll have expenses from that. Not sure on amounts yet, but he was able to stay with them and have most meals at their house. He did take them out for dinner one night in appreciation, so between that and gas for the trip, I'm guessing $150ish--not budgeted. However, I stayed home and spent nothing other than budgeted groceries, gas, etc., and actually ended up spending $100 less than I had anticipated. Soooo I guess that makes up for H's trip :-P
2. Any progress towards goals? Extra $100 to shopping fund. We are trying to save up for a weekend trip in May for my birthday, and we would like to buy H a new shotgun and me/us a new dresser at that time. We're trying to sell some things around the house and shave a few dollars out of our regular expenses each week to pay for this.
3. What do you like about winter? Absolutely nothing. I hate snow, ice, cold, wind, yeah.....I can't wait for summer! And also, I'm really jealous of whoever said they use winter to hit up farmer's markets. Um yeah....that's not happening in my neck of the woods.
2. $40 to the Vegas fund for our trip in April. $200 to our house account. $50 to savings.
3. I think winter is beautiful. I love the quiet of a snowfall. H and I got married in January, so we do fun winter activities on our anniversary. It was below zero on our wedding day, and that night it started to snow the most beautiful, peaceful, quiet snow ever. H and I went out on the balcony that night in our sweats after everything calmed down. That's still one of my favorite memories.
Pretty good. Amazon ($15 for boys Stride Rite shoes for the oldest kiddo), $135 for groceries - we needed to stock up for school/work lunches and dinner meal plans. Gas about $20?
2. Any progress towards goals?
In saving mode now!
3. What do you like about winter?
I prefer snow until January 2nd and them I'm usually over it however we haven't had much and didn't even have a snowy Christmas.
1. Ours was ok, but long. We went to Vancouver, BC for a Canucks game. DH used the great exchange rate as an excuse to eat at a more expensive restaurant and leave a bigger tip. We went with $200 in Canadian and came back with $40, so we spent less than we thought we would. I did splurge on some t-shirts for me and DD from the university I graduated from, $30.
2. I was able to pay enough towards my last credit card to get it just under $3000! It hasn't been this low in about 4 years!
3. I love wearing warmer clothes and looking at the Christmas lights. DD's birthday is the 22nd, so now I like this time of year more than before. I did work retail as my full time job for 10 years or so and absolutely dreaded Nov/Dec/Jan. It isn't so bad now.
2. Dh's pay checks got a little screwy because the 1 was Friday so instead he got paid for a third time in December. This check was like $800 extra because he didn't expect it and had already maxed out his 401k for the year and they didn't charge insurance for some reason. So that extra went straight into our e fund as a just in case. No word on layoffs yet, so that is the good thing. I just want our insurance to stay the same until baby arrives!
3. Nothing! I really dislike cold weather (one of the reasons I moved to Texas!) I do like the days that are warm enough for ds and I to spend the morning/ afternoon/ whatever outside playing in the backyard or at a park or something like that.