Women in Red Savers 2014

[Ombud]

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 me to be able to keep track and post updates please make sure and include the start & goal such as:

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

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

UserName 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 (not logging ★ progress).

UserName 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!!!

[Ombud]

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= $5,000= $10,000= $25,000= $50,000= $75,000= and $100,000=
Roses: per goal reached, = 10 's [10 goals reached]
Stars: 1   for each 25% goal;   at 100%

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!


Savers who have not posted anything - progress - comment - in 3 months will be removed from the list but will be on the master list.

[Jaguar]

Okay I think I'm on Board for this year, 2014 is a need year not a want year for me. I have two big things that I'm saving for, plastic surgery that's not covered and a save my butt MOVING fund. The MOVING fund is a proactive one just in case I have to move. The amount I'm putting in to start with for the surgery is baseline, it could change.

Just a note, my USERNAME and my DISPLAY name are different.


My start ~

Sugilite: 1/1/14 $0 (1/1/14 $0 / GOAL $3,640 WIR1)

I'm reading the instructions and trying to understand it. I know how to do tables, mine will be small.

[Ombud]

Welcome, Sugilite!

My start will be:

Ombud 1/1/14 $0 [1/1/14 $0, goal 10k]

[sealy]

Sealy Goals

Sealy: 12/20/13 $8,693 (1/22/13 Start=0 / Goal = $20,500)

My EF fund is completed.  I am hoping to have my house fund
completed by the end of this month.  After that I will concentrate
on getting my cards taken care of.

[seriousthistime]

Disregard.  See message #12.

[Saving4Norway]

Fund	2014 Goals	As of Last Month	This Month	% Met	Roses
Denmark	$2,500	$1,000	$1,000	40%
Sisu	$2,000	$750	$750	38%
Vehicles	$2,000	$1,000	$1,000	50%
Harley Trip	$2,000	$250	$250	13%
Gifts&Donations	$1,500	$500	$500	33%
Vacay Property	$1,500	$250	$250	17%
Palm Springs	$500	$250	$250	50%
Cultural	$500	$0	$0	0%
Christmas 2014	$500	$0	$0	0%
Oleana	$500	$0	$0	0%
Quilting	$500	$0	$0	0%
Home Improvement	$3,000	$0	$0	0%
TOTAL	$17,000		$4,000	24%

Saving4Norway 12/22/13 $4,000 (12/22/13 $4,000 / Goal $17,000)

The Denmark and Palm Springs categories are strangely low because the airfares and most hotels have been already paid for.

[ambellamy]

I'm in!!!

This year we are going to try and save hubs entire salary and live off my paychecks (well minus tithing on his income and his heath insurance and 401k deductions to get the employer match).

We hope it will about $1,000.00 a month that we can save. We budget enough money out of my paychecks to do my Roth IRA every year, so once we get hubs roth's done (we may have to borrow from our EF to make the 2013 deadline), we will be excelerating our mortgage payments on the racer's thread largely because we have decided to stay in our one bedroom condo and not move in 2 years if/when we have a baby...

Instead we are going to convert our walk in closet into an alcove, install a ceiling fan and transform it into a small nursury when the time comes because we are priced out of the 2 bedroom market... especially if we want to afford it on ONE income so one of us can stay home (hubs). 
 
So 2014 will be the year of scaling back so we can save save save!

2013 Roth IRA (Hubs) goal: $5,500.00 (Starting: $0.00)
2014 Roth IRA (mine) goal: $5,500.00 (Starting: $0.00)
2014 Roth IRA (Hubs) goal: $5,500.00 (Starting: $0.00)
Emergency Fund goal: $250.00 more (Starting: $12,250.00)  



Ambellamy: 1/1/14 $0.00 (1/1/14 $0, WIRS1)

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

I'm in for 2014!  I don't know exactly what my goal will be, but I'm pretty close to a target number at this point.  I'll catch up with everyone after the first to get started! 

[FemaleSam]

I will definitely be joining the 2014 thread.  I really need to think hard about my goal since I will be quitting my job mid-year  .

[teachermom]

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!!

I will be working on my goals this week and then get them posted. Hoping to have a better you financially than the last one!!

Teachermom

[Saving4Norway]

Female Sam - Tell us the story about quitting your job... What do you do vs. what do you want to do?

[seriousthistime]

	2014 Goal	1/1/2014	Diff. since last	% Met	[Roses]
Gifts	$2,600	$0	$0	0%
Insurance	$5,600	$0	$0	0%
Pet Care	$3,120	$0	$0	0%
Utilities	$260	$0	$0	0%
Weekly Savings	$1,378	$0	$0	0%
Taxes	$5,300	$0	$0	0%
Retirement	$28,800	$0	$0	0%
HSA	$4,200	$0	$0	0%
Total	$51,258	$0	$0	0%

Serious this time, 1/1/2014, $0 (1/1/2014, $0, goal $51,258)

[murphath]

Goodness, I haven't  been around in quite awhile.  Mostly due to all the home projects I've been tackling.  I've finished all the ceilings: de-popcorned, retextured, painted and primed.  Have also painted all the downstairs walls, stairwell and upstairs hallway.  We've gotten the wallpaper down in one bedroom and I'm slowing repairing the walls before painting.  I admit to having slowed down a bit during the holidays.  Did replace 3 light fixtures and have taped off some wood trim areas that I'll repaint but that's about it.  So, I'm going to start all over for 2014:

murphath 12/28/2013 $0 (goal $20,000)

                                GOAL        MET

DD1's wedding            $5,000
Taxes                        $3,600
Switzerland etc          $10,000
Christmas/gifts           $  1,400

Here we go...happy New Year everyone.

[tobinikui]

Happy Almost-New Year!

It's been a few years since I was on here with any regularity, but I could definitely use the accountability in 2014. This is a big year for DH and I - we are expecting our first child together in June; I am on reduced pay to build up my maternity leave time; once I go back to work, DH will leave his job to be a stay-at-home dad; and we are hoping to go on a pre-baby trip in mid-spring. We are thrilled, excited, a little scared, and over-the-moon. This is going to be a busy year, for sure!

Our main goals for the year are three-fold:
1) Build up our emergency fund - my stretch goal is $25,000;
2) Pay off the car by April 1st;
3) Take a pre-baby trip - our first since our honeymoon three years ago, and probably our last for a *very* long time.

Most of our savings goals are automated, biweekly savings (taxes, insurances, Christmas, vacations, etc). The two funds that will require the most effort are the emergency fund account, and the pre-baby get away account - with a little luck, our tax refund will go directly to these two funds.

Accounts                   Goal               Have              Spent         Need               % Saved
ER Fund                    $25,000.00     $8,001.27      $0.00        $16,998.73        32.0%
Pre-Baby Get Away    $3,500.00       $800.00         $0.00        $2,700.00          22.9%
Taxes                       $6,500.00       $0.00             $0.00        $6,500.00          0.0%
Insurances                $5,300.00        $1,227.00     $0.00        $4,073.00          23.2%
Christmas                 $2,400.00       $0.00             $0.00        $2,400.00          0.0%
Vacations                  $1,500.00       $0.00             $0.00        $1,500.00          0.0%
Random                    $1,000.00       $0.00             $0.00        $1,000.00          0.0%
Totals                       $45,200.00     $10,028.27     $0.00         $35,171.73       22.2%

I'm looking forward to making some great progress this year, and cheering everyone else on.

Thanks so much!

Tobinikui: 1/1/2014 $10,028.27 ($10,028.27 on 12/28/2013; Goal - $45,200)

[grits]

             Goals      

car        $3600    

IRA       $6000      

Trip MO $1800    

Trip HO   $600     

Gifts       $250     

Grits  $0 1/01/2014  goal $12250 12/31/2014

reaching for the stars with one mighty leap of faith

[Ombud]

STILL ON DROID. THANK YOU, SAVING FOR NORWAY!!, FOR ALL THE TIME YOU DID IT!

	Stars	Racer Name	Current	Goal	% Saved	Roses	Smilies
1		ambellamy	$12,250	$16,750	73%
2		DVM gone riding	775	$12,700	6%
3		FemaleSam	0	$26,121	0%
4		Grits	0	$12,250	0%
5		HappyCat	0	$5000	0%
6		Mak	0	$13,700	0%
7		megaptera	0	$15,000	0%
8		murpath	0	$20,000	0%
9		nalto	2411	$20,000	12%
10		Ombud	$1926	$10,000	19%
11		ANTIVASIN	535	1000	53%
12		Pointy (pt_in_ny)
13		Rocky Mtn Saver	$830	$8000	10%
14		Shopaholic	$6302	$18,600	34%
15		Saving4Norway 2014	$5,500	$17,000	32%
16		Seahorse	$517	$9100	6%
17		Sealy	$8693	$20,500	42%
18		seriousthistime	2083	$51,258	4%
19		Sugilite	0	$3000	0%
20		Teachermom	$9,048	$138,850	7%
21		Tobinikui	$10,029	$45,200	22%

[Saving4Norway]

Ombud -

Thank you for the shout out. It was most certainly a labor of love. I used this one:

but feel free to change anything you want.

[seahorse]

UPDATE: Seahorse 01/01/14 $516.80 (01/01/14 Start $516.80 / Goal $9,100)
Diff Last Post $516.80

	01/01/14	01/01/14	01/01/14
	Goal	Previous	Current	% Saved
Christmas	$600.00	$-	$-	0.00%
Emergency	$1,000.00	$-	$50.71	5.07%
Buffer 1	$1,250.00	$-	$276.40	22.11%
Buffer 2	$1,250.00	$-	$-	0.00%
Nufcu Savings	$2,000.00	$-	$0.74	0.04%
CD	$3,000.00	$-	$188.95	6.30%
TOTAL	$9,100.00	$-	$516.80	5.68%

[Ombud]

My update as of 1/2/14: 1926 (1/1/14 $250, goal $10k)

2014	GOALS	1/1/14	1/3/14	YTD	BAL DUE	%
Reverse Weekly [band]	1378	250	0	250	1128	18%
Summer Vacation	8450	0	1588	1588	6862	19%
Holidays [rewards?]	172	0	88	88	84	51%
GRAND TOTAL	$10,000	$250	$1676	$1926	$8074	19%

[mak]

Mak 1/1/14 $0 (01/1/14 $0)

I always like to just do annual goals, so I start back at zero today. Last year we decreased our 401K contributions to help accelerate our house down payment fund. This year our concentration is still on the house down payment, but also getting our 401K percentage back up to 10% by the end of the year (We hope to be up to at least 15+% sometime in 2015). So, since that is one of our big focuses this year I decided to just add it as a target in terms of what percentage we are contributing. The reason we don't just put it back up right now is because we still have a ways to go to get to the $$ amount for the down payment, but if/when we get merit increases we are applying those to the 401K and maintaining our current savings rate for the house. DD2 also goes to school this fall, so that should free up a little bit of money that is currently going to daycare. 


Fund                             Goals         Previous     Newly     YTD         Met
House Down Payment     10,000.00      0.00          0.00      0.00      0.00%
Emergency Fund             1,000.00      0.00          0.00       0.00      0.00%
Christmas                         800.00      0.00          0.00      0.00      0.00%
Boat Expense                    400.00      0.00          0.00      0.00      0.00%
Family Vacation               1,500.00     0.00          0.00      0.00      0.00%
Retirement Percentage          10%         3%           0%        3%     30.00%
TOTAL                         13,700.00      0.03         0.00       0.03      0.00%

[FemaleSam]

Saving4Norway,

I'm currently working in healthcare. I make good money but all of the changes in healthcare are making the profession unpleasant.  Most people are unhappy where I work whereas that wasn't the case a couple of years ago. Our healthcare system is not in a good place. I decided that I no longer want to be unhappy and so I am going to quit my job. I am then going to take 4 months off without working just to relax and get back in touch with the calm, serene, happy me. It is a little scary because I like the security of having a good paying job but I can't continue to do this. I have seen too many people at the end of their lives who wish they had done things differently. So I am going to do things differently.  After my 4 month break I am going to start boarding dogs in my home. It will be a significant cut in pay but I will be incredibly happy.  I've been planning this for months now and will not quit my job until June. Thanks for asking.

Also, did you realize that today is your 2 year anniversary?

So here is my savings goal. It will be a stretch but since it represents just over half of what I did in 2013, if I am focused I might just make it.

Fund	Goals	1/1/2014	Current	% Met
IRA - 2014	$5,500	$0	$0	0%
Rental savings account	$20,621	$0	$0	0%
Holding account		$0	$0
Total	$26,121	$0	$0	0%

FemaleSam 1/1/14 $0 (Goal $26,121)

[Saving4Norway]

Female Sam, I admire your insight in terms of recognizing what you need to do to take care of your mental health, and that your current career is damaging that. There are times when I feel similar about our Education system.

[Saving4Norway]

Fund	2014 Goals	Last Month	This Month	% Met	Roses
Denmark	$2,500	$1,000	$1,500	60%
Sisu	$2,000	$750	$1,000	50%
Vehicles	$2,000	$1,000	$1,000	50%
Harley Trip	$2,000	$250	$500	25%
Gifts&Donations	$1,500	$500	$500	33%
Vacay Property	$1,500	$250	$500	33%
Palm Springs	$500	$250	$500	100%	January
Cultural	$500	$0	$0	0%
Christmas 2014	$500	$0	$0	0%
Oleana	$500	$0	$0	0%
Quilting	$500	$0	$0	0%
Home Improvement	$3,000	$0	$0	0%
TOTAL	$17,000		$5,500	32%

Saving4Norway 1/2/14 $5,500 (12/22/13 $4,000 / Goal $17,000)

[Ombud]

Congrats S4N on the first of the year

[Saving4Norway]

Thank you!

[megaptera]

Hi all, I completely slacked off at the end of last year, so I'm going to try it again. I'm going to go simple, and just track what I'm loosely terming our "moving fund," since EF, Roth, retirement, etc. are all automatic and on track.

megaptera 1/4/2014 $0.00 [Goal: $15,000]

Have a great year, everyone!

[Saving4Norway]

Jan 4, 2014 13:00:01 GMT -5 megaptera said:

Hi all, I completely slacked off at the end of last year, so I'm going to try it again. I'm going to go simple, and just track what I'm loosely terming our "moving fund," since EF, Roth, retirement, etc. are all automatic and on track.

megaptera 1/4/2014 $0.00 [Goal: $15,000]

Have a great year, everyone!

Hi Mega! Welcome back! May I ask? What is going to be your game plan to save what you need for your moving fund? For example, $1,250 per month for the year? $1,000 per month and $3,000 tax refund? Paychecks from a second job? It may help you stay strong throughout this year if you decide on a strategy and post it here for accountability.

[grits]

To help me reach my goals, I am looking for all the free entertainment I can find. Well, a friend posted on facebook this thing to find your blues artist name. It turns out my name would be "Screamin' Hips McGee". They'd be screamin' alright. First they'd yell for the massage therapist. Then, they'd yell "FEED ME!".

[shopaholic814]

Hi Everyone!! I've thought about joining the group for a long time, but this is a new year so I figured this was a perfect time to take the leap. This will definitely be a slow journey. I've been a member of the Midwest group for 4 years, and I just started my 3rd race there, finally tackling our student loans. So we have debt to pay off while we are saving. We have a bathroom renovation that needs to be done soon- probably this summer. We are hoping to finally take a honeymoon in summer of 2017 (got married in 2001!) so the Travel fund is set-up for that. The Car fund is basically to have as much of a down-payment as we can get, when the time comes to replace a vehicle. I set $5000 as the goal The EF & Car Insurance are first priority, since we will have to make insurance payments in May, June & November.


Shopaholic814 : 1/6/14 $6302.14 (1/6/14 $6302.14 / Goal 18,600.00)

UPDATE	GOAL	PREVIOUS	SAVED	SPENT	CURRENT	% Saved
EF	$1,000.00	$500.00	$0.00	$0.00	$500.00	50.0%
Car Insur.	$800.00	$143.55	$0.00	$0.00	$143.55	17.9%
Home reno 7/2014	$5,000.00	$4,831.57	$0.00	$0.00	$4,831.57	96.6%
CMAS 12/14	$1,800.00	$100.00	$0.00	$0.00	$100.00	5.6%
Car Fund	$5,000.00	$80.04	$0.00	$0.00	$80.04	1.6%
Travel Fund 7/2017	$5,000.00	$646.98	$0.00	$0.00	$646.98	12.9%
Total	$18,600.00	$6,302.14	$0.00	$0.00	$6,302.14	33.9%