March Wins and Losses

[sadlebred]

Hopefully more wins than losses this month for all!

[sadlebred]

W: I told my yard service company that my budget for pine straw this year was $450. That's a lot, but last year it was more. I had 2 beds that didn't need it. The rest of them were in sad shape. They put out X bales, but the did the beds I asked them not to. The company manager said they would take it off since I talked with the onsite guys directly about it. I got a price of $360. A small win.

W: An old friend said I needed a home cooked meal from a mom. She brought me enough veggie chili for several meals and cornbread and salad. Yum!

L: I'm sure I'll have one by the end of this week.

[midwestmama]

Soon-to-be W: DH and I will get bonuses this month. We will pay off his truck (loan balance around $13k), and then will be back to not having a car loan. The plan is that we will snowball that payment amount to the mortgage, but with some flexibility in case we need it to cash flow an expensive month.  ETA:  DH's bonus a bit more than what we expected (we are so thankful for that), so that will be nice.  We are going to also use some bonus money to make a lump-sum payment to our mortgage principal.  That should reduce the loan by 5 months, and the additional payment will result in paying slightly more than 2 months of mortgage principal.

L: None yet, but the month is young (and we haven't done our taxes yet - we have owed for Federal the last few years).

ETA:  W:  I received a check in the mail from the company handling a class-action lawsuit I joined last year (against my former employer related to retirement plan investments/fees).  The check was for $198 (I chose cash instead of deposit into my current 401k), which was the net after taxes and early withdrawal penalty.  So that was a nice surprise.  I'm just putting it in savings for now.    

Future W:  Our credit union introduced a new money market product, so I requested for our current money market accounts to be converted to the new one.  One of our accounts will start accruing interest at 3.0% (monthly dividends), as long as the balance stays above a certain amount.  (I did provide feedback that it seemed odd that they wouldn't automatically convert the accounts, as a credit union.  Usually credit unions will act in a way that benefits members.  I said if they couldn't do the conversion automatically, at least next time send a targeted communication to members with accounts that are eligible for conversion.)

[quesyrah]

Win: finally have the money to take down several giant trees that make our backyard a mess ($8K) and painting our shabby house ($5K). It’s really going to make our house look nice.

Loss: we’re paying it out of DH’s inheritance because my MIL died a couple weeks ago. My kids have no grandparents and we have no parents left. It’s just us now.



(I’m okay, working through my grief. Not posting for sympathy).

[Stan]

W: H got a 7% raise! He’s at one of the few companies left that has a pension so his pay is lower than industry average but he’s very happy with his company and will never leave even though he absolutely could make more job hopping.

W: after almost a year of nagging H signed up for utility budget billing. I couldn’t do it because my name’s not listed because I was gone when we closed on the house.

W: I found a new budgeting spreadsheet that I really like, kind of like a digital envelope system. I tried to enjoy YNAB and just couldn’t.

L: The IRS is still holding our refund hostage, claiming they sent a verification letter twice that we’ve not received.

[Stan]

quesyrah I’m so sorry for your loss. I listened to a new podcast on my run about inheritances and had to stop because it was making me emotional and affecting my breathing.

slate.com/podcasts/death-sex-money/2023/12/your-inheritance-stories-when-death-family-and-money-mix

[quesyrah]

Mar 3, 2024 19:55:01 GMT -5 Stan said:

quesyrah I’m so sorry for your loss. I listened to a new podcast on my run about inheritances and had to stop because it was making me emotional and affecting my breathing.

slate.com/podcasts/death-sex-money/2023/12/your-inheritance-stories-when-death-family-and-money-mix

Thanks for sharing. I’m definitely going to listen to that.

[wanderingback]

W: we moved to this new apartment last year and negotiated a 2 year lease with 2.5 months free. The management company would not do it prorated during the 2 years which we were kinda bummed about. Well I forgot that March is our free month rent! Hello an "extra" $5300 this month!

L: I had to (finally) recertify my income for student loans. My income has gone up a lot since the last time, before the pandemic (yay). But it looks like now that loan payments have restarted I’m going from $506/month to $1650/month. I hate that they don’t take cost of living in to account, clearly my disposable income is less than someone who can rent an apartment for $1500 and daycare for $1000 vs my rent of $5300 and daycare of $3100. But a win is that I should qualify for pslf December 2025 to have my loans forgiven.

[ohgillian]

W: Because of some financial changes, I really had no idea what to expect out of our taxes, and I was worried. Anyway, we are getting a $2k federal tax refund.

[trissie18]

W: We had $200 leftover in our budget last month so I made an extra payment to our HELOC this morning (highest interest rate debt right now). We haven't had money leftover in months so it felt like a small win.

[ssmjlm]

W: We're getting a federal and state refund.

L: We are upgrading part of our pool panel and got DH a new grill that was basicaly a year overdue. While we can afford the expense, together it's pricey.

[sadie]

All kinds of wins just a few days into March!

W: We finally purchased an assortment of CDs. We are paying off the last $6800 of my husband's student loan...20 years after it was initially borrowed. Our taxes are done. We're getting a $4500 refund! My husband's bonus cleared this month!

No major L this month, yet. We paid for our summer mosquito treatment ahead of time, which was $$, but saved us 10%.

[chpmnk1015]

W: Didnt grocery shop for this week and eating from pantry

L: DD now wants a sweet 16 party in July.. eek

W: i think i am able to cashflow the last large payment for vacation.. CC is due April 1 and i am on track

L: weekend tourney in MA was a lot- hotel, eating, etc.

[wesleycrusher]

quesyrah , sorry for you your loss. We, too, have a financial "win" this week in that we got a small payout from the wrongful death settlement of my (step) dad who passed in an accident last summer. We're using the money to get our home's gas pipes replaced and we booked a vacation for 2025. The win from booking the trip was that we first looked to book a few weeks ago and the price went down $450 per person to the lowest it goes by the time we booked. So saving $1800 dollars!

[buckeyegirl]

My Win is also a loss. I lost my wedding/engagement ring in December. The insurance payout just arrived. I'm putting it in savings for a little bit before I get something new. I don't know what happened to the ring and hoping it might still magically show up.

[quesyrah]

Mar 5, 2024 10:39:10 GMT -5 wesleycrusher said:

quesyrah, sorry for you your loss. We, too, have a financial "win" this week in that we got a small payout from the wrongful death settlement of my (step) das who passed in an accident last summer. We're using the money to get our home's gas pipes replaced and we booked a vacation for 2025. The win from booking the trip was that we first looked to book a few weeks ago and the price went down $450 per person to the lowest it goes by the time we booked. So saving $1800 dollars!

I’m sorry for your loss as well. I’m glad you’re able to do something fun with the money.

When my parents died in 2022 we used part of my inheritance for a big vacation and then we took a few smaller weekend getaways throughout the year. It made a very difficult time so much better because I can look back on that time and remember the fun we had.

[aspentosh]

L: H got his notice on Friday that March 15th will be his last day.
W: Two hours later he got a verbal offer from a company doing something he is excited about doing.
L: It comes with a decent pay cut, but he can stay mostly remote (1-2 days in office, on average).
W: He has about 120 hours of PTO that will be paid out, so that'll be a nice final paycheck.

So it's been a crazy few days of March already I need to do our taxes. Hopefully we owe or get back $1k or less.

[lust2hart]

W: DH got a raise and it's retroactive to January 1. He also got a bonus. These, plus March being a 3-paycheck month for both of us, mean that our March income is double what it usually is. We'll pay our taxes and then put the rest of the extra to our mortgage - should be able to make about 7 months' worth of mortgage payments!

[lust2hart]

Mar 3, 2024 11:09:36 GMT -5 sadlebred said:

W: An old friend said I needed a home cooked meal from a mom. She brought me enough veggie chili for several meals and cornbread and salad. Yum!

I love this for you. I remember you posting about how alone and unsupported you felt after surgery; I'm glad to see someone stepping up! 

[sadlebred]

L: My raise this year was.....pitiful. I heard that it was bad across the board. I'm still on leave but will have my review with my manager when I get back. Seriously, I needed to find 2% to make up for my company cutting the 401K match by 2%. I found 1% but won't be able to do the extra 1%. Maybe a few dollars more/paycheck into my Roth.

[mlkgls]

W-lite: DS’s dental extraction procedure was moved to this week and ended up being $400 less than anticipated after I offered him an incentive to wiggle several of them out beforehand. It worked! If insurance pays their expected amount it will be a full 1k less than originally thought! 

W: I’ll receive a small bonus at work worth about $350 after the usual deductions and this month is a three paycheck month. 

L: DS has a birthday, along with half my family. March is always a gift heavy month. 

L: I paid off the majority of this summer’s Alaskan cruise.

[atarianna]

W: we finally pulled the trigger with a fiduciary and are moving our non-401k retirement assets to be managed by him as well as our cash. We are in the beginning phases of considering alternate investment vehicles ie universal life. I am pretty well versed financially but this is so outside my wheelhouse; opinions welcome. The bonus on this is that the income generated from our nest egg would more than cover the cost of UL whereas right now it’s sitting in a savings account making .00000001% (not really, but you get the gist).

[archiethedragon]

Mar 7, 2024 7:11:13 GMT -5 atarianna said:

W: we finally pulled the trigger with a fiduciary and are moving our non-401k retirement assets to be managed by him as well as our cash. We are in the beginning phases of considering alternate investment vehicles ie universal life. I am pretty well versed financially but this is so outside my wheelhouse; opinions welcome. The bonus on this is that the income generated from our nest egg would more than cover the cost of UL whereas right now it’s sitting in a savings account making .00000001% (not really, but you get the gist).

Just make sure you do your research about universal life. They makes sense for a small number of people but for the vast majority of people they make sense for the person selling them but not the person buying them.

[atarianna]

Mar 7, 2024 8:28:27 GMT -5 archiethedragon said:

Mar 7, 2024 7:11:13 GMT -5 atarianna said:

W: we finally pulled the trigger with a fiduciary and are moving our non-401k retirement assets to be managed by him as well as our cash. We are in the beginning phases of considering alternate investment vehicles ie universal life. I am pretty well versed financially but this is so outside my wheelhouse; opinions welcome. The bonus on this is that the income generated from our nest egg would more than cover the cost of UL whereas right now it’s sitting in a savings account making .00000001% (not really, but you get the gist).

Just make sure you do your research about universal life. They makes sense for a small number of people but for the vast majority of people they make sense for the person selling them but not the person buying them.

I am leery about it but need to find some reputable info about pros/cons.

[archiethedragon]

Mar 7, 2024 8:35:50 GMT -5 atarianna said:

Mar 7, 2024 8:28:27 GMT -5 archiethedragon said:

Just make sure you do your research about universal life. They makes sense for a small number of people but for the vast majority of people they make sense for the person selling them but not the person buying them.

I am leery about it but need to find some reputable info about pros/cons.

My own process process is to think about my ultimate goal and then what is the simplest, most understandable way to reach that goal.     There are lots of ways to try to squeeze out additional returns, tax savings, etc. but if I don't understand it, I make a decisions to use a different method that I do understand.  To me the risk of downside with something I don't understand is greater than the potential benefit. 

[midwestmama]

DH did our taxes today and we ended up owing around $800 to the Feds (not too bad - the last couple of years it was around $2k), but we're getting almost $700 in a refund from the state, and a refund of around $300 for city. So, net is a few hundred $ in our favor. I'm going to increase my additional Fed deduction by $25/pay and hopefully that will keep us from owing too much next year.

[hbomdiggity]

W: 1. my bonus was paid last week - best yet! 2. Partial inheritance distribution.

L: having to book most of the summer camps. I have DcFSA, but I won’t be able to get reimbursed for months.

[Stan]

hbomdiggity , Summer camps are so freaking expensive. And at the place we usually use, there's no rhyme or reason to when they released their schedule, so I was a week late and the cheaper choices weren't available and we had to go with the specialized camps.

[mainelyfoolish]

W: Last summer, the rec camp my younger kid went to cost $2005. This year the camp is four days shorter, so the price is set at $1885.

L: I put $2000 into my DCFSA this year.

[simpsongal]

L: Reno is ending ~second week of March...we borrowed every cent possible and I even cut my 401K contribution to free up a little extra cash. I can't wait to start going in the other direction re paying this all down. We have about 6 months to pay off one of our 0% cards.

W: I've been able to drastically reduce our spending this month, using gift cards, pantry eating, and just general belt tightening. The kids have also been part of the conversation and I think it's been a good lesson in what things cost, cash flow, credit, etc.