Money Matters
labro
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.
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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.
Monday Accountability
How was your weekend?
Friday - Babysat my niece at the last minute, and ended up having to do some work late after she went to bed.
Saturday - Went out to lunch (friend treated) and a Christmas Tour of Homes (tickets paid for in October). It would've been a great no-spend day but DH went to a gun show and took out $100 cash. He bought some ammo and a pistol holster and we used the rest of the money for dinner and dessert out with friends that evening.
Sunday - $130 on groceries but we'll get a coupon for $11 off of our next grocery purchase. We also bought a lot of non-essentials but it helped restock the pantry and the spice drawer so overall, I think we did good.
Friday - Babysat my niece at the last minute, and ended up having to do some work late after she went to bed.
Saturday - Went out to lunch (friend treated) and a Christmas Tour of Homes (tickets paid for in October). It would've been a great no-spend day but DH went to a gun show and took out $100 cash. He bought some ammo and a pistol holster and we used the rest of the money for dinner and dessert out with friends that evening.
Sunday - $130 on groceries but we'll get a coupon for $11 off of our next grocery purchase. We also bought a lot of non-essentials but it helped restock the pantry and the spice drawer so overall, I think we did good.
Re: Monday Accountability
Weekend wasn't too bad, got a lot of stuff done.
I can't remember what we spent this weekend, but it was all in cash except for groceries.
Saturday - I cleaned like a fiend all day long, spent a couple hundred dollars on food, and then hosted a holiday party for the associates in my office. It was also a lot of fun, but I was totally exhausted by the end of it.
We also bought a Roomba on Saturday. Her name is Ruby. She is awesome - she vacuumed most of our house for me before the party, and she did a good enough job that I didn't have to go over the area she covered! Game changer. Every household needs to own one of these things.
Sunday - We Konmari'd our office and found a lot of stuff to donate. We also got a new storage/cubby thing at Target for our office to replace the cracked plastic thing we had been using for the last decade. It looks much better, and it's big enough that we were able to totally clear the office closet of boxes! Win-win.
Progress toward goals this week - H and I both made bonus! Our bonuses should be deposited this week. We will see what the after-tax amount works out to be, but I crunched some numbers and have a pretty solid guess. We are going to use our bonuses to finish our basement bathroom (just needs to be sprayed white) and put new treads on the basement stairs, which are not to code and need some work for safety reason. Then we will start a 529 for our niece. Finally, we are going to get a new computer system set up in the office so that both of us can work from home/access our firms' systems at the same time. Right now that's not possible, and it's a huge pain.
All this Roomba talk is really tempting me.
Saturday-This was my birthday and we did very little, by choice. I really just wanted a relaxing day. I can't think of any money that was spent, except that H bought me flowers when he ran out to grab eggs for breakfast.
Sunday-This will sound weird to most of you, but in the interest of accountability, I spent $48 on several bottles of limited edition beer that I wanted to get to drink after my pregnancy. It all came out of my fun budget. We also had friends over for a game night, and spent about $35 on feeding them and providing them with beverages.
Congrats on the bonus @hoffse! How sweet of you to start a 529 for your niece.
Justification: it is awesome.
Saturday- signed our exterior renovation contract, have to get 10% down payment to them by the 19th. We'll put it on a credit card to get points and pay off in full with part of our savings account. Took the girls to lunch ($34), Joann's ($13), and to see Moana ($34)... amazing movie! Came home, made dinner, girls colored ornaments from DH's mom.
Sunday- grocery shop ($143), cleaned the house, laundry, meal prep... nice stay at home day.
Other financial- setting up an appt with the bank for a HELOC. Renovation starts in June... can't wait for the Hardie siding!
Which model did you get?
I would love to have one... we have a townhouse so I'd have to move it floor to floor every day but I think I can manage that.
Saturday went out for DH's bday with his mom and her husband and his kids. MIL covered the cost on that.
Sunday went to target - $100
Goals - met with an advisor at Fidelity last week and he mentioned some funds I might want to invest my cash in. I have about 20k to invest. Also confirmed what I knew - we contribute 5% and I need to get it up to 10% but it was really hard this year with the stress of DH's project leaving us with barely any extra cash flow.
got an extra couple gigs this month from google which is nice. Usually december is dry for us. Putting money back into savings that I've spent for our fertility testing. BTW I will only have to pay $79 for my HSG tomorrow. Please send out vibes that my uterus and tubes look good
Overall my weekend was very spendy.
Friday - Went out with my cousin for the day shopping and then had friends over that evening for video games and baking cookies. It was good time!
Saturday - Wrapped all of the Christmas presents I've bought so far. Went shopping for my cousin's baby shower I was co-hosting $$. Then went to our town Christmas Tree lighting which turned out to be a bust so we left early and ended up watching a movie at home and hanging out.
Sunday - Cooked food in the AM then my cousin's shower was at 11 (brunch) that ended around 2. I was tired by the time I got home H and I ended up grabbing dinner at Panera and hanging out at home relaxing before bed.
We received our escrow refund (to the tune of $1200) so we made some adjustments to our budget and starting in January, our mortgage payment is going down $65 a month. I'm excited to re-work our budget! H and I are both hovering around a 30 pound weight loss this year, and we might need some of that $65 in our nutrition/supplement budget to keep going on this track.
Saturday I had some dental work ($2k, but will 90% will be reimbursed), gassed the car ($25ish?), breakfast date ($22) and then a Costco run ($125) and the grocery store ($30ish?).
Sunday we had our big annual Hannukah party with DH's extended family and it was really fun. I also ordered a few more holiday gifts online, but since I had Amazon credit for most of it I only have spent about $30 out of pocket there.
I had my annual review last week and got a raise and solid bonus! Both were more than I was expecting so I was pretty pleased
@vlagrl35 Good vibes to your tubes! And remember to take some ibuprofen about an hour before the test - it can make you somewhat crampy.
The Costco one also comes with two towers to make virtual "walls", which IIRC are fairly expensive, and most packages only include one or none.
It's a robot so eventually it will break. If it happens too early I can always take it back to Costco, but so far so good. I am obsessed.
First bolded: Cracking up at all of that! So sly
.
Second bolded: That is the best dental plan I have ever heard of. If you don't mind my asking, who is it? Hoping, hoping, hoping it is something national that I can buy as an individual. I have major problems with my gums and need to have them scaled twice a year. And My periodontist (sp?) is pushing a $6K-$8K surgery. Just for the cherry on top. Ugh.
My weekend was better than it has been. Friday was really busy at work and I stayed late. It's my half day anyway. But then, for once, I didn't have errands to run, and could go straight home. It was too cold for my H to paint over at the new duplex, even though it is the interior, so he stayed home both Fri. and Sat.
Sat., we did our p/t job. I went to Walmart to pay both electrical bills for the duplex. The "not so fun" part of having unoccupied rental properties. Then did a minor stock up of groceries, $73. That was it for money spent over the weekend.
Sunday, I got to have a rare day by myself at home. My H usually takes Sun. off from the duplex reno but, since he couldn't do anything for two days because of the cold, went over on Sunday. Chilly day, but much warmer. I camped out on the couch and drank warm beverages.
Fri./Sat. the highs were in the high 40s. Today they were in the high 70s. Go figure. I'm just glad the painting is almost done before the temps drop and stay there.
Thursday we put some miles on the car driving out to the country with friends to a light display. They paid our carload entrance fee.
Friday $2 on fries at McDonalds. Our Big Macs were free thanks to a goal scored at the right 2 minute interval at the hockey game we went to last weekend. It was my first Big Mac and I have to admit it was better than I thought it would be.
Saturday we bell rang outside the grocery store. Spent about $30 on groceries after and H and I both spent about $20 in fun money each on "special" Christmas cards. Close family get more personalized cards (like one that says to very special parents) and those cost a lot! All of the nice cards for H were in the $7-$8 range! But since we don't do gifts and our families like cards it is worth it. $30 at the groomer (subsidized by an old gift card we found) and $30 on gas.
Sunday we broke our downtown free parking streak (we pride ourselves in finding free spots) and paid $12 to park for a concert. The concert tickets were free from work though so I can't complain about a night out for $12.
No progress to goals. I think we will be spending a little more this month rather than savings and I am ok with that. Savings is not top of mind right now with some family things we have going on (parent health).
Thanks for responding. Your old plan would be amazing for the kind of extensive dental work I need. Argh! I've searched high and low for good dental plans, but the best I can find covers major work at 50% with a $1,000/year cap. I do have dental insurance at my job, but its the same 50%/$1,000 year cap.
It's within the realm of possibility I could get the surgery covered under my medical because the gum problems are related to my diabetes. However, even though that is super obvious and a well known complication, I'm sure it would be a huge battle. And not even worth it until I have a plan with a lower deductible anyway.
Meh, that's the problem with dental insurance. They're great for the majority of people who just need cleanings and an occasional cavity. But it's a big coverage gap for people who have more extensive issues.
There's actually a dental school really close to where I live, but I don't know if they do periodontal work. I need to check them out. I should have thought of that a long time ago!
Also I think the jig is going to be up soon on the pregnancy. Only 9 weeks and I'm starting to show and I can't fit in my clothes. I think I had a growth spurt overnight lol. I don't know how much longer I can pretend it's just holiday weight gain - it's a pretty specific little pooch starting....
I just had the shivers from the horror of that story. But at least it turned out well!
I know its not the same, but I had a blood test where they needed the blood from an artery. They bent my wrist back against an elongated rubber ball thing and started jabbing a needle deep inside my wrist looking for the artery. The first guy tried about 6 times. Then he called for reinforcements. The second person got it on the third try. Awful. I was wondering if it was ever going to end.
He was mad I put him on quarantine for 4 days. Every time I started to cuddle with him over the weekend he told me not to start anything.