Are you spending, saving or paying down these days?

[LuvOrlando]

-

 

[CGB]

A year ago, I would have answered that question as "paying down more". When DH decided he wanted to retire two years ago, we gave ourselves 18 months (before his Dec 2021 retirement) to get our finances straightened out. Living on 26% of our income, we threw the rest at all of our debt (mortgage & car loans) to make our goal. Today, he's retired and we're debt-free but still have that focus with our finances. So, we're saving more. That's okay... I've lived long enough to know that Murphy and his law are hiding just around the corner.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

Such a strange thing that SSI discourages savings that could help prevent catastrophe, like having the money to care for yourself could prevent so many terrible things why is it a negative they still have in mind from ancient ideas decades old thinking where illness was a scam or something? I see the bias myself and it's so very out of step.

It's nearly impossible if something unexpected comes up. Recently, my phone died and I had to buy a new one. The $250 dollars that I had to spend for it nearly derailed me. Okay, so I had to take it out of my Disney trip money-some people might say that was a luxury to begin with. But I have been saving for this trip for nearly two years. I should be able to save a couple of hundred a month for a vacation and still have money left over to bank. But it's hard. I'm not complaining about my check or anything, but sometimes it's difficult when you don't have savings to fall back on.

 

[NY Pirate Princess]

Spending more during the run up to retirement. Replaced 20 year old living room furniture and purchased furniture for our lovely new stimulus check replacement deck just before the fridge broke and could not be repaired. That unfortunate purchase was a major blow to the emergency fund that I will start replacing in the fall. Last long on property disney trip this summer with payment due soon. Which also meant new shoes, bathing suits, mouse ears, suitcases, and anything else I could justify.

Also saving more where I can't touch it, 32% into retirement fund. What l learned during lock down and keep learning daily is that work is the only bad part of my life and the only part I can't optimize, change, or attitude my way into a better place. I must hit an important milestone a little over two years out. I will take a huge reduction but it's worth it to me. I know what is important and what I can do without.

I laugh when the news reports people are still driving around so much. Of course we are! We have to get to work, pick kids up from after school since those busses don't have drivers, get food. Companies want workers back in cubes so back we must go.

 

[disneyseniors]

I guess we are probably spending more at this point. We did a road trip, 2000 miles, last month for a much over due vacation. We spent way less than our usual trips to disney, which was nice. we talked about canceling due to the high gas prices, but decided we needed to do this while we can. I'm glad we did. THen we get home and have to spend on things we did not plann on. My washing machine died, so had to replace it. We did much needed repairs around the grounds and the house; things that could not be put off.
I hope that this extra spending is over now what with the higher gas bills, electric, groceries, etc, it is biting into our monthly income. I don't see it ending soon and a possible recession coming.
We haven't stopped eating out, going to movies, going to grandson's ball games, and other activities, so that part is normal.
I wanted to add: we live in a popular resort area and our small town is definitely as busy as usual, lots of people and cars. So, I don't think many people are canceling vacations at this point.

 

[BayouQueen]

I'm doing things like buying cheaper brands, consuming less, driving way less, just to keep spending the same as always. We're retired and could keep on keeping on without making adjustments, but with so many young people in the family who might need help, I want to be in a position to be there for them. Who knows what we're in for?

 

[LuvOrlando]

I'm doing things like buying cheaper brands, consuming less, driving way less, just to keep spending the same as always. We're retired and could keep on keeping on without making adjustments, but with so many young people in the family who might need help, I want to be in a position to be there for them. Who knows what we're in for?

Similar thinking here, not just saving for ourselves but to be a family buffer. We're in the mindset of helping our children reach financial independence faster than we anticipated was necessary when they started school because all the guardrails seem gone. 5 years ago I never would have considered making sure our forever home would have extra room to accommodate adult children and future families but now, after seeing what we and other families needed to do, spare rooms that can be converted for sleeping are definitely part of my expectations, we know so many families who have done this since 2019.

 

[SC Minnie]

All of the above. We're still spending but not quite as much. We are frantically paying down (house has less than 12 months and currently no car payment) but also saving. We're making more than we did a few years ago so that's helps tremendously.

 

[1GoldenSun]

Spending more on groceries these days--I have a teenage son who eats EVERYTHING plus food prices are just WOW--but we don't have any debt. House and cars are paid for and we've always paid our credit cards off every month.

We're probably also spending a bit more on vacations than usual, but with two teens we just don't fit comfortably into one hotel room anymore, and with the inability to travel for quite a while coupled with it being our daughter's last year at home with us, we want to go have fun and don't mind paying for it.

And since it is our daughter's last year at home with us, we are about to have some major expenses for her coming up as she moves away to college. She really needs a new car, she will be living in an apartment and will need furniture, etc. So I anticipate our expenses going WAY up next year. But we are lucky to be able to afford it and it's certainly worth it to get our daughter into a position where she is able to earn a good living for herself.

I also want to replace the flooring in our house. We have wall-to-wall carpeting that is absolutely horrendous, and horribly outdated tile in the kitchen and baths. I want to replace it with wood flooring and more modern tile, plus buy all new area rugs. It's not really even the expense that's holding me back, though, it's more all the effort involved!

 

[disykat]

We are saving more, but it's just kind of circumstantial. I'm driving way less because my remaining parent is now close by. We're still not traveling really and have no big plans to for at least the next 6 months and we'll see after that. We got in the habit of eating out less. We aren't doing any home improvement right now. etc. etc. I certainly notice that each tank of gas costs more and each grocery trip too. We have started entertaining more again, so that budget is going up, but the other things easily balance it out.

 

[KayKayJS]

Spending more. Lots of vacations. Being locked down for almost the entirety of my 2 year old's life - we're ready to do things with her.

 

[Colleen27]

Such a strange thing that SSI discourages savings that could help prevent catastrophe, like having the money to care for yourself could prevent so many terrible things why is it a negative they still have in mind from ancient ideas decades old thinking where illness was a scam or something? I see the bias myself and it's so very out of step. Saving limits this low are counterproductive, its awful that disabled people are singled out when the costs of our emergencies swing so wildly and take up so much in resources... one would think there would be encouragement to save to have a cushion when some drugs and treatments are so costly but can prevent much more expensive negative consequences. Savings should be limited to covering a persons most expensive intervention, like you should be able to save for a new wheelchair or a weeks doses of medicine xyz.

Part of it is simple neglect. Raising the asset limits takes a literal act of Congress, and it isn't something anyone is willing to go out on a limb to champion. So the limits stay where they were set decades ago, even though that sum is no longer the reasonable cushion it was when the level was set. The same thing happens with the excludable value of vehicles; a decent car can be enough to disqualify a person from the help they need, but without reliable transportation, they often can't meet the medical or work requirements for the program they're applying for.

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

Spending more. With covid restrictions lifting and vaccines/boosters available we're traveling more and going out more than we did in the past two years. Oil is killing us too. Which isn't great because our credit card is climbing while our income is not!

 

[LuvOrlando]

Spending more. Lots of vacations. Being locked down for almost the entirety of my 2 year old's life - we're ready to do things with her.

Wait until you see all the stuff you'll need to carry along with you to go out with that age group, you might change your mind (JKJK LOL enjoy the hullabaloo.

 

[LuvOrlando]

We are saving more, but it's just kind of circumstantial. I'm driving way less because my remaining parent is now close by. We're still not traveling really and have no big plans to for at least the next 6 months and we'll see after that. We got in the habit of eating out less. We aren't doing any home improvement right now. etc. etc. I certainly notice that each tank of gas costs more and each grocery trip too. We have started entertaining more again, so that budget is going up, but the other things easily balance it out.

I think being in a new habit is a big part of things, I got used to doing things this way and don't really feel any great pull or push to leave the grooves... like I DID feel a want to jump out of the grooves in early spring but then costs were all like, "Settle down lady and consider that grapes cost $15."

 

[LoveSpringsteen]

Spending more, but keeping savings about the same. We were lucky to get some modest bonuses this year to make that possible. We pay college tuition and food for one child currently (another child in college fall 23). We also have some significant home maintenance expenses to pay for this summer.

 

[KayKayJS]

Wait until you see all the stuff you'll need to carry along with you to go out with that age group, you might change your mind (JKJK LOL enjoy the hullabaloo.

LOL yeah we know, we've already cruised with her this year and done 3-4 disney trips. It's difficult but not as difficult as everything we've missed out on the past 2 years.

 

[Kitty 34]

Spending more just because things cost more. We're retired and pretty much do what we want without being too crazy about the cost of things, tho. We're just getting our CCs on our trip to Charleston, SC to visit with one of our sons. It was expensive but well worth it and we're fortunate that we have saved much of our life to go on these trips now.

 

[sk!mom]

Nothing to pay down so a combo of saving and spending more.

Our youngest graduated college in 2018 and married in late 2019 so we already planned for these years to be more saving while we’re still fully employed but child raising exspenses are behind us. 2020 was entirely at home from February on- no travel, restaurants, theaters, nothing. We were lucky to remain fully employed so even though we did some home maintenance, we saved a lot. 2021, we got out a bit starting in March once fully vaxed but we still spent way less as travel was domestic only and the periods of surges had us still staying home much more. This year we’re finally traveling more but still saving as much as possible.

 

[superme80]

Spending way more and trying to pay down. We have had quite a few vet expenses that got thrown on the credit card. We were hoping to go on an out of state vacation with a friend and her family, but not sure with gas prices.
Don't get me started on the SSI issue. It really needs to be revamped, but no one wants to.