Money Matters
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.
1. How MM was your weekend?
2. Any progress towards goals?
3. If you were given $1,000 but were told you had to give it to someone else, who would you give it to and why? (just for fun, no reason behind this question)
Re: Monday Accountability
1. How MM was your weekend? It was a little spendy- groceries ($171), outdoor boots for me ($152), work shoes for DH ($125), sneakers for me, DH, and DD#1 ($146).. so many shoes!
2. Any progress towards goals? $500 went to savings and we got our Disney magic bands in the mail this weekend- countdown is 3 weeks!
3. If you were given $1,000 but were told you had to give it to someone else, who would you give it to and why? (just for fun, no reason behind this question) I would give it to my cousin's family. His little one has a rare brain tumor and have to travel out of state for treatment- extra $ to help them out with every day bills so they can travel together as a family.
1. $60 Dog Grooming, $16 Gas, $24 Ruby Tuesday's after giftcard/coupon, $20 Pizza delivery
2. $350 to furniture (only $1500 to go ), $300 to pay off rest of TV, $300 to savings, $700 to vacation fund. While this all looks good, our dryer died last weekend, so we bought a new washer/dryer set because we didn't like what the sellers had left us anyway, so we paid $1338 for those.
3. I would give the $1,000 to one of my co-workers. She bought a forclosure house that she and her H have been working on for almost 2 years now. He's working a few jobs and going to school so I think they are pretty tight on money. They are doing all the work themselves, but I would like to give them that money to do whatever they need to with it
1. How MM was your weekend?
Not MM at all. It was all within budget though, so that's a big plus.
We bought groceries and some of the stuff for DD's 1st birthday party next month. We're splitting he party expenses between 2 months to help the budget a bit. So I bought non-perishables and decorations this weekend.
$175 on party stuff, $79 on groceries, and $8 for Taco Bell breakfast while running around Saturday.
Also had to license and title the new car (FINALLY got the title from the seller). So $1,000 in taxes (woof Illinois), and $135 for license and registration. Also $30 for H to renew his drivers license.
2. Any progress towards goals?
Kind of. We have been able to cash flow a lot more than we intended, this month. I had 1.5 weeks of no pay, and H has only 1 week of overtime this month. So we really tightened up eating out, entertainment, extras, clothing, and stuff for DD. I've also been very savvy with the groceries to help cut that. We also were able to budget $150 less in gas this month, so that helped as well.
3. If you were given $1,000 but were told you had to give it to someone else, who would you give it to and why?
That's hard. I would probably use it to put 10 friends and family members through Financial Peace University.
TTC since 1/13 DX:PCOS 5/13 (long, anovulatory cycles)

Clomid 50mg 9/13 = BFP! EDD 6/7/14 M/C 5w6d Found 11/4/13
1/14 PCOS / Gluten Free Diet to hopefully regulate my system.
Chemical Pregnancy 03/14
Surprise BFP 6/14, Beta #1: 126 Beta #2: 340 Stick baby, stick! EDD 2/17/15
Riley Elaine born 2/16/15
TTC 2.0 6/15
Chemical Pregnancy 9/15
Chemical Pregnancy 6/16
BFP 9/16 EDD 6/3/17
Beta #1: 145 Beta #2: 376 Beta #3: 2,225 Beta #4: 4,548
www.5yearstonever.blogspot.com
How MM was your weekend?
This is why I love MM, so I can be more aware of how much money I actually spend. Here I am thinking… I didn’t spend ANY money this weekend, but I did: $50 at CVS, $45 at Petco, $90 at WholeFoods, $30 on brunch. That’s a cheap weekend for us, thanks to the snow we mostly stayed put.
Any progress towards goals?
Not yet, but I’m going to up my 401K contribution to 16% this week. I’m paranoid about having enough money when I retire.
If you were given $1,000….
I’d probably give each of my nieces $100 for their piggy banks & the rest to my favorite dog rescue organization.
- Good. $100 on groceries, $8 car wash, $5 streaming a movie on Amazon prime.
2. Any progress towards goals?
- Non pay week, no.
3. If you were given $1,000 but were told you had to give it to someone else, who would you give it to and why? (just for fun, no reason behind this question)
- I would give it all to my brother to make a dent in his spousal support payment to his ex-wife. He's drowning in payment to her. They got into debt together, but she's the one who got to leave. I know it's his fault, too, for making poor decisions, but I'd help him if I could. It's hard to see people you love struggle.
1. How MM was your weekend? Good. We ended up getting 8" of snow so we didn't leave the house until Saturday night. We had dinner out for $27.
Sunday about $11 on groceries and $50 for gas for both cars. We got a last minute dinner invite to a friend's house Sunday night so it was nice not to cook both Saturday and Sunday.
Today H is grocery shopping. He'll probably spend $40 on cold medicine restocking and $40 on regular groceries.
Sunday I did a little online shopping. $15 on two things from aerie clearance sale (using my blow money).
2. Any progress towards goals? Staying the course. We did very little dining out this month and it is showing in a lighter-than-usual credit card statement.
3. If you were given $1,000 but were told you had to give it to someone else, who would you give it to and why? I'd give it to my parents so they could splurge on something. They have always been and continue to be so generous with us.$130 on groceries, $25 on a birthday present, $20 on OTC meds, $25 eating out (fundraiser), church - I don't remember how much we tithed.
2. Any progress towards goals?
Yes! We're sticking to the budget and I think that will put us on track to put an extra $500 in savings next week.
3. If you were given $1,000 but were told you had to give it to someone else, who would you give it to and why? (just for fun, no reason behind this question)
My parents. My mom is finally getting her kitchen remodel after MANY years of dreaming. She's super excited and I think my dad's overwhelmed with all the options.
1. How MM was your weekend?
Not horrible.. $45 spent at Walmart and Dollar Store on groceries. $96 on a router, so we don't have to keep paying our cable company for one.
2. Any progress towards goals?
Not really..
3. If you were given $1,000 but were told you had to give it to someone else, who would you give it to and why? (just for fun, no reason behind this question)
I'd probably give it to my mom. She gives me so much, it would be nice to give some back to her and say, this is not for bills, just take this and use it for fun!
2. Got the payments scheduled to payoff the house
3. My friend Christine, hands down. I just got a call from her that her husband just got laid off and so they are being sent back to Canada. The $ wouldn't help much, but it would help some for them to get back on their feet.
2. Last week was our regular monthly student loan payment of $370. This week we'll send about $3,000 more and pay the mortgage. Fun!
3. I'd probably give it to the hospital where I work to buy gas cards and bus passes for families in need.
1. Not bad. I stayed home sick on Saturday so didn't spend anything. Sunday--$130 groceries. H went over the mountain bird hunting so I'm going to estimate $200 on fuel/food for the weekend for that. I also ordered the new Fitbit Charge I've been wanting, so $106. That was technically unbudgeted but I am prepared to pay it back to our shopping fund as soon as I get my bonus at work. Our boss has already indicated that we would be getting bonuses. I don't know how much it will be yet, but I know it will at least cover the price of the Fitbit
2. Just staying on budget and not robbing any of our savings accounts to pay for additional expenses. We're pretty sure we're going to need to replace our water heater soon, so trying to prepare for that.
3. This is tough. My first instinct would be to give it to my mom, but she wouldn't use it responsibly. If I could give her $1000 in the form of groceries or paying her bills for the month, I'd do that. Otherwise, if it's in cash, I'd give it to H's niece who is in college right now and trying really hard to pay her way without going into student loan debt.
1. Didn't do much at all on the weekend. Still taking it easy to get over being sick. Despite that, I relapsed a bit yesterday and my coughs have increased. Saturday was the only day I went out. P/T job in the morning, than spent $252 at Walmart, but $78 of that was at the pharmacy.
Oh, but had a score last weekend. Our kitchen light, which is one of those long double tube fluorescent things has been wonky and flaky since I bought the house. When I was out running around with my p/t job, one of the hotels on my route was remodeling and throwing out a whole bunch of those type of fixtures. Me and my H grabbed one. We bought replacement bulbs on this Sat.'s Walmart run and our new light worked for the test run. Now H just has to make the replacement.
2. Paid of my $1225 Home Depot credit card (strangle). Had to save almost a month's worth of direct deposits from my p/t job for that evil. Paid $1,000 on my HELOC...but wrote a check from it for $1575 to our A/C guy...so wonk-wonk.
3. Not a very interesting answer, but I would put $500 each in my niece and nephew's college funds.
This question reminds me a little of that Publihser's Clearing House prize where a person can win $5,000/week for life and then pick someone to win $5,000/week for their life.
1. It was ok. I got paid on Friday and got a bonus. I finally bought myself the fitbit charge. It was on promotion for $99 and a free pair of earbuds with purchase. Then I stacked it with a 15% cartwheel, my team member discount, and a $5 catalina. All of this brought it down to $74 then I had some gift cards which brought my total down to $48.25! I also spent another $55 on stuff for an upcoming baby shower and things we had been putting off. Then about $40 at Costco!
2. I have paid a significant amount on my last credit card this month. I'm hording more in savings than usual because my student loan payments go back up next month. It sucks putting those back in the budget.
Also, DH is finally on board with looking at Dave Ramsey stuff. One of my coworkers actually has the FPU info and is letting us borrow it. He said he would watch the vidoes with me!! It has taken almost 2 years to get to this point!
3. I would take the $1000 and put it in a savings account for my sister. She is almost 21 and lives at home with mom. She is going to school but not working. My mom borrows all of her money, even the financial aid she receives to get her through the quarter. Our mom is the kind that will spend all of her money no matter how much she makes. When we were growing up I would always put half of my sister's birthday/Christmas money in a savings account for her. I even started saving my own money for her when I started working. That was how she was able to get school clothes for a few years.
1. How MM was your weekend?
It was good. Saturday I spent $11 to renew my membership and buy some hair dye at the beauty supply store, and FI spent $5 at the coffee shop. Sunday we went to Disneyland (we have annual passes), and spent about $8 on snacks.
2. Any progress towards goals?
$110 went toward building our e-fund this month, and I'm going to be putting $2k into our house down payment fund as soon as I receive the card in the mail for the new 6% interest savings account I opened.
3. If you were given $1,000 but were told you had to give it to someone else, who would you give it to and why? (just for fun, no reason behind this question)
I'd give it to my mom to pay her back part of what she's loaning me for school!