
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 :-)
-
Sent an email to my apt complex manager explaining that their 7% renewal offer was unacceptable because inflation is only at 2% right now, no renovations have been done to the community, and average increases in this county / community are 5% or lower. Got more than $100 knocked off the renewal offer.
Also discovered the "triple recovery" rule in VA for auto accidents, so I'll be able to recover 2x the *actual* cost of my medical bills for the last two months (not the insurance negotiated rate), even though insurance already paid them.
-
Received my credit card statement today that showed I'd been charged a late payment fee. I have a direct debit set up, but the credit card company never took payment.
Phoned them up and they claimed it was because I'd changed my option from a minimum payment to a fixed payment (2 months ago!).
They confirmed that doing that online shouldn't have stopped at least the minimum payment being taken so they refunded the £12 (patronisingly saying it was a 'token of goodwill') and updated my credit score.
Made a payment much higher than my minimum payment that keeps me on my goal of paying off the card before the promotional 0% interest rate ends :)
-
Did some digging into student loan issues (*still* waiting on the DoE to finalize that $#&^$#& cancer form!) and discovered (why I didn't look into this before, I don't know) that IDR payments of $0 count as payments towards Public Student Loan Forgiveness. So if you work in public service, are on an IDR plan, and your loan servicer determines that you make so little that your payment should be $0, you get to count each of those $0 payments as a payment towards the 120 payments you have to make to have your loan balances forgiven. This means I'm 1/4 of the way done with paying off my massive student loan debt!
-
- Put an unexpected quarter-end bonus that came attached to my regular paycheck directly into savings without really looking at it, or thinking about the possibilities of how to spend it!
- Made my own yogurt for just the cost of a half gallon of milk (serious yogurt fiend here)
- opened a high-yield online savings account
-
Made my own spice rack with a couple pieces of 4x4 and 2x4 that were just gathering dust in the shed. Saved the money of buying a piece of plastic crap and have better organized spices on that shelf so they are more visible. More visibility means that hopefully I won't buy duplicate spices again (looking at you, two bottles of lemon extract). Also saves time because with one glance I can find the ancho pepper, instead of picking up jars of red pepper flakes, paprika, cayenne pepper, aleppo pepper, chipotle powder, chili powder mild, etc before I find the ancho. Now I just need to find a few more chunks of wood so I can do this for the two other shelves of herbs, spices, and dessert decor/sprinkles. It's also just visually appealing having the different tiers of spices bottles.
Yes, we have a lot of spices. We cook a lot (our takeout and dining out for a family of 5 is generally under $100 a month). I also love Penzeys*, to the point that I have an 🌿Herbs & Spices 🌶category in my budget.
*Penzey's is decidedly liberal in their views as a company. They put their money where their mouth in that they would rather lose customers than pretend they are politically Switzerland as a company so to speak. They will not apologize for their stance so if you're staunchly right wing/Republican 'Murican, you'll likely want to take your money elsewhere.
-
This was my favorite thread in the old forum so I am glad to see it here. It was yesterday but we did not order in Thai food! My hubby was about to call but I figured out that we had all the fixings for tacos. I so quickly defrosted some ground beef in the mircowave and we ate our own food. Was it as good as Pad Thai? The jury is still out on that one, but it saved us at least $30-$35 dollars.
Also, we went to Crunch fitness and canceled our memberships that we have not used in 2 years! $11 per month for each of us = $264 a year back in our account plus the annual membership fee of $55 each. That's a total of $375 a year!!!
-
A little win: when I bought contact lenses online about a month ago, they gave me a mail-in rebate form. I forgot about it, but remembered today. A check for $40 should supposedly be on its way to me in about 6 weeks! I had initially been putting it off due to thinking I didn't want to go to the post office to get stamps, but I found a few extras in my desk at work to use.
-
And something that could potentially be a bigger win: One of my good friends - to whom I pitched YNAB several months ago and got the impression he was not interested - approached me a couple of weeks ago to ask about the free trial. Well, it turns out he has started YNAB-ing and is obsessed with it! It makes me so happy to think that I'll know someone - outside of all of you in this forum! - with whom I can discuss YNAB, and hopefully will build in some motivation for both of us.
-
I just started 2 weeks ago. I have already paid off 2 credit cards and working on a 3rd. Moved enough into that credit card "envelope" that I will only have $70 left to pay on it. I like YNAB because it helps me keep control. I was used to, "oh I have the money, I'll buy. . .. . " whatever I read in a magazine or saw online that I thought I'd like to have, REGARDLESS if I actually needed it. Since I have a fun "envelope" and a Activities "envelope", I'm good to go. I wouldn't have been able to see the light of day, if it were for YNAB. I'm still on the free trial, but I will definitely be getting YNAB when my trial is over! Yay, I'm feeling very blessed!
-
I was also able to, finally, cancel my cable. All I needed was the internet (a must-have for my job), yet Comcast kept telling me that I had to have it or I'd be charged more. I got rid of cable, upgraded speed of internet and will be paying $40 less a month for doing so. We never watched the cable. In fact, the cable box has not been hooked up for 2 years. I have Hulu, Netflix and Sling. Didn't need cable.
-
Finally switched to getting the rest of my ongoing medications (I have hypothyroidism, depression, and a heart condition which all require daily medicines) 3 months at a time by home delivery instead of monthly. It basically gives me the third month "free" as far as the copay goes.
And, as a bonus, it will just show up at my home, instead of me having to go pick it up! Why on earth did I take so long to get with the program? Inertia is a powerful thing.
-
Applied for another job, which was hard because I genuinely love where I work now...the people, the culture, and the work itself...but it is never going to be financially rewarding enough for me to pursue some of my larger dreams.
It's not just about cutting spending, defending the dollars we earn. Sometimes you need some offense... bringing in more actual money.
-
I paid off another credit card. Now I'm 3 credit cards down, with 5 to go. Sigh, but I wouldn't be this far without YNAB. I've only been on YNAB less than a month, I was paying my rent late enough to be late, but not too late that I'd have to pay late charges, I was paying minimum payments on the CC's. I'd get paid and I'd see things I'd really like to have (not need), and I'd say since I had money. . . . . Now, that's not happening. I discovered today that my account balances are over double what I would have had at this time between pay periods. I would have already taken the money (that is automatically put into savings) and put it into my checking because I really had to. I haven't even touched it and I can't see that I will need to. So, that's a really big win to me, lol. I guess I should also say that the company I get paid through has a program that you can withdraw money that would have been on your next check, and it only costs $5. I've had to do that a number of times, but I haven't had to lately. And I can't, at this time, see it happening again any time soon, but it's nice to know it's there just in case.
-
I created a new budget category: saving up for the divorce. It'll save me money in the long run!
Also created, somewhat more reluctantly, a clothing category. I dont buy many clothes so feels surplus but also my work shoes dissolved when I took them off this evening so perhaps is needed.
Only downloaded YNAB a week or so ago, still learning!
-
In the last week:
* switched to a cheaper cell phone plan, goes into effect next month. less data = less mindless phone staring. Win-win!
* Moved the budget category for a pricey subscription box to the very bottom of my category list and made peace with this: I won't fund it until everything else is funded - including long-term obligations that I put money to monthly, like property taxes; and if I get close to the due date and still haven't funded it, I will just cancel it! Oh well!
* realized that our family has decreased our eating out spending by $500 this month by cooking more at home! (Yes, we eat out a lot.) And, because we are *cooking,* not just heating up precooked packaged crap, we have also saved $400 on groceries! It wasn't even that hard - we just needed the motivation that YNAB has given us. Sometimes when I'm about to spend money, I picture all those green categories on my screen and they make me sooo happy that I won't do anything to mess them up.
And one that didn't save us money, but is shoring up my mental health:
* got super stressed out by an old medical bill which we have been chipping away at, but getting collections threats regularly anyway, and realized that when I get paid in 6 days - i can pay it off all at once! Because YNAB has already helped me budget for everything until the paycheck *after* the next one :) Yay!
-
I've changed my internet/tv subscription package today and saved £10 a month, plus listed a load of bits and bobs on Facebook marketplace. Even if I only get rid of a few things it's a winner :)
And, I finally paid two parking fines that have been lingering because I was worried I didn't have the cash- I've only been using YNAB for just over a week but because I'd allocated money this month and made it a priority to clear them once my monthly salary was received on Friday, I dug out the paperwork and just did it.
Whilst finding the paperwork for the parking tickets I also realised that our passports expire in April, so I added a new category to budget for the replacements. A little bit more control added!
Happy YNABing everyone :)