Setting Goals for 2024

I made two savings goals, beyond retirement, for 2024. 

1)Return $11,000 to savings for the car debt we recently paid off. I have a plan that will use regular income, $917/month. I will also send found money here as well. Always good to fatten the cash reserves!

2)Save $400 a month towards a vacation. The where and when are still to be determined and my hope is that we won't spend that much, but I'd rather oversave then under save. If we take a vacation before fully funded with current income, I will use current savings, but then keep filling in monthly to pay ourselves back.

We also have some debt to pay.

We have a loan on our 2023 Honda Odyssey. We have been paying it faster than required. I believe it was a four year loan, which we are 16 months into. The goal is to pay it off by June of 2025 half a year before my husband retires. I have the payments set as $600 twice per month. 

I'd like to sweep extra funds into both the savings repayment and the car. I might have to do a little of both depending on what I have to work with. I guess after thinking about it a little. I will consider credit card rewards towards van loan. I will keep interest earned in savings, but not necessarily counted towards my two goals above. 

The other thing that I'd like to buy is a new sofa and loveseat for our family room. Our 'fake' leather is peeling and the cushions aren't as firm and comfortable. If I buy in 2024, without specifically saving for it (we already have a good savings account) I will probably pay ourselves back for that in 2025. 

Paying Off A Car

We helped our daughter buy a 2013 Honda CRV earlier this fall. At the time, she didn't have income, nor much credit, so my husband cosigned a loan for her. The interest rate was a horrific 10.24% because of her lack of credit. Apparently it would have been higher if he wasn't on the loan. The plan since then was to pay it off within 15 months to reduce the interest rate. 

Our daughter now has a job and has moved to another state where she will need title to register the vehicle. The process seemed a little cumbersome with a lien on the title between our state and her state. Today, I decide to pay it off in full to get the lien removed for easier transfer. 

The downside, less cash in our savings account. The plus side is saving thousands in interest, plus the gap insurance will be prorated and returned to us as well. And no debt on that car.

I will be making a plan to pay ourselves back the money we moved from savings over the next year. This is in alignment to have the loan paid off by the end of 2024. It feesl good to pay off this debt! 

A Credit Card Reward Bonus

We recently were offered a $100 Reward bonus on a credit card we already have and use. The requirement was to spend $2,000 by the end of the year. I think the original offer was given in early November. This is a credit card my husband uses regularly and often for travel. We knew that we would easily meet the requirement in time. 

Earlier this week the reward was posted as earned. Turns out that was in addition to other rewards being earned. There were enough points to redeem $167.17! We simply had it applied to the current balance as a credit, having to send less of our cash to pay off the card. And yes, we do pay the card off before any interest is charged. It is my habit to pay it off in full each time my husband is paid, which is twice per month. 

I redeemed $7.32 on our Chase Freedom card also for a statement credit. I do have about $18 in pending points that can be redeemed after I make the next payment on our American Express card. Small amounts do add up. I am grateful. 

Another Expense Dropping

Our gas company has informed us we have a credit on our account. We've been paying $108 a month on a budget billing plan. Some time last year, I was aware that we were paying way under what we used so I sent in extra so as to keep the monthly amount from going up. That combined with lower usage resulted in a credit of $224.45. They have also lowered our budget billing amount to $73. 

I think that means for the next three months I won't even have a bill or money pulled from our checking account. The new monthly amount saves us $35 a month, plus we don't have to shell out $224 from future income over the next three months. I guess it's possible the credit won't last three months if bills are higher than the $73 budget billing amount. Either way we are ahead on the bills, and that is always a good thing!

I restarted this blog and tracking because I was getting overwhelmed with what felt like increasing expenses. I was so focused on money going out, what we didn't have and how tight things felt. I have refocused to see the money wins and at feels like they just keep coming in! 

I hope you find your money wins. Thanks for reading about ours!

Snowflakes Incoming

Snowflakes is a term I used years ago to refer to 'found money' to put towards our debt pay off. I don't specifically used them towards debt, but throw them into the pot of possibilities (our bank account).

Our insurance company just informed me that we will be getting a payment of $101.13 to our checking account. This is a return of capital or they call it a Subscriber Distribution. It happens nearly every year and yet I rarely remember, so it always feels like a Christmas surprise! 

Yay for snowflakes and found money! Do you have any snowflakes incoming? 

This Budget Is Getting Looser

It's been what feels like a tight year financially. The budget is about to get looser because our youngest daughter found her first full time job post graduation and is moving! It's so fun to see them launch. It's fun to also be free of supporting them financially, too! 

Today, she got her own auto insurance policy since she is moving to another state. This will save us $145 a month! As soon as she has her own health insurance, we will save $291/mo. We also cancelled her gym membership, only $10.75/mo, but it all adds up!

Of course, we will save on food and toiletries as well. No idea what portion of our grocery bill has been allocated to her. Maybe $30-50/week, which would be $120-200/mo. 

So with this big change for her and for us, the budget gets looser and we have around $600 to work with. 

My husband is on track for a raise this year as well. Later in the month I will estimate the net increase in pay we will add to the budget also. 

Do you see your budget getting looser or tighter?

P.S. I am grateful for where we are financially to be able to afford to support our girls when they needed us to. I am aware there are many, many people struggling to make ends meet with much less than we have. Hang in there, keep looking for what is going right and where improvements can be made. Look for the resources to assist if needed too. 

Remember to Balance Your Checkbook

Interesting times! I use YNAB for budgeting and tracking expenses. A few days ago, I was trying to reconcile the balance in our checking account (shown on bank's website) with the balance in YNAB for our checking account. 

I only had two outstanding transactions, so it should have been easy. The balance at the bank was $98.94 more than YNAB. I did a quick search on YNAB and found two transactions for that same amount, one an inflow and one an outflow, effectively canceling each other out. The true transaction was suppose to be recorded as a deposit, one had come in automatically and was correct, but likely I entered a manual transaction for the check received and entered as an outflow instead. As I said they cancel each other out. Oops! 

Guess how long ago this error occurred? No not just last month, but 14 months ago!! The transaction was from the end of September 2022. Yes, 2022. Obviously having more in your account than you are tracking is better than the opposite. I have no idea why I didn't catch it earlier. I have reconciled somewhat regularly on YNAB since then, but I guess wasn't actually comparing the balances. 

Lesson learned. I need to get back to manually observing the bank balance, rather than relying on YNAB. Have you reconcile your bank balance lately? 

November Snowflakes

I'm just getting back into the swing of tracking and posting my money wins on this blog. Years ago money I found to throw at debt, I referred to as snowflakes. Today, I look back at November to see what found was found. I will list the incoming money wins like I used to, not sure if I will tally forward or not at this point, I guess if I do I will start in 2024. 

Ebay sale $57.08

Sling TV reward $10

Chase rewards $14.86

US Bank rewards $44.70

USAA rewards $31.99

American Express $56.98

ATM rebates $7

USAA interest $0.11

FNBO interest $142.64

NFCU interest $62.55

Total $427.91

Not bad at all! Grateful for higher interest rates on savings while we can get them. 

One update to my last post about the great dishwasher deal. There were three items that had to be purchased and sent with the installer when it was delivered. Turns out we didn't need two of them. I returned them for $33.35. Our net out of pocket for this dishwasher is now $75.23! I have used it a few times and it was worth every penny!

In other news, our youngest daughter accepted her first full time job, post college and is moving out (and away) later this month. While we will miss seeing her daily, I'm looking forward to her being financially self supporting. At minimum this will free up $300 in expenses, but likely more as we take her off our auto insurance, and no longer buy groceries to feed her. Is it okay to happy dance about this?! 

November was a good month of snowflakes and good financial news. How was November for you financially? 

Black Friday Deal on a Dishwasher At Lowe's

I love to tell stories like the one I am about to tell. 

First a little backstory. We had a heating element go out on our six burner dual range oven over a year ago. This was covered under the home warranty provided by the seller when we purchased our home. The heating element part was backordered so far out that the warranty company had no choice but to replace our range instead. Unfortunately warranty companies don't pay the full cost to replace the actual item. We had a range that would at minimum cost $2700 to replace. The equivalent brand was closer to $5,000! The offer from the warranty company initially was $250. After providing the make and model of the unit covered their best offer was $669...and not in cash but on a Lowe's gift card. These were not fun conversations to have when we were without an oven for over a month! We had no choice to accept the only offer they would give. $669 on a Lowe's gift card. 

We did find a gently used heating element on eBay for about $90 and installed it ourselves a week later. Ironically, this summer the backordered heating element finally arrived on our doorstep. We now have a back up part! 

Now the best part.

We have a ten, maybe close to 12,  year old Bosch dishwasher in this home that still runs very well. Unfortunately, the racks that hold the dishes are starting to rust. Tines that hold dishes in place are falling off and very rarely the dishes seem to have a residue. 

This appliance has been on our radar to replace. I have been watching prices and had an awareness that November at Lowe's is a really great time for appliance sales. Last week, I went looking around and noticed that Lowe's is offering a rebate on installation (my husband refused to install himself, and I guess I do too!) worth $169. Bosch is offering up to $100 rebate on select appliances.  The model I was interested in was now $749, marked down from $989. 

We headed to Lowe's to make the purchase. 

In the store, the next model 'up' was on sale for $799. Online this same model shows on sale at $989, with a retail price of $1,099. The differences between the two models was minimal. The outside look was different. The upper rack for silverware had more movement. A handle inside had a metal plate. There was an extra rack that folded down. And it's sound level was better; lower decibels. 

I decided to go with the next model up. 

We paid for installation. We paid for haul away. We applied for a Lowe's credit card which offered 20% off first purchase. We were approved. This saved us $80.

After our $669 Lowe's gift card from the warranty company we paid out of pocket $327.58!

There is a Lowe's installation rebate of $169.

There is a $50 Visa gift card rebate from Bosch for this model.

After rebates we will pay $108.58.

I noticed that we weren't charged sales tax on this purchase either! Very odd. 

The price, if we had paid retail for this dishwasher with no gift card from the warranty company, rebates, sales and included installation (and sales tax), would have been $1,416.85!!

Now I know that's not a story many of us can tell everyday. But it sure is a fun one! A bad oven experience turned into a brand new high end dishwasher. 

Focus Again on Saving

I'm back! I've decided to start posting savings windfalls again. I think that attention attracts the savings mindset and the expectation of money flowing in. It also creates gratitude within me as well. 

We bought our current home in fall of 2021 and used a sizeable amount of our savings as a down payment. I lost interest in tracking the savings soon after. Plus there were maintenance projects we decided to take on. The money was flowing out faster than in. No fun to report that! 

We have still been saving for retirement, racking up credit card rewards and interest on our cash savings. We did purchase a new van to replace our old one that was 14 years old. We didn't completely go off the rails over here, and we are paying off the van loan fast just as we always have with consumer debt. 

I use YNAB for budgeting and I could probably find the details and see what we earned in credit cards rewards and interest since I stopped writing. However, I think that it's more fun to look forward than back. I'll report the money coming in for November and December and possibly come up with a goal for the new year to work towards. 

I look forward to writing here again!