Women in Red Savers 2017

[movinonup]

TheHaitian saving and payinng off your debts are not mutually exclusive

[Deleted]

Feb 17, 2017 23:55:11 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Bills, bills, bills!!!!

My share of the birth bills comes to about ~12k... and I am considering using HSA Account to pay for it.

So that is about ~2 years of contributions to pay it off, it is depressing to save money only to spend it right there.

So why be part of a saving group if really not going to save for the year, more so pay down debt.

I know it sucks, but all savings are meant to be spent eventually, and that's what the HSA was for...to pile up for years for the big medical bill hit that you can't just cashflow.  Keeping sinking funds is an important part of getting out of debt, without the money in savings, you would be just that much more in the hole, so it wasn't for nothing. 

At least you got something worthwhile out of that 12K.  A beautiful baby girl is a thousand times better than having all those bills for bunion surgery or a series of MRIs. 

[sealy]

going backwards I need to pay for fire sprinkler repair.

[finnime]

Finnime - 2/18/2017            $103.98   [ $2,996.50 ]

	Saved	Goal	% Saved	Periods Completed
Weekly Challenge	$48.00	$1,378	3.48	07/52
Daily Dime Challenge	33.60	$954.20	3.52	47/365
Penny Challenge	22.38	$664.30	3.37	47/365
Total    EF	$103.98	$2,996.50	3.47%

Bit by bit. DH spent week in hospital, so spent some $$ on snacks, parking. He's home now, though. All is well.

[shopaholic814]

Haitian: I agree it is so depressing to see all of that savings gone, but I also agree that it is so much better to have it saved for reasons like your daughter or an emergency. And you have an excellent reason to spend your money. Do you have to spend it all? Will the hospital take payments? We made payments when my kids were born, didn't have the cash.

When we redo our bathrooms, all of our savings will be gone. We will be lucky if we have any money left over at all. So I'm putting cash into a house that I despise. I would rather it burn to the ground than spend $6000 building & renovating bathrooms. But I'm stuck in this house b/c of where DH works, and I can't afford to move.

[TheHaitian]

Thanks everyone .... have not pull the trigger yet and trying to consider our options!

waiting to see what my bonus is (not expecting much) but will put that towards one of the cards and medical bill.

And yes plan on calling the hospital tomorrow morning and see if we can enter into payment plan with them...

Just got to figure it all out!

[nikiz628]

It's beginning to look like my savings goals for this year may have been a bit...lofty. With the ongoing renovations to our home, I am quickly realizing there isn't as much *extra* money as I thought their would be. I think I will be re-evaluating my goals for this year and making some minor changes that are more attainable.

[forwardwego]

 Have been away, my catch up update:
Update 2/17/2017 $14220 (Start $12165, Goal $32000)

2017 FUND	Present	Goal	% Met	$$ Needed
EF Bridge	5000	10000	50	5000
Veh XF	800	1500	53	700
Med XF	520	1500	34	980
Rental Margin	2000	10000	20	8000
DD invest/gift	3900	5000	78	1100
Rusty J Boxer Pt2	1600	2000	80	400
Weekly Challenge*	400	2000	20	1640
TOTALS	14220	32000	44	17780

*$50 base + (sum of $12 thru $63) = $2000

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	53	54	55	56	57	58	59	60	61
62	63

[lund]

TheHaitian, Don't forget to ask if you get any percentage off if you pay the bill in one cash payment! (Not by cc, which may cost them more to accept.)
Some previous posters have gotten a few percent off doing that, which adds up when the amounts are large.
The hospital is probably used to payment plans. They may say yes, no, or ask why you are inquiring about both the pay-off cost and the plan, which you should have a friendly answer for, even if the question is very nosy and none of their business at all. (Like, "I can borrow money from another source." After all, some people have open credit lines or in-laws to borrow from.)

(And check that the bills are correct, as well.)

[TheHaitian]

I just need an unbiased look into our finances. Cannot post on YM, my simple thinking outside the box question as proven that about the Uber driving.

Just need to make a decision and stick with it!

[zibazinski]

Jan 25, 2017 15:45:27 GMT -5 Jaguar said:

My money that comes in is all direct deposited into my bank accounts. I'll either be WOO HOOing on February 10, or you won't see me cause I'll be on the phone with Revenue Canada giving them shit so bad their ears will ring for years.

Seriously either they straighten this out for February 10th, or else I'm calling someone who will get them straightened out. I am completely finished dealing with them.

I had the state of Oregon sending me nasty letters saying I owed them money. Then they sent me a refund check. Aaah!!!

[zibazinski]

Feb 17, 2017 23:55:11 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Bills, bills, bills!!!!

My share of the birth bills comes to about ~12k... and I am considering using HSA Account to pay for it.

So that is about ~2 years of contributions to pay it off, it is depressing to save money only to spend it right there.

So why be part of a saving group if really not going to save for the year, more so pay down debt.

Carl, you have it saved, use it and don't feel guilty or stressed over it. It's there to be used. If you think this will be the last time you use that account, you'd be mistaken. Kids are going to run fevers and break limbs. Better to use it to pay down your debts and get that off your mind.

[Jaguar]

Feb 20, 2017 18:39:49 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

Jan 25, 2017 15:45:27 GMT -5 Jaguar said:

My money that comes in is all direct deposited into my bank accounts. I'll either be WOO HOOing on February 10, or you won't see me cause I'll be on the phone with Revenue Canada giving them shit so bad their ears will ring for years.

Seriously either they straighten this out for February 10th, or else I'm calling someone who will get them straightened out. I am completely finished dealing with them.

I had the state of Oregon sending me nasty letters saying I owed them money. Then they sent me a refund check. Aaah!!!

No nasty letters yet, but that's cause I caught their error, they gave me too much money. I do not keep what is not mine. And I'm like a nasty bull terrier when I gotta fight something.

You should see me with my doctors and surgeons, I let them all know who is boss, and it ain't any of them.

[teachermom]

shopaholic814 For your savings goals....don't you know what you need for some of the categories? For example, is Insurance to pay your yearly insurance amount? Or your deductible should you have an issue? What do you need to be able to do that? That should be the goal for that.

How about Christmas? What did you spend last year? Do you anticipate it being the same? Higher? Less? That would be your goal there.

Vacation? Where are you going? How long will you be gone? How will you get there? Where will you stay? What will you do? Etc.....once you know some of those things you can set your goal.

What other things should you be saving for? Do you have a car maintenance fund? How about home maintenance fund? I have tons of small goals and try to figure out what I would need for each. For me, it helps to have all the small pools of money for each specific savings need and I have separate accounts with CapitalOne360 for each one. My boyfriend on the other hand, he has 1 pool of money and as long as there is a certain amount in there then he feels ok with that for his savings. Do what is best for you.

Good Luck!
Teachermom

[shopaholic814]

We have no idea where we are going on our vacation/very late honeymoon, or if its ever going to happen. We've been trying to go for 10 years, but something always comes up & we have to use the $ for something else. We got married in 2001, & I was in a car accident 1 month before the wedding, we spent the first 5 years of our marriage paying off medical bills. I've had medical bills ever since & job inconsistency as well. There are always other more important things that come up. 

We pay our Car Insurance in 3 payments, June, July & November. Its a crazy payment schedule, and last year we paid it in all in July so we weren't making a payment during Christmastime. So I can adjust my savings schedule for that. 

Christmas we always go overboard for our kids, they don't get much throughout the year, just basic necessities. So when Christmas comes we go over.  We buy clothes from second-hand stores often, and my kids are fine with that for now. My oldest is getting pickier as he gets older though, which I can understand. And my 2nd gets his brother's hand me downs, as long as they are still in decent shape. I refuse to buy used shoes though. With all the knee issues DH & I both have, I will not take any chances of putting my kids knees/ankles in danger on unstable footing. 

The Car & Travel accounts are in CapitalOne accounts & are on an Auto-Fund every month, but its a small amount while we pay off debt. The Car account has been a repair/replacement savings account until we needed some of the money for some major car repairs last year on both of our vehicles which drained the account. I'm glad we had the account, but we are back to square one with saving. 

And actually, I need to change my chart anyway. I forgot that part of my savings is already earmarked for medical savings, I'm having surgery in a couple months.  $1000 of the total is for medical, I knew I forgot something.  This is why I dropped out of the savings thread in the first place, I kept messing up all of my totals. Sorry guys.

I guess my question here is when I spend $$ toward our bathroom renovation, that drops my total saved. I'll never get to the amount I set for myself. Just like with the Car Insurance, b/c I make several payments on the total amount. Am I making this more difficult than I need to?

[seriousthistime]

Just get started, shopaholic814.  Make a chart, post it, and you can switch, add, or subtract the categories, and revise your goals at any time. Nothing is set in stone unless YOU set it in stone. 

The biggest step is to get started.

[teachermom]

shopaholic814 I understand the frustration. Last year I started and stopped so many times and if you look at my chart, it is way more than I will save this year and some get used yearly and resaved the next year. I have a spent column so I can see what I saved and reach my goal but then also how much of it I spent. Savings is always for eventual spending so if you have a goal for the year, show what you have done and then what you have spent you will have a more accurate reflection and then won't feel like you aren't making any progress. Let me know if you need help setting it  up.

Teachermom

[shopaholic814]

teachermom: I might take you up on that offer. I have my debt chart which I'm trying to adjust for savings & I'm not very good at Excel spreadsheets.  As you can see, I just deleted my previous chart after realizing that I forgot my medical savings line. I'll try to find your chart & see if I can adjust my own accordingly. Most of our savings is in just a basic bank savings account, not broken into different account like a CapitalOne Account is. 

[teachermom]

shopaholic814 If you want to message me the account names, starting balance (today). I can send you a spreadsheet that is monthly with the formulas set up.

It is ok if it is 1 account or in separate....whatever works for you. This will just be an accounting of how much is for each line item.

My email is: [e-mail]

Teachermom

[forwardwego]

Feb 19, 2017 15:02:43 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Thanks everyone .... have not pull the trigger yet and trying to consider our options!

waiting to see what my bonus is (not expecting much) but will put that towards one of the cards and medical bill.

And yes plan on calling the hospital tomorrow morning and see if we can enter into payment plan with them...

Just got to figure it all out!

It is a whole lot to figure out, but your post includes a lot of good plans: considering options, waiting for bonus, researching w hospital finance. So much about money is stressful, but just wanted to commend you for your active approach. Also good job opening up here for input...savers thread rocks.

[forwardwego]

Feb 22, 2017 11:24:20 GMT -5 shopaholic814 said:

We have no idea where we are going on our vacation/very late honeymoon, or if its ever going to happen. We've been trying to go for 10 years, but something always comes up & we have to use the $ for something else. We got married in 2001, & I was in a car accident 1 month before the wedding, we spent the first 5 years of our marriage paying off medical bills. I've had medical bills ever since & job inconsistency as well. There are always other more important things that come up. 

We pay our Car Insurance in 3 payments, June, July & November. Its a crazy payment schedule, and last year we paid it in all in July so we weren't making a payment during Christmastime. So I can adjust my savings schedule for that. 

Christmas we always go overboard for our kids, they don't get much throughout the year, just basic necessities. So when Christmas comes we go over.  We buy clothes from second-hand stores often, and my kids are fine with that for now. My oldest is getting pickier as he gets older though, which I can understand. And my 2nd gets his brother's hand me downs, as long as they are still in decent shape. I refuse to buy used shoes though. With all the knee issues DH & I both have, I will not take any chances of putting my kids knees/ankles in danger on unstable footing. 

The Car & Travel accounts are in CapitalOne accounts & are on an Auto-Fund every month, but its a small amount while we pay off debt. The Car account has been a repair/replacement savings account until we needed some of the money for some major car repairs last year on both of our vehicles which drained the account. I'm glad we had the account, but we are back to square one with saving. 

And actually, I need to change my chart anyway. I forgot that part of my savings is already earmarked for medical savings, I'm having surgery in a couple months.  $1000 of the total is for medical, I knew I forgot something.  This is why I dropped out of the savings thread in the first place, I kept messing up all of my totals. Sorry guys.

I guess my question here is when I spend $$ toward our bathroom renovation, that drops my total saved. I'll never get to the amount I set for myself. Just like with the Car Insurance, b/c I make several payments on the total amount. Am I making this more difficult than I need to?

Keep up your good work on searching through your finance trends and habits!

I have also struggled with how to manage an account that is being built up but also being spent. One possibility: For the bathroom renovation money have 2 lines: bathroom reno save and bathroom reno spend. 


ETA: You could choose just one (or a few) category to track here. The first year I was on savers thread i only tracked my EF. The rest happened off the thread but my accountability to the EF was better and then the 2nd year I was ready to add more categories. 

Congrats Shop on  10 years of marriage....make that 16 years of marriage!!!...That's a wonderful accomplishment. 

[forwardwego]

example:

Jan 10,  2017	present	goal	% met	$$ needed
bathroom	1000	5000	20	4000
bathroom spent	0	0	0	0
total	1000	5000	20	4000

then you spend $300 for the bath reno:

Jan 20,     2017	present	goal	% met	$$ needed
bathroom	700	4700	15	4000
bathroom spent	300	300	100	0
total	1000	5000	20	4000

each time you spend, the lines for bathroom and bathroom spent change, but total is same. I have not used this yet myself, but probably will. I might keep this type of table in my own notes (maybe keep a notebook or folder that would also include the receipts for tax purpose). Then just use the total line as part of my update table/post.

ETA sorry, forgot the borders on the second table, doesn't read as well

[teachermom]

forwardwego Is there a special code that needs to be entered when you post the spreadsheet to get the gridlines? Mine never posts the lines.

Teachermom

[Jaguar]

Doesn't everyone use this button like I do ? This button >> << 5th one over, third set.

[Deleted]

When you use the box that Jaguar mentioned, there is a check box on the bottom that says "border".  That will put in the grid lines.

I just go through all that once, then I quote my previous posts the rest of the year.

[teachermom]

Oh, maybe it is because I copy and paste mine from an excel spreadsheet that is set up with the HTML code.

Thanks!
Teachermom

[Jaguar]

I just copy and paste from a previous post of mine on here and change the numbers as I need to do.

[TheHaitian]

I talked to the Hospital and they have a time frame limit on the payments... it is 12 months to pay off the balance in full.

With a manager's approval they can increase it to 18 months....I am not sure we have enough room in our budget to afford to pay it off in that timeframe!

Seems HSA will be the way to go!

[shopaholic814]

Forward: DH & I have been together since 1995 when we started dating in college. We got married in '01 & have been trying to go on a delayed honeymoon for over 10 years. I honestly don't think it will happen. This fall we will celebrate 16 yrs of marriage but this march marks 22 years we have been together. I wish we could afford to go on vacation together but it's just not in the cards right now. Too many other more important things to save for

[forwardwego]

Update 2/24/2017 $15099 (Start $12165, Goal $32000)

2017 FUND	Present	Goal	% Met	$$ Needed
EF Bridge	5240	10000	52	4760
Veh XF	800	1500	53	700
Med XF	550	1500	36	950
Rental Margin	2150	10000	21	7850
DD invest/gift	4000	5000	80	1000
Rusty J Boxer Pt2	1600	2000	80	400
Weekly Challenge*	459	2000	23	1541
TOTALS	15099	32000	47	16901

*$50 base + (sum of $12 thru $63) = $2000

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	53	54	55	56	57	58	59	60	61
62	63

Happy Friday Savers   
Keep up the good work: saving, asking questions of ourselves and each other, sharing and supporting each other...hard to believe it's free to be a member here