OH NO! Sending prayers, pixie dust and hopes that you don't have a high deductible! Please update when you can. My 12yo just got her cast off her wrist last Thursday she only had it on 3 weeks. Any younger and the doctor said it would have been less. Kids are so resilient. I am going to be a worried Mama over here for you guys!!
Took husbands car in for a repair. the estimate was $300 and the total came in at $298. YAY for not being over the estimate or finding more issues. I was looing at my chase account on line (the Disney card is first up in the payoff plan) and noticed two charges for about $90 each from Amazon. Looked on my Amazon account and I didn't buy anything, checked my daughter's Amazon account and called her and she didn't buy anything either. Called Chase and initiated fraud alert. They refunded and are sending out new cards. Good thing this is the card we are focused on because it made me pay attention. Zero balance cards I pay attention to in order to make sure nothing weird gets added but cards with balances I'm not as focused on. Lesson learned.
I know having a car payment is always a no-no in the debt freedom world, but all these car repair issues make me grateful I lease. I never have to buy tires or do any repairs. Yes, I pay $300/mo for infinity, but I like knowing I'll never have car issue...yes, there can be recalls and ****, but it's always covered. Oh and living in the Motor City, we just all lease, LOL. The BF can't get over our lease prices. He's hoping to drop his $450/mo truck payment for a $125/mo lease on a new truck when he gets here.
There is a free app: MyFitnessPal. Both my coworker and DH used it last year and were both successful at cutting back on eating out AND losing weight.I should post an update to keep myself held accountable! (snip) We have cut it down by about 50% already so that's a step in the right direction at least. We both want to lose weight so it gives us more reason to cook our own food to watch calories versus eating out with the higher calories that brings. We are doing DietBet to keep ourselves motivated to lose weight and joined a gym.
I can't and won't do a "no buy" month. I will fail and that will set me into a wrong frame of mind. I think everyone works a bit differently. My case in point is going on right now: I need a new storage bag for my artificial tree. I went to store it and the bag ripped. Now, I know I need a bag, but the sizes on Amazon are all wompus and the reviews just as all over the board. For two days, I've asked myself if it's a need or want (seriously, I could just wrap it in a sheet and store it that way). Since I keep reviewing it, I am going to go ahead and buy one.So I'm working on a 'no buy' January and things are going well so far...mind you, it's only day 8 and I don't generally find it difficult to cut down on unnecessary spending in January after the big blowout over the holiday season . I am hoping to start off this year by really cutting back on my spending but I also don't think that it is realistic to think that I am going to be able to continue that trend (i.e. no buy) month after month. I was curious as to what you guys do to address spending 'wants' as opposed to 'needs'. Do you set a monthly allowance for yourself that you can spend on anything you like? Do you set aside money in your budget for different categories of 'wants' and then purchase items when the money has been saved up? It will obviously depend on the type of 'wants' and realistically, I'm probably looking at smaller day-to-day purchases like fast food, Target-type items for the house that really aren't needed, etc. I know there are probably other threads about this but I was hoping to get some insight from the folks who linger here. Thanks in advance for any input!!
Poor kiddo! Hoping that you get an amazing surgeon.Thank you! It is broken and a pretty significant break. The doc at urgent care thinks it may need a pin to be set. If I knew that, we probably would have gone to the ER because now we can’t see an orthopedic surgeon until tomorrow. If we had gone through ER, they probably would have paged the on-call orthopedic surgeon and we could have dealt with it in one fell swoop. My concern is he broke this same arm in the same spot in June and spent 11 weeks in cast. At five, that area should have healed well, but it looks (according to the urgent care doc) it was quite weak. Lots of ice, elevation and ibuprofen today!
And we do have a high deductible- $5k. We had scaled back our contributions from the max allowed to slightly less to focus on paying off our van. We still have a decent chunk on our HSA, but it looks like we will bump it back up since it’s not at $5k. Luckily, payment plans are always an option!
THis. Happened to me last year and I nearly had a coronary until I dug into it.Are you sure it wasn't the renewal fee for Amazon prime? Mine came in divided into 2 separate charges and I almost called fraud alert on it until I realized what it was.
I'm sorry. I have a family member shipping out next week to a place that he/she cannot even tell us.So, we just got some news that really stinks. DH is being sent overseas for a year this summer on unaccompanied orders. I have no idea how this is going to affect our finances, although since we can't go with him, he should get some additional allowances to help offset his living expenses (as well as get to live in military barracks). This was our worst case scenario, so ugh! He was trying to extend his time out here one more year so he can retire next year, but his request got denied. Sometimes I really hate our military life. I can't wait until he retires, because of this kind of nonsense. Tell me how it is easier/more efficient to separate a family than just keep him in the same job for a third year?
Anyway, just wanted to vent. I'll be fine, but it's going to be a challenge, especially now that our boys are nearing puberty and it's not exactly the best time for dad to be gone.
I'm already spinning when I try to figure out how we can maintain the savings and low spending while having to deal with all the unknown expenses that may come up. He doesn't know where he is going yet, but signs point strongly to Japan, and he has already talked about visiting Tokyo on his weekends...ugh...he is gonna want to buy so much stuff. I already told him Tokyo Disney is OFF LIMITS until I can fly out and join him, which will be more $$$, but how can I pass that up?.
I'm sorry. I have a family member shipping out next week to a place that he/she cannot even tell us.
I just was at Yokota last year and it's a nice base! True, DL Tokyo is quite the drive (and the drivers are nuts!). Also, Tokyo DL is SO.MUCH.DIFFERENT than either WDW or DL. Be prepared for unusual food. Oh! Their Haunted Mansion has the other NBC set up! PotC is absolutely hilarious to listen to. Our dream is to go back, skip Tokyo DL in favor of traveling to the amazing historical sites that we didn't get to.
I’m sorry to hear about his orders. Ready made vacation? Lol. I hear you with expenses. We bought a new washing machine, delivery guys said we needed a plumber to install bc of something that the plumber later said didn’t need to be done (and we trust him), one kid just got glasses, we need to find an electrician, and I had a medical test in Dec. for which we haven’t seen all the EOBs yet. It all never ends. I’m glad you had fun for DH’s birthday...don’t worry about that spending bc fun is needed, you know?So, we just got some news that really stinks. DH is being sent overseas for a year this summer on unaccompanied orders. I have no idea how this is going to affect our finances, although since we can't go with him, he should get some additional allowances to help offset his living expenses (as well as get to live in military barracks). This was our worst case scenario, so ugh! He was trying to extend his time out here one more year so he can retire next year, but his request got denied. Sometimes I really hate our military life. I can't wait until he retires, because of this kind of nonsense. Tell me how it is easier/more efficient to separate a family than just keep him in the same job for a third year?
Anyway, just wanted to vent. I'll be fine, but it's going to be a challenge, especially now that our boys are nearing puberty and it's not exactly the best time for dad to be gone.
I'm already spinning when I try to figure out how we can maintain the savings and low spending while having to deal with all the unknown expenses that may come up. He doesn't know where he is going yet, but signs point strongly to Japan, and he has already talked about visiting Tokyo on his weekends...ugh...he is gonna want to buy so much stuff. I already told him Tokyo Disney is OFF LIMITS until I can fly out and join him, which will be more $$$, but how can I pass that up?
Anyway, our January is a bust, savings wise. We spent high in December and after paying those CC bills in full, there's nothing leftover. We might get to put aside $500 in February, and I am eyeing March as our first month where we can put back significant savings (goal is $3000/month for March onwards). We went to Vegas in December for DHs birthday and had a great time over 2 days. We spent about $600 out of pocket, mostly on some nice meals, a show, and a ring that DH bought me. We had our $300 Chase Sapphire Reserve travel credit take care of the majority of the hotel and some Uber rides, and we drove and only needed a tank and a half of gas total (DHs civic gets like 43mpg hwy). We took $500 in cash with us to gamble and we came back with $650, so score there! I've been using that cash instead of credit cards for the majority of our purchases since we came back.
My kids need to see the eye doctor and one will likely need new glasses, so I need to keep that in mind and try and fit it into our monthly spending. I have already told DH we are cracking down hard core on "wants" starting now. I just had to visit urgent care over the weekend and my son had to go to his pediatrician yesterday, so we will be out our deductibles once those bills arrive. I paid $60 of my $150 deductible upfront at the urgent care and they will bill me the rest. Our family deductible is $300/year, which I am super fortunate to have, so I'm not complaining, but with another specialist visit today for my other son, plus allergy shots weekly, we are definitely going to hit that deductible this month.
I did. So grateful I'd packed Clif and protein bars.Honestly, they would literally starve.
He would likely end up in Okinawa, not Japan proper. He is already researching the cheap island hopper flights out of Oki...
I'm not one for historical sites. I couldn't care less. That is the kind of stuff my husband will explore without me. I really just want to see Tokyo Disney Sea. It has been a bucket list of mine for many years now. I am prepared for weird food...that is why I'm not bringing my kids there. Honestly, they would literally starve. They are both autistic and have VERY limited palettes, and require all kinds of modifications on food when we go out, and I hear the Japanese culture doesn't indulge that kind of stuff at all. They will stay home with grandma so I can actually enjoy my trip without stress (although, I might starve too...I don't eat seafood at ALL, and I'm not a fan of many of the non seafood types of foods served, like curries and such). We are actually hoping that we can time my trip to next summer, when the Nintendo Land is open at Universal Japan! We definitely want to see that, but that opening date hasn't been made public yet.
Ha, unfortunately my student loans will never be paid off lol. I have a small mortgage's worth and am on the public service loan forgiveness program. I also don't get to deduct my student loan interest since my husband and I have to file our taxes separate due to my student loans. So my tax refund usually is very sad every year since I have to itemize and my only deduction is mortgage interest. The only reason I think I'll get a healthy refund this year is because I changed my withholding to zero out of fear of the new tax laws.
I changed our withholdings to 0 as well because I wasn't sure what to expect. I did a rough run through Turbo Tax and it is telling me that I will be owing taxes! Granted, not every single form is complete so there are a few small things that aren't accounted for, but it is likely that it won't jump into refund territory. The new tax law is very bad for us because we used to itemize and that combined with the personal exemption, we usually get a small refund. Without the personal exemption, we won't be able to get past the standard deduction of $24k so it seems we are screwed now.
Boooo!! That really stinks. I ran mine through Turbo Tax a couple weeks ago and just with estimating my mortgage interest deduction, it looks like it will be around $1500. However, I got a couple bank account bonuses, plus Ally interest, and I won some money with my horse this year. So we'll see what it ends up being by the time it's all said and done. I'm hoping I'll still be around $1000.
@dayvewc I'm sending prayers your way. Good luck in 2019. Do you have health insurance or any kind of financial aid that is helping you?
We've had to deal with several hospital bills in the past that we were able to get either cut down or get help with from some kind of grant.
Do you set a monthly allowance for yourself that you can spend on anything you like?