s/o saving

sarack · August 2011

i just calculated how much 8 months emergency funds would be... omg, i can't believe that! we need to save immediately. i'll never get to that number!

for those of you who have 8 months saved, bravo! seriously. that is incredible.

and here is sarack, feeling like a failure.... i wish i could win the lotto.. even 1million.. i'll take anything, lol.

karimychel · August 2011

Don't feel like a failure. I'm certain most of us didn't get here overnight!

Start small, set goals. Until you posted 8 months earlier today - I had always heard 6 months of expenses.

Keep your head up!

mrandmrsbrist · August 2011

Agree with setting small goals. I also like the advice of treating it like any other bill.

The really crazy thing about the emergency money is that it goes FAST. There's a reason they tell you to have so much of it.

jennlin · August 2011

karimychel:
Don't feel like a failure. I'm certain most of us didn't get here overnight!

this!

it's not easy and takes a lot of discipline.

good luck! we're all here for your support.

uwhuskygirl · August 2011

mrandmrsbrist:
Agree with setting small goals. I also like the advice of treating it like any other bill.
The really crazy thing about the emergency money is that it goes FAST. There's a reason they tell you to have so much of it.

karimychel:
Don't feel like a failure. I'm certain most of us didn't get here overnight!
Start small, set goals. Until you posted 8 months earlier today - I had always heard 6 months of expenses.
Keep your head up!

That and that! For sure. It took us forever to get where we are and we still have a huge student loan debt that we're dealing with.

There are a lot of people in your boat, but it's great that you're doing something about it.

niq24601 · August 2011

About a month ago we went through three months of expenses and tried to figure out what we could spend less on, to pay of W's student loans faster. Hopefully there are some small things you can do that will start saving money -- eating out less, not ordering drinks/appetizers/dessert when you do, stretching clothing shopping to get started.

sarack · August 2011

Yeah, I kinda was being sarcastic about the sarack failure.

I know a lot of people who are my age are at similar places in their lives and don't have a sh!t ton saved. I do wish my parents would have taught me to save my money but now I'll know what to do with my kids.

H and I are gonna have to do some serious changing with involves us telling people we can't go out and all that. That is the little stuff that adds up.

It is important to me to have savings... we just aren't there right now. I always think of getting a part time job to save extra.. but we'll see. I imagine that even if we work hard, it will take us atleast 5 years to save that much money... unless we just live off my income.. and then we could save that much more quickly.

I'm happy that all of you have so much good advice and have been through the trial/error of all this and can tell me what worked for you. I think it's good for all of us to be cautious about our futures so thank you ladies! I appreciate the insight.

uwhuskygirl · August 2011

sarack:
It is important to me to have savings... we just aren't there right now. I always think of getting a part time job to save extra.. but we'll see. I imagine that even if we work hard, it will take us atleast 5 years to save that much money... unless we just live off my income.. and then we could save that much more quickly.

I have a few friends that are TTGKTFU right now and they've been doing that for a while bc they want to be SAHMs. One friend in particular is so good about it. She comes to HH with us still, but ends up only ordering 1 drink. I really admire her discipline.

If you do this, let me know how it goes. I'm half toying with the idea right now so that we can just be done with H's SLs. The thought of giving up fun stuff isn't so appealing though.

sarack · August 2011

uwhuskygirl:
I admire her discipline.
If you do this, let me know how it goes. I'm half toying with the idea right now so that we can just be done with H's SLs. The thought of giving up fun stuff isn't so appealing though.

This and that. I'll definitely let you know how it goes. Obviously if we live off just my income, we'll be paying off H's (since we're married it's ours... but whatevs) debt first. Then the savings will come. I think it's really important to try. We'll see how it goes. My raise goes into effect Sept 1st so that will def make it easier.

I would hate having to give up fun stuff... but maybe we'll just need to have friends over more often or just go to their houses instead of to HH or dinner.. We'll see. I need to get all this worked out.

jennlin · August 2011

sarack:

I would hate having to give up fun stuff... but maybe we'll just need to have friends over more often or just go to their houses instead of to HH or dinner.. We'll see. I need to get all this worked out.

this is what we do. h and i find that it's cheaper for us to cook a full meal for our friends, rather than us going out and spending money at a restaurant for a meal for just the two of us. our friends love it because it's free food (they contribute in other ways....bring drinks occasionally, or bread/salad for sides, desserts), and we also have entertainment, etc.

we save tons of money this way.

uwhuskygirl · August 2011

jennlin:
this is what we do. h and i find that it's cheaper for us to cook a full meal for our friends, rather than us going out and spending money at a restaurant for a meal for just the two of us. our friends love it because it's free food (they contribute in other ways....bring drinks occasionally, or bread/salad for sides, desserts), and we also have entertainment, etc.
we save tons of money this way.

This is a huge personal hang up of mine that drives H insane, but for some reason I can't ask people to bring anything over when they come over to our house. People offer to bring sides, bread, wine or whatever all of the time, but in my head I feel like if I asked you over to my house, you don't need to bring anything but yourself and an empty stomach. For this reason I always end up spending a lot more when people come over. I need to get over this.

jennlin · August 2011

uwhuskygirl:
This is a huge personal hang up of mine that drives H insane, but for some reason I can't ask people to bring anything over when they come over to our house. People offer to bring sides, bread, wine or whatever all of the time, but in my head I feel like if I asked you over to my house, you don't need to bring anything but yourself and an empty stomach. For this reason I always end up spending a lot more when people come over. I need to get over this.

agreed. i don't like asking people to bring things....and i don't. but if they ask me if they can bring anything, i'll delegate. or if we say "no", they'll bring something anyways, because they know how often we cook for everyone. (we? psh, who am i kidding. *I*).

we don't make gourmet dinners for our friends (very often), it's usually some sorts of pasta (costs maybe $10 tops for 10 people). my goal is to pend under $30 for group dinners, because we'd spend more than that if we went out.

if we want to have a fancier dinner, that's our splurge, but we still haven't ever spent more than $100 for 10 people...

uwhuskygirl · August 2011

jennlin:
agreed. i don't like asking people to bring things....and i don't. but if they ask me if they can bring anything, i'll delegate. or if we say "no", they'll bring something anyways, because they know how often we cook for everyone. (we? psh, who am i kidding. *I*).
we don't make gourmet dinners for our friends (very often), it's usually some sorts of pasta (costs maybe $10 tops for 10 people). my goal is to pend under $30 for group dinners, because we'd spend more than that if we went out.
if we want to have a fancier dinner, that's our splurge, but we still haven't ever spent more than $100 for 10 people...

Do you cook organic for friends too?

jennlin · August 2011

uwhuskygirl:
Do you cook organic for friends too?

no Embarrassed

but they don't care. my friends are broke (because of their spending habits) and organic is the furthest thing from their mind.

sarack · August 2011

uwhuskygirl:
jennlin:

this is what we do. h and i find that it's cheaper for us to cook a full meal for our friends, rather than us going out and spending money at a restaurant for a meal for just the two of us. our friends love it because it's free food (they contribute in other ways....bring drinks occasionally, or bread/salad for sides, desserts), and we also have entertainment, etc.

we save tons of money this way.

This is a huge personal hang up of mine that drives H insane, but for some reason I can't ask people to bring anything over when they come over to our house. People offer to bring sides, bread, wine or whatever all of the time, but in my head I feel like if I asked you over to my house, you don't need to bring anything but yourself and an empty stomach. For this reason I always end up spending a lot more when people come over. I need to get over this.

This. But my friends always ask, so I should just start delegating like jennlin does. And pasta is a great/cheap alternative! thanks for the tip!

jennlin · August 2011

sarack:
uwhuskygirl:
This is a huge personal hang up of mine that drives H insane, but for some reason I can't ask people to bring anything over when they come over to our house. People offer to bring sides, bread, wine or whatever all of the time, but in my head I feel like if I asked you over to my house, you don't need to bring anything but yourself and an empty stomach. For this reason I always end up spending a lot more when people come over. I need to get over this.

This. But my friends always ask, so I should just start delegating like jennlin does. And pasta is a great/cheap alternative! thanks for the tip!

i don't ever make them bring anything major...just to continue with the pasta example, it will either be a head or two of lettuce for me to chop up into a salad (way cheaper than buying bagged), or a loaf or two of french bread (i make my own garlic butter to save money, also)...or if i'm actually short on something, it'd be a gallon of milk or some parm cheese.

sarack · August 2011

jennlin:
sarack:
uwhuskygirl:

This is a huge personal hang up of mine that drives H insane, but for some reason I can't ask people to bring anything over when they come over to our house. People offer to bring sides, bread, wine or whatever all of the time, but in my head I feel like if I asked you over to my house, you don't need to bring anything but yourself and an empty stomach. For this reason I always end up spending a lot more when people come over. I need to get over this.

This. But my friends always ask, so I should just start delegating like jennlin does. And pasta is a great/cheap alternative! thanks for the tip!

i don't ever make them bring anything major...just to continue with the pasta example, it will either be a head or two of lettuce for me to chop up into a salad (way cheaper than buying bagged), or a loaf or two of french bread (i make my own garlic butter to save money, also)...or if i'm actually short on something, it'd be a gallon of milk or some parm cheese.

yeah, i wouldn't either. but if they ask, it's simple for me to delegate and i never really thought about it. every little helps. plus, i love love love when friends come over, it's so much fun and i love being at home. its so much more comfortable!

jennlin · August 2011

sarack:
yeah, i wouldn't either. but if they ask, it's simple for me to delegate and i never really thought about it. every little helps. plus, i love love love when friends come over, it's so much fun and i love being at home. its so much more comfortable!

exactly this. no need for primping, no drunk driving, no need for screaming over loud music for a conversation, only the music i want to hear, and no strangers rubbing their junk on me on the dance floor Wink

sarack · August 2011

jennlin:
sarack:

yeah, i wouldn't either. but if they ask, it's simple for me to delegate and i never really thought about it. every little helps. plus, i love love love when friends come over, it's so much fun and i love being at home. its so much more comfortable!

exactly this. no need for primping, no drunk driving, no need for screaming over loud music for a conversation, only the music i want to hear, and no strangers rubbing their junk on me on the dance floor

what if i like that?

sike.

s/o saving

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