Debt Dumpers 2022

[pblack]

Mid-May Update:

My 2022 Financial Goals:

• Pay off our Camry loan (currently sitting just under $12k)....This has now been paid off and replaced with our home equity loan payment.
• Continue to pay extra to our Highlander loan (especially once the Camry is paid off)....Back to paying an extra $50 on top of my $450/mo payment.
• Save an extra $1000 towards my main savings account outside of my automatic monthly transfers....$50/$1000...since I need to re-pay $2000 we'll see if I'm able to add this extra like I wanted too.
• Save money for the following expenses: cat/gifts/annual credit card fees....Added $100 4/29
• Save $$ for family Hawaii trip (tentatively April 2023)....Added $100 4/29
• Re-pay $2000 that I borrowed from my main savings to pay off the Camry loan....$535/2000...3/31 repaid $150, 4/29 added $235, 5/15 $150

My 2022 Personal Goals:

• Professional pool replaster/remodel …..The pool is complete and it looks amazing!!!
• Exercise at least 4 times a week....uhhh.....I did a lot of walking in Disneyland?
• Spend less money on items that we don't need....We spent a lot of money before vacation and during vacation. Not necessarily on stuff, just in general.

DH and I are now back from our "vacation." I put that in quotes since it definitely didn't feel like a vacation. We ended up having to cancel our 3-day cruise due to his grandfather and grandmother passing within 2 days of each other. His grandfather was expected, this grandmother was not expected. His grandfather passed the Sunday before we were supposed to leave and 30 minutes after he passed his grandmother decided she couldn't live without him. She suffered a stroke, was rushed to the hospital, and passed in the hospital on Tuesday. For whatever reason (my DH and I are still really annoyed by this) they decided to rush their memorial service and they held a service on Friday (the day we were supposed to leave on our cruise). This was just a service and not the burial since his grandfather was military. During the service we found out they'd be burying them on Tuesday when we were supposed to be in Anaheim. My DH debated flying or driving home for it, but his brother ended up facetiming him instead so we didn't have to try and get home just to go back. We ended up driving down to San Diego on Saturday to stay the night before driving over to Anaheim. Well on Saturday while we were waiting for our table at dinner, we got the text that his other grandmother (the one we did expect) passed. On Wednesday morning before we were going to head to the parks, my DH got a text saying that they were going to hold her service on Saturday at 11am the day we were supposed to be home (Anaheim is a 7 hour drive for us to get home). This irritated my DH since his dad specifically asked when we were coming home so he could plan around it, but then blatantly ignored the fact that we weren't supposed to be home that early. So we ended up booking a flight for my DH on Saturday morning and I made the 7 hour drive home by myself.

So while Disneyland and getting to see our friends was great, the whole week was definitely stressful and just not a vacation. Because of the fact that my DH had to fly home, we didn't drive up the coast with our friends like planned. I could have went with them, but honestly by Saturday I was just tired of literally everything and just wanted to go home. So our friends made the drive and ended up getting back to our house after midnight. I dropped them off at the airport this morning. It was great being able to see them for a couple extra days, but i'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited for a quiet house tonight lol.

Now that we're back from vacation and there will hopefully be no more deaths in the near future I can start focusing on saving up for Hawaii and figuring out a relaxing weekend trip we can take to make up for last week. We still have lots of backyard projects to work on, but with the temps supposed to be in the 90s or higher, i'm not sure how quickly they will get done. On the plus side, we'll be able to use our pool with these temps.

Hope everyone's May is going better than mine!!

 

[bababear_50]

So, now I’m sick as a dog. I have every symptom except loss of smell and taste.
Still waiting on dh’s PCR from yesterday. I had mine today. We’re not going to the wedding. I cancelled our hotel stay.
Darn, I was looking forward to it.

What is strange is that instead of CVS sending their usual text-link to covid results, dh got an email from them that he has a new message but test results were not there. Has anyone been through this? So frustrating.

Hi Hon
I am so happy that you are able to be home during this time,, traveling would have been crazy. Now is the time to think of you and hubby and blow the budget on ordering in what ever you need.
I know you were looking forward to getting away but it will happen soon. Healing hugs being sent your way.
Hugs Hon
Mel

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We are just getting over covid here and let me tell you how much it killed our not eating out budget cause my husband and I were so down and out we couldn't cook and the kids had to eat!

Dh is the cook and luckily he is doing pretty good. Simple things, nothing gourmet of course, but at least I’m not just getting by on Cheerios and Mini Wheats. Tonight he made homemade pepperoni pizza.
Seriously, I tell him every day how glad I am to have him in my life.

Glad to hear you’re getting better. That’s the important thing. Budgets can wait til another day.

 

[bababear_50]

Mid-May Update:

My 2022 Financial Goals:

• Pay off our Camry loan (currently sitting just under $12k)....This has now been paid off and replaced with our home equity loan payment.
• Continue to pay extra to our Highlander loan (especially once the Camry is paid off)....Back to paying an extra $50 on top of my $450/mo payment.
• Save an extra $1000 towards my main savings account outside of my automatic monthly transfers....$50/$1000...since I need to re-pay $2000 we'll see if I'm able to add this extra like I wanted too.
• Save money for the following expenses: cat/gifts/annual credit card fees....Added $100 4/29
• Save $$ for family Hawaii trip (tentatively April 2023)....Added $100 4/29
• Re-pay $2000 that I borrowed from my main savings to pay off the Camry loan....$535/2000...3/31 repaid $150, 4/29 added $235, 5/15 $150

My 2022 Personal Goals:

• Professional pool replaster/remodel …..The pool is complete and it looks amazing!!!
• Exercise at least 4 times a week....uhhh.....I did a lot of walking in Disneyland?
• Spend less money on items that we don't need....We spent a lot of money before vacation and during vacation. Not necessarily on stuff, just in general.

DH and I are now back from our "vacation." I put that in quotes since it definitely didn't feel like a vacation. We ended up having to cancel our 3-day cruise due to his grandfather and grandmother passing within 2 days of each other. His grandfather was expected, this grandmother was not expected. His grandfather passed the Sunday before we were supposed to leave and 30 minutes after he passed his grandmother decided she couldn't live without him. She suffered a stroke, was rushed to the hospital, and passed in the hospital on Tuesday. For whatever reason (my DH and I are still really annoyed by this) they decided to rush their memorial service and they held a service on Friday (the day we were supposed to leave on our cruise). This was just a service and not the burial since his grandfather was military. During the service we found out they'd be burying them on Tuesday when we were supposed to be in Anaheim. My DH debated flying or driving home for it, but his brother ended up facetiming him instead so we didn't have to try and get home just to go back. We ended up driving down to San Diego on Saturday to stay the night before driving over to Anaheim. Well on Saturday while we were waiting for our table at dinner, we got the text that his other grandmother (the one we did expect) passed. On Wednesday morning before we were going to head to the parks, my DH got a text saying that they were going to hold her service on Saturday at 11am the day we were supposed to be home (Anaheim is a 7 hour drive for us to get home). This irritated my DH since his dad specifically asked when we were coming home so he could plan around it, but then blatantly ignored the fact that we weren't supposed to be home that early. So we ended up booking a flight for my DH on Saturday morning and I made the 7 hour drive home by myself.

So while Disneyland and getting to see our friends was great, the whole week was definitely stressful and just not a vacation. Because of the fact that my DH had to fly home, we didn't drive up the coast with our friends like planned. I could have went with them, but honestly by Saturday I was just tired of literally everything and just wanted to go home. So our friends made the drive and ended up getting back to our house after midnight. I dropped them off at the airport this morning. It was great being able to see them for a couple extra days, but i'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited for a quiet house tonight lol.

Now that we're back from vacation and there will hopefully be no more deaths in the near future I can start focusing on saving up for Hawaii and figuring out a relaxing weekend trip we can take to make up for last week. We still have lots of backyard projects to work on, but with the temps supposed to be in the 90s or higher, i'm not sure how quickly they will get done. On the plus side, we'll be able to use our pool with these temps.

Hope everyone's May is going better than mine!!

Hi Hon
So sorry to hear of your loss and hope you are able to organize a nice weekend away soon.
Hey a pool is a great/relaxing way to get exercise in ,,have fun.
Hugs
Mel

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Mid-May Update:

My 2022 Financial Goals:

• Pay off our Camry loan (currently sitting just under $12k)....This has now been paid off and replaced with our home equity loan payment.
• Continue to pay extra to our Highlander loan (especially once the Camry is paid off)....Back to paying an extra $50 on top of my $450/mo payment.
• Save an extra $1000 towards my main savings account outside of my automatic monthly transfers....$50/$1000...since I need to re-pay $2000 we'll see if I'm able to add this extra like I wanted too.
• Save money for the following expenses: cat/gifts/annual credit card fees....Added $100 4/29
• Save $$ for family Hawaii trip (tentatively April 2023)....Added $100 4/29
• Re-pay $2000 that I borrowed from my main savings to pay off the Camry loan....$535/2000...3/31 repaid $150, 4/29 added $235, 5/15 $150

My 2022 Personal Goals:

• Professional pool replaster/remodel …..The pool is complete and it looks amazing!!!
• Exercise at least 4 times a week....uhhh.....I did a lot of walking in Disneyland?
• Spend less money on items that we don't need....We spent a lot of money before vacation and during vacation. Not necessarily on stuff, just in general.

DH and I are now back from our "vacation." I put that in quotes since it definitely didn't feel like a vacation. We ended up having to cancel our 3-day cruise due to his grandfather and grandmother passing within 2 days of each other. His grandfather was expected, this grandmother was not expected. His grandfather passed the Sunday before we were supposed to leave and 30 minutes after he passed his grandmother decided she couldn't live without him. She suffered a stroke, was rushed to the hospital, and passed in the hospital on Tuesday. For whatever reason (my DH and I are still really annoyed by this) they decided to rush their memorial service and they held a service on Friday (the day we were supposed to leave on our cruise). This was just a service and not the burial since his grandfather was military. During the service we found out they'd be burying them on Tuesday when we were supposed to be in Anaheim. My DH debated flying or driving home for it, but his brother ended up facetiming him instead so we didn't have to try and get home just to go back. We ended up driving down to San Diego on Saturday to stay the night before driving over to Anaheim. Well on Saturday while we were waiting for our table at dinner, we got the text that his other grandmother (the one we did expect) passed. On Wednesday morning before we were going to head to the parks, my DH got a text saying that they were going to hold her service on Saturday at 11am the day we were supposed to be home (Anaheim is a 7 hour drive for us to get home). This irritated my DH since his dad specifically asked when we were coming home so he could plan around it, but then blatantly ignored the fact that we weren't supposed to be home that early. So we ended up booking a flight for my DH on Saturday morning and I made the 7 hour drive home by myself.

So while Disneyland and getting to see our friends was great, the whole week was definitely stressful and just not a vacation. Because of the fact that my DH had to fly home, we didn't drive up the coast with our friends like planned. I could have went with them, but honestly by Saturday I was just tired of literally everything and just wanted to go home. So our friends made the drive and ended up getting back to our house after midnight. I dropped them off at the airport this morning. It was great being able to see them for a couple extra days, but i'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited for a quiet house tonight lol.

Now that we're back from vacation and there will hopefully be no more deaths in the near future I can start focusing on saving up for Hawaii and figuring out a relaxing weekend trip we can take to make up for last week. We still have lots of backyard projects to work on, but with the temps supposed to be in the 90s or higher, i'm not sure how quickly they will get done. On the plus side, we'll be able to use our pool with these temps.

Hope everyone's May is going better than mine!!

I don't know how I missed this earlier. I am so sorry for your losses. I feel so bad for your dh. It was hard to lose my grandmother as an adult; I can’t even fathom losing 3 grandparents inside a month. His parents must be utterly grief struck. Wishing all of your family peace and strength.

 

[Tygerlilly]

We switched all the car seats over to the Kia and started cleaning out the Nissan to sell to the dealer. I'm planning to go to the dealership we're paying at first to see what they say and if they aren't willing to match what Carmax offered, we'll go down to Carmax Tuesday. We agreed to stick with the one vehicle thru the month of June and then buy a second one outright when we find one that he likes. In the mean time, that cuts $540 car payment and lowers our insurance for the next month.

We've been eyeballing some smaller, inexpensive homes north of where we work. They're definitely in need of serious tlc, but at the price they are listed at, we would probably make a nice profit on them when we decided to sell.

We tweaked our future plans and now plan to buy one of the fixers and for 1 year fix it up, attempt to live on one salary and save the other and then between savings and home equity, we'd be able to move to Inidiana and buy a home outright. Once that happens, we'll be able to start working on our camper investment/savings for taking a year on the road while still having a "home". ETA to Indiana is early 2024.

 

[jen7233]

Mid-May Update:

My 2022 Financial Goals:

• Pay off our Camry loan (currently sitting just under $12k)....This has now been paid off and replaced with our home equity loan payment.
• Continue to pay extra to our Highlander loan (especially once the Camry is paid off)....Back to paying an extra $50 on top of my $450/mo payment.
• Save an extra $1000 towards my main savings account outside of my automatic monthly transfers....$50/$1000...since I need to re-pay $2000 we'll see if I'm able to add this extra like I wanted too.
• Save money for the following expenses: cat/gifts/annual credit card fees....Added $100 4/29
• Save $$ for family Hawaii trip (tentatively April 2023)....Added $100 4/29
• Re-pay $2000 that I borrowed from my main savings to pay off the Camry loan....$535/2000...3/31 repaid $150, 4/29 added $235, 5/15 $150

My 2022 Personal Goals:

• Professional pool replaster/remodel …..The pool is complete and it looks amazing!!!
• Exercise at least 4 times a week....uhhh.....I did a lot of walking in Disneyland?
• Spend less money on items that we don't need....We spent a lot of money before vacation and during vacation. Not necessarily on stuff, just in general.

DH and I are now back from our "vacation." I put that in quotes since it definitely didn't feel like a vacation. We ended up having to cancel our 3-day cruise due to his grandfather and grandmother passing within 2 days of each other. His grandfather was expected, this grandmother was not expected. His grandfather passed the Sunday before we were supposed to leave and 30 minutes after he passed his grandmother decided she couldn't live without him. She suffered a stroke, was rushed to the hospital, and passed in the hospital on Tuesday. For whatever reason (my DH and I are still really annoyed by this) they decided to rush their memorial service and they held a service on Friday (the day we were supposed to leave on our cruise). This was just a service and not the burial since his grandfather was military. During the service we found out they'd be burying them on Tuesday when we were supposed to be in Anaheim. My DH debated flying or driving home for it, but his brother ended up facetiming him instead so we didn't have to try and get home just to go back. We ended up driving down to San Diego on Saturday to stay the night before driving over to Anaheim. Well on Saturday while we were waiting for our table at dinner, we got the text that his other grandmother (the one we did expect) passed. On Wednesday morning before we were going to head to the parks, my DH got a text saying that they were going to hold her service on Saturday at 11am the day we were supposed to be home (Anaheim is a 7 hour drive for us to get home). This irritated my DH since his dad specifically asked when we were coming home so he could plan around it, but then blatantly ignored the fact that we weren't supposed to be home that early. So we ended up booking a flight for my DH on Saturday morning and I made the 7 hour drive home by myself.

So while Disneyland and getting to see our friends was great, the whole week was definitely stressful and just not a vacation. Because of the fact that my DH had to fly home, we didn't drive up the coast with our friends like planned. I could have went with them, but honestly by Saturday I was just tired of literally everything and just wanted to go home. So our friends made the drive and ended up getting back to our house after midnight. I dropped them off at the airport this morning. It was great being able to see them for a couple extra days, but i'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited for a quiet house tonight lol.

Now that we're back from vacation and there will hopefully be no more deaths in the near future I can start focusing on saving up for Hawaii and figuring out a relaxing weekend trip we can take to make up for last week. We still have lots of backyard projects to work on, but with the temps supposed to be in the 90s or higher, i'm not sure how quickly they will get done. On the plus side, we'll be able to use our pool with these temps.

Hope everyone's May is going better than mine!!

Sorry about the losses your family had.

I have no updates, other than my May is chaotic it seems almost every day. Tomorrow through Friday is the busy part of the week at work.

 

[crazycatstacy]

My mom and I traveled this past weekend to a tulip festival about 6 hours from where we live. Was not what I was expecting and there appeared to be a lack of tulips, but we still had fun. Actually came home with 3/4 of my spending money. I would like to think coming home with money is going to be my new traveling style but I doubt it LOL

 

[barkley]

My mom and I traveled this past weekend to a tulip festival about 6 hours from where we live. Was not what I was expecting and there appeared to be a lack of tulips, but we still had fun. Actually came home with 3/4 of my spending money. I would like to think coming home with money is going to be my new traveling style but I doubt it LOL

i don't know if it's due to the wacko weather we've been experiencing this year but the tulips i'm seeing in people's yards are mutant huge. i don't think i've ever seen them so tall before.

 

[limace]

Update!
Financial:
-pay off both credit cards I have-about 10K. I’d like to head into retirement debt free.
*Down to $6500
-sell my old car-that should be a couple grand. *Ugh, still need to do.
-get a will done! I’m a little relieved to know that we aren’t the only ones with kids who’ve procrastinated on this.
* We started! We contacted our EAP and finished their questionnaire-and sent it in in March and haven’t heard a word back. Argh.
-get on the same page re $ with DH. We married in our mid-30s, I had one child already, we each owned a house, and we’ve kept our money separate. I don’t mind that but I think we need to check in about who is saving/spending what and make sure it’s balanced and we have a mutual plan.
*Meh.
-pay cash for our lodging etc for our Italy trip in March (if it can even happen….).
*We did it!

Personal
-lose 15-20 lbs-my Covid gain.
*down 5.
-continue walking every day before work.
*still do this almost every day.
-declutter front of garage to make an exercise area for kids.
*yeah no.
-finish painting the house.
*plan for the summer.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Hello all!! Been a while since I've checked in. It's been a busy couple months for me but things have been going pretty well both in life and financially. DH and I took a trip to NYC in April and had a great time. Hotel and flights were paid on points so our biggest expense was Broadway tickets. We saw shows both nights we were there and had a blast. It was my first time seeing Phantom of the Opera!

We both received raises recently, which was great. Because I am still playing the PSLF student loan game, I will be upping my retirement contributions a corresponding amount to make sure my AGI stays the same. I'll get my first increased paycheck this Friday and plan to take the increased paychecks for June, since we'll have a more expensive month, and then up the contribution beginning with my July 1 paycheck. My HSA is already maxed so I'll be putting everything into my 457 plan.

We're headed to Montana/Wyoming at the end of June and really looking forward to it! Our biggest expense will be gas. We're flying into/out of Bozeman, and will be hitting Yellowston, Grand Tetons, and Glacier National Parks. One day of our trip will just be driving 8 hours from Grand Tetons to Glacier, but it's such beautiful country out there that I don't mind. Otherwise, our only other expense will be food. All hotels and flights and are paid for with points, and we have a season pass to the national parks so our entrance fee is covered.

I have a couple other expenses in June to take care of, including car insurance and resubscribing to the Broadway season tour in our city for me and my mom. The price isn't terrible, but is several hundred dollars. However, it's a great value considering you break even after 3 shows and there are 6 shows total. We are big fans of musicals and I think it's worth it to support the actors who have undoubtedly been struggling over the last 2 years.

Otherwise, all financial goals are going well! We now have the money saved up to buy DH a new to us car-- but there are no cars to be had! I'm keeping an eye on Carmax's website for what we want, but there are none in our area (the last one I saw was an hour and a half away and was on the website for one day before it sold). Thankfully, we are not in a position where we HAVE to have a new car right away right now. So we're just taking our time and waiting for the right car to hopefully come along.

Hope everyone is well!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Hi All!
Checking in. Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend.
Let's just say we did our part, and then some, to stimulate the economy.

I had saved up $20k for a truck for dh, with a goal of $30k. I put that on pause to redirect our snowball to set aside a couple thousand for a trip to Universal for my niece and her family. She takes care of my dad and having her stay with him Sun night-Fri night takes a huge weight off of us. They'd never be able to afford it otherwise, so it makes me feel good to be able to do this for them.

In the meantime, dh stayed late at work Friday which has an onsite truck shop for all the many vehicles at his plant. One of the mechanics there offered to stay on after work and see if he can't fix the check engine light that Chevrolet couldn't get to go off or stay off. Well, so far so good! The light has stayed off all weekend. Assuming it will now pass inspection in August, and given the state of vehicle pricing, new and used are both crazy, dh really doesn't want to shop for a new truck any time soon.

So we took a little ride to Lancaster County, PA and looked at some Amish-made furniture for our bedroom. Of course we found so much that we liked and ending up ordering a new set. What's nice is that you can choose what type of wood like cherry, maple, oak, etc. and then choose from around 20 shades of stains, and then what hardware you want from around 15 choices there. It's all custom made exactly to your liking and takes around 6-8 months to make.
Since the dresser is several inches deeper than the one we currently have, we decided to downsize from king to queen for the new set. Otherwise it would be kind of cramped walking around the bed. So of course the next day we looked at queen mattresses and found the most heavenly one on earth and that is coming Friday. No point in waiting 6-8 months with that. Our old mattress is so, so old. Like more than 25 years old. Ds25 was a newborn when we shopped for that. Gross. So then of course, we need new sheets, comforter, and new pillowcases won't fit our current king pillows so new pillows too.

Just to spare us the humiliation of grossness of what's under our bed when they remove the old mattress, we lifted it all up to clean underneath today. It appears there are 5 places under the bed that our cat thinks is her bed. Oh my, so much cat hair. Our poor vacuum and steam cleaner had a heck of challenge there but it looks great now and by tomorrow it will be dry enough so we can put all the containers of crap I can't part with back under there. This was all so overdue but wow, we're hemorrhaging money this weekend.

Oh, and we booked a short cruise for September. Flights are free in one direction so that helps. By then, I'll probably have enough UR points to cover our pre-cruise hotel stay in Miami.

In a few weeks I'll be done saving for my niece's trip and then I'll resume saving for a truck. If I get to $30k and car sales are still as crazy as it is now, we'll probably use that money to remodel our master bath.

In the meantime, we just keep swimming!

 

[barkley]

If I get to $30k and car sales are still as crazy as it is now, we'll probably use that money to remodel our master bath.

depending on the extent of the remodel you might be right on track price wise-we just got done with ours and some aspects that i thought would be on the lower end of the overall cost came in much higher.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

depending on the extent of the remodel you might be right on track price wise-we just got done with ours and some aspects that i thought would be on the lower end of the overall cost came in much higher.

You never know with prices soaring on everything. Luckily, dh can do the labor himself which is also very expensive. I'd rather overestimate and have money leftover than to come up short in the middle of it.

 

[pblack]

It appears there are 5 places under the bed that our cat thinks is her bed. Oh my, so much cat hair.

This is totally my cat. I've moved our mattress off our bed a few times in order to vacuum underneath it and I always come up with so much cat hair. It's kind of ridiculous lol.

 

[disney-inspired]

How is it going to be June tomorrow? This year is flying by!


2022 Financial Goals
- Pay off $15,285.52 in Navient Federal Loans (I did pay off $4k this year) Focusing on paying on my private student loan that is accruing interest. When federal student loans go back into repayment w/ interest in September, I'll reevaluate how I want to pay this off. Currently at $48,757.76 combined.
- Max out Roth IRA contributions Switched to contributing to my 401k
- Look for a new apartment Housing costs are out of control so staying at home for now.
** Save for a new car - Now that I do mostly street driving, and gas costs being so high, I want to trade in my car and buy a hybrid. I'm looking at a '22 Toyota Rav4. Estimating a $35k cost and want to have 3/4 of it with savings and trade-in value of my corolla. I estimate I could have this by summer 2023.

2022 Other Goals:
Health:
- Increase physical activity to be consistent 4x a week - Having a hard time doing this with my RA pain. I was walking a lot but with the increases arthritis pain, I've started using my stationary bike more.
- Find feasible healthier eating options - Still working on this
- Stop need for BP meds through above items
Lifestyle
- Plan a cross-country trip now that I work 100% remote. Gas is stupid expensive so this is on the backburner

 

[crazycatstacy]

Well in budgeting busting news.....We are going to Jacksonville, FL in two weeks to spend a week with my nephew (who has not the greatest home life). His mom texted me Sunday night that he wants to spend more time with us and if there was anything we could do. I would move heaven and earth for this boy so, of course, we will make it work. We are now flying in June 11, get him on June 12 and spend a week in Florida with him. We had looked at adjusting our trip but the price to do so was outrageous. Then on the 18th we all three will fly back to our home and he will fly back to Florida on July 5. Not budget-friendly at all getting an airline ticket this close to the date and it won't be budget-friendly having him for three weeks, but that's okay.

 

[FQLover]

@crazycatstacy You are such a loving aunt--that's wonderful! I hope that the three of you have a great time together, both in Florida and at your home.

 

[pblack]

End of May Update:

My 2022 Financial Goals:

• Pay off our Camry loan (currently sitting just under $12k)....This has now been paid off and replaced with our home equity loan payment.
• Continue to pay extra to our Highlander loan (especially once the Camry is paid off)....Back to paying an extra $50 on top of my $450/mo payment.
• Save an extra $1000 towards my main savings account outside of my automatic monthly transfers....$50/$1000...since I need to re-pay $2000 we'll see if I'm able to add this extra like I wanted too.
• Save money for the following expenses: cat/gifts/annual credit card fees....Added $75 5/31
• Save $$ for family Hawaii trip (tentatively April 2023)....Added $125 5/31
• Re-pay $2000 that I borrowed from my main savings to pay off the Camry loan....$535/2000...3/31 repaid $150, 4/29 added $235, 5/15 $150
• *New* Wasn't originally a goal, but I upped my DH's retirement contributions by 1%. He received an unexpected raise/COLA so I figured I'd go ahead and up this. We're now saving a total of 16% from his paychecks towards retirement. I may also increase my contributions once my 2% raise goes into effect for my July check. If I'm correct I'm at roughly 11% savings from my paychecks.

My 2022 Personal Goals:

• Professional pool replaster/remodel …..The pool is complete and it looks amazing!!!
• Exercise at least 4 times a week....Really hoping to get this back on track in June.
• Spend less money on items that we don't need....Still a work in progress. I definitely question whether I actually *need* something when shopping.
• *New* Sell more items from around the house that I don't need to add to my vacation savings.

In more unfortunate news for my DH, his parents had to put one of their dogs down last week. We also found out one of our close friends lost his dad at the end of last week. So between all the grandparents that passed, the dog, and our friend's dad we're definitely over the month of May lol. Here's to hoping that June goes way better for us than May did.

I don't remember if I mentioned I ended up rebooking our 3 day cruise we had to cancel for November, leaving on my birthday. We've invited my BIL and his husband and we hope they join us. My focus for June is to work on eating better (I do pretty good during the week, it's the weekends that get me), get back to any kind of exercise, and selling stuff I don't need from around the house to help pay for our cruise/Sept DL trip/Hawaii. I've heard unofficially that we're going to be required to go back into the office on a hybrid schedule beginning August 1st. I'm not very pleased about this so I'm also thinking about polishing up my resume and seeing what else may be out there. There's been a lot of petty b.s. drama with my job recently also that's contributed to this desire. While I like where I work and I love all the time off that we get, I'd really love to stay working from home. So we'll see what happens over the next few months.

I think that's it for me. Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend! Hard to believe tomorrow is already June 1st.

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

2022 Goals: May End of Month Update

(1) Pay off credit cards each month--no credit card debt! JAN FEB MARCH April May
(2) Pay off car loan-- PAID OFF IN MAY
(3) Cash flow all of Daughter's college expenses--no student loans! Spring Quarter
(4) Pay property taxes on both houses in Jan 2022. completed
(5) Max out HSA contributions. Contributions selected to max it out for 2022
(6) Organize financial info for those left behind, just in case... NO PROGRESS
(7) Come up with something GREAT for DD's 21st birthday. ???
(8) Earn Employer's Wellness Bonus of $300. Earned 150 of 300 points needed
(9) "Porch project" at country house. No progress yet, but used the money for now to get a giant pine tree that had been struck by lightening professionally removed and five other stumps ground down. They did a terrific job.
(10) Lose 20 pounds. DOWN 23 POUNDS
(11) ADDED December Christmas Markets Rhine River cruise on Viking (to replace my Spring Break ABD trip that Disney cancelled ) Paid in full in cash in March.

Still plugging along. Work is so busy. Was nice to have a long weekend. Worked in the yard at the country house this weekend—got some things checked off that I’ve been meaning to do there. My brother and I went to see Top Gun:Maverick on Friday night. Was nice to spend time with just he and I—he has two little kids, so we don’t get to do things together like that very often any more. Got to go see my daughter at school in California for Mother’s Day weekend. We spent two days in San Francisco and it was such a beautiful, fun weekend. She is working in California this summer, so won’t see her again til the end of summer for a week.