Women in Red Savers 2016

[seriousthistime]

Apr 15, 2016 9:53:23 GMT -5 forwardwego said:

My first eligibility to retire without penalty is April 2017, and it's my goal to do just that. So I've been talking with a co-worker who retired a little over a year ago. I knew there was a time gap between final day worked and first check. She said hers was 5 and a half months!!!   When the first check (finally) comes it includes pay for the gap months, but of course the withheld taxes are higher because it's a "big" single check. So I have got to have a plan for this. Has any of you experienced something like this? 

I sent you a PM.

[seriousthistime]

Update

	Goal	Added	4/16/16	% Saved	Roses
Travel	$1,500	$0	$541	36.1%
Moving fund	$1,500	$192	$267	17.8%
Pet care	$3,120	$0	$840	26.9%
Weekly savings	$2,028	$0	$546	26.9%
Total	$8,148	$192	$2,194	26.9%

Seriousthistime, $2,194, 4/16/2016 (Goal $8,148) 

I reached 25% of my savings goal and earned my first   !

[Deleted]

Apr 16, 2016 6:06:53 GMT -5 sealy said:

Apr 15, 2016 15:53:49 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

I need to come up with another $2000 by August 1st for tuition for DS so I'll be updating my list for May.  I have it in his ESA, but that's ALL I have in his ESA and I don't want to have to tap that for his first year if I don't have to.  I'm starting to get to the point where I'm giving myself a bit of a tummy ache over some of the goals I've set. 

Is he able to get financial aid?

It's for high school so their financial aid thing is a little different than college.   Instead of giving all your financial info and them determining what they think you can afford, you tell them what you can afford to pay for school and back it up with the finances.  Subtle difference, but I can't seem to get past it and say I can't afford the full amount to be considered for aid.  I've been living like a pauper and saving for a replacement car and a cruise with the kids for several years.  I have enough just in the cruise fund to pay for a year and a half of tuition (it's only 3K/year), so...yeah...guilt about saying I can't spend my cruise money.    It's a weird financial aid form.  It asks about things like credit card payments and car loans.  My income is very low, but I have no debt but the house and a lot of cash stashed away because I'm paranoid.  The house payment is huge though. 

[bankergurl]

We are home from vacation.....and WE PAID OFF THE MOM LOAN!!!! WHOOO HOOO! We gave my Mom the check to pay her off on Sunday night and then left for vaca Monday evening. She was definitely super surprised when we gave her the check! The trip was a great way to reward ourselves for finishing the loan! It was a $15K loan for 4 years and we paid it off in only 9 months. So proud of us for working hard and being aggressive with paying that off!



Our next goal will be to pay off the Appliances. They are at 0% until June 2017, but it is our littlest debt by $10K, so we just want to get it done and out of the way. We have enough in savings to pay it off now, but we have to buy a riding lawn mower (our new house has a giant front and backyard and would take about 3-4hrs to mow by hand, plus we will be mowing at my parents rental since we are the property managers now) soon, so we are waiting to see what that will run us before we take a big chunk out of savings. We also have a cruise in September that we have to pay for in June so we don't want to drain savings again just yet. In the meantime, I have stopped the $300 auto-payments that we were making on the Mom Loan, and set up a new $300 auto-payment to Best Buy for the Appliances. So the Appliances snowball is now at $350 per month. I also changed the name of our Cap 360 Savings account from Mom Loan Payoff to Appliances Payoff.



Current Deposits = $16,228.00
+$25.00 MO Payday to Our Savings

+$425.00 Feb/March Hrs for working on rentals
Total Deposits for 2016 = $16,678.00


The Appliances are the only "small" debt left.  Once that is paid off I think we will be ready to outline some specific savings goals rather then just a total. 




Banker Gurl : 4/15/16 $16,678.00 (1/1/16 $0, WIRS1) Goal - Contribute $12,000

[TheHaitian]

The Haitian 4/16/16 ----> $15,834.58 / $50,000.00

Mid Month update.... We made some changes to our overall goals for the year. We will still be able to save ~40k, but decided to use the ~11k to go towards the IVF treatment costs and paying down debt. This week alone I charged 1.3k related to that between medication costs and Dr's sending their bills.

We bought a mattress for about 1k yesterday.  This purchase was saved for in the general savings account... just haven't taken it out yet to send towards the credit card but not sure if I want too. I hate taking money out of the savings account

Account	Account Goal	Account Balance	Spent Money	Total Balance	Difference	% Saved
Savings	$14,500.00	$9,000.00	$1,700.00	$10,700.00	$3,800.00	62%
C Retirement	$18,000.00	$3,043.64	$0.00	$3,043.64	$14,956.36	17%
P Retirement	$7,500.00	$2,090.94	$0.00	$2,090.94	$5,409.06	28%
TOTAL	$40,000.00	$14,134.58	$1,700.00	$15,834.58	$24,165.42	35%

[teachermom]

So excited to start building my savings again. All my payments posted and credit card debt free.

I received $100 this weekend from the ex....so.....first deposit towards savings after draining it...just need to figure out where I want to start.

Great job with saving everyone!

Teachermom

[forwardwego]

teachermom, Your shoulders must be feeling so much lighter now that you've zeroed the CC debt. I'd probably put that $100 in the EF.

[teachermom]

forwardwego Yes.....feeling lighter definitely. I know that I should start my EF, but also have some things I really need and like a new tire.....still have my studless snow tires on so need to get them off. Also, need to change oil, air conditioner needs recharged, etc....so might have to go to my car to get summer ready. I know not emergencies but since I was throwing all my extra cash as debt, I have put those things off and they need to be done.

Teachermom

[forwardwego]

UPDATE 4/22/2016 $3213 (goal $15400)

2016 FUND	Present	Goal	% Met	$$$ Needed
Homestead EF	1540	2000	77	460
Vehicle XF	500	1500	33	1000
Medical XF	100	1500	6	1400
Travel	50	1000	5	950
SL Payoff	330	5000	6	4670
DD Wedding Pt 1	70	2000	3	1930
Rusty J Boxer Pt 1	110	1000	11	890
Weekly Challenge*	513	1400	36	887
TOTALS	3213	15400	21	12187

*Weekly challenge/53 Friday summary

1	2	3	X	5	6	7	8	9	X
11	12	13	X	X	X	17	18	19	X
X	22	23	X	25	26	27	28	29	X
31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	X
41	42	43	44	45	46	X	X	X	X
X	X	22

14+10+22+24+20+4+50+16+40+52
+48+30+15+21+51+49+47=513


Happy to break into the 20% territory 
Could be a windfall coming. DH's motorcycle has been for sale for a long time and there's a possibility we have a buyer. I could really get on pace for savings with that. 

[azucena]

Apr 8, 2016 7:43:57 GMT -5 azucena said:

I had to look back and find my last post from Feb.  Savings balance was $35,840 and my goal is $50,000 for a house down payment in the fall. 

• 3/29 deposited bonus of $2671 for a total of $38,511
• 4/4 federal tax refund $510, jumped into a new tax bracket (yay, boo) so refund was less than expected but I really shouldn't complain $39,021
• 4/8 $550 from paycheck $39,571  I think this is a new record for my savings account, I know for sure $40,000 will be

• 4/18 State tax refund of $493 for a total of $40,064 (new personal record)
• 4/22 paycheck transfer of $100 for a total of $40,164

I have a YM confession, I have been buying lunch every day at work.  My excuses are that I've been working extra hours so dinners are quick or takeout with no leftovers and my two daughters seem to be eating more when I do cook and then I have nothing left.  At a minimum, I need to pick up some frozen dinners.  Better yet, I need to cook ahead on the weekends.  All this eating out has to stop.

[seriousthistime]

Update

	Goal	Added	4/23/16	% Saved	Roses
Travel	$1,500	$60	$601	40.0%
Moving fund	$1,500	$192	$267	17.8%
Pet care	$3,120	$120	$960	30.7%
Weekly savings	$2,028	$78	$624	30.7%
Total	$8,148	$450	$2,452	30.0%

Seriousthistime, $2,452, 4/23/2016 (Goal $8,148)

I've been on a decluttering kick lately.  I've got bags of stuff to go to a big charity garage sale next month, and today I'm heading out to a shred event. I have three boxes of shredding to get rid of.  I also have a ton of paper in my recycling bin.  I went through all the old files in my garage and am putting the filing cabinet on FreeCycle today.

Now the yard is going crazy.  We had rain two days this week and I can't keep up with the lawn.  Weeds are growing too.  

[scrgrl47]

Update! scrgrl47 04/23/16 $19,066.16 (Goal: $43,050)

Go savers!

My raise kicked in this pay period ( ) so the biweekly auto-transfer to my LT savings category has been bumped by that amount, wohoo!  My 2015 taxes are finally done - my employer hired PWC to do them because, shocker, spending half the year in Brazil complicates things a bit.  It isn't much but that full amount will go to LT savings. 

I have officially started looking for a new job, for which I'm willing to take a substantial paycut to return to my old industry where I actually believed in the mission and felt more intrinsically satisfied on a daily basis.  My gut is that my pay will go way down and my expenses will go up because the big players in this industry are in areas not reachable by public transit.  I'll have to get a car and figure out the parking situation, and potentially move. 

I'm hoping for a better work life balance, more structure, and to feel successful in ways I'm not getting from this company. 

Fund	Last Update	Change	Current Balance	Goal	% Complete
College_1	$300	$100	$400	$1,200	33.3%
Rowing	$320	$100	$420	$1,200
Mom	$375	$125	$500	$1,500	33.3%
'17 Deduct	$450	$150	$600	$2,000	30.0%
Vacations	$600	$200	$800	$2,400	33.3%
HSA	$773	$258	$1,031	$3,350	30.8%
Car	$1,350	$450	$1,800	$5,400	33.3%
Retirement	$1,847	$588	$2,435	$7,500	32.5%
LT Savings	$9,625	$1,455	$11,080	$18,500	59.9%
Total	$15,640	$7,630	$19,066	$43,050	44.3%

[tobinikui]

Apr 15, 2016 9:53:23 GMT -5 forwardwego said:

My first eligibility to retire without penalty is April 2017, and it's my goal to do just that. So I've been talking with a co-worker who retired a little over a year ago. I knew there was a time gap between final day worked and first check. She said hers was 5 and a half months!!!   When the first check (finally) comes it includes pay for the gap months, but of course the withheld taxes are higher because it's a "big" single check. So I have got to have a plan for this. Has any of you experienced something like this? 

We had a situation exactly like that when my husband retired back in 2013. We knew in advance that there would be up to a 3 month gap between his last regular check and his first pension check, which of course is deposited in a lump sum payment, once a month, on the last business day. And, we were (are) still paying child support too, that also needed to be paid. We did a lot of calculations to figure out a ballpark of our expenditures per month, what my income would continue to offset, child support payments (which we chose not to decrease even though his income dropped by 60% once he retired), etc. Then we started saving up in advance a fund to tide us over! I think we did it over 9 or 10 months. It did work out, but if you don't plan for it, that will be a huge, unpleasant surprise!
Good luck!!

[tobinikui]

What a long spring... I wish I could say our baby girl is home, but... not yet. She is 11.5 weeks old now, and while she's doing great breathing, she is now struggling to eat by bottle. Every day I come in, I hope to hear she's taken her feeds by bottle, but it's usually only a very very small amount. I keep reminding myself that she's actually still not even supposed to be here yet - but either way, this is a loooooong road. Her room at home is finally done though, which makes me happy. Got the curtains hung yesterday morning.

While we still have a small savings fund, that will be shot, sooner rather than later. I am still working 50%, but the longer DD's hospital stay, the less likely it is that we can afford for me to stay out at 50% for 12 weeks once she comes home. Time will tell, of course, but at a minimum, DD has another 5 days in the hospital due to a medicine change they made this morning.

Patience is a virtue (but I'm running out of it)....

[seriousthistime]

Savers, please plan ahead and get your updates in by Saturday, April 30.  I will be updating the smilies morning of May 1. 

I'm seeing nice progress here!  Good job, Savers!

[forwardwego]

thank you seriousthistime and tobinikui for your input on the retirement gap question. Rough calculations say a bridge of $8K is needed. If we get the motorcycle sold we stand a chance of accomplishing it. Also thinking of applying for a HELOC as a back up just in case.

[seriousthistime]

That's a fine idea forwardwego.  If you have the HELOC, you can draw from it as needed and pay it back when the retroactive pension check arrives. 

[Deleted]

Update for May -  I upped the Pr. High School goal from $1000 to $3750.  I got an $850 bonus check which I put in there and squeezed the other budget categories to get up to a $1000 contribution for May.  DS sold a crap ton of plants for Scouts and got nearly $700 deposited into his account for his Summer camp and trip, so that freed up some more money for me to move to the 2017 Roth.  I counted over $900 in cash in the bathroom drawer account this morning from selling things the past couple months, so that finished off the vacation savings...just need to get it deposited. 

Summer vacation is now going to be a joint venture with my Mom and stepdad. This should cut the cost considerably.  I had assumed about $1000 for just me and the boys, but I'll bet we can get by with half of that...of course we might kill each other but whatever. 

Car sinking fund just never grows.  I had to get two new tires on the van this weekend, so while I keep adding, it keeps depleting. 

Fund	2016 Goal	Current	Needed	% Comp.
2016 Roth	$5500	$5500	$0	100.00%
2017 Roth	$5500	$3000	$2500	54.55%
Replacement Car	$3600	$3600	$0	100.00%
College	$2400	$1000	$1400	41.67%
Vacation	$3000	$3000	$0	100.00%
Pr. High School	$3750	$2000	$1750	53.33%
Car Maint	$1000	$750	$250	75.00%
Christmas	$1000	$1000	$0	100.00%
Sea Base	$500	$500	$0	100.00%
Y Membership	$500	$500	$0	100.00%
Total	$26750	$20850	$5900	77.94%

[/quote]

[snapdragon]

Snapdragon 4/26/16 --- $5077.47 / $10,000


Car/House $ 500.86 / $1500

Savings $ 1492.98/ $4000

Travel $ 3083.63 / $4500

New Totals $ 5077.47 / $10,000




I want to make sure I don't lose momentum.

[shanendoah]

shanendoah: 4/29/16 $2,450 (Goal: $7,250)

	Current	Goal	%
Launch Fund	$450	$1,250	36.0%
Family Savings	$2,000	$6,000	33.3%
Total	$2,450	$7,250	33.8%

Just being the turtle and plodding along, staying on track.

[Ombud]

May 1st update with 1 week on the new job, elections dept temp job starts tomorrow:

Roth
Walkway
♡ Solo vacation: 1100 of 2000

OMBUD $10,200 (1/1/16 $0, Goal $11,100)

[forwardwego]

WIR Savers 

[Saving4Norway]

Fund	2016 Goals	Last Month	This Month	% Met	Roses
Demark Trip	2000	0	0	0%
Vehicles	1000	0	0	0%
Gifts&Donations	2500	2000	2000	80%
MC Trips	3000	2000	2500	83%
Santiago 2019	2000	0	0	0%
Home Improvement	4500	2000	2500	56%
Cultural	2000	1000	1500	75%	March
Vacay Prop	1000	1000	1000	100%	April
Sisu	500	500	500	100%	February
Christmas & PS	500	250	250	50%
Quilting	500	0	0	0%
Seabrook	500	500	500	100%	April
TOTAL	20000	8750	10750	54%

Saving4Norway 4/30/16 $10,750 (Goal $20,000)

[movinonup]

movinonup 04/01/2016 $4,276.46 (Goal $24,829.61)

	Saved	Goal	% Saved	Periods Completed
Monthly Challenge	$460.00	$780.00	58.974%	6/12
Weekly Challenge	$508.00	$1,378.00	36.865%	12/52
Daily Challenge	$58.46	$671.61	8.704%	25/366
Skiing	$0.00	$2,000.00	0.000%
House Addition	$3,250.00	$20,000.00	16.250%
Total	$4,276.46	$24,829.61	17.223%

I had to pay my architect, so I credited that payment as part of my House Addition savings.  I'm a little behind in terms of the number of deposits for my Weekly and Daily Challenges.  I am going to try to catch up with those.    

-movinonup

[Jaguar]

Onward and upward creeping along in my baby steps!

Saving Funds	Goals	Current	% Saved	Woo Hoo
Moving Fund	$2,100	$114.74	5.5%	?
Gateway Voyage	$4,600	$0	0.00%	?
Everything Fund	$2,300	$0	0.00%	?
GRAND TOTAL	$9,000	$114.74	1.3%	?

Sugilite - 30/04/2016 - $114.74 - [NEW GOAL - $9,000] =


It's damn pitiful, BUT I'm marching on and I have to start somewhere. I'm a fighter, that's it, nothing else.

[seriousthistime]

Updates 

	Stars	Name	Amt Saved	Goal	% Saved	Roses	Smilies
1		azucena	$40,164	$50,000	80.3%
2		bankergurl	$16,678	$12,000	139.0%
3		chiver	$105	$1,378	7.6%
4		forwardwego	$3,213	$15,400	21.0%
5		gracendignity	$750	$3,000	25%
6		megaptera	$11,645	$19,500	59.7%
7		minnesota paintlady	$20,850	$26,750	77.9%
8		movinup	$4,276	$24,829	17.2%
9		Ombud	$10,200	$11,100	91.9%
10		Rocky Mtn Saver	$300	$1,000	30%
11		Saving4Norway	$10,750	$20,000	54.0%
12		scrgrl47	$19,066	$43,050	44.3%
13		sealy	$1,696	$12,400	13.7%
14		seriousthistime	$2,452	$8,148	30.0%
15		shanendoah	$2,450	$7,250	33.8%
16		snapdragon	$5,078	$10,000	50.8%
17		Sugilite	$115	$9,000	1.3%
18		teachermom	$3,155	$15,100	20.9%
19		TheHaitian	$15,835	$40,000	39.6%
20		tobinikui	$3,500	$5,000	70.0%

This month we are missing PauletteG and speechchick71 .  Please stop by and give us an update in May.

[forwardwego]

Shout Outs:

gracendignity That's a lot of transitions going on. Congratulations on $750 saved! I love your statement: "planning how I'm going to grow this decidedly small amount of money into a retirement fund. I've enjoyed my pity party long enough and it's time to get out my big girl undies and conquer my little corner of the world." You have recognized that you can do it! The seeds are in place and you are working it. I'm so glad you are here with the savers. When a lot of changes are going on it's good to have a lot of resources you can go to and count on. How are your coursework and quilts coming along?? 


Saving4Norway YAHOO for winning the silent auction! Denmark, Denmark, here she comes!!
Congratulations on your new total of over $10K and well over 50%!!!


bankergurl So much fun to surprise your mom with the payoff check!!! paying off a 4 year loan in 9 months is an awesome pace. What do you project as your payoff time for the appliances? I'm eager to see the goals you set up next. Woo Hoo for the $300 mower! It seems you and your "MO" are a debt-kicking, hardworking, savings team. How did you meet this match of yours? Regarding your question on suggestions for adjusting your goals: "BG", You are a whirlwind, I am hard pressed to offer any suggestions except to say move the overall total upward and go for the next dancing banana?

Jaguar You can do it...you've got your toes in the door. Dig in and keep on marching, keep on fighting! 


movinonup Good for you getting the architect paid! Your total has grown by leaps and bounds. Keep up the good work with the savings challenge goals. Putting aside a penny or a dollar or ten dollars may seem small, but you set a fine example of making it add up. 

Ombud $10,200 is GRRREAT! Only $800 more to get your
You did such an excellent job of putting that unexpected payback money to good use and not letting it slip through your fingers. I see that as one of the important but perhaps unexpected benefits of being a WIR Saver and having a written savings plan. Without a written plan it is just too easy to let unexpected income fade away.

shanendoah At $2450 and 33.8% accomplished your turtling has you right on track to win your saving race this year.

snapdragon Congratulations on having your savings up into the 5's, and your debt race down into the 3's. You are poised to be a "double winner" this year. So what do you think has helped you continue to maintain a balance between paying down and saving up?

minnesotapaintlady Congrats on that lovely bonus check. Nice work squeezing the budget to up the Pr. High School balance from $1000 to $2000, and a goal bump up too. And compliments to your DS for saving his mom 700 smackers and helping accelerate the 2017 ROTH savings. I'd love to hear more about the bathroom drawer account, and how I can acquire such a drawer You have really been saving bucks and cutting expenses at every turn. Saving on your vacation seems like a very big accomplishment to me. I live in a tourist area and I see a lot of people blow a lot of money on vacations. You are so far ahead of your total 2016 goal. Have you considered bumping up the replacement car goal amount?

tobinikui Thank you for keeping us updated on your sweet baby girl. And good job updating even though for now it's necessary for the amount to go down. When this phase passes you will be poised to make traction and start rolling the amount up again. (And Thank You for sharing your personal experience w/ the retirement gap.)

scrgrl47 Nice work on being over 44% to goal, and over $11K in your LT savings. I want my long term savings to grow up to look like yours . Yea for your raise! How exciting for you to be actively working toward creating your desirable work life, and overall balance. I am slowly working toward following your example of automated savings. It really shows in your updates how well the automatic savings can work.


seriousthistime Congratulations on climbing into the 30% range. And nice decluttering triple play:
recycling, freecycling, and shredding!


azucena $40,164 in your house down payment fund is awesome.
Good work identifying that eating out is a hole in your financial bucket. It would be easy to let that slide since you are saving at such a good level, but addressing it will help you go even further, even faster. Zoom

[forwardwego]

SHOUT OUTS continued:

TheHaitian Congratulations on nearly $16K saved and 35%. (You also have a lot of big issues and events underway.)  Keep up the good savings work   (IMHO I know it can feel difficult, but I would pay off the mattress since that's what the money was saved for.)

 
teachermom I'm eager to see your savings race car really fly now that you've rid yourself of CC debt!

chiver78 Hola, how goes it?
megaptera I see you're burning up the track on the racers' board

Rocky Mtn Saver How are you doing?

sealy I'm missing you..How are you?

And for speechchick71 and PauletteG :
(as Natalie Cole would sing) "I miss you like crazy, I miss you like crazy,..."


(Apologies for the dragged out shouts, my computer is struggling, poor old thing)

[forwardwego]

UPDATE 5/1/2016 $3299 (goal $15400)

2016 FUND	Present	Goal	% Met	$$$ Needed
Homestead EF	1570	2000	78	430
Vehicle XF	500	1500	33	1000
Medical XF	100	1500	6	1400
Travel	60	1000	6	940
SL Payoff	330	5000	6	4670
DD Wedding Pt 1	70	2000	3	1930
Rusty J Boxer Pt 1	110	1000	11	890
Weekly Challenge*	559	1400	39	841
TOTALS	3299	15400	21	12101

*Weekly challenge/53 Friday summary

1	2	3	X	5	6	7	8	9	X
11	12	13	X	X	X	17	18	19	X
X	22	23	X	25	26	27	28	29	X
31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	X
41	42	43	44	45	X	X	X	X	X
X	X	22

14+10+22+24+20+4+50+16+40+52
+48+30+15+21+51+49+47+46=559


We have a buyer for DH's motorcycle. If everything goes through as hoped I'll be meeting 2 of my goals, and adjusting my race to include building my retirement bridge account.

[chiver78]

forwardwego - hola! I am on track with the calendar savings. I had to pull $ out of EF to cover a cyclic low in the checkbook, but that will be going back in next payday.