GTKY: Your life, your money.

als1982 · January 2016

It's been pretty quiet around here the last few days, so I thought I'd start a GTKY/check-in post. Right now, what's going on with:

1. Your life
2. Your job
3. Your family
4. Your money

jessica490 · January 2016

1. Your life- Life is good! Just working on house projects and spending time with friends/family. Luckily my dog has been pretty healthy for a while now. We are loving owning a home!

2. Your job- Work is fine, it's a slower time of year so not keeping very busy. Just hoping not to get laid off anytime soon with the upcoming merge...I'm still keeping my eyes open for other positions

3. Your family- H is good, he's looking at another career field...he wants to become a town/city worker of some sort. We have some health concerns on my dads side of the family but so far everyone is ok. My mom jus retired a month ago but is working per diem probably until November then will fully retire. My dad retired years ago but still works part-time for the town...he is still cancer free to this day (he had a rare skin cancer about 1 year ago)

4. Your money- $ is fine. We are balancing buying things for the house along with building our e-fund and savings for vacations. I had a goal to open ROTH's for H and I his year, so I'm hoping we can still get that done!

als1982 · January 2016

1. Your life - Things are pretty quiet right now. We've been TTC since May, so that's put a hold on making any big plans. We recently started our "next steps" conversation with a new OBGYN, so I'm looking forward to having a better understanding of what's going on.

2. Your job - I am loving my job right now. This time of year is lower stress, and I've been getting a ton of really awesome stuff accomplished!

3. Your family - My mom recently broke up with her BF of about five years, so I've been trying to spend more time with her. I hate for her to be sad, as she's already had so much heartache in her life.

4. Your money - Still trying to kill the student loan. We've paid off about 70% but with the holidays and adjusting to a new budget for 2016, progress feels a little stagnant. We did the bulk of our tax prep last night, which seemed to light a fire under H, as he is so angry that we no longer even have the benefit of a tax deduction.

Mustard76 · January 2016

1. Your life- Life is good! H and I celebrate our 5th anniversary tomorrow and it's crazy to look back on everything that has changed in the last 5 years. We've been together for almost 10, but our world turned upside down 5 years ago.

2. Your job- Work is OK. One of my staff members was let go right after I started at this location, and it's been a whirlwind ever since. Another member of my staff quit last Monday, so it's been kind of crazy.

3. Your family- H has been so busy with his new promotion, but things are good. He's being challenged at work, which I think is good for him. He's never really been out of his comfort zone at work before. My parents have decided to move, which is crazy, but good. They're closing on their new place hopefully March 1, and they should be listing their current home around June. That means I'll be spending a lot of weekends between March and June helping my mom clean and move things over to the new place little by little. I'm so happy for them to get out of their tiny town and they'll only be about an hour away now. My dad's commute will be a little longer now, but he only has a couple years left until he can retire.

4. Your money- We're just staying the course. We finally had a chance to adjust our budget for 2016 and readjust our goals. A few of them are stretch goals, but achievable. We should each be finding out about raises by the middle of next month, but our goals are based on current salaries. Maybe we'll get a little more breathing room with a bump in either (or both) of our salaries. : )

hoffse · January 2016

1) Life - life is pretty good. We've both been really busy since about October, but we've finally had a few weeks in a row with no travel, so it's been nice to get back into the daily grind. H's French has continued to improve. He's probably going to be about fluent by the end of this year. My piano is coming along more slowly because I've been in extra classes recently, but I am still making progress, and I certainly haven't regressed in the last few weeks.

2) Job - job is good. This is the quiet time of the year for me, so I've been catching up on other things. I am doubling up on classes until the end of February, so it will be good to get ahead in that before the busier season heats up at work. There are a couple deals in the pipeline for me, and I'm getting more tax work, which I enjoy. H has been absolutely slammed at work. He's finishing up a 2-week arbitration this week. He also had a big win last week. So far he's batting 1000 for judicial rulings in his favor. We'll see how long that lasts!

3) Family - we're lucky to have a healthy and happy family. H's brother sprained his ankle recently, but he's going to be fine. That's the most medical drama either family has had in about a year. H's parents stay busy and his mom goes to the gym often. My parents golf all the time,and they walk for exercise. Last year they both walked over 230 rounds of 18. They're in much better shape than I am!

4) Money - market sucks, but otherwise it's fine. We've tentatively picked out the rest of the furniture we're going to buy, and it fits our budget with some good room to spare. We're trying to spread costs out to cash flow as much of it as possible though. We are hoping to order the sofa and love seat this weekend. Our insulation investment from last spring is definitely paying off. Our power bill was about $65 lower this month than last January, so it's good to see a real return on that (house is much more comfortable too). H is starting to talk about wanting to replace the windows at the end of this year because there are still a couple rooms in the house that are cold due to having tons of single-paned windows. It might be workable, but we've agreed that we are going to table that discussion until the second half of the year, because it's purely optional, and it's a $$ upgrade. I'm determined not to get stressed out about money this year in the same way I did last year.

brij2006 · January 2016

1. Your life

Life is pretty good. It's been a pretty crappy past couple of years, with having DD as a highlight. But I'm needing to do some "soul searching" and figure some stuff out.
2. Your job

Blah. Love what I do, but my review in December went so-so. I was pretty much told that I'm capped out here and there isn't any more room for me to grow. I'm way to focused and driven for that. So that's why I need to figure out what I want to do and whether or not I want to stay the course till we have baby #2 and I stay home, or start the search for something else now.
3. Your family

Love our little family! I can't get enough of DD, and H and I have a pretty great marriage that we're constantly working on.

Still TTC#2 with no sucess. :-( DD will be completely weened by the beginning of February, so maybe that will help.
4. Your money

Money is good. Still trying to figure out prioritizing and saving up for things. We've also been looking at our monthly budget and seeing if there are other areas we can cut so we have extra cash flow.

smetter04 · January 2016

1. Life - life is stressful right now. Job, family, money, all contribute to it.
2. Job - My HR role expanded last April, with the bulk of my responsibility being onboarding new consultants, and we have been hiring at a record pace. Just when I think I have a reprieve, I'm sent more hires to start. And of course, everyone needs everything NOW.
3. Family - H and I have been in a rough patch. I have no patience whatsoever and he pushes my buttons. We talk about something, decide on something, no change is made. I coordinate our entire life and he can't clean the bathroom without being pestered? I want to be married to a partner, not a child. Don't even get me started on his parents. Establishing boundaries isn't easy.
4. Money - We are financially secure, but we are in the process of choosing life insurance. I have no idea what to look for in life insurance or what we can afford per month because I'm cheap and don't want to add another bill, so this decision is stressing me out. We're also trying to change our bank to a local credit union. It should be easy to open an account, except we had to apply online to get the referral bonus and there was a system glitch so I think we were technically approved, but it's not final yet, and their customer service is saying we need to apply again. I'm not getting a good first impression.

Sorry for the negativity

and thanks for letting me vent it

cbee817 · January 2016

1. Your life - pretty good. I've been sick since New Year's Eve with a really bad cough.. it's still hanging on so I may finally call the doctor. I've been sleeping in each morning because I haven't been feeling well so my morning workouts have tanked- really want to get back to that once I feel better. I finished piecing all of my mom's quilt blocks.. just need to lay them out and join them together, make the back, and send it off to the long arm quilter. It'll be done for her birthday!
2. Your job: I just had my 12 year anniversary- I started working here when I was 22. I've always been involved in different things within the Actuarial/Finance departments- I think that's why I've stayed so long. Good pay, benefits, flexibility for my family have helped a lot- can't really complain.
3. Your family - everyone is doing well. DH loves his new school district, DD#1 is doing great in kindergarten (already reading at the upper 1st grade level), DD#2 has been a little emotional the last few weeks which is unlike her. Her teacher at day care got a new job, so I think that has bothered her a bit even though she won't say it has. Other than that, she's good.. just needs extra snuggles at night to work out her little funk she's in. All parents (the girls' grandparents) are good too!
4. Your money - aside from the market, we're in good shape. Booked our trip to Disney with our vacation fund (and still have $5,000 in there!), getting upstairs bathroom gut job estimates for March, looking at getting the house painted this summer as well. Retirement, girls' 529 plans, and savings are on track. We're finally starting to feel a little relief with lower day care payments- our average went from $1,900/month to a little less than $1,200/month with DD#1 starting kindergarten and just needing after school.

PurpleBookmark · January 2016

1. Your life - For this month of January I feel like my life revolves around illness. I have been at the pediatrician at least once per week, the urgent care once and my oldest missed a week of school. Currently we have one fever and one case of pink eye and that is the healthiest we have been as a family since the new year. DH and I have decided January is cursed (we had a similar January in 2015) so we are counting the days until February.

2. Your job - I'm a stay at home mom which I do love. I'm looking forward to getting back to work once my kids get a little older.

3. Your family - Despite the normal childhood illnesses we are so blessed that overall the kids are healthy with no chronic or serious conditions. My oldest will be starting kindergarten next year so we're starting the registration process, I can't believe how time is flying by! DH is happy with his job and my mom is recovering from her chemotherapy this fall and is stronger every day.

4. Your money - We started our taxes and will be getting a really nice refund. We can fund our emergency account which is a huge relief. We're also getting DS a bed so that we can convert his toddler bed to a crib for DD2 (currently in a pack and play) and get a dresser for DD2 (currently she has a neatly organized laundry basket for her clothes). So happy to have more breathing room.

vlagrl29 · January 2016

smetter04 said:

1. Life - life is stressful right now. Job, family, money, all contribute to it.
2. Job - My HR role expanded last April, with the bulk of my responsibility being onboarding new consultants, and we have been hiring at a record pace. Just when I think I have a reprieve, I'm sent more hires to start. And of course, everyone needs everything NOW.
3. Family - H and I have been in a rough patch. I have no patience whatsoever and he pushes my buttons. We talk about something, decide on something, no change is made. I coordinate our entire life and he can't clean the bathroom without being pestered? I want to be married to a partner, not a child. Don't even get me started on his parents. Establishing boundaries isn't easy.
4. Money - We are financially secure, but we are in the process of choosing life insurance. I have no idea what to look for in life insurance or what we can afford per month because I'm cheap and don't want to add another bill, so this decision is stressing me out. We're also trying to change our bank to a local credit union. It should be easy to open an account, except we had to apply online to get the referral bonus and there was a system glitch so I think we were technically approved, but it's not final yet, and their customer service is saying we need to apply again. I'm not getting a good first impression.

Sorry for the negativity and thanks for letting me vent it

term life insurance is relatively cheap just FYI - we get ours thru genworth and have $250k on each of us. My premium is $75 and DH's $82 every 6 months.

kmurphy2131 · January 2016

1. Your life

It's been a whirlwind of a year (the last 12 months - not 2016 haha!). My husband changed careers last March, we moved in March, we got a dog in June, and he changed jobs in September. Now we are house hunting. I am looking forward to getting our house and being able to settle in, so many changes recently.
2. Your job

This is usually the slow season but it's a little busier than last year. It's nice not to be so slow that my boss is questioning it, but not so busy that I feel frantic at work. I think we may have some changes coming down the line in the next couple weeks, but this is a good time of year to deal with it.
3. Your family

My mom has had a lot going on this year, and we recently lost an extended family member. But honestly, big picture everyone is doing well. H and I had a rough patch in november, that honestly probably started a couple months earlier than that but it all finally came to a head. After a couple tough conversations I feel like we are in a good place now, better than we have been in a while.
4. Your money

We have been amazing at sticking to the budget and my husband is 100% on board with how we are doing finances now so thats awesome.

We are eagerly awaiting his 5% raise in the next 2ish months when he finishes training, and another 5% in september at his one year. It's been a tight couple of months with his paycut (for a higher paying job in the long run). We are house hunting, and if we don't close by the end of march (which likely won't happen, we have no prospects right now) we are going to my parents so we don't have to renew & then break out lease. The perk of that is that we will save a lot of money, and after a couple months, it will open the doors to a bigger downpayment/maybe a higher priced home which will make things easier.

brij2006 · January 2016

vlagrl29 said:

smetter04 said:

1. Life - life is stressful right now. Job, family, money, all contribute to it.
2. Job - My HR role expanded last April, with the bulk of my responsibility being onboarding new consultants, and we have been hiring at a record pace. Just when I think I have a reprieve, I'm sent more hires to start. And of course, everyone needs everything NOW.
3. Family - H and I have been in a rough patch. I have no patience whatsoever and he pushes my buttons. We talk about something, decide on something, no change is made. I coordinate our entire life and he can't clean the bathroom without being pestered? I want to be married to a partner, not a child. Don't even get me started on his parents. Establishing boundaries isn't easy.
4. Money - We are financially secure, but we are in the process of choosing life insurance. I have no idea what to look for in life insurance or what we can afford per month because I'm cheap and don't want to add another bill, so this decision is stressing me out. We're also trying to change our bank to a local credit union. It should be easy to open an account, except we had to apply online to get the referral bonus and there was a system glitch so I think we were technically approved, but it's not final yet, and their customer service is saying we need to apply again. I'm not getting a good first impression.

Sorry for the negativity and thanks for letting me vent it

term life insurance is relatively cheap just FYI - we get ours thru genworth and have $250k on each of us. My premium is $75 and DH's $82 every 6 months.

This. Term insurance is the only life insurance to buy. H and I have a 20 year term, $500k on each of us. He is considered medically obese, so his rate isn't the greatest. We put aside $58 a month to pay the annual premium in full.

That's less than cable!

ETA: Ours is through Metlife.

AprilZ81 · January 2016

1. Your life: Vacation in less than three weeks!!!!!! Still waiting on our contractor to get his act together on our bathroom remodel. He had a death in the family (his sister-in-law) and his wife is an accountant (hello tax season!) so I'm trying to be patient (it's not working). It will get done eventually and I know he does good work and the longer he waits the more money we can save which means we will have to compromise less on things we want.

2. Your job: Work is going pretty well. I think I'm building a good reputation with my boss and coworkers for being good at my job and easy to work with. I've gotten several kudos emails from clients sent to my boss so that is good. My 90-day review is in a few weeks and even though I know I'll be okay I'm still a little nervous about it. Work is actually a little slow right now (slow season) so I'm using my down time to do some craft projects and do chores around the house so my evenings are free.

3. Your family: We are seeing a specialist to help us conceive. This is our third cycle on Clomid and this time we added a trigger shot to force my body to ovulate. I'm a basket case right now. On Monday I'm having a blood test to check my hormone levels to confirm I ovulated and then I will have to wait another 3-5 days to find out if I'm pregnant. I'm also nervous/excited because I did have multiple follicles twins are a possibility. My sister has twins (fraternal twins without fertility meds) so they do run in my family.

4. Your money: We're still on track with our budget. We (I) have spent a little more than normal on crafting supplies now that I have a Cricut and want to craft everything. I have most of what I "need" now so that will be slowing down. We are still debating when to build our new dining room table, when we make that move we will probably be pulling $200 out of savings for materials. Otherwise we are just stock piling money for our bathroom remodel and anticipated expenses for a nursery and childbirth. DH's bonus and our tax refund should cover everything for the baby (and then some) and once our bathroom remodel is done we can start using the savings account to start saving for day care costs. It would be nice to have 6+ months of day care expenses built up so we don't have to adjust our regular budget too much.

brij2006 · January 2016

@AprilZ81 Fingers crossed the trigger shot is exactly what does the trick for you guys. IF is such a mindf^ck. I'm sorry you guys are having to deal with it at all.

emily1004 · January 2016

My life- Charmed. Mini vacation tomorrow. New windows this spring!

My job-Great, keeps me busy and challenges me everyday. It's a very fast paced office.

My family- My parents and my MIL annoy me, sometimes. Small doses is how I deal. My extended family and brother are pretty awesome. H and I like the idea of being Mr. & Mrs. DINK, but, while I may be 35, I'm perfectly healthy and in good shape. I have no problem being an older mother. I'm young at heart and I believe if nothing detrimental happens to my health, I should be able to have kids up until I'm 45. Maybe one. Nothing annoys me more than people talking about "being too old to have kids".

My money- In my year-end assessment, we spent a little too much on "fun" last year. Money will go towards the house this year. The good news is we maxed out our retirement for the year. I would have liked to put a little more in the CMA account. I do want new furniture this year and with my expectations, I realize it will not be MM.

KatieCutie05 · January 2016

You're catching me on a bad day so i'm sure this will sound pretty negative. i could say it all sucks - but i wont.

1. Your life

Hectic. I feel like i'm losing in every area. i have one highlight in my life and thats my son.
2. Your job

I have a flexible job, decent pay, easy work, good coworkers and an awesome boss but i am still having a hard time. Theres no chance i'll be leaving here for another traditional 40 hour work week position - i couldn't handle it.. I have no where to move up from here is all but since the day my son was born i stopped caring. i can't tell you how much i want to be home with him and how much i hate sending him to daycare. but thats apparently never going to happen because i'm broke and in debt and my husband is all butt-hurt about retiring early.

But I got "teased" with the possibility of the contract changing to me working full time from home. Then a day later i found out that wasn't going to happen. Our contract is up at the end of the month - and thats when we find out if our current company won or if a new one did, if we still have jobs, if our salary stays the same, etc... I fully expect our current company to win and everything to stay the same. But once thats all settled, i'm going to talk to my boss about the possibility of working from home 2 days a week. I didn't think he'd be okay with it but now with this whole tease i'm thinking he might be fine with it - but i gotta wait to find out whats going on with the contract first.
3. Your family

I have an amazing son and he's my whole world. But my husband and i are struggling. we had a fight last night because we have polar opposite views on parenting, life goals, money goals and well everything. So we are just trying to find a solution and a way to work together on this and its not easy because our current situation and current path allows no room for more then one way. and if one wins the other loses and will resent the other for it. but its dumb because this is all in the future - anything could happen. our only mutual goal is to get the debt paid off but what motivation do i have to get out of debt if i get zero out of it. . My mil will be here in a few weeks so H and I will get our first date night in 10 months so i hope that will help us reconnect.
4. Your money

I just signed up for YNAB which i love and i think it will really help us stay on budget more because H has the app and all he has to do is open it to see where we stand. His car will be paid off at the end of the month and then we're down to just my student loans - all 75k of them. But we also have a lot of expenses coming up too so im hoping we can stay on track. .

abrewer5 · January 2016

1. Your life - Life is good, quiet! H and I are planning a trip to the Bahamas in June and a few other things are coming up so I'm enjoying the down time while it lasts. We've been spending a lot of weekend days on the couch in our PJs and that has been really nice! I tried yoga for the first time Monday and I'm really excited to do it more, so I have about 12 classes scheduled for the next month.
2. Your job - Work is ok. I don't feel as fulfilled at this job as I used to so I'm hoping to make a change in the next year or so. We had a huge event scheduled for Saturday and I just found out today it's getting moved a week due to the snow storm about to hit us. It's not a huge deal, just a ton of extra work coordinating the change. We have around 300 people that attend the event and 80 volunteers.
3. Your family - Family is good for the most part. H and I are doing great, along with our furchild. He actually told me he wants to get another dog soon so I can't wait for that! My dad had his knee replaced in November and he's doing AWESOME. He goes back to work today and I'm just amazed at how well/fast he healed at 60 years old! My little sister is about to have a baby at 18.... She is completely unprepared for what is about to happen and seems to think it's all just a cute contest. That's been the only frustrating 'event' lately. I know I sound awful saying I'm frustrated, but the whole situation is just a mess.
4. Your money - We're just chugging away. I should have my SL paid off this year while also saving $400/month to work on other goals which makes me happy. Once that is paid off I'll be looking forward to doing some house projects and saving for our next house!

julieanne912 · January 2016

1. Your life: Things have been a bit weird lately. I haven't had tons of energy, so I'm trying to eat better and changed up my vitamin intake to see if that helps. Also on Saturday morning, our older dog's back legs wouldn't work. Went to the emergency vet and they determined he has a disc issue in his back, not uncommon for older basset hounds. Our options were to either medicate him and rest him, or to do a very very expensive surgery. We chose the former, with that thought that if it didn't work and the dog was suffering, we would have to put him down. But, so far it seems to be working, he's improving. It was a really rough weekend though, even H had a few moments of tears, he's had the dog since he was a puppy, he's almost 11 now. H has stepped up to the plate with taking care of him too, often he can be lazy and pushes things off on me, but he hasn't been.

2. Your job - It's a slow time of year. I started this job in June so I could learn the business and am hoping to turn this industry (title insurance) into a career, but the slow pace of it is starting to get to me. I wish they'd give me more to do and/or start showing me new things so I can move up into another position. I have been helping the sales side of things with reports, stats, etc., so that's good that they asked me to do that I guess. But, I think my immediate manager likes having me here in an "assistant" kind of role, because it makes her life easier. But I don't want to be stuck in this role, I'm overqualified. I've also been missing the flexibility that real estate has... during the slow times like this I wouldn't always go into the office or I could go get things done during the middle of the day. Now I just sit here from 8-5. But, I have a reliable paycheck, benefits, and once I leave work, I'm done working, so I guess there's tradeoffs everywhere.

3. Your family - Just continuing to work on being a bit more assertive with H, but without being naggy or bitchy. There's definitely a fine line there. He very much likes to get his way, so I'm trying to work on piping up with my feelings, so he knows his decisions aren't always something I agree with. Otherwise everyone else is good, my mom is enjoying her retirement, and they're working towards their goal of moving out here so she can be close to my hypothetical baby.

4. Your money - Yeah... not great, but I've been doing a good job of controlling the spending and putting money in savings. My next check is an "extra" check so I'm looking forward to bolstering my savings, and not going to lie, I'm setting aside a couple hundred to buy some fun things too, since I pretty much never do. H has also made some good progress on paying down the remainder of the landscaping debt. We just found out yesterday he will be traveling again starting in February, which means lower grocery and utility bills (since he won't be working from home), and he will get more billable hours towards bonuses. Also maybe means we can get out of going to some hockey games which is always a money-saver. Hopefully he can just sell those tickets.

dragonstarjk · January 2016

1. Your life--Life is pretty good. H and I decided a few months ago that we wanted to spend 2016 improving our lives, so we are focusing on that by doing a major de-cluttering, trying to improve our health, our finances, and just our overall outlook on things. We had a rough 2015, so we're already seeing improvement. I'm still working on classes for my Bachelor's in Business; I'm a little worried about a class next semester that I think is going to be hard, but I just need to buckle down and focus. I'm probably going to cut back on meetings/committees/volunteering so I am dedicating enough time to my classes and also to myself for exercise and overall well-being.

2. Your job-Meh. I'm kind of in a rut. I applied for a new promotion at the company and the opening closed last Tuesday, but I haven't been called for an interview. I'm still holding out hope. I love the company I work for and the work that I do, but I'm really frustrated with my current department/supervisor. I need something to change.

3. Your family-After spending most of last year going back and forth to doctors for digestive issues, H finally seems to be doing well. He tested positive for several food allergies so he's slowly testing those to see which ones really affect him. My immediate family is sort of a trainwreck, not even going to get into details. But, one good thing that happened--my mom lives in a house that my grandma owned, and when my grandma passed away, my mom and her siblings got together and they were able to agree that my mom would inherit the house and the siblings would split the rest of her assets. This is good, because my mom would have been homeless otherwise.

4. Your money-We're starting to get into a groove with making payments to the front porch, and also adjusting to H's smaller checks since increasing his retirement contribution. All of our savings accounts, which we depleted to help fund the front porch, are slowly being replenished. This year is all about slow and steady, and I feel like we are doing really well so far. I also started a car maintenance account and H just decided last night to open an FSA; both of these things will help protect against larger unforeseen expenses that we usually end up cash flowing.

jtmh2012 · January 2016

brij2006 said:

This. Term insurance is the only life insurance to buy. H and I have a 20 year term, $500k on each of us. He is considered medically obese, so his rate isn't the greatest. We put aside $58 a month to pay the annual premium in full.
That's less than cable!

ETA: Ours is through Metlife.

Geez.....you've got me wanting to make phone calls now. I've got a $50k/5yr term policy linked to my home/auto that I'm paying $128/yr for I think it is. Maybe I'll ask my metlife rep.

csuave · January 2016

1. Life - Life is good. We are very blessed overall. I have been sick for about a week which has been a major downer, but I am finally starting to feel better. It is just me, H and our dog and our families are OOS so it is easy to keep things simple. Last year, we found out our dog has stomach cancer. We put her on a Rx food an she is doing amazingly well. We don't know how long she has but each extra month just seems like bonus time now (after coming to grips with the situation).

2. Job - can't complain

3. Family - our families are great with very little/no drama. I fit in fine with H's family and H likes my family too. Everyone is in relatively good health. We enjoyed time with them over the holidays and just got back from a long weekend visiting my family. My dad turned 70 and we had a party for him so I got to see all my aunts and uncles too. And my niece and nephew taught me how to whip and nay nay (sp?)

4. Money - H is now unemployed for 2 years. We are making it work since we can live off of my salary but the early retirement age I had in mind may be affected. Now that it is January he is at least getting some leads on temp jobs so hopefully he will have something soon. I'm trying to decide when to fund 2015 Roth IRA given the market conditions.

brij2006 · January 2016

jtmh2012 said:

brij2006 said:

This. Term insurance is the only life insurance to buy. H and I have a 20 year term, $500k on each of us. He is considered medically obese, so his rate isn't the greatest. We put aside $58 a month to pay the annual premium in full.
That's less than cable!

ETA: Ours is through Metlife.

Geez.....you've got me wanting to make phone calls now. I've got a $50k/5yr term policy linked to my home/auto that I'm paying $128/yr for I think it is. Maybe I'll ask my metlife rep.

I've actually found that it's cheaper to buy a stand alone life policy. We just looked at adding a small rider for DD to my current policy and it's $240/year. I can write a policy just under her name for $112/year.

The ones attached to the home/auto insurance aren't always a bad idea because they usually don't need any medical exams. However, it's still usually cheaper to buy a policy on its own.

short+sassy · January 2016

1. Your life

I have to admit, I'm in a really bad place right now. Nothing permanently bad, but the last few weeks I've felt like Murphy's bitch. It's like everything that can wrong, has gone wrong. Even crazy stuff out of left field, going wrong.

But, that's the short picture. The long picture is my life is wonderful and I sometimes (though not lately!) have to pinch myself that I'm so lucky. My H and I are so happily married and still adore each other even after all these years together. I finally have a passion and a plan for my life with real estate investing...though things are going much slower than I expected. I wish I had a lot more money (who doesn't?), but am at least in a comfortable place.

2. Your job

My job is good, but not stable. I keep waiting for the axe to fall...but then I've also been saying that for 18 months, so who knows, lol?

3. Your family

I wish I was closer to my immediate family. Mainly my mom and sister. That has been causing me some sadness lately. It's mostly my fault. I was the one who moved away and I'm not the greatest about staying in touch...but then they aren't either.

But, within my own household, life is a joy. My H and I get along really well, rarely argue. I feel like a little bit of a dork to fawn over my cat and dog, but they both bring us so much love and laughter. We've had our cat Nip for 11 years and she is the perfect mix of haughty, snobby cattitude, while also wanting to follow us around and sit on our laps. Izzy, our small-medium sized terrier mix, is just the happiest little goofball. She's a big snuggler. It's also awesome that, even though Izzy is over twice the size of her "kitten sister", she is just a touch fearful of her and passes by her with trepidation and caution.

4. Your money

Money has been a lot more depressing than usual. I'm mad at myself that I wasn't more on top of the duplex rehab and things have just dragged out crazily longer than I ever expected. Plus I need to get my next door unit ready to be shown...but was some of the sickest I have ever been the first two weeks of this month. Argh! I have three rental units and none of them rented...or even ready to be shown quite yet. It's driving me nuts and is a substantial loss of income.

One positive, I did get an AirBnB reservation for 3 days over Mardi Gras weekend for my next door unit. $800! Though about $200-$250 of that will be eaten up by renting furniture and incidentals. At least it's something. If only I could rent that unit out for $275/night all year long, lol.

als1982 · January 2016

csuave said:
1. Life - Life is good. We are very blessed overall. I have been sick for about a week which has been a major downer, but I am finally starting to feel better. It is just me, H and our dog and our families are OOS so it is easy to keep things simple. Last year, we found out our dog has stomach cancer. We put her on a Rx food an she is doing amazingly well. We don't know how long she has but each extra month just seems like bonus time now (after coming to grips with the situation).

2. Job - can't complain

3. Family - our families are great with very little/no drama. I fit in fine with H's family and H likes my family too. Everyone is in relatively good health. We enjoyed time with them over the holidays and just got back from a long weekend visiting my family. My dad turned 70 and we had a party for him so I got to see all my aunts and uncles too. And my niece and nephew taught me how to whip and nay nay (sp?)

4. Money - H is now unemployed for 2 years. We are making it work since we can live off of my salary but the early retirement age I had in mind may be affected. Now that it is January he is at least getting some leads on temp jobs so hopefully he will have something soon. I'm trying to decide when to fund 2015 Roth IRA given the market conditions.

Not trying to be a jerk, but it's been nagging me for a long time... Where do you live or what circumstances have made it impossible for your husband to find work in two years? You are a saint, truly. I'd only give my H a few short months before unemployment would become unacceptable in our marriage.

lbonga1 · January 2016

smetter04 said:

3. Family - H and I have been in a rough patch. I have no patience whatsoever and he pushes my buttons. We talk about something, decide on something, no change is made. I coordinate our entire life and he can't clean the bathroom without being pestered? I want to be married to a partner, not a child. Don't even get me started on his parents. Establishing boundaries isn't easy.

I can relate with this one. I'm sorry it's so frustrating. My FI is finally coming around after having two kids and realizing that I really need his help. I still have to ask him to do things, but at least now he doesn't complain that I'm "nagging", and he'll actually do it without me having to ask multiple times. If cleaning is an issue, maybe you could find a way to work a housekeeper into the budget to keep the peace? Regardless, it's something you definitely want to sit down and talk about.

als1982 · January 2016

smetter04 said:
1. Life - life is stressful right now. Job, family, money, all contribute to it.
2. Job - My HR role expanded last April, with the bulk of my responsibility being onboarding new consultants, and we have been hiring at a record pace. Just when I think I have a reprieve, I'm sent more hires to start. And of course, everyone needs everything NOW.
3. Family - H and I have been in a rough patch. I have no patience whatsoever and he pushes my buttons. We talk about something, decide on something, no change is made. I coordinate our entire life and he can't clean the bathroom without being pestered? I want to be married to a partner, not a child. Don't even get me started on his parents. Establishing boundaries isn't easy.
4. Money - We are financially secure, but we are in the process of choosing life insurance. I have no idea what to look for in life insurance or what we can afford per month because I'm cheap and don't want to add another bill, so this decision is stressing me out. We're also trying to change our bank to a local credit union. It should be easy to open an account, except we had to apply online to get the referral bonus and there was a system glitch so I think we were technically approved, but it's not final yet, and their customer service is saying we need to apply again. I'm not getting a good first impression.

Sorry for the negativity and thanks for letting me vent it

Vent away! If there's anything we can do, please say so.

jtmh2012 · January 2016

brij2006 said:

jtmh2012 said:

brij2006 said:

This. Term insurance is the only life insurance to buy. H and I have a 20 year term, $500k on each of us. He is considered medically obese, so his rate isn't the greatest. We put aside $58 a month to pay the annual premium in full.
That's less than cable!

ETA: Ours is through Metlife.

Geez.....you've got me wanting to make phone calls now. I've got a $50k/5yr term policy linked to my home/auto that I'm paying $128/yr for I think it is. Maybe I'll ask my metlife rep.

I've actually found that it's cheaper to buy a stand alone life policy. We just looked at adding a small rider for DD to my current policy and it's $240/year. I can write a policy just under her name for $112/year.
The ones attached to the home/auto insurance aren't always a bad idea because they usually don't need any medical exams. However, it's still usually cheaper to buy a policy on its own.

In my defence, I never shopped around. I originally got it because I didn't have a home, but getting this gave me a multi-line discount when combined with my auto policy. At the time, having the two together was cheaper than just having the auto policy and I've just kept it despite now being on my second house.

Xstatic3333 · January 2016

Your Life: Life has been going pretty good. I was feeling a bit stuck in a rut at the end of last year and have been making some healthier choices. I have cut down significantly on beer and only have a few beers socially on the weekends now, and I'm feeling healthier and more productive. Getting back into yoga has helped me to feel better too. Starting TTC has been an interesting change. Christmas really made us feel ready to expand our family, but I remain super nervous about actually being pregnant. It will be such a huge change and mean giving up a lot, as much as I know it will be worth it. We'll see how it goes, I know it can take quite a while and am living my life as normal in the mean time. As much as I love teaching diving it has gotten pretty stressful to balance with my regular life, and perhaps a year off to start a family will be a healthy break.

2. Your Job: The job is going well. Just staying the course. I did one good thing that I'm a bit proud of (ties in a bit to family) and asked my board to create a family leave policy. I'm so glad I did, because they adopted a policy equivalent to FMLA, and if I had to ask for my own leave when the time came I probably only would have had the guts to ask for 8 weeks. This could also help coworkers who need to care for a sick family member in the future.

3. Your Family: I'm starting to really worry about my parents getting older. They're really starting to "feel" old for the first time. My mom is having an elective hip replacement, and she scheduled it for the day before we go to Europe. I feel so horrible about the whole thing, although she insists we still go. My dad has that week off (college professor) but is busy the following week, so I'll plan to help her out a ton the week after we return. H's mom also doesn't seem especially healthy, though she's a lot younger my parents. We're both onlies, so it is going to be a lot to make sure everyone is taken care of.

H and the dog are great! I love them both so much. We really are both head over heels for this dog. He's changed our life in such a wonderful way.

4. Your Money: Really just staying the course. I don't know if it comes from living in a city or just is us, but we spend a lot more on optional stuff and entertainment than most around here. Every week I feel like there's a new thing that's hard to turn down. Having a kid should snap us out of that real quick! Still, we're saving some each month and putting some more into my Roth. Once our Care Credit charges are paid down, I'd like to start paying extra to my student loan, although we remain relatively debt-tolerant. Those "interest paid" forms at the end of the year are a real eye opener.

smetter04 · January 2016

als1982 said:

Vent away! If there's anything we can do, please say so.

*SITB*

Thanks @als1982! And to the other posters who offered support. It's great to have an open ear from people who can relate! Sometimes things just need to get off one's chest.

vlagrl29 · January 2016

1. Your life - life is pretty good - no complaints really. Its my slow time and I'm taking huge advantage of it. I deep cleaned the entire house early this month and currently I'm going thru drawers and organizing. It took me several hours but all kitchen drawers and cabinets on the inside have been wiped down. I know I'm crazy. DH and I will be TTC in a few months and I'm just trying to get things done before we start incase I puke as much as I did last time. I'm enjoying teaching and practicing more advanced yoga. I'm totally at peace now with starting TTC - knowing which OB I will go to now that we finished interviewing, knowing its ok to take a break from private teaching if I get that same hard pregnancy with DD and knowing I have enough musicians within our trio if I need my part to be subbed while pregnant. My life won't be turned upside down - just adjusted. Next month I plan to finish my business taxes and update my trio's website.

2. Your job - Its going well. I currently have 9 private students and they are all doing well. Although we have no gigs right now its gotten to the busy booking season so money is coming in which is awesome. I also SAH full time with DD and we have our routine. She's back to taking naps which is great. She's in dance, preschool, and just started taking violin lessons with another teacher. Once she is in kindy we will have to figure out how to juggle all that.

3. Your family - the only drama-ish thing going on is my mom has blocked out all contact with my grandma so they aren't speaking. I feel bad about it and want to see my grandma and I will this month but I'm nervous about it for some reason. Our little family of 3 is doing great though. I love how DH and I have the same goals and values in life - we rarely fight.

4. Your money - Again I always feel like if we just had another $1k coming in we could fulfill our goals much fast - one day maybe

Its our slow time and DH is working on building his studio so money is tighter than it was this time last year but that's just temporary thank god! I will be glad when this studio is done so he can get back to doing photography 100% of the time and more money will be back in our pockets and once he gets to the plumbing and electrical stage of the building that when we will start TTC. Seriously though we will have to make more of an effort to have much more sex - we are averaging like 1-2x per month. lol.

We are still able to save towards retirement and emergency fund. This year we are adding in savings for hardwood floors. Pesonally I want to spend less in 2016 so we can put more into that home improvement account.

lbonga1 · January 2016

1. Your life

Going ok. It's been a bit stressful with FI's health problems. I'm really excited to start school again in a few days though...I wish I had known I'd be interested in software development early in life so I could have just gone to school for that to begin with. Harvard requires applicants to take three classes prior to submitting an application for their Master's program, but I've worked out my classes so that if I don't get accepted, I can still apply the classes toward a graduate certificate. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the cost for the degree will still be cheaper than my BA was (even with transfer credits from my AA!), but if I'm accepted, I'll have to take at least one class on campus. I can do a 7-week summer class, but it'll still be hard being away from my family for that long.

2. Your job

I'm going to be honest; housekeeping sucks. At least it's picked up a bit after the holidays so I'm making more money. I'm also starting a new job teaching an after school program a couple hours a week, so that will be more fun too.

3. Your family

FI is still having problems with his health, but he has another appointment with his neurologist soon. Also, my mom had told me a few months ago that she was divorcing my stepdad, but they have since seemed to have worked it out.

4. Your money

I think we're going to be moving in with FI's parents at the end of our lease (March 1), so that we can continue figuring out FI's health issues and start saving money for a house downpayment. We're going to talk to them more about it this weekend. I just got a half tuition refund for finishing an iOS development certificate program in less than a year, so if we're for sure moving in with FI's parents, I'll be able to put all of that toward our downpayment fund. I'm also making our final $450 credit card payment at the end of the month, so that will be rolled into our downpayment fund next month too.

GTKY: Your life, your money.

Re: GTKY: Your life, your money.

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