Happy New Year, fellow LLNOE'ers. We hope you have a prosperous 2020 and meet the financial goals you've set for yourself.
It's hard to believe how much things have changed for us in the last year. As a recap, we inherited money from DH's father in 2018 but didn't make a decision about using it to pay off our debts until March 2019. We used some of the inheritance to clear us from BS2 and provide the balance necessary for BS3. I was able to increase my retirement contributions to meet B
So there was a leak in the a/c for the vehicle to the tune of $875+. And our home a/c needed a relay replaced when we had its annual service, so that was $245 (inclusive of the annual service fee). We did get the new dishwasher but it is sitting in the garage until after our next payday. We are putting in the application for a $40 credit on our utility bill because of the new dishwasher. Everything was cash flowed and we were still able to add some to the savings, but not as much as we want
Murphy is trying to knock on the door. Our 21-yr old dishwasher is on its last legs; we've kept it going the last couple of months while finishing up what we owed other people, but now we need to figure out what to do. We switched to using a different cycle which seemed to help, so we think something is wrong with the sensors, but even on the shortest cycle, it's still not reliable. We have $750 in the "home appliance replacement" fund that we could put towards it; there are several places th
We've planned our first debt-free vacation! We're doing a weeklong cruise to Bermuda, paid for in cash. It will be later this year. This is the first vacation we've ever done that we haven't used a credit card to reserve / pay for. It's very cool to know that we aren't going to have to pay for it, because we've paid for it! Does that make sense? We budgeted for our onboard expenses and excursions, too, and have that set aside in a separate envelope. It feels a bit surreal to have a vacati
It's been a long time since I browsed the aisles at the grocery store. I shop with a list, with coupons, with the ad, with a relatively decent plan for what we're going to eat in the next week. I look for loss leaders, stock up where I can, etc. But today I took the time to actually look at the shelves and think about how we can add some variety to our "rice and beans" but still maintain an appropriate grocery budget. My "splurge" was a box of oven-ready gluten-free lasagna noodles that came
So we've closed the BS2 chapter. BS3 is done, too, thanks to the inheritance from DH's father. BS4 - made the changes this week to bump up my retirement contributions to 15%. BS5 - well, both our sons will be done soon - one later this year and one next spring. Between prepaid college and their scholarships and part-time job earnings, it's covered (with a little help to DS-away as he's finishing). Our mortgage has been paid for years. So that brings us to BS7. We're ready for you!
Da
Let me begin by saying that we are well, we had no damage to our home, and our power and water are restored. However, half of our city is still without power (since Thursday night) and it may still be a few more days. We are blessed beyond measure to be where we are at this point.
Next let me say that we are so thankful that we saved back some of DH's leave payout from his retirement because that has relieved some of the anxiety related to storm preparation and post-storm "survival". I had
We are in our 4th week of being serious about this. Thank you for all the encouragement in my BS2 thread.
Here's our status as of today:
BS1 - $1,000 baby emergency fund - CHECK and moved to a separate account so it won't be even tempting to use for non-emergencies
BS2 - $77,356.11 (down $7,501.73 from $84,857.84 in debt partially due to a leave payout DH received, but $1,106.73 on our own). 2 PIF, 5 to go. Balance on little one is $5,387.84
BS3 - 3-6 month emergency fund - need to
Where we are:
BS1 - $1,000 baby emergency fund - CHECK
BS2 - $84,857.84 in debt (variety)
BS3 - 3-6 month emergency fund - need to calculate what that will be when we don't have BS2.
BS4 - 15% to retirement. DH has retired. We have his retirement pension and deferred comp (over $360K) for the future. I have 5 years until I'm eligible.
BS5 - College. We have prepaid tuition for both children who are both in college. They have limited scholarships. One is self-sufficient, one is starting o
