we are in a "new" financial situation!

[cydswipe]

A little history.. sorry this is long
Mid 30's couple. 2 dd (9 and 6) For the past 9 yrs I've worked PT and now do craft shows to pull in a little extra money. We are debt free (1 cc paid off recently) We have finally "made it".. this has been a 15 year process for DH. We have just recovered from our house not selling for 18 months and all the baggage that goes with that.

We have a money market account with what remains from the house for our next home. We have small college funds for the girls (as does Grandma). I have a rollover from my FT position 10 years ago. Also, I have mutual funds left over from my college savings (thank you MOM AND DAD!)

In May, my DH got a promotion. With this, he gets quartely bonuses on top of his salary. This bonus varies. (The 2 he has received so far totaled $10,000) We said "screw it" and went to Disney in Sept .... our first vacation in 10 years, so one bonus covered the trip ($3,200) plus left over to get that Disney Visa to ZERO!

We are FINALLY not living paycheck to paycheck, thanks to DH promotion.

Here's where my question(s) starts....
We both have cars over 10 years old that eventually need to be replace.. hopefully sooner than later.

We are renting (very manageable for us... LOVE IT we don't have to take care of the home repairs!!)

We have about 10% for downpayment on our next home... we don't want to buy for a few years...

Our furniture is the some old crap from our wedding 12 years ago.

It seems everything in our house needs to be replace.. my pots and pans.. the girls could use new beds, my DH and I need a new mattress...

Can you tell, we have just existed on what we have/had so I could be mostly a stay at home mom.

I have an account for my craft show "business"... we have an account for Christmas savings (half the year is for vacation) and now a SAVINGS account for the "what ifs. DH takes out as much as he can with 401K...

How do we go about upping education fund, get different cars (I will probably NEVER own a new car... 200,000 miles is a running joke with my family!), save for bigger, dream home down payment... (In our small area, a 40,000 down payment would get our family a lovely home), replace furniture, pots/pans....

How in the world to I go about saving for everything we want/need...

Does that make sense? It doen't have to happen all this year, but it's overwhelming on how to accomplish some of these goals.

Oh and we'd love to get to disney again in the next 3 years...

How do you suggest we "save"!

Thanks for your time and suggestions!!

 

[comicguy]

I would set up an on-line bank account like ING and have seperate accounts for vacation, house, furniture, etc...

When the "extra" money comes in just ear mark it to one of these accounts and you will have a nice nest egg and collect sme intrest.

 

[SandrA9810]

Well the first things would be to make a list. Write each thing you want on one side, and how much it'll cost to do on the other. Even divide up your vacation expense like hotel, tickets, dining. So you can decide to save more for the deluxe resort or go for a moderate with more days.

Do you solely want to do these extra things with the bonuses or every paycheck??

Either or, divide the check into how much you want to go towards each. So household items like pots/pans and new beds in one section, vacation in another, new house fund. I also think before you start planning your next vacation fund, use it as a "what ifs" fund until it reaches a good amount, then slim it down and put the remainder into the vacation fund.

So like out of 10 grand bonus.

1,000 into home improvement (the stuff you want to replace)
4,000 into new home
2,000 into savings.... for college or whatever
3,000 into emergency stash... eventually cut it down to like 500-1,000 and put the other 2,000 in a vacation fund.

Then you'll have to decide on what you want to do first with the replacement items. Is new pots more important now or should you wait a few more checks to buy new beds for every one?

And don't let the kids realize there's a major increase in income, because you've probably been good at telling them no to frivolous things in the past, you might cave in one too many times and say yes because you feel bad for all the times you've said no. And if it is something that you're willing to purchase for them, ask them if they want that or to put it towards the disney fund. Create a chart for each kid, and anytime they ask for something they find they "must need", but instead find Disney better. Write that item down and how much it cost. Then they'll have that money for spending here.

 

[dis-happy]

Not sure how they paid out the bonuses to you, but plan ahead to make sure you won't get a big surprise at tax time!

 

[runwad]

I'd take it slow and save up for what you want with cash and make sure to not get back in the living paycheck to paycheck mode. Setting up the ING accounts for different savings is a great idea. But I'd make sure you have an eight month emergency fund first then just start saving for your other wants after that.

 

[Dancemom03]

And don't let the kids realize there's a major increase in income, because you've probably been good at telling them no to frivolous things in the past, you might cave in one too many times and say yes because you feel bad for all the times you've said no. And if it is something that you're willing to purchase for them, ask them if they want that or to put it towards the disney fund. Create a chart for each kid, and anytime they ask for something they find they "must need", but instead find Disney better. Write that item down and how much it cost. Then they'll have that money for spending here.

Saying no is my weakness when things are going really well and can get out of hand easily. I love the idea of a chart to keep a record and encourage kids to evaluate wants/needs. When we're out shopping and they bring something to me now, I've started asking "your money or mine?"
Predictably, often if they have to pay for whatever it is, they'll decide they don't need it. In cases like that, I'd have no problem putting the money into a disney fund for them instead. I think I'll get a chart made tomorrow...

 

[StephMK]

Congrats!! What a great position to be in!

I don't have advice about saving but can I just say out of the things you listed, seriously consider putting a new mattress for yourself at the top of the list!!! I don't know how old yours is but we've been married about the same length of time & probably have similar aged furnishings. We replaced ours finally a year or two ago. Ohhh, what a difference!! There are still nights I sink into it & just remember how much I love the mattress.

 

[lisaross]

i agree with opening different ING accounts - its easy to manage and see what u have where

i would make a budget for exactly what u want to put in a month to each of the accounts u open

Lets see the ING accounts i have are - 6 month emergency fund, some of this money i have in cd's! I have a Cruise 2011 Vacation fund - another vacation fund for this summer - Son's Braces fund (which he'll need in about 1 year) i have a holiday presents fund -

put down what your husband gets paid a month - and they write down the monthly bills - see what u have left and split it up into accounts u are saving for.

I also work p/t and my checks go into the ING - Summer camp/sports fund!

I started these ING accounts about 2 years ago and Love it!

good luck to u