Women in Red Savers 2018

[Ava]

I had to change my plans.

I have credit card debt and my student loan was growing because I am in IBR.

So I thought things over and decided to use the money I was saving for the IRA to pay towards the CC. 

I don't have any money for the 2018 IRA right now, but my debt load is lighter. 

The credit card debt wasn't growing, but it was taking $145 a month jut to service  and it wasn't going down. It had been sitting there for a long time.

The student loan was growing. Now I have reduced my retirement contributions in order to cover interest plus a little extra on the SL, and to pay off the credit card debt. 

So thanks for the support. I am out of the savings race for now.

[seriousthistime]

Okay, Ava, sorry to see you leave the race, but you can stop by here anytime and say hi or add your two cents about anything.

There is more than one way to win a race, and you have to do what works for you. 

[shanendoah]

shanendoah: 10-October 2018 $2250 (Goal: $2,500/stretch $5,000)

On track for my primary goal. Unless the live insurance from step-mom comes through before the end of the year, I don't think I'll hit stretch goal, given that our house will go back on the market in early November, so I don't think we'll be done with the house buying process by the end of the year, so will be keeping most of what I've got that could go into savings more liquid for earnest money/down payment purposes.

[seriousthistime]

	Goal	Amt. Saved 10/19/18	% Saved	Roses
Survival fund	$6,000	$3,814	63.6%
Property tax	$5,000	$4,578	91.6%
Household Exp.	$1,000	$1,200	120.0%
Weekly Savings	$1,898	$1,582	83.5%
Gifts	$2,600	$2,210	85.0%
EF increase	$2,600	$2,206	84.8%
Pet care	$600	$605	100.0%
Misc. Exp.	$800	$770	91.9%
Total	$20,498	$16,965	82.8%

Seriousthistime, 10/19/18, $16,965 (Goal $20,498) 


Weekly Savings chart:

					$23	$24
$25		$27		$29		$31
		$34			$37
$39	$40

I had an "aha" moment while doing this update.  I was looking at my Survival Fund balance, which has obviously lagged behind the others and thinking that maybe December 1, I would bring it back up to speed.  And then I thought about next year's goal, which will be the same for the Survival Fund, and wondered about the best strategy for those funds.  And I figured I would probably add the $6,000 to my taxable account at a brokerage firm (see my signature line) at the end of this year.  I generally reset my WIR Savers accounts to zero at the start of each year. 

And then I realized I have already been adding to that taxable account this year which is not reflected in my chart above, and if I include the amount I've added to that account, it is way more than the $2,200 or so I need to top off the Survival Fund in my 2018 chart.  So really, I am already there.  BUT -- it's not in my separate Survival Fund account.  So if I intend to transfer $6,000 to my taxable account at the end of this year, I am still behind on the Survival Fund regardless of my decision about what to do with that money.  

But at least I'm not beating myself up over my lagging Survival Fund.

Property taxes are due in a few weeks.  I've got it covered.  And I should have another rose with the next update.  Hopefully, a full garden soon thereafter. 

[plugginaway22]

Finally broke down and bought the new mattress and bed frame and the great news is I will pay it off by Nov 1st without using this savings money.  My goal was to get 3-6 months of expenses and I have about 4 right now, so the momentum is great going into year end.  This thread has totally motivated me and kept me accountable and I am excited to see what happens next year.

plugginaway22, 11/1/18  $18,157 (goal $16,800)

EF online      $5157
EF brickB   $11,600
EF tax esc     $1400
totals            $18,157
HSA acct now at $6536


LAST MONTH
plugginaway22, 10/1/18 $16,751 (goal $16,800)

This was a great month only because I deposited bonus money. We will be spending some of it, but still hope to have goal savings by year end, maybe a tad more!

Want to BUY: king mattress set, 34 knobs for kitchen cabinets, replacement wedding bands, update logs in gas fireplace, winter getaway.... Probably the only need on that list is the mattress.



EF on-line $4951 (goal $5000)

EF brick B $10,800 (goal $7000)

EF tax escr $1000 (goal $4800)

Totals $16,751 (goal $16,800)



HSA acct bal now at $5936

[azucena]

Oct 5, 2018 8:06:35 GMT -5 azucena said:

Sept 28, 2018 9:39:05 GMT -5 azucena said:

Payday savings $988.

10/5/2018 Azucena $11,861 of $25,000 for 47%

Part daycare reimbursement and part payday savings $1353. 
This puts me within $600 of having $40,000 in our savings account.  I consider that to be $12 to 15k for used vehicle in the next year or two and the rest emergency fund.  Then, I need to start splitting the next pot of money we're able to save between long term non-retirement savings and a couple of smaller home improvement projects.  Need to start prioritizing them and projecting costs.

Put together projections for November, and we should be able to cashflow the $1500 for the cruise spending, transportation, hotel, etc.

10/22/18 Azucena $13,214 of $25,000 saved in 2018 for 53%

[debthaven]

I'm not officially a saver anymore, but I wanted to provide an update anyway.

DH's new company is paying to redo DS2's bedroom, which was very damaged from DS2 (years ago) and the subsidence. It will be DH's office. It will be done on Wed. We still have to buy a few items (curtain rods, curtains, cushions) but it has been a HUGE boost for us to have DH's company pay for the paint+flooring. It will double up as DS2's room/a guest room. 

Our next big expense is our share of the upcoming rental building reno, due in Nov. DH will lend "us" the money for that. So it's a loan, but it's interest-free.

We took out a 10K kitchen loan 2.5 years ago to redo our 31YO kitchen. In the past few months I've managed to pay that loan down from 31 to 19 months!!! And hoping to continue.

So although I'm not actively saving, I'm paying down debt as fast as I can, to PRESERVE our savings from the rental sale last June. I had initially planned to use our savings to redo DS2's bedroom/pay our share of the building reno/pay off the kitchen loan. 

Thanks to you all, I haven't used our savings for ANY of those things. To me that's MAJOR progress, so I wanted to thank you all.

[finnime]

Good for you, debthaven!

[lazysundays]

Lazysundays 10-26-18 $9185/$60,000 by spring 2020  15.3% of goal

$1300 this month. not too bad.   A lot of potentially bad stuff almost happened.  The contractors forgot to tighten the pipes and flooded the lower floor- they fixed it free of charge.  the ceiling was leaking which could have been a major chimney bill but a patch-up did the trick for now.  and finally, the dog was diagnosed with cataracts.  I paid to see a specialist to see if it was old age (no surgery) cataracts or the aggressive one that needed surgery.  It's the old age one where she will eventually not see well up close and she won't be able to read. 

We spent some fun $ on someone's two retirement parties and then I finally caved and said we would go to our first Halloween party-adults only.   So we spent a decent amount on adult superhero costumes and using some extra funds for babysitting and gonna have some fun. The two homebodies will finally go out. 

[debthaven]

Hello Ladies

DH's new office was finished today (downstairs Master, DS2's former bedroom). It will double up as DS2's room/a guest room. DH + I are very happy to have that room fixed. And no savings were harmed in the process. 

snapdragon our bedroom is next ... hopefully next spring/summer.

[nikiz628]

Aug 28, 2018 11:33:14 GMT -5 nikiz628 said:

Update on Savings Goals #2-10/29/2018

2018 Secondary	START	CURRENT	GOAL	STILL NEED
E.F.	$2000.00	$1947.03	$2500.00	$552.97
GENERAL SAVINGS	$95.00	$333.03	$500.00	$166.97
TOTALS	$2095.00	$2280.06	$3000.00	$719.94

NikiZ628(2) 10/29/18 $2280.06 (Goal $3000.00 WIRS14)


My E.F. took a minor hit this month. No biggie, but I am letting my balances reflect that here. My General Savings went up nicely to compensate some. My stretch goal for the EF was this $2500, and I don't know if it's going to  be realistic now. I always end my autodeposits each year at the end of November (to help cover holiday expenses). That means I will only add $200 in auto deposits before the end of the year. If/When H gets his Christmas bonus, I may be able to cover the remaining $352.97 needed to reach goal- but since his bonus fluctuates wildly from year to year, I can't plan anything until I see the check. 
Regardless, it's been a great savings year for us! I can't be sad about that! 


Editing to add: H and I are also in agreement on another "No Spend November!" I know the definition of a no spend month varies from person to person. Our rules are "if it's not a bill/budgeted expense or christmas spending, we aren't spending money on it." No dining out, no baseball cards at the store *just because* for DS1, etc. I always love the challenge of the no spend month- it inspires me to really stay under budget with groceries and the like as well. 

[tobinikui]

No big savings to report this month, but with the extra/3rd paycheck this month, I was able to pay our main credit card bill in full (as of right now), a couple of days before the period even closed! Besides building up our emergency funds, getting to (and then staying at!!) that point was one of my main goals for this year.

I've already purchased the bulk of our physical Christmas presents, so provided I can stave off the lure of holiday sales, we're in a decent spot for holiday gifts already. We give the DSS & DSD cash, and make charitable donations for the elder relatives. One outstanding expense is Christmas & New Year cards though. I send out a LOT, like, over 120+. It might be (read: IS!) time to dial that back a bit. 😂

I have to admit, I'm a bit bummed at how hard it's been to save over the last few months. But, then I remind myself that we drew down our accounts to the bare minimum in order to pay off the minivan, which was our #1 priority this year. And, we did it. All our other bills are getting paid, even if the "slush" in the slush funds isn't growing as quickly as we'd like.

My take home pay will go back up close to 20%/month in late December, so that's been part of the pinch. It was worth it to bank hours, but there's always a trade off!

My savings goals for next year won't change too much. The main goals are to:
1 - complete our emergency fund,
2 - continue paying our credit card bill the day the period closes, and,
3 - (re)start my retirement contributions, to the tune of 15% of gross, by July 1st, 2019.

In the meantime, we'll just keep on keeping on. I still cannot believe we're entering the holidays & winter already!!
😎

[seriousthistime]

Attention Savers:

The end of the month is upon us.  I'll do the monthly updates on Saturday morning, November 3.

Please get your updates posted before you begin your weekend fun.

Thank you!

[Maryland Monroe]

Update: Maryland_Monroe $18139 10/31/18 (Goal $20,000)

[forwardwego]

UPDATE 10/31/2018 $36300 (begin 6780, goal 44000)

2018	PRESENT	GOAL	% MET	$$ TO GO
VEH INS Part 1	2000	2000	100
VEH INS Part 2	1500	2000	75	500
DD Starter IRA	3000	3000	100
DDIL IRA	3000	3000	100
Baby STEP 3	13700	18000	76	4300
Pups Med/EF	1100	4000	26	2900
Rental Margin	10000	10000	100
SL Payoff	2000	2000	100
TOTAL	36300	44000	82	7700

Still inching along, savings is coming to a grinding halt, managing retirement is challenging. DH and I are very fortunate to have had jobs that provided pensions. We have some hard choices ahead to either live more frugally than we do, or have second act jobs. He is not interested in either, so I am going to have to be firm. 

[azucena]

Oct 22, 2018 7:52:27 GMT -5 azucena said:

Oct 5, 2018 8:06:35 GMT -5 azucena said:

Part daycare reimbursement and part payday savings $1353. 
This puts me within $600 of having $40,000 in our savings account.  I consider that to be $12 to 15k for used vehicle in the next year or two and the rest emergency fund.  Then, I need to start splitting the next pot of money we're able to save between long term non-retirement savings and a couple of smaller home improvement projects.  Need to start prioritizing them and projecting costs.

Put together projections for November, and we should be able to cashflow the $1500 for the cruise spending, transportation, hotel, etc.

10/22/18 Azucena $13,214 of $25,000 saved in 2018 for 53%

Payday update $351.  Projected budget thru yearend show another $8000 that could be saved if we budget carefully.  Would put us to roughly $21,000 of $25,000 goal which I'm okay with because at the beg of the year when I set the goal, I had no idea we'd take a cruise to celebrate a promotion I didn't expect to get yet

10/31/18 Azucena $13,565 of $25,000 saved in 2018 for 54%

[trimatty471]

 
10/31/2018:  Trimatty (Goal $17,300)  Saved $15,680.00

2018	Goal	Current	Needed	Complete
ROTH IRA	1,200.00	1,200.00	0	100%
Repair	1,000.00	1,000.00	0	100%
Replace	1,200.00	1,200.00	0	100%
Vacation	2,400.00	2,120.00	280.00	88.33%
Holiday	1,500.00	1,500.00	0	100%
Freedom	10.000.00	8,660.00	1,340.00	86.60%
Total	$17,300.00	$15,680.00	$1,620.00	90.64%

[finnime]

Category	Goal	Amount	Saved	Spent	Percentage
Sinking	House	10,000	525.25		5.25%
	Car	2,500	130		5.20%
	Dog	500
	Medical	1000
	Gifts,  Miscellaneous	3000
Security	EF	3,500	4,100	-1250	81%
Survival	3 Months Expenses	6,000	355.00		5.92%
Future	Nest Egg	500
Fun	Finland Fund	5000
Total		32,000	5,110.25	-1250	12%

Finnime 11/2/2018 $3,860.25 ($32,000)


Climbing back up. Put back $600 in EF from what I'd spent on washer/dryer and kept other expenses OOP. 

[azucena]

Oct 31, 2018 8:09:21 GMT -5 azucena said:

Payday update $351.  Projected budget thru yearend show another $8000 that could be saved if we budget carefully.  Would put us to roughly $21,000 of $25,000 goal which I'm okay with because at the beg of the year when I set the goal, I had no idea we'd take a cruise to celebrate a promotion I didn't expect to get yet

10/31/18 Azucena $13,565 of $25,000 saved in 2018 for 54%

Payday update (I get paid every two weeks and DH is 15th and end of month so sometimes they coincide very closely.  Deposited $1865.

11/2/18 Azucena $15,430 of $25,000 saved in 2018 for 62%

[seriousthistime]

	Goal	Amt. Saved 11/2/18	% Saved	Roses
Survival fund	$6,000	$3,914	63.6%
Property tax	$5,000	$4,781	95.6%
Household Exp.	$1,000	$1,200	120.0%
Weekly Savings	$1,898	$1,645	86.7%
Gifts	$2,600	$2,310	88.8%
EF increase	$2,600	$2,306	88.7%
Pet care	$600	$605	100.0%
Misc. Exp.	$800	$805	100.1%
Total	$20,498	$17,566	85.7%

Seriousthistime, 11/2/18, $17,566 (Goal $20,498) 


Weekly Savings chart:

						$24
$25		$27		$29		$31
		$34			$37
$39

Another rose!  

[Saving4Norway]

Fund	2018 Goals	Last Month	This Month	% Met	Roses
Saving for 2019	1500	3500	5500	367%
Denmark 2018	1000	1000	1000	100%	Jan
Deductibles	500	500	500	100%	March
Gifts&Donations	1500	1500	1500	100%	May
Palm Springs 2018	500	500	500	100%	March
Motorcycle Trips 2018	1500	1500	1500	100%	May
Home Improvement	5000	2500	5000	100%	Aug
Cultural	2000	2000	2000	100%	May
Vacay Prop	1000	1000	1000	100%	Feb
Hockey Season Tickets	1000	1000	1000	100%	March
Christmas	500	500	500	100%	March
Adventures	2000	2000	2000	100%	April
TOTAL	18000	20000	24000	133%

Saving4Norway 11/3/18 $24,000 (Goal $16,500)

[seriousthistime]

October updates!

Stars	Name	Amt. Saved	Goal	% Saved	Roses	Smilies
	azucena	$15,430	$25,000	62.0%
	chiver78	$382	$910	42.0%
	finnime	$3,860	$32,000	12.0%
	forwardwego	$36,300	$44,000	82.0%
	idlechatter	$20,224	$28,350	71.3%
	Jaguar	$303	$4,080	7.4%
	lazysundays	$9,185	$60,000	15.3%
	Maryland Monroe	$18,139	$20,000	90.7%
	minnesotapaintlady	$16,900	$21,500	78.6%
	nidena	$2,910	$33,280	8.7%
	nikiz628  [1]	$9,300	$9,300	100.0%
	nikiz628 [2]	$2,280	$3,000	76.0%
	plugginaway22	$18,157	$16,800	108.1%
	Saving4Norway	$24,000	$18,000	133%
	sealy	$2,000	$25,000	8%
	seriousthistime	$17,566	$20,498	85.7%
	shanendoah	$2,250	$2,500	90.0%
	snapdragon	$13,958	$18,700	74.6%
	steph08	$6,541	$20,000	32.7%
	teachermom	$15,200	$100,000	15.2%
	tobinikui	$32,442	$50,708	64.0%
	trimatty471	$15,680	$17,300	90.6%

[Deleted]

I just realized I forgot to update for November.  One more month to go.  I am not going to touch a few of those goals.  Oh well...

Fund	2018 Goal	Current	Needed	% Complete
Survival Fund	$6000	$6000	$0	100.00%
2019 Roth	$5500	$4900	$600	89.09%
House Maint	$3000	$3000	$0	100.00%
College	$2400	$2200	$200	91.67%
Replacement Car	$2000	$200	$1800	10.00%
Pr. High School	$1000	$1000	$0	100.00%
Vacation	$1000	$0	$1000	0.00%
Christmas	$600	$320	$280	53.33%
Total	$21,500	$17620	$3880	81.95%

minnesotapaintlady, $17,620 11/3/18 (goal $21,500)

[teachermom]

Sorry I am so far behind and haven't updated. Struggling right now. My son was walking home on Oct 19 and hit by a driver. He/She never stopped. From the store video, it looks intentional. He was given chest compression and CPR at the site, taken to nearest hospital and then life flight to a major hospital. He spent 3 days in ICU, 6 days on a regular ward, then 11 days in rehab. He has 2 skull fractures and a broken shoulder which is amazing in itself. However, he struggles finding the language for what he needs to express himself. He has several months of outpatient therapy before he will be able to return to teaching. So far only seen a bill for the Life Flight and that was almost $54k. Got some long months ahead and with all the time off I have taken and all the traveling to be with him, my savings is derailed. I am going to take a break until the first of the year and regroup.

Keep up the good job savers!

Teachermom

[forwardwego]

teachermom I'm thinking of you, and your son. I'm so sorry for what your son and you are going through. And very glad he has you.

[nikiz628]

Oh teachermom, I am so sorry to hear about your son! I cannot imagine what you all have been going through. You know we will be here if you need someone to lean on- take care of yourself and I will keep your son (and you) in my prayers. 

[finnime]

teachermom, what a terrible thing for your DS to have experienced. I hope he heals quickly and completely and you have all the time you need to take care of him.

[debthaven]

I'm so sorry for what your son (and you) are going through. Take care of yourselves. I'm glad you had savings so that you could be close to your son during this terrible time.

[Jaguar]

I sending my best healing intentions & energy that your dear son heals up fast, that you can pay those medical bills and that horrible person is caught and feels the complete wrath of the Universe.


I've asked the spirits to help you.

[plugginaway22]

I am sorry, so sad to hear this TeacherMom.