Women in Red SAVERS 2013

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Welcome to the 2013 Women in Red Savers thread! Feel free to start posting or brainstorming your goals for the new year...

[Saving4Norway]

WANT TO JOIN THE WOMEN IN RED SAVERS (WIRS)?
Hello and welcome to the Women in Red Savers (WIRS) group! We are a supportive community group that celebrates reaching the personal savings goals of the WIRS members, whether we are women or men, currently “in the red” or “in the black.” This thread will give you basic information what our group is about, so please read all of the information provided below and then start posting!

The purpose of the Savers group is to empower our members to take financial control of their lives by setting, tracking and achieving savings goals. If you're interested in a community of support, motivation, and inspiration, then this is the place for you.

As one part of the Women In Red, the Savers focus on encouraging members to save, no matter what your level of savings knowledge is. You may be starting on your first Emergency Fund or maxing out your retirement. It doesn’t matter to us, as long as you keep doing it. We feel that positive encouragement and motivation will help all of us to learn better savings habits, and accomplish those savings goals.

A key part of saving is learning to incorporate savings into your daily routine – many of our members are also member of the No Spend threads or the Women In Red Racers. Savings is an integral part of paying off debt and changing your lifestyle, so no matter where you are in the process, this is the right place for you to be!

The WIRS - Women in Red Savers group is a TINY little sub-group of the larger Women in Red community because we are seeking the common WIR goal: Taking Total Financial Control! The same support, encouragement, motivation…and yes, sometimes “tough love” provided by the WIR is applied towards savings goals as well! And because the support and encouragement from a group with similar goals also serves to provide a sense of accountability in meeting our individual goals, what better way to approach this than promoting our own Savers group!!

You may use a tag line as you desire BUT for SavingforNorway To be able to keep track and post updates please make sure and include the start such as:

Username Update date Current amount saved you may follow that in parenthesis any manner you wish-Some suggestions are:

Saving4Norway 5/3/12 $8,500 ($0 1/1/12 / Goal=$16,000)

Saving4Norway 5/3/12 $8,500 (Start=$0 / Goal=$16,000)

There are some Savers that prefer to have massive multi-year goals that don't have an annual goal in mind so they could just do the basics like this, if they wanted to.

Saving4Norway 5/3/12 $38,572 (Start=$24,369)

We are hoping everyone has a prosperous and save New Year. Please feel free to invite others to join us!!!

[Saving4Norway]

HOW TO JOIN THE WOMEN IN RED SAVERS (and work to increase your Savings):

Read this entire page of info!!!!!
Sign in with the username you created.
Post a message in the RESPONSE BOX AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE and a list of the savings categories and goals you want to track (more info about this below).


After you post your list of accounts, you are officially a member of the Women in Red Savers! The list of members is updated approximately twice a month, so if your name doesn't show up right away, please be patient! ALL the people working on this board are volunteers and they will get you added to the list as soon as possible.

UPDATING
So, now that you know a little about the group, here are the "rules" that we have adapted so that it's easy to keep track of everyone.
The list shows the date of each person's most recent update, her/his current savings balance, her/his starting date, her/his starting savings balance, page number is optional.

Like this: UserName: 5/1/12 $4,978 (1/1/12 $0, WIRS2)

The original starting amount and date is listed in parenthesis. The WIRS# is the page number the original post was listed on - it will be different for everyone. The current date and savings amount are listed next to your name. You choose which accounts you want to list and can add accounts later.

You can do the (parentheses) part how you want, goal amount, starting debt its ok to already have money "saved" See above post

To join, post your list of accounts, goals and any previous amounts saved. (Please do not list any debts here; you can get motivation that by joining the WIRRacers.)

We earn smileys to represent how much we've saved and roses in celebration of meeting annual goals! It may seem silly, but once you start getting smileys and roses, you will see how great they are!
The smiley list is as follows:
$50= $100= $500= $1,000= ;D $5,000= $10,000= $25,000= $50,000= $75,000= and $100,000=
Roses: per goal reached, = 10 's [10 goals reached]

We do not give out negative smileys if your savings goes down instead of up. This is for two reasons: 1) this board is all about being positive and supportive of each other, and 2) the whole point of savings is to use the money when it¡¦s needed. You may save for a year to pay for an expense but once paid, that money is gone. However, saving that money ahead of time kept you from going into debt, panicking over the payment or stealing from other accounts. That is a major accomplishment! Because we are a community and we talk about these kinds of savings issues, we want you to give us the update about using your savings but it¡¦s your choice how to present your totals. (Some of us find it easier to just track our contributions here and keep track of expenditures on our own.)

We hope that your participation in the WIRSavers group brings you the same feelings of empowerment and success that each of us has found. So? What are you waiting for? Join us!

[Saving4Norway]

Hi Savers, both new and old um, I mean 'experienced'. A little about me... My DH and I are DINKs and live in the beautiful countryside near Mt. Rainier. I'm a 20-year veteran middle school science teacher. I recharge over the summer months by riding our Harleys, gardening, quilting, and enjoying anything Scandinavian. This year I am attempting to make large (for me) monthly contributions to the categories I track here. My focus will be contributing half of that monthly savings allotment to paying off our HELOC. Ideally that would be $12K for the year but as you can see I only have $5500 left to go. Hopefully soon we'll hire a family friend to finish some remodeling projects (that DH has started over the last decade) and we'll most likely use the HELOC to pay for that. Although I'm a huge proponent for Emergency Funds and IRAs, you won't see them tracked here because the EF is fully funded (equal to 6-9 months) and my ROTH is automatically deducted. Enough blabbering, here are my numbers...

Fund	Goals	2012 Head Start	This Month	% Met	Roses
HELOC Payback	$5,500	$0	$0	0%
Puppy Money	$2,500	$2,500	$0	0%
Quilt Retreat & Supplies - March	$1,000	$1,000	$0	0%
Palm Springs - May	$1,500	$1,000	$0	0%
Wallace, Idaho - July	$1,000	$500	$0	0%
Canada Rally - July	$2,500	$1,000	$0	0%
USGP - Nov	$3,000	$1,000	$0	0%
Vehicles	$2,000	$1,000	$0	0%
Gifts & Donations	$1,500	$1,000	$0	0%
Vacay Prop	$1,500	$500	$0	0%
Cultural	$500	$250	$0	0%
Christmas	$500	$250	$0	0%
TOTAL	$23,000	$10,000	$0	0%
Wishful Thinking Funds
Oleana	$1,000
Norway Savings	$2,000
Denmark Savings	$2,000

I normally start tracking from $0 each new year but this year is a little different. I met my savings goals for 2012 a little early so I got a head start on 2013. It'll be interesting to see how many times that will mess me up throughout the year.

[twinmami30]

Hi Savers- A quick intro: Im a single mom to twin boys living in PA. I filed Bankruptcy back in June and in the rebuilding part of my journey. Needless to say lack of an emergency fund and no clear budget in place was a HUGE reason for my financial downfall in the past. Determined to get it together I have in the last month or so lived frugally and budgeting my every financial move. My goals are not as extensive or as impressing as some you ladies but hopefully I can continue to learn from you and make my dream of homeownership a reality.

Emergency Fund- $1500
House saving Fund- $2500

[Saving4Norway]

Twinmami -

What lies behind us, and what lies before us is not nearly as powerful as what lies within us.

We are here for you!

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Twinmami, getting an EF in place is a hugely important goal. Never underestimate it!

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Thanks for adding the instructions, Norway! I contacted Moonbeam and had the 2013 thread pinned to the top of the list for the year. Thanks, Moonbeam!

[flamingo]

Hi there-I'm new here, so I'll give a quick intro. I'm trying to build up my EF. My job feels kind of shaky at the moment, so the more I have saved, the better I'll feel. Overall my financial outlook is good, I just really feel like 2013 is the year for me to beef up my savings.
12/17/12-$6,000 (Start=$0, Goal $12,000)

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Welcome, Flamingo! It sounds like you have a good plan!

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Message deleted by Rocky Mtn Saver.

[Saving4Norway]

AAAAAaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!! Yippee!!!!!

Was over at M&D's house for dinner last night, Dad says, "You know, I've been thinking.... I'd like to go to Norway again. Wanna go?"



Sooooooo... I think my budget plan is going to change dramatically. I look back now at the last few months of 2012 and thank God that I chose to continue to save extra money even though I had met my 2012 goal in October!

[twinmami30]

thank you ladies! I am really determined to build my savings and be able to have my downpayment by June 2015 when Im eligible for a FHA loan. Want to change my mindframe about money and learn to separate needs and wants. BUDGET BUDGET BUDGET!

[twinmami30]

Do we share saving tips or is there another thread on here? Im trying to figure different ways to budget my money. Should I pay all bills at once in the beginning of the month limiting how many times I use my debit card or do I plan weekly (i get paid weekly) taking care of couple of bills at a time? In January I plan to do weekly and February all at once to see what works.. any tips?

[teachermom]

Hi Savers! I am a single mom, high school teacher in Eastern WA. I have 3 sons that I have raised alone for the last 15 yrs. They are fantastic young men now. My oldest is working on his PHD in Geophysics, my middle son his BA in Theater/drama, and my youngest is attending the CC but hasn't decided on his major. We have also hosted 13 boys from around the world....so I have kids all over!!! Working with the exchange student program gives me some extra spending money but has also allowed me to travel which I LOVE!! In the last 6 years, I have been to Brazil, Germany, Costa Rica, Greece, England, Scotland, Spain and Portugal. I have been blessed in being able to take my mom with me on almost all of these trips and my 2 youngest sons have been on some of them as well.

As for my goals.....I am reworking them. My youngest son has crohn's disease and with it has come a TON of doctor bills. He was diagnosed when he was 12/13 and had been in remission until last July when we found out is was back. Since they have already removed over 1ft of his small intestine, they want to avoid surgery as long as possible. This left Remicade treatments, which are over $8k a dose. He started in August and has had 5 doses now. Needless to say....I have a bunch of doctor bills. Since I have paid so much out of pocket already this year, I figured it was a good time to capitalize on it and decided to pay the rest of the bills so I can take the tax deduction because it will be over 2% of my AGI for 2012. My out of pocket expense also restarts in Jan.

I have taken most of my savings to do this so I will pretty much be starting at 0 for next year. As soon as I rework my goals I will post them.

Welcome to the new members! Looking forward to 2013!
Teachermom

[teachermom]

Twinmami30......Welcome!! We do share tips on here or you are always welcome to start a new thread and put it out there for everyone to respond to.

As far as budgeting, I guess it would depend on when you bills are due. Usually people who pay everything at once, has some money to get started. For example, they have save up 1 months expenses, then they pay everything on the 1st and budget a certain amount of each paycheck to set aside for bills. I think without being able to cover 1 mos expenses it might be hard for you to do. If you can, I think it is personally easier. As a teacher, I am only paid 1x a month, so that is how I pay. Also, if you do this, it helps to have all your due dates set to around the 5th of the month or so, so you aren't paying anything late.

On the flip side, if you don't have enough to pay a months expenses out, then I think you need to figure out a budget that allows you to pay them all at a certain time using your weekly pay. For example, figure out the monthly amounts you need and by what date, then divide by 4 or 2 or however many paydays, you have until you have to pay it. Figure out what you need weekly for gas, food, entertainment, etc and set that aside each week too. A little more difficult but can be done. I know that the YNAB software helps you budget so that you can get to point where you pay for the month and then take 1/4 of your expenses out each week for the next month but it is process where you work up to that.

If you have some savings already, you might be able to pay all your bills at the 1st of Jan and then start onto a monthly payment plan. However, make sure you are disciplined about setting aside enough each week to pay the bills for Feb! It will mean that your savings takes a hit at first but you can build it back up.

Good luck!!

teachermom

[twinmami30]

Teachermom thanks for the tips. I actually have a bit saved up due to a nice christmas bonus from work but a little nervous about taking the hit on my savings. Just a little more about me. I have 8 year old twin boys who are now starting to eat me out house and home lol. No child support for the last year and a half , and in the last 7 years been living check to check. Scares me to touch my savings and scares me to not pay the bills before life takes over.. I know I sound like Im babbling (probably am) but going thru bankruptcy was traumatic and the thought of never owning a home keeps me up at night. Trying to find the balance of saving consistently, pay my bills on time without robbing peter to pay paul, and not becoming obsessed with every penny..

Have written a budget out for the month of January and in the process of doing a menu plan as well (groceries is where i screw up). Im amazed how some of you wrote your budget for the year! Only month by month for me right now. I do know what I would like have in my EF and house fund but honestly picked the low end number so I wont be disappointed.

Love to read everyones goals and all the different categories. Cant wait til Im able to broaden my savings beyond just an EF and House fund.

[teachermom]

Twinmami30.....I understand the apprehension about using your savings. I was feeling the same way but I do have a secure job and I know I can rebuild it. I put about $20k in savings/retirement this year and can do it again. Some of it was planned spending for things like taxes, car maintenance, car tires, home maintenance, remodeling, a couple trips I took, etc. I just cleaned the rest out (almost!) to pay off medical bills. Want to go into 2013 with a clean slate!

Since you file bankruptcy, you must be debt free. You have a clean slate as far as debt and a perfect chance to rebuild, change bad money habits, and build wealth. I personally hate the word budget....even though that is what it is...I prefer spending plan. A plan for how I am going to spend my money. Sounds better! One thing that has helped me is making savings automatic. I opened a separate ING Direct account for each of my savings categories (actually, they are sub accounts) and I set as much of it up automatically as I can. Makes me more accountable.

Good luck!
Teachermom

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Twinmami, I budget monthly because I get paid monthly. I pay the housing expenses, the utilities, go to the grocery store, and make all my savings transfers withing a couple days of getting paid. Then I have a set spending cash amount for everything else.

You need to do what works for your particular situation. I do advocate automating (bill-pay, direct deposit, recurring transfers, reminders, etc) as much as possible, because this helps ensure everything gets paid on time and that you keep your hands off your money . Also, you could consider going all-cash for a while, if spending is a problem for you. I did it for a while (yay for envelopes!), and now have graduated to using a convenience card for the mileage points.

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Dec 17, 2012 22:25:28 GMT -5 twinmami30 said:

Im amazed how some of you wrote your budget for the year! Only month by month for me right now.

You will probably find that budgeting out for the year isn't actually as difficult as you think. Once things are more settled for you, you should start seeing many of the same expenses happening month after month. My savings transfers are all automated, rent is the same, haircuts cost the same each month, and I've learned from my banking history what I average in food, utilities, and gas, etc. So for me, it's just a matter of copying the skeleton of one monthly budget out for 12 months and then tweaking a few things here and there to account for irregularities.

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

For the newbies, I'll share a little about me. I am in the accounting field, live in CO and am single. I got rid of all my debt about a year ago with the Women in Red Racers West group. Yay!! This year was the first year I can remember in my adult life where I didn't pay any interest to anyone. How cool is that??

Anyway, my savings goal for this year will be a bit more aggressive than last year because I am looking to change my work situation perhaps in the Fall. I want to have a cash cushion before making any changes. Aside from that, I am hoping to take 1 or 2 vacations this year, one driving vacation to SD and possibly a week in NYC with some friends. We'll see!

[DVM gone riding]

s4n so you decided to get the puppy? Which kind did you decide on? are you getting two? While yes they do keep eachother company and play together they don't always bond as tightly to you. I recommend a boy and a girl if you are getting siblings--they get along best that way.

[DVM gone riding]

Dec 17, 2012 9:21:39 GMT -5 Rocky Mtn Saver said:

Thanks for adding the instructions, Norway! I contacted Moonbeam and had the 2013 thread pinned to the top of the list for the year. Thanks, Moonbeam!

fyi--those of us that identify as "captains" on the racers sub pages all have access to the "redracer" mod log-on so feel free to let us know if something is needed--I don't ever check PMs to that but I think one of the midwest captains does.

[DVM gone riding]

Dec 17, 2012 20:46:05 GMT -5 twinmami30 said:

Do we share saving tips or is there another thread on here? Im trying to figure different ways to budget my money. Should I pay all bills at once in the beginning of the month limiting how many times I use my debit card or do I plan weekly (i get paid weekly) taking care of couple of bills at a time? In January I plan to do weekly and February all at once to see what works.. any tips?

I get paid monthly so I do it that way. If I got paid weekly I would probably outline exactly which bills came out of which check and budget even closer. on the debit card it depends on your bank--I avoid banks that make me use one, others pay extra int if you use the debit card X number of times a month.

[Ombud]

Wow, once again this seems overwhelming. I mean it's over 1200 a month! And I'm still only working PT. But I'll get there [hopefully]. Newbies: it gets easier as the year goes on. I never would have thought that I would save 10k last year, but guess what? I did

OMBUD: 12/25/12 $0 [1/1/12 $0, Goal = $14,517]

[/td][td]

2013

[/td][td]

Goals

[/td][td]

12/20/12

[/td][td]

12/20/12

[/td][td]

YTD

[/td][td]

Bal Due

[/td][td]

% Met

[/td][td]

Roses

[/td][/tr][tr]

[td]ROTH
[/td][td]

6000

[/td][td]

0

[/td][td]

0

[/td][td]

0

[/td][td]

6000

[/td][td]

0%

[/td][td]

[/td][/tr]
[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Summer Vacation
[/td][td]

3000

[/td][td]

0

[/td][td]

0

[/td][td]

0

[/td][td]

3000

[/td][td]

0%

[/td][td]

[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Property Tax
[/td][td]

2667

[/td][td]

0

[/td][td]

0

[/td][td]

0

[/td][td]

2667

[/td][td]

0%

[/td][td]

[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Holidays
[/td][td]

500

[/td][td]

0

[/td][td]

0

[/td][td]

0

[/td][td]

500

[/td][td]

0%

[/td][td]

[/td][/tr]

[tr][td] GS1 Marching Band Trip
[/td][td]

1250

[/td][td]

0

[/td][td]

0

[/td][td]

0

[/td][td]

1250

[/td][td]

0%

[/td][td]

[/td][/tr]

[tr][td] GS2 Marching Band Trip
[/td][td]

400

[/td][td]

0

[/td][td]

0

[/td][td]

0

[/td][td]

400

[/td][td]

0%

[/td][td]

[/td][/tr]

[tr][td] GS1 & 2 Marching Band
[/td][td]

700

[/td][td]

0

[/td][td]

0

[/td][td]

0

[/td][td]

700

[/td][td]

0%

[/td][td]

[/td][/tr]


[tr][td] GRAND TOTAL
[/td][td]

$14,517

[/td][td]

0

[/td][td]

0

[/td][td]

0

[/td][td]

$14,517

[/td][td]

0%

[/td][td]

[/td][/tr][/table]

[Saving4Norway]

Welcome Flamingo!!! First of all congrats on your previous accomplishment of saving $6000. You're already half-way to your $12,000 goal! Do you have a date in mind to reach your goal? At $500 a month you'll get there by next December, but that might not be the timeline you had in mind.

[Saving4Norway]

Twinmami - I'm another one who is paid once a month so I don't have any strategies related to that, but there are some other common tips for savings that I'd like to toss out. You may have heard of them before but I'd rather mention them again than not.

It sounds as if you have already built a monthly budget. Perfect! How much difference is there between your total monthly income and what you have budgeted to spend? In that budget have you included a portion to save? That would be something I consider to be the best piece of advice I was given. Commonly called "pay yourself first" the idea is that immediately after payday you automatically have $XX transferred to a savings account. At first you may not quite know the best amount to set as your automatic transfer but after a few months of adding more or borrowing back you'll find an amount that is reasonable for the average month.

Another strategy you might consider is to take the total amount you'd like to save (EF = $1500 and HF = $2500) then divide it by the number of paychecks between now and your goal date. So, if you'd like to reach these two goals by December 31st, 2013 it would look like this:

$4000 / 52 paychecks = about $75 per paycheck or $333 per month

No matter what, do what makes the most sense to you. We Savers will offer up all sorts of suggestions - some may and some may not work for your particular situation. No one will take offense if you choose to do your own thing.

[Saving4Norway]

I (thought I) had worked out my 2013 budget BUT then I decided to get a dog so I had to re-work it. THEN dad asked if I wanted to go to Norway with him this summer so I had to re-work it. THEN dad asked what I thought about also spending some time in Iceland as well so I had to re-work my budget AGAIN! So, here it is, again - Saving Plan 2013, version 4.

Fund	Goals	2012 Head Start	This Month	% Met	Roses
HELOC Payback	$5,500	$0	$0	0%
Iceland/Norway Trip - July/Aug	$6,000	$3,000	$0	0%
Puppy Money	$2,500	$2,000	$0	0%
Canada Harley Trip - July	$2,500	$1,000	$0	0%
Vehicles	$2,000	$1,000	$0	0%
Palm Springs Trip - May	$1,500	$1,000	$0	0%
Gifts & Donation	$1,500	$0	$0	0%
Vacay Prop	$1,500	$500	$0	0%
Wallage Trip - July	$1,000	$500	$0	0%
Quilting	$1,000	$500	$0	0%
Cultural	$500	$250	$0	0%
Christmas	$500	$250	$0	0%
TOTAL	$26,000	$10,000	$0	0%
Wishful Thinking Funds
Oleana	$1,000
USGP Trip - Nov	$2,000
Denmark Savings	$2,000

[ilovedolphins]

I am going to try this this year. Let me know if I am doing it right. I want to save approximately 2/3 of my take home pay so this is my plan. I am starting at the beginning of the year.

Health savings account - $2210
IRA - $6000
Savings Bonds - $10,000
Taxable Account - $2590

Any vacations or other savings items I am going to have to come up with out of the remainder of my paycheck. I want to put this amount into these savings accounts because I am behind on my retirement savings and I want to see if I can live on 2/3 of my paycheck.

[ilovedolphins]

I meant live on 1/3 of my paycheck. That will mean a lot of eating out of the pantry to start with to get it cleaned out.