Women in Red SAVERS 2019

[snapdragon]

Oct 2, 2019 8:24:48 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

Oct 1, 2019 7:54:19 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

I put a little bit more in here than originally planned thinking of potential taxes, may do even more after this most recent pay day, JIC. Not sure how I should bifurcate my true EF from tax hedging savings? 

Those with many savings buckets - are these in different accounts? Can you make buckets within an account? Or do you just keep track?

Re-posting this question....if any may have advice or ideas.

Rukh - 

I actually have about 6 savings accounts. 

General Savings, Insurance Money for car & house, property taxes, Lasik, Travel, and a final for car and house repairs. Everything has a specific amount that I deem necessary and I  put money into them monthly until I hit my goal. For me it is much easier to have the separate accounts and since it's free with my CU that is what I have done. The peace of mind is just so relaxing for me and knowing that if I needed to I could basically pay any bill or repair immediately is immense. 

[seriousthistime]

Oct 2, 2019 9:48:23 GMT -5 teachermom said:

Oct 2, 2019 8:24:48 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

Re-posting this question....if any may have advice or ideas.

I have a Capital One 360 account. Under the same umbrella account, you can set up multiple savings accounts. I have about 20, lots of different sinking funds as well as long term savings account. I like to keep them all separate because if I don't have the money in that account, I don't use it yet (whatever the goal is for it). I know my son uses Barclay and you can do that with it too. Some have posted before that Ally lets you do that too.

Same here, Rukh O'Rorke.  I have my checking and multiple savings accounts there, all in one place when I log in. 

[forwardwego]

Oct 2, 2019 8:24:48 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

Oct 1, 2019 7:54:19 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

I put a little bit more in here than originally planned thinking of potential taxes, may do even more after this most recent pay day, JIC. Not sure how I should bifurcate my true EF from tax hedging savings? 

Those with many savings buckets - are these in different accounts? Can you make buckets within an account? Or do you just keep track?

Re-posting this question....if any may have advice or ideas.

Here's how I do it... I have accounts for each of these areas: checking for household operations and bill paying, minor EF/periodic expense in a basic savings, major EF at an online bank earning @2.1%, rental property checking and savings at a different bank. I had done ING online which allowed for multiple accounts. ING was bought by Capital One which I eventually closed because they kept dropping interest rates. (Years ago I had ditched Capital One as my credit card because they arbitrarily upped my interest rate. So it didn't take much for me to be done with them the second time.)


ETA: to better answer your question... I have different accounts at different banks for different goals. They all allow me to nickname the accounts, which helps me keep organized. I am in awe of people who can lump together their savings and keep a spreadsheet of how it is apportioned, but I would end up robbing Peter to pay Paul, or somehow making a mistake with that.

[seriousthistime]

Updates 

Stars	Name	Amt. Saved	Goal	% Saved	Roses	Smilies
	azucena	$23,397	$25,000	94.0%
	bobosensei	$2,008	$18,750	10.7%
	chiver78	$216	$910	23.7%
	debthaven (S)	1,713€	1,713€	100%
	debthaven (K)	10,000€	10,000€	100%
	finnime [1]	$9,260	$24,500	38.0%
	finnime [2]	$3,000	$5,000	60.0%
	forwardwego	$18,810	$24,000	78.4%
	kindthatjingles	$1,000	$3,500	28.6%
	minnesotapaintlady	$28,881	$40,000	72.2%
	nikiz628	$4,766	$7,300	65.2%
	paynointerest	$55,300	$55,900	99.0%
	plugginaway22	$39,075	$36,000	108.5%
	Rukh O'Rorke	$850	$20,000	4.3%
	Saving4Norway	$18,800	$18,101	104.0%
	sealy	$1,000	$25,000	4.0%
	seriousthistime	$34,557	$42,000	82.3%
	shanendoah [Q1]	$8,994	$300	2998.0%
	shanendoah [Q2]	$3,010	$3,020	99.7%
	shanendoah [Q3]	$1,020	$2,020	50.5%
	snapdragon	$18,240	$18,750	97.3%
	steph08	$5,431	$19,400	28.0%
	teachermom	$49,269	$107,000	46.0%
	TheHaitian	$34,835	$60,000	58.1%
	tobinikui	$44,320	$105,658	41.9%
	trimatty471	$14,424	$14,424	100.0%
	trimatty471 [2]	$4,055	$4,355	93.1%

The Savers are really catching on 🔥!!!  I figure, with the next update, we may have two or three more , a few more  , and maybe another   to look forward to.  Many people say the fall is their favorite time of the year, and we can all appreciate the season between air conditioning and heat.  I hope that season has begun in your area. 

[forwardwego]

Shoutouts Part 1 of 2:

Rukh O'Rorke Congratulations on your nice leap to $850! Did you decide how you would organize your EF and your tax hedge savings?  

finnime Good job saving the $2K for your travels, and $1K for medical. That seems like an excellent idea to have a separate med savings since that is a challenging and expensive area. 

teachermom It's good to see you! Kudos on saving an amazing $49K and managing to hold on to nearly $6K. You set a good example of organizing and categorizing! And yes, I have a couple ideas for 2020 savings goals on the back burner too. 

shanendoah Congrats on $1020 saved for 3rd Quarter! It seems that quarterly goal setting has made saving feel more feasible for you. Are you thinking of doing quarterly goals in 2020? 

minnesotapaintlady Nice job of "plugging along" breaking into the 70's range with 72.2% to goal!!  And adding nearly $2200. I gotta say once again Two Grand IS TOO GRAND!!
seriousthistime Thanks for your ongoing terrific job of keeping us WIRS organized and motivated .
Congrats on breaking into the 80%'s with 82.3% to goal, and earning your rose for household/miscellaneous. I'm excited for you to test drive your retirement budget  . Keep up the good work, I see a dancing banana on your horizon. 

[forwardwego]

Shoutouts Part 2 of 2: 

trimatty471   Congrats on another  for achieving your "move in" goal! Just $300 more to score another banana.!!

azucena Another good month for you! Good work cash flowing most of the home projects!! I understand moving slowly on hiring cleaning help. It's a big decision to start a recurring bill, and probably even bigger is deciding who you allow into your home.  

snapdragon _ You are getting oh so close... 97.3%!!! A water ferry to vacation spots sounds FUN, and it sounds like you recognize that your mental health is certainly worth it. Congrats on having a good balance between work and play.  

paynointerest Hey there! Nice jump up from 90% to 99%!! I noticed you are in striking distance of winning your race on the racers' thread. How do you think that may affect your savings plans for 2020? 

plugginaway22 Kudos to you on continuing to build savings while essentially cash flowing travels and such. It sure looks like you may blow past $40K before the end of the year  

debthaven   HiYa! Here's hoping that your DH's rent from his company can help replenish those accounts. I can empathize with you wishing you could cover for the kids with no payback, but truth is you are making them stronger this way. I give myself this talk a lot   So very nice that your DH covered the laptop expense 

Savers, please message me if you had a Sept update and are being overlooked. 

[Rukh O'Rorke]

thanks seriousthistime!

I actually forgot I had made that larger-than-usual deposit! Nice to see it on the update. 

[plugginaway22]

I am happy DH has stalled on the new car purchase. He bought new tires and an alignment for less than 1000.  Should at least get his car through the winter into spring.
Need to get our HVAC system checked before winter.

We have no trips on the horizon which always makes me antsy.  Since we both hit that milestone of age 60 in 2020 I am interested in doing something special but hesitate to plan too early with our crazy job situations.

Loving the gorgeous Fall weather that has finally arrived, lots to do outside in our gardens.

[seriousthistime]

Update 

Account Name	Goal	Start	Amount Saved 10/12/19	Amt. Saved %	Roses
Gifts	$2,300	$335	$2,305	100.0%
Property Tax	$5,000	$2,984	$5,017	100.0%
Survival Fund	$6,000	$26	$6,008	100.0%
Household/Misc	$2,500	$1,075	$2,501	100.0%
Pet Care	$600	$130	$602	100.0%
Weekly Savings	$2,600	$0	$2,110	81.2%
Mortgage Cushion	$12,000	$4,200	$8,677	72.3%
Car Fund	$6,000	$0	$6,009	100.0%
Travel	$5,000	$0	$1,430	28.6%
Total	$42,000	$8,750	$34,659	82.5%

Seriousthistime, $34,659 10/12/19 (Goal $42,000)   


Weekly Savings Tracker: 

				Week 41	Week 42
Week 43	Week 44	Week 45	Week 46	Week 47	Week 48
Week 49	Week 50	Week 51	Week 52

Just some deposits into my Weekly Savings account.  I hope to have a bigger update later in the week. 

Anyone here who has started to think about goals for next year?  I'm at the point where I'm thinking about starting to think about goals.  I guess I'm in the pre-thinking stage.

[forwardwego]

GOAL	AMOUNT	STARTING	$$ TO DATE	% OF GOAL	$$ TO GO
JPPCU CUSHION	2000	350	1880	94	120
DD IRA	3000	1000	3000	100
RENTAL MARGIN	12000	10700	8840	73	3160
PERIODIC EXPENSE	5000	1800	4510	90	490
CASH STASH pt 1	1000	300	1000	100
CASH STASH pt 2	1000	0	440	44	560
TOTAL	24000	14150	19670	82	4330

UPDATE 10/12/2019 $19670 (begin $14150; goal $24,000)


Hopefully should achieve the JPPCU Cushion goal in early Nov,
and then both the Periodic Expense and Cash Stash in December.
The Rental Margin goal will be a miss, especially since we will pay out over $1300 in RE taxes in December, and then a roof soon. Being a WIR Saver helps me keep perspective and feel good about it anyway. It will be a repeat goal for 2020 and I think I can achieve it next year.



 

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Oct 12, 2019 9:51:55 GMT -5 forwardwego said:

GOAL	AMOUNT	STARTING	$$ TO DATE	% OF GOAL	$$ TO GO
JPPCU CUSHION	2000	350	1880	94	120
DD IRA	3000	1000	3000	100
RENTAL MARGIN	12000	10700	8840	73	3160
PERIODIC EXPENSE	5000	1800	4510	90	490
CASH STASH pt 1	1000	300	1000	100
CASH STASH pt 2	1000	0	440	44	560
TOTAL	24000	14150	19670	82	4330

UPDATE 10/12/2019 $19670 (begin $14150; goal $24,000)


Hopefully should achieve the JPPCU Cushion goal in early Nov,
and then both the Periodic Expense and Cash Stash in December.
The Rental Margin goal will be a miss, especially since we will pay out over $1300 in RE taxes in December, and then a roof soon. Being a WIR Saver helps me keep perspective and feel good about it anyway. It will be a repeat goal for 2020 and I think I can achieve it next year.



 

It really does help so much I am finding. People can celebrate with you on small victories, and commiserate on months when it is looking bleaker.

It's helpful to watch others' savings grow and be inspired to try just a little harder, feel that there are others who will keep you accountable.

It's a great community.

[seriousthistime]

Oct 12, 2019 10:25:26 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

Oct 12, 2019 9:51:55 GMT -5 forwardwego said:

GOAL	AMOUNT	STARTING	$$ TO DATE	% OF GOAL	$$ TO GO
JPPCU CUSHION	2000	350	1880	94	120
DD IRA	3000	1000	3000	100
RENTAL MARGIN	12000	10700	8840	73	3160
PERIODIC EXPENSE	5000	1800	4510	90	490
CASH STASH pt 1	1000	300	1000	100
CASH STASH pt 2	1000	0	440	44	560
TOTAL	24000	14150	19670	82	4330

UPDATE 10/12/2019 $19670 (begin $14150; goal $24,000)


Hopefully should achieve the JPPCU Cushion goal in early Nov,
and then both the Periodic Expense and Cash Stash in December.
The Rental Margin goal will be a miss, especially since we will pay out over $1300 in RE taxes in December, and then a roof soon. Being a WIR Saver helps me keep perspective and feel good about it anyway. It will be a repeat goal for 2020 and I think I can achieve it next year.



 

It really does help so much I am finding. People can celebrate with you on small victories, and commiserate on months when it is looking bleaker.

It's helpful to watch others' savings grow and be inspired to try just a little harder, feel that there are others who will keep you accountable.

It's a great community.

Being here has made a huge difference in my finances, and my emotional outlook in general.  I was financially rudderless before I joined the predecessor to the Racers, then the Savers. 

Joining the Savers made me realize that to achieve financial goals I needed a purpose.  Something more than "I want be get out of debt" or "I want to stop living paycheck to paycheck."  Wanting is one thing.  Doing is another.  The people here showed me how they do it.  I modified, and started on my own journey, stumbled and backtracked more than I can remember, and then began to straighten out the path to my goals.  It's still a little squiggly, but it's more straight than squiggly now.  Saving is something you plan for.  It's not just what happens with the money left over at the end of the pay period, because if that's your idea of saving you won't have money left over by then.  That's why I think it's SO important to join the Savers even if you're a Racer.  Savings and spending are two points on a financial continuum. At one end you have Trainwreck.  At the other you have SuperSaver. As we move along that continuum we get closer to one end and further from the other. SuperSavers still need to be mindful about debt.  Trainwrecks can do the first baby step of Dave Ramsey: $1,000 in an emergency fund. It may mean saving pennies.  It may take a long time to get there, but if you don't try you are guaranteed to not get there. 

You people make me laugh, and cry. One recent laugh was when Rukh posted that she loves it when we talk money to her!  I cry when I read about a daughter's challenges, a husband's illness, a loved one's near fatal accident, a parent's death.  

We are a community.  

[azucena]

Sept 20, 2019 7:50:04 GMT -5 azucena said:

Sept 13, 2019 7:03:27 GMT -5 azucena said:

Azucena 9/20/19 $23,397 of $25,000 goal (94%)

Electrical work came in at $2400, and we are very pleased with the results. We are already hanging out in the living room way more now that the can lights make take away the gloominess.

While we pretty much cashflowed that bill, I messed up our mortgage payment. I've been fighting with the new mortgage servicing company - their website sucks and they want $1 for each electronic payment which irritates me to no end. So, in my attempt to get around paying them for the privilege of paying my bill, I set up autodrafts from my checking account. I like to pay half the mortgage with each of my biweekly paychecks which results in a full extra payment to principal each year. The mortgage company was taking each of these payments and applying them directly to principal which I guess makes sense from their perspective, but goodness. Luckily I caught it just before my October payment was overdue because of course it looks like I didn't pay it even though they drafted 3 cycles which went directly to principal. Rather than calling and dealing with their crappy customer service, I said screw it and took a full mortgage payment from savings to get us "caught up".  I confessed to DH and he laughed and said well, you were debating about paying extra towards the principal this year.  So nice to have the option to just let it go and take the easy way out of this mistake.  Set up Nov's draft for the full mortgage payment to coincide with my next paycheck.  Will have to see if I can just time the whole payment for one of my checks or if that leaves us "short" for that week.  Thanks in some part to YM, I'm disciplined enough to send the extra principal payments on my own when I have a three paycheck month.  Speaking of which, Nov is one wooooohoooo!

As we're approaching yearend, I'm thinking about what went well this year and what could be better.  I'm leaning towards ditching mint.  It helped me get better about tracking bills and moving excess to savings, but that's become routine now.  And I'm concerned that sooner or later they will have a security breach, so I'd rather not have my info on their site anymore.  I'll miss tracking my net worth, but again, I can start that on my own.

Almost forgot to update my numbers...

Azucena 10/14/19 $22,112 of $25,000 goal (88%)

[nikiz628]

UPDATE: 

2019 Savings	START	CURRENT	GOAL	STILL NEEDED
Emergency Fund	$2,091.03	$1,400.69	$4,500.00	$3,099.31
DS1's Savings	$1,750.51	$1,960.00	$2,000.00	$40.00
DS2's Savings	$576.65	$734.44	$800.00	$65.56
TOTALS	$4,418.19	$4,095.13	$7,300.00	$3,204.87

NikiZ628 10/14/2019 $4,095.13 (Goal $7,300 WIRS1)


Now that both boys have had their birthday parties, I have deposited all of the money they each received into their savings accounts. They are both so close to their goal for the year. Unfortunately, our EF took another hit to cover some overspending. Not really an emergency but glad it was there to cover my oopsies. 2019 has certainly been a rollercoaster year financially. 

[NastyWoman]

Oct 12, 2019 10:56:30 GMT -5 seriousthistime said:

Oct 12, 2019 10:25:26 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

It really does help so much I am finding. People can celebrate with you on small victories, and commiserate on months when it is looking bleaker.

It's helpful to watch others' savings grow and be inspired to try just a little harder, feel that there are others who will keep you accountable.

It's a great community.

...

Saving is something you plan for.  It's not just what happens with the money left over at the end of the pay period, because if that's your idea of saving you won't have money left over by then.  That's why I think it's SO important to join the Savers even if you're a Racer.  Savings and spending are two points on a financial continuum. At one end you have Trainwreck.  At the other you have SuperSaver. As we move along that continuum we get closer to one end and further from the other. SuperSavers still need to be mindful about debt.  Trainwrecks can do the first baby step of Dave Ramsey: $1,000 in an emergency fund. It may mean saving pennies.  It may take a long time to get there, but if you don't try you are guaranteed to not get there. 

So much . I guess that I qualify as a supersaver (definitions seem to vary) since I max out my 401k (plus old biddy addition of $7K) and on top of that I save ~ 50% of my net take home. But a few years go, after I paid off my mortgage, I did not track my spending for a while until I realized that my savings increase was not reflective of the $2k bill that had disappeared with the pay-off. So back on a budget I went. One that is quite generous to me I will admit (my travel is a budget item), but still one that makes me spend consciously.

It is ever so much easier to reduce/avoid debt and save when you work with a budget. 

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Oct 14, 2019 8:05:42 GMT -5 azucena said:

Sept 20, 2019 7:50:04 GMT -5 azucena said:

Electrical work came in at $2400, and we are very pleased with the results. We are already hanging out in the living room way more now that the can lights make take away the gloominess.

While we pretty much cashflowed that bill, I messed up our mortgage payment. I've been fighting with the new mortgage servicing company - their website sucks and they want $1 for each electronic payment which irritates me to no end. So, in my attempt to get around paying them for the privilege of paying my bill, I set up autodrafts from my checking account. I like to pay half the mortgage with each of my biweekly paychecks which results in a full extra payment to principal each year. The mortgage company was taking each of these payments and applying them directly to principal which I guess makes sense from their perspective, but goodness. Luckily I caught it just before my October payment was overdue because of course it looks like I didn't pay it even though they drafted 3 cycles which went directly to principal. Rather than calling and dealing with their crappy customer service, I said screw it and took a full mortgage payment from savings to get us "caught up".  I confessed to DH and he laughed and said well, you were debating about paying extra towards the principal this year.  So nice to have the option to just let it go and take the easy way out of this mistake.  Set up Nov's draft for the full mortgage payment to coincide with my next paycheck.  Will have to see if I can just time the whole payment for one of my checks or if that leaves us "short" for that week.  Thanks in some part to YM, I'm disciplined enough to send the extra principal payments on my own when I have a three paycheck month.  Speaking of which, Nov is one wooooohoooo!

As we're approaching yearend, I'm thinking about what went well this year and what could be better.  I'm leaning towards ditching mint.  It helped me get better about tracking bills and moving excess to savings, but that's become routine now.  And I'm concerned that sooner or later they will have a security breach, so I'd rather not have my info on their site anymore.  I'll miss tracking my net worth, but again, I can start that on my own.

Almost forgot to update my numbers...

Azucena 10/14/19 $22,112 of $25,000 goal (88%)

That might be something we can incorporate here? Maybe the savers thread, maybe a new net worth thread? There is one on YM, but I prefer the WIR boards for more personal stuff. As stated, I love the supportive community and not sure of the value of posting so many personal details into the piranha pond!

[forwardwego]

Rukh O'Rorke I'd join you in a Savers Net Worth thread (for gentle fish, piranha need not apply). 

[teachermom]

Oct 15, 2019 9:10:12 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

That might be something we can incorporate here? Maybe the savers thread, maybe a new net worth thread? There is one on YM, but I prefer the WIR boards for more personal stuff. As stated, I love the supportive community and not sure of the value of posting so many personal details into the "piranha pond!"

HAHAHAHHAHAHA!! Love that! the "piranha pond!!" When I read stuff there that is how I feel and it isn't even my info out there!

Teachermom

[Saving4Norway]

Oct 2, 2019 8:24:48 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

Oct 1, 2019 7:54:19 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

I put a little bit more in here than originally planned thinking of potential taxes, may do even more after this most recent pay day, JIC. Not sure how I should bifurcate my true EF from tax hedging savings? 

Those with many savings buckets - are these in different accounts? Can you make buckets within an account? Or do you just keep track?

Re-posting this question....if any may have advice or ideas.

It looks like I might be the odd-ball. (Again! )

I keep my checking and savings in a local credit union. My checking has a "false bottom" of $1000, so when I see $1200 left at the end of the month I tell myself I'm down to only $200. All of my savings accounts I keep in one massive lump sum. I keep it all straight in a spreadsheet. <3 <3 I'm proud to be a savings NERD!! <3 <3

But, change is in the air for me... (Oh no!!!)

I'm contemplating early retirement (quitting teaching) so I'm trying to ramp up my savings even more and I'm considering moving my savings earmarked for years without a paycheck to an accessible fund like Vanguard.

[shanendoah]

shanendoah [Q4] $150 10/17/19 (Goal: $300 12/31/2019)
[Q3] $1,020 9/24/2019 (Goal: $2,020 9/30/2019)
[Q2]: $3,010 6/25/2019 (Goal: $3,020 6/30/2019)
[Q1]: $8,994 3/26/2019 (Goal: $300 3/31/2019)


I was going through my checkbook spreadsheet and could not for the life of me figure out why it was not matching up with my online record from my main account. My spreadsheet insisted I had $50 less than the bank did. I finally realized that, because I've been doing savings quarter by quarter, I had not scheduled my Q4 automatic savings yet. So my spreadsheet had the planned transfer to savings in it, but the money had not actually been moved from the savings account.

I am also trying to figure out how I want to track/count the money I am making from my side gig doing book reviews. They pay via Paypal, which is not connected to any of our regular accounts, and I often forget about it. Mostly what happens is that every once in a while, something gives me the option to pay via paypal, and so I go check the balance in that account. If there's enough there, like there was 2 weeks ago when we were ordering gutterfoam for our gutters, I pay for it from paypal. It then never touches the actual checking account. But I am not buying things that we wouldn't otherwise buy. I am wondering if what I should do is when I pay for something from Paypal, transfer a corresponding amount from checking to savings. That turns the Paypal account into a kind of delayed savings account. (And this is where the extra $100 came from in my savings.)

C is no longer going back to school. (Long story I won't be going into.) That does mean that we can redirect the money we were planning on using to cover tuition to other goals. Also, at the end of this month, I will finish my current WIRR race and be debt free with the exception of the mortgage and my $45/month w/d payment. That will throw about $500/month back into cash flow starting in November.

I did pull the money from savings to cover the annual car insurance payment.

Rukh O'Rorke - I have multiple accounts, but that's to take advantage of interest rates. At my CU, the first $500 in a savings account gets 6% APR. After that, the rate sucks. So I have 3 savings accounts there that each generally have $500 in them (and therefore an instantly available $1,500 emergency fund), and then the rest of the savings is in the online only savings account through Citibank, where I'm earning 2.36% APR.
In order to keep track of my different goals, I have a spreadsheet that has each of my savings goals, when I want to achieve that goal by, and therefore how much I need to save each month to meet all my goals. Right now, I am NOT saving enough to meet my goals, but I am okay with that because I know things are going to change over time, and I don't have any goal "due date" earlier than July 2021.

[debthaven]

Job 1 forgot to pay me for my extra Aug hours in Sept, so they'll be paying me for them in Oct.

My contract at Job 2 has been upgraded to permanent status, but I only found out yesterday that when I refused to sign the new temp contract (following my boss's advice), I should have explained why. I did that today, and got a very nice response, but I'm a little worried about not being paid for Job 2 in Oct.

I have basically decided to work as much as humanly possible in the hopes of getting that 10K "saved savings" back to 10K by next summer (the end of this school year).

Woot woot Saving4Norway ! What's your timeline?

I probably need to track the no-longer saved savings ...

Saved savings = 8600 (goal 10,000).

We also have a bunch of upcoming expenses on our rentals so it may well go down again before it goes up.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Oct 1, 2019 7:54:19 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

Sept 18, 2019 7:35:48 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

Rukh 09/18/2019 $350.28 (Goal = $20,000)

Rukh 09/18/2019 $850.43 (Goal = $20,000)

Rukh 10/18/2019 $925.86 (Goal = $20,000)

5%!!!


This is getting kind of exciting  - next update will be 4 figures for sure!

[seriousthistime]

Oct 16, 2019 21:20:09 GMT -5 Saving4Norway said:

Oct 2, 2019 8:24:48 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

Re-posting this question....if any may have advice or ideas.

I'm contemplating early retirement (quitting teaching) so I'm trying to ramp up my savings even more and I'm considering moving my savings earmarked for years without a paycheck to an accessible fund like Vanguard.

www.aarp.org/retirement/planning-for-retirement/info-2019/4-new-ideas.html

For those of you who are trying to figure out the best path to retirement and at this point only see work work work in your future, this article gave me some food for thought.  I have a retirement countdown app on my phone.  Could be that retirement would be sooner than what the app says.   

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Oct 19, 2019 9:59:14 GMT -5 seriousthistime said:

Oct 16, 2019 21:20:09 GMT -5 Saving4Norway said:

I'm contemplating early retirement (quitting teaching) so I'm trying to ramp up my savings even more and I'm considering moving my savings earmarked for years without a paycheck to an accessible fund like Vanguard.

www.aarp.org/retirement/planning-for-retirement/info-2019/4-new-ideas.html

For those of you who are trying to figure out the best path to retirement and at this point only see work work work in your future, this article gave me some food for thought.  I have a retirement countdown app on my phone.  Could be that retirement would be sooner than what the app says.   

thanks!!

I've been putting away as much as I can through the years - but without any real plan other than - I can retire when I hit 3M!

Welp, not even closing in at 1M currently, and starting to need a new and more modest approach!

ETA: after reading it, I'm not sure I agree with their delaying SS math. They didn't account for the 150k withdrawal having long term growth - which I think changes the picture considerably! But otherwise, I thought it was sensible.

[seriousthistime]

Update 

Account Name	Goal	Start	Amount Saved 10/19/19	Amt. Saved %	Roses
Gifts	$2,300	$335	$2,305	100.0%
Property Tax	$5,000	$2,984	$5,017	100.0%
Survival Fund	$6,000	$26	$6,008	100.0%
Household/Misc	$2,500	$1,075	$2,501	100.0%
Pet Care	$600	$130	$602	100.0%
Weekly Savings	$2,600	$0	$2,210	85.0%
Mortgage Cushion	$12,000	$4,200	$11,431	95.3%
Car Fund	$6,000	$0	$6,009	100.0%
Travel	$5,000	$0	$1,430	28.6%
Total	$42,000	$8,750	$37,513	89.3%

Seriousthistime, $37,513 10/19/19 (Goal $42,000)   


Weekly Savings Tracker: 

Week 43	Week 44	Week 45	Week 46	Week 47	Week 48
Week 49	Week 50	Week 51	Week 52

I'm beginning to believe that I will make my goal for the year.  

I keep the mortgage cushion in one local bank so I have access to a brick-and-mortar bank's services.  I am getting zero percent interest on that money.  Now that the balance is increasing, I think I could move most of it to my online bank, get at least some interest on it, and maintain enough for two mortgage payments in the brick-and-mortar bank. It would be enough to keep my checking account fee-free.  

I got my property tax bill for the year and I see I'll be short around $300. But with the first half due in a month and the second half in February, I can just adjust the amount I save in 2020 and will more than have it covered (and be in good shape when next November rolls around). 

I have no idea how I'll end up for federal income tax by April.  I got a raise at work and have directed all of it into federal withholding for the rest of the 2019.  Mostly I want to avoid having to pay, and if I come out relatively even I'll be okay.  Even better if I get something back. 

[Saving4Norway]

Not exactly a real post. I'm working on formatting my new kind of saving for early retirement plan.

Month	2019 Goals	Saved	% Met
Beginning of Sept '19	500	500	100%
End of September '19	500	1000	200%
B of October '19	500	500	100%
E of October '19	500		0%
B of November '19	500		0%
E of November '19	500		0%
B of December '19	500		0%
E of December '19	500		0%
	0		0%
	0		0%
	0		0%
	0		0%
TOTAL	4000.04	2000	50%

Saving4Norway 10/31/19 $2,000 (Goal $4,000)

[debthaven]

seriousthistime I thought of something that COULD make your life easier for next year. It's not my idea, it's from Bankergrrl on the WIRR thread.

From what I've read on her blog, she does the same Weekly Savings Tracker, but she does it backwards ... ie (ideally) she starts with Week 52. But she aims for those higher numbers earlier in the year, and works backwards.

I don't do it myself, but I know I'd have a heck of a time coming up with those last 4 weeks of savings before Christmas, so I just wanted to mention this.

But unlike me, you're a real savings veteran!

[seriousthistime]

debthaven, I think I did something similar one year.  With every paycheck (paid every other week), I deposited the first week ($1) and the last week of savings ($52); then the second week ($2) and the second-to last-week ($51), etc.  So, end result, I put $53 each paycheck into weekly savings.  I also tried adding $10 per week to the amount, so $11 plus $63, etc.  I also tried  forwardwego's chart of smilies but with numbers ($11, $12, $13, etc. for weeks 1, 2 and 3, etc., and skipping around and deciding how much I wanted to put in savings that paycheck and putting a smilie in those squares when I made the deposit).  So if I decided to put in $57 that paycheck, I could choose $17 (week 7) and $40 (week 30) and replace those amounts with various smilies.  When the chart was filled with smilies, I was done.  This year I decided to be boring and just do $50 per week. 

But I'm open to all sorts of creative ideas.  And bankergurl is really a SuperSaver.  

And you see how chiver78 does it with the playing card deck. I like that, too. 

I thought I'd go back and see how many of the active Savers are doing the weekly savings deal.  Not too many of us left.  It seems like most of us have more specific goals now.  Still, I'm tied to weekly savings, in whatever amount or tracking program I decide.  Even if I don't have time to transfer money around into various savings accounts (or don't have the extra cash to do it, haha), I always do my weekly savings. 

My gift account is fully funded, so I'm not worried about my cash flow over the holidays. If I were, I might decide to do 48 weeks of saving, organized to somehow make the annual savings goal. $49 + $50 + $51 + $52 = $202, and divided by 48 (weeks) you'd need about $4.20 more per week to get the weekly savings goal completed. You could put in $4 per week, and occasionally put in $5 more.  Or you could just calculate how much you'd need to save over 48 weeks and forget the last four weeks of the year, or as forwardwego started, just try to hit a few of the more expensive savings weeks early in the year and leave some of the smaller amounts for those last four weeks.

Or do as you and bankergurl suggest and go backwards, start week 1 with $52, week 2 with $51, and so on. 

There are many, many ways to trick ourselves into saving money.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

I need to think about the holidays!!

I've been really laser-focused on getting to a better spot with my budget numbers, savings, debt pay down, with a goal to loosen the purse strings just a bit in 2020 for a more sustainable, long-term approach.

But - I was kind of ignoring the holidays!! I do tend to splurge a bit.

[forwardwego]

GOAL	AMOUNT	STARTING	$$ TO DATE	% OF GOAL	$$ TO GO
JPPCU CUSHION	2000	350	1900	95	100
DD IRA	3000	1000	3000	100
RENTAL MARGIN	12000	10700	8840	73	3160
PERIODIC EXPENSE	5000	1800	4660	93	340
CASH STASH pt 1	1000	300	1000	100
CASH STASH pt 2	1000	0	600	60	400
TOTAL	24000	14150	20000	83	4000

UPDATE 10/22/2019 $20,000 (begin $14150; goal $24,000)


yahoo for $20K