Women in Red SAVERS 2020

[seriousthistime]

Seriousthistime [3], 9/1/20, $12,150 (Goal $25,000)

Hmm, thought I posted this earlier this morning but must have moved away from the page before I created the post. 

[debthaven]

The sale of the rental studio fell through. We will be fixing it up and re-renting it. So no savings updates on the horizon any time soon. 

[seriousthistime]

Sept 1, 2020 15:38:41 GMT -5 debthaven said:

The sale of the rental studio fell through. We will be fixing it up and re-renting it. So no savings updates on the horizon any time soon. 

Oh no!  Is this typical for real estate purchases where you are?

[debthaven]

No ... the building has some issues and the buyer got cold feet.

[speechchick71]

Sept 1, 2020 15:38:41 GMT -5 debthaven said:

The sale of the rental studio fell through. We will be fixing it up and re-renting it. So no savings updates on the horizon any time soon. 

Well that's a total bummer! 

[debthaven]

I'm absolutely terrified to post this and jinx something ... it looks like the buyer changed his mind again. Circumstances have changed since yesterday, in the buyer's favor. DH and I spent all of yesterday making calls/writing emails/sending texts to the other owners in the building. Fingers crossed!!!

I will update again if/when we sign the first set of papers, hopefully in a week or two. And if/when we do, I will explain in more detail. For now I'm just terrified of jinxing this!

So please send good juju everyone! I nearly fainted when DH told me this! (I was at school when the buyer and DH spoke.)

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Sept 2, 2020 15:35:58 GMT -5 debthaven said:

I'm absolutely terrified to post this and jinx something ... it looks like the buyer changed his mind again. Circumstances have changed since yesterday, in the buyer's favor. DH and I spent all of yesterday making calls/writing emails/sending texts to the other owners in the building. Fingers crossed!!!

I will update again if/when we sign the first set of papers, hopefully in a week or two. And if/when we do, I will explain in more detail. For now I'm just terrified of jinxing this!

So please send good juju everyone! I nearly fainted when DH told me this! (I was at school when the buyer and DH spoke.)

the best juju available has been sent!

[snapdragon]

Sending good vibes debthaven.


Speaking of good vibes I got the notification that I was approved to be K's PR last night! After having to re-sign the paperwork for the 3rd time, (it's a charm for a reason.)

The house goes live tomorrow! Just in time for the long weekend. 

Everything i can think of is crossed hoping for a decent turn out. 



 

[plugginaway22]

Plugginaway22 09/01/20  $23,501 ($12,000)

2020             Saved          Goal

Jan                831.00      1000.00

Feb              1626.00      1000.00

Mar              3948.00      1000.00

Apr               1409.00      1000.00

May              4700.00      1000.00

June              2972.00      1000.00

July               6965.00      1000.00

Aug               1050.00       1000.00
subTotals     23,501.00      12,000.00

August was a long, hot, boring month with no vacation! We decided to rent a house at the beach in September for a mental health lift. It is big enough to invite all 3 kiddos/families and I am looking forward to that. Got to that point where I didn't care what it cost!
Continuing to use handyman to take care of tasks that have needed to be done, in case we decide to sell/downsize. He has replaced faucets, repaired walls in garage, replaced porch posts, replaced basement windows, switched out an outside faucet...the list goes on. He does excellent work for little money.
Continuing to keep head down and save for remainder of year, our retirement accounts looking good right now.

[TheOtherMe]

Juju sent your way debthaven

[paynointerest]

debthaven -- sending good vibes your way!

[nikiz628]

Jul 30, 2020 21:20:24 GMT -5 nikiz628 said:

UPDATE 9/4/2020

2020 Savings	START	CURRENT	GOAL	STILL NEED
Emergency Fund	$1,000.00	$2,000.00	$2,000.00	goal met 5/28/20
DS1's Savings	$1,960.29	$2,061.48	$2,200.00	$138.52
DS2's Savings	$734.55	$835.21	$850.00	$14.79
Totals	$3,694.84	$4,896.69	$5,050.00	$153.31

NikiZ628 9/4/2020 $4,896.69 (Goal $5,050.00 WIRS2)

[speechchick71]

Sept 3, 2020 23:04:47 GMT -5 nikiz628 said:

Jul 30, 2020 21:20:24 GMT -5 nikiz628 said:

UPDATE 9/4/2020

2020 Savings	START	CURRENT	GOAL	STILL NEED
Emergency Fund	$1,000.00	$2,000.00	$2,000.00	goal met 5/28/20
DS1's Savings	$1,960.29	$2,061.48	$2,200.00	$138.52
DS2's Savings	$734.55	$835.21	$850.00	$14.79
Totals	$3,694.84	$4,896.69	$5,050.00	$153.31

NikiZ628 9/4/2020 $4,896.69 (Goal $5,050.00 WIRS2)

You're so close!!

[seriousthistime]

Update!

Stars	Name		Amount Saved	Goal	% Saved	Roses	Smilies
	azucena		$20,549	$30,000	68.0%
	bobosensei		$7,786	$25,430	30.6%
	debthaven		7,551€	10,000€	75.5%
	finnime [1]		$0	$0	0.0%
	finnime [2]		$1,000	$18,500	5.4%
	flamingo		$9,418	$13,000	72.4%
	forwardwego		$8,620	$15,000	57.5%
	idlechatter		$24,062	$30,000	80.2%
	jenpen		$45,007	$48,550	93.0%
	minnesotapaintlady		$22,390	$26,000	86.1%
	nikiz628		$4,897	$5,050	97.0%
	paynointerest		$65,150	$71,000	92.0%
	plugginaway22		$23,501	$12,000	195.8%
	resolution		$31,900	$35,000	91.0%
	Rukh O'Rorke		$28,273	$43,600	65.0%
	Rukh O'Rorke [2]		$19,513	$20,000	97.6%
	Saving4Norway		$16,400	$18,003	91.1%
	seriousthistime		$30,534	$30,478	100.1%
	seriousthistime [2]		$10,000	$10,000	100.0%
	seriousthistime [3]		$12,150	$25,000	48.6%
	shanendoah [Q1]		$6,537	$5,040	129.7%
	shanendoah [Q2]		$5,475	$2,500	219.0%
	shanendoah [Q3]		$3,000	$4,500	66.7%
	snapdragon		$8,507	$9,500	89.5%
	speechchick71		$28,653	$28,500	100.54%
	steph08		$23,312	$32,600	70.1%
	teachermom		$2,778	$75,000	3.7%
	tobinikui		$45,792	$96,940	47.2%

Here you go, Savers.  Let me know if I've goofed anything up. 

[seriousthistime]

Seriousthistime [3], 9/5/20, $13,650 (Goal $25,000) 54.6%

[forwardwego]

July/August Shoutouts Part 1 of 2:


azucena Kudos to you on savings of over $20K and 68% to goal, right on target for the year. Though this may slow a bit and COVID is rearing it's ugly head in your work life, I'm happy you are finding balance in quality of life with home improvements and weekend reprieves. 

flamingo Good work bouncing back after your small dip in savings in July. You are more than on target for the year at 72.4% to goal. I agree that having that goal in front of us helps in avoiding or minimizing frivolous spending. The security of savings ranks much higher than those temporary material delights. 

jenpen You are chugging along strongly! Congrats on surpassing $45K and over 93% to goal. Nice work taking good care of your future!!   

minnesotapaintlady You have had 2 awesome savings months, advancing by 10% each month! WOW!! Congrats on earning your third star  . I'm looking forward to seeing your "new and improved" 401K goal!   

nikiz628 Sure hope you enjoyed your "runaway" to Michigan and its beaches. I'm glad you have the refi accomplished and look forward to seeing your new financials after the wonky is worked out    .

paynointerest Excellent work accomplishing the funding of DH's 403B supplemental account, and your full funding of your 2020 ROTH! It's amazing how quickly savings have built since you eliminated your mortgage. YAY for over $65K saved and 2 new roses! Best wishes in your Zoom classroom. A good idea to be proactive, thinking ahead to help maintain momentum as the year rolls along. 

plugginaway22 You are THISCLOSE to having your double dancing banana, woo hoo!! You are certainly on the fast track to retirement. A nice double win for you with the bonus paying in July, and no $3K Fed tax bill. Looking forward to hearing about your long awaited and well deserved getaway for the extended family.    

resolution  Congratulations on all kinds of savings milestones:   for surpassing 75% and also past 90%, breaking into the $30K range, and earning your 3rd rose  . I think that blah feeling is pretty common dealing with COVID induced changes, maybe you could do a mini getaway or project?  

Rukh O'Rorke  Kudos on savings growth of "pert near" $8K across July and August. With 65% to goal on the 2020 goals I believe you can do it. 

[forwardwego]

July/August Shoutouts Part 2 of 2:


Saving4Norway  Hi S4N! How have you been? Any additional news or insight on early retirement outlook? Nice work on savings of 91.1% 

seriousthistime  Thank you very much for the updates and smileys!     Good work approaching 50% on savings race #3. Multiple savings races is way more fun than multiple debt races 

shanendoah  Congratulations on being exactly on target for Q3!!! Don't hesitate to give yourself credit for saving the "found" $1600. We deserve credit when we are smart with money whether it was wages or came to us some other way. 

snapdragon  Keep up the good work, persistence will pay. Turtles win races and so do inchworms! Yay for getting the approval as K's PR, looking forward to hearing of progress on the sale of the house. Also congrats on continued savings and nearly 90% to goal.

speechchick71  It makes me so happy that you are here. I have great memories of cheering each other as WIR Southern debt Racers! Congrats on earning your dancing banana, and on cash flowing the roof and vacation . 

steph08  In spite of big expenses you are still more than on target for the year with 70% to goal. Good work absorbing most of that $8K payout. Sure hope your construction loan closes soon. Good plan to establish $10K EF upon sale of your present home.   

tobinikui  How have you been? Congrats on your July update of over $40K! It sounds like the horse back riding has been great for your spirit and an opportunity for your DH to gain perspective of your everyday!

[snapdragon]

The house went live late last week and I signed paperwork in 1 day! If inspection pans out than I should be done with everything by early October! I am so relieved to get this box checked and am looking at what I need to do for moving and getting the house cleared out.

[debthaven]

Wow snapdragon ! Fingers crossed!

[speechchick71]

Aww thanks forwardwego! I"m glad to be back here too with so many familiar faces. I always think I can go it alone but I do so much better when I have the support. I know you all aren't looking over my shoulder when I distribute my money into my funds but knowing that I'm going to post makes me make sure I'm doing what I think and say I'm doing! My friend and I have been doing workout challenges all year. Some weeks are better than others. In the first part of the year, we aimed for 4 days/week (any amount of time...but concentrated effort, not just walking around during the day or when shopping etc).  During the summer we went for 180 minutes/week. Starting this week, we're shooting for 5 days per week. Again, I could do this on my own but knowing that we are checking in with one another just adds a level of accountability. I mean, why would I lie to any of you or to my friend?

Anyhoo. The bottom line is that both this challenge and my workout challenges have pushed the needle in the positive direction. I forgot...is there an end of the year wrap up? like totals for all of us combined? I think the debt racers used to do that. It's crazy that it's September and I'm thinking of the end of the year.

[forwardwego]

speechchick71 Even with the strangeness of the year, time seems to be flying. At the end of the year seriousthistime will do the Dec Updates and Smileys. I follow that with the Dec Shout Outs & a brief year end summary (dancing banana winners, honorable mentions, a group total, and percent to goal as a group). I agree on the accountability. 10 years as a WIR has literally changed my life for the better. 

[shanendoah]

shanendoah [Q3]: $4,500 9/10/2020 (Goal: $4,500 9/30/2020)
ROTH [Q3]: $1,000 9/10/2020 (Goal: $1,500 9/30/2020)
Savings [Q3]: $3,500 9/10/2020 (Goal: $3,000 9/30/2020)

I am super bad at remembering to update the dates on these posts.
I am at the total goal for the quarter, but there will be another $500 put in C's ROTH at the end of this month, and possibly another $500 to general savings, as well.
We bought a new car a couple weeks ago. For the first time in 10 years we will have a car payment starting next month. However, it's the same amount I had budgeted to go into savings to cover maintenance and to save for a replacement. Given that we have a 10-year warranty, prepaid service for the first few years, and no more gas (we bought an electric car), our overall vehicle expenses will very likely go down.
We also now have liquid savings of over $14k. Thinking that come year-end, if we're over $15k, I will do a ROTH IRA for myself.



[Q1]: $7,037.28 3/25/2020 (Goal: $5,040 3/31/2020)
[Q2]: $5,475 6/25/2020 (Goal: $2,500 6/30/2020)

[forwardwego]

9/13/2020 $10,290 (begin $3200; goal $15,000)

  

GOAL	AMOUNT	STARTING	$$ TO DATE	% OF GOAL	$$ TO GO
JPPCU CUSHION	1000	100	100	10	900
RENTAL MARGIN	8000	2100	6900	86	1100
PERIODIC EXPENSE	5000	1000	3270	65	1730
CASH STASH	1000	0	20	1	980
TOTALS	15000	3200	10290	68	4710

Keep up the good work Saver Friends. 

I'm going to enjoy being over $10K for a while. Periodic Expense Account will be dropping to pay for a roof repair and the Rental Margin Account will pay for a repair and a property tax bill. Being a WIR Saver, I have that money and don't have to stress over expenses that aren't pleasant to start with. 

[Deleted]

Update for September.  Things have changed since I made these goals back in January so I have to update them.  I didn't expect all the OT so I need to increase my 401K goal to meet my AGI goal and I didn't expect my son would be in private school already, but covid moved that from 9th (maybe 7th) grade to 5th, so $500/year is not going to cut it! 

I just don't have the focus right now to come up with any solid numbers for new goals, so for now I'm just going to go over 100%

Fund	2020 Goal	Current	Needed	% Complete
401K	$15,000	$16,086	($1,086)	107.24%
HSA	$7,100	$5,208	$1,892	73.35%
College	$1,900	$1,600	$300	84.21%
IRA	$500	$500	$0	100.00%
Pr. High School	$500	$600	($100)	120.00%
Vacation	$500	$500	$0	100.00%
Christmas	$500	$500	$0	100.00%
Total	$26,000	$24,994	$1,006	96.13%

MPL 9/17/2020  $24,994 - Goal $26,000

[Saving4Norway]

Month	2020 Goals	Saved	% Met
So far this year	$12,000	$10,400	87%
B of July	$2,000	$3,000	150%
E of July	$1	$-	0%
B of August	$2,000	$3,000	150%
E of August	$1	$-	0%
B of September	$2,000	$3,000	150%
E of September	$1	$-	0%
TOTAL	$18,003	$19,400	108%

Saving4Norway 9/01/20 $19,400 (Goal $18,003)
 

[azucena]

Sept 17, 2020 8:44:34 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Update for September.  Things have changed since I made these goals back in January so I have to update them.  I didn't expect all the OT so I need to increase my 401K goal to meet my AGI goal and I didn't expect my son would be in private school already, but covid moved that from 9th (maybe 7th) grade to 5th, so $500/year is not going to cut it! 

I just don't have the focus right now to come up with any solid numbers for new goals, so for now I'm just going to go over 100%

Fund	2020 Goal	Current	Needed	% Complete
401K	$15,000	$16,086	($1,086)	107.24%
HSA	$7,100	$5,208	$1,892	73.35%
College	$1,900	$1,600	$300	84.21%
IRA	$500	$500	$0	100.00%
Pr. High School	$500	$600	($100)	120.00%
Vacation	$500	$500	$0	100.00%
Christmas	$500	$500	$0	100.00%
Total	$26,000	$24,994	$1,006	96.13%

MPL 9/17/2020  $24,994 - Goal $26,000

Are you getting financial aid for the private school?  I hope you at least applied.  You work so hard and I worry that you think you shouldn't use financial aid, but I'd say you should.  Sorry for butting in!

[azucena]

Aug 28, 2020 13:24:08 GMT -5 azucena said:

Jul 24, 2020 8:33:28 GMT -5 azucena said:

August update, too busy to split it up.

Forecasting Sept, our savings rate will slow down, and we'll start to notice DH's unpaid leave of absence as we wait out the pandemic since he's higher risk.  Mostly because we resume paying private school tuition for DD8 and 11 which is $1060/month.  Fortunately it's a hit to future savings (ie treading water) instead of losing ground.  We may go ahead with home improvements and a long weekend or two which could lower our savings rate even further.  These will have huge mental health benefits so the tradeoff is worth it.

Looking into 2021, since I work for a life insurance company who is paying out pandemic death claims, I can pretty much kiss my annual bonus goodbye and likely my raise as well.  I recognize that it's a total first world problem, but I'm putting in even more work hours because of the pandemic and this is the year I'm on some high profile projects so it's a bit of a double whammy.

8/28 Azucena $20,549 of $30,000 goal (68%)

Another month rolling by, so this is my full month update since we don't have any other paychecks coming.  Deposited $1179.  Seems like our savings rate could be about $1000/month without DH's paycheck. This puts us right on track for $30,000.  Another goal I'm tracking is that $6500 brings us to $100,000 in liquid savings.  That may be the goal we hit instead as a compromise to get away for another trip ($2k) and home improvements (1.5k) since we weren't expecting to be without DH's net check of $1400/month.

9/18 Azucena $21,728 of $30,000 goal (72%)

[Deleted]

Sept 18, 2020 7:46:48 GMT -5 azucena said:

Sept 17, 2020 8:44:34 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Are you getting financial aid for the private school?  I hope you at least applied.  You work so hard and I worry that you think you shouldn't use financial aid, but I'd say you should.  Sorry for butting in!

No, but it's so inexpensive that I don't need it.  They charge a lot for the international boarding students who I think supplement the day students and a wealthy alumni has been paying half of all day student's tuition for the past 5 years now and so far no word on it going away (although it originally was supposed to end with the class of 2020).  Right now it's only $1600/year for 5th and 6th grade, $2200 for 7th and 8th and $3300 for high school (this is after the benefactor pays half).  I'm trying to plan as if that donation money goes away at any time though and have about 6K set aside in an ESA specifically for tuition, so I'm a couple years ahead even if it does go up. 

[azucena]

$2-3k a year isn't anything to sneeze at, particularly for a single mother in what I think is your rough income range.  Just saying, I'd consider it, particularly if that frees you up to help both of them through college.  I'll butt out once again.

[Deleted]

It's all good.  There are a lot more WAAAAY needier than me.  Besides we're sucking the college financial aid right now.  DS got his first "bill" from the university for Fall semester last week and it was a check.