It’s been a long, dark week for me. My mother is now safely ensconced in the “memory care” unit at a managed-care facility, but she’s confused and scared. The staff says this is normal, and that she’ll adjust with time. I hope so. I want to turn my attention to something more positive. Normally on Fridays, I share a reader question, but I haven’t had time to sort through to find a good one. Instead, I’m going to do a rare reader poll.
Today, I want to hear about your latest financial success. What have you done right in the past few months? Have you paid off your debt? Met a financial goal? Opened a savings account? Opened a retirement account? Learned how to use coupons effectively? Had a will drawn up? Make me feel good. Share a financial triumph in the comments below. And, if possible, tell us how you achieved this.
My recent success story? That’s easy. I’ve continued to cut on the unimportant stuff while also looking for ways to make more money. As a result, I have enough to experiment with extended travel. There are certainly some question marks surrounding my upcoming trip(s), but money’s not one of them. And that makes me happy.
Your turn! Tell us what you’re doing right in your financial life.
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I hope things work out for you Mom & your family.
My success has been to continue to pay down the mortgage at a pretty good clip. I’ve had a mortgage in one form or the other for about 11 years and if I can keep going, I’ll be mortgage free sometime next spring.
I will be very happy to be mortgage-free.
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We’re doing the same. Paid off all consumer debt in 2007-2008, bought a $200k house (our first) in 2009, and will have it paid off in the next two years. We’re living on 1/2 our income to make it happen! For the mathematically challenged, that’s paid off in 4ish years. It’s possible, just keep making it happen.
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I’d like to see a Reader Story on this Michael!!
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I’d like to see a reader story on this as well.
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What’s the process? I’ll be happy to share, we’re very transparent.
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I also would love to hear this story.
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My story was going to be about the same:
1. Bought no more house than we needed in 1997 for 145k, with a 15 year loan.
2. Made double, triple, and even quadruple payments on it every month (especially when the market was heading south – it seemed better to put that money where it made a guaranteed 6%).
3. Will have it paid off in 8 months, even if I only continue the double payments (which is my automatic payment amount).
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I’m confused. How does it take 15 years to pay off a 15 year mortgage when you are making at least a double payment every month for the life of the loan?
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The original loan term was 15 years, but, because I’m making double or triple payments (with the largest payments early in the loan, with a couple 5x & 10x payments, even), it will be paid off in a few more months after a total of about 5 years of accelerated payments.
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I don’t get it either…..if the original loan was in 1997 like the original post said,that will be 15 years by the time it is paid off. So if it was originally a 15 year loan, where did all the extra payments go?
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Oops, that was a typo on my part. I meant to say the loan was originated in 2007, so it’s now just past the 4 year mark. Sorry for the confusion – I’ve gotten old enough I can’t recall my exact age, let alone remember what decade it is!
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Sorry about your mother, JD. I hope she will settle in quickly at the new place.
Paying off the mortgage has been our latest big “success” as well. We finished paying off our mortgage towards the end of last year….. just under 5 years since we bought the house. Yaay!
Originally we were planning to take a couple more years to pay it off. However, last year we thought we may have to relocate due to DH’s job situation. It is hard to sell a house quickly in our part of the world, and it turns out getting a 2nd mortgage is pretty painful. The new company that my husband would work for would help with a no-cost loan (which we could use for the down payment of the new home), but not help selling the old home – go figure! So we put all the money we had — pretty much down to the last penny — and paid down the mortgage. We thought we will try to rent it out, and use the “income” to pay down the loan of the down payment and the new mortgage will just replace our old mortgage. It was scary to have a close-to-zero bank balance, but we just did it.
In the end, that job didn’t quite work out. He found another one close to where we live, and so we didn’t move. And we started aggressively building back our emergency funds. Without the mortgage to pay, that emergency fund is coming along pretty well… so far so good… knock on wood.
Take care. Lots of great stories here. It certainly has cheered me up!
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I’m going to chime in and add my vote for wanting to hear a Reader Story from either Michael S. or Tom (or both!) about how they achieved what they did. What I’d especially like (and totally understand if this is a deal-breaker), is a lot of hard numbers and facts – what area of the country do / did you live in? Income? Housing expense? How much on groceries, eating out, what kind of entertainment, etc?
The reason I’d like to see this information is that sometimes it’s hard to relate or really apply information to my own life if I’m left wondering something like HOW in the HECK do these people make $200,000 a year, or live on only $10,000 year and bank the rest? What am I doing wrong?? It makes a difference to know these people are chemical engineers or live somewhere with a very high or low cost of living, or literally subsisted on dried beans and scavenged fruit. It helps me put the story in perspective for my own life, and helps me be honest about what kinds of sacrifices I actually am or am not willing or able to make.
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Agreed. So much of the personal finance advice out there seems to assume that you have a professional’s salary and just need to cut out trips to the mall. Dave Ramsey seems to be the only one who acknowledges that someone might make less than $75K/year, and even he assumes you’re working. I too would like to hear how people pay down mortgages and to see if it’s possible when you don’t make a six-figure salary.
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So true! I used to get so frustrated when I read personal finance articles. They had all these great suggestions for things people could do to save money and pay off debt, but they were all assuming that people made AT LEAST $50,000 per year. Up until a few years ago my husband and I were making less than $40,000 per year combined, and most of the suggestions in these articles were way out of our reach. (Stop buying $5 coffee? We couldn’t afford that in the first place!!) I would love to see some articles geared more toward people who are really struggling just to make ends meet.
Of course, I also used to think that $50,000 per year was a lot of money….now that we’ve finally hit that I guess I just don’t see it that way anymore. Still struggling.
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I purchase my house also in April of 2009 ($180,000). I will have it fully paid off in April Of 2013. My morgage allows me to add a 15% lump sum payment on the original principle every year. I can also make double payments, and on top of that add 15% to my payments every year. With these options and an obsession with being morgage free I have 20 months to go.
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My wife and I are very excited about our extra income! I started my own business (on the side) almost a year ago, and it’s starting to reap some financial rewards, in excess of $1,000 this month!
My wife has started her photography business and has just closed a few deals that are worth over $1,000 as well!
This extra money will be used to pay down the debt on our house (which we will close on next week!) We plan on paying our house off in less than 5 years and are super excited about it!
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-Managed to make myself some cash and clear some clutter selling stuff on Ebay.
-nearly finished a quilt which I hope to sell and cost me very little (made from recycled materials)
-Got paid to do nothing today (I’m a temp and a company hired myself and 3 other temps to sit in an office and pretend to do work so the office looked busy for their client)
-Applied for 3 jobs (didn’t get any though)
I guess my other success is getting 500 views on my blog, but I don’t make money from that so that’s more of a personal success.
Good luck with your mum JD x
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I’m so sorry to hear about your mother.
My success is learning to be cognizant of the stress and cost of consumer debt. Unfortunately I learned this after my husband and I bought a new car, and racked up some very large student loans, but we don’t have any credit card debt and are working on taking care of the rest as quickly as possible, all the while steadily contributing to savings.
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I’ve generally been pretty happy with my own finances. My big success is in helping my two pre-teen sons. They’re both a bit learning challenged and have impulse control issues. Last fall, I started using “Mommy Dollars” to pay them for chores, and requiring them to pay me for TV time and other treats.
They’ve really started to “get” arithmetic, and they’re slowly learning the pleasures of delayed gratification. They also volunteer for chores a lot more often.
The funniest thing is that my older son is so into it all. He carries his wallet with him everywhere, and will pull it out to show people his money (orange and pink and yellow and blue), so proud. He da man!
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Wish I’d thought of this one when my kids were little! Nicely done.
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I wanna hear more about this! I think it would make a good reader story.
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Me too. Would love to learn more!
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Glad you think this is fun. (Me, too, obviously!) I’ll post an update on Mommy Dollars on my own blog on Wednesday (July 27), for those who are interested.
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That sounds like a great idea! My daughter’s perhaps a little too young for this (22 months), but I’m looking forward to reading more about this idea and filing it away for later use.
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I paid off my car in a year and am ready to start saving up for a house!
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This past month I paid off the first of my four credit cards! It will take a while to pay off all of my credit card debt, but paying off the card with the highest interest rate (which also had the second highest balance) was a huge success for me and one that I am very excited about.
Thanks for helping me figure out how to focus on getting out of debt. Your story is inspiring and now I am well on my way to being debt free.
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In March my wife (our main source of income since I’m in law school) arranged her direct deposit at work to deposit a set amount into our checking account and anything over that into our ING DIRECT savings account. We let it sit for a few months, then checked it and were surpised to find out how much had already acculumated in savings. Since it’s automatic we don’t even think about it, but with raises/overtime/bonuses it works out really well.
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I did this when I was working an hourly job with variable to lots of overtime and lots of travel. I had a set amount (enough to live on comfortably) put into chequing each payperiod and the rest into savings. It built up quickly!
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I paid off my home this month after years of extreme frugality and a bunch of luck, and I’ve moved that mortgage payment money into investments – now I’m investing $2500 a month, and have a monthly $500 for fun!
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That is AWESOME!
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Jim,
congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!
I would love to hear about this more!
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I started investing in the stock market, this after achieving my target emergency fund.
I wish you and your mom well, by the way. All the best.
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I am 27 years old and I have been following GRS since I graduated from college (2007). My financial achievements are: paid off 2 cars, switched 3 jobs (I am actually loving my job now), going back for my MBA (I will be in 30K debt when I am finished but that’s ok because I see this as an investment in my career), bought a house and paying a little extra every month, learned how to make my own laundry detergent and deodorant (it is rewarding experience aside from the savings).
I can actually pause and appreciate what I have in my life.
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Sam, when I read stories about young people such as yourself, I am so inspired.
My guess is before long, you’ll look back and just marvel how much you’ve achieved in such a short time.
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Hi Mike:
I am proud of what I have achieved but the truth is success is very boring. I had to say no to a lot of my friends who are partying still and going on expensive vacations. At times, I feel like I am missing out. But I know I will be the one who will be traveling around the world when my friends are still working from paycheck to paycheck in the future.
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We finally moved into our first house and were able to pay for the necessary electricity and heating fixes without using credit cards or borrowing anything. A few years ago this would have been impossible. I really owe a lot to this blog and the knowledge I have gained here. Thanks!
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The best thing I did recently was refinance our mortgage. About 18 months ago my job started looking shaky so we decided to refinance to lower the required monthly payment. We were able to cut the required payment in half, saving nearly $400/month. We continued to pay the same amount we were paying, but if we needed to, we would be able to drop down to the lower payment. I did get laid off a year ago, and thankfully we haven’t needed to drop the payment yet, but it’s very comforting to know we could if need be.
I also checked the rates on our car insurance and was able to lower them by $400/year just by geting our current company to requote the same policy. We used that savings to purchase an umbrella liability policy, so now we have even better coverage and it still costs less than just the car insurance.
In the long term, we’ve saved regularly and lived below our means and now have quite a sizeable next egg built up. Don’t be discouraged when you start saving. The first 5-10 years are very slow going, but one day you will look at the balance on that statement and say “Wow, this really works!”
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1. This spring we paid off our new car loan one and a half years early. I’m looking forward for the next ten years+ with no car note.
2. After purchasing a house in December, we had the cash on hand in our home repair fund to purchase a new HVAC system ($4000!), once we figured out that the flipper incorrectly installed a faulty unit. We’re very thankful for AC in the 110-index heat wave we’re having!
3. We’re also paying down our mortgage early, one extra $100 at a time.
My sympathies to your family, J.D. -parental elder care can be heart wrenching.
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I hope your Mother is as well as can be expected. I know what you’re going through.
(I’m English, but live in Denmark)
This might sound the wrong way to go, but we’ve bought a new – brand new – car. And will save money.
The old one turned toes up a month or so ago. Was gonna cost 3 times its value, to repair to go through the ‘stress’ test this year. The repair costs a year, were starting to be astronomical.
So, we bought a brand new Kia Picanto.
We went to the garage at the end of the month, and just before a new model was to be launched and made it clear that we’d take his old stock off his hands, if he cut us some slack
With this, our loan from the garage is for 3.4%, as opposed to the 6% the bank were ‘delighted’ to be able to offer us. As it turns out, the loan from the car dealer, is actually through a company owned by our bank!
We get 3 years’ free servicing. Insurance through Kia for 3 years, is less than a quarter of what our previous insurance company were charging for the old car. The yearly ‘road tax’ (‘miljøafgift’) was 2,840.00Kr, now, it’s 500Kr. It does 22 km/l, as opposed to 12 km/l. Our monthly petrol bill is halved!
And what’s even better – we absolutely love the Picanto!
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So, I’m a student still in debt. My method to pay this off has been to let my emergency fund (which stays at 2000$) continue to build upwards with any excess money each month. Whenever it hit 1000$ extra or so, I would pay that towards one of my debts. This might sound familiar, as it’s just an implementation of the snowball method.
I am also a government contractor. I don’t know how much thought anyone’s given to us of late, but let’s just call our situation ‘unstable’. Unfortunately, my position was cut. Luckily, I had taken my excess savings and held it back, not paying off my debt just in case of this happening. I entered this situation with 6000$ on hand (2k emergency, 4k supposed debt payment) for any necessities.
Luckily, my employer was able to find me another contract…. two hours away. Counting the months of double rent, the moving expenses, wardrobe expenses (dressier office), and other miscellany, I ended up spending 3000$ to re-secure my employment. No, relocation was not available. Of course, my car decided it needed major repair at the same time, so there went another 900$.
While I would much rather have my money back, my savings and correct reading of the situation (not paying off my debt when I could have) left me with my original emergency fund intact, a stable job, and a new sense of financial confidence.
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GREAT work – especially for someone so inexperienced – you should feel VERY proud of yourself.
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I’m paying for my first year of business school in cash and have a good shot at getting my MBA without any student loans or using any retirement savings.
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We’re just chugging along here, doing what we’ve been doing for years – saving a very good portion of our income for retirement, and our daughter’s education, paying off our mortgage. We never did have consumer debt.
Sometimes “success” can be damned boring
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Ha! Yes, this is true. Kris has been successful with money all he life. She’s always made smart decisions. But there’s rarely anything exciting for her to talk about with her finances.
Now that I’ve taken care of most of the major milestones, there’s less for me to share, too, which is one of the reasons there are now staff writers at GRS.
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this is not a wise comment JD, you are truthful but people here love you and your thoughts and advises more than any one else’s.
If you make this type of comment frequently people will feel they don’t have much to gain out of your blog. Just friendly advise (unwanted)
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This is my first time to write a comment. I think you still have alot to say. I am getting close to paying off all my debt, except for my mortgage. I really appreciate your posts about “life after debt”.
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What?! That’s a truly odd thing to say, but I guess some people have to find that dark lining in a silver cloud.
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Completely agree with this sentiment!!
Once you’re out of consumer debt and have set your automatic withdrawals for retirement savings to “enough” (mine is 20.5% of gross), there isn’t really any regular woohoo moments.
I’m trying to save 20% down for my first house, but in Toronto the average home price is $400,000 and that’s just a semi-nice 1 bedroom condo in my area! I’m trying to save $100,000 for a small townhouse and it is taking years to do at $1000-$2000 a month!
I kind of miss the bad ole days when I could rejoice that I had paid off a credit card!
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Interesting about the woo-hoo moments you mentioned. And it’s been mentioned in previous comments too.
I would have the say the same for me too. Zero debt and finances on auto pilot. Life is good and it’s just not something I give much thought to, though I really enjoy reading JD’s blog and other good PF posts.
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Well in the past three years (since graduating from school) I have paid off $36k in student loan debt, and bought a house with a $25k down payment and always have put 10% of my pay directly into retirement funds. Currently my only debt is the house but I’m paying extra on it every month with plenty leftover.
I want to start my own side business so I’m really upping my emergency/start up fund. I set a goal last February to get it to $50k (roughly 2 years of my current expenses) within a year and as of the end of this month I will achieve that goal. It feels good.
Now I’m going to just keep on doing what I’m doing and try to get another $20 to $25k saved by next spring so I can buy a very nice, new to me, car in cash.
I’m always looking out for new goal suggestions so posts on that would be awesome!
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Right after graduating college, while I was working part-time and looking for a “real job,” I decided on the admittedly arbitrary goal of $30k in a retirement fund by age 30. Full disclosure: I was dating someone in his late 20′s at the time, and he had around that much. It seemed totally impossible at the time. I do have a “real job” now, as an independent contractor, so there’s no employer matching to help out. I just maxed out my Roth for 2011, though, and hit my $30k goal… and I’m still 26!
I’m also doing a month long budget challenge to keep all discretionary expenses, including gas, groceries, and my electric bill, to $300. I have $135 left for the month, and should be able to save almost $2,000 this month. It’s been a great adjustment to my attitude about spending. When I budget for separate categories, even if they are “reasonable” categories like metro card fare, gas, whatever – I’ll spend up to the budgeted amount. But when it’s all in the same “pot,” so to speak, I prioritize.
The $2k will go into my car fund (just started – I have a 2003 car that I bought with cash, and will want to do that again when I eventually need to replace it) and towards my yoga teacher training fund. Half responsible, half life-passion.
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Jennifer, I think this is awesome, but for anyone young reading who’s thinking about financial benchmarks–$30k by 30 might be very low. That’s not saving at a rate that many people can retire on, which means they’ll have to save more aggressively later and expose more of their savings to a shorter window of the stock market. (Ayres and Nalebuff write about this in their book “Lifecycle Investing.”)
That said, it’s obvious that $30k can represent substantial sacrifice, and sometimes we go from years of scraping by to years of excess.
Anyway, Jennifer, congratulations.
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I just have to say that at 34, I’m very impressed by Jennifer’s savings. I think most people her age would feel proud to have zero debt, much less an emergency fund, much LESS $30,000 saved. Kudos to Jennifer and her efforts, I’m sure she’ll be in good shape when she retires.
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It’s quite true that she has saved more than most. I don’t mean to belittle that! All I’m saying is that we owe it to ourselves to actually run the numbers rather than rely on rules of thumb that we (consciously or not) pick up from our social networks, especially when it comes to something big like this. Financial flexibility can make such a difference later on. (Does it matter that I’m 31?)
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Hi Anonymous,
I completely agree about picking up cues from our social network. Interestingly enough, if I were to align with my social network right now, I’d have about $1,000 in cash savings and nothing in retirement.
I am trying to save more for retirement, but without a 401k matching option, it’s difficult. A Roth is my only vehicle right now. $5,000 per year represents 10% of my income, so I think I’m on track. I also have $25,000 in cash savings, which took me a few years to build up as a fully funded emergency fund, in addition to a couple other small savings funds (car, short term savings). I did not mention that in my original post.
Thanks to you and Ali for your comments!
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First of all – I hope that all turns out well for you and your family!! It is such a struggle to figure out the “best” situation for family members who are incapacitated for one reason or another.
Now for our “success”. After spending the past 3 years paying off the 5 separate credit cards that my husband and I came into our marriage with (including some wedding debt *shudder*) we will be making the FINAL payment at the end of this month!! We had nearly $50,000 in CC debt – so this has been a long journey that we are far from over, but this is a major first start!
We will have DH car paid off by next Feb/Mar (in less than 2 years) and then we can start on the mammoth student loans. We still have a long time before we will be debt-free (besides the mortgage) but this milestone has literally been years in the making and it is so exciting for us!!!
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Several months ago my wife and I have paid down all of our debts (car loans and school loans) and since have built up our savings to $20,000. We also maxed both of our Roth IRAs last year for the first time and plan on doing it again this year. We continue to save and pay double principal on our mortgage while building a solid financial foundation. We are also both in our later 20s.
For myself – it all started when I first got a job after college. I wasn’t making a lot of money and knew I had to be smart. I started looking for the best uses of my money and soaked in every article I could find, including this blog. I then married my wife who is also frugal and we set goals to get rid of our debt.
Success is evolving but I feel great knowing we have healthy wealth building habits in place when we start a family.
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Unlike Alexandra, I have always been terrible with money—as is every person in my family. I didn’t even know what personal finance meant until I started reading your blog 2 years ago.
Despite working a poorly paying non-profit job (that I love), within the last two years I have saved $15,000 in a retirement account, have only $400 to go to meet my emergency fund goal, and have specific savings accounts for car replacement, vacations, winter utilities, etc. As soon as my emergency fund is fully funded in two months, I plan to start saving up for a downpayment for a home—something I never thought I’d be able to do.
The best benefit? I’ve never been happier. I am a different (financial) person now. Thank you for everything.
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We helped our son buy his first house!
Since he chose to go to a military academy- we did not have to help him with tuition and books. We had saved for him. So…when the opportunity came, and he had saved a great deal himself, we gave him his “college money” for the house. He then had his full 20% down and money for a small emergency fund. Thank goodness we never put the money in a 529:>)
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I agree with your comment about the 529. I have never understood why someone would want to have a bunch of money tied up that can only be used for school. If your child gets a scholarship or doesn’t go to college, you have to pay a penalty to use that money for other things.
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Actually, I believe there is an exception to the 529 penalty when scholarships are earned. It might vary from state to state, I’m not sure, but here in Oregon if you show the documentation of the scholarship amount, that amount in the 529 can be withdrawn for non-school purposes with no penalty (but taxes apply, of course).
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I thought that you could pull funds penalty free from the 529 plan for any amount of scholarships earned by the beneficiary?
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You can always withdraw money from a 529 for reasons other than education. However, you loose the tax benefit on the earnings.
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Adam- you are thinking of a ROTH IRA. If you withdraw from a 529 for other than education it is tax on income PLUS 10%. Here is what one source said:”if you are in the 20-percent tax bracket and you withdraw $20,000 for a non-qualified purpose, you may have to pay $4,000 in taxes and another $2,000 for the penalty.
Read more: Penalty for Withdrawing From a 529 Plan | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_5431835_penalty-withdrawing-plan.html#ixzz1Sw2g8jal“
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Last month, I paid off my only debt — a student loan.
Even though I’ve stayed out of consumer debt and always saved for retirement and emergencies, I’d have to say my other financial success story is that I understand a whole lot more about budgeting, finding balance and investing than I did five years ago. Kudos, J.D., for being part of that!
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Well, I was recently laid off due to the longest government shutdown in our state’s history. I was able to make it without my paychecks by being fiscally conservative and having a decent pot of money always on reserve. I didn’t need a penny from savings, and no bills were late. Coming back to work this week I realize I was quite fortunate as many of my coworkers were down in the dumps for three weeks because they were stressed about money the whole time.
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Good for you for having the savings in place. As a fellow resident of the state let me just say I’m glad you’re back at work!!!
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Last week I was rewarded for my work performance over the past 4 years (and for the past 4-6 months specifically, when we lost a major player on our team and, to quote my boss, “you’ve really stepped up your game recently) with a fairly significant (just under $10K annually) raise. The wife and I will be putting a large portion of the increase in the paycheck into swelling the emergency fund.
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Congratulations on your raise. It’s nice to hear about someone being rewarded for taking on more responsibility instead of being expected to work harder for less money.
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Hang in there, J.D. I remember all too well my own mom’s ‘fuzzy checkbook.’ It is difficult but you can do it. I’m racking up tiny financial successes but it all adds up, right? The emergency fund is now at a better financial institution, the kids back to school items are ready (thanks to shopping a little bit here and there), and we’re getting estimates for a huge auto repair instead of just going with the first one ‘because we just want it done and over with’, the coupons are steady–not extreme– and trimming costs and best of all, I got rid of some collectibles on ebay! Little steps often lead to big success!
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I finally managed to buy a house in cash. It’s a small and run down house, but it has a wonderful view and big bay windows overlooking it.
I never anticipated just how much happier and more content I would feel in a house that is really mine top to bottom.
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last september, we paid off my car. last december, we paid off hubby’s best buy card. this april? we paid off my ridiculous $17K in CC debt. it took us 2.5 years with a debt management program. my credit score went from the low 500s to the mid 700s in 2.5 years. success!
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This week’s successes:
Finally got my “emergency savings” consolidated into one mini-emergency fund linked to my bank account for easy access.
Set up a (smallish) overpayment on my mortgage. I’ve had my house for a year, but wanted no extra stress for that first year, just to get used to home-ownership and making my payments. I’m glad to start overpaying now – and having just re-jigged my budget think I will be able to double my overpayment next month. Going to give it a month at current to see how it goes.
Due to being disciplined in saving regularly into a number of different accounts I have enough put by to cover my car insurance for another year with no amount of putting-and-taking/fudging my budget – *or* touching my other savings. Yay!
I hope things settle down with your Mum soon, JD – thanks so much for all the wisdom you share here, love this blog, it’s one of the first I ever read regularly!
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I jumped into grad school almost immediately after finishing my undergrad degree. While it was the right thing to do, I’ve been on the same college campus for seven years!
By living frugally and being a bit of a hermit, I’ve amassed a $5000 emergency fund over two years, most of it coming from the job/stipend that came with my free tuition. How many people can say they MADE money off of grad school?
Having this cushion means I can take at least a month off after I graduate this winter and do nothing but read, sew, cook, hang out with my family and RELAX!
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That is fantastic! I was also able to save up quite a bit during graduate school, and it is SO nice to have a cushion like that when you graduate so that you can celebrate rather than worry. Congrats in advance on graduating, and enjoy your relaxation time!
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Thanks Katie! Now if my thesis would just write itself I’d be all set…
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In the past 6 months, my husband and I and planned an international move for a new job. We had to fix up our house for sale, sell 2 cars and a small sailboat, get rid of stuff and move the rest (with a moving allowance), as well as ourselves and our 3 pets. Here are our successes:
- Paid cash for all of the house repair expenses.
- We sold for what we bought it for (no mean feat in these times in some areas) and closed 3 days before moving
- Made extra income to cover all of the expenses by selling both cars, the boat, much of the furniture and other things, and making a bunch of extra money with my taking on more teaching
- Had as smooth a transition for the pets as possible as we’d planned to a T
- Negotiated on rent on our new place and got it lowered
- Lived 6 weeks with no salary coming in
We’re settled into our new place – we’ve tapped out most of our savings because of the house repairs and fronting moving expenses, so we’ll need to build that up again once moving expenses are reimbursed. All of the research and planning really paid off!
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My success is that my partner and I have continued to consistently pay down our student loans at a good pace. We’ve done this despite me going back to graduate school, having two mental health crises within our family, and a job market in our town which is less than stellar. I feel really good that our student loans (our only debt) are shrinking, even if it’s not as quickly as I’d sometimes like.
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I’m happy to say my husband and I both bought a life insurance policy this week. This is something we had been putting off so I’m glad we got it done.
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I wish you and your family all the best.
My best financial decision was to insist that my fiance and I attend financial counseling together as we prepare for marriage and all the commitments that come along with that. We’re sitting down with a financial planner a few times, for three hours at a time, and really discussing our expectations, spending styles, savings styles, and priorities for the future. Being on the same page with my future husband will go a long way towards ensuring the financial and emotional security of our marriage.
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I’ve just crossed the one-year mark of marriage with my husband, and I have to say, Mariah, you are doing the best thing for your marriage!
My church offered the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace class a few months before my wedding. My husband signed us up for it, despite my reluctance. Most of the tenets of the class were second nature to me (thank you, Mom and Dad!), but there were portions I hadn’t thought about!
All the other couples in the class had been married for at least 5 years. Everyone said, at some point during the class, “It’s so great you’re doing this now rather than after you’re married.” I wasn’t sure what they meant by that. Me? and my fiancee? Have PROBLEMS? HAhahahahaha….
But dicey financial situations have arisen in our marriage, but they never became financial *problems* since we had already discussed our values, made a plan, and committed to it.
My husband and I are about to be separated for an unknown amount of time (yaaay graduate school!); however, I can rest easy about the move because we’ve saved, budgeted, and know we can do this!
Good luck to you and your future husband!
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Since last December I have:
1. Got a job I like (boring sometimes, but rewarding and learning useful stuff for the future).
2. Built an emergency fund: six months of living expenditures (cover rent, utilities, phone, internet, groceries, metro tickets and one trip back home a month). I had half of it before. It is around 20% of my pre taxes income.
3. Saving more than 20% of my income pre-taxes. Planning a expensive trip next summer and pay my student loan in three years (at zero interest), I need to save more than 20% so I can travel. This is the goal that keeps me focused, although I need another ones in a shorter term.
4. Stay away from buying a car (I don’t need one in downtown Madrid but I really want one).
Not bad for six months considering I have moved a few times and started in a new city.
BTW: all the best for your mom and family
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A few months ago I started investing my retire money (RRSP’s) into the stock market using the compound dividend idea from Derek Foster. In his books ‘The Lazy Investor’ and ‘Stop Working – Here’s How You Can’ he describes how to select recession proof companies that pay out large dividends so your account is always growing. Now that I have followed these guidelines my retirement money is growing more than what the bank was offering and without any fees. Learn more about the books at http://applyingwealtheducation.com/2011/05/14/dividend-investing-secret-steps-to-building-wealth/
Drew – Applying Wealth Education
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I came across your site a month ago and have greatly enjoyed it. With in the month my husband has taken on three extra contracts/job to create additional income and we have committed to selling our van to go car-lite. Our family of six (four children 9, 8, 4, 19m) has been walking, biking, busing, and ride sharing all but one day a week. We now have a plan as to where we are putting our extra income and how we are spending our base salary. These are all recent measures to an on going battle against debt. All your contributors have served as fuel, thank you.
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I work for a small business that ran out of cash….I went six weeks with no paycheck, and didn’t have to touch my e-fund. It was no fun, but I didn’t have to charge my groceries or ask my parents for rent money. Financial security sounds boring, but it’s lovely!
I’ll be keeping your family in my thoughts–I hope that you can find a place that can really help your mom.
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We just paid off one car 2 years early. We also had to replace a stove that suddenly died (original to house so not unexpected) and decided to go ahead and get a new fridge at the same time. Why not?
We were able to do all of this stress-free because of planning and careful spending. Feels good.
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We just opened a retirement account for my (20-something) partner, who has never had one before, and I’m on track to max out my Roth again this year. Last month I started a new sideline that looks as though it will start to turn a modest profit within the next couple of months. Our savings goals are being met despite the economy wreaking havoc on our combined income; now we’re starting to seriously consider whether we want to try to save enough to pay for a house in cash. (Congrats to Ben at comment 30, who did just that.)
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Our success story is that my wife and I have paid off all of our Student Loan debt and are now debt free but the mortgage! $87,000 in 25 months. We’re going to try and call in to Dave Ramsey to scream we’re debt free today or whenever they’ll let us through. Such an awesome feeling!
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I hope things continue to improve for you JD!
Here are a few of my successes:
1. I have been “flipping” credit cards for airline miles bonuses. I now have enough to cover my next couple of trips which include Business Class for 2 to SE Asia and coach for 2 to Easter Island. Still enough left for 3 domestic tickets too! (This is not for everyone but I handle credit cards very well and don’t overspend at all).
2. I am nearing a first for me: Almost $10,000 in my emergency fund savings. I have been diligent with monthly savings, work bonuses, and side income going into it. A great milestone for me.
3. My total retirement account(s) have hit $15,000+. I am now saving 10% of my income at age 28.
4. Recently I have lowered by commuting costs by 50% (company moved to transit friendly area), dropped home insurance by 30%, Auto insurance by 25%, and am cooking at home more.
5. I am adding an extra mortgage payment per year split across 12 months. Less interest!
I track my expenses carefully and at the end of each month split my leftover money among my goals which include travel fund, emergency fund, and bigger ticket items (like my need for a new laptop someday). Tracking is easy. Staying the course is the most difficult part!
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Though some careful budgeting and saving I was able to pay off my Masters Degree this week and go through the entire program without getting a student loan.
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This summer (after IRS refunds) our emergency fund hit $20,000! A few days later, our heat pump (heat and A/C) died. In the end, we opted to replace all the components of our system (the duct work was >30 years old) and wrote a check for over $6000, but it felt so good to just….pay for it.
A month later I paid off my 2008 car a few months early and took the time to re-evaluate some other expenses. We scaled back our cable bill, cut back on some other small items, got a discount on car ins (our kid hit the 3 year experience mark) and realized a lot more than just our car note savings. I redirected those savings to our mortgage.
Feels good.
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I am (hopefully) going back to school!
It’s a long story with a lot of twists and turns, but my current handle on my finances gave me a lot more options than I’ve had in the past. In fact, I’d wanted to go back to school six years ago, but I would not have been able to swing the hit to my income back then. Now I not only can swing it if I’m a FT student, but I also found a program with enough flexibility that I can switch to PT if I find a job that I’d like to take, and thus could reduce the relatively small amount of student debt I will be accruing to pursue this degree. I feel very lucky to have so many choices at such a tough time!
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This is a small success, but an important one for me. I pulled a little overtime last month and stuck that extra money right into the credit card. I’m about to go in on my day off so I can do the same this month. Coworkers’ vacations are pretty much the only time I get that opportunity, so it feels good to use the money for one of my goals instead of a fancy dinner or a new pair of shoes. It finally feels like I’m making a dent in my debt!
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My husband and I just bought our first house! We didn’t have a realtor involved and (consequently) really learned a lot about the home buying process. We also approached the process carefully in order to save money. We found a bank that would cover all of our closing costs (through a special promotion). Also, by reviewing our closing papers carefully, we noticed an error that would have cost us $1100 if we hadn’t caught it. So – we have a new house, didn’t pay traditional closing costs, learned to conduct market value assessments on our own, and practiced (successfully!) our negotiating skills.
In the few weeks since we’ve been at our new house, we’ve been enjoying it. I’m now able to dry our laundry outside on a clothesline, we’ve picked tons of blackberries from the bushes on the property, and we’re planning to start a garden next summer. It’s these little elements of frugality that excite me most, but I’m proud of our larger accomplishments recently too.
I really enjoy following this blog. I’ve always considered myself to be frugal, but it’s *so* nice to have a daily community of cheerleaders.
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JD, deepest sympathies for what you are going through.
Love hearing everyone’s good news and success. What a great Friday morning read!!! You guys are en fuego.
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