|
Shats Basoon posted:nice, probably can get 10K for the kid on the black market. use that to finish the emergency fund and pay down the car a bit Congrats, KG!
|
#
?
Feb 21, 2015 06:49
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 18, 2024 03:22 |
|
|
Congrats! Also gently caress Walmart. I don't care if they're cheaper.
|
|
#
?
Feb 21, 2015 07:32
|
|
|
Hm I figure a child may depreciate after birth until they're about 18 (maybe 22 or 23), at which point their earning power and inherent value ie "net worth" should steadily increase through the use of a tool called a "budget". We're no longer in a DINK lifestyle. Now it's all about the DIK. Hey so thanks a ton everyone! It's all pretty amazing right now. It was a lot different than I expected. Newborns are pretty amazing. Last night until about midnight he was getting so mad his entire face and body was completely red. I think he was gassy. Then come bedtime he slept except to feed. Hopefully it'll continue like that. I don't have many baby pictures online at the moment, but here's what he looks like (I'll post some more later):   We're about $25 over on the restaurants right now. We're curbing that right now until March comes. We can make it 7 days. Keep reminding myself that "stress isn't an excuse to spend money."
|
|
#
?
Feb 21, 2015 16:19
|
|
|
Kid looks like it needs an XBOX and a guitar. In the mean time you can use them while he develops the coordination necessary to play.
|
|
#
?
Feb 21, 2015 17:49
|
|
|
Knyteguy posted:Last night until about midnight he was getting so mad his entire face and body was completely red. I think he was gassy. New thread title plz, I think it accurately describes the last year of the thread. Also, thats a p cute newborn, usually I don't think they're very cute. Keep your mantra in mind, and remember all that frozen food in the freezer!
|
|
#
?
Feb 21, 2015 18:36
|
|
|
He's so cute. Congrats Knyte and Janus.
|
|
#
?
Feb 22, 2015 00:47
|
|
|
Knyteguy posted:We're about $25 over on the restaurants right now. We're curbing that right now until March comes. We can make it 7 days. Keep reminding myself that "stress isn't an excuse to spend money." Now is the time to eat the frozen meals you've stocked up and stay in with the baby instead of going out. This is the test we've been preparing you for. 
|
|
#
?
Feb 22, 2015 08:23
|
|
|
Knyteguy posted:Anyway glad it's over. Extrude best of luck! If your son isn't here then I hope he comes soon! My little boy was born Feb. 21st. We just got home last night. Your little man beat him to the punch.  Congrats!!!Don't want to poo poo up your thread with inline pictures, so here is an imgur link of mine: http://imgur.com/a/tq8BK BFC-wise, I sure am glad I saved up a ton of money for the birth and have a hefty emergency fund on top. I was hoping for a natural childbirth, but ended up getting induced and the pain from the pitocin was unbearable so I ended up getting an epidural. Hope your birth plan was executed more successfully and that your wife got the experience she wanted! Childbirth is some rough poo poo, man.
|
|
#
?
Feb 24, 2015 23:48
|
|
|
Well I've tried to make this post a few times and my phone keeps dying like right before I hit reply. I'll keep it short - congrats Extrude! That's an impressive head of hair. I'm glad to hear everything went relatively well. My sister is being induced currently for her first kid. She had blood pressure of 180 so it was medically necessary. She's doing well now though due to magnesium. Gonna start a new hobby again to fill up time without spending money- geocaching. We have the doctor's permission for some light walking for my wife. We have everything we need so it won't cost anything. Obviously it needs to be for probably only 30 mins at a time if that, as I don't want to push my wife right now. Not much else to say financially right now. I'll post the end of month budget reconciliation Saturday. It looks like February was a successful month overall despite the food setbacks. March I may want to set aside a fixed amount of savings as mentioned before. I think we hit 33% this month I'd like to see that closer to 40% most months until we start putting money towards the car.. Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 18:49 on Feb 25, 2015 |
|
#
?
Feb 25, 2015 18:46
|
|
|
No leaving the baby for the next geocacher to find. Use something inanimate.
|
|
#
?
Feb 25, 2015 19:06
|
|
|
Here's the net worth graph for February since it should be close enough to the eom to be accurate enough (again though I'll wait on the actual budget). Hey also guys I wanted to say about all the congrats and stuff: thanks a lot. That makes me feel incredibly blessed that we have all of you to help us meet our financial goals and so many people who like care and stuff. Oh and I took the advice to move the automatic bill pay for rent up a few days just to be sure. Banana: I will read that creditboards! Thanks for that 5u link it looks like that'll be helpful as well. I didn't manage to get those certified letters out yet; I'll handle that this weekend. Sigma: I'm not entirely sure how accurate that estimate will be with the power company. Servers are crazy expensive though; one of the tips that my power company mentioned to save money was to turn off computers at night. For 2 computers it was possible to save like $30-70 a month or something insane. I also turned down the water heater as mentioned. SpelledBackwards posted:No leaving the baby for the next geocacher to find. Use something inanimate. Haha. I asked the nurse at the pediatrician if we could do anything about the baby crying and pooping, but unfortunately she went on a long tangent that basically said: no we can't.
|
|
#
?
Feb 25, 2015 19:10
|
|
|
Knyteguy posted:Gonna start a new hobby again to fill up time without spending money- geocaching. We have the doctor's permission for some light walking for my wife. We have everything we need so it won't cost anything. Obviously it needs to be for probably only 30 mins at a time if that, as I don't want to push my wife right now. I can't wait for winter to break (we're expecting a half a foot of snow here in North Carolina tonight!) so I can get back outside and doing things like this. There's such a sense of accomplishment when you find one of those hard-to-spot ones.
|
|
#
?
Feb 25, 2015 20:19
|
|
|
Nocheez posted:I can't wait for winter to break (we're expecting a half a foot of snow here in North Carolina tonight!) so I can get back outside and doing things like this. There's such a sense of accomplishment when you find one of those hard-to-spot ones. Yep and the ones that we've been unable to find in the past haunt me to this day. Every time I drive by a location where we could find one I want to go search some more.  Hey Cicero you were talking about the mobys right? Those things are rad my wife tried one for the first time today. We'll be using that when we go out geocaching for sure. Quick question guys: should we start meeting the employer match on my wife's 401k now? I think the answer will be a yes, but I've been holding off on asking about it for awhile now. We've got these options...  quote:You are eligible to make Deposits to the 401(k) Savings Plan upon the later of the completion of one Hour of Service or the attainment of age 21. After your enrollment is effective, you can contribute, on a before-tax or after-tax basis, 1–50% of your eligible Pay each paycheck if you earn less than $115,000 per year (indexed); or 1–8% (6% before-tax, 2% after-tax) if you earn $115,000 or more per year. And this is the plan info. 6%? My wife makes about $25,000 a year. Also for the HSA we have investment options:  Should we stock up the HSA for awhile and leave this alone? Obviously this only an option after we pay the hospital bills, but when should we invest post that?
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2015 02:18
|
|
|
Knyteguy posted:Hey Cicero you were talking about the mobys right? Those things are rad my wife tried one for the first time today. We'll be using that when we go out geocaching for sure.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2015 02:31
|
|
|
Knyteguy posted:And this is the plan info. 6%? My wife makes about $25,000 a year. $1500 of Free Money. You know what to do
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2015 04:11
|
|
|
Retail may suck but your wife seems to work for a very decent employer Knyte. Please don't take this tidbit for granted.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2015 04:45
|
|
|
Disagree. JC Penney is sucking bad and will probably fold completely sometime in the next 5 years. Meanwhile, milk them for all they are worth. I notice I misread the info - they're matching half, up to 6% contribution (3% match). It's still free money and Knyteguy's wife should still grab it.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2015 05:04
|
|
|
Hsa chat, if you have investment options, try to keep that money in there and invested. If possible try to pay with any free cash you can muster up. That hsa will grow tax free and you can always "pay yourself back" from your hsa account as long as you keep the hsa. I finally figured out the benefit of that after having one the past few years. Do everything in your power to keep that money in there.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2015 05:07
|
|
|
slap me silly posted:Disagree. JC Penney is sucking bad and will probably fold completely sometime in the next 5 years. Meanwhile, milk them for all they are worth. I notice I misread the info - they're matching half, up to 6% contribution (3% match). It's still free money and Knyteguy's wife should still grab it. Has he purposely mentioned the company before? I must have missed that detail and so I could not comment on the job security aspect of it. It's still going to be secure long enough for knyte to find a job worth moving for.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2015 05:10
|
|
|
Eh, it's her job not his and it's pretty standard lovely retail. I'm just mad because JC Penney was so awful the last time I tried to buy clothes there.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2015 05:12
|
|
|
something clever posted:Hsa chat, if you have investment options, try to keep that money in there and invested. If possible try to pay with any free cash you can muster up. That hsa will grow tax free and you can always "pay yourself back" from your hsa account as long as you keep the hsa. I finally figured out the benefit of that after having one the past few years. Do everything in your power to keep that money in there.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2015 05:14
|
|
|
slap me silly posted:Disagree. JC Penney is sucking bad and will probably fold completely sometime in the next 5 years. Meanwhile, milk them for all they are worth. I notice I misread the info - they're matching half, up to 6% contribution (3% match). It's still free money and Knyteguy's wife should still grab it. quote:You vest, or become an owner of your Company Matching Contributions, after three years of service.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2015 05:14
|
|
|
Ugh, I missed the vesting period. I wonder what fraction of their employees make it to three years before giving them the finger and finding something better. (They should still hit the 6% though)
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2015 05:16
|
|
|
I'd probably go with a Vanguard IRA. But honestly, I think back burnering retirement for a few months in case some freak medical thing comes up would be smart. And really, the Toyota's interest is outpacing any investment returns, so paying that off first would likely be a better utility of money. Just make sure you're overpaying enough to equal at least 15% of household gross income, like if you were doing investing. Hopefully you can do a lot more as you said you were looking to save 40-50% of income or something around there. Build a few month eFund, clear the debt, then bump efund to 6mo while you're doing a real employer matched 401k, then bump investing up further. slap me silly posted:Disagree. JC Penney is sucking bad and will probably fold completely sometime in the next 5 years. Meanwhile, milk them for all they are worth. I notice I misread the info - they're matching half, up to 6% contribution (3% match). It's still free money and Knyteguy's wife should still grab it. Veskit posted:Has he purposely mentioned the company before? I must have missed that detail and so I could not comment on the job security aspect of it. It's still going to be secure long enough for knyte to find a job worth moving for.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2015 10:47
|
|
|
Once you're eligible for the match, jcpenney matches the money you put aside each paycheck. For every dollar you contribute to the Plan (up to 6% of your Pay [as limited by the Code] during each pay period), the Company will put in an extra 50¢. You vest, or become an owner of your Company Matching Contributions, after three years of service. You guys sure it doesn't mean that if she's been working there for three years they will match? For the HSA you should select the Index 500 fundm- but be aware that this could risk your principle. It may be best to not invest money you may need in the very near future.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2015 17:19
|
|
|
No, it means they start matching right away but if you don't work there for three years you don't get any of the money they put in.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2015 19:07
|
|
|
sheri posted:No, it means they start matching right away but if you don't work there for three years you don't get any of the money they put in. I'd say skip it. Clear that horrid car loan.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2015 20:41
|
|
|
It might be useful to start the 401k with like 1% or .5%, since sometimes it's not how long you have worked there, but how long the 401k has been open. Edit: Don't mind me, it totally says 3 years of service.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2015 22:03
|
|
|
Glad you guys are on top of the 401k vest thing. My first "real" job out of college featured "401k match up to half of 3% with a 5 year vesting period" - lol - so I've been down that path.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2015 22:30
|
|
|
MrEnigma posted:It might be useful to start the 401k with like 1% or .5%, since sometimes it's not how long you have worked there, but how long the 401k has been open. However, go look back at all the hate toward the employer from 1-3mo ago... I think BFC has an exceptionally short memory for some stuff - and gently caress, I have a short memory, so that's saying something. But really, I made something like 11% (off the top of my head, it may be +/- a little, see prev stmt about memory  ) last year in my investments. Isn't the Toyota way over that. Its not in the OP and I refuse to waste time looking from my phone. Go pay off the debt. Then invest.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2015 22:30
|
|
|
^^ Thanks for the input everyone. I was holding off replying until I had something more to say. I think we'll hold off on the 401k just due to the vesting period for now, since like Sigma said we can get a guaranteed 10.99% return by paying off the car early. It does sound like the HSA would be useful to invest, since I'm not very concerned about losing a portion of the contributions with a market downturn (it'll eventually go back up right). We'll wait until the hospital bills are paid off, however. February EOM:  No more buffer! It's hidden now. The emergency fund was emptied to put us a month ahead (all of March's income will pay for April, April's for May's, etc) O/U: (difference to budgeted amount. negative is good.) Under Budget Pets: -13 Baby: -670 (-270 if you want to use my updated Feb value mid month) Fuel: -2.00 His Discretionary: -26 Her Discretionary: -57 Clothing/Grooming: -40 Under: -808 (-408 if mid month baby value instead of beginning) Over Budget Medical: +57* (not counted in calc below) Groceries: +170 Alcohol: +40 Utilities: +58 (forgot to account for Water/Sewage. Fixed in March). Restaurants: +66 Home Goods: +21 Misc: +10 (Costco membership drained all of this) Over: +365 (+307 "non-essential" incl groceries) *We'll be compensating ourselves from the HSA, so this is simply an accounting problem. Plus a company double billed us and we'll handle that today. Diff: -443 (-101 if using mid month baby value and "non-essential" only overages) OK so another really high food month. My only thing here is we still have a lot of food incl frozen premade, snacks, vegetables and fruits, and essentials, so we don't need to do a big grocery shop for at least another week, (we did pick up a couple small things however). I'm thinking that March's grocery should genuinely be lower because of this, but I'm not going to make a promise to anyone including you guys. Usually we would have already done a large grocery shop, but since we shopped at Costco a good amount we're pretty stocked up. Agreed I can't shop at Walmart I hate the place. I'll post what we bought next big trip. Oh and again my mother in law was helping with the baby and stayed with us for about a week, which increased restaurants, groceries, and alcohol some. And we had family over quite a bit with drinks and stuff... it was a busy week when the baby was born. March is budgeted in the YNAB above for anyone interested. Pretty standard except the baby's costs are much lower from the get go. We only need diapers which are $38.99 at Costco; we might need ~1.75 boxes in a month (guesstimate). Oh and we took away $40 in discretionary in February to cover overages, so we each lost $20 in rollover. I also took $40 from myself in March for some of the overages. Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 16:48 on Mar 2, 2015 |
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2015 16:38
|
|
|
Scary that it's March 2nd and you've already spent almost all your Misc fund and half your restaurant fund. I'm assuming you went out to eat on Sunday? Or are you carrying over spend to try and make February look better? I can't, nor do I want to be able to, read YNAB, but it looks like you tanked your emergency fund? And is Pregnancy bills a savings category or is that something you owe? How did you land for month end cash balances?
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2015 18:29
|
|
|
Bugamol posted:Scary that it's March 2nd and you've already spent almost all your Misc fund and half your restaurant fund. I'm assuming you went out to eat on Sunday? Or are you carrying over spend to try and make February look better? Miscellaneous was Amazon Prime coming out. I've contacted the 3 (it used to be 4) Goons on my Prime account for the yearly re-up fee, so I should be looking at $50-60 back of that miscellaneous. I just got a 1 month free extension for a late delivery from Amazon, so it'll be an easy sell in SA mart if no one gets back to me. The emergency fund again was just an accounting thing to put us a month ahead. You can consider the emergency fund to be around $4,500 if you want instead (nearing 2 months expenses). Cash balance at end of month was $7,051 in February. Plus $4,195 in HSA. Pregnancy bills was an HSA refund from my wife's obstetrician moving practices, so that will be spent as soon as the hospital gets us our bill yes. It is a savings category however.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2015 18:35
|
|
|
Knyteguy posted:Miscellaneous was Amazon Prime coming out. I've contacted the 3 (it used to be 4) Goons on my Prime account for the yearly re-up fee, so I should be looking at $50-60 back of that miscellaneous. I just got a 1 month free extension for a late delivery from Amazon, so it'll be an easy sell in SA mart if no one gets back to me. That clears that up. Well just keep doing what you're doing. It sounds like you know and admit where your opportunities to improve are (eating out and food). Just keep it up, get that horrible car loan paid off, and in a few years you'll hardly remember being in debt, living paycheck to paycheck, and using payday loans.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2015 19:07
|
|
|
If you have Prime you should definitely sign up for Amazon Mom
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2015 19:32
|
|
|
Okay, someone pointed it out already, but you've said "next month will be below budget on groceries" something like 5 times now and been wrong each time. You need to rethink that. But seriously, congrats on being a month ahead!
|
|
#
?
Mar 3, 2015 18:12
|
|
|
I might have missed it, but have you posted what you actually buy when you get groceries? I know you're dealing with the kid and have no time to waste entering crap into a spreadsheet, but even taking a picture or scanning the most recent receipts would let people nit-pick your purchases and try to find ways for you to save.
|
|
#
?
Mar 3, 2015 18:45
|
|
|
OK it's been awhile I'll probably continue to post sparingly. Try not to get offended if I don't reply for awhile or something since I may not have an answer at the moment. I ended up signing up for a service called http://www.eatthismuch.com which is a meal and grocery planner. We generated meals for two weeks based on our caloric needs which are similar with my wife breastfeeding. The total was $190 in groceries. If the generated meals average around that every two weeks then we'll be making great grocery progress. We just signed up once and doubled the recipes in case you're wondering (we didn't pay twice, and actually on a free trial). Here's our grocery bill though for analysis:   Maybe we could shop somewhere else for the needed ingredients? This place is the bargain grocery store though. edit: these receipts suck I'll try to translate it or attempt better pictures later if anyone has input. e2: how long should I keep this thread going guys? I'd like to show you guys that your advice has paid off, but as I've said before I don't want to take away attention from the people who need it more than me right now. Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 03:31 on Mar 11, 2015 |
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2015 02:45
|
|
|
Knyteguy posted:e2: how long should I keep this thread going guys? I'd like to show you guys that your advice has paid off, but as I've said before I don't want to take away attention from the people who need it more than me right now. l o l if you think you don't need more advice/help now that you've signiicantly added to your living expenses and stress levels. Tuyop closed his when he paid off his last debt, as did Cornholio. Stay until then, at least.
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2015 03:59
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 18, 2024 03:22 |
|
|
Horking Delight posted:l o l if you think you don't need more advice/help now that you've signiicantly added to your living expenses and stress levels. Oh, OK. I'll keep updating then. I just wasn't sure if that was it or what. ufsteph I did sign up for Amazon Mom thanks for the suggestion. And I didn't say this before, but thanks for the support Bugamol. That made me feel pretty good. So that https://www.eatthismuch.com is $9.99/mo or $7/mo for annual payments. I'll finish up this free trial (15 days) and see if we're sticking to it. So far so good. The meals are actually great and much of it is whole food ingredients. Tonight we had turkey burgers with feta and spinach with half a cup of almonds. Filling, healthy, tasty.
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2015 04:59
|
|