Women in Red Savers 2015

[Minnesotagirl7]

Update:

Minnesotagirl7: 9/10/15 $10,000 (1/1/15 Start $0 / Goal $10,000)


I'm glad I was able to finish this early. Can't remember if I said, but I wanted to get this done before the end of the year. Thanks to some extra work by DH, we're able to meet this savings goal and have a nice debt pay down month as well. I will definitely be back to the saver's thread, the accountability is so helpful!  

[shanendoah]

Congrats on meeting your goal, Minnesotagirl7!

[Ombud]

Will be out of work at least the last 2 weeks of September so no more progress but I'll be done by end of year [High Holidays + surgery taking precedence balance of this month / year?]:
♤ Alaska
♡ Ireland
◇ Horn
♧ Roth
☆ Fall semester: 1500 inc 800 housing deposit for year
□ EF: 3750 - 1750

Ombud $28,000 (6k on 1/1/15, Goal 30k) = 93%

Looking ahead: 2016
♤ Spring + Fall Semester (2k)
♡ Solo trip (Brussels under 2k)
◇ Family trip
♧ Round out EF from 2250 to 6000
Roth 6500
Total 12,250 + smaller family trip

I'd be ecstatic to get that EF to 3750 but 2250 + no additional debt is more realistic

[forwardwego]

UPDATE 9/11/2015 $6172(goal $11378)

fund 2015	present	goal	% met	$$ needed
rental EF	1000	5000	20	4000
homestead EF	1480	2000	74	520
vehicle EF	760	1000	76	240
tree removal	1750	1750	100
truck tires	250	250	100
52 week challenge*	932	1378	67	446
totals	6172	11378	54	5206

*52 week challenge summary

1   2   3  4   5  6   7   8  9  10  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52

sum of 1-17= $153 153+18+19+20+52+21+51 +26+50+49+48+47+46+40 +45+44+43+42+41+39+38= $932

Keep up the good work fellow savers!

[forwardwego]

Minnesotagirl7 Congratulations on winning your savings race!! Technical question for you....to enter the 5500 club do i need to get to 5500 or 5499? I love this club, and thank you for maintaining it. I'm disappointed that my race won't be won in 2015 but it's a great consolation that I will be joining the 5500 club soon 


Ombud I like your perspective on the EF. My EF's aren't going to make goal this year, but happily debt continues to drop. And that is how the turtle wins the race, right? 


I talked w/ TD Bank the mortgage holder for our home loan and rental house. Here in Florida we pay into escrow for taxes and insurance, and the lender figures in a "cushion". I am sending in the $1000 I had ready for higher taxes to the rental account and the cushion will pay most of the other $600 increase. And on our home I am sending in the @ $400 in OT I've earned which will also bring us in striking distance for paying the tax bill with the cushion factored in. Then each monthly payment I'll send extra to the escrows, and hopefully by the time we have our annual evaluations of escrow most of the difference will be caught up.   

[seriousthistime]

Update

Category	9/11/2015	Goal	% Saved	Roses
Deferred purchases	$1,588	$2,075	76.5%
CC paydown	$300	$8,500	3.5%
EF	$2,000	$1,000	200.0%
Gifts	$2,053	$2,600	78.9%
Utilities	$190	$280	67.9%
Weekly Savings	$1,013	$1,378	73.5%
Total	$7,144	$14,498	49.2%

Serious this time, 9/11/15, $7,144 (Goal $14,498)

Obviously slacking in the CC paydown category.      Still.

I made it to September 1!  Property tax is paid until May 2016.  The big insurance premium is set until March 2016.  I now have some breathing room.  And just in time!  Good grief.  First my car started to have little things go wrong.  Now I see my dog is due for updates on blood tests, vaccinations, etc. So more vet bills are coming in addition to the usual gigantic vet bills just to keep her healthy.  And I have two more trips scheduled this year, which means petsitting bills too. At least I have regular savings categories (taxes and insurance) to cut back on if things get tight.  

Thanks to all of you who keep me motivated not to just give up, as I see so many others doing around me. 

   

[Jaguar]

My savings will be used up cause of my having to move, but I feel I was so successful in saving cause I had to answer to you all, that I'm going to keep staying and saving with everyone here.

I have not found an apartment yet cause I hadn't looked. I have to call a social worker on September 16th about two things that I hope I can get for myself. Then I'll start looking in my home area, the place where I grew up. I want to go home, I need my area.

It's 1/3 the travel time to my hospital than from here, from here it's roughly an hour, from there about 23 minutes.

[seriousthistime]

Updates!

	Stars	Name	Amt Saved	Goal	% Saved	Roses	Smilies
1		azucena	$34,632	$39,300	88.1%
2		dogmom	$2,263	$2,600	87.0%
3		forwardwego	$6,172	$11,378	54.2%
4		megaptera	$8,650	$15,000	57.7%
5		Minnesotagirl7	$10,000	$10,000	100%
6		minnesota paintlady	$18,300	$20,400	89.7%
7		movinonup	$557	$4,046	13.7%
8		nalto	$2,503	$10,000	25.0%
9		Ombud	$28,000	$30,000	93.0%
10		PauletteG	$7,510	$9,000	83.4%
11		scrgrl47	$14,351	$19,080	75.2%
12		sealy	$113	$1,378	1%
13		seriousthistime	$7,144	$14,498	49.2%
14		snapdragon	$4,852	$6,500	74.6%
15		speechchick71	$9,350	$20,005	47.0%
16		steph08	$4,456	$5,200	85.7%
17		Sugilite	$1,489	$8,300	17.9%

We have another winner -- Minnesotagirl7 who got her  !!!  minnesotapaintlady got hers last month, then increased her goal, which she's almost met, so we actually have two   !!!  Looking at the Savers who are closing in on their goals, I suspect we have another   or two next month.

We lost a few more Savers this month because they hadn't updated for two months.  auburnsky, Saving4Norway, and tobinikui, stop by and give us an update, please.  Shanendoah, you are also off the list for now, but I know you'll be back when you get your house sold, which sounds as if it will be soon! Remember, anyone who has not updated for two months is dropped from the updates, but they stay on the master list and can update at any time. Then they're back on the Smilie updates. 

Looking ahead to my schedule for October, I am aiming to get Smilies done on the weekend of October 2-3. That's three weeks from now. Please get your updates posted by the night of October 2.  Thank you!

[Ombud]

Omg, Jaguar! So sorry! I didn't know you needed to live near a hospital! Sending good thoughts your way 

[seriousthistime]

Shoutouts!

Sugilite -- just after you get your apartment looking great, the owner wants to sell the building?!?  What terrible timing.  I hope the nice things you bought will look great in your new apartment.  Will the new/old area also be good for work and socializing? I'm so glad the move is not causing you financial stress. 

Shanendoah -- I am battling the "do it now" versus "do it to sell it" timing on home repairs and upgrades. Some things have a longer timeline, like some landscaping/plantings that I want to fill in a bit before I sell the house. Others, well, it's sort of amazing that I haven't gotten around to certain smaller jobs yet, but you wait so long that you don't see them anymore.  And other things, like flooring, will wait until just before I'm ready to sell.  Looking forward to reading the updates about offers and so forth. Fingers crossed for good multiple offers. 

snapdragon -- I love your travel destinations!  You've got some great places picked out.  Saving for end-of-life issues isn't fun, but it's better than not saving and being especially stressed at such a sad time. 

dogmom -- welcome back.  I think your tagline should either be dogmom, 1/1/15, $225 (Goal $2,600) or dogmom, 1/1/15, $225 (Goal $2,825).  Do either of those sound right? 

minnesotapaintlady -- you're a softy when it comes to your kids.  No need to apologize.  I think it's so sweet that you gave them nice rewards for working on their math books.  Let us know how the German works out!  Property tax refund?  How does that work?

forwardwego -- great job on all your savings goals.  I like that you post often.  It keeps us motivated.  Yikes! those property taxes are going up A LOT!  Is that typical? 

megaptera -- great job reaching the halfway point!

sealy -- good job on planning for your summer without pay.  You're really getting the knack of it!  I like that you're using forwardwego's suggestion on the weekly savings.  See how it adds up?  

nalto -- I wish I had stuff that people wanted to buy!  What sort of things did you sell? How did you do it? (Facebook/garage sale/craigslist?)  I notice you made your 25% point and you have a nice new star next to your name in the Smilies post. 

speechchick71 -- good job seeing the light at the end of the tunnel (15 weeks!) and translating your time crunch into fewer spending opportunities.  

Ombud -- yay for found money!  I love little windfalls like your USAA deal.

PauletteG -- I see a little something in your furniture category... you'll be there soon enough.  Look how much progress you've made. 

movinonup -- it's perfectly fine to use whatever money is rightly yours to do with what you please.  I was happy to see your numbers take a nice uptick this time. 

Save on, Savers!

[Jaguar]

Sept 13, 2015 18:20:57 GMT -5 seriousthistime said:

Shoutouts!

Sugilite -- just after you get your apartment looking great, the owner wants to sell the building?!?  What terrible timing.  I hope the nice things you bought will look great in your new apartment.  Will the new/old area also be good for work and socializing? I'm so glad the move is not causing you financial stress. 

Save on, Savers!

My home area is one of the best areas in this city, there's a good library, more shopping than I'll ever need, banks, transit right at your door and little restaurants everywhere. It's only 25 minutes to the downtown core from there.

Where I've been at is pretty well no man's land. It's 30 minute walk to the bank or post office/drug store. Here I'm just 25 minutes from all the big box stores like Costco, Ikea and Walmart but transit is really iffy. I rarely go to the big box stores, so it's a moot point why I would even stay here.

Plus Fall is soon approaching upon us and The landlord never did do anything constructive to deal with the rats in the wall issue here. I just want out of this damn hell hole.

[forwardwego]

seriousthistime Thanks for your labor of love to this amazing saving thread. No, the climb in taxes is not typical. In 2014 we converted our house to a rental, and purchased the home we now live in. I had anticipated a climb in taxes, but it didn't happen for 2014 because it was a midyear transaction, but the hit has happened for 2015 which is the first full year since the purchase. In Florida we have some tax saving features: Homestead exemption, and "save our homes". The house we converted to rental lost both those for 2015, and ouch. The house that is now our homestead, we get homestead exemption and a small portability of the save our homes feature, but it's still a climb from 2014 when we paid the same level our seller had been at. So the overall increase for the 2 properties is @ $2500-$2600. and quite a bit more than I had anticipated. That's a 150% increase for the now rental, and 50% increase on our new homestead. But going forward the homestead can only increase by a maximum of 3% a year. The rental house is subject to whatever the market increase or decrease is... yuck. 

[Deleted]

Sept 13, 2015 18:20:57 GMT -5 seriousthistime said:

minnesotapaintlady - Property tax refund?  How does that work?

MN has a couple property tax refunds.  One is based on household income and the property tax amount, and the other is if your taxes go up more than a certain percent in a year.   The tax software lets you file at the same time as income taxes, but they don't start issuing refunds until Fall. 

[megaptera]

Well, DH just wrote a huge check to the county for the extortion permitting fee to be able to build on our land. This is the savings that I'm tracking here. I'm not going to change the amount, since this is what the money was/is destined for, and I'm going to continue to track our additions, and hopefully get close to my goal by year's end.

Even though we've been saving specifically for this, it still hurts, ugh.

[scrgrl47]

Update! scrgrl47 09/17/2015 $15,967.63 (Start: $42.04 / Goal: $19,080)

Bizarre and awesome experience, actually "saving" something. 

Fund	Start	Last Update	Saved Since	Current Balance	Total Saved	Goal
HSA	$0.00	$2,355.70	$180.76	$2,536.46	$2,536.46	$3,300.00
Rowing	$0.00	$700.00	$140.00	$840.00	$840.00	$1,260.00
Retirement	$0.00	$5,837.35	$653.82	$6,491.17	$6,491.17	$7,500.00
Car	$0.00	$2,100.00	$300.00	$2,400.00	$2,400.00	$3,120.00
Vacations	$0.00	$1,900.00	$300.00	$2,200.00	$2,200.00	$2,400.00
EF	$42.04	$1,500.00	$0	$1,500.00	$1,457.96	$1,500.00
Total	$42.04	$14,393.05	$1,574.58	$15,967.63	$15,925.59	$19,080.00

[forwardwego]

UPDATE 9/18/2015 $6225(goal $11378)

fund 2015	present	goal	% met	$$ needed
rental EF	2000	5000	40	3000
homestead EF	860	2000	43	1140
vehicle EF	400	1000	40	600
tree removal	1750	1750	100
truck tires	250	250	100
52 week challenge*	965	1378	70	413
totals	6225	11378	54	5153

*52 week challenge summary

1   2   3  4   5  6   7   8  9  10  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52

sum of 1-17= $153 153+18+19+20+52+21+51 +26+50+49+48+47+46+40 +45+44+43+42+41+39+38 +33=$965

I moved some $$ from the homestead and vehicle EF's to the rental EF, which balances the EF accounts better by %. And hopefully will be more functional and help me see my status better. I'd like to make at least 50% overall on EF's by year end, with a 2016 goal of building them up to the 100%.

Keep up the good work fellow savers!

[Saving4Norway]

Fund	2015 Goals	Last Month	This Month	% Met	Roses
Iceland Flight	5000	4000	4000	80%
Vehicles	1000	1000	1000	100%	Sept
Sturgis 2016	2000	2000	2000	100%	Sept
Gifts&Donations	250	250	250	100%	Sept
Palm Springs	2000	2000	2000	100%	Sept
Vacay Prop	500	250	250	50%
Christmas	250	0	0	0%
Olympic Club - Nov	500	500	500	100%	Sept
Sisu (& sister?)	500	250	250	50%
Home Improvement	2500	250	250	10%
TOTAL	14500	10500	10500	72%

Saving4Norway 9/2/15 $10,500 (Goal $14,500)

[speechchick71]

UPDATE: speechchick71 $10,860.00 9/21/15 $ (goal=$20,005, started 1/1/2015)

	21-Aug	21-Sept	Goal	How much to go	% Met
Weekly Challenge	$5,950.00	$7,410.00	$13,780.00	$6,370.00	54%
$25/week	$900.00	$950.00	$725.00	-$225.00	131%
Roth 2015	$2,500.00	$2,500.00	$5,500.00	$3,000.00	45%
	-	-	-	-
Totals	$9,350.00	$10,860.00	$20,005.00	$9,145.00	54%

Just a quick pop-in as I'm fried from studying all weekend.  We had the most beautiful day today and I couldn't go out and enjoy it due to an exam this week.  I was looking at my spreadsheet and am amazed that #1: I've kept up with my weekly challenges.  #2: There are only 7 pay periods left in the calendar year  #3: I've saved over $10k so far this year (quite a bit more if you look at my 401k, regular saving, and what is in my checking account).  #4:  it looks like I should be able to complete my $10/week challenge even with the next amount being $790 added to that fund!  HOLY COW! 

I still don't know what I am going to do next year but my goal is to save more than this year.  Maybe I'll shoot for $30k?

My semester is 1/4 of the way over.  I'm really struggling this semester not only because of the material but because of the amount of time I'm gone plus the amount of time I'm putting into it.  After working 40hrs, I am in school for about 12 hours/week and then have been doing homework/studying another 20+hours.  I'm taking it one week at a time but you may not be seeing much more than a pop-in 1x/month from me!

Save on, Savers!

[Jaguar]

Well lovely the damn rats came back on September 17th and the landlord forgot where he put the box of poison at. And also I didn't get the Rent Supplement cause it ended last March, and if I want the other benefit I have to move December 31st. I ask you, who the bloody hell moves on New Years Eve.

Thank the Universe that I saved cause shit the only people that I can depend on is myself and everyone on this Forum.

[forwardwego]

Jaguar  Last month as DH was eating in the kitchen, he saw one run across the ceiling (we have those translucent panels) so I understand the yucky feeling. Thankfully DH has managed it for now. I hope the ones at your place are "managed" soon. I hope you find a better home soon. 

"Rats" is what i usually say as a sort of curse word when something goes wrong. I do this to keep from saying something "worse" but now that I've seen a rat in my house it has a true curse word feel.

[Deleted]

Are we talking actual rats or mice?  I get mice from time to time, but haven't had a rat issue until lately and that's in the barn.  Damn those things are destructive.  I was walking in the horse stall that I have converted to a chicken coop and noticed the rubber mats were sinking in parts.  I pulled them up and the gravel underneath is all filled with tunnels and nest areas.  I put poison down a month or so ago, but they're back and it's going to take a lot of work filling and leveling all the rock they dug out.

[Ombud]

I'm out of work but got sick leave?? Anyway it's an update and is definitely the last one this month :
♤ Alaska
♡ Ireland
◇ Horn
♧ Roth
☆ Fall semester: 1500 inc 800 housing deposit for year
□ EF: 3750 - 2250

Ombud $28,500 (6k on 1/1/15, Goal 30k) = 95%

Looking ahead: 2016
♤ Spring + Fall Semester (2k)
♡ Solo trip (Brussels under 2k)
◇ Roth 6500
♧ EF 2k
FAMILY TRIP
Total 12,500 + smaller family trip

[Ombud]

Next year won't be another 30k year bc I have a new 10k debt. Ah well --- minimal family trip (there are 9 - 12 of us)

[forwardwego]

minnesotapaintlady I'm not positive about whether it was rats or mice. The unfortunate viewing I had was of a rodent escaping a trap too small for it. I left the house, and came back after all necessary actions were taken. I hate that they don't just stay outside and live happily. 

[forwardwego]

UPDATE 9/25/2015 $6402(goal $11378)

fund 2015	present	goal	% met	$$ needed
rental EF	2100	5000	42	2900
homestead EF	900	2000	45	1100
vehicle EF	400	1000	40	600
tree removal	1750	1750	100
truck tires	250	250	100
52 week challenge*	1002	1378	72	376
totals	6402	11378	56	4976

*52 week challenge summary

1   2   3  4   5  6   7   8  9  10  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52

sum of 1-17= $153 153+18+19+20+52+21+51 +26+50+49+48+47+46+40 +45+44+43+42+41+39+38 +33+37=$1002

Keep up the good work fellow savers!

[seriousthistime]

Update

Category	9/26/2015	Goal	% Saved	Roses
Deferred purchases	$1,648	$2,075	79.4%
CC paydown	$700	$8,500	8.2%
EF	$2,100	$1,000	210.0%
Gifts	$2,153	$2,600	82.8%
Utilities	$200	$280	72.1%
Weekly Savings	$1,066	$1,378	77.4%
Total	$7,687	$14,498	53.0%

Serious this time, 9/26/15, $7,687 (Goal $14,498)

Obviously slacking in the CC paydown category.      Still.  But it did go up $400 this time. 

I got my second star, finally.  I am itching to get a second rose, and it would only be $80 to do that, but at $10 per paycheck, why bother? 

Every category should be reached by year end, except CC paydown.

I've been using my gift savings as needed for birthdays, weddings, and so forth.  I have some Christmas gifts bought, and all September birthdays are covered.  One November birthday yet, and that's it for the year. I am in good shape for Christmas spending. I usually spend $100 on each child and child-in-law, and $50 each on two siblings.  I don't go overboard.

Thanks to all of you who keep me motivated not to just give up, as I see so many others doing around me. 

   

[Ombud]

seriousthistime, what's a 'child-in-law'?

[seriousthistime]

Daughter-in-law or son-in-law.  

I have three children-in-law. All amazing people and I am so lucky they are good to, and for, my children.  What more could we ask? 

[speechchick71]

I have been thinking a lot about my goals for 2016 and already started playing with my spreadsheet.  It's looking like I could be on track to save over $30k next year which is really exciting.

The thing that really made me smile, though, was the name of the "tab" I gave this spreadsheet: "2016 savings".  I have all the tabs from my spreadsheets since 2012 and they all say "XX year paydown" and this one says "SAVINGS"!!!!!!  There is nothing to pay down/off this coming year!  What always makes me get mad at myself is that this year I'm slated to save a little over $20k (and it's looking very promising that it will happen) but if I had not accrued that debt, I could have been saving close to that amount for the past couple years.  I don't like to live with "woulda shoulda coulda" but I like to think of it as a learning experience. 

[Deleted]

Fund	2015 Goal	Current	Needed	% Complete
Roth	$5500	$5500	$0	100.00%
Replacement Car	$3600	$3600	$0	100.00%
2016 Roth	$2500	$1000	$700	72.00%
College	$2400	$1600	$400	83.33%
Vacation	$2000	$2000	$0	100.00%
Washer & Dryer	$1500	$1500	$0	100.00%
Pr. High School	$1000	$1000	$0	100.00%
Carpet	$500	$500	$0	100.00%
Sea Base	$500	$500	$0	100.00%
Christmas	$500	$500	$0	100.00%
Y Membership	$400	$400	$0	100.00%
Total	$20400	$19300	$1100	94.61%

All my income for September is in, so here is my October budget update.  Got my property tax refund so was able to put some more in the 2016 Roth category.