August/September monthly check-in

als1982 · September 2016

August

1. What were your financial goals for the month and were you able to accomplish them?

September

1. What are your financial goals for the month and how will you accomplish them?

Status of Ongoing Goals

1. What are your short, middle and/or long term goals, and what are you doing to accomplish them?

GTKY Bonus: MM Lurker Advice

1. What brought you to and has kept you coming back to this board?

GTKY Bonus: Seasonal

1. Pumpkin spice: yes or no?

formerlyjessica490 · September 2016

August

1. What were your financial goals for the month and were you able to accomplish them?

Mostly, yes. Still working on the HD CC, saved up $400 for our long weekend in Sept, and made a furnace cleaning apt in Sept as well. We also started banking $$ again! We had to skip a few house projects we wanted to get done by this year, but next year we have a big trip and I need my fence!

September

1. What are your financial goals for the month and how will you accomplish them?

Continue with HD CC, pay off the grill we got on sale, keep adding to savings and vacation accounts. We will continue to watch what we spend.

Status of Ongoing Goals

1. What are your short, middle and/or long term goals, and what are you doing to accomplish them?

Short term- Aside from everything listed above we just want to keep saving

Middle/Long term- We would like all these completed by Dec- Pay off HD CC, Have our Antigua trip paid for, and have our e-fund back to $10K.

GTKY Bonus: MM Lurker Advice

1. What brought you to and has kept you coming back to this board?

After The Knot days, I just wanted to come here and see what the Nest was all about and have just stuck around. I like hearing all the questions asked and advice given...I've really learned a lot! We have cut back on so much and have went from being a semi-materialistic couple, to cutting back on lots of things and only having what we need, some minor things that we want, and becoming more about the memories. Everything from here on out will be about our house, travel and retirement.

GTKY Bonus: Seasonal

1. Pumpkin spice: yes or no?

I don't eat/drink a lot of things with this flavor choice, but I would have it as a donut or cookie I guess lol

cbee817 · September 2016

August

1. What were your financial goals for the month and were you able to accomplish them?

We were able to cash flow the bathroom remodel so it was a good month especially since DH doesn't get paychecks over the summer (teacher).

September

1. What are your financial goals for the month and how will you accomplish them?

Get $500 savings/paycheck back this month and gear up for full time day care payments again for DD#2 ($1,000/month). DH's mom is getting DD#1 off the school bus every day- win for everyone!

Status of Ongoing Goals

1. What are your short, middle and/or long term goals, and what are you doing to accomplish them?

Short: Finish up the bathroom- built in linen cabinet will be installed tomorrow. 10 more day care payments and we're done. The total cost will be about $83,000 (for 2 kids over 6.5 years) and it'll be nice to have that finished. Fully fund Roths for 2016. Figure out exterior work for summer 2017 when DH is home and can supervise- will probably get a HELOC with a plan to pay it off in 4 years.

Middle: Now that I'm officially 35, I decided that paying off the mortgage by the time I hit 40 would be a great goal. Our current balance is just under $88,000. Our cars will be paid off in 2019 and 2020- the interest rate is so low (0.9% and 1.49%), the incentive to pay those off quicker are nonexistent right now.

Continue with savings, 401k, 403b, Roth, 529 plans for the girls. Disney is also on the schedule for Feb 2018 and our vacation fund has the cash for it already.

Long: Keep up with retirement, 529 plans... usual stuff.

GTKY Bonus: MM Lurker Advice

1. What brought you to and has kept you coming back to this board?

The board is very supportive and comes from lots of backgrounds and different views of finance. No drama always helps too.

GTKY Bonus: Seasonal

1. Pumpkin spice: yes or no?

No- not really into artificial flavors. I make really good pumpkin chocolate chip muffins using my parents' pumpkins from their garden.

brij2006 · September 2016

August

1. What were your financial goals for the month and were you able to accomplish them?

Cash flow H's physical therapy and put $600 aside for Hawaii. We were able to do both.

September

1. What are your financial goals for the month and how will you accomplish them?

We have a weekend in Chicago for a Cubs game so we're cash flowing that, getting a whole pig for pork and cash flowing that, then we're hoping to be able to put an extra $700 toward Hawaii.

Status of Ongoing Goals

1. What are your short, middle and/or long term goals, and what are you doing to accomplish them?

Short: Save up for another trip to Hawaii. We're budgeting and cutting some things in order to make it happen. We should have the whole amount saved by October.

Middle: Putting money aside for the Reproductive Endocrinologist. We're giving in and going to seek help to get pregnant again. All of H's testing is 100% OOP but thankfull we just have a deductible and Max OOP for mine as well as treatment. So we're starting to put aside for those as well.

Long: Just still putting into retirement.

GTKY Bonus: MM Lurker Advice

1. What brought you to and has kept you coming back to this board?

I came to this board after our wedding and I was a regular on the Knot. What's kept me here is the mix of ideas and advice that is given. It isn't solely directed in 1 method of finances. It's nice to see other thoughts and ideas.

GTKY Bonus: Seasonal

1. Pumpkin spice: yes or no?
Hell yes! Give me everything pumpkin, please.

short+sassy · September 2016

August

1. What were your financial goals for the month and were you able to accomplish them?

My main goal was to get the financing lined up for the duplex I am closing on in September. The bank I was going to use hugely dropped the ball and it was very stressful. I had to scramble at the last minute to get my HELOC extended so I could buy it with cash. Thank goodness that was successful.

September

1. What are your financial goals for the month and how will you accomplish them?

Close on my duplex on the 12th. I should close on my HELOC extension on the 6th and it will (hopefully) be easy-peasy from there. The biggest DIY job for that duplex will be completely painting the interior. There is a lot of "art" on the walls from children who previously lived there.

Status of Ongoing Goals

1. What are your short, middle and/or long term goals, and what are you doing to accomplish them?

Short: Get the new duplex rent-ready by mid-October and start showings.

Middle: Whoa! Get my HELOC paid down! Needless to say, being forced to pay cash for the duplex has not been good for the balance, lol. After I fix it up and get it rented out, I'm going to look into doing a cash-out refi. Including rehab, I'll be all-in for $80K, but it will be worth over $120K when I'm done. I'd then be able to pull all the money back out that I put in and pay the HELOC down by $85K. Then go shopping for the next rental investment!

Long: At least $5K/month in cash flow rental income (not including the rent from my personal duplex). Adding the rent from the new duplex will get me JUST shy of halfway there.

GTKY Bonus: MM Lurker Advice

1. What brought you to and has kept you coming back to this board?

I initially came over when I got an e-mail from The Knot about it, after my wedding. I've found good advice here and new perspectives on finances. Everyone is so friendly and helpful with whatever someone posts, whether it is money related, quasi money related, or nothing to do with finances at all.

It is also nice to interact with people who are SANE when it comes to money. Who budget and plan for the future. And don't feel the need to use every last cent to buy a Lexus and Jimmy Choo shoes, just because they have the money to do it.

GTKY Bonus: Seasonal

1. Pumpkin spice: yes or no?

Oh yeah! I love Pumpkin Spice stuff. At Costco on Saturday, I bought "limited edition" Chobani yogurt. 6 are Pumpkin Spice and 6 are Caramel Apple. They're yummy, though the Caramel Apple is a little too sweet for me. I also like pumpkin flavored coffee and have some sugar-free pumpkin syrup for coffee. I haven't liked pumpkin beer as much as I thought I would, but its okay. LOVE pumpkin ice cream!

Last year, I bought Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino from Costco. But it was VILE. It didn't have a pumpkin spice flavor at all. It didn't have much of a coffee flavor either. It mainly tasted like a glass of milk that someone dumped a cup of sugar into it. Super gross. I returned it.

My H thinks anything pumpkin is terrible. He won't even eat pumpkin pie.

labro · September 2016

August

1. What were your financial goals for the month and were you able to accomplish them?

We paid off my car on the last day of July so August was all focused on just saving money. I met my new monthly goal of transferring $2000 to savings.

September

1. What are your financial goals for the month and how will you accomplish them?

Transfer another $2000 to savings, possibly $3000 depending on how my bank account looks after my second monthly paycheck. I want to keep a minimum amount in checking so I'm limiting how much I transfer monthly in order to maintain that.

Status of Ongoing Goals

1. What are your short, middle and/or long term goals, and what are you doing to accomplish them?

Short - I guess none? Start reading some financial blogs - Mr. Money Mustache being one of them, to learn more about financial independence and early retirement. Come up with a plan of what we think we need annually for retirement so we have an actual savings goal to work towards.

Middle - Save up $20k in supplemental cash savings and fill up our e-fund again. This should be accomplished by early-mid spring 2017. Open a Roth IRA for DH.

Long - Continue saving for retirement I guess.

GTKY Bonus: MM Lurker Advice

1. What brought you to and has kept you coming back to this board?

I think I saw @julieanne912 mention something about the board once on TK. I'd explored the Nest before but it seemed pretty quiet and I guess I didn't check this board out. What keeps me coming back are the conversations. I enjoy learning about all the different ways people save money, meet financial goals, etc.

GTKY Bonus: Seasonal

1. Pumpkin spice: yes or no?

Absolutely yes! I love cooking with regular pumpkin in stews but I also make a delicious pumpkin bread in the fall, pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies, pumpkin spice donuts, and I always have to get a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks.

labro · September 2016

@short+sassy I'm very disappointed in your husband...but I guess at least it means more pumpkin pie for you?

brij2006 · September 2016

@labro A good tool for figuring out your retirement income/amount needed to put aside, is Chris Hogan's retirement tool. His website is chrishogan360.com and there's a Retirement IQ quiz on there that will tell you how much you need to put aside in order to retire in ___ years and with $xxxxx in income.
He also has a book called Retire Inspired and has a podcast. Both are good/easy to listen to and read, and he has some really great material. His voice isn't bad to listen to either. ;-) Just saying.

short+sassy · September 2016

labro said:

@short+sassy I'm very disappointed in your husband...but I guess at least it means more pumpkin pie for you?

I know! He is wrong for that. Alas, it usually means we just don't buy a pumpkin pie. I'm not a big sweets eater, so 2-3 bites of dessert is usually my perfect amount. Sometimes I can find a little mini pumpkin pie. Those are the perfect size. But, if not, I console myself with pumpkin ice cream.

labro · September 2016

@brij2006 I'll have to check him out! I play with different retirement calculators on CNN Money and the ones offered by our 401k fund advisors and I get different results every time. Sometimes it says we're saving more than enough, sometimes not enough. It just seems really tough to get a consistent answer.

LillibetteV · September 2016

August

1. What were your financial goals for the month and were you able to accomplish them?

Cash-flow the halls/stairway painters, which we did (I caved since I didn't feel like balancing a ladder on stairs, but in the end they did a crap job so I'm not happy - still fighting with them to come fix it). Paying for a medium sized project without sacrificing what goes into savings, or tapping into the savings account, felt really good.

September

1. What are your financial goals for the month and how will you accomplish them?

September is just going to be a maintenance month - the only big exciting thing is I'll be starting BC pills again for this month to prep for an egg retrieval in October so we'll continue to cash-flow the copays for all the IVF doctor visits.

Status of Ongoing Goals

1. What are your short, middle and/or long term goals, and what are you doing to accomplish them?

Short - start planning for the holidays because I will NOT want to think about it in the thick of egg retrieval, embryo transfer, panic and pray it worked time.

Mid - keep weighing our options on whether we should renovate the kitchen next year or look into getting a rental property.

Long - retirement. I FINALLY am eligible to join my 401(k) this October and I can't wait to start shoveling money into it.

GTKY Bonus: MM Lurker Advice

1. What brought you to and has kept you coming back to this board?

I don't remember how I found this board, but I come back because it's a relatively small group of folks that have really interesting and non-judgmental talks about personal finance. My IRL friends wouldn't want to nerd out over finances this much with me hahahaa.

GTKY Bonus: Seasonal

1. Pumpkin spice: yes or no?

Meh. I love real pumpkin, but artificial pumpkin spiced everything (I'm looking at you Starbucks) just grosses me out.

vlagrl35 · September 2016

August

1. What were your financial goals for the month and were you able to accomplish them?

I'm a broken record guys but status quo with living very tight while DH finishes being the GC of his building and goes back to photography 100% which should happen this month thank god! You have no idea how many times I toyed with the idea of stopping putting money away for retirement and savings. Sadly though I was never able to put $$ towards hard woods for our house and that is a bummer for me.

As far as the inside of his building goes all that is left to do is plumbing and painting. He is hoping to get inspection done next week and obtain temporary occupancy. A lot of cleaning needs to be done inside before he unpacks and I will help him with that even though I don't want to lol.

September

1. What are your financial goals for the month and how will you accomplish them?

Now that DD is in Kindergarten I don't want to teach much in the evenings so I'm hoping to get a few more students that are either home schooled or adults that have free time during the morning/afternoon.

Status of Ongoing Goals

1. What are your short, middle and/or long term goals, and what are you doing to accomplish them?

Short - I would really like to get pregnant any time now, continue to put money away for retirement and home improvements.

GTKY Bonus: MM Lurker Advice

1. What brought you to and has kept you coming back to this board?

I think I came here around 2012 when we just had DD and I was feeling stressed with unplanned medical bills and I just love all the different kinds of advice people give on here.

GTKY Bonus: Seasonal

1. Pumpkin spice: yes or no? YES! pumpkin everything starts today

Xstatic3333 · September 2016

August

1. What were your financial goals for the month and were you able to accomplish them?

Our goal this month was just keep our head above water with expenses related to several weddings and avoid dipping into savings. We did not accomplish this and had to dig into savings to the tune of around $200 to get me new contacts before my prescription expired (it's only good for a year, but my insurance only covers an exam every two years). I lost track of time and am completely at fault for this.

September

1. What are your financial goals for the month and how will you accomplish them?

Add to savings every paycheck, pay off hotel for October Wedding #2, planned furniture purchase from IKEA, extra to Care Credit, start putting away for car tax. We will accomplish them by working on a more realistic budget, as usual. I've had to increase our grocery budget to adjust for needing way more protein than usual, and H has decided to go debit-only for a while to see if it helps his fun budget go farther.

Status of Ongoing Goals

1. What are your short, middle and/or long term goals, and what are you doing to accomplish them?

Short: Save OOP max and pay off Care Credit. We were halfway to our OOP max, but it went up a little bit with the new fiscal year so now we're about a third of the way. Care Credit will go below $2,000 next week, so that's something. We will need to increase the monthly payment starting in October since several of our charges related to H's root canal all come due in January.

Middle and Long: Not sure.

GTKY Bonus: MM Lurker Advice

1. What brought you to and has kept you coming back to this board?

I am not as frugal as many of you, but I have learned so much from you and know that we are on a much better path than we would have been if I had never found this place. Everyone is so kind and respectful, and when I ended up away for a couple of months I really missed it!

GTKY Bonus: Seasonal

1. Pumpkin spice: yes or no

It really depends on the product. A delicious pumpkin stout brewed with real pumpkin and cinnamon sticks? Yes, please. Fake pumpkin syrupy coffee? I'm all set with that.

hoffse · September 2016

1) Our primary goal for August was to get back on target so that we pay off cards in the month we swipe the card instead of waiting until the next month. We've never paid interest, but we got lazy with it and started pushing card payoff until the end of the grace period. It made it harder for H to understand where we were with our budget. Anyway, we did accomplish this, even though it required making some extra payments to the cards at the end of the month to get fully caught up. Now we are all set for September.

2) One goal for September was to pay off H's car, which I actually just did. So that's good. Another goal is to keep the month cheap so that we can pad our vacation savings a bit before going to Vegas in October. We could probably cash flow Vegas, but I would like a bit of a cushion just in case...

3) Short - just went off BC, so...
Middle - Stick to the debt payoff schedule and investment schedule we have created, even post-kids
Long - Ability to retire early, even if we don't do it lol

4) I keep coming back to this board because people are nice. The drama on TK was too much sometimes.

5) I like pumpkin spice just fine. My H is absolutely mad for it - he loves it.

als1982 · September 2016

August

1. What were your financial goals for the month and were you able to accomplish them?

Make our very last student loan payment. Ever. And yes, we killed it!!

September

1. What are your financial goals for the month and how will you accomplish them?

To start thinking about what's next! We're planning on 9 days in Orlando over the week of Thanksgiving, so we need to book a hotel. I think we'll be able to skip a rental car this trip though, with the exception of a day trip we're planning to Gainesville, so that will save us some money.

Status of Ongoing Goals

1. What are your short, middle and/or long term goals, and what are you doing to accomplish them?

Short term goal is to increase the amount of side gig and other income streams to $400 a month. Right now, I'm averaging $200/mo. so that's a bit of a stretch.

Middle term goal is to pay off our mortgage. Now that the student loan is gone, we'll likely start making two mortgage payments a month. Our family planning situation has a big question mark over many areas of our life, but at this point, we're still planning on staying here if we get pregnant. If we end up adopting, we'll likely seek older child adoption, in which case we'll probably wait a few years.

Long term goal is to retire early. Again, pretty reliant on the family situation, but I'm hopefully we can at least have the *option* to quit professional work in our 40s.

GTKY Bonus: MM Lurker Advice

1. What brought you to and has kept you coming back to this board?

Like others I came here after The Knot. I like the camaraderie, inspiration and great ideas.

GTKY Bonus: Seasonal

1. Pumpkin spice: yes or no? After posting this and thinking about my answer, I'm pretty sure I posted the same question a year ago! Personally, I'm more no than yes. I like pumpkin pie and ice cream (especially when crust chunks are involved), but otherwise, I could leave the lattes. H on the other hand, is a huge fan.

csuave · September 2016

August

1. What were your financial goals for the month and were you able to accomplish them?

Start a CD for our efund -- yes, accomplished this by acting on a pretty good 11 month deal that our bank was advertising.

Build savings. Yes, we squeaked this one out. Next month will be a bigger challenge as we pay for some of the expenses for our Chicago trip that are on the Sept credit card bill.

September

1. What are your financial goals for the month and how will you accomplish them?

Add to savings. If we cut back on dining out we should be able to do this but if we do our landscaping it might not happen.

Status of Ongoing Goals

1. What are your short, middle and/or long term goals, and what are you doing to accomplish them?

Build savings and have it available for purchases we will want down the road. We keep watching our spending and sticking to the budget to do this.

GTKY Bonus: MM Lurker Advice

1. What brought you to and has kept you coming back to this board?

I came over from TK. The intelligent conversation (including different POVs), great attitudes, good ideas, and friendliness keep me coming back.

GTKY Bonus: Seasonal

1. Pumpkin spice: yes or no?

I don't like pumpkin pie so it is surprising that I like pumpkin spice. The PSL was my entry drink into Starbucks. I have an awesome pumpkin scone recipe that I like to make this time of the year.

bmo88 · September 2016

August

1. What were your financial goals for the month and were you able to accomplish them?

Goal was to get DH to max out Roth IRA with monthly contributions--accomplished.
File insurance claim from hail storm to get checks mailed and secure contractor--accomplished
Pay $1,500 toward DH's student loans--accomplished
Pay Fall grad school tuition--accomplished

September

1. What are your financial goals for the month and how will you accomplish them?

Continue paying down DH's student loans--only 3 months left!
Book our plane tickets to California to see my family for Christmas
Start planning how to use $1,500 rewards points on a vacation (from my Chase Sapphire--thanks again hoffse for the recommendation!)

Status of Ongoing Goals

1. What are your short, middle and/or long term goals, and what are you doing to accomplish them?

Short-Term

Eliminate DH's student loans--will be paid off in December 2017

Middle-Term

Pay off DH's car within 2 years
Save 12 months emergency expenses in savings (currently at 9 months)

Long-Term

Save more in 401ks (DH and me)--I doubled my contribution and DH is going to start contributing $250 per month
Save $2,500 annually in each of our HSAs (I am currently, DH needs to)

GTKY Bonus: MM Lurker Advice

1. What brought you to and has kept you coming back to this board?

Found this board when we started our debt pay off journey almost exactly 2 years ago. We had $65,000 in non-mortgage debt between cars, student loans and a 2nd mortgage. The advice here was so helpful. In December, we will have eliminated all of that debt (and now just have DH's car loan)!

GTKY Bonus: Seasonal

1. Pumpkin spice: yes or no?

Depends on the day and what it is in. DH loves pumpkin spice everything, especially coffee. I am more picky about it.

August/September monthly check-in

Re: August/September monthly check-in

Choose Another Board

Search Boards