Over Saving

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-05-2006
Over Saving
12
Thu, 10-08-2009 - 5:52pm
I've been so excited about saving money lately, that I think I've been transferring a little too much money over to savings. Last week I had a hard time making ends meet with groceries and gas and this week after getting paid, paying bills and putting money in savings, I've got only $110 dollars to my name until Tuesday and I'm not sure that's enough to last us. I usually spend $150 a week on groceries and $30 on gas. I've decided to cut down on groceries this week and I don't think we need gas. Hopefully we can make it on this little until I get paid on Tuesday. I almost have enough money to pay my mortgage and I don't want to have to take money away!

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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-01-2008
In reply to: abigailnh2
Fri, 10-09-2009 - 9:00am

I put back a lot last payday also and have had to dig some of it back out.

Norma


"Patience is the best remedy for every trouble"- Plautus


iVillage Member
Registered: 07-05-2006
In reply to: abigailnh2
Fri, 10-09-2009 - 9:33am

I think the change of heart started after so many bad things happened to us all at once. Our car dieing, our washer flooding our house and breaking. You start to realize that if you constantly live hand to mouth, then one disaster could end life as you know it. I had to make some tough decisions and I'm still in the process of making those tough decisions. What should I do with my old washer that cost us $1800 dollars? Should I try to sell it for a little extra money? What kind of new washer should I get? What should I do with my old car, how are we going to get a different car and when? So many really important decisions to make and hardly any money to make those decisions. Trying to raise a family of 5 is hard enough without making stupid decisions with money. The other thing that happened to us is the realization in May that my husband had already made close to 40,000 dollars and I had nothing to show for it. We make more money now than we ever have in our lives. We are also pretty close to being out of debt. We pay very little on actual debt now. So there is no excuse for not having any money saved. I've tried to make saving money into a kind of game. How much extra can I find? DH's extra job and bonuses from work have already amounted to: $1063.73 and that's just been since September 7th. It's very exciting to see savings add up that quickly. So now I'm thinking of other 'snowflakes' I can find. DH's paycheck is not always the same, but his average and what we live on is $755 a week. I've decided that anything over $755 will be put into savings. Last week he made $790 and I was able to snowflake $35 extra dollars. I'm also pretty excited about almost being able to get my mortgage back on track in a month. Last month it was a week late. This month I think I'm going to barely squeeze by with making it before it's actually late. I'm trying really hard. I only need $280 more dollars. So all these amazing things have been happening and I feel more in control. On the other hand though, I definitely feel like having more money in the bank makes me complacent and want to spend more. I can already think of a million things I'd like to get done to my house. One of them though may save me money. We have really old windows and one of them is broken with about a 2 inch space at the bottom where it won't close. A major waste of heat. It will cost me $250 dollars to get the window fixed and I may have to break down and do that before winter comes.

Basically, that's it. A few disasters led to a thought process, led to action.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-01-2008
In reply to: abigailnh2
Fri, 10-09-2009 - 9:59am

Something to consider about the window.

Norma


"Patience is the best remedy for every trouble"- Plautus


iVillage Member
Registered: 07-05-2006
In reply to: abigailnh2
Fri, 10-09-2009 - 10:20am

They are huge, ancient, mill building windows and since I live in a condo, the windows all have to be the same and I'd have to go in front of the board to change the window. It would probably be a special order and very expensive I'm guessing. This guy who fixes windows, fixes all the windows in the building. Here's a picture of my window. You can see at the bottom how there's a little crack and the windows is crooked. I have no idea what it would cost to replace this window as big as it is!

http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n76/AbigailVelez/P1011883.jpg

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-14-2008
In reply to: abigailnh2
Fri, 10-09-2009 - 11:01am

I am finding on this journey your mind set changes as you get closer to and achieve certain goals. Then what happens is you set new ones, intentionally or not.

I am sooo proud of you for working towards getting current on your mortgage. I think this is going to be more important for your peace of mind than having an abundance in savings. Things are going to happen when you have it current too so make sure your maintenance category in your budget is appropriate. The savings will come as your budget adjusts in a few months. Sit down for a bit and project for three months with your changes to when things are paid(even with allowances for the holidays and it will get better with those over with of course) and you will see what I mean. I think you can have your cake and eat it too in this instance. Oh crap, now I want cake!

I used to put a fair bit of cash into my maintenance fund in my savings, now i put it into my new house savings category. If I need it I can pull it out but it is a heck of a lot more fun putting the money into new house savings than the maintenance fund. See changing goals and thoughts....If I didn't have that category I wouldn't put money in it and it is something I really want so I am making it my reality.

Good luck. It will shake out, give it a little more time Abby. Sell the old washer. Some dude that can fix things will snap it up.


Community Leader
Registered: 07-26-1999
In reply to: abigailnh2
Fri, 10-09-2009 - 12:15pm

Abbey, a little off topic, but along the lines of what Norma said.

Photobucket
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-01-2008
In reply to: abigailnh2
Fri, 10-09-2009 - 1:25pm

Hey Abbie,


Beautiful windows - Here a suggestion for a quick fix that might keep from getting any future damage.

Norma


"Patience is the best remedy for every trouble"- Plautus


iVillage Member
Registered: 11-17-2007
In reply to: abigailnh2
Fri, 10-09-2009 - 2:59pm

Abby


When I started saving again. I started with 2% of our income a month. Then as the bills went down I added a percentage point to it until I got to 5% a month.


Any more then 5% of your pay or your husbands or both then you are saving to much money.

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2009
In reply to: abigailnh2
Fri, 10-09-2009 - 11:27pm

I believe most people need to save more than 5%. Maryann, you are in a different situation that you do not have kids that need help with college, and your husband has a pension. Aside from the military and government, most jobs do not come with a pension. Furthermore, there is still money in social security today, but unless something is being done, there won't be any left when I reach your age.

Granted, one must take care of mortgage payments, utilities, food, etc. first. After that, start saving early and often (and aim for at 10 to 20%).

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-17-2007
In reply to: abigailnh2
Sat, 10-10-2009 - 1:10am

I wasn't talking about all of that. I was talking about real saving You know the money that you put back for things like dentist and doctor bills and car repairs and such.


I think retirement and other stuff is a different percentage all together.


I don't know what percentage it is suppose to be. But the thing is like you said you have to have money to live now and pay the bills before even thinking about kids and all that stuff.


Mary Ann


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