New week, new MM wins/losses?

[dr.girlfriend]

Loss (but emotional win):  My son and I went to visit family in Long Island and took a series of trains instead of driving.  SO much more expensive than driving but totally worth it because I hate driving in that area.

Win:  We are interviewing job candidates at work so I'm going to get at least one fancy dinner on the company dime.  :-)  Unfortunately, I also have to be on site every day this week for the in-person interviews, so it probably evens out with my increased commuting costs but I'll still count it as a win!

[chpmnk1015]

W: meal planning has been decent so far this week
W. Kids and hubs went skiing Sunday and I had bought everything months ago so not additional expense
W. Got tax return fri for federal so all this will be for closing on a house fri..was afraid I'd have to dip into kids accounts
L all our savings is pretty much going to house closing fri but we got a good deal on this investment property and already have a renter mid March (so that'd a win)
L dh has been really slow w work thr last couple weeks

[sadlebred]

Loses: My CPA went up $100 this year to prepare my taxes. I somehow did not bleed money last week.
Win: My taxes will be filed this week, and I get money back from state and federal.

[aspentosh]

W: sold some concert tickets I wasn't going to be able to use for the price I paid.
W/L: we needed a new microwave (L, even though it was a cheapie we bought 11 years ago) but we used credit card points to buy it (W)
W/L: in an effort to obtain one of my goals (travel more), we booked an AirBnB for a long weekend. Didn't want to spend the money this month, but the house was perfect and a good price, so we jumped on it so it wouldn't get booked.
L: still waiting on the rest of our tax forms, so no idea if we will owe or get a refund.

[gt7301b]

Loss - we went to Disney last weekend. I guess technically you could count it as a win because we did Disney on the "cheap" and stayed offsite and only had one sit down meal in the parks, but there really isn't such a thing as Disney on the cheap.

Win - I signed up for a new Amex card with a good sign up bonus. I think the bonus will make it worthwhile, but I am still strategizing how to get the most out of the benefits.

[definitelyO]

W: Paid off our new UTV before the first payment was due - no interest - yay!
W: Expected my annual bonus to be 1x my goal (that's where they set expectations) - received 1.2x my goal (so not 1.2x my annual salary)

L:  or will be - waiting several months too long to try to plan an Alaska 2023 trip - so costs are higher than had I started in October/November - but we've put it off since summer 2020 - so doing it anyway!  (yay for more bonus I suppose)

[steamboat185]

W- we pay off the house next month and made our last automatic payment this month.

L- they are making us send the final payment via wire transfer, which is an annoying extra fee.

[lolalolalola]

W: I got more than expected for my annual bonus

L: I was offered a job making $50k less than I make now. 😞 I don’t like my job but it’s really not reasonable to leave that much money!

[midwestmama]

W: DH and I are saving a lot in gas this week with not having to drive the kids to school or any activities, and will be staying home today and likely tomorrow due to icy conditions.
W: Due to a higher performance rating, I will get a 7% merit increase, which will go into effect in my first paycheck in April. DH and I will need to discuss where we're planning to use our additional income from merit increases. My vote is to increase the extra mortgage payment we make each month, but not sure if DH will want to use some to pay extra on the mortgage and also pay extra on his car loan. (To me, it makes more sense to put it on the mortgage, because his car loan is 0% interest.)

L: My bonus is basically already half-spent because we booked a family trip to Germany this summer. (My entire bonus is earmarked for paying for the trip, including food and souvenirs, so whatever is leftover from what we pay now will go into savings until it is actually spent on the trip.) But I think the experience as a family is well worth the cost.

Pending L:  We have to take our dog to the vet on Monday to have them look at a sore on his arm.  I swear every visit is at least $100 or more.  

[bee20]

W: My partner is out of town and while we don't live together he spends a lot of time at my place and eats a ton of food. My grocery bill is about half of what it has been.
L: Trying to book my first trip off the continent for fall and I realized my passport expires next spring. With the 6 month rule on most airlines I'll probably need to get it renewed this summer. My old job paid for passports but my new one doesn't.

[wesleycrusher]

L: My cat ended up in the hospital last night. I was quoted a few thousand dollars for a 2-3 night stay plus some further testing.
W: The vet called and they are looking to send him home this evening after only one night and determined he didn't need the further testing at this time. So the total cost will be much less than quoted!

[egishere]

bee20, check which country you are planning to go to if you don't want to renew this summer. They all have different rules. We are going to France in May and their rule is 90 days. My kids passports expire in Sept so I'm not renewing them before because we will be under the 90 days!

[mlkgls]

W: I’m off two days this week and will be saving on gas costs. 

L: My 10yo now has bigger feet than I do and has moved into the more expensive men’s sizes. I miss the days of getting by with the cheap Target brand!
L: I spent $15 on a plush peep for DS. Necessary? No, but peeps are his favorite, he still adores stuffed animals, and I don’t usually get him more than peeps and a chocolate bunny for Easter. 

[steamboat185]

Feb 22, 2023 15:07:55 GMT -5 egishere said:

bee20, check which country you are planning to go to if you don't want to renew this summer. They all have different rules. We are going to France in May and their rule is 90 days. My kids passports expire in Sept so I'm not renewing them before because we will be under the 90 days!

This. Most airlines don’t care when your passport expires just that you have one and not that many countries actually have a 6 month rule.

[noodleoo]

W: I finally signed up for a HYSA at PNC Bank! I've been meaning to since someone posted about it a few weeks back. It was a PITA, took a 40 min phone call to get past some weird email verification screen and now it won't let me transfer money in. Apparently there is a 5 day hold after you create the account? That makes no sense. But wahoo for 4% interest rate (eventually I guess).

[brooke77]

W: I’ve sold a few items on Poshmark this week. It’s not much money, but still counting as a win.

L: We owe a lot in taxes.

[mae0111]

L: I needed a root canal and I've already exhausted my dental insurance for the year on the previous x-rays and emergency care for the broken tooth and DH's broken cap.
L: Dog is sick and needed to be put on a prescription diet for a while and a 2nd round of meds.
W: Work is insanely busy. I'm an independent contractor and I only get paid when there's work to be done.
W: We made an offer on a beach house and it was not accepted. It would have been fun, but OMG what a money pit. We saved a bundle.

[chpmnk1015]

L: groceries again were absurd
L: had to use a cd to buy a house and penalty basically wiped all the last year interest
W: we bought a house from family.. well, estate of a neighbor who was like family... eventually we want to downsize for there but already have a renter for mid March and we closed today

[imojoebunny]

Wins: I bought some nvidia stock back in October. It is up ~80%. I, also, bought some AMD, at the same time. It is up 40%. I seldom buy individual stocks, and mostly have mutual funds, because I don't have a lot of confidence in stock picking. These where so cheap in October, I felt like I couldn't lose. I didn't buy a ton of it, but was nice to gain a bit of confidence, that I do understand what I am doing.

Loses: DH hit the mirror of his new car on the fence by our driveway and it is going to be $$$$ to fix. We have a high deductible on our insurance, which makes sense, but it was such a stupid thing to do, it is is frustrating. The car literally screams at you, when you get to close to the side, and he ignored it.

[melmel48]

Wins:

I got my taxes done and am getting back a lot more than I was expecting.
My Dad got an unexpected check, so he gave me $$ towards my cats' large vet bills!

Losses:
See above.. Large vet bill for a sick cat. It is just going to get larger; I really don't know how much $$ I am looking at yet.

[melmel48]

Feb 24, 2023 13:20:58 GMT -5 mae0111 said:

L: I needed a root canal and I've already exhausted my dental insurance for the year on the previous x-rays and emergency care for the broken tooth and DH's broken cap.
L: Dog is sick and needed to be put on a prescription diet for a while and a 2nd round of meds.
W: Work is insanely busy. I'm an independent contractor and I only get paid when there's work to be done.
W: We made an offer on a beach house and it was not accepted. It would have been fun, but OMG what a money pit. We saved a bundle.

I hope your dog is okay soon. I have a sick cat and it is costing me $$$. He is currently on 3 medications. 

[mae0111]

Feb 26, 2023 14:19:20 GMT -5 melmel48 said:

Feb 24, 2023 13:20:58 GMT -5 mae0111 said:

L: I needed a root canal and I've already exhausted my dental insurance for the year on the previous x-rays and emergency care for the broken tooth and DH's broken cap.
L: Dog is sick and needed to be put on a prescription diet for a while and a 2nd round of meds.
W: Work is insanely busy. I'm an independent contractor and I only get paid when there's work to be done.
W: We made an offer on a beach house and it was not accepted. It would have been fun, but OMG what a money pit. We saved a bundle.

I hope your dog is okay soon. I have a sick cat and it is costing me $$$. He is currently on 3 medications. 

You too! He is acting ok but still not back to normal. I think I need to take him in for more blood work. Another MM loss next week 🤪

[jewel]

I booked a last minute trip to Legoland. It wasn’t money I had planned on spending, BUT:

W - I got $29 flights and used all points and had $ credit from Covid times to cover the small fee. We have annual passes to the park so entrance is free. The on-site hotel was running an off season special for pass holders so it was around $350 for 2 nights, which includes a full buffet breakfast. Everything included, I think we’ll spend less than $700 for 3 days at Legoland for 4 people, which is a great deal.

[chpmnk1015]

W: in LA on an overnight business trip.. so hotel went on my card so that will be points, miles for the flight,

[janegold]

L: We are in the early phases of planning a first floor remodel that would involve moving and expanding our current kitchen and repurposing the space where the current kitchen and dining room stand into a mudroom and playroom. No additions, all interior remodeling. We just got back early ballpark numbers....$650k to $900k. WUT.

As a potential second phase, we had also talked about expanding our garage and adding an in-law suite above it. Rough estimate is around $1M.

JFC. Am I getting taken for a ride, or is this really the current state of HCOL remodeling?

[dr.girlfriend]

Feb 28, 2023 10:28:52 GMT -5 janegold said:

L: We are in the early phases of planning a first floor remodel that would involve moving and expanding our current kitchen and repurposing the space where the current kitchen and dining room stand into a mudroom and playroom. No additions, all interior remodeling. We just got back early ballpark numbers....$650k to $900k. WUT.

As a potential second phase, we had also talked about expanding our garage and adding an in-law suite above it. Rough estimate is around $1M.

JFC. Am I getting taken for a ride, or is this really the current state of HCOL remodeling?

IDK how many quotes you've gotten but when we were pricing out our addition we got numbers from like $100k to $370k. This was right before COVID, but we also laid an entirely new foundation about the size of our original house, built a whole new structure, and re-roofed everything.  We ended up spending probably around $150k but a lot of the overage was solar and/or higher-end finishes (e.g. really nice wood flooring) that we felt comfortable with cashflow-wise.  I would keep shopping around.  :-(  We're not in Insanely High Cost of Living but we are in a major northeastern city.

[steamboat185]

We have another this week
W- we are getting 14k dollars back this year.

L- our withholdings were far more than we needed then to be all year!

[quesyrah]

Wins: DH increased his 401K so he’s almost maxing it out finally!

Loss: a new windshield ($1,200 but I only had to pay my $500 deductible) and new tires on my less than a year old minivan :/

[midwestmama]

Feb 28, 2023 10:28:52 GMT -5 janegold said:

L: We are in the early phases of planning a first floor remodel that would involve moving and expanding our current kitchen and repurposing the space where the current kitchen and dining room stand into a mudroom and playroom. No additions, all interior remodeling. We just got back early ballpark numbers....$650k to $900k. WUT.

As a potential second phase, we had also talked about expanding our garage and adding an in-law suite above it. Rough estimate is around $1M.

JFC. Am I getting taken for a ride, or is this really the current state of HCOL remodeling?

These amounts seem insanely high to me, but I live in a MCOL area.  How do the amounts compare to the current value of your home, and would your home value increase by at least the remodeling investment(s)?  Are there other quotes you can get?

[janegold]

Mar 1, 2023 7:43:16 GMT -5 midwestmama said:

Feb 28, 2023 10:28:52 GMT -5 janegold said:

L: We are in the early phases of planning a first floor remodel that would involve moving and expanding our current kitchen and repurposing the space where the current kitchen and dining room stand into a mudroom and playroom. No additions, all interior remodeling. We just got back early ballpark numbers....$650k to $900k. WUT.

As a potential second phase, we had also talked about expanding our garage and adding an in-law suite above it. Rough estimate is around $1M.

JFC. Am I getting taken for a ride, or is this really the current state of HCOL remodeling?

These amounts seem insanely high to me, but I live in a MCOL area.  How do the amounts compare to the current value of your home, and would your home value increase by at least the remodeling investment(s)?  Are there other quotes you can get?

Our home is worth over $2M and the work would be a significant upgrade to the property but I can’t say it would likely increase the value by as much as the quoted cost. I guess I could ask a REA for thoughts.

I can - and probably should - get other estimates. We chose a design and build firm, and we are in the early architectural phase (schematics have been drawn but not actual plans yet). There’s nothing that requires us to use this firm as the builder too, although their build quality is a large part of why we chose them.