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Need a category called, "Rebuilding Your Savings"

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IOBA
Senior Contributor

Need a category called, "Rebuilding Your Savings"

Need a category called, "Rebuilding Your Savings"  --- after reading this venting post, you will understand why!   The task seems impossible right now.

 

Then I would have a nice place to share my shame of having a long drawn out (took a month for me to do this) decision to finally do a cash advance/balance transfer offer on my cc.  Since I was not authorized to take out the amount i wanted, I sweet talked the credit department for a credit line increase.  (Yeah CL!!!)   Got the mula and put it into savings.  

 

DH knew I had done it.  We had talked for weeks about doing it to pay for a much needed home repair.   I just really hesitated to do it.   Zero percent interest, one year, one percent fee.  As soon as the decision was made, DH started finding things we "needed" and that it was ok "treat ourselves to eat out once a week".  (We really did need the things we picked up and the occasional meal out won't break the bank.)

 

DS (dear son) must have been physic and he called asking for money for school.

 

The money started to evaporate very quickly.  I put a stop to it and talked to the family about paying the extra money back to the card asap!  

 

To add injury to bad decision making, DH was "locally" deployed last week due to Sandy and the other storms.  When he is locally deployed there is no compensation for the extra transportation, meals, or incidentals.  There is no overtime.   

 

Long story short, I literally drained our savings, took every penny we had, and applied it to the card today.  We now have no savings whatsever.  We no longer have the money saved up for paying taxes come next year.  We no longer have money to last us until payday.  But the card is paid off.  

 

Another ouch - DH thought he was coming off of deployment duty - only to be told no, he can go home for a day, but he is on call during that time. We are looking at weeks more of local deployment.  (Local deployment is usually anything within 150 miles of home or work place.  This particular one is costing us about $50-60 a day in extra expenses, not compensated or reimbursed for.  But as always, we will find a way through this too.)

 

And no, the home repair did not get done.  Smiley Sad   It won't.  I do not think we can possibly save up 20k to do the work.

 

Argh.   *banging my head against the wall*  I never should have done the cash advance/balance transfer!!!

 

And folks, that is my shame for the last month and my challenges for the next six months.  Smiley Happy

 

 

Message 1 of 11
10 REPLIES 10
vanillabean
Valued Contributor

Re: Need a category called, "Rebuilding Your Savings"

Message 2 of 11
IOBA
Senior Contributor

Re: Need a category called, "Rebuilding Your Savings"

Lol - I am glad I never say or think we need just a little more money!   We live within our means, usually pay cash for everything, and do pretty ok.   IF we weren't banging down the mortgage and IF we weren't paying cash to send the last kid to college, we would have a lot more financial freedom.

 

BUT our goal is to pay off the mortgage in the three years or less and we decided, as a family, that was a top priority.  If we can knock out the mortgage, that would free up some money each month.

 

AND paying for college with cash is a must.  There was never any thought otherwise.  Our gift to the kids is to have up to four years of college and come out (hopefully) with a degree and no student loans or debt that we know about.  It justs we are paying cash as we go (ouch).  The youngest started a tuition high school which was not in our budget or plans.  So we had to start paying for him four years early and we didn't have the cash saved up to pay for that and four years of college.  (We had four years of two kids in schools that required money.)  I hope that makes sense.

 

I am just kicking myself for giving into the temptation to borrow the 20k (cost me 200).   And I immediately recognized that the money attitude had shifted with the family members and I just put an end to it.   I would rather eat top ramen and rice than be in debt.  Although...it would have been nice to have had the MUCH needed the repair work done (estimated cost is 20k).   It will just have to wait.

 

So if we had a forum called Rebuilding your Savings, we could post ideas on how to save money.  We could talk about the challenges of saving money....  Smiley Happy

 

Message 3 of 11
Roarmeister
Frequent Contributor

Re: Need a category called, "Rebuilding Your Savings"

Depending on your priorities and inclination may I suggest the following:

1.  Make a budget

2.  Pay your taxes (Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's)

3.  Tithe for God, church and charity

4.  Pay your bills & mortgage

5.  Pay yourself 10% for savings (long term savings for retirement, house down payment, kids education, etc AND short term savings for vacations, large priced items AND a rainy day fund)

6.  What you have left is your discretionary spending.  Choose wisely.

 

I have payroll deductions for taxes, part of my charity and part of my savings.  The rest is set up through auto payments (bills & mortgage, and another part of my savings).  I am blessed with a decent salary with not a lot of spending requirements and a simple non-extravagant lifestyle.  But I am playing catch-up with my retirement savings because I was not so spending careful earlier in my life.  My rainy day fund has about 4-5 months at the moment.

Starting Score: EQ 732 October 2007; Current Score: EQ 839; TU 865, July 2022;
Oldest Reporting EQ Account: 20.4 years; EQ AAoA: 9.9 years;
ACTUAL Oldest account 40.1 years; ACTUAL AAoA 19.3 years.





Message 4 of 11
Roarmeister
Frequent Contributor

Re: Need a category called, "Rebuilding Your Savings"


@IOBA wrote:

AND paying for college with cash is a must.  There was never any thought otherwise.  Our gift to the kids is to have up to four years of college and come out (hopefully) with a degree and no student loans or debt that we know about.  It justs we are paying cash as we go (ouch).  The youngest started a tuition high school which was not in our budget or plans.  So we had to start paying for him four years early and we didn't have the cash saved up to pay for that and four years of college.  (We had four years of two kids in schools that required money.)  I hope that makes sense.

 

 


Thinking a bit different here.  Instead of saving to assist the kids with paying of the student loans/education, why not assist them by helping buy their first property.  Perhaps by providing the down-payment.  Then let your kid(s) rent out part of the home they don't use to use as an income source.  This teaches them how to manage a home. 

 

If you have money left over THEN contribute to the tuition.  By forcing them to pay for their tution it puts the onus and decision making on them to either get a part time job, or save up from their summer employment and make their own discretionary spending decisions.  This empowers and teaches them they have the responsibility to budget plus after their 4 years of school they have a tangible asset they can either keep for their residence OR sell and relocate.

Starting Score: EQ 732 October 2007; Current Score: EQ 839; TU 865, July 2022;
Oldest Reporting EQ Account: 20.4 years; EQ AAoA: 9.9 years;
ACTUAL Oldest account 40.1 years; ACTUAL AAoA 19.3 years.





Message 5 of 11
IOBA
Senior Contributor

Re: Need a category called, "Rebuilding Your Savings"

Thank you for your reply.   Your suggestions are very wise.

 

Depending on your priorities and inclination may I suggest the following:

1.  Make a budget  --  I have one.  We use it daily.   Have for years.  And I adjust it as needed, i.e. youngest started college this fall; i.e. house insurance went up $200 with policy renewal.   I set aside money from each paycheck to pay for taxes, insurance, etc.

2.  Pay your taxes (Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's)  -    we do this as well.  We have to pay two state income taxes becuase DH is stationed in on place but we live over the border in another state.  Work will ONLY take out their state taxes, no exception.  So we have to set aside money each paycheck to save up to pay the other state's taxes.  Hopefully, we can get a refund from the first state, put it in the tax account, and have to save a little less each paycheck.

3.  Tithe for God, church and charity -- We have our charities that we donate to.   Plus we both do volunteer work.

4.  Pay your bills & mortgage -- That is our top priority - to pay off the mortgage in the next three years.  Once the mortgage is paid off, we will have a little extra money.  And when the last one is finished with four years of school (in four years), that will free up some money.   Then we go back to living off of "retirement" paycheck.  (I had estimated what our take home retirement pay will be and we try to live off of that budget.  The extra money will go back into savings.)

5.  Pay yourself 10% for savings (long term savings for retirement, house down payment, kids education, etc AND short term savings for vacations, large priced items AND a rainy day fund) - We use to do this.   Right now, we do not feel like we can.  The mortgage is x amount that we must pay each month.  Son's college expenses are (literally) running us 3-8x what the mortgage is.  We always pay the mortgage; we always pay the bills; we always pay son's expenses.   There is, literally, no money left over.  And if an expense is higher than budgeted, i.e. the electric bill, then I have to cut back on the food budget.  We do put 5% into TSP and $50 into my annuity each paycheck.  We do have an emergency fund locked up in CD's.  We  would have to be in dire straights to cash them out!   

6.  What you have left is your discretionary spending.  Choose wisely.  -  Lol - discretionary spending??  What's that??  Lol.   Seriously, I put aside x amount for gas.  Whatever we don't use is left to pay for car maintenance.  It has always worked out that I can cover car work.  I put aside x amount for utilities.  The majority of the time, there are a few dollars left over, which I leave in that account just in case we have a higher than expected bill.  That has worked out well.

 

In  the revised budget, we are ten dollars "short".  So I took it out of the food budget.  And, we will be able to save about $65 a paycheck.  It is direct deposited into another account.   We are super tight on funds, but we will make it.   We always have.

 

Summer time does not change the finances either becuase we save a little each month for tuition and other school fees, so we will have the cash to pay those 2x a year costs.  Actually, our gas bill (driving) goes up in the summer and our electric goes up in the fall (canning).

 

Hopefully, we will receive a tax refund and can put that into savings.

 

 

Message 6 of 11
Repo-ed
Senior Contributor

Re: Need a category called, "Rebuilding Your Savings"

put 6% bi-weekly towards 401k that is company matched, then put yearly bonus in savings account.
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Message 7 of 11
IOBA
Senior Contributor

Re: Need a category called, "Rebuilding Your Savings"

Roarmeister - I had to read your email twice to make sure I understood it.  Smiley Happy   We are paying cash as we go with the college.  The young adult gets x amount of money per month and must figure out how to pay rent, cell phone, food, tuition, books, etc.   He is not taking out any student loans.   We aren't either.  Our gift to the kids was to have four years of college paid for or x amount towards an education (whichever came first).   For this kid - it's $600 a month.  That's not a lot of money.

 

The youngest is going to school overseas.  He just got approved for his visa.  He has to have the visa in hand before the companies will hire him.  (He's already applied and every place said show us your visa first.  argh!   But I understand that.)

 

The youngest has already entered into a house contract in the US.  He pays us $100 a month to manage the property for him.  He rents out part of the house and keeps a space for himself for when he is stateside.  The rent barely covers the expenses, but he can't really raise rent if he wants long term renters.  He also sets aside HALF the rent income into an escrow account to pay taxes, insurance, maintenance, HOA dues, etc.  The kid is doing pretty well.  

 

As for the $100 we pays us to manage his property - it goes into our savings account.

 

Repo-ed - So I guess if you figure the 5% we put into TSP, the 5% that the gov't matches, we are saving 10% of our income.   Add to that the additional $100 we earn as property managers...

 

Bonuses?  Ha!  Gov't budget lock down.  We haven't seen a payraise or a bonus or a cost of living increase in years.   Dang Congress won't pass a budget...so for us, expenses continue to go up and our pay stays the same.

 

But if we did receive bonuses or payraises, yes, the money would go towards paying off the mortgage first, then into savings second.  It's a great idea that we use to apply before we bought the house.

 

Thank you both for your suggestions.  Smiley Happy

Message 8 of 11
KingAdrock
Established Contributor

Re: Need a category called, "Rebuilding Your Savings"


@IOBA wrote:

I am just kicking myself for giving into the temptation to borrow the 20k (cost me 200).   And I immediately recognized that the money attitude had shifted with the family members and I just put an end to it.   I would rather eat top ramen and rice than be in debt.  Although...it would have been nice to have had the MUCH needed the repair work done (estimated cost is 20k).   It will just have to wait.

 


This is an excellent attititude to hold. +1

Message 9 of 11
IOBA
Senior Contributor

Re: Need a category called, "Rebuilding Your Savings"

Thank you!

 

Will you be coming over for dinner tonight?   I am serving top ramon with some extra watered down broth.  Smiley Wink

Message 10 of 11
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