Houston Nesties
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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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.
spinoff : how are you getting more $$$ for 2012?
1. no more car payments .....(woohoooo!!!!!!! happy dance...scream from top of lungs)
2 .less $ on gas since dh is working from home now
3. hopefully i can become a better business woman with my photography
4.dh can pick up side gigs from the comfort of home
sad this list should be longer
Re: spinoff : how are you getting more $$$ for 2012?
We'll have paid of all credit cards.
More bonus potential with this job, plus money saved working at home.
Changing our internet/phone bills to save more money
Potty training DS = no more diapers!
I really plan on working a better grocery budget to save money. I did great for the first half of the year, but then I slacked off.
Hookin', duh!!
Just teasin'.
1. No car payment for me by June.
2. One credit card paid off and one more should be once my car is paid off.
3. Hopefully a better job with better benefits for me sooner rather than later.
4. DH due a decent raise this summer.
Ooh!!! Forgot about that one. Hopefully mine will soon.
all i can think about is the money i'm going to be spending... i really dont know how we are going to up our income other than DH having several contract houses that will hopefully complete next year meaning more bonuses than we've had since before the "housing crash" or whatever you call it...
but gosh, a second kid (both in diapers and daycare), the medical expenses of the delivery, my new car payment... i'm not seeing much saving in our future unless I go back to working full time.
2011 was a big more $$$ year for us (both got new positions with significant more salary, cut my commute by 500miles @ 15mpg and $3/gal gas - that's a "savings" alone of almost $5k/yr in gas alone!, work less days/commute less, cheaper travel home from where we live now, paid off car, *much* lower taxes).....so my only plan for 2012 is to replace my current shopping habits with much more thrifting (which i love to do, just isn't as easy as hitting the buy button on the computer ;p)
Not really $$$ but maybe half a $... plan to purge a lot this first quarter and have a big garage sale.
Significantly less daycare/preschool $ spent as DD starts kindergarten in the fall.
Paying off DH's truck and hopefully my car too. But with older cars comes more maintenance so that may or may not result in more $$.
Purging includes reorganizing so I'll be creating "projects" in clear storage bins/boxes rather than stuffing crap into my close that is a "someday project." So hopefully I spend a lot less on fabric this year because I use the stuff that I stockpile.
- Paula Deen to 104.1 KRBE's Producer Eric 9/17/2011
We have made a new budget to stick by.
Hopefully I will pass my comps, graduate this summer, and not have to pay tuition anymore!
The face of Kitty-Hate
DH left his old consulting firm and formed his own with a group of other well-established IT Consultants. The money in consulting is really in having people under you from whom you take a cut of their hourly rate
So, despite the fact that I'm quitting my job to SAH, we will make at least as much as this year, if not more. Thank you O&G companies that like to overpay for specialty areas
1. Hopefully my DH will be getting a decent bonus in April
2. Decreasing our grocery and dining out expenditures. I'm thinking we can save about $300+ per month if we can be more disciplined.
3. We recently refinanced our house, so we're saving lots on interest
4. I may try and pick up a few home health nursing shifts. I'll bring in a few extra bucks, plus I'll get my foot back in the door of clinical nursing in case I decide to do it part-time.
junk food mom blog
I'm getting my broker's license. That doesn't directly put more $$ in our pocket, but it's just part of growing my business. I plan to continue to focus in my business in 2012 and have some more kid free time to put my plan into action.
We've been a bit off track on budget and I have not as been as diciplined in couponing recently. I plan to get more organized and better coupon in 2012.
Paying off my car early...fingers crossed
DH is on track to get his yearly bonus, this would be awesome!
Daycare tuition will drop by 40 bucks a month
Hopefullly we can potty train this year. That's the plan.
I might start looking for a new job with a more stable company. If I do, I would like it to pay more. But I would take stability over salary increase any day.
Hoping for a significant raise for DH (long overdue and really praying it goes through), nice bonus, stock options, and profit sharing.
I'm probably going to be starting up my organizing business again, so prayerfully that will bring in some money. Likely won't be a lot, but some extra cash would be great.
Hopefully paying down/recasting our mortgage with a financial gift from my mom. She had told us she wanted to do this from the time we bought our house to help us out, and it would be a TREMENDOUS blessing and help.
Working "hourly" at my mom's helping her with our family business and my dad's estate still, and she pays me to do this stuff, so that will be some extra cash.
Couponing more diligently ~ I got really lazy about it after my dad died and then when we moved this summer, so I need to pick it back up big time.
Trying to make more of our own stuff at home ~ laundry detergent, dishwashing detergent/liquid, antibacterial wipes, etc. Thanks to Pinterest, I have a bunch of tutorials pinned.
Being more diligent about making freezer meals/breakfasts to keep me from scrounging an hour before dinner for something to make.
Buying more quality pieces of clothing to save money in the long run. Since I'm a SAHM/run my own business I tend to buy cheap shirts and stuff at Target to save money, but in reality I know it WASTES money since they're cheap and I have to replace them more often.
All the above for us in addition being reimbursed for internet/ phone bill while working from home
Plus saving on gas/ maintenance on my car because wfh
Plus working out at home as opposed to a gym, save money there!
Definitely cut our 'going out budget', hopefully by half.
For the beginning of 2012, start looking for a house, by the summer of 2012, buy a house, hopefully.
Hopefully find a job that has a salary increase, what I make is like half of what payroll processors should make. :-/ I really do like what I do but not the compensation for what I do.
Go back to school this summer and finally get my Assoc. Degree!!!
1. Get back on track with Dave Ramsey - paying off credit cards and at least one car will result in a big increase in $$
2. A goes to Kinder in the fall, so that will cut back on weekly childcare
3. Along with Dave, stick with the budget we set for ourselves.
4. No mindless shopping at Target.
We are definitely not going to find more $ in our budget this year because we'll have a 2nd kiddo going in to private school in August. Ugh.
Over the summer, we are going to work really hard to readjust our spending to be prepared when that hits. One thing that will make a big difference for us is cooking at home more and going out less. We have also decided to sacrifice a planned vacation to do major work n our house (leveling, which won't be too $$ but will require every room to be patched and painted and possibly doors replaced) rather than do both which was originally the plan.
I don't know. DH is relocating to Asia, so his income structure will completely change (for the better), but I'm quitting my job to go with him, so we're losing that. We plan on renting out our house, so hopefully that will rent quickly & we'll be able to pay double towards our mortgage every month.
We also own an acre of land in Fulshear & we'll be paying off the mortgage on that in a few months, so that'll be a little less out-go every month.
And we'll soon be done renovating our house (for now). That will be mean a lot less cash out-flow every month.
1. Paying off my car in either March or April
2. Paying off 1-3 credit cards (I mainly shotting for 2 of them because they have fairly low balances).
3. Start saving money because of no car payment
1. Our health insurance will kick in money for some of the baby's formula if the baby is allergic to dairy like DS was.
2. My new car is more fuel efficient so we save ~$75/month on gas.
3. I'm returning my library materials on time. Seriously, the past few months I had a/b $200 in overdue fees b/c I could barely drag myself out of bed from "morning" sickness and I check out A LOT of dvds, audiobooks and books on my account and the kids' accounts.
4. Seriously considering dropping cable in favor of hulu plus, amazon prime and netflix streaming if we can save $50 a month or more. I'm pretty sure we'll be able to save more than that.
5. Doing a few focus groups to pick up extra cash before the baby gets here.
6. Although we have NOTHING as far as baby gear goes, I am borrowing a lot from friends, buying used and using my coupon skills to buy consumables like diapers, wipes and formula.
7. Having a garage sale this Spring!
8. Dropped extended day for my kids so that's an extra $300 a month that stays in the bank.
9. DH's career is on the upswing and he will probably be put into the partner program at the beginning of the fiscal year.
10. We suspended my gym membership for 8 months (a/b $30 a month) b/c I only use it for the group classes and I'm not doing any of those until after I've had the baby and healed from the c-section.
Overall I'm not going to stress a/b money too much. I won't go crazy spending but if I need to outsource something (like lawn mowing, extra housekeeping) to make life with 3 children more manageable this year, that's what's going to happen. It won't be forever, but this year it may be necessary to spend more than other years.
AMEN TO THIS! I refocused on what I buy for myself over the last year and avoided buying a lot of clothes at Target. I have bought a significantly smaller selection at Anthropologie or Nordstrom but I am happier with my wardrobe, even though the selection has been cut down to 1/3 of what it used to be. I wear the same things more often but feel like I look better and have definitely spent less money.
I have GOT to start thinking this way. I buy way too many low quality items that only last one maybe two years.
Some things I will never wear past 1 season. Not super trendy but somethings I have now will look dated by the following winter. However, because they are nice and well made, I feel so much better wearing them and wear them way more often. My cost per wear goes way down, making it a better value. I can also get a little $ back when I am done with them if Buffalo Exchange will take them, or list everything together in a lot and sell on Ebay. Never worth it for Target clothes but I get a good price for my time on Ebay with the right stuff.
Since you exercise a lot, I will say that is where I probably see the biggest difference. My Nike or Athleta or Lucy yoga clothes last way longer than the Target brand ones that I buy. I have had the same Nike pants for 3 years, wear them every time they are clean- sometimes for working out, sometimes for running errands, and they're still good as new!
Unfortunately, 2012 will be a tough year for us. Quitting my job brought our household income down by 45% and DH is starting a new job next month that is a 10% paycut and health insurance with a high deductible. And he was working from home but now has to commute over 40 miles a day with tolls. But we're thinking long term and these job will give him good experience.
Our only debt with interest is our mortgage which is low. We will be paying off our sectional that was 0% for 36 months in a few months, and so that will give us some money to go into our savings or house. I'm just hoping that we won't touch our savings this coming year!!