Money Matters
csuave
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.
July/August monthly check-in
July
1. What were your financial goals for the month and were you able to accomplish them?
August
2. What are your financial goals for the month and how will you accomplish them?
Status of Ongoing Goals
3. What are your short, middle and/or long term goals, and what are you doing to accomplish them?
GTKY Bonus: MM Lurker Advice
4. How do you use negotiation to be MM?
GTKY Bonus:
5. Do you have a personal or household goal to accomplish in August?
Re: July/August monthly check-in
1. What were your financial goals for the month and were you able to accomplish them?
Yes! We paid my car taxes (still waiting on H's) and we finished paying off our CC's that had our bikes and many vet bills. What a relief! We also cleaned out our house and made $ on Craigslist
August
2. What are your financial goals for the month and how will you accomplish them?
Keep paying money on our Home Depot Card to pay off the doors (0%), and save $400 for our cousins wedding weekend in Sept.
Status of Ongoing Goals
3. What are your short, middle and/or long term goals, and what are you doing to accomplish them?
We will start to save money for the rest of the year for our big goals for next year, along with a few small projects sprinkled in.
Short- Save up for wedding weekend, make more payments to Home Deport CC, get furnace cleaned.
Middle- Start saving $ for out Antigua trip next May, add more money to e-fund, and pay off HD card. Hope to have these goals completed by December.
GTKY Bonus: MM Lurker Advice
4. How do you use negotiation to be MM?
Eh, I'm no very good at this so I have no advice. My dad comes with my every time we buy a car
GTKY Bonus:
5. Do you have a personal or household goal to accomplish in August?
Personal- Get back to eating better and going to the gym more....I'm not happy with where I'm at now....I could go on forever about this...
Household- Install our new bathroom toilet we just bought. I also need o buy another set of curtains for our spare bedroom, so once the toilet is paid off I will order these.
July
1. What were your financial goals for the month and were you able to accomplish them?
Save $1,000, cash flow the bathroom- we were able to do that for July.
August
2. What are your financial goals for the month and how will you accomplish them?
Continue to cash flow the bathroom, postpone saving for this month in order to do that.
Status of Ongoing Goals
3. What are your short, middle and/or long term goals, and what are you doing to accomplish them?
Short: Bathroom done by the time DH goes back to teaching in Sept. Look at a HELOC/cash-out refi for the exterior work once the bathroom is complete.
Middle: Back to saving $1,000/month, fully fund Roths for 2016, keep up with girls' 529 plans, vacation fund.
Long: continue with retirement savings- 401k/403b/pensions
GTKY Bonus: MM Lurker Advice
4. How do you use negotiation to be MM?
I'm a bad negotiator- the only reason I got a good deal on the car we bought was because I was so indecisive about it.
GTKY Bonus:
5. Do you have a personal or household goal to accomplish in August?
Finish up the bathroom- get the house all cleaned up for back to school. September is always a hectic month getting back on schedule with school and DH being back at work.
Thanks for posting this! I totally forgot. How is it August, anyways?!
July
1. What were your financial goals for the month and were you able to accomplish them?
Keep killing the student loans.
August
2. What are your financial goals for the month and how will you accomplish them?
Yes! Thanks to a nice annual bonus, we were able to put more than $9,000 towards our last student loan. We now have right around $4,000 left. SO CLOSE!!
Status of Ongoing Goals
3. What are your short, middle and/or long term goals, and what are you doing to accomplish them?
Short term is paying off the student loan, middle is paying off the house (if we continue to stay where we live, my goal is by 2020) and long term is retiring early (by 45) or adopting after we have a paid for home.
GTKY Bonus: MM Lurker Advice
4. How do you use negotiation to be MM?
When it comes to paying for big things, I'm a good negotiator. When it comes to H, I just try to keep him motivated. (H's on board with MM, but leans more spendy than I.)
GTKY Bonus:
5. Do you have a personal or household goal to accomplish in August?
Personally, I started a blog last month, and my goal is to keep posting, at least one per week. I'd also like to increase my Twitter and Instagram followers. Household? I've been lazy and need to trim our shrubs/hedges.
July 1. What were your financial goals for the month and were you able to accomplish them?
Figure out H’s monthly contribution to the family savings account so we can get our new budget set up. We are on our way. With the first few paychecks we have a better sense for his net take home and a ballpark for what we can expect his pay to bring in each month.
We use mystery shopping and room rental as our side hustles. We had a great July for these. We went to two fancy restaurants in the city and will get $350 for those meals reimbursed which really helps our entertainment budget. We also had a record month for the year in BnB income bringing in over $1K for the month. With this nice bump in extra income we decided to take a 3 day trip to Chicago!
August 2. What are your financial goals for the month and how will you accomplish them?
We need to set our ST, MT and LT goals and figure out the budget for them. Since our income is in a better place right now I am going to put more money into our HSA.
Status of Ongoing Goals 3. What are your short, middle and/or long term goals, and what are you doing to accomplish them?
We need to figure these out relative to purchases we plan to make: home improvements, travel, etc.
LT has always been to retire early and we are on our way with putting a lot into 401K, etc.
GTKY Bonus: MM Lurker Advice 4. How do you use negotiation to be MM?
The first rule of negotiation is that it doesn’t hurt to ask. We try to get into the habit of asking “Is there a coupon out for this right now that we can get? Or Is there a sale coming up for this item?” This can lead to an instant savings right at the register.
For larger purchases we get competitive pricing and use it to try and knock down the total price. We told furniture store A that store B was going to give us a free TV and shipping with our order. Store A responded with taking a couple hundred off our total which was more valuable to us than the TV anyway.
GTKY Bonus: 5. Do you have a personal or household goal to accomplish in August?
Now that my back is feeling better I want to step up the exercise and lose a couple of pounds.
We had some backyard cleanup that was long overdue. We got it done on Monday night and it was very motivating to try and do more cleanup in other areas of the house. August is very busy though so that might not happen until September.
July
1. What were your financial goals for the month and were you able to accomplish them?
Our financial goals were to come in under budget on our trip to Italy. We were able to do this.
August
2. What are your financial goals for the month and how will you accomplish them?
We should have a positive net worth by the end of the month! I started tracking it in January 2015, and we had - wait for it - a net worth of -$125,000. No, that's not a typo.
This morning our net worth was -$3,800 according to personal capital. We'll be positive in a couple weeks, and I'm stoked about that
Status of Ongoing Goals
3. What are your short, middle and/or long term goals, and what are you doing to accomplish them?
Short - positive net worth, pay of H's car (not really a goal anymore because we have the cash to do it, we are just sticking with our plan), hit hours so we make year-end bonuses, increase our efund by $5K
Middle - save $7500 in a baby fund, start being more intentional about taxable investments so that we save a percentage of our gross income in taxable accounts each year
Long - Financial independence in our early 50's.
GTKY Bonus: MM Lurker Advice
4. How do you use negotiation to be MM?
I negotiate all day at my job (and hate this part of my job), so I really don't do much negotiation outside of my job. If we are buying something that involves negotiation, like a car, I research a fair price ahead of time and then tell them what I'm willing to pay. If they don't agree, then I walk. I don't really do the back-and-forth thing. Most of the time they chase me and agree to the price.
GTKY Bonus:
5. Do you have a personal or household goal to accomplish in August?
August should be really quiet for us. I have an exam I need to take, and then I will be one class away from finishing my LLM degree! Otherwise, no plans for personal and house projects other than a little gardening.
July
1. What were your financial goals for the month and were you able to accomplish them?
Our goal was basically to survive 3 decent sized expenses all in the same month without killing our savings and we did it! The fence is up, the stairway paint job is booked, and the dog got his tooth pulled (we knew it was coming, but it was put on hold for a more urgent issue he had in June). All told it was about $5,300 and we cash flowed at least half of it.
August
2. What are your financial goals for the month and how will you accomplish them?
My August goal is only semi-financial. I want to work on selling more of the clutter in my house and work through the freezer and pantry since we seem to have gone overboard in stocking up lol. Hopefully those things combined will make a higher income/lower expenses month for us.
Status of Ongoing Goals
3. What are your short, middle and/or long term goals, and what are you doing to accomplish them?
We don't have any real short term goal at the moment since we just finished a bunch of them. Middle term is to keep saving up for my kitchen renovation and that savings account is on autopilot. Long term I am also saving up and trying to work on an idea for some side income so that I'll hopefully be able to afford a year or two as a SAHM if I ever get pregnant (which....so far isn't looking good. infertility sucks).
GTKY Bonus: MM Lurker Advice
4. How do you use negotiation to be MM?
I'm getting better at this! My MIL is a negotiating ninja and I envy her. I am really only good at it when I am confident I can walk away from negotiation. For example I've been good at negotiating salaries because I've always done it from a position of having a job - I didn't need a new one, I wanted a new one. I also negotiated $200 off the paint job we just booked because I said "honestly - I don't want to get up on a ladder on the stairs, but I can't really justify spending X on this project when I really think it shouldn't cost more than Y so thank you for your time." Boom. Got it for Y!
GTKY Bonus:
5. Do you have a personal or household goal to accomplish in August?
Declutter the house and do some more reading and writing - I'm way less cranky in life when I have a clean house and a good book, but I've just been too busy! I actually hate the month of August - it's hot and I lost two people very close to me during this month and the anniversaries are painful (and actually only 2 days apart). They both died too young and DH knows how crazed I get so he actually is very helpful in getting me what I need to be calm so I know he'll help with these projects if they distract me from being sad.
July
1. What were your financial goals for the month and were you able to accomplish them?
We paid off my car on July 31st!!
August
2. What are your financial goals for the month and how will you accomplish them?
This month I am taking a break and then in September we're going to start moving most of my paycheck into savings for various goals.
Status of Ongoing Goals
3. What are your short, middle and/or long term goals, and what are you doing to accomplish them?
ST - Save extra money for our Norway trip since it will exceed our typical annual vacation budget.
MT - Max out a ROTH IRA for myself and for DH.
LT - Build up a $50k e-fund, $80k house DP, figure out some additional long-term investment strategies
GTKY Bonus: MM Lurker Advice
4. How do you use negotiation to be MM?
I think it mostly comes down to negotiating when we're doing projects on the house that we have to hire a contractor for. We find ways we can save a little money by doing some of the work ourselves, paying in cash instead of cc to get a small discount, etc.
GTKY Bonus:
5. Do you have a personal or household goal to accomplish in August?
Get back on track with eating healthier again.
July
1. What were your financial goals for the month and were you able to accomplish them?
Yes! Finally got my 4-bedroom unit ready to be shown and then rented out. That's been one of my biggest goals for the last two months.
August
2. What are your financial goals for the month and how will you accomplish them?
Close on a duplex I am under contract on. I suspect this will creep over to the first week of September. Right now I am doing a lot of the stuff I HATE to make this happen. Collecting mounds of paperwork that my bank needs to underwrite the loan. Darn it! I always forget last two months of bank statements and last month of pay stubs. Then I have to go digging.
Jumping ahead to my personal goal. Be better organized!
Status of Ongoing Goals
3. What are your short, middle and/or long term goals, and what are you doing to accomplish them?
Sorry I'm always so boring on this! It's always about real estate, lol. Right now, I'm focused with just closing on my duplex. Mid - Buy a small apartment complex. Pretty much all my financial goals, short and mid term, lead to my main long term financial goal. "Retiring" from the rat race in 4 years or sooner (mid 40s) by increasing my rental income cash flow.
I do have other short/mid goals semi-MM related. I need to make a list because I'm just overwhelmed lately!
GTKY Bonus: MM Lurker Advice
4. How do you use negotiation to be MM?
Like a lot of you have mentioned, I'm only MM with negotiations if whatever I am buying is already above the price I'd pay anyway. Real estate I almost always negotiate on, but that is an industry where it is more expected and isn't done personally anyway.
GTKY Bonus:
5. Do you have a personal or household goal to accomplish in August?
Personal goal as mentioned above, get my paperwork/bills/receipts more organized! I also need to get out of the "old school" method of keeping all the actual paper. Must remember, "Scanning is my friend."
Household goal: Get our next trip figured out, stat! My H hasn't received his passport or birth certificate back yet, even though we filed for passports back in May. He just put in an inquiry on Monday. So Aggravating!
I have to take at least one week of vacation time before Sept. 30th, or it gets paid out to me (which I don't want) but I don't want to book international travel until we both have our passports. Even the big boss came into my office the other day and told me to take a vacation, lol, because accounting notified him I have a glut of vacation time. Good problem to have, I know, but I want to GO outside of the U.S. with it. Not just take it, to take it.
I'm sorry about your endo - that shit is painful from what I've been told! I hope we can both start bitching about the cost of daycare soon
We do have plans to start our landscaping project - late August/early September. I wanted to do it in the spring time but didn't want to spend the money yet. I'm ok with spending it now. Our neighbor down the street is getting a rock wall too in the front of his house and the guy is only charging $500 for labor so we are going to get a quote from him. I'm going to be so excited to get this done - I just feel it will make our house look so much nicer from the front. I'm still unsure of what plants I want in it - I want to keep 2 of our bushes but rip everything else out. I would love if we could keep it around $1500. We'll see.
July
1. What were your financial goals for the month and were you able to accomplish them?
--To set up a joint checking account for DH and I through Chase so we could get $300 sign up bonus--Accomplished.
--To increase my 401k contribution to 13%--Accomplished
--To open an HSA--Accomplished
August
2. What are your financial goals for the month and how will you accomplish them?
--Contribute to HSA
--Pay off my credit card balance (0% interest) from our recent trip and decide how to spend our rewards points
--Pay off DH's student loan
--Buy new car for DH--long story short: his car is officially totaled after the recent hail storm that came through our neighborhood
--Pay deductible for Homeowner's insurance: replace roof, siding, window and gutters
Status of Ongoing Goals
3. What are your short, middle and/or long term goals, and what are you doing to accomplish them?
--Short Term: Eliminate all non-mortgage debt by November 2016
--Middle Term Goal: Build E-Fund up to 12 months (currently 8 months) by July 2017
--Middle Term Goal: Save up $3,000 in HSA by October 2017
--Long term: Retire, debt free in early to mid-50s, pay off our mortgage in 15 years
GTKY Bonus: MM Lurker Advice
4. How do you use negotiation to be MM?
--I always research other options before committing to a purchase of a item or services. I do it a lot in my personal and professional life. I also have a max number in my head I am willing to pay, but start quite a bit lower than that, so I can work back up to it. Recently, we needed to buy new boilers at my job, the company we wanted to use (for reputation and workmanship) wanted to charge $109,000. We got a bid from a mom and pop shop for $98,000. I used their bid to negotiate our first choice company down to $101,350. It didn't save me money personally, but now I don't have to go out and fudraise an extra $7,650 to pay for boilers!
GTKY Bonus:
5. Do you have a personal or household goal to accomplish in August?
--Start running again! I would like to run a 5k in September to get back in shape. I used to run a lot and then between work and grad school, I got lazy about it.
--Start getting all of our hail damage repairs fixed.
July
1. What were your financial goals for the month and were you able to accomplish them?
Our goals were to build our e-fund. We were able to accomplish this somewhat, but saved less than planned due to our car tax bills being much higher than expected and coming with only 2 weeks warning.
August
2. What are your financial goals for the month and how will you accomplish them?
With a wedding and medical bill, we will just try not to build debt or dip into savings this month and get back to our savings goals in September.
Status of Ongoing Goals
3. What are your short, middle and/or long term goals, and what are you doing to accomplish them?
I feel like I answer this differently every time! Really our only goal right now is to save as much as possible and accumulate needed items for our baby. We have a schedule made for our big purchases (car seat, furniture, etc.) and are following our budget as closely as possible.
GTKY Bonus: MM Lurker Advice
4. How do you use negotiation to be MM?
I don't! LOL. I just can't do it.
GTKY Bonus:
5. Do you have a personal or household goal to accomplish in August?