Mm wins and losses for aug

[chpmnk1015]

Loss: really high water bill because we had a leak and high pseg bill.

Win: vaca and spent more money than expected but worth every penny. And had the funds to cover
Since we were away, less gas, ac and grocery costs for a week lol. So hope that's good for next month

[melmel48]

Loss: I did two dog sitting jobs and have yet to be paid.

Win: I am redoing my bathroom and my mom bought the vanity for me for my birthday!

[brooke77]

Loss: We moved in July and spent a lot of money in July and August on moving expenses and setting up our new place. We are also paying both mortgage and rent until we close on our house sale this month. I’ve also spent about $700 in co-pays from my DS’ broken arm.

Wins: I have sold some stuff on Poshmark and have made about $200.

[dcn]

Loss: H’s pay has not been right for 3 months. He’s being overpaid and they will surely take it all back so I’m just leaving it. It’s really annoying. We moved in June and they never updated his location so his housing allowance is wrong.

Loss: Grocery prices are bonkers right now.

Win: H got a raise in August so that’s good!

[plutosmoon]

Wins: My aftercare center received a state grant and gave all the school aged kids free care for 8 weeks of summer, this is the second summer this has happened. $1700 saved! With the $1700 and an upcoming 3 paycheck month (no benefit deductions on the extra check), I was able to pay DDs dance tuition and competition team fees for the year in full up front (an almost 10% discount over paying monthly) without impacting my budget!

Loss: I still haven't found a house to buy, I redid my pre-approval and the estimated payment jumped $200+ because of the higher interest rates. Everything is stupid expensive.

[wanderingback]

Loss: we’re in the middle of a 50k necessary construction project on our row house. Outside of the expense, it’s stressing my partner out, so that’s no fun. I really don’t like being a homeowner.

Wins: I’ve been really consistent about savings and that feels good. I finally logged in to my student loan account and was pleasantly surprised I only owe $345,000, as I thought it was closer to $400,000. I’ve been working on my pslf stuff and I really am remaining hopeful that it will be forgiven in a few years.

[wildrice]

Loss: the plumber to reset our toilets/sink after getting new flooring was several hundred dollars more than I expected. Everything looks great but it was definitely not something I considered when deciding to move forward with the project.

Loss: We went to a family reunion in Chicago and spent way more than I expected to, too. 4 nights in hotels, car rental, food, unexpected parking fee at one of the hotels, etc just added up to so much money. It was a great trip but considering that I've almost always had family to stay with in the area, it was frustrating to spend well over 1k for this short visit.

Wins: Ummm... Not really sure? I started teaching an adjunct course in August, so that will be a little extra cash in my direction, but I haven't been paid anything yet so I'm not sure if that counts! Oh! I guess the announcement about the 10k student loan forgiveness was good. It won't save us anything in the short term but hopefully will get my H's loans paid off a few months more quickly than they would have been otherwise.

[Pom]

Losses: See also wins below. LOL

Wins: Zillow took our house value up $100K without even factoring in the $120k we've spent on projects including a new 30x50 pole building/garage that just now went under construction, new roof, new paint, new bathroom, new drainage and stone back fill along the seawall, new electric updates. I feel less sick about the outlay, when I know that we "could" get our money back even though I plan to live here until they haul me out by my toes. An absolute dump up a house just went on the market down the street from us at $980k. I think we made a good investment since we came in just above half that before construction.

[sadlebred]

Wins: I didn't drain my savings account for something that blew up. This is a win, right? I had surgery in mid-July, so August was sort of mellow. I am having an issue with one of the scars, but the treatment is covered by the fee I paid up front for the surgery.

Losses: I put a little money into the "cash" savings account. My mortgage payment went up a bit because of a homeowner insurance increase. The property tax notices came out, and my propery was reassessed for 25% more than last year, which translates to about $1200-1400 in taxes, which translates to another mortgage payment hike in Jan. + having to pay the difference for 2022. So much for that little bit in savings and my county having the "lowest taxes in the metro area" as they are so fond of bragging. I will now pay MORE than my friends in one of the highest tax counties.

I'm sure I'll think of other things.

[fryjack2]

Loss: Our checking account was hacked ( its apparently becoming more common?) and many thousands of dollars were drained in 48 hours before we noticed. Luckily the bank is refunding us all the money, but it has been a huge pain to eat with.

Loss: our house project that is almost complete was double what we originally planned to spend and ended up being a 6 figure hit to our savings account.

Win: H has done a few more expert witness cases that pay a decent amount that we just throw into savings. Easy money for him.

Win: I think we may forgo an after school sitter and try leaving our kids home alone for a couple hours after school. That should save a decent amount each month. I guess that's a maybe win.

[Roc A Bee]

Win: work has approved a 6.56% COLA. I hit 9 months of income as an efund

Loses: not sure it’s a loss but I bought a new bed. So I dipped into my efund and now I’m looking at alllll the bedding.

[heygrey]

Win: We are planning a weekend vacation in October and I was able to pay for the accommodations entirely from things I sold on Marketplace!
Win: We stayed on budget, which hasn't happened in... months. It was nice not pulling from savings for once.

Loss: H has every Friday off for the foreseeable future. He only has vacation pay to cover a couple so we'll be seeing some light paycheques in the coming months. It's fine, it just means we won't be putting as much into savings this fall.

[dr.girlfriend]

Sept 2, 2022 12:00:12 GMT -5 Stan said:

I finished my masters in Financial Planning from Iowa State with no debt!

We made a deposit on a 6k dining room table. Yeesh.

I want to see the table!

[chpmnk1015]

Sept 4, 2022 8:13:03 GMT -5 Stan said:

Sept 3, 2022 21:06:42 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

I want to see the table!

im struggling so hard to insert this darn image!

NIce!  Love those kinds of tables

[quesyrah]

Sept 4, 2022 8:13:03 GMT -5 Stan said:

Sept 3, 2022 21:06:42 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

I want to see the table!

im struggling so hard to insert this darn image!

That is gorgeous!

[simpsongal]

Loss: escrow adjustment for property taxes. We paid the $2500 escrow shortfall but our mortgage is still going up like $150/mo for the higher taxes.

Win: we managed to pay for our aug vacation and expenses, and also went to some fun concerts. We’re also chunking off the heloc.

ETA: We just shopped for auto insurance and saved nearly 50%. I hate that the jack up rates and make you shop around, but that's just how it is...

[rooster222]

Losses- Have not been able to successfully sell my car yet and I've had a new one for over a month. Would really like it gone!

Wins- Went from working 3/days week to full-time along with a substantial raise. But what is really a big win is that I pitched this position and my school created it for me. I thought it was a total longshot but I'm so proud of myself for trying and super thankful for the people that supported me.

[chpmnk1015]

Sept 5, 2022 8:29:00 GMT -5 rooster222 said:

Losses- Have not been able to successfully sell my car yet and I've had a new one for over a month. Would really like it gone!

Wins- Went from working 3/days week to full-time along with a substantial raise. But what is really a big win is that I pitched this position and my school created it for me. I thought it was a total longshot but I'm so proud of myself for trying and super thankful for the people that supported me.

Have you tried carvanna or one of those places? Sold mine for double what ghe dealership offered and was such an easy process...

[rooster222]

Sept 5, 2022 11:40:26 GMT -5 chpmnk1015 said:

Sept 5, 2022 8:29:00 GMT -5 rooster222 said:

Losses- Have not been able to successfully sell my car yet and I've had a new one for over a month. Would really like it gone!

Wins- Went from working 3/days week to full-time along with a substantial raise. But what is really a big win is that I pitched this position and my school created it for me. I thought it was a total longshot but I'm so proud of myself for trying and super thankful for the people that supported me.

Have you tried carvanna or one of those places? Sold mine for double what ghe dealership offered and was such an easy process...

I did try Caravana and Carmax and they both lowballed me by a lot. My car is a 2011 so I don't think there are as interested in older cars.

[chpmnk1015]

Sept 5, 2022 14:05:00 GMT -5 rooster222 said:

Sept 5, 2022 11:40:26 GMT -5 chpmnk1015 said:

Have you tried carvanna or one of those places? Sold mine for double what ghe dealership offered and was such an easy process...

I did try Caravana and Carmax and they both lowballed me by a lot. My car is a 2011 so I don't think there are as interested in older cars.

Yea.. i think it totally depends on mileage too.. mine was an suv 2012 but with under 75K miles so i think i lucked out

[midwestmama]

Loss: Inflation (mainly grocery/food prices are hitting hard).

Wins: We've sold a few things on FB marketplace or local sales groups on FB and I sold some clothes through a consignment shop, so we've made a few hundred dollars in the last month or so. (Although that was just spent on school clothes for the kids over the weekend.) DH and I are still mainly WFH, so we're still using less gas and putting less miles on our vehicles than if we still commuted to work everyday.

[sometimesrunner]

We went to Seattle for 2 weeks and then NYC for a week, so my CC bill was insane. I just remembered that I prepaid my RE taxes last year outside of my escrow account, so I should be getting huge refunds from my escrow account soon! Yay!!!!!!

[ellipses84]

MM wins: We spent the first half of the month visiting family (and I was remote working some of the time). It ended up being a really MM trip because we didn’t do much aside from go to the pool, but we got to spend time with people and we love and had a good time.

In the past few months, most of my student loans were paid off and the remaining $4k should be paid off under the latest forgiveness program, and my car was paid off so we are seeing a significant decrease in our monthly bills.

@ My city has free aftercare but my 6 year old was waitlisted. We just found out he got in starting a couple weeks into the school year. It was a long shot but we were juggling things in the hope this would happen before committing to a babysitter. We’ll also save on gas and time because we can drop off / pick up both kids at the same times and not have to drive across our neighborhood twice as much. We only had to pay for 2 weeks of summer camp this summer. The kids did swimming lessons at my family’s neighborhood pool every day of our vacation, which was cheaper and more convenient than any option in our city.

MM losses: I had to reconcile some things with my business and personal taxes and I thought we were going to come out ahead but we are probably only breaking even.

I’m sure inflation contributes, but despite all the wins, I just can’t get ahead!

My part time job hasn’t had a lot of work for me. I’ve been so busy with other things I haven’t minded but my bank account is feeling it.

[Susie]

Win:  It looks like I will be eligible for $10k in SL forgiveness under Biden's plan.  Our AGI is under the threshold for 2020 and 2021, and I have >$10k in outstanding FFEL loans that it looks like I should be able to consolidate and then apply for forgiveness.  I never in a million years expected this opportunity, because I've been in private sector for 15 years, since graduating from law school.

Loss: MH, who has spent nearly his entire career in public service, will not be eligible.  In 2020, seeing no path to forgiveness, we refinanced his fed loans to private to get a more reasonable interest rate.  So, despite him being more "professionally deserving," and despite still having >$30k in SLs at 16 years out, he won't get any forgiveness.  

Win:  We ordered new windows in June, and anticipate install by October.  Looking at projected natural gas costs for winter heating, this was a good time to do this.  The increased efficiency will help a lot with keeping heating costs down this winter.  Our old windows are really drafty. 

Loss:  Holy shit new windows for an entire house is a $$$$ outlay.

[quesyrah]

Sept 7, 2022 15:56:41 GMT -5 Susie said:

Win:  It looks like I will be eligible for $10k in SL forgiveness under Biden's plan.  Our AGI is under the threshold for 2020 and 2021, and I have >$10k in outstanding FFEL loans that it looks like I should be able to consolidate and then apply for forgiveness.  I never in a million years expected this opportunity, because I've been in private sector for 15 years, since graduating from law school.

Loss: MH, who has spent nearly his entire career in public service, will not be eligible.  In 2020, seeing no path to forgiveness, we refinanced his fed loans to private to get a more reasonable interest rate.  So, despite him being more "professionally deserving," and despite still having >$30k in SLs at 16 years out, he won't get any forgiveness.  

Win:  We ordered new windows in June, and anticipate install by October.  Looking at projected natural gas costs for winter heating, this was a good time to do this.  The increased efficiency will help a lot with keeping heating costs down this winter.  Our old windows are really drafty. 

Loss:  Holy shit new windows for an entire house is a $$$$ outlay.

Do you mind sharing what you are spending? We have original windows (house was built in 1952) and replacing them is on our radar.

[Susie]

quesyrah, not at all. I posted in this thread with details around the time we ordered: pandce.proboards.com/thread/632178/reliable-fancy-national-window-brand

I am happy to update after install with how it goes.

[trissie18]

Wins:

We paid off DS2's braces payment plan.
With DH's promotion he is now maxing his retirement contributions.

Losses:
There was misinformation given when the company that bought out DH's old company first started talking to the employees. A new company rep stated vacation time (DH will be eligible for 5 weeks) would be pro-rated from the date of takeover to the end of the year. However, right before the new company took over a letter was sent out stating that employees were actually being paid out their remaining vacation from old company and would not receive any new PTO until January 1st. The loss for us is that DH had some pre-scheduled days off at the end of August that we couldn't change our plans for so while we had the payout from the old company to cover the loss of pay, it was at his old pay rate instead of his new one that is $6+/hr more.

[niq]

Win: we are done paying for daycare!!!
Loss: the estimates on adding A/C or a heat pump keep getting higher and higher.

[quesyrah]

Sept 8, 2022 19:41:21 GMT -5 Susie said:

quesyrah, not at all. I posted in this thread with details around the time we ordered: pandce.proboards.com/thread/632178/reliable-fancy-national-window-brand

I am happy to update after install with how it goes.

That was really helpful, thank you!

[Poppy]

Sept 9, 2022 15:39:09 GMT -5 niq said:

Loss: the estimates on adding A/C or a heat pump keep getting higher and higher.

Dare I ask what they are? This is top of our list...