Women in Red Savers 2018

[debthaven]

That's a great idea finnime! Thank you!

[plugginaway22]

Yes, for me joining this thread is all about increasing our EF/savings so that I feel more secure.  We are already sending all that we can to 401Ks. The house is paid off, and I still have a car note, our only debt.  But with our level of income and spending, anyone would say, 'You do not have enough saved in an EF!!!" 

This thread has made me question all the spending we have been doing, so I can at least say each month that after all buying, something still went into savings.

We are empty-nesters who have been in this house for almost 25 years and things are starting to fall apart!  We replaced the rotting fence, got new patio table and umbrella, new lawnmower, have been updating rooms and getting rid of excess furniture and accessories.  We re-did the kitchen 5 years ago, but at that time did not replace the refrigerator.  Our mattress is about 15 years old and just needs to go.  My washer and dryer are also about 15 years old, but still working perfectly.  DH says the deck off of our kitchen will need to be replaced in the near future. He also has been itching to get a new to him car...his has 150k miles on it.

[seriousthistime]

WELCOME, debthaven!

Without knowing numbers, I'd focus first on what you said you wanted to do with the cash: hoard it.  Figure out a name for it, and put it in a savings account.  Leave it there until you do the reno's. Are they real reno's or major redecorating?  Do you know how much the reno's will be, just ballpark?  Do you expect to use all of the studio money for reno's?  If it will be more than what you have in savings, you might need to add that to your savings goals with a starting balance of what is in there now, and a goal of what you will need.

Then set up a chart with goals for Computer 1, Computer 2, and Kitchen. You say you're waiting for the new Mac Air? (Good choice, by the way.)  Do you want to pay off the kitchen loan more quickly than the 189 E per month?  How much are the computers likely to be?  That's your goal for those line items, and the principal balance on the kitchen loan would be your goal for that line.  Seems like the goal for DS3's computer would be half of your goal since it's coming out of the joint account.  Starting numbers for all would be $0. As you pay down the kitchen loan with regular payments and maybe more, update the amount "saved" by the amount you reduced the kitchen loan by. Then for the computers, decide how you want to allocate money.  I bought my Macbook Air on an Apple credit card at 0% interest for some period of time, and of course I had to make sure it was actually paid off by then.  That's a Racing goal, for sure. I don't know whether that deal is still around.  But if you can get good financing, take the savings you've got toward the two computers and if there's one you've saved enough for, pay cash for that one.  Likely, that would be DS3's computer since you'd only be paying half.  Then take out a 0% loan for your computer.  If DH wants to put his half of DS3's computer on a credit card, he can pay that account off with funds from his (not joint) account, since you've already paid cash. 

Saving money to pay off loans is a worthy Saving goal.  All savings is meant to be spent at some point, even retirement savings.  

[debthaven]

Thank you Serious! You've given me a lot to think about. And yes as far as I know the Apple deal is still around. 

[forwardwego]

May-ish Shoutouts Part 1 of 2:

Welcome aboard debthaven 

I see May updated totals for azucena  chiver78  finnime  Jaguar
lazysundays Maryland Monroe  minnesotapaintlady  nikiz628  
plugginaway22 _@seriousthistime shanendoah  steph08  teachermom  tobinikui  


If you had a May update and aren't listed please message me so I can correct that and include you in Shoutouts.

azucena Great Job with 4 updates in 30 days, and nearly $800 more saved. And you are more than on target for the year at 44.1% to goal 

chiver78 Good for you remembering more often than not! $318 and nearly 35% to goal! Keep on cleaning out wallets (and such) and putting that in "the kitty"! (And good job ditching debt. It feels good to fire the credit card companies.) 

finnime Congratulations on building $612 more in savings, and reaching over 49% on your EF goal!

Jaguar Very good having the first half of the vaccine covered and accomplishing some steps on your moving goal too! Hoping June goes well for you too!

lazysundays I love your trampoline elephant.  Welcome aboard. Congrats on $1275 and many grand to come. 

Maryland Monroe Gained well over sweet sixteen hundred ($1666) in May, and scored your third star already , woohoo! 

minnesotapaintlady Though it wasn't as great as you'd hoped, $1460 is solid growth! Very nice YTD with 62.7% and  .

[forwardwego]

May-ish Shoutouts Part 2 of 2:



If you had a May update and I've overlooked please message me.


tobinikui Congratulations on growing another $3325 in savings. Your life has a lot of pulls on it in different directions. Was glad to see your family had a nice staycation and that you and your DH had some time with other adults and each other.  I agree that paying off seems easier than saving up. I think that's our society and the times, and we are here waking ourselves up to grow our savings muscles as well. (If I had pic of a flexing arm I could put it here). Good job on decluttering too, and keep on swimming 


teachermom Nice work adding $1928 this past month, and thanks because now I can say my favorite corny thing....Two Grand is TOO grand!!!
Glad your knee surgery went well and hope your rehabbing will eventually allow you to do whatever you want. Times like these make it extra great to be a saver, much less stress on the financial side. 

steph08 Nice work! $4982 and painfully close to 25%  . How about STA_? You are starting off so strong and consistent!!! So glad you decided to join 

shanendoah And while we are on topic of consistent...You have done so well of consistently updating even when it was tough or the amount was small, and that has really paid off, good growth in May for new total of $1700   

seriousthistime Thank you WIRSaver Friend for the updates and smileys 
Congratulations to you on a good saving month in May adding well over 10% of your savings goal! 

plugginaway22 Congrats on growing past the $10K mark and past the 60% to goal mark. So fun blowing past the milestones 

nikiz628 Welcome back from your family vacay  , and even though Murphy reared his ugly head you managed to push forward by a smidge...that's a win in my book 

[seriousthistime]

Update

	Goal	Amt. Saved 6/15/18	% Saved	Roses
Survival fund	$6,000	$2,405	40.1%
Property tax	$5,000	$2,767	55.3%
Household Exp.	$1,000	$750	75.0%
Weekly Savings	$1,898	$970	51.2%
Gifts	$2,600	$1,310	50.0%
EF increase	$2,600	$1,305	50.0%
Pet care	$600	$603	100.0%
Misc. Exp.	$800	$455	51.3%
Total	$20,498	$10,585	51.6%

Seriousthistime, 6/15/18, $10,585 (Goal $20,498) 

 
I'm happy with my progress, although I'd of course love it to be better.  But for this point in the year, I'm okay.  Having a fully funded Pet Care fund helps my pup sleep better at night. 


Weekly Savings chart:

$11	$12	$13	$14		$16
$18	$19		$21		$23	$24
$25		$27		$29		$31
		$34			$37
$39	$40		$42	$43	$44
$46		$48		$50		$52
$53		$55	$56

[forwardwego]

UPDATE (and revamp) 6/18/2018 $31800 (begin 6780, goal 44000)

2018	PRESENT	GOAL	% MET	$$ TO GO
VEH INS Part 1	2000	2000	100
VEH INS Part 2	800	2000	40	1200
DD Starter 401K	2200	3000	73	800
DDIL 401K	3000	3000	100
Baby STEP 3	11000	18000	61	7000
BS 3 (pups)	800	4000	20	3200
Rental Margin	10000	10000	100
SL Payoff	2000	2000	100
TOTAL	31800	44000	72	12200

Finally overhauled the goals and plan. I hope to be more present here now that my plan is current to my situation.

[debthaven]

I've been thinking about seriousthistime 's questions.

- There are two bedrooms that were badly damaged with the subsidence, AND that haven't been done in 15+ years. So they really need redoing. We are not planning to do those this year but they are definitely on the cards. They both need paint (including a lot of plaster work) and new flooring, but no new furniture. The goal is to do one next year, and one the following year. So I'm not going to worry about that now.

- The exterior of the house needs painting, it was done 19 years ago. However, I'm not going to worry about that now either.

As I think most of you know, my DH was badly injured in a bicycle accident 7 years ago, he is disabled. The court case is still pending. In theory, he should get compensation for that at some point, but the French wheels of justice work VERY slowly. If or when that payout ever happens, he may opt to offer to pay for one or both bedrooms or to pay for the outside paint job. But for now, I'm putting those items aside. Also, we were told to wait for one year before doing anything "cosmetic"to those rooms to make sure that the subsidence problem has been resolved. We'll find out in Feb 2019 (one year after the resin injections). But I know my house, and I know it HAS been resolved, thank Gd!

So setting those items aside for now, I'm going to start very slowly. For now I will focus on saving for my new computer, and DS3's new computer (his 20th birthday present). We have yours/mine/our accounts, so DS3's computer will either come out of our "our" account, or DH and I will split the cost. Even if I have to take out interest-free loans from Apple, or pay ourselves back, it would be great to owe (or have to reimburse) less!

I have saved about 30% of the proceeds of the sale. I put 15% into each of our savings accounts. It is such an amazing feeling to finally have savings again!!!

We also have another rental. The rental itself is in good shape, but the building is falling apart. So at some point we will have to pay for our part of the building reno (about 4K).

So for now I have three goals:

- 100e/mo for my computer from my account

- 100e/mo for DS3's computer from our joint account

- (stretch goal) 100e/mo from our joint account for our kitchen loan

I do realize that the kitchen loan is technically a "racers" goal and not a "savers" goal, but I'd like to try to save the money to pay down that loan. Also, although it's wonderful to finally have savings, by selling that studio, we are also losing 500 euros a month (gross) in income. I have to see how that pans out.

The computers won't last another year but I would like to finally get into the habit of saving again. I'm hoping to start in July but I may only start in Sept because I earn next to nothing in Aug.

Thanks for the welcome! I'm very excited to finally be here!

[lazysundays]

Update

Lazysundays 6/25/18  $3221/$60,000 by spring 2020.   5.3% of goal. 


At this rate, it would take 40 months. Need to throw those extra paychecks into this pile. 

[Maryland Monroe]

I'll be back on Friday with my monthly update, but this month there won't be much progress, if any. I had a quarterly expense this month, and my granddaughter is getting married this afternoon!!

[nikiz628]

Jun 26, 2018 9:34:36 GMT -5 Maryland Monroe said:

I'll be back on Friday with my monthly update, but this month there won't be much progress, if any. I had a quarterly expense this month, and my granddaughter is getting married this afternoon!!

Congratulations to your granddaughter! Best wishes to the happy couple! 

[nikiz628]

UPDATE: 

2018	START	CURRENT	GOAL	STILL NEEDED
E.F.	$760.00	$1863.45	$2000.00	$136.55
DS1'S SAVINGS	$1528.06	$1667.29	$1750.00	$82.71
DS2'S SAVINGS	$425.33	$550.00	$550.00	$0 GOAL MET
DISNEY FUND	$1895.47	$5000.00	$5000.00	$0 GOAL MET
TOTALS	$4608.86	$9080.74	$9300.00	$219.26

NikiZ628 6/26/18 $9080.74 (Goal $9,300 WIRS1)


I am *this* close to hitting the goal for my E.F., in fact I will hit it next month for sure ($40 is auto added each Friday). DS1's savings will probably sit until his birthday. We will deposit any birthday money he gets in September into this account. Hopefully, it will hit the goal with that, if not, I will make up the difference. I am working on some new goals for the 2nd half of the year, to keep me motivated! 

[shanendoah]

shanendoah: 27-June 2018 $1850 (Goal: $2,500/stretch $5,000)

Three more paychecks since last updated; another $150 into savings - And I haven't even had to touch it lately.

I did do an early dispersal of one of my retirement accounts. This is giving us earnest money and wiggle room for maids and other help getting the house ready for market. Plan is for it to go on the market next weekend. And I suppose this also means we actually need to find a new place.

[seriousthistime]

Update

	Goal	Amt. Saved 6/29/18	% Saved	Roses
Survival fund	$6,000	$2,405	40.1%
Property tax	$5,000	$2,967	59.3%
Household Exp.	$1,000	$900	90.0%
Weekly Savings	$1,898	$1,081	57.0%
Gifts	$2,600	$1,410	54.2%
EF increase	$2,600	$1,405	54.0%
Pet care	$600	$603	100.0%
Misc. Exp.	$800	$490	61.3%
Total	$20,498	$11,261	54.9%

Seriousthistime, 6/29/18, $11,261 (Goal $20,498) 

 
Just plugging along.


Weekly Savings chart:

$11	$12	$13	$14		$16
$18	$19		$21		$23	$24
$25		$27		$29		$31
		$34			$37
$39	$40		$42	$43	$44
$46		$48		$50		$52
$53

[plugginaway22]

plugginaway22, 7/1/18  $11,010 (goal $16,800)

         Accounts    7/1/18         2018 Goal 
EF-     online       $3234             $5000     
EF- brick bank    $4676             $7000

Tax Escrow         $3100             $4800



Totals                  $11,010           $16,800

(the HSA account balance is now $3836)

Making progress but OH how I want to spend....planning 2 trips right now, and wondering how to limit spending as a grandparent...DD is due in Nov. with our first grandchild  .

[Maryland Monroe]

Update: Maryland Monroe $16,646 6/29/18 (Goal $20000)

[azucena]

Jun 15, 2018 10:46:12 GMT -5 azucena said:

Jun 1, 2018 7:31:09 GMT -5 azucena said:

6/15/18 Azucena $12,614 of $25,000 for 50% (stretch $35,000 36%)

Payday update deposit $647

6/29/18 Azucena $13,261 of $25,000 for 53% (stretch $35,000 38%)

[Deleted]

Crawling along.  Worst part is I raided the House Maint fund big time to fix up my basement bedrooms from the flood (that happened 6 years ago!).  I didn't take money out of the amount I saved.  Screw it.  It WAS saved. 

Fund	2018 Goal	Current	Needed	% Complete
Survival Fund	$6000	$6000	$0	100.00%
2019 Roth	$5500	$2300	$3200	41.82%
House Maint	$3000	$3000	$0	100.00%
College	$2400	$1400	$1400	58.33%
Replacement Car	$2000	$200	$1800	10.00%
Pr. High School	$1000	$1000	$0	100.00%
Vacation	$1000	$0	$1000	0.00%
Christmas	$600	$230	$370	38.33%
Total	$21,500	$14130	$7370	65.72%

minnesotapaintlady, $14130 6/29/18 (goal $21,500)

[seriousthistime]

Hi Savers,

The end of June, and the first half of 2018, are upon us.

Sunday is July 1.  I will do the updates Monday evening, July 2.  I realize this puts everyone in a bit of a rush, but with the holiday soon to follow, we might forget if we don't get them done before the holiday.

 

[steph08]

steph08, $6,087.98, 6/29/2018, Goal $20,000

Over 30% completed toward my goal!

[finnime]

Daily and Weekly Savings Goal

Month	Week	Goal	Total Saved	Percent of Goal Met
1		30.38	38.25	125.91%
2		75.42	88.00	116.68%
3		148.55	168.00	112.21%
4		174.26	182.00	104.44%
5		219.30	228.00	103.97%
6		320.90	336.00	104.71%
7		385.65	416.00	107.87%
8		371.94	397.00	106.74%
9		416.98	437.00	104.80%
	40
	41
Annual		3,778.06	2,290.25	60.62%

Basis:

Daily: .01 x day of year + Weekly: (.10 x day of year) + 1.00 x week of year + Monthly: 10.00 x month of year

Category	Goal	Amount	Saved	Percentage
Sinking	House	10,000	200	2.00%
	Car	2,500	130	5.20%
	Dog	500
	Medical	1000
	Gifts,  Miscellaneous	3000
Security	EF	3,500	2,290.25	60.62%
Survival	3 Months Expenses	6,000	355.00	5.92%
Future	Nest Egg	500
Fun	Finland Fund	5000
Total		32,000	2975.25	9.30%

Finnime 6/30/2018 $2,975.25 ($32,000)

Nothing added, net, to the non-EF funds. I did buy a dehumidifier for the very wet basement, at $298 including extended warranty because they seem to break down after a year or so. It's working well, a needed home improvement. Rather than add in the $300 just to subtract, I'm leaving totals as is. Still will need $10,000 for all the house needs.

[seriousthistime]

Jun 23, 2018 19:21:07 GMT -5 debthaven said:

I've been thinking about seriousthistime 's questions.

- There are two bedrooms that were badly damaged with the subsidence, AND that haven't been done in 15+ years. So they really need redoing. We are not planning to do those this year but they are definitely on the cards. They both need paint (including a lot of plaster work) and new flooring, but no new furniture. The goal is to do one next year, and one the following year. So I'm not going to worry about that now.

- The exterior of the house needs painting, it was done 19 years ago. However, I'm not going to worry about that now either.

As I think most of you know, my DH was badly injured in a bicycle accident 7 years ago, he is disabled. The court case is still pending. In theory, he should get compensation for that at some point, but the French wheels of justice work VERY slowly. If or when that payout ever happens, he may opt to offer to pay for one or both bedrooms or to pay for the outside paint job. But for now, I'm putting those items aside. Also, we were told to wait for one year before doing anything "cosmetic"to those rooms to make sure that the subsidence problem has been resolved. We'll find out in Feb 2019 (one year after the resin injections). But I know my house, and I know it HAS been resolved, thank Gd!

So setting those items aside for now, I'm going to start very slowly. For now I will focus on saving for my new computer, and DS3's new computer (his 20th birthday present). We have yours/mine/our accounts, so DS3's computer will either come out of our "our" account, or DH and I will split the cost. Even if I have to take out interest-free loans from Apple, or pay ourselves back, it would be great to owe (or have to reimburse) less!

I have saved about 30% of the proceeds of the sale. I put 15% into each of our savings accounts. It is such an amazing feeling to finally have savings again!!!

We also have another rental. The rental itself is in good shape, but the building is falling apart. So at some point we will have to pay for our part of the building reno (about 4K).

So for now I have three goals:

- 100e/mo for my computer from my account

- 100e/mo for DS3's computer from our joint account

- (stretch goal) 100e/mo from our joint account for our kitchen loan

I do realize that the kitchen loan is technically a "racers" goal and not a "savers" goal, but I'd like to try to save the money to pay down that loan. Also, although it's wonderful to finally have savings, by selling that studio, we are also losing 500 euros a month (gross) in income. I have to see how that pans out.

The computers won't last another year but I would like to finally get into the habit of saving again. I'm hoping to start in July but I may only start in Sept because I earn next to nothing in Aug.

Thanks for the welcome! I'm very excited to finally be here!

What is your current thought on savings goals and start date?  I can help you put together a chart if needed. 

[debthaven]

seriousthistime I'm still waiting for one more paycheck before I decide. Thank you.

[Jaguar]

This is just my Summer 2018 Survival Savings. Just hanging on for June & July nothing new to add. I got the first Shingrix vaccine on June 8th, so that's now started.

Saving Funds	Saving Goals	Current Saved	Percentage Saved	Woo Hoo Factor
Shingrix	$280.00	$140.00	50%	?
Moving Fund #1	$3,800	$60.00	1.58%	?
GRAND TOTALS	$4,080	$200.00	4.90%	?

Jaguar ~ $200.00 ~ 7/1/2018 ~ GOAL ~ $4080

[forwardwego]

UPDATE 7/7/2018 $32500 (begin 6780, goal 44000)

2018	PRESENT	GOAL	% MET	$$ TO GO
VEH INS Part 1	2000	2000	100
VEH INS Part 2	1000	2000	50	1000
DD Starter IRA	2400	3000	80	600
DDIL IRA	3000	3000	100
Baby STEP 3	11200	18000	62	6800
EF Pups	900	4000	22	3100
Rental Margin	10000	10000	100
SL Payoff	2000	2000	100
TOTAL	32500	44000	73	11500

Getting adjusted to the new goals and plan. 

[chiver78]

I'm pretty sure I've forgotten the past three weeks. it's at least two, I know that much. I need to count the weeks and see how many cards are in the jar and go from there. will update soon. it's been a whirlwind few weeks, having just started a new job two weeks ago.

[debthaven]

New Saver

Debthaven 100 euros on 1 July 2018 (Goal: 600 euros)

I'm still waiting for one more (small) paycheck but I decided to start. I haven't saved a cent for years, so I've decided to start small. My only goal for now is to save 100/m towards a new computer for me.

We've also saved 30% of the proceeds of the rental sale but I'm not tracking that here. We may eventually use some of it for home or rental improvements (or even DS3's computer).

 

ETA: I realize I never gave figures for the medium-term projects. This is ballpark:

- 4-5K per bedroom, so 8-10K for both bedrooms

- 10-15K to repaint the outside of our house

- 4-5K for the (rental) building renovation

We will probably use the studio money for SOME of that. But like seriousthistime 's pup, having money in savings helps me sleep at night too.

FYI, DH and I are OK with having ONE smallish home improvement loan at a time. For now we still have the kitchen loan. 

[trimatty471]

Jun 4, 2018 7:18:35 GMT -5 trimatty471 said:

Jan 5, 2018 8:34:59 GMT -5 trimatty471 said:

Trimatty 06/30/2018:  $10,005.00 (Goal = $17,300)

2018	Goal	Current	Need	Complete %
Roth IRA	1,200.00	1200.00	0	100.00%
Countdown to debt payoff	10,000.00	3,675.00	6,325.00	36.75%
Vacation	2,400.00	1,930.00	470.00	80.42%
Replace	1,200.00	1,200.00	0	100.00%
Home Maintenance	1,000.00	1000.00	0	100.00%
Holiday	1,500.00	1,000.00	500.00	66.67%
Total	$17,300.00	$10,005.00	$7,295.00	57.83%

I was able to add a lot to my account through travel reimbursement, Citi Rewind rebates and the 3-paycheck month helped.  
For the month of July, I plan on participating in an Uber Frugal Challenge.  I do not know how that is going to work because July being a holiday month, I have the potential to go overboard.  But we will see...

[seriousthistime]

June updates!

Stars	Name	Amt. Saved	Goal	% Saved	Roses	Smilies
	Ava	$2,621	$5,500	47.7%
	azucena	$13,261	$25,000	53.0%
	chiver78	$382	$910	42.0%
	debthaven	$100	$600	17.0%
	finnime	$2,975	$32,000	9.3%
	forwardwego	$32,300	$44,000	73.4%
	idlechatter	$20,224	$28,350	71.3%
	ilovedolphins	$0	$13,000	0.0%
	Jaguar	$200	$4,080	4.9%
	lazysundays	$3,221	$60,000	5.3%
	Maryland Monroe	$16,646	$20,000	83.2%
	megaptera	$0	$6,500	0.0%
	minnesotapaintlady	$13,480	$21,500	65.7%
	nidena	$2,910	$33,280	8.7%
	nikiz628	$9,081	$9,300	97.6%
	plugginaway22	$11,010	$16,800	65.5%
	Poptart
	Saving4Norway	$14,000	$16,500	85%
	sealy	$1,000	$25,000	4%
	seriousthistime	$11,261	$20,498	54.9%
	shanendoah	$1,850	$2,500	74.0%
	snapdragon	$12,987	$18,700	69.4%
	steph08	$6,088	$20,000	31.4%
	teachermom	$15,200	$100,000	15.2%
	tobinikui	$26,176	$50,708	49.6%
	trimatty471	$10,005	$17,300	57.8%