Monday Accountability

dragonstarjk · February 2016

I've never started this before! But I didn't see it yet, so here you go:

1. How MM was your weekend?

2. Any progress towards goals?

3. Valentine's Day plans?

cbee817 · February 2016

1. How MM was your weekend? It was pretty good- groceries ($130), gas ($22), sold some fabric online (+$165), post office to mail fabric ($15), returned winter boots (+$152).

2. Any progress towards goals? $500 went to savings, vacation next week is paid in full, taxes need to get checked and filed tonight after the girls are in bed (I was lazy last night).

3. Valentine's Day plans? It's the day before we leave for Disney, so it'll be doing laundry, packing, getting the girls' flight entertainment ready, cleaning the house. Maybe we'll order some thai food for dinner since the fridge will be pretty empty.

dragonstarjk · February 2016

1. How MM was your weekend? Not great spending wise. H and I each found out on Friday that we would be getting a 3% raise (woohoo!) so we went out to dinner to celebrate--$75, unbudgeted. On Saturday we decided to take the plunge and buy a new water heater--$850ish including some tools/supplies, somewhat unbudgeted. We knew we were going to need one eventually, and I was sick of juggling showers/laundry/dishes and boiling water on the stove when we wanted to fill our big tub. We used our Home Depot card for 0% financing for 18 months; we could have paid it from savings, but we can easily pay that amount off in a few months without depleting savings, so we went that route. $18-Qdoba dinner after water heater install, unbudgeted. $130 groceries--budgeted

2. Any progress towards goals? Well, the 3% raises will help! It wasn't a pay week, so nothing too crazy. I think both of our raises combined might give us about $80 additional take home pay each paycheck, so once those kick in we might reevaluate our budget, but there won't be any big changes.

3. Valentine's Day plans? We are going to a little small town hot springs resort; Monday is also a bank holiday so it's a 3-day weekend for me. We got a gift certificate to the resort a few years ago and luckily it doesn't expire! We might splurge on a couple's massage and a nice dinner while we're there.

Mustard76 · February 2016

1. How MM was your weekend?
- Fair. I was back out helping my parents pack up to move, so Saturday I spent half a tank of gas and $3 on coffee for my trip. Sunday was $100 at the store including snacks for the game yesterday for us + 6.

2. Any progress towards goals?
- $1800 to our home improvement fund. H bought himself a new knife with his bonus, so I'm happy that didn't have to come out of our normal spending.

3. Valentine's Day plans?
- Nada. H is leaving for a week in TX that day. I'm off for the holiday on Monday, so I'll likely just catch up on cleaning and laundry that whole weekend.

hoffse · February 2016

Oh man I was dreading it this week, lol

1) Our weekend started out MM and then turned out horribly. H spent Saturday morning in the basement trying to get the vanity torn out of the bathroom. It was literally falling apart, and it needs to come out before we have the basement bathroom painted/sprayed. He had some time this weekend, so figured he should get started.

Of course, he bumped the water shut-off valve while trying to get the sink out, and it started to leak. Badly. We ended up getting the water shut off to the whole house and had to replace the valve. If it had been a screw-on kind, it would have been NBD. But no - it was the kind that's soldered on, and there was very little pipe left, so we were afraid we would burn the house down if we tried to do it ourselves.

Anyway, 4 hours and $300 later we had a plumber come in and replace both valves at the sink, just in case the other one blew when installing the new vanity. It was especially frustrating because our valves are "special" (his words, not mine), so he had to leave our house and go to the store to buy them in the middle of the call. Of course, that made it even more expensive.

The good news is both valves are now updated, so we should have no further issues with them. We also picked out a vanity that was a lot less expensive than I budgeted, so it should all even out.

Other than that drama, we only spent about $50 on groceries this week and $35 on some new lights at Lowes.

2) We're just barely on track for February, but I think we'll make it work. We're going to try to cash flow the plumber's visit, but that will eat up all our extra spending money this month. We'll see. It will annoy me if we have to dip into savings for it.

3) H and I plan to stay in and do homemade fetuccini alfredo and a movie. We are looking forward to it!

smetter04 · February 2016

1. How MM was your weekend? Not bad! $15 on McDonald's breakfast Saturday morning, $40 for about 4 dozen paczki from church, $20 offering to church on Sunday, $35 on groceries that will last us through the week.

2. Any progress towards goals? On Friday we met with a general contractor about doing some updates/remodeling in our house. This year we want to re-do the full bathroom as well as some updates to the kitchen and this was the first step.

3. Valentine's Day plans? H has off for the bank holiday Monday, so we're taking a long-weekend getaway to a B&B. We don't usually do much for it but this year we need a weekend that's just about us & relaxing. We're keeping it secret from everyone (except you ladies lol) and we're looking forward to it Although tbh, it's really tightening the budget this month. But we think it will be worth it.

kmurphy2131 · February 2016

1. How MM was your weekend? Spendy, but planned. Friday we had take out pizza. Saturday we went to Newport RI and spent money on lunch at whole foods on the way, plus our tastings & a case of wine at Newport Vineyards. We had an expensive dinner that night, and then regular cost of the hotel room & breakfast the next morning. It will all in budget and we had a great time just being away.

2. Any progress towards goals?

Well...we didn't go over the budget with a spendy weekend so that's good enough for me.

3. Valentine's Day plans?

We don't celebrate valentines day. We had plans with friends for next saturday but they cancelled when they knew it was valentines day weekend (H's friends, their girlfriends probably set them straight haha). Unrelated to valentines day, I want to borrow my parents pasta machine and make some pasta next saturday night to do something different.

kmurphy2131 · February 2016

hoffse said:

Oh man I was dreading it this week, lol

1) Our weekend started out MM and then turned out horribly. H spent Saturday morning in the basement trying to get the vanity torn out of the bathroom. It was literally falling apart, and it needs to come out before we have the basement bathroom painted/sprayed. He had some time this weekend, so figured he should get started.

Of course, he bumped the water shut-off valve while trying to get the sink out, and it started to leak. Badly. We ended up getting the water shut off to the whole house and had to replace the valve. If it had been a screw-on kind, it would have been NBD. But no - it was the kind that's soldered on, and there was very little pipe left, so we were afraid we would burn the house down if we tried to do it ourselves.

Anyway, 4 hours and $300 later we had a plumber come in and replace both valves at the sink, just in case the other one blew when installing the new vanity. It was especially frustrating because our valves are "special" (his words, not mine), so he had to leave our house and go to the store to buy them in the middle of the call. Of course, that made it even more expensive.

The good news is both valves are now updated, so we should have no further issues with them. We also picked out a vanity that was a lot less expensive than I budgeted, so it should all even out.

Other than that drama, we only spent about $50 on groceries this week and $35 on some new lights at Lowes.

2) We're just barely on track for February, but I think we'll make it work. We're going to try to cash flow the plumber's visit, but that will eat up all our extra spending money this month. We'll see. It will annoy me if we have to dip into savings for it.

3) H and I plan to stay in and do homemade fetuccini alfredo and a movie. We are looking forward to it!

That sucks about the plumber cost. Our washer machine broke on saturday morning mid-cycle. Even though we are house hunting and are excited to have our own space...for a lot of reasons I will seriously miss renting. It was so nice to call maintenance and they fixed it for me this morning. I'm dreading issues like you had.

csuave · February 2016

1. How MM was your weekend? Not bad. We had 4 friends over for SB. Saturday we bought groceries for $50 and started cooking. We are getting 3 meals out of the SB chili we made and some leftovers to use as snacks this week so having people over didn't amount to too much expense. $25 on gas.
I'm really proud of our SB menu. We had a nice meal without spending a lot and this new recipe I tried for dessert was great (and not bad calorie wise) http://julesfood.blogspot.com/2012/10/greek-yogurt-souffle.html

2. Any progress towards goals? H started a new temp job on Friday and it pays well. It should last a month or two so that is putting us in decent shape for Feb and maybe March. We accepted a second BnB reservation for the month so that is going to help us cash flow our March TX trip.

3. Valentine's Day plans? I requested H make me a fish dinner that I really like and I am going to bake some cookies that he likes. We are going to exchange digital cards this year instead of paper to allow for some extra creativity and to be MM.

KatieCutie05 · February 2016

1. How MM was your weekend?

Horrible. Just really bad. MIL was visiting so we took her out to dinner - that was insane - 125 for that. Then H and I went out - that was 75. So we just blew 200 bucks! the 75 was budgetted but the 125 was not.

2. Any progress towards goals?

No but i really need to figure out a new way to work this budget because we have the money from january to pay off H's car - 2k. but we still don't actually have the money to actually pay it... well we do but it would bring our checking account down to zero.

3. Valentine's Day plans?

Probably nothing. We were going to plan to both leave work an hour early on monday to be able to go out to dinner while baby is still in daycare but theres no way we can afford that now.

kmurphy2131 · February 2016

KatieCutie05 said:

1. How MM was your weekend?
Horrible. Just really bad. MIL was visiting so we took her out to dinner - that was insane - 125 for that. Then H and I went out - that was 75. So we just blew 200 bucks! the 75 was budgetted but the 125 was not.
2. Any progress towards goals?
No but i really need to figure out a new way to work this budget because we have the money from january to pay off H's car - 2k. but we still don't actually have the money to actually pay it... well we do but it would bring our checking account down to zero.
3. Valentine's Day plans?
Probably nothing. We were going to plan to both leave work an hour early on monday to be able to go out to dinner while baby is still in daycare but theres no way we can afford that now.

Is it not being able to afford the dinner? Or the time off of work?

I don't know your circumstances with work and childcare but I do have a thought. Could you go out for coffee, or a glass of wine and app? Something cheaper than dinner out, but still something out of the norm/without the baby. If it's about not being able to afford the time off work, do you have the ability for one of you to work an extra hour tuesday & the other to work an extra hour wednesday? (or whatever works, I'm just assuming you can't both work late the same day and get your baby ontime)

jessica490 · February 2016

1. $35 Walmart, $8 Home Depot, $30 Chinese food- All cash

2. $220 to savings

3. We plan to go to Olive Garden Friday night to celebrate, then off to go shopping

als1982 · February 2016

1. Good! We've been really good the past few weeks on cutting back on meals out. H even let me make enchiladas on Sunday for the Super Bowl instead of ordering out or picking up junk food! We spent $135 a Costco, $30 at Sprouts and $10 at Ulta. The only meal out was Chinese takeout on Friday at $15. 2. We received a tax refund of $1,800, which immediately went to our student loan. Now down to less than $25,000! 3. We both think Valentine's Day is dumb, so no plans here.

jessica490 · February 2016

als1982 said:

1. Good! We've been really good the past few weeks on cutting back on meals out. H even let me make enchiladas on Sunday for the Super Bowl instead of ordering out or picking up junk food! We spent $135 a Costco, $30 at Sprouts and $10 at Ulta. The only meal out was Chinese takeout on Friday at $15. 2. We received a tax refund of $1,800, which immediately went to our student loan. Now down to less than $25,000! 3. We both think Valentine's Day is dumb, so no plans here.

LOL at the bolded! I think it's definitely overdone. I told H not to buy me any overpriced flowers, as it drives me nuts! I will take some chocolate though. I don't like going out to eat with overcrowded restaurants on V-day either. We are going Friday night instead and plan on being there at 430 to avoid the crowds.

hoffse · February 2016

kmurphy2131 said:
That sucks about the plumber cost. Our washer machine broke on saturday morning mid-cycle. Even though we are house hunting and are excited to have our own space...for a lot of reasons I will seriously miss renting. It was so nice to call maintenance and they fixed it for me this morning. I'm dreading issues like you had.

Yeah this kind of thing tends to happen with older houses. TBH, our next house will probably be either a new build or a gut, and we're probably going to pay for it to be a turnkey experience, regardless of which option we go with. Living through remodels is really not fun, especially when surprises happen.

kmurphy2131 · February 2016

jessica490 said:

als1982 said:

1. Good! We've been really good the past few weeks on cutting back on meals out. H even let me make enchiladas on Sunday for the Super Bowl instead of ordering out or picking up junk food! We spent $135 a Costco, $30 at Sprouts and $10 at Ulta. The only meal out was Chinese takeout on Friday at $15. 2. We received a tax refund of $1,800, which immediately went to our student loan. Now down to less than $25,000! 3. We both think Valentine's Day is dumb, so no plans here.

LOL at the bolded! I think it's definitely overdone. I told H not to buy me any overpriced flowers, as it drives me nuts! I will take some chocolate though. I don't like going out to eat with overcrowded restaurants on V-day either. We are going Friday night instead and plan on being there at 430 to avoid the crowds.

a couple years ago valentines day was on a friday and we went out to dinner, not realizing it was valentines day. it took us most of dinner to figure out why it was so crowded at 9 on a Friday (we go out to dinner late a lot and so even on a friday, it's usually not hard to get a table)

Xstatic3333 · February 2016

1. How MM was your weekend?

Oh man, really bad. I debated not posting! We visited my best friend in NYC and spent around $250, although I haven't really sorted through the receipts yet. We tried to be relatively cost-conscious but eating meals out added up, as did all the fun little breweries in Brooklyn that our friends took us to.

I did come up with a pretty good MM hack for those visiting big cities. I downloaded the Lyft app and had my friend send me a referral code. Right after you sign up, you can get ten dollars off of each of five rides within a two week-ish period. We used this to get around Brooklyn during our visit and since all but two of our rides were under $10, we got three free rides and two substantially discounted. Since rides on the subway would have been around $5 each (one way) for H and I, we really saved money and time by doing this. The next time we visit, I'll refer H so he can get the free rides.

2. Any progress towards goals?

Just staying the course. A second of the several 0% Care Credit charges we're working on will be killed when I get paid tomorrow, so that's nice I suppose.

3. GTKY

We aren't Valentine's Day people. For me, it just doesn't feel meaningful. Sometimes we'll get ingredients for a slightly more pricey meal to cook at home. H often gets me flowers too, but the flowers I like are simply, not long stemmed roses or anything like that. I just like bright, cheerful flowers like Gerber Daisies.

blondie42107 · February 2016

1. How MM was your weekend? Pretty good. $105 for groceries, $30 for a birthday present, $50 Target run. 2. Any progress towards goals? We're doing good with staying on budget. Hoping to reach our savings goal this morning the but have a few medical bills to cash flow. 3. Valentine's Day plans? LOL... I have no idea. H and I have really haven't talked about it. Before kids we might have done dinner or a movie or something similar. Now with having kids, we really try to do family celebrations. So we'll probably make heart shaped pancakes, make Valentines, etc. I found a cute activity on Pinterest too.

vlagrl29 · February 2016

1 - not bad. Went out to eat Friday night ($26), Target Trip Saturday ($120), Lunch out on Saturday ($18), DH needed new jeans badly so we got those at Macys on Sunday ($50).

2 - $133 in savings and $133 in retirement

3 - I bought tickets for DD and DH to go to a Daddy Daughter Dance this Friday. That's DH's gift from me for Vday. Saturday DD is going with DH's parents to her Valentines day party dance that her dance school is hosting. During that time DH and I will go out for our Vday dinner date together.

bmo88 · February 2016

1. How MM was your weekend?

Not too bad. I bought DH's Valentine's gift ($45), went grocery shopping ($35) and bought some household products ($22).
We went out to eat at a local burger place and only paid $8.83 for a meal that should have cost $19.40 because I had a coupon.

2. Any progress towards goals?

Didn't pay any bills this week (doing that next week).
Didn't transfer to savings (doing that next week)
DH won $450 betting on the super bowl--I don't like betting, but he does, so he starts with $100 at the beginning of the season and uses it till it's gone.

3. Valentine's Day plans?

Probably just cook a special dinner at home (steak and crab legs). We are homebodies

abrewer5 · February 2016

1. How MM was your weekend? Terrible...That seems to be common this week. Spent some one on one time with MIL, so I bought her lunch $25 and we got a pedicure $20. Target $30, Baptism gift for our close friend's daughter $50 (I wrestled with this number a lot, I wasn't sure what the norm was to give), $55 on dinner out which was so frustrating because we had a 2 gift cards to TX Roadhouse which would have covered our bill and more but the wait was over 2 hours!! So we ended up going to another place where we did not have a gift card. Bummer. $12 at Petsmart.

2. Any progress towards goals? Just the usual, nothing major to report

3. Valentine's Day plans? We're going to see Dead Pool (can't wait!!!) and then going to a very early dinner to beat the crowds (like around 4). It's not really for V-Day so much as we probably would have done this no matter when Dead Pool opened.

Edited for formatting

PurpleBookmark · February 2016

1. Very good. $0 Friday, grocery shopping in budget on Saturday and while we spent a lot of money Sunday it was all budgeted out of our tax return. We purchased DS a mattress, sheets, comforter (he's moving up to a twin bed!), and a vacuum.

2. Yes! We funded our emergency fund and put a lot of extra money into savings as well. All from our tax return.

3. Valentine's Day we have church, DS has a birthday party to attend and DH is volunteering in the afternoon at church as well. I bought mini boxes of chocolate for DH and my two older kids so I'm looking forward to surprising them with that.

csuave · February 2016

abrewer5 said:

1. How MM was your weekend? Terrible...That seems to be common this week. Spent some one on one time with MIL, so I bought her lunch $25 and we got a pedicure $20. Target $30, Baptism gift for our close friend's daughter $50 (I wrestled with this number a lot, I wasn't sure what the norm was to give), $55 on dinner out which was so frustrating because we had a 2 gift cards to TX Roadhouse which would have covered our bill and more but the wait was over 2 hours!! So we ended up going to another place where we did not have a gift card. Bummer. $12 at Petsmart.
2. Any progress towards goals? Just the usual, nothing major to report
3. Valentine's Day plans? We're going to see Dead Pool (can't wait!!!) and then going to a very early dinner to beat the crowds (like around 4). It's not really for V-Day so much as we probably would have done this no matter when Dead Pool opened.

Edited for formatting

Dead Pool is pretty funny (and gory at times). Definitely R rated. The opening credits are the best. There is a short scene after the credits but it is not tied into the Marvel universe.

labro · February 2016

1. How MM was your weekend? We went on vacation sooo this weekend was definitely a splurge. We have a separate vacation budget so in reality everything was covered but I'm stressing now over having enough money in our vacation fund for our big vacation in April.

2. Any progress towards goals? Nope.

3. Valentine's Day plans? No. Like PP's, we really just don't care about V-Day and I especially hate going out to over-crowded restaurants, dealing with the traffic, etc. We'll stay home, drink a bottle of wine, and have a home cooked meal.

lbonga1 · February 2016

1. How MM was your weekend?

We actually didn't spend anything this weekend because we ended up getting a lot of free stuff. I did a mystery shop on Friday night for an ice cream shop, so I got free ice cream. Saturday, the Honda dealership close by had a burger food truck, and FI and I got a free meal because we brought in a flyer they mailed out. Then FI went back on Sunday because they were giving away movie tickets to the local fancy theatre for test driving on that day. We also went over to his parents' house for the Superbowl, and they bought pizza.

2. Any progress towards goals?

I have $2k waiting to go into our house down payment fund. Fidelity needed me to mail in the paperwork to link my account that I'm going to be keeping it in, so as soon as they link it I can transfer it. I also started filing my taxes. It was my first time doing it myself, so my mom insisted on checking it for me. But I had zero tax liability for the year and qualified for a lot of credits, so I'm getting a large refund. Once I receive it, I'll be using the state refund for new clothes for FI and I (it's about $200), and the rest is going to the downpayment fund.

3. Valentine's Day plans?

None yet... The Walking Dead is coming back on, but I think we have to wait until the next day to watch it on the website

julieanne912 · February 2016

1. Not the greatest, but I planned ahead. We hosted a Super Bowl party, and had about 20 or so people over. I spent $63 at Costco (included some "normal" stuff too), $62 at the liquor store, and $77 at the regular grocery store. Lots of people brought over food and left it too, and H went out of town, so I barely needed any regular groceries for myself this week. Also spent $32 on my face wash from Sephora.

2. Moved $100 to my savings.

3. Not really... it's just another day really for us. Since I have Monday off, I'll probably make us a nice dinner and we'll open a bottle of wine... I should be over my Super Bowl hangover by then :-P

short+sassy · February 2016

julieanne912 said:

1. Not the greatest, but I planned ahead. We hosted a Super Bowl party, and had about 20 or so people over. I spent $63 at Costco (included some "normal" stuff too), $62 at the liquor store, and $77 at the regular grocery store. Lots of people brought over food and left it too, and H went out of town, so I barely needed any regular groceries for myself this week. Also spent $32 on my face wash from Sephora.

2. Moved $100 to my savings.

3. Not really... it's just another day really for us. Since I have Monday off, I'll probably make us a nice dinner and we'll open a bottle of wine... I should be over my Super Bowl hangover by then :-P

Congrats! I saw your Broncos won

. I was rooting for them also...but more because I wanted Carolina to lose. They are in the same division as my team...Saints. Plus my H and I think Cam Newton is an arrogant blowhard. We joked that it was a good thing it was an outside stadium so his head could fit on the field. Or at least that was true before the game started.

short+sassy · February 2016

I've had a lot going on money-wise since Thursday, so I'm just going to include it all here.

1) $144 at Walmart, $45 at Costco, $19 at Winn Dixie (king cakes) on Thursday. Part getting miscellaneous stuff for my AirBnB guests who came in on Friday, part getting items for my new duplex, and a little groceries.

Nothing spent Friday.

Saturday - stayed overnight in Biloxi for the Pat Benatar concert. She was awesome! Laughed that, at 41, I was one of the youngest people there. Spent $80 on a PB hoodie/zipped sweatshirt, t-shirt, and necklace. We spent $40 on dinner...and that was after using a $20 comp. Dinner was more than I had planned, but at least it was good and we had a nice time.

Sunday - $30 for two buffet breakfast brunches...that was also after a $20 comp, but does include tip. All you can drink mimosas, but I had to limit myself to one since I was driving home. Lost $60 gambling between the two of us. A bummer, but not bad.

2) Good news on Monday!!! My AirBnB guests checked out late Sunday night and left the place in good condition. AirBnB deposited $800 for their stay into my account on Monday.

Even better news! I chose new tenants for next door at my personal home duplex. One of them brought the signed lease and security deposit to me on Monday. They are moving in this Friday. Bonus they are moving in mid-month instead of March 1st.

I had fun today adding that rental income back into my budget .

Paid off some credit cards (but I do that every month). Replenished my e-fund back to $1,000. My H had previously depleted some of it to pay our plumber and buy some items for the new duplex.

3) My H and I have a tradition that we pick up "ready to cook" food items from a higher end place like Whole Foods and have V-Day at home. Knowing him, he will probably get me flowers and a card. I got him an enormous card that is shaped like a cupcake. It's about 2' high. I'm going to bake him cupcakes to go with it and get him candy. Not boxed chocolates. He has a sweet tooth and just likes stuff like Reese's peanut butter cups shaped like hearts. That kind of thing.

csuave · February 2016

@short+sassy I'm glad you have new renter and that AirBnB was a success!

A BnB tip, if you didn't know, if you are thinking about booking one when you are on a trip I recommend that you do a referral for your H. He can set up an account and if he books a $75 stay (before fees) within a year of referral then he will get a $20 discount on that stay and you will get a credit for a future stay as the referrer. *It was had to find any fine print on how this offer works so I am pretty sure I got those numbers right but not positive. H is doing our BnB booking for TX so we will see it is works out that way for us.

short+sassy · February 2016

csuave said:

@short+sassy I'm glad you have new renter and that AirBnB was a success!

A BnB tip, if you didn't know, if you are thinking about booking one when you are on a trip I recommend that you do a referral for your H. He can set up an account and if he books a $75 stay (before fees) within a year of referral then he will get a $20 discount on that stay and you will get a credit for a future stay as the referrer. *It was had to find any fine print on how this offer works so I am pretty sure I got those numbers right but not positive. H is doing our BnB booking for TX so we will see it is works out that way for us.

Thanks! That's a great tip! I was not aware of that.

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