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Happy New Year all!  With 2019 now in full swing it is time for me to reign in our spending.  December was crazy expensive but didn't put me behind my goals for the entire year so I'm starting January off right.

We have 2 birthdays and an anniversary in January so no spend will likely not be possible but I am going to attempt it.  The first bday of the year is tomorrow.  Our youngest turns 2.  We are celebrating today because dh goes back to work tomorrow.  I think the plan is to use gift cards the kids got form a relative to get frozen yogurt as his bday dessert. We won't be giving him a gift because at 2 he doesn't know any better and he has things from christmas he hasn't opened yet.

The next bday is on the 11th and ill be our middle child.  He turns 6.  The plan for that is to use amazon credit from a gift return to get his gift, probably legos.  Dh will likely make him a cake or cupcakes, we'll see.  

Our 11th anniversary is in the middle of January and we likely will just celebrate by playing board games after the kids are asleep. I may get something special to make for dinner but who knows.

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Ugh December wasn't that bad.  I didn't spend the much on Christmas for the kids.  But then the dog had to go to the vet 2 times in 2 days.  Over $200 bucks there.  Ugh.

 

Hopefully January is good to us.  It would be awesome to have a month where nothing breaks, no car issues, no dog issues, and no kid health issues.  One can dream right?  We may purchase some tickets to Asia today or this weekend.  

The kids have auditions for shows and summer intensives coming up.   Dance bills are due at both places.  And our oldest is going on pointe so we will be getting pointe shoes this month.  

I will return some more stuff and sell some stuff too. 

I will probably apply for some new credit cards to hack. 

Maybe this year I will finally apply for VIPkid.  

I am hoping we get all the tax info soon, I love to have that done.  Not sure how all the new laws will affect our taxes. 

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38 minutes ago, SamanthaCarter said:

We’ll be getting a big refund. Woot! 

We are anticipating a refund this year, but with the shutdown it remains to be seen when that will happen.  That's one of the offices affected.


DH and I always start off the new year with a no-spend month resolution.  I have our menu set for the rest of the week, and need about $30 worth of groceries to get through.  We're rather optimistic, especially with this being a 3 paycheck month.

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Happy New Year!

So far so good for January... a whopping 12 hours into it.  I've made a couple rules for myself this month:

1) No non-consumable spending, unless it's a necessary item that has to be replaced.
2) Grocery shopping only on Thursday night and Sunday morning (or an alternate day in case of illness or bad weather).  Those two days were picked because of sales cycles.

Meal planning has been going very well the past few months.  The pantry and freezer are full, although I'd like to keep rotating in stock-up sale items instead of just using up what we have without replacing it.

We planned and booked our May vacation before we chickened out, although that was technically at the end of December.  We generally only go somewhere every couple of years.  About half of it is already paid for, and the remainder is worked into the budget for the next few months until all those final payments are due.  Apart from that, I can't do much planning budget-wise until I know what's going on with raises and a possible promotion and the tax stuff.  Usually I have a general idea, but this year so many things are a big question mark.

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19 minutes ago, BarbecueMom said:

Happy New Year!

So far so good for January... a whopping 12 hours into it.  I've made a couple rules for myself this month:

1) No non-consumable spending, unless it's a necessary item that has to be replaced.
2) Grocery shopping only on Thursday night and Sunday morning (or an alternate day in case of illness or bad weather).  Those two days were picked because of sales cycles.

Meal planning has been going very well the past few months.  The pantry and freezer are full, although I'd like to keep rotating in stock-up sale items instead of just using up what we have without replacing it.

We planned and booked our May vacation before we chickened out, although that was technically at the end of December.  We generally only go somewhere every couple of years.  About half of it is already paid for, and the remainder is worked into the budget for the next few months until all those final payments are due.  Apart from that, I can't do much planning budget-wise until I know what's going on with raises and a possible promotion and the tax stuff.  Usually I have a general idea, but this year so many things are a big question mark.

3

 

47 minutes ago, HomeAgain said:

We are anticipating a refund this year, but with the shutdown it remains to be seen when that will happen.  That's one of the offices affected.


DH and I always start off the new year with a no-spend month resoution.  I have our menu set for the rest of the week, and need about $30 worth of groceries to get through.  We're rather optimistic, especially with this being a 3 paycheck month.

3

 

1 hour ago, mommyoffive said:

Ugh December wasn't that bad.  I didn't spend the much on Christmas for the kids.  But then the dog had to go to the vet 2 times in 2 days.  Over $200 bucks there.  Ugh.

 

Hopefully January is good to us.  It would be awesome to have a month where nothing breaks, no car issues, no dog issues, and no kid health issues.  One can dream right?  We may purchase some tickets to Asia today or this weekend.  

The kids have auditions for shows and summer intensives coming up.   Dance bills are due at both places.  And our oldest is going on pointe so we will be getting pointe shoes this month.  

I will return some more stuff and sell some stuff too. 

I will probably apply for some new credit cards to hack. 

Maybe this year I will finally apply for VIPkid.  

I am hoping we get all the tax info soon, I love to have that done.  Not sure how all the new laws will affect our taxes. 

5

Let me know if you decide for sure to apply, I'll help as best as I can. I hope January is good for all of us đŸ™‚

I hope the new tax laws are kind to us đŸ™‚

I'm hoping to keep spending down as well. The only big expenditure I'm aware of is dh's CAT Scan, which will be astronomical. Hopefully, we will get the price quote soon. Dh's health insurance has a company that calls to price procedures to help you find the cheapest price and we get 20% of the difference back for choosing any provider that is not the most expensive.

Dh is working on putting the moonroof back on his car- fingers crossed that goes off without a hitch and we can get it up for sale before our insurance premiums are due because that will save us some money. 

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2 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

 

YES!!  Do you always?  I am just trying to figure out how these laws change things.

How did you already figure this out?  You had all your tax documents already? 

There are some calculators out there on the net, but I’m a CPA so maybe I have my finger on the new tax law a bit more than most? Apply the new provisions and the new rates and I have an estimate. We usually aim for no payment or refund, but it wasn’t possible this year with unemployment and uncertain tax law. Having a refund coming is a huge relief though. 

Edited by SamanthaCarter
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50 minutes ago, SamanthaCarter said:

There are some calculators out there on the net, but I’m a CPA so maybe I have my finger on the new tax law a bit more than most? Apply the new provisions and the new rates and I have an estimate. We usually aim for no payment or refund, but it wasn’t possible this year with unemployment and uncertain tax law. Having a refund coming is a huge relief though. 

 

I think you are better than our CPA.  After 12 plus years of trying not to owe working with them, we still get a large refund.  Much bigger than the average that is put out there.  Hopefully that is true again this year. 

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2 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

We are anticipating a refund this year, but with the shutdown it remains to be seen when that will happen.  That's one of the offices affected.


DH and I always start off the new year with a no-spend month resolution.  I have our menu set for the rest of the week, and need about $30 worth of groceries to get through.  We're rather optimistic, especially with this being a 3 paycheck month.

 

Yay for a 3 paycheck month!

Ugh I didn't know the IRS was shut down too.  It doesn't effect us at all so I wasn't really paying much attention.  

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2 hours ago, BarbecueMom said:

Happy New Year!

So far so good for January... a whopping 12 hours into it.  I've made a couple rules for myself this month:

1) No non-consumable spending, unless it's a necessary item that has to be replaced.
2) Grocery shopping only on Thursday night and Sunday morning (or an alternate day in case of illness or bad weather).  Those two days were picked because of sales cycles.

Meal planning has been going very well the past few months.  The pantry and freezer are full, although I'd like to keep rotating in stock-up sale items instead of just using up what we have without replacing it.

We planned and booked our May vacation before we chickened out, although that was technically at the end of December.  We generally only go somewhere every couple of years.  About half of it is already paid for, and the remainder is worked into the budget for the next few months until all those final payments are due.  Apart from that, I can't do much planning budget-wise until I know what's going on with raises and a possible promotion and the tax stuff.  Usually I have a general idea, but this year so many things are a big question mark.

 

What a good idea to go on the sales days.  

Yay for booking a vacation!.  So long to look forward to it, which is half the fun.  Where are you going? 

I am waiting for the exact same thing.  Ugh.   Good thoughts for your family. 

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2 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

 

What a good idea to go on the sales days.  

Yay for booking a vacation!.  So long to look forward to it, which is half the fun.  Where are you going? 

I am waiting for the exact same thing.  Ugh.   Good thoughts for your family. 

Yep, Aldi runs their produce sales Sunday through Saturday.  The two local chains I go to run their sales starting on Tuesday or Wednesday, but they often have "mega sales" on Thursdays.  I figured I can hit them all that way.

We're going to Florida, a few days at Legoland and a few at Universal Studios.  The kids have been asking for Legoland for a long time, and if we wait any longer, they'll be too old to enjoy it.  I'm not a huge fan of traveling because of health issues making it uncomfortable and limiting, but I'm really trying to not let that get in the way of making memories as a family, whether it's a vacation or just a nightly walk around the block.  We'll see how it goes.

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Just now, BarbecueMom said:

Yep, Aldi runs their produce sales Sunday through Saturday.  The two local chains I go to run their sales starting on Tuesday or Wednesday, but they often have "mega sales" on Thursdays.  I figured I can hit them all that way.

We're going to Florida, a few days at Legoland and a few at Universal Studios.  The kids have been asking for Legoland for a long time, and if we wait any longer, they'll be too old to enjoy it.  I'm not a huge fan of traveling because of health issues making it uncomfortable and limiting, but I'm really trying to not let that get in the way of making memories as a family, whether it's a vacation or just a nightly walk around the block.  We'll see how it goes.

 

Legoland has homeschool days that are a good savings.  

This was a good article on Universal

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/maximize-one-day-at-universal-studios-florida/

My kids loved Legoland more than Disney. I would like to take them to Universal, bu they don't like Harry Potter.  Oh well. 

 

Dh usually hits up Aldi on his way home from work.  I will have to keep looking at the ads to see what the deals are to remind him to grab those things. 

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2 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

 

Legoland has homeschool days that are a good savings.  

This was a good article on Universal

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/maximize-one-day-at-universal-studios-florida/

My kids loved Legoland more than Disney. I would like to take them to Universal, bu they don't like Harry Potter.  Oh well. 

 

Dh usually hits up Aldi on his way home from work.  I will have to keep looking at the ads to see what the deals are to remind him to grab those things. 

I think I'd have to bribe my kids to go to Disney.  They are getting a little better about this, but at one point if they saw a Frozen character they would yell, "NOPE!" and turn and run right out of the room.  So embarrassing.  They come by it naturally; I have the same gut reaction, but I've had 25+ more years than they've had to learn to control it in public!Â đŸ¤£

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56 minutes ago, BarbecueMom said:

Yep, Aldi runs their produce sales Sunday through Saturday.  The two local chains I go to run their sales starting on Tuesday or Wednesday, but they often have "mega sales" on Thursdays.  I figured I can hit them all that way.

 

Our Aldi sales run from Wednesday to Tuesday (along with all the other grocery chains in our area).  I assumed that the chains ran all their stores on the same sales schedule but I guess not.   

 

Our grocery bill should be pretty good this month.  Our church does the Daniel Fast for 3 weeks and even with all the extra fruits and veggies we still do well overall.  Which is good because we get a half of beef in February and I try to accumulate enough extra in the grocery budget to cover it instead of pulling some from our tax refund(it typically covers our property taxes plus a little extra each year).

Otherwise I'm just trying to spend as little as possible this month.  December got expensive as that is when we purchase the majority of our clothing and household improvements for the year.  We make a list of things we need (but aren't critical) all year long and then buy everything in November/December when we get the best prices.  The list was longer than anticipated.  I'm trying to pay off the car we purchased last fall.  We have a 5 year loan but I try to pay them off in less than 2 years.  

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1 minute ago, cjzimmer1 said:

Our Aldi sales run from Wednesday to Tuesday (along with all the other grocery chains in our area).  I assumed that the chains ran all their stores on the same sales schedule but I guess not.   

All the non-produce sales and special buys start on Wednesday, but for some reason produce starts on Sunday.  I can't remember where I read it, but some of the stores "split" the sales cycle and some do not.  I have no idea why, it's very odd!

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Can I join you guys? I really want to sell our house and get into a new one this year and to do that, I want to pay off our credit card. So a frugalista group sounds great. 

Are there guidelines? DH and I decided that for January, we're going to go back to the envelope system for food (groceries, take out, etc) and finish clearing out our storage unit so we can stop paying $80/month for that.

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9 hours ago, AmandaVT said:

Can I join you guys? I really want to sell our house and get into a new one this year and to do that, I want to pay off our credit card. So a frugalista group sounds great. 

Are there guidelines? DH and I decided that for January, we're going to go back to the envelope system for food (groceries, take out, etc) and finish clearing out our storage unit so we can stop paying $80/month for that.

Welcome!
I don't think there are any guidelines, except do your best with what you have. đŸ™‚ January is the time of year where I put my focus on scrutinizing every purchase to make sure we're doing our best.

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11 hours ago, AmandaVT said:

Can I join you guys? I really want to sell our house and get into a new one this year and to do that, I want to pay off our credit card. So a frugalista group sounds great. 

Are there guidelines? DH and I decided that for January, we're going to go back to the envelope system for food (groceries, take out, etc) and finish clearing out our storage unit so we can stop paying $80/month for that.

 

Yay and welcome.  The more the better. 

I think you make your own guidelines and we all try to help with advice, support, and accountability.  Oh getting rid of that storage unit is so smart.  That will save you almost a grand after a year. 

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19 hours ago, soror said:

 

 

Let me know if you decide for sure to apply, I'll help as best as I can. I hope January is good for all of us đŸ™‚

I hope the new tax laws are kind to us đŸ™‚

I'm hoping to keep spending down as well. The only big expenditure I'm aware of is dh's CAT Scan, which will be astronomical. Hopefully, we will get the price quote soon. Dh's health insurance has a company that calls to price procedures to help you find the cheapest price and we get 20% of the difference back for choosing any provider that is not the most expensive.

Dh is working on putting the moonroof back on his car- fingers crossed that goes off without a hitch and we can get it up for sale before our insurance premiums are due because that will save us some money. 

 

I will for sure.  I asked about the bachelors because I read on some board that there was a way they graded your application and you got so many points.  It was really saying if you didn't have more than that you wouldn't get hired. 

What do you do if you get sick?  I just got really sick over the last week and wouldn't have been able to teach.  I thought you got in trouble if you cancelled so many classes? 

 

What I really would love to do is sell on Amazon and Ebay as a business.  But I don't know if I could get that running.  I do follow some people who give tips on what to sell.  Maybe I can get that up and going this year.  

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It's only the 2nd and we already had our first frugalish fail.  DH was given a gift card to the grocery store.  His work does it annually and it's a nice chunk for our January budget.  We went to the store this morning, he took it out to pay....and $0 loaded.  After fuming all the way home he was rather sheepish when he realized it was last year's card still in his wallet.  He had never taken it out.  The new one was still in the envelope at home. đŸ˜„
Oh, well!  We'll use it when we shop next week instead. 

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8 minutes ago, HomeAgain said:

It's only the 2nd and we already had our first frugalish fail.  DH was given a gift card to the grocery store.  His work does it annually and it's a nice chunk for our January budget.  We went to the store this morning, he took it out to pay....and $0 loaded.  After fuming all the way home he was rather sheepish when he realized it was last year's card still in his wallet.  He had never taken it out.  The new one was still in the envelope at home. đŸ˜„
Oh, well!  We'll use it when we shop next week instead. 

 

Ugh.  That isn't a fail at all.  You guys still have the card.  Dh's work didn't do anything for the employees.  Poop.  It was his first holiday season there and that makes me sad.  Oh well.  

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22 hours ago, SamanthaCarter said:

We’ll be getting a big refund. Woot! 

 

Oh we're talking taxes already! I love talking taxes.  We will be getting a pretty big check. It is mostly credits, as we've gotten the withdrawal down pretty close to only paying the correct amount and not overpaying throughout the year

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32 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

 

Ugh.  That isn't a fail at all.  You guys still have the card.  Dh's work didn't do anything for the employees.  Poop.  It was his first holiday season there and that makes me sad.  Oh well.  

True.  I had just counted on it during this week's budget.
We were actually surprised that dh's work did it.  A new company took over the site this year, so technically dh is working for them, not his old company (that was a headache when we were buying the house, having only a 2 month work history at his current job).  We didn't expect them to carry on what the old company used to do.

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I did a rough estimate on taxes yesterday. Pretty much equivalent as last year (made a little more money as 2017, but the child tax credit increase kept the refund almost exactly the same), but Turbo Tax would require me to pay to use them since we have student loan interest and the retirement savings credit which are now on separate schedules instead of the 1040A. Ugh - so I will have to look around or write them out myself. 

I was an accountant in my prior-to-kids-life, so I can write them out, but I don't wanna! (yes, that was a total whine)

Edited to ask: Anyone know the best place to estimate exemptions for withholding? Oldest will be aging out of the child tax credit in 2019, which is $2000.

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2 hours ago, hjffkj said:

 

Oh we're talking taxes already! I love talking taxes.  We will be getting a pretty big check. It is mostly credits, as we've gotten the withdrawal down pretty close to only paying the correct amount and not overpaying throughout the year

 

NIce.  What online calculator are you using?  Do you normally get a big check? 

I love getting taxes done asap.  But I haven't gotten any tax forms yet. 

 

Is anyone going to Disney? 

They are doing free dinning. 

https://thepointsguy.com/news/free-disney-dining-plans-2019/

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2 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

True.  I had just counted on it during this week's budget.
We were actually surprised that dh's work did it.  A new company took over the site this year, so technically dh is working for them, not his old company (that was a headache when we were buying the house, having only a 2 month work history at his current job).  We didn't expect them to carry on what the old company used to do.

 

Can he only go today?  I get what you are saying about the weekly budget. 

Nice that they kept doing it. 

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1 hour ago, beckyjo said:

 

Edited to ask: Anyone know the best place to estimate exemptions for withholding? Oldest will be aging out of the child tax credit in 2019, which is $2000.

Best way I’ve found is to work the circular E charts backwards, or just write in a $ amount on your w-4 instead of # exemptions (seems like some employers allow that and others don’t?). 

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2 hours ago, beckyjo said:

I did a rough estimate on taxes yesterday. Pretty much equivalent as last year (made a little more money as 2017, but the child tax credit increase kept the refund almost exactly the same), but Turbo Tax would require me to pay to use them since we have student loan interest and the retirement savings credit which are now on separate schedules instead of the 1040A. Ugh - so I will have to look around or write them out myself. 

I was an accountant in my prior-to-kids-life, so I can write them out, but I don't wanna! (yes, that was a total whine)

Edited to ask: Anyone know the best place to estimate exemptions for withholding? Oldest will be aging out of the child tax credit in 2019, which is $2000.

 

how much would Turbotax charge you?  I usually feel the fee is worth it enough not to have to write it out myself.  

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55 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

 

NIce.  What online calculator are you using?  Do you normally get a big check? 

I love getting taxes done asap.  But I haven't gotten any tax forms yet. 

 

Is anyone going to Disney? 

They are doing free dinning. 

https://thepointsguy.com/news/free-disney-dining-plans-2019/

 

I use turbotax.  Yes, we normally get a big check, mainly because of the child tax credit.  

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I have "pay down credit card" goals to meet, in June and in October. It's looking like the October one is going to have to be rolled into a personal loan. I might be able to pull off qualifying for another zero-percent introductory credit card to roll it over to instead. Holiday spending put us in a bit of a setback on the goal, although I am getting the February target date card paid off before the end of January, so that's one month sooner I can roll the snowball to the June deadline card (the deadlines are for the end of 0% interest on the cards).

We should actually get a tax return this year, 100% of that is going to pay down credit. My boss said something about end-of-year bonuses several months ago, but I'll believe that's happening when I actually see a check.

Hopefully 2019 will be a less expensive year for medical bills. I went back and looked and we averaged $300/mo out of pocket for medical expenses in 2018, not including medications.

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Welcome AmandaVT Â đŸ™‚   

Taxes make me stressed.  And last year our refund dropped a lot.  Worried this year.

Small savings today. 

Instead of buying each of us a bottle of vitamins I bought 1 bottle of complete for us to share.

Free supper tonight.  Ate with a family member yesterday and they sent home enough for us to have supper tonight.

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I definitely need to join this group. We've put ourselves in a lot of debt over this past year. My husband and I are both spenders, so we need to work on that. The good news is that I will be starting a full-time babysitting gig for my neighbor. I want all of that income to go directly toward debt. My goal is to be debt free by July.

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11 hours ago, SamanthaCarter said:

Well, the little car had a collision with a deer and the deer won. Somethings gotta give! (This was the other car, not the car that just had $ repairs, fortunately.)

Boohoo, are you submitting it to insurance? Dh hit a deer once and our van ended up totaled, lucky for us we planned to sell it anyway, we ended up ahead.

9 hours ago, Baseball mom said:

Welcome AmandaVT Â đŸ™‚   

Taxes make me stressed.  And last year our refund dropped a lot.  Worried this year.

Small savings today. 

Instead of buying each of us a bottle of vitamins I bought 1 bottle of complete for us to share.

Free supper tonight.  Ate with a family member yesterday and they sent home enough for us to have supper tonight.

I've heard that our refunds will likely go down, I'm anxious to get our info to figure it out.

8 hours ago, sdobis said:

I definitely need to join this group. We've put ourselves in a lot of debt over this past year. My husband and I are both spenders, so we need to work on that. The good news is that I will be starting a full-time babysitting gig for my neighbor. I want all of that income to go directly toward debt. My goal is to be debt free by July.

Here's to new jobs and paying off debts!

_______________________________________

Accounts have looked better here! After Christmas (paid cash for) and property tax and now $600 of car insurance due this month. We've went on budget lock down mode. The kids asked for allowance, dh told them they were furloughed like the government đŸ™‚Â  (but they will get their allowance next week :)- )  we pay by the monthI also told them that groceries will be lean this month, with not as many snacks, we've had a few months that were not as tight and we're going to buckle down again. I did a lot of paperwork yesterday. I'm hoping we hear back soon on the cost of the CAT scan- I think our OOP will end up being about $3k but we'll see- I think we'll have $1k in an HSA- should be $1200 but dh didn't earn all his money, so maybe it won't be as bad as feared. Although of course we then will not have that money for monthly prescriptions it spreads out the expense. 

Today somebody is supposed to buy ds' bed (money just going in bank b/c we've already bought him a replacement bed) and someone else messaged about a phone (we bought for dd for Christmas but then it was carrier locked- lady lied and didn't give a refund)- we paid $50, asking $70- hoping to at least get $50. So, that will help replenish the account some too. I also have a chair up for sale from rearranging furniture after getting a desk/shelf for Christmas. 

With my check and 5 paychecks this month we should be able to sock away a decent amount even after car insurance. I am hoping enough to cover the CAT scan, we'll see! It would sure be nice to end January with the cat scan funded, car sold (and money put in savings) and the savings we accumulated last fall left in place. Those are the big goals for the month- we'll see if we can accomplish them! Then we can move onto paying off the truck and seeing where we are at. I've heard I might not get tax info until March, which doesn't seem right, I sure hope not. I want to get that filed ASAP and have the truck business done.

And this all assumes that dh's scan is normal b/c I'm trying to focus on the positive, it's a whole lot of crap if not but we'll cross that when we get there, we're going to operate as if all will be well!

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One area where I have been prompted to make changes that will save us money is prescriptions. Insurance majorly increased our copays for 2019--double for retail on generics, quadruple for mail order on generics, double for retail on name brand (though the one name brand med I'm on, I have a coupon that lowers the copay so that won't change). So, I signed up for GoodRx Gold and am moving all prescriptions that are cheaper than copay if run through that to Costco, and the rest I'm moving to Wal-Mart, because a couple we have are on their $4/$10 generics list anyway. We should net some savings over last year on prescriptions this way.

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Last year we did great with our spending! I have a few purchases I need to make and am planning on after holiday sales to do that- swimsuit, shoes for dh and I, ds needs gloves and hat. 

And ine nephew has a b-day in January. However, they really have so many toys I don't know what to get or even if we should get anything. 

And dh has a b-day this month. So we will probably go on a date. 

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13 hours ago, SamanthaCarter said:

Well, the little car had a collision with a deer and the deer won. Somethings gotta give! (This was the other car, not the car that just had $ repairs, fortunately.)

 

UGh that stinks.  A deer rammed into dh's car last year and did a ton of damage. 

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11 hours ago, Baseball mom said:

Welcome AmandaVT Â đŸ™‚   

Taxes make me stressed.  And last year our refund dropped a lot.  Worried this year.

Small savings today. 

Instead of buying each of us a bottle of vitamins I bought 1 bottle of complete for us to share.

Free supper tonight.  Ate with a family member yesterday and they sent home enough for us to have supper tonight.

 

Yay for the little savings!

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11 hours ago, sdobis said:

I definitely need to join this group. We've put ourselves in a lot of debt over this past year. My husband and I are both spenders, so we need to work on that. The good news is that I will be starting a full-time babysitting gig for my neighbor. I want all of that income to go directly toward debt. My goal is to be debt free by July.

 

Welcome.   Awesome for starting a new job.  That is a great goal to have it paid off by July.  You can do it. 

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1 hour ago, soror said:

Boohoo, are you submitting it to insurance? Dh hit a deer once and our van ended up totaled, lucky for us we planned to sell it anyway, we ended up ahead.

I've heard that our refunds will likely go down, I'm anxious to get our info to figure it out.

Here's to new jobs and paying off debts!

_______________________________________

Accounts have looked better here! After Christmas (paid cash for) and property tax and now $600 of car insurance due this month. We've went on budget lock down mode. The kids asked for allowance, dh told them they were furloughed like the government đŸ™‚Â  (but they will get their allowance next week :)- )  we pay by the monthI also told them that groceries will be lean this month, with not as many snacks, we've had a few months that were not as tight and we're going to buckle down again. I did a lot of paperwork yesterday. I'm hoping we hear back soon on the cost of the CAT scan- I think our OOP will end up being about $3k but we'll see- I think we'll have $1k in an HSA- should be $1200 but dh didn't earn all his money, so maybe it won't be as bad as feared. Although of course we then will not have that money for monthly prescriptions it spreads out the expense. 

Today somebody is supposed to buy ds' bed (money just going in bank b/c we've already bought him a replacement bed) and someone else messaged about a phone (we bought for dd for Christmas but then it was carrier locked- lady lied and didn't give a refund)- we paid $50, asking $70- hoping to at least get $50. So, that will help replenish the account some too. I also have a chair up for sale from rearranging furniture after getting a desk/shelf for Christmas. 

With my check and 5 paychecks this month we should be able to sock away a decent amount even after car insurance. I am hoping enough to cover the CAT scan, we'll see! It would sure be nice to end January with the cat scan funded, car sold (and money put in savings) and the savings we accumulated last fall left in place. Those are the big goals for the month- we'll see if we can accomplish them! Then we can move onto paying off the truck and seeing where we are at. I've heard I might not get tax info until March, which doesn't seem right, I sure hope not. I want to get that filed ASAP and have the truck business done.

And this all assumes that dh's scan is normal b/c I'm trying to focus on the positive, it's a whole lot of crap if not but we'll cross that when we get there, we're going to operate as if all will be well!

 

6 paychecks!  Awesome!  

I hope everything sells. 

I am sending lots of positive vibes to your dh.  I think that is the best way to do it.  Think positive. 

Ugh I hadn't heard that refunds were going down.  Booooooooo

Edited by mommyoffive
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1 hour ago, Ravin said:

One area where I have been prompted to make changes that will save us money is prescriptions. Insurance majorly increased our copays for 2019--double for retail on generics, quadruple for mail order on generics, double for retail on name brand (though the one name brand med I'm on, I have a coupon that lowers the copay so that won't change). So, I signed up for GoodRx Gold and am moving all prescriptions that are cheaper than copay if run through that to Costco, and the rest I'm moving to Wal-Mart, because a couple we have are on their $4/$10 generics list anyway. We should net some savings over last year on prescriptions this way.

 

That is smart to look up the cheaper places.   One time I was on a RX and it was over $800 at Walgreens (after insurance) and it was like $20 at Walmart.   They are just across the street.  Insane. 

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26 minutes ago, lulalu said:

Last year we did great with our spending! I have a few purchases I need to make and am planning on after holiday sales to do that- swimsuit, shoes for dh and I, ds needs gloves and hat. 

And ine nephew has a b-day in January. However, they really have so many toys I don't know what to get or even if we should get anything. 

And dh has a b-day this month. So we will probably go on a date. 

 

Congrats on doing great with your spending.   You should be so proud. 

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Grocery spending.  

Our goal is $800 for the month, but that includes everything.   Food, cleaning supplies, toilet paper, pull ups.  All food for 7 everyday.  We don't eat out at all.   Kids are home everyday.  I don't think that is bad at all.  But I am trying to see if we could cut it down. 

$35 so far

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13 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Grocery spending.  

Our goal is $800 for the month, but that includes everything.   Food, cleaning supplies, toilet paper, pull ups.  All food for 7 everyday.  We don't eat out at all.   Kids are home everyday.  I don't think that is bad at all.  But I am trying to see if we could cut it down. 

$35 so far

 

$800 seems reasonable for a family  that size.  I aim for $500 a month but usually am closer to $600.  Once I stopped buying individually wrapped foods and started shopping almost exclusively at Walmart my groceries went down a lot.  I'm not a big fan of Walmart but being able to shop online and have them load it straight into my car saves me so much time and money I won't go back to walking into a store

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20 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

 

$800 seems reasonable for a family  that size.  I aim for $500 a month but usually am closer to $600.  Once I stopped buying individually wrapped foods and started shopping almost exclusively at Walmart my groceries went down a lot.  I'm not a big fan of Walmart but being able to shop online and have them load it straight into my car saves me so much time and money I won't go back to walking into a store

 

Yeah Walmart is the only store in our town.  Small town.  I don't mind it.  They don't do online grocery shopping there.  I tried it once and liked it, but dh doesn't really.  He would like to save money and shop at Aldi.  It is cheaper.  He scored some 80 cent 1 gallon milk.  This is the second time he has.  Milk at Walmart in our town is 2.89.   And we drink a ton.  I am sure we could save lots if we changed what we eat.  Like cereal, chips, and ind. wrapped food.  But we eat that stuff.   We should also eat no meat more often.  It would be nice to get it down to $600.  We shall see. 

Oh that is the dog food too.  

We do waste a lot of food too.  I would love to be perfect on all that.  

Edited by mommyoffive
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Dh got his first paycheck with holiday pay.  It was definitely more than the average I have in the budget so we took the extra and threw it into savings.  We'll do the same thing for his next paycheck (also holiday pay).  Definitely a way to start off on a good note!

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7 minutes ago, HomeAgain said:

Dh got his first paycheck with holiday pay.  It was definitely more than the average I have in the budget so we took the extra and threw it into savings.  We'll do the same thing for his next paycheck (also holiday pay).  Definitely a way to start off on a good note!

 

Yay for holiday pay.  

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