Women in Red Savers 2018

[tobinikui]

teachermom Hope your son is improving! I hadn't logged in for a while, and was shocked and saddened to read your news. Please know you have many people thinking of you and your family, and sending prayers and rainbow energy out into the universe on his behalf.

[seriousthistime]

Have you thought about your goals for 2019?  Post them here anytime.  If they're a work in progress, you can post your musings about your goals and maybe get some of the Savers to help you think things through.

[seriousthistime]

November updates!

Stars	Name	Amt. Saved	Goal	% Saved	Roses	Smilies
	azucena	$16,678	$25,000	67.0%
	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	$19,142	$20,000	95.7%
	minnesotapaintlady	$18,240	$21,500	84.8%
	nidena	$2,910	$33,280	8.7%
	nikiz628  [1]	$9,300	$9,300	100.0%
	nikiz628 [2]	$2,408	$3,000	80.2%
	plugginaway22	$20,212	$16,800	120.3%
	Saving4Norway	$24,000	$18,000	133%
	sealy	$2,000	$25,000	8%
	seriousthistime	$20,755	$20,498	101.3%
	shanendoah	$2,400	$2,500	96.0%
	snapdragon	$13,045	$18,700	69.8%
	steph08	$6,541	$20,000	32.7%
	teachermom	$15,200	$100,000	15.2%
	tobinikui	$38,266	$50,708	75.5%
	trimatty471	$17,300	$17,300	100.0%

We have a few more roses and dancing bananas this time around, Savers!  

Have you thought about your goals for 2019?  If so, you can post them in your signature line anytime.

(I've got to update mine.) 

Welcome to December.   "It's the most expensive time of the year." 

[teachermom]

Update: My son is doing better. He is still in therapy for physical, speech and occupational. He was released for light duty but as a teacher it is full duty or no duty....and with all his therapy appts he can't return yet. Goal is to return on Jan 7, after Christmas break. He still searches for the words of some things and physical therapy is mostly for the dizziness and his shoulder. He has approximately 15% hearing in his left ear which contributes some to the dizziness.

Also, they haven't found the person who did this. Please be careful out there driving.....watch for pedestrians.

Thanks for everyone's kind words and prayers!

Teachermom

[Maryland Monroe]

Dec 2, 2018 10:56:24 GMT -5 seriousthistime said:

Have you thought about your goals for 2019?  Post them here anytime.  If they're a work in progress, you can post your musings about your goals and maybe get some of the Savers to help you think things through.

My current plan is to save until I reach $25,000, then throw everything at the mortgage until it's gone. I think I'll continue adding to my car replacement fund, even though my car is only 3 years old. I want to pay cash for my next car, but I hope the one I have will last as long as the last one did. I'd still be driving it if I hadn't been rear ended and pushed into another car.

If I receive tax refunds (this is the first year I've only had retirement income, so I don't know how it will go), the refunds will go directly to principal on the mortgage. Any extra money left at the end of the month when the new checks are deposited will also go to the principal. I really want that mortgage gone. I retired two years earlier than I had originally planned, but I was ready for health reasons and I didn't like being forced by having to work to drive in the snow. The mortgage would have been paid off when I retired, but I do have the income to support it, so I'm not too worried about it.

[snapdragon]

Snapdragon 12/05/18 --- $ 13,671.66 / $ 18,700 -- Update


Car/House $ 2858.26 / $3500

Savings $ 4032.74 / $4000

Travel $ 3184.06 / $4500

Property Taxes $ 1570.61 / $2200

Lasik $ 2025.99 / $ 4500

New Totals $ 13,671.66 / $18,700


Got a small infusion of money so I put more into savings where I could. Went out with the girlfriends to a Improv Christmas Carol which was really good and a OK restaurant before the show. 

[forwardwego]

Shoutouts part 1 of 2:


azucena Welcome back from your vacation. It sounds like you had a great time! Good for you securing a discount for the next vacation, and refundability to eliminate risk!! Nice work managing the 3rd paycheck and growing savings by over $1200!! 


Maryland Monroe Congratulations on another grand into savings for $19142. I'm hoping you can snag your dancing banana, but 95.7% is amazing too!! 


minnesotapaintlady   You are also doing well with $18240 and nearly 85% to goal. I'll be hoping some snowflakes land in your lap. Achieving this level in spite of losing your PT job is very commendable. And thank you for sharing. I think it's helpful for us to see the good, the bad, and how our fellow savers manage them both. Congrats also on building your 401K.

nikiz628 Good job continuing to bump up your EF and general savings... sure hoping you can nail that EF stretch goal! I'm thinking this is your first year to earn your dancing banana and there's a chance you may even earn twin bananas!! I can almost feel how eager you are to get your DH's new numbers so you can start working those 2019 goals!!!  

plugginaway22 Yea for you socking away $2055 in November. Many thanks because you know I love to say "2 Grand is TOO GRAND" 

seriousthistime   Good job scoring your dancing banana. And many many thanks for keeping the Savers organized and encouraged and challenged. 

[forwardwego]

Shoutouts part 2 of 2:


shanendoah How are you doing with your housing changes? Congratulations on another $150 to savings!!


snapdragon Your adventures in Europe sound amazing. It sounds like you and your friend really squeezed the most out of your trip. I agree, general seating on planes is torturous, and then adding jet lag, yikes!!! So glad to have you back. And peeking ahead shows me you are on target to successfully replenish savings spent during the travels. 

trimatty471 Excellent work saving $1620 for a total of $17300, which is 100%!!! Just check you out with that dancing banana 


tobinikui WOWEE!! growing your savings by $5824 (pert near SIX THOUSAND BUCKS) Looks like you will blow past 40 Grand in short order 


Some of the Savers are really exerting some savings power. Others such as myself are perhaps running on fumes.      Either way, hang in there. Can you squeeze in another few bucks to savings? What does next year (just 3 weeks away) hold? Now is a great time to review how 2018 has unfolded so far and start setting some dreams and goals for 2019. 

[seriousthistime]

	Goal	Amt. Saved 12/9/18	% Saved	Roses
Survival fund	$6,000	$6,017	100.2%
Property tax	$5,000	$5,200	104.0%
Household Exp.	$1,000	$1,300	130.0%
Weekly Savings	$1,898	$1,898	100.0%
Gifts	$2,600	$2,611	100.0%
EF increase	$2,600	$2,606	100.0%
Pet care	$600	$605	100.0%
Misc. Exp.	$800	$840	105.0%
Total	$20,498	$21,077	102.8%

Seriousthistime, 12/9/18, $21,077 (Goal $20,498) 


Weekly Savings chart:

And 2018 is a wrap. 

--------------------------

Now, on to 2019.  Some random thoughts for the upcoming year:  

Gift expenses were lower this year than usual, which I think was due to no family members getting married.  I'm more generous with family than others so my overall gift costs were lower.  I also absorbed memorial gifts and other donations into my ongoing spending rather than using saved Gift money for those.  I'll roll over Gift Savings and maybe reduce the amount deposited per paycheck.

Property tax and Survival Fund will be about the same. I'll continue with Household, Pet Care, and Misc. Expenses. It's good to build up those accounts.  Weekly Savings may take a different form.  I don't know what it would be, but maybe the same amount every week... $50 maybe?  And I can still have the chart with the smilies, except instead of jumping around the chart and putting in random amounts, I'd just start with the first square in the upper lefthand corner, and go from there. 

And now comes wishful thinking.

I'd like to build up my account in a bank that I use almost exclusively for my mortgage withdrawal each month.  I deposit half my mortgage payment into that account each month and have slightly over two months in there now (covering January and February). In 2019, I would like to have 6 or 8 months' worth of mortgage payments in that account, plus about $1,000 for random ATM withdrawals when I'm traveling and can't find my regular bank's ATMs. (My regular bank is a big bank with a limited ATM network.  My mortgage bank is one of the giant banks with branches and ATMs all over the place.) 

My car is two years old (with 19k miles on it , extended warranty to 96k), payments are at 0.9%, and I've paid most of the interest to be charged on that loan because the interest is front-loaded. I have 35 more payments to make.  I might continue to pay the regular car payment each month and be done with it on schedule, but also save the same amount in a car payoff savings account.  That way, if I do decide to pay it off early, I'll have some money saved for that.  I could, then, potentially pay off the car in mid 2020. And if I do pay it off on schedule rather than early, I'll have some money for car replacement at some point down the road.  Way, way down the road I hope.

I also need a travel savings account.  The amount I would like to put in that account is scary high, because the money I spent on travel in 2018 is scary high. But I want to travel while I can, and I want to travel with, and spend time with, my kids whenever possible. Maybe it wouldn't be so scary if I were to just attempt to save part of my anticipated travel expenses for 2019.  

And I might add a line below my charts to track investment savings. I would probably track the savings as % of goal rather than dollar amount.  Not sure how that would work, but we shall see.

As I look at this, I think my plan is to save more than 100% of my paycheck each month!  Ha! Why not start out with an impossibility? At what point do I start sounding like Scrooge McDuck?  Except that I'm saving for eventual spending...

[nikiz628]

I just finished my budget for 2019, and I am very happy with how it's looking. It should be another good year for saving and living "comfortably." (Which still blows my mind considering 6-8 years ago we were on the verge of losing EVERYTHING).  We will also continue to pay down on our 2 cars and HELOC debt. 

Here are my financial goals for 2019: 

1. DS1's savings to $2,000.00. 
2. DS2's savings to $800.00. 
3. Emergency fund to $4,500.00. 
4. Combined auto loans below $15,500.00. 

I may add to this as the year progresses, but I think these are attainable goals for 2019. 

[debthaven]

In 2019, I would like to have 6 or 8 months' worth of mortgage payments in that account, plus about $1,000 for random ATM withdrawals when I'm traveling and can't find my regular bank's ATMs.

seriousthistime may I ask why? Is this an EF? Because you have no trouble making the mortgage payments. I don't understand why you need so many mortgage payments in that account unless this is your EF.

I might continue to pay the regular car payment each month and be done with it on schedule, but also save the same amount in a car payoff savings account. That way, if I do decide to pay it off early, I'll have some money saved for that. I could, then, potentially pay off the car in mid 2020.

I'm not sure I understand this ... do you mean you want to make double payments to the car loan, one payment to the loan and the same amount in savings? Sorry if I am not understanding this correctly.

I read somewhere that you are planning a trip to Paris next year. I would really love to meet up if you are interested! I live about 15 min from Versailles. Apple and I met up for coffee there a few years ago after she and her son finished touring Versailles.

Please feel free to PM me for advice or if you'd be interested in meeting up.

[debthaven]

In my non-saver news, DH's new company bought me a new Mac Air for my birthday last month. I am supposed to be his new bookkeeper, but I screwed up Quickbooks (badly). We're still trying to get it straightened out. Hopefully we'll manage. But one more thing I don't have to use savings or take a loan for!

[lazysundays]

Lazysundays 12-18-18  $9898/$60,000 by spring 2020 16.5% of goal

This is November info still as I update at end of month and Dec isn't ready yet.  Only an additional $713 to goal.  Honestly, I started slacking off on this goal.  My estranged father died and I am due to get some cash in Feb 2019.  Yes, don't spend money you haven't earned yet, but this is goals not spending.   I have been putting extra cash into my retirement and into loans.  I am happy to say I FINALLY eliminated my MIP (PMI) off of the mortgage and that is being snowballed into my student loans.  If there is no windfall in Feb, then I will reduce my SL snowball to meet this goal

[seriousthistime]

I’m so very sorry to report this.

We have lost a dear Saver, who always shared an encouraging word, added a bit of glitter to our lives, and whose optimism and fiery spirit were an inspiration to us all.

RIP, Jaguar. You will be missed.

[forwardwego]

Dec 20, 2018 13:45:17 GMT -5 seriousthistime said:

I’m so very sorry to report this.

We have lost a dear Saver, who always shared an encouraging word, added a bit of glitter to our lives, and whose optimism and fiery spirit were an inspiration to us all.

RIP, Jaguar. You will be missed.

I am so sad to hear this. Jaguar was the first to acknowledge others and encourage them, generous with her time and attention. May she rest in peace 

[seriousthistime]

For those who’ve been asking..

ymam.proboards.com/thread/58896/rest-peace-jaguar-sugilite

[Maryland Monroe]

Update: Maryland_Monroe $20,130 12/23/18 (Goal $20,000)

[seriousthistime]

Dec 17, 2018 17:41:49 GMT -5 debthaven said:

In 2019, I would like to have 6 or 8 months' worth of mortgage payments in that account, plus about $1,000 for random ATM withdrawals when I'm traveling and can't find my regular bank's ATMs.

seriousthistime may I ask why? Is this an EF? Because you have no trouble making the mortgage payments. I don't understand why you need so many mortgage payments in that account unless this is your EF.

I might continue to pay the regular car payment each month and be done with it on schedule, but also save the same amount in a car payoff savings account. That way, if I do decide to pay it off early, I'll have some money saved for that. I could, then, potentially pay off the car in mid 2020.

I'm not sure I understand this ... do you mean you want to make double payments to the car loan, one payment to the loan and the same amount in savings? Sorry if I am not understanding this correctly.

I read somewhere that you are planning a trip to Paris next year. I would really love to meet up if you are interested! I live about 15 min from Versailles. Apple and I met up for coffee there a few years ago after she and her son finished touring Versailles.

Please feel free to PM me for advice or if you'd be interested in meeting up.

Hi debthaven, I like to have my EF divided up for different uses.  

I took a promotion a few months ago and there are days when I think I just may decide to retire earlier than planned. Having 6 to 8 months of mortgage payments in the bank where the payments are drafted would make me feel more secure if, by chance, I did just lose my sanity one day and decide to retire. I will have a pension but it's recommended to get the paperwork done 60 days in advance, takes a few months after retirement for payments to start and that's just an estimate of what the pension amount will be, with a final reconciliation to follow months later.  So having 6 to 8 months in the bank would take away the worry of how to pay the bills during that transition time. 

As for the car payment, if I pay it on schedule, it will be paid off about 1 month prior to my planned retirement date. (And if I drive pretty much as I do now, it will be low miles for its age and still under the extended warranty.)  If I decide to retire early, I'd like to have the money in the bank to make the payments on schedule, I guess.  I could make double payments on the car loan, but it's at 0.9% and most of the interest is already paid.  

Basically, it's about emotional security.  Financial security would just be one big EF, but having it earmarked like this helps me sleep at night.  

I will PM you about the trip to France.

[shanendoah]

shanendoah: 24-December 2018 $2,500 (Goal: $2,500/stretch $5,000)

Well, none of the things that would have really let me meet my stretch goal ended up happening this year, but I did, at least, meet my primary goal of $2,500 put in savings over the course of the year. (A lot of it got taken back out as needed.)

We start the new year in a new house with a new mortgage (first payment due Feb 1). I've got a vague budget figured out, but I won't really know how realistic it is until we get a month or so of bills under our belt. But we have also wiped out some pretty big debt payments.
So I'll start the year continuing the $50 auto transferred into savings with each paycheck, and then hopefully up that once we get settled in.

[plugginaway22]

We get a final paycheck tomorrow, so I will update after Monday.  I want to think through my 2019 goals for savings. This thread definitely kept me motivated and happy to see my totals increasing.

[Deleted]

Well, I squeezed out a little more for year end with credit card cash back to finish the 2019 Roth and Christmas savings.  Of course, now I come to find out the Roth limit for me will be 7K next year, so not sure what I'll do there, but I can at least start out with the $5500.

Fund	2018 Goal	Current	Needed	% Complete
Survival Fund	$6000	$6000	$0	100.00%
2019 Roth	$5500	$5300	$0	100.00%
House Maint	$3000	$3000	$0	100.00%
College	$2400	$2400	$0	100.00%
Replacement Car	$2000	$200	$1800	10.00%
Pr. High School	$1000	$1000	$0	100.00%
Vacation	$1000	$0	$1000	0.00%
Christmas	$600	$600	$0	100.00%
Total	$21,500	$18700	$2800	86.98%

minnesotapaintlady, $18,700 12/27/18 (goal $21,500)

[snapdragon]

Snapdragon 12/27/18 --- $ 15,217.12 / $ 18,700 -- Final Update for 2018


Car/House $ 3500.52 / $3500   

Savings $ 4035.50 / $4000   

Travel $ 3684.21 / $4500

Property Taxes $ 1570.74 / $2200

Lasik $ 2426.15 / $ 4500

New Totals $ 15,217.12 / $18,700


Got a surprise for x-mas so I went ahead and added some to savings and I now have 2 completed challenges.    I might end up moving the Property taxes to a different visual for me. I am hoping that everyone had a reasonable and sane Holiday Season and enjoy the New Year to come. 

[forwardwego]

UPDATE 12/28/2018 $44000 (begin 6780, goal 44000) 

I got the dancing banana due to DH getting a windfall. I am happy to achieve the goal, but cannot take credit for earning the funds. However I appreciate this board, having goals is very important in preventing windfall funds from evaporating. 

[TheHaitian]

Dec 20, 2018 14:06:23 GMT -5 forwardwego said:

Dec 20, 2018 13:45:17 GMT -5 seriousthistime said:

I’m so very sorry to report this.

We have lost a dear Saver, who always shared an encouraging word, added a bit of glitter to our lives, and whose optimism and fiery spirit were an inspiration to us all.

RIP, Jaguar. You will be missed.

I am so sad to hear this. Jaguar was the first to acknowledge others and encourage them, generous with her time and attention. May she rest in peace 

Ditto... I really appreciated her

She will be missed!

[TheHaitian]

Hello ladies, been debating if I wanted to jump back in for 2019 or not ... have not been here since 2016 when I lost my job and moved.

A lot has happened since then and a lot of balls to juggle... still thinking it over. Here and the WIRR...

Have a couple of days to decide!

[seriousthistime]

Dec 28, 2018 19:33:51 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Hello ladies, been debating if I wanted to jump back in for 2019 or not ... have not been here since 2016 when I lost my job and moved.

A lot has happened since then and a lot of balls to juggle... still thinking it over. Here and the WIRR...

Have a couple of days to decide!

Just do it!  There was a lot of upheaval for you in 2016. 2019 is bound to be more stable.

[debthaven]

Question. When is it OK to use savings? As you all know, the savings we saved this year was from the sale of our rental, alas we did not save it from our (not great) salaries. And we dip into it every month for the rentals (we are overextended there but that's another story.)

My car is old, and we need? want? a newer, more reliable car.

We don't need it tomorrow but I have been tracking a gently used car for 1.5 months. The driver is ill/elderly (not sure) and he can't drive anymore. They lowered the price last week, it is now 2K below value without any options, and this car has a LOT of options. I was actually tracking 3 cars, the two others sold just before Christmas.

It is exactly what we want, BUT, we still owe 1.5K to the kitchen loan. I promised myself we would NOT use our savings, either to pay off the kitchen loan, or to buy a newer car. We have already been approved for a car loan from our Credit Union.

BUT, I really didn't want to buy a new car until the kitchen loan was paid off. In the last 4 months I have gotten the kitchen loan down from 30 to 8 months, in anticipation of needing a new car, but it's still not paid off. If we get the car loan, we'll have to pay both loans, they can't be consolidated (I've already asked).

My salary was exceptionally high last semester because I was working an insane amount of hours. However, it WON'T be in semester 2. So we WON'T be able to continue making those extra payments going forward. At best, we may be able to do double payments every month.

Part of me feels that I should stick to my guns and NOT use savings to pay off the kitchen loan, and just look for a car once the kitchen loan is paid off as planned. And part of me feels that it is very stupid to let this unicorn car get away because I'm refusing to use 1K or 1.5K from savings to pay off the kitchen loan. 

I would greatly appreciate any advice.

[finnime]

I'd think, debthaven, that using some of your savings to pay off the kitchen loan is a wise course of action, because it is preventing an increasingly likely problem that could become an emergency - that of your car breaking down in an extremely inconvenient time and place. You're trading money for time, rather than gamble with that time. Then you can rebuild those savings at a rate equal to the kitchen loan repayment. You'll have a much more reliable car at a great price, which you know because you've been shopping around for some time.

JMHO

[debthaven]

Thank finnime. :-)

[plugginaway22]

We are debating this as well.  DH has a 45 minute commute and his car is getting old with high mileage.  We are still paying my car off.  We can afford a second car payment but do not want another.  Our home is paid off, so the current car payment is our only debt.  We now have some savings to lower the payments, but my goal for building savings was to feel better having some cash in the bank!  Hoping he can hold off until maybe next summer?

But in your case Debt, I would probably go for that adorable black car right now, haha.