Money Matters
pointsin2016
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.
cash envelope
Happy Tuesday! Do any of you use the Cash envelope system and if so what categories do you use and if you have money left over at the end of the month in your envelopes, what do you do with it? Do you roll it over to the next month, spend it, or save it?
Re: cash envelope
gas
manicure/pedicure
spending money
groceries
toiletries
so far, I have lost 20.00 and I do track everything. It is starting to become a hassle thought. It really takes discipline. I'm thinking about switching to using the credit Card. IDK
We don't use cash. I personally find it harder to be meticulous about watching every dollar that way. We put everything on a credit card and pay it off weekly. Credit cards certainly aren't for everyone, but paying them off throughout the month, instead of by billing cycle, helps keep us honest and on track with our budget. What are your financial goals? How are you managing your other money (i.e. housing, utilities, bills, insurance, etc.)?
I primarily use credit cards for almost all of my purchases...at least the ones I can. But I'm also not a track down every dollar kind of budgeter. I have one spreadsheet that tracks the balances on my loans/credit cards along with due dates. I also include on that spreadsheet what money I will be receiving when.
Then I have a different spreadsheet that has all my specific bills listed on one side...with conservative averages for the ones that vary (ie energy, groceries, etc.)...and the other side has my monthly income streams (not including mystery shopping, because that varies way too much).
Other than that, I typically like to carry $100-$200 cash on me and have another $100 in my checking account. I also keep a $1,000 e-fund. At the present time, any excess money outside of that pays down my HELOC balance.
I could see envelopes with cash maybe being a good idea if I kept myself on a strict budget, but I'll admit I don't. Other than to just watch my expenses and purchases, in general.
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
I paid for my current car using a credit card (and then immediately paid the balance). I ended up making over $100 that way! We will plan to do the same with our next cars, though you have to be sure the dealership doesn't tack on an extra charge.
honestly it needs to be whatever keeps you on track the most. You really aren't earning any interest on that bit of $ every month even if you have it in an account. The safety peice also doesn't bother me. Nobody knows we have a decent amount of cash in the house but family, and we keep them in such an odd spot if we ever do get robbed or something they most likely wouldn't be found.
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
We bought a small safe and keep most of our cash in there at home... as well as some in a couple other hiding places. It's bolted to the wall & floor, so any thief would have a very hard time taking the safe. And it's fire proof, so all my money won't burn up in a house fire. We transfer longer term savings, like for car, to bank regularly. But, we keep a decent amount at home. I like the security of knowing I have cash instantly available, day or night, if something comes up. Or if the banks were to have issues and close or limit withdraws, like they did in Greece or Great Depression, I know that I have cash available to me. I know that a major banking disaster like that is unlikely, but it's not unheard of.
I have one also and got it for about $220 at Costco a few months ago. However, they don't normally carry them. It was one of those special vendors who will set up a manned display for a week or two. In my research, I also found a wide selection on Amazon for under $300. You can get smaller ones for even cheaper than that. Mine is about 2.5'-3' high and 2' wide.
The one thing that irritates me is, its almost but not quite big enough to fit legal papers in it. 2 more inches on the inside and it would. So now the closing documents from the properties I've purchased can't lie flat and have to lie across it diagonally. A minor thing, but legal sized papers seem like such a normal thing to put it in, I find it odd they come didn't make it just a tiny bit bigger to achieve that.
Funny this came up, I was just reading a special series on our local paper's website about the problem with illegal guns trafficking going on in our city. They were specifically focusing on that most of those guns are obtained through theft. There was handy advice for gun owners about the dos and don'ts of gun storage.
One guy they interviewed had one of those big gun safes...bolted to the floor and the wall. He said it weighed over 300 lbs., with the guns he had in it. But that didn't stop thieves from breaking into his house during the day while he was at work. They took the time to get the safe removed from the wall and the floor and then carried the whole giant shebang out of the house. The gun safe with his guns inside was the only thing stolen. I forget what his specific job was, but it is one where he does carry a gun and wears that type of uniform. He suspected he had been specifically targeted because the robbers assumed (correctly) that he would have weapons in the house.
ETA: Ours is about 1'x1'x1' interior dimensions. We keep copies of rarely needed critical documents (insurance, etc) and originals of anything we may need to access somewhat regularly (passports or birth certificates) in here and keep originals of most other documents in a safe deposit box at the bank. We also keep a written list of important contacts (addresses & phone numbers), like family or close friends.
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
I thought so, too! I mean, certainly anchoring a safe to a floor and/or wall is still a great idea, but nothing is perfect.
Before reality tv made them common knowledge and popular, I used to go to the occasional storage unit auction. I only ever bought one unit, but it had the deed to the peoples' house in one of the boxes. At the beginning of the auction, management had said, although we weren't obligated, that if we found any personal photos, we could take them to the front office and those types of things would be returned to their owners. So, I put a box together with the photos I had found and the deed and gave that all to the office. Though, one of the photos was in a frame I liked so I snagged that!
But it was also a good lesson to not keep personal documents in a storage unit if one is not going to pay the bill. Not that I'm creepy
! But it was kind of creepy. I knew what these people looked like. I had their credit card and bank statements which, of course, include their names, addresses, and account numbers. I had a few older years of W-2s and tax returns, with their incomes and SSNs and places they worked. I mean, I was quickly flipping through the papers to see if there might be bills hidden between, so I didn't read any of it. But it would have been a serious treasure trove for an identity thief.
And that the wife was a serious collector of seashell stuff. So, so, so many items with a seashell motif.