Katie, that's tough, but at least it's only 3 days. Sorry, I was trying to find a bright side. I'm also hoping the virus and variants will be a thing of the past but seeing as how this is my first experience with worldwide illness I'm not sure how or when to expect the progress with everything changing so quickly. Do your kids get an allowance? Maybe charge them $1 for the snacks they eat so they can learn to budget and pay for their snacks at the next grocery trip. Show them the energy and water bills and ask them what ideas they have to cut or maintain whatever the reasonable amount is for a family of 6. I'd be interested in what they have to say. Sometimes kids have a lot of good ideas and no one asks them questions… and the solutions are usually easy and brilliant!
Hi Ruth, I'm glad you have been able to apply the lessons to your budget. I'm learning new things every day as well!!
Those are some good suggestions and I'm going to have to come up with a plan for next week. They didn't give us enough time to prepare so this week is a mess. They don't have any idea how long they're keeping the kids out of the building because there's a teacher shortage. They've only said Thursday and Friday for now and they'll "reassess" after. Every teacher that has called me has told me to prepare to be virtual for the rest of the school year. It's hard for a parent to work and also help their kids with virtual learning at home. Right now I'm not approved for remote work so I have to report to the office each day and leave the kids at home to figure out their own virtual classes. It added a lot of stress when they did this last year and I was so glad we were back to in-school learning this year. Now we're back to square one 
Happy Wednesday!
@Katie we got lucky and haven't been hit so hard. Kiddo is back to school in person (with precautions) and our school district offers free daily testing in the afternoons.
Kiddo has been feeling really bored at school lately and asked to stay home today. She was one of the weird kids that excelled in virtual learning since she was able to go at her own pace. I have been trying to find some affordable enrichment activities for her, but everything local/in person is pretty pricy. There are a few virtual options we might try, but I'm kinda lost as to where to start/look.
Nothing else too crazy. Mostly on budget, but I will have to pay less to the car loan this month because I need a new crown and possibly a root canal :( but able to cash flow without touching my emergency fund or the credit card, so hopefully that makes it hurt less lol.
I did the remote learning/working in 2020. I think I may have thrived more at work because I started later in the mornings, after my son's on-line classes. I even managed to use lunch breaks as a P.E. session and went to the track to walk/run. I'm not a teacher so the difficult part was getting my son to complete his homework while I finished my caseload and dinner meal prep. He would sit for the classes in the morning but completing the assignments from home, in the evenings, didn't interest him. I spoke to him today and the students had no school yesterday and today… He thinks they will be going in tomorrow, but who really knows?
Sarah, I'm glad your able to afford your dental work without tapping into the emergency fund. I know it isn't ideal to have to pay less on one bill so that you can afford an oral surgeries/procedures but at least you're in a position that you don't have to sacrifice one for the other. But even if you did, that's what emergency funds are for. 
It seems that the financial plans you've been working toward are working out for you. Good job!
If you could develop a winning work from home/virtual schooling system what would it look like?
How would the system be beneficial/detrimental to your savings goals?
I'm off to the dentist tomorrow for fillings that I've put off for 6 months! I waited to get them done so that I could save for them (not the smartest idea but I'm hoping I didn't cause too much damage). So I know how you feel, Sarah, it's nice to have the money for the expense but a part of me is going to be sad to see it go 
I'm not a teacher, by any means. I can only teach by doing as it seems that my explanations never seem effective. I'm so grateful for teachers and it's a shame there's a shortage, because kids really need them. My district hasn't adapted well to virtual and the teachers haven't been given much guidance so they're all trying their best. I don't envy them and I don't know how to help either 🤷♀️
I got really lucky with a kid that doesn't need much direction to get work done. When I worked remote pre-pandemic, I invested in a bunch of workbooks/worksheets and would have her complete them while I was working so we were 'working' together. This was about K-1st grade, so she was only going to school a half day in the mornings. We moved right before lockdown and then everything went virtual so we just went right back to our previous method. It was really fortunate! I really miss being home; my job can be done from anywhere since its mostly computer work/modeling. It also gave me a better work-life balance. Mornings were less rushed (hello leggings!) and my skin was much better since I stopped wearing makeup as often. I am also more efficient at home with both work (no distractions!) and house stuff (being able to take a 15 min break to tackle a small chore/fold some laundry.
I think the system I had was pretty ideal. The only drawback would be social interactions for my kid. She is super social (of course I am not :) ) and needs interaction. She thankfully loves video games as much as I do, so there was lots of Minecraft with her school friends. Not quite the same, but it got us through. We did save a bunch of money on gas but it was balanced out with increased spending on food so no true net savings, so I don't think going virtual would change the budget too much, but it was worth it for the change to our work-life balance.
I still haven't gotten credit for my points for the activities that I have completed and have contacted them several times and they still haven't resolved my issue with my points and completed activities
Hi Elizabeth!! Hopefully it will get resolved soon.
I'm sorry to hear that, Elizabeth! It sometimes has taken about a week to hear back from them if they have a lot of issues to work out, but I'm confident they'll credit you the points and get it resolved. I had a rough patch of a couple months but all issues were fixed for me eventually and I hope the same for you!
Katie, I know what you mean about seeing those funds go.
Sarah, your daughter sounds amazing!!
I hope everyone had a good work week and got their points!
My kids are going back to in-person learning on Monday! It's been a wild ride all week but I think the school district got a lot of backlash for their decision to go virtual so they announced a return. There's still a teacher shortage, as 132 teachers are currently covid positive and 165 students as well (district wide). So they're telling parents to be prepared to do virtual on a sort of "on-call, short notice" basis.
That's tough, Katie.
On the one hand, parents who can't work from home are forced to find daycare. The kids that can go to school will most likely be crowded into classes. The teachers who aren't sick risk getting sick and passing it to the kids who could potentially pass it to the parents. It seems to be a never-ending cycle… but, all things end. It's just a matter of when.
I think educators should get a bonus, hazard pay, and some type of counseling for the next few years.
I agree, Candice, teachers have had it rough these past two years.
I have a decision to make: I have a CD with a $5,000 balance maturing this month. I need to open a new one in order to keep the account fee-free, but rates are so low and trending upwards so I don't want to lock the funds into anything that low for too long. They have a 14-month for 0.24% and others ranging from 0.07-0.19% for less time. I'm thinking of doing $500 in a new CD and putting the rest into a Roth IRA. My question is, how long do you think I should lock these funds up? With an amount as small as $500, I suppose it doesn't really matter too much and maybe I'm overthinking it. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Hi Precious! Any financial goals you're working on? This year for me I'm focusing on investments - 401k, IRA, and a tiny bit of crypto. I'm still on the fence about jumping into rental properties so I'll see what the year brings.
We had tests sent home with our kiddo this past week. We were able to test her over the weekend which was lucky since she had a classroom exposure last week (she was outside of the close contact limit). Both were negative (yay!) but a lot of her class and school is out this week. Hopefully we stay omicron free the next few weeks and we'll have missed the worst of this wave.
@Katie I don't know too much about CDs, but if that interest rate is your APY I think you would be better off moving it to a high yield online savings account. My ALLY is at 0.5% right now, which is pretty good but there are others out there at 0.55% APY (all online I think). Looking at Bankrate, there are some online CD's that have APYs up to 1% (https://www.bankrate.com/banking/cds/cd-rates/) but I have no experience with those banks. If the Feds are looking to raise rates this year, Bankrate implies that CD rates will go up. So I agree if you contribute now, you might lock in a value that is lower than if you had stashed away in a HY savings account and started the CD later.
I guess it would come down to how quickly do you need access to this section of your savings? If its part of your emergency fund, I keep those funds in a high yield online savings for ease of access and a small rate of return. Another option might be a treasury bond (the I series Bonds are at 7% right now until the rate is adjusted in April (I think)). I don't think the rate of inflation is decreasing so much that the rate will decrease a bunch. The minimum hold is one year, but to get the maximum interest you have to hold for five years. (https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/products/prod_ibonds_glance.htm) (https://investorjunkie.com/bonds/i-savings-bonds/)
There is always investing, but you would have to plan to hold that money in an investment with a good rate of return for a few years, but chances are it will out perform a treasury bond.
I guess it comes down to: What is this savings for? How quickly do you need to access it? That can help guide you in the right direction I think.
Honestly, I remember looking at bonds before when the rate increased and thinking they weren't a good deal compared to some ETFs, but given the state of the stock market right now, I might just pick up a couple if I can find the room in the budget, lol.
Katie, that's a good question, but I guess it just depends on how soon you think you will need the money. The credit union I use (Navy Federal) usually offers a CD special for a 12-month at 3.00% with a $3,000 max investment, but they only allow 1 per account (checking is 1, savings is 2). When I opened the savings account for my son I was able to ladder the CDs, so I had 3 rotating at the same time. I reinvested some of those funds at different rates, each with pretty good interest rates (not 3%, but more than 2%) for the terms. I'm working on restarting another 12 month right now but I also want to make sure I have a significant (more than $1000) emergency fund. If you have any family members in the military I would ask them to refer you when the CU opens up the referral program in which both parties get an incentive (I think it's $25).
Sarah, I've been thinking about EFTs, but I'm not quite sure how they work. Is there a brief synopsis you can give or a specific site you use that can help me understand what exactly it is?
Thanks for the suggestions! The problem is that I have to open a CD, because it counts as a qualifying service. If I don't open one then the charge is $10 per month for having the account. In that case, I'm just going to throw a modest amount in the 14-month so I don't have to worry about it for a while, then keep the other funds somewhere else where I can easily access them once rates improve.
@Candice I follow @personalfinanceclub on Instagram. He usually has pretty good infographics that go over the basics of investing. Here's what I could find on the blog: https://www.personalfinanceclub.com/whats-the-difference-between-an-index-fund-and-an-etf/
I found that account via Inspired Budget. I've taken his free investing course and it covered the basics of how stuff works pretty well.
I also just found Clever Girl Finance: https://www.clevergirlfinance.com/course-packages/#cgf-investingcourse
All of their courses/info are free and they have a podcast!
I use Stash and Stash uses ETFs only so that's what I have. I really want to open a Fidelity/Vanguard/Schwab account and invest in a target date fund, but I just haven't for some reason. I might make that a goal for this year.
We should be having our annual pay review sometime soon; I will likely get my regular 2-3% for cost of living/inflation, but I am going to ask for a little more (or rather I did previously in my annual review in December). Whatever I get, I am putting the increase towards my retirement. I've already increased to 7%; my next goal was 9% by June 2022. Predicting my next paycheck has been weird since apparently tax rates have been adjust for inflation for 2022.
Katie, are you saying the bank will charge you $10 per month if you don't open a CD? They are charging you a monthly fee for choosing to keep your money there?
@Candice, yes (and no, lol). They don't charge for a normal account but the Premium level that comes with some perks like higher rates, free checks, and a few other benefits requires that you have 6 qualifying services (I have 6 now but once the CD matures that one will go away unless I open a new one) or else the charge is $10 per month. So if I really cared that much I could switch down to the lower lever account and not really notice a difference in my day-to-day banking but I'm pretty sure the easiest route is to open up another CD, even if it's not earning that much. The 0.27% rate option isn't horrible, but it's not great, so that's why I'm leaning towards that one but only putting $250-$500 in it. The one that is maturing was earning 1.08% because I opened it back when rates were decent. I didn't expect rates to get so low and stay low for so long or else I would've picked a longer term. But who can predict the future?
Alright!! Well let's keep the qualifying services. I'm interested to hear the decision you make as far as amount and terms. This discussion is getting me to thinking/rethinking about the amounts and terms I want to invest in the CDs. Thanks, Katie!
I've wanted to set up a CD ladder for a long time but rates are absolutely horrible right now so I'm waiting on that for sure. The government issued Series I Bonds (like Sarah mentioned earlier) are a much better option for keeping the money safe and earning more interest than a standard or even high yield savings. The $5,000 that I have in that CD that's maturing is earmarked for a vacation in June of 2023 so I'll be going with the plan of just putting $250 (unless they have a $500 minimum) in the 14-month 0.27% CD and the remaining balance will go into a Series I bond. Even when the bond rate is adjusted in Spring, I don't see it going any lower than the rates currently being offered for other alternatives right now.
@Katie I think I will be scraping up some cash to purchase some I Bonds in the next month or so given that we've had no change in inflation. Its important to note that if you do withdraw after a year (minimum hold) you forfeit the last three months of interest as a penalty for withdrawing before 5 years. Even if you do withdraw before the five years, its still a really good rate of return. The rate gets rebalanced every six months, but its from your purchase date, so if you purchase before April 2022, you get the 7.12% rate for six months ( I think they rebalance in May)
On a fun side note, too many people in my workplace have been knocked out due to COVID-19, so we are on remote work again for two weeks. At least I know I will save on gas for the next two weeks lol. I also just got my first paycheck with the increase in my 401K percentage. Due to tax rates being reduced, I only ended up with a difference of 43 dollars per check, which is less than I planned for. If I can negotiate a decent raise this year, the raise might cover the additional percentage I wanted to do mid year and I can move ahead to 9%. With my company match, it puts me at 13% total. My goal is 15% total (which will get me pretty close to maxing out on my end.) I am going to ask for 10% and expect to get 5%. My usual COL increase is 2-3%.
