Women in Red SAVERS 2019

[nikiz628]

UPDATE: 

2019 Savings	START	CURRENT	GOAL	STILL NEED
Emergency Fund	$2,091.03	$2,874.43	$4,500.00	$1,625.57
DS1's Savings	$1,750.51	$1,850.51	$2,000.00	$149.49
DS2's Savings	$576.65	$676.65	$800.00	$123.35
TOTALS	$4,418.19	$5,401.59	$7,300.00	$1,898.41

NikiZ628 3/25/19 $5,401.59 (Goal $7,300 WIRS1)

[paynointerest]

Update!

Pay-no-interest: $14,100 (Goal: $49,200.00)

	Goal	Saved	% of goal	Spent
My 403b	$19,000	$3,800	20%
457b	$9,000	0	0%
Savings Acct	$3,000	$3000	100%
Taxable Invest Acct	$5,000	$900	18%
Property/Income Taxes #1	$4,200	$5,200	124%	$1,180
DH 403b	$10,000	$1,200	12%
Total	$49,200	$14,100	27%

Since I worked so hard to save the money so I wouldn't have to have any worries when I had to pay my taxes, I thought I'd share how I spend my saved money.  I've paid my county and city property taxes that were readily available because I had it in savings!  Woo Hoo!  I actually was eligible for a refund on my federal and state taxes but I had my accountant apply that money toward my 2019 quarterly taxes.  My plan is to spend down the rest of my money that is saved in my Property/Income tax column to pay ahead on my 2019 quarterly taxes.  Once that is at $0, I'll add a new row for "property" taxes and work on meeting that savings goal to be able to my school property tax that will be due in late August and my 2019 county and city property taxes that will be due this time next year.

[shanendoah]

shanendoah[Q1]: $8,994 3/26/2019 (Goal: $300 3/31/2019)

Well, even if you don't count the $7700 that will be coming back out next month to pay taxes, I still made 4x my goal for Q1. I am happy with that.

Glad to see everyone else doing fairly well, too. And even if you're not, glad to see you here, still trying, still plugging away.

[forwardwego]

GOAL	AMOUNT	STARTING	$$ TO DATE	% OF GOAL	$$ TO GO
JPPCU CUSHION	2000	350	1330	66	670
DD IRA	3000	1000	1600	53	1400
RENTAL MARGIN	12000	10700	3400	28	8600
PERIODIC EXPENSE	5000	1800	3333	66	1667
CASH STASH	2000	300	600	30	1400
TOTAL	24000	14150	10263	42	13737

UPDATE 3/26/2019 $10263 (begin $14150; goal $24,000) beginning amount corrected

Gaining some traction. Very happy to hit the $10K mark. Surprisingly we are getting a tax refund, I forgot that we had deferred loss on the rental which we we can use for the 2018 tax year because our retirement income is lower than when we worked. That should enable us to hit the 50% mark in April. 

[paynointerest]

Update!

Pay-no-interest: $16,800 (Goal: $49,200.00)

	Goal	Saved	% of goal	Amt spent
My 403b	$19,000	$5,800	31%
457b	$9,000	$100	1%
Savings Acct	$3,000	$3000	100%
Taxable Invest Acct	$5,000	$900	18%
Property/Income Taxes #1	$4,200	$5,200	124%	$2,218
DH 403b	$10,000	$1,800	18%
Total	$49,200	$16,800	34%

Paid my state quarterly taxes and deducted it from the savings.

I added to my and DH retirement contributions for March.

[trimatty471]

Trimatty 03/31/2019 $13,736 (Goal = $14,424.00)


Goal: $14,424.00

Moving Expense $3,500.00 - 100% Complete
Vacation $2,500.00 - 100% Complete
Sinking Fund $2,200.00 - 100% Complete
Holiday $1,500.00 - 54.13%
Emergency $4,724.00 - $100 Complete

Need:

Holiday - $688.00

This month I received my bonus check and Home Insurance Reimbursement (from the sale of my house).

[plugginaway22]

Update:  Plugginaway22: $26,525 (goal $36,000)

Brick bank        5,001

On-line bank   16,248

Credit Union     5,276         

Total              $26,525


HSA balance    $9816

I moved things around to get the bulk of our savings into the 2% interest on-line money market account.  We owe $3200 in Federal tax this coming month.  I hope to get a bonus in April or May to offset most of that. We have hired a handyman to do some long overdue small fix-ups around here and are hoping to be able to cash-flow that as he goes.  So ready for the outside season, which means buying mulch, plants, etc.

[seriousthistime]

Hi Savers, 

Sunday is the last day of the month.  I will be updating the smilies on Tuesday evening, April 2.  

Please get your updates in before then.  Thanks. 

Seriousthistime

[azucena]

Mar 25, 2019 7:26:43 GMT -5 azucena said:

After paying off vacation charges from last week, I was able to put roughly half of my bonus into savings.  I also sent a significant portion to fulfill a church pledge for a new school building.

Azucena 3/25/19 $10,495 of $25,000 goal (42%)

Deposited $1,579 from paycheck.  Shopped for a new mattress earlier this week which was going to be paid for from my bonus, ended up spending way, way too much at Sleep Number and cancelled the order last night.  The cancellation was actually prompted by DH who said we probably got ahead of ourselves.  I had been having my own buyer's remorse.  Still need a new mattress because our current one is not helping my back, but we don't need to pay for extreme luxury.

Azucena 3/29/19 $12,074 of $25,000 goal (48%)

[plugginaway22]

We spent about 2k for a king mattress from Sam's club and it has been absolute heaven.

[finnime]

Goals for Spending

Goal	Goal Amount	Saved	Spent	Percent Saved
House	10,000	3260	1000	32.6%
Car	2,500	0	0
Dog	500	0	0
Medical	1500	500	0	33%
Gifts/Misc	3,000	0	0
Travel	2,500	0	0
Total	20,000	3760	1000	18.8%

Finnime1 $3760 3/30/2019 ($20,000)

Goal for Keeping

Security	5,000	1500	30%
Total	5,000	1500	30%

Finnime2 $1500 3/30/2019 ($5,000)

Saved, then turned around and spent, $1000 on new dishwasher, including extended warranty, delivery and installation. Old one quit draining and I couldn't resuscitate it for all my efforts. It was over 17 years old, however. The salesman told us the new versions use less than 3 gallons of water per cycle for washing and rinsing both. And this one allows for a cycle that only cleans the top rack, using even less water. But I'd rather have used the money for the front garden. Next house priority is removing an on-the-way-out Norway maple in the front yard, having stumps ground out, and renovating the garden.

[Deleted]

Update for March (well, really April for me as I allocate all my funds before the month starts).  Limping along, which will be my year I'm afraid.  I don't see me touching some of those goals at all.     However, at least I have a plan.  If a chunk of money falls in my lap for whatever reason, I'll not have to say "what should I do with this?".  I'll just allocate to the goals and move on.  

Fund	2019 Goal	Current	Needed	% Complete
2020 Roth	$7000	$1416	$5584	20.23%
Survival Fund	$6000	$6000	$0	100.00%
House Maint	$3000	$0	$3000	0.00%
College	$2400	$800	$1600	33.33%
Replacement Car	$2000	$0	$2000	0.00%
Pr. High School	$1000	$1000	$0	100.00%
Vacation	$1000	$0	$1000	0.00%
Christmas	$600	$28	$572	4.67%
Total	$23000	$9244	$13756	40.19%

Minnesotapaintlady $9244/$23000 3/30/2019

[paynointerest]

Update!

Pay-no-interest: $18,600 (Goal: $58,700.00)

	Goal	Saved	% of goal	Amt spent
My 403b	$19,000	$5,800	31%
457b	$9,000	$100	1%
Savings Acct	$3,000	$3000	100%
Taxable Invest Acct	$5,000	$900	18%
Property/Income Taxes #1	$4,200	$5,200	124%	$2,218
Property/Income Taxes #2	$8,500	$1,500	18%
DH 403b	$10,000	$1,800	18%
Total	$58,700	$18,600	32%

I added a new race for property/income taxes to begin saving for the remainder of my 2019 taxes (school property tax) and to be able to pay the remainder of my quarterly taxes due in June, September, and January.

[Deleted]

Ok.  So, I was a little bummed about having to ignore savings goals because of trying to max my 401K and then I thought...well...since that's the one I'm struggling with I really should have it in my goals, so I feel like I'm accomplishing something!  So.  I wiped out the car savings (not going to happen) and replaced it with the 401K.  Now at least it will feel like I'm doing something.

Fund	2019 Goal	Current	Needed	% Complete
401K	$19000	$4992	$14008	26.28%
2020 Roth	$7000	$1416	$5584	20.23%
Survival Fund	$6000	$6000	$0	100.00%
House Maint	$3000	$0	$3000	0.00%
College	$2400	$800	$1600	33.33%
Pr. High School	$1000	$1000	$0	100.00%
Vacation	$1000	$0	$1000	0.00%
Christmas	$600	$28	$572	4.67%
Total	$40,000	$14,264	$25,736	35.66%

Minnesotapaintlady $14,264/$40,000 4/02/2019

[seriousthistime]

Updates

Stars	Name	Amt. Saved	Goal	% Saved	Roses	Smilies
	azucena	$12,074	$25,000	48.0%
	bobosensei	$2,008	$18,750	10.7%
	chiver78	$208	$910	22.9%
	finnime [1]	$3,760	$20,000	18.8%
	finnime [2]	$1,500	$5,000	30.0%
	forwardwego	$10,263	$24,000	42.8%
	kindthatjingles	$1,000	$3,500	28.6%
	minnesotapaintlady	$14,264	$40,000	35.7%
	nikiz628	$5,402	$7,300	74.0%
	paynointerest	$18,600	$58,700	32.0%
	plugginaway22	$26,525	$36,000	73.7%
	Saving4Norway	$4,000	$18,101	22.0%
	sealy	$7,000	$25,000	28.0%
	seriousthistime	$13,368	$42,000	31.8%
	shanendoah [Q1]	$8,994	$300	2998.0%
	snapdragon	$16,535	$18,700	88.4%
	teachermom	$22,613	$104,000	21.7%
	TheHaitian	$5,354	$60,000	8.9%
	tobinikui	$12,292	$105,658	11.6%
	trimatty471	$13,726	$14,424	95.2%

It's great to see so many Savers returning this year, and also wonderful to see some new faces!

  

[forwardwego]

And boom! One quarter of 2019 is accomplished!


Shoutouts (part 1 of 2):


bobosensei Nice work setting up your Synchrony savings acct set up with 2.25% interest, and easy qualifying terms!
Did you set it up for auto transfer? I hope you get your promotion and can start funding your car down payment. 

tobinikui Good job surpassing $12K saved for 11.6% of goal! Congrats to you and your DH on his new job, and the excellent job you have done planning toward taxes and retirement. The drainage project sounds kind of big, but that's when it really pays to be a Saver. Good for you facing it and preparing. 

trimatty471 Congrats on completing your home sale, and on distributing the proceeds and other savings wisely!!
Will you be bumping up your goals? Also, If it's not too personal, why $4724 as your EF goal? 

chiver78 Good for you at 22.9% of goal, and very close to your first  ! Keep "dealing in" the savings!! So glad to hear that the new job is a good fit!!!

snapdragon Hola! Good to see you. Plumping up your mattress by several hundred dollars, and only owing $90 to Uncle Sam.....win and win!! 

seriousthistime Thanks for the updates and smileys, organizing and encouraging the WIR Savers  . Though you would have preferred to make more progress in March, you made a solid stride and, as you noted, are well on your way with nearly 32% to goal.

[forwardwego]

Shoutouts part 2 of 2:


sealy Nice job saving $7K! You can accomplish the challenge of cash flowing some of the taxes, and maintaining as much savings as possible! Yes you can  Congratulations on eliminating Best Buy and the personal bank loan

shanendoah Nice work accomplishing your 1st quarter goal! Also good work having the plan in place to pay off the 0% card ahead of the expiration, and Q2 goal of $3020 straight ahead!!  

finnime There's always a next project/priority! Congrats on nice increases ($3750 and $1436) to both your pots of savings!! Good work having the money saved to replace the ornery old dishwasher!  Yay for saving water and money!!

debthaven It's nice to see you. Congrats on eliminating your half of the rental reno loan, glad the settlements are progressing in a positive way. 

minnesotapaintlady Welcome back! It's great to have you here!! Congrats on $14264 saved, and on tweaking your goals and updates to better reflect your situation and motivate you. 

lazysundays We are thinking of you as you navigate through this crazy time. It sounds like you have thought through it carefully and have arrived at a method that helps both you and your mom. Thank you for sharing this wisdom: "when you are young, you have energy and time, but no money. When you are an adult, you probably have money and energy, but no time. When you are old you have money and time, but no energy." I sent you a PM. 

teachermom It was easy to get caught off guard in 2018 on tax withholding, and the change in your filing status added to the "problem". Good job making the adjustment for 2019!

azucena Excellent month for you! Now at $12074 and 48%!! Congrats to you and your DH on addressing your buyers' remorse. Big purchase decisions can surely bring it about, and if it's nerve wracking, it's better to back up and give it time. 

nikiz628 Kudos on another $300 saved     

paynointerest Good idea to have the savings for taxes organized, and giving yourself credit for that!  Yea for $18600 and 32%!!

plugginaway22 Well done with $26525, surpassing the $26K and blowing past the 70% milestone!  

[snapdragon]

Snapdragon 04-05-19 --- $ 17,027.64 / $ 18,750

Car/House $ 3501.30 / $3500

Savings $ 4043.77 / $4000

Travel $ 4004.63 / $4500

Property Taxes $ 2281.14 / $2250  

Lasik $ 3196.80 / $ 4500


New Totals $ 17,027.64 / $18,750



I am so close on a few things.  I believe next year I won't have property taxes on my list and I am going to up a few goals. Once everything is good, I am going to give myself a challenge of getting my mortgage to 100K by the end of the year. I am not racing it or anything but I am really thinking about doing some upgrades on my place especially the kitchen and getting new carpet. But I want to have some savings built up before I start looking.

[forwardwego]

Good morning or afternoon WIR Savers 


March Shoutouts may be a slow operation. I'm in California, came here on short notice to help DD cope with her breakup with her BF. Just one of a variety of life events that can upend. So I am trying to facilitate her upcoming move (she is in California primarily for the now ex, and it is "ripping expensive".) So shoutouts will happen in bits and pieces until I get back to FL next week. Also the tax refund I had planned to add to savings just got spent on airfare, so savings will continue to be slower paced for at least one more month.


Keep up the good work Savers, it sure ain't easy, but we CAN do this.



ETA: Nice to see you into the $17K's snapdragon! 

[snapdragon]

forwardwego - 

Thank you and hug your DD. Here's sending you both good vibes and wishes for a safe and fast move.

[trimatty471]

Apr 3, 2019 19:20:23 GMT -5 forwardwego said:

trimatty471 Congrats on completing your home sale, and on distributing the proceeds and other savings wisely!!
Will you be bumping up your goals? Also, If it's not too personal, why $4724 as your EF goal? 

$4724 was the amount that I was short of my 6 month emergency fund goal. I had to use some of the fund for repairs needed in preparation for selling my home.  I am creating new goals once I find and move into my new place.  One of my future goals is to increase my efund to 9 months.

[Saving4Norway]

Fund	2018 Goals	Last Month	This Month	% Met	Roses
TBD	1	0	0	0%
Norway 2020	4000	0	0	0%
Deductibles	500	500	500	100%	Jan
Gifts&Donations	2000	0	1400	70%
Palm Springs 2019	600	600	600	100%	Feb
Motorcycle Trips 2019	1000	0	1000	100%	April
Home Improvement	5000	1000	2000	40%
Cultural	2000	1400	2000	100%	March
Vacay Prop	500	500	500	100%	Jan
Hockey Season Tickets	1000	0	0	0%
Christmas	500	0	0	0%
Adventures	1000	0	1000	100%	March
TOTAL	18101	4000	9000	50%

Saving4Norway 4/5/19 $9,000 (Goal $18,101)

[TheHaitian]

Hello Everyone,

Sorry I have been absent; been crazy busy at work and home! A lot happened that have made me question should I continue on this journey with you guys or not; seems every time I start something happens... So a pipe burst in our basement causing some damages, and after a lot of back and forth with the insurance company they covered some of it; we were out the 1k deductible and the cost of the plumber. Then I already mentioned the Tax Levy from MA in the amount of ~2.2k, still fighting and hopeful we will get it back. 

So between that and everything else, I had to withdraw $9,800 from backup Emergency Fund. I was not happy about it and actually waited till the absolute last minute because I was so hoping I would not have to do it; but push came to shove and I had to admit it just needed to be done! We got 3k back from the insurance company to cover some of the expenses we had paid for, so I promptly put it in a separate account so we did not spend it, have not touch it yet and afraid I will need it. But if a month or so pass by and I do not, I plan to put it back into my HSA account (that is what I use as my back up Emergency fund). 

Besides that, the only good thing that happened in March was Bonus... I sent a good portion of my bonus to my 401k and also my company contributed I think ~2% lump sump of my yearly salary to it also. This way I will back down future contributions which in turn will ease up on the cash flow giving us more room to breath. 

I knew this goal would be really demanding and tight at times but did not realize it would be this bad (with MURPHY visiting it was terrible to be honest)… and end of March/bonus could not come fast enough. Unfortunately bonus did not go toward debt as I was hoping and planning it would but went toward more so helping us stay afloat and not have to access more savings; which was needed.

This brought up the conversation that maybe we should back down savings this year a bit and re-evaluate next year. We have discussed it but have not followed through yet and I am hopeful we will not have too and will be able to reach our goal! But I can see how it feels we are making our lives harder than we need to! 

A few things that should help in the upcoming months :
1) tax levy is done so my wife goes back to getting her full paycheck, an extra +550/biweekly
2) I reduce my 401k contributions by about $400/month since I sent such a big chunk of my bonus towards it and still be able to max. 
3) not a guarantee but if the real estate market stays warm, I plan to apply in a couple of months (maybe august?) to remove PMI which if approves (home appraises) should save us about $438/month

Savings	Goals	Actual	Percentage
Carl 401k	$19,000.00	$8,748.74	46.05%
Carl Match	$3,000.00	$2,429.29	80.98%
DW 403b	$19,000.00	$5,115.46	26.92%
DW Match	$6,000.00	$1,658.37	27.64%
HSA	$6,500.00	$1,624.98	25.00%
HSA Match	$500.00	$500.00	100.00%
FSA	$2,700.00	$675.00	25.00%
DD Savings	$1,560.00	$570.00	36.54%
DD 529	$1,740.00	$250.00	14.37%
Total	$60,000.00	$21,571.84	35.95%

cawiau 04/05/19  $21,571.84 (Goal = $60,000)

[teachermom]

TheHaitian Don't give up! You got this!! Also, if you don't make your goals, you don't make your goals. I don't all the time. What I try to remember is that I am better than I was the last month and just keep plugging away. At least you are saving and investing for yours and your family's future and every step you take is on the path there. Murphy has visited me more times than I can count but I keep on charging ahead.

Teachermom

[shanendoah]

Last night, I finally sat down and actually did our taxes, vs just my quick estimate from earlier. I had forgotten/not really paid attention to the fact that we paid points on our new mortgage - $5000 in points on our new mortgage. This took us from the realm of standard deduction to itemizing. And in the end, instead of owing $7700, we owed $6130! Now, we then paid a $120 fee to pay with the credit card (but the points on $6k of spending will be more than $100, so I'm good with that). But in the end, this means that $1400 of the $7700 I put in savings for taxes will get to stay in savings!

[teachermom]

shanendoah Me too.....owe $2200. Adjusted my W-4 so that doesn't happen again.

Teachermom

[lund]

Carl,
Your emergency savings ARE for things like burst pipes! You had them, and it worked the way it should.
Well done!
And now, you will be working on putting the EF money back. Which is as it should be, too.

As to your job, I think that to look for  a new one could be a good idea - when is it that you will not have to repay any moving costs? I think that it was this summer, so leaving around that time would probably be an extremely good time!

Hopefully you will have some good months now, after winter heating before summer air conditioning, making the EF replenishment easier.

And as to having more income again, I think that stashing it due to job uncertainty is a good idea.

If you can get out of paying for PMI, it certainly would be a huge plus.

[shanendoah]

shanendoah[Q2]: $170 4/10/2019 (Goal: $3,020 6/30/2019)
[Q1]: $8,994 3/26/2019 (Goal: $300 3/31/2019)

I switched my automatic savings to $170/paycheck, up from the $150 I'd been doing.
I transferred $1,400 back into the long term savings (this is from Q1), and have set up a spreadsheet to track that, so that I can track the goals I have for long term savings there.

[sealy]

Apr 3, 2019 19:20:49 GMT -5 forwardwego said:

Shoutouts part 2 of 2 (in progress):


sealy Nice job saving $7K! You can accomplish the challenge of cash flowing some of the taxes, and maintaining as much savings as possible! Yes you can  Congratulations on eliminating Best Buy and the personal bank loan

I need a new tagline.  I only have 1K now.  I used the money on BB, personal loan, and the taxes

[lund]

Sealy,
Pat yourself on the back!
You had the money to pay not only the taxes, but also the personal loan and the BB bill.
Now, onward and forward to replace the savings.