
What did you do to improve your finances today?
This was one of my favourite threads on the old forum, and since there doesn't seem to be one here yet, I thought I'd create one :-)
-
Prepping the house to put it on the market for sale. While this sounds like a big step for us, it is mostly health motivated. We are moving from Colorado to Florida. The profits from the house sale will pay off our 2 car loans and put us in a 100% debt free situation with 4-6 months worth of savings in the bank.
-
Cancelled my Memberpress Press subscription. I'm not using it right now, and even though I'm grandfathered in on a pretty decent price, not using it and still paying for it is more expensive than buying it again later on if I really want to start using it again. And actually: I can still use it, I just don't get new updates :-) 99USD/year saved :-)
-
A few 'wins' this week. Successfully used YNAB to track reimbursements in several different currencies (as well as a few business/personal splits) and actually submitted the receipts to get the money back. Have managed to hustle an extra month of contracted work and adjusting my medium term finance plan accordingly. Trying hard to resist spending a cash gift - assigning it to top up some budget categories helped though it's been hard to resist the feeling that it's fun money (even though I know assigning it to true expenses like holiday fund means that it will ultimately be used to that end) - even though I know every dollar is the same as every other dollar breaking the emotional attachment is hard!
-
Family was noticing that our internet was getting slower and slower in the past few months. Called the internet/cable/phone company to see if there was something they could do. Turns out we were paying for old plans that have been updated in a terrific way! Internet speed will increase by 100%, cable channels that we will actually watch, all new hardware installed AND we'll pay $13 less per month for the next two years. I think I'm probably a hero.
-
Still resisting spending my cash gift - hoping that the longer I wait the easier I will forget I ever had the money in the first place! Calculated my expenses on sport over the rest of the year (new shoes, classes, events) and I have set aside exactly the right amount to come into in my true expense category over the next six months to cover the things I want to do (and also shows me that I want to take on anything else I have to take it out of other categories). Very satisfying!
Also did some budget shifting to temporarily create a pot of money for expenses that will ultimately be reimbursed. It's a relief to see it sitting there and although it temporarily affects my saving goals I know that the short-term anticipated outlay of cash is covered. It takes me a little time to think about how to set up something like this in YNAB, but once I hit on a solution I'm always impressed by how easily the system can be personalised.
Finally I decided to formally tag some of my savings explicitly as an 'emergency fund'. I feel like my true expenses are well set up to anticipate most of the things that are due to come my way (and I can dip into the rest of my savings if truly urgent) but having this chunk earmarked makes me less likely to spend it without premeditation. There is a small amount left over that can be used to top up big expenses (like a new phone) if needed, but I think the long-term relief in having a fund to spend that is off-budget and separate from savings will be considerable.
-
I've been taking my mom out to dinner on Fridays (or sometimes we grocery shop for what we want and cook together). It adds up! Since we're going on vacation next week (already saved for), I suggested we just cook something we already have on hand. Then we'll either play cards or watch a movie w/Amazon Prime. So a night of fun without spending a penny!
-
I added a Wish Farm to my budget, and it was hard because I don't usually think much about what I want. Well, there is a particular item of non-essential clothing I want, and I decided it was perfect for my first wish farm crop.
I wasn't sure what the item cost, so I visited the seller's website, and discovered they were running a giveaway this weekend. I don't expect to win, but I wouldn't have even known they did regular giveaways if I hadn't needed to know the price. So now I've added "enter daily giveaway" to my schedule, and until I save enough money to buy one with cash, I'm going to spend a minute a day trying to earn a free one.
That feels like a win, even if I don't win. :) -
Today I downgraded my internet plan. We're getting to half our allowance close to the end of the billing cycle so I altered the plan to less Data (same speed). The difference is only $10 a month and it won't kick in until the beginning of the next billing cycle but I'm reviewing all of my utility contracts to save where I can.
On Sunday I switched my electricity provider. The new one offers a 28% pay on time discount blitzing my current providers offer of 16% so that should help out, especially with summer on the horizon.
-
I've stayed in this weekend so have only spent money on grocery shopping. I have spent alot of money on groceries, but i had to replace pantry type foods that had run out and I have batched cooked and filled up the freezer, so that will hopefully prevent mindless spending on food when I don't know what to cook
-
Yesterday I convinced hubby we could eat leftovers from the day before instead of him going to buy bread and cheese which he wanted. Today I wanted to order food, not so good for the budget... but: I compared the price of it on their own website versus ordering via a food-app, and saved a few bucks that way :)
-
Some things I did over the past couple of days:
- complained about pizzas being delivered too late, slightly cold, and not well-cut. Got a voucher for 1 free pizza. We ordered pizzas again and I choose a cheap €5 one, and the other one was free. So 2 pizzas for €5, not bad :-)
- filled out a form for money back for a dairy product we bought: €1,35 back into the budget
- sent an email to Vans complaining about my hubby's shoes' stitches already 'breaking' - we only bought them in June. Hopefully he'll get a replacement pair!
- Entering our groceries spending into the budget in a very detailed manner, because we want to see where it's going. We're spending way too much in that category!
- Tweeted to a company that their discount code wasn't working properly anymore after I refunded an order. Got a new code. And that meant: very cheap diapers for our baby :-)