Women in Red SAVERS 2013

[murphath]

Here's my new chart for 2013.

FUND	GOALS		CURRENT	SPENT	% MET
Emergency Fund	$25,000		$24,000.00	$0	92.25%
Taxes/Tshare fees	$3,400		$8.00	$0	0.00%
Shed	$1,000		$0.00	$0	0.00%
Car Maint.etc.	$2,000		$1,700.00	$0	85.00%
Patio furniture	$2,000		$0.00	$0	0.00%
Home Maintence	$1,500		$1,000.00	$0	66.66%
Weddings	$15,000		$0.00	$0	0.00%
Vacay '13	$3,000		$2,624.78	$0	87.49%
Wind/floor	$9,500		$3,289.81	$0	34.62%
Vacay '14	$3,000		$0.00	$0	0.00%
TOTAL	$65,400		$32,622.59	$0	49.88%
[tr]

[Ombud]

Dec 21, 2012 19:37:45 GMT -5 murphath said:

Here's my new chart for 2013.

FUND	GOALS		CURRENT	SPENT	% MET
Emergency Fund	$25,000		$24,000.00	$0	92.25%
Taxes/Tshare fees	$3,400		$8.00	$0	0.00%
Shed	$1,000		$0.00	$0	0.00%
Car Maint.etc.	$2,000		$1,700.00	$0	85.00%
Patio furniture	$2,000		$0.00	$0	0.00%
Home Maintence	$1,500		$1,000.00	$0	66.66%
Weddings	$15,000		$0.00	$0	0.00%
Vacay '13	$3,000		$2,624.78	$0	87.49%
Wind/floor	$9,500		$3,289.81	$0	34.62%
Vacay '14	$3,000		$0.00	$0	0.00%
TOTAL	$65,400		$32,622.59	$0	49.88%
[tr]

Sorry. Needed to add [/table] so I could read it. You're goals are inspiring!

[Saving4Norway]

Welcome ilovedolphins!! You have set some amazing goals for yourself and we'd be happy to cheer you on as you work towards meeting them.
Living on 1/3 of your take-home pay seems like a real stretch but when faced with a challenge you really want to meet - like adding to your retirement, you'll find a way to make it happen. This time last year I also set a big savings stretch goal for myself and within about 3 months I had gotten used to living off what was left. My reward was to be able to meet my 2012 goals by October and get a healthy head start on 2013. I am sure that you can have that same kind of success!

[Saving4Norway]

Hi murphath! Happy to see you back for 2013!
You are soooooo close to meeting your EF!!! Will that be your first rose for 2013?

[twinmami30]

thank you all for the suggestions and warm embrace. I have made my savings automatic. My emergency fund savings account is connected with my checking acct at the same bank. I transfer every week a certain amount to this account. When balancing my checkbook I round down my paycheck and round up my bills as well as transactions. My checkbook balance is always a round number. Weekly (mostly sundays) I transfer to this savings account the difference between my checkbook and "real" money.. Its a little game but its money not missed..this normally amounts to an extra $10-15 a week. My house fund savings account is with another bank and the savings is directly deposited from my paycheck. Never see it and my savings card was given to a trusted friend whose frugral lifestyle is my inspiration. I also save change which will be put in savings when my change jar is full (currently $58.75) which only holds about $100 or so..Tax return will majority be put in savings as well year end christmas bonus at my job.

My EF goal only covers for one month of my "must need" bills. I have been at my job for 6.5 years and its a secure postion so for the time being Im okay with $1500 being my goal. Although I do believe I will exceed the $4K if I continue to exercise self control and look at the big picture. Im able to apply for an FHA loan two years out of bankruptcy and that will be June 2014. My goal is to be able to buy my home by late summer or end of 2014.

[mak]

I only read through part of the first page and then decided I should just post this and then go back and finish reading!

A little about me. DH and I have 3 kids ages 5, 3.5, and 2 months. We live in MN.

2012 was a crazy year for us. We sold our house (which took 13 months!). Thankfully we had spent some time saving money to either pay at closing or use towards a new down payment. We ended up having to pay it all at closing and now we need to re-save for a new down payment. We are currently renting a small house with a very nice yard . I am on maternity leave or anther few weeks and DH is only working part time after having disc fusion surgery. We will both be back to normal work hours by the end of January. Due to all of this craziness we did not save as much as we had hoped last year. I am excited to start 2013 and I am hoping we can make some progress towards rebuilding our house fund. I am guessing we will be renting for at least 2 years, probably longer unless we can figure out a way to save more than 4k per year towards a down payment!

We also contribute to our 401Ks, which I do not track here.

Everything I track here is what I am ADDING to these accounts for 2013. Thankfully we are not actually starting at zero (although It feels close to that after spending almost 20k to sell our house


2013 GOALS:


Mak 1/1/13 $0 (01/1/13 $0)

Fund	Goals	Previous	Newly Added	YTD	% Met
House Down Payment	$4,000	$0	$0	$0	0.00%
Cabin	$1,000	$0	$0	$0	0.00%
Emergency Fund	$2,500	$0	$0	$0	0.00%
Christmas	$600	$0	$0	$0	0.00%
Boat Expenses	$400	$0	$0	$0	0.00%
Medical	$3,000	$0	$0	$0	0.00%
Family Vacation	$1,000	$0	$0	$0	0.00%
TOTAL	$12,500	$0	$0	$0	0.00%

[mak]

twinmami30 - DH and I found and started using YNAB last year. We now use this month's money for next month's expenses. It has been a very nice change. We still pay the bills when they are due, but the money is already there and I have everything planned out a month in advance. I add savings into the plan too. Hopefully we will be able to make some good progress in 2013 with this approach.

[p8nt]

Mak - What is NYAB?

[twinmami30]

i was getting ready to ask the same thing.. what is ynab? I have seen this around the forum but still confused

[teachermom]

YNAB is You Need a Budget and they have budgeting software.

www.youneedabudget.com/

I have played with the trial and it is pretty user friendly and the concept is great.
Teachermom

[ilovedolphins]

Dec 22, 2012 14:47:58 GMT -5 Saving4Norway said:

Welcome ilovedolphins!! You have set some amazing goals for yourself and we'd be happy to cheer you on as you work towards meeting them.
Living on 1/3 of your take-home pay seems like a real stretch but when faced with a challenge you really want to meet - like adding to your retirement, you'll find a way to make it happen. This time last year I also set a big savings stretch goal for myself and within about 3 months I had gotten used to living off what was left. My reward was to be able to meet my 2012 goals by October and get a healthy head start on 2013. I am sure that you can have that same kind of success!

I am definitely excited to see if I can do this. I would also like to get a vacation in there somewhere too but only if I have to money.

[Saving4Norway]

Dec 23, 2012 15:37:57 GMT -5 twinmami30 said:

i was getting ready to ask the same thing.. what is ynab?

I was thinking the same thing!!!

[p8nt]

Dec 23, 2012 16:08:55 GMT -5 teachermom said:

YNAB is You Need a Budget and they have budgeting software.

www.youneedabudget.com/

I have played with the trial and it is pretty user friendly and the concept is great.
Teachermom

Ok, you have to tell me what is great about this. I can't bring myself to pay $60 for budgeting software. (eta - not because I think it's stupid, but because I'm cheap)

[teachermom]

Like I said, I only played with the free 30+ day trial. You can do the same thing. Basically it helps you budget and work towards getting all your months bills paid with the previous months income. Try it out and see if it would be helpful for you. I get paid 1x a month so I pay all my bills at once.

Mak....you use it. Tell them about it.

Teachermom

[p8nt]

Ok, tomorrow I'll try out the trial version and see what's there. I don't have any bills left to pay this month, but I will still go poke around and see what I can set up for next month, especially since I'll be unemployed on 1/2/13 and I'm going to really hold myself accountable for every single penny.

[twinmami30]

hey everyone.. So I will taking the next few days to organize my home. Organization for me is the way to stay on top of things. I have started food shopping for the month of January and did my menu planning. I have continued to watch every penny like a hawk and stay on top of my finances. Im so excited for my financial goals and continue to pray for strength and diligence.

[twinmami30]

Message deleted by twinmami30.

[teachermom]

Great job Twinmami! The holidays is a really easy time to break a budget and the bank! You are doing great! Keep it up!

Spent the last 3 days at the hospital with my son. He has crohn's disease which is currently active and being treated with Remicade infusions. Christmas Eve eve, he woke me up about 3am to tell me his stomach really hurt, started about midnight. So about 10am (now Christmas Eve morning) I took him into the emergency room and they admitted him with a bowel obstruction. He was in a ton of pain until about 1am Christmas morning when he finally vomited. That took the pain away and the nausea, however, his white blood count was elevated (doubled in the time we were there), so they kept him to treat him with antibiotics and steroids. He was finally released about 1pm today. Had a great rest of the day with him though. We went home to Grandma's and opened presents, then to the mall so he could spend his gift certificates, and finally to dinner at Olive Garden which is his favorite. On the way home, we went to see some Christmas lights. Hopefully, it was just a mild set back and he will continue getting better.

Seems like the doctor bills just keep pouring in for me. Going to impact savings again, but not sure how much. Guess I need to work on my goals.....again.

Teachermom

[p8nt]

teachermom - I didn't realize for NYAB that I had to download anything. I can't do that at work, but I'll definitely try it on my home computer this weekend. I'm curious to see what the program is.


So, I'm having a bit of a problem putting my 2013 goals together. My year is going to be so up in the air.

I know I will start the year with $20K in my emergency fund (leaving my job and cashing out all my unpaid leave, etc - NOT my retirement)

I set a very detailed budget that accounts for me working 20 hrs a week, calculated at minimum wage. This budget leaves me with a $236.00 a month deficit. However, I didn't calculate in some things like tips I will receive (my DD has the same job and gets $20-$50 week) I'm canceling some services (Sirius radio, pest control) and I'm dropping my church tithe to $10 per week, since I'm doing my student teaching and won't be making any income there. (Sorry I'm rambling)

I'm getting to the point that I am actually going to have 3 goal scenarios worked out. I will have a June 1, 2013 goal. Then I will have a December 31, 2013 employed (if I get a teaching job) and an unemployed (keep only my PT job) goal.

Anyone have any idea how to track that? Or suggestions? My ultimate goal is to not dip into savings while I'm doing my student teaching.

[Peace77]

P8nt,

Make your 2013 budget on funds actually earned or expected to earn. Don't include services already cancelled. You could include $20 for tips in your budget since that is the minimum expected amount.

Don't try to budget on a job that you don't have.

Can you work extra hours when school and classes are on break?

If you need to use your savings, that's ok.

[p8nt]

Dec 27, 2012 13:09:13 GMT -5 Peace77 said:

P8nt,

Make your 2013 budget on funds actually earned or expected to earn. Don't include services already cancelled. You could include $20 for tips in your budget since that is the minimum expected amount.

Don't try to budget on a job that you don't have.

Can you work extra hours when school and classes are on break?

If you need to use your savings, that's ok.

I think you're correct. I should not even worry about a bigger savings goal or budget until I see what happens. I hate uncertainty, so this is going to be a challenging year for me.

Yes, I'll be able to work extra hours at the P/T job during breaks and I have a couple sub teaching positions in the works, covering for maternity leaves. I just don't want to even think about that money because you just never know what will happen.

Thank you for the feedback.

[Deleted]

Teachermom

I'm not trying to save, just keep on top of things, so I don't post here, but I lurk.

I hope you don't mind my "butting in" but I wish you and your son the best of luck and especially the best of health in the upcoming year.

[teachermom]

Thanks debthaven2!!! He is feeling so much better today. We take it one day at a time.

Teachermom

[onmywaynow]

onmywaynow: 12/28/12 $700 (Goal = $10,000)

Looking forward to getting back on track with my savings. Job is up in the air right now til Feb/Mar. Should know by then what is going to happen.

Would like to just live on hubby's salary and bank mine. That is the ulitimate goal. Will start changing our lifestyle to accomplish that.

Happy, prosperous new year to all!

[backincontrol]

Good Morning.

This is my first post ever on a bulletin board. 2013 will be a new, adventurous year for me in many areas: learning more about this bulletin board, actually saving money, and reducing a HUGE amount of debt (Yes, I'll be joining the WIR for debt reduction when I find it again ).

Please feel free to guide me when I make blunders. I've spent about 3 hours visiting the "How to" and reading threads to learn how to upload my avitar and make a table. Hopefully, things will become routine after awhile.

Below are my saving goals for 2013. I'm keeping them very simple as most of my focus is on becoming debt-free in 5 years.

Thanks for being here!

Fund	Goals	2012 Head Start	This Month	% Met	Roses
Emergency Fund	$4140	$2700	$0	0	0
General Savings	$480	$0	$0	0	0

[backincontrol]

Teachermom wrote:
YNAB is You Need a Budget and they have budgeting software.
www.youneedabudget.com/

I'll be taking their free introduction Webinar this morning. They offer many free classes about their product. Go to their website to see what's available.

I'll have to figure out how to quote better. Back to the "How To" section!

[Saving4Norway]

Welcome BackinControl!!! Congrats on taking the first step towards Total Financial Control! Although it takes a while to get there, lemme tell ya, it's a great feeling.

It was 2 years ago when I was in a similar situation as you. I was brand new to boards, it took me forever to get familiar finding my way around, posting messages, and especially making a table that looked like what I was hoping for. There are a couple of things I'd like all newbies to keep in mind - things that I wished I had known in the very beginning.

* Post as often as you would like. I remember being so excited about my new saving venture that almost daily I had something I wanted to post, but, I didn't want to appear overzealous so I limited myself to once a week. How ridiculous. Post as often as the feeling strikes. For some that's daily, for others it's once-a-month. Go with it.

* ASK - Even if you think it's a beginner's question. If you want to ask it to everyone, go ahead a post it here for all of us to see. If it's a question you'd like to keep private or just ask once person you can send a Private Message by clicking on the little letter/envelope icon next to the big white Ignore button there on the left. I'll send one to you so you can see what it's like.

* Do what you feel is best for you. You'll get to hear lots of peoples' opinions about different budgeting strategies or savings philosophies but don't ever feel like you need to take any of our advice or suggestions. We joke that all our advice comes with a money-back guarantee - and no one gets offended if said advice is not taken. That's a way of life here.

Again, welcome, welcome, welcome. We're looking forward to cheering you on as you take steps to make your financial life better than ever before.

[twinmami30]

thank you saving4Norway! you make the newbies feel like we fit in. Thanks for the reminder regarding the posts because they are so many small triumphs that I would like to share ( like saving $8 on my grocery trip or finding a $5 dollar bill in a old jacket that went straight to savings or bringing my lunch to work everyday this week) or small let downs ( buying a another pretty journal that i dont need or charging more than my allotted 30% on my credit card) but didnt want to take up too much space and time with trivial things.. Gosh im so excited for this new year!

[backincontrol]

Dec 23, 2012 9:47:39 GMT -5 mak said:

twinmami30 - DH and I found and started using YNAB last year. We now use this month's money for next month's expenses. It has been a very nice change.

Mak,
It seems like YNAB has made a positive difference for you. I'm trying to figure out which software or online ware to use for my budgeting. I had just decided to use my CU's online ware of FinanceWorks when I read your post.

How long did it take before you were able to Live on last month's income? Did you have to pay off all/most/any debt to be able to life on last month's income?

I took their Intro & Credit Card webinars this morning, so I have a basic idea of how the program functions, and would like more of your thoughts on YNAB. Thanks!

[Saving4Norway]

Dec 29, 2012 22:18:36 GMT -5 twinmami30 said:

... there are so many small triumphs that I would like to share ( like saving $8 on my grocery trip or finding a $5 dollar bill in a old jacket that went straight to savings or bringing my lunch to work everyday this week) or small let downs ( buying a another pretty journal that i dont need or charging more than my allotted 30% on my credit card) but didnt want to take up too much space and time with trivial things...

I know EXACTLY what you mean! I'm pretty darn sure that I will NOT score some big windfall to meet all of my savings goals. My ticket to success will be the accumulation of all those little "trivial" moments of making good choices, shopping sales, clipping coupons, sticking to my budget, etc. that will eventually help me make it to my goal.

Today's exciting money savings - 50/50 good shopping choices, and a surprise savings.
We're going to get a bernese mountain dog puppy about the 3rd week in January. (that's NOT the savings part) So, we need to fence off a small part of our backyard while he's still a puppy/adolescent so he doesn't decided to go swimming in our pond. So, I had gone temporary-fencing shopping and decided what I'd buy. (The green 1" square mesh was HALF the price of the black 3/4" hexagonal mesh.) While walking thru the aisles of Home Depot DH spotted some 1"x2"x4' waste pieces at their wood cutting station. They were selling them for $0.51 each in comparison to the $2.89 or $4.19 each for the steel posts especially made for the fencing I picked out. All-in-all I spent $29 and saved over $45. Now in the grand scheme of life $45 isn't going to make me a bajillionaire but if shop smart like that 11 more times this year, that's $500, which is nothing to sneeze at.