Haven't been on here for a little while. I have attempted a "no spend" month besides what is planned, but I've fallen a little since I do not ever really plan for restaurant/fast food [same in my mind, though restaurants often have a connotation of higher prices] trips. However, it is still within my "fun money" I set for myself, so I suppose that counts.
I've attempted doing what I can for my taxes (still waiting on investment statements [I think come mid-February]; it might simply be me, but I think at least Schedule 1 has some changes/line-additions…or I simply forgot how confusing the line-descriptions read.
@Sara, @Katie: While I haven't been active on the forums, I have enjoyed reading both of your chats through my e-mails. May I ask how your "no spend [beyond planned]" week is going?
I've been reading the articles and the posts but I forgot to come back to the site to post my questions and comments.
Sarah, Good job on the dental plans and food canning/storage.
Katie, good luck on the no-spend challenge. I challenged myself a couple weeks ago before I went on vacation and did much better than I thought I would! I will definitely try it again before I go back to visit my family again next month. 
Happy saving, All!!
The no-spend week is going well for me. I picked up the preplanned prescription but nothing else while I was there. It helps that it's been so cold that I don't want to go anywhere, lol (-12 right now for a temp - not including wind chill factor).
I was glad to see the Points Store is back up and running. My kids really enjoy "scratching" to try to win.
Today I go sign my Will, Trust, and other documents! It feels really great to check estate planning off my list. I'm going to cook dinner for my mom and sister next week because they are two of my listed Agents. We need to go over all the documents and what they'll need to do if I pass away. Not a fun conversation but very necessary and we'll make the best of it!
@Katie Awesome job on the estate planning! This is something I still need to do.
@Kristen Unfortunately I think I am going to have to make a small grocery run. The hubs baked some delicious homemade bread and cookies and now we are completely out of some basics, lol. But at least I have cookies to ease my pain. On a plus note we found some "extra" money from going through our subscriptions, which should cover the little we need to get.
On that note, I had not done an inventory of what we are subscribed to (which is A LOT) and finally did after talking with my husband and discovering we had been paying $6/month for a service that he did not use and accidentally clicked accept on. I had assumed it was part of normal spending on one particular gaming site, which I just have a general "x" amount for. We've been paying for this service for at LEAST three years. SO, I made a full listing of everything and put it on a calendar: what day it comes out and how much (most are auto debit). I should have audited this category a while ago, but I didn't since it stays under a certain amount. We just happened to catch this one by accident. I've cleaned it up a now and should have an extra $20-30 per month. It's not a lot, but that's more for groceries!
Hi Maser and Maria!
@Sarah that's awesome! I don't have many subscriptions but I've been rethinking Amazon Prime. I don't think it's worth the membership just for the shipping perks and I have until July to make up mind about renewing. The kids don't watch anything on Prime and I don't either so I'm 90% sure I'm going to get rid of it.
Hi everyone!
@Katie Amazon Prime was really worth it when we lived rurally and ordered everything online. Now, I usually order an occasional thing here or there when I can't find it locally. We do watch some shows (Wheel of Time and I'm looking forward to the new LOTR) so it may be worth it just for that. I'm gonna have to go through our purchase history to decide.
I have 3 monthly subscriptions, Hulu (provided free by my cell service provider), Netflix (which just sent out a notice that their rate is increasing, not by much but over time…), and Amazon Prime. I do order clothes and gifts for myself and son from time to time but I mainly watch Prime TV and movies. I think it's worth it for the free 2 day shipping and the shows but that's just my opinion.
Thank you, Candice, and I hope you have a great weekend as well! One more day in my no-spend week and things are going smoothly.
My no spend-week was crashed by my employer. I had to purchase gas for an emergency medication delivery 3 and a half hours away from my home, on my normal day off. But, I will be reimbursed for gas and given another day off in exchange. The downside is that I'll have to wait for the reimbursement, but if gas is my only purchase I consider it a win.
Keep it up, Katie!!
@Candice P: I would not count that against no-spend challenge since it falls more under an unforeseen emergency event. Especially since it was requested by your employer (and will be re-imbursed at a future date), and since it was a medical run.
Subscriptions: These are definitely something overlooked by a lot of people. The ones I know about for me are Netflix (shared with those I live with), Craftsy, and Stash. Of these, Craftsy is the one I am wavering about keeping or not. I do not use it often, but I have used it (and now there is a share option…) Stash I am trying for a year…but unless I start investing more, I do not think it will be worth it for me.
Has anyone else's employers automatically enrolled them into an un-requested insurance plan (AD&D)? I thought this was an option during open enrollment and not something that a person has to "opt-out"… They are taking a significant amount from my check and I don't remember receiving any notice from the union about a vote being taken or changes being made within the company. I'm going to opt out of the additional plan, but maybe I should consider opting out of the union as well. I think I would save close to $1200/year.
I haven't needed to use their services and I'm not quite sure what they do. This seems to me like an unmanaged subscription.
Question: Has being enrolled in a union been beneficial to you?
I only had a union at the job I had from ages 18-20 and there wasn't a choice to opt out. I didn't need their help with any issues but I know other employees who did for various legal/medical issues. I didn't participate in their meetings but I know they pushed for a lot of our rights (people not getting adequate breaks, employees being pushed into retirement, etc.). I view unions like insurance - you don't need it until you need it. Or it's kind of like a homeowner/condo association where you know they're doing things but you're not quite sure what I am by no means an expert on the topic, though.
My no spend week ended with a small trip the to grocery store for some minimal basics, but nothing that threw us off track. :/
@Kristen I find Stash was worth it in the beginning when I was still learning, but I feel like now I need to switch to another more mainstream advisor. I've been thinking about ALLY (who I have a savings acct with), JP Morgan (because I bank with Chase), Fidelity (I've had an account with them before) or Schwab (who I have an old, but empty account with). I think there are no fees (like Stash's $1) but there are fees inherent within each ETF/Index fund. Podcasts have told me that you tend to get a better fee schedule if you hold funds held by the institution (i.e., Fidelity owned index funds in a Fidelity account). That would be my main reason for switching. I understand why we have fees, but if your not paying attention, they can eat up some of that hard saved money.
Unfortunately, I have not had a union job, so I can't be of much help. My employer does provide Life Insurance up to a certain amount for free, and I pay an extra $8.15 per check ($195.6/yr) for extra coverage for myself, my husband and my daughter. The rates seem pretty cheap as far as LI goes and we didn't have to do a medical exam/etc to get it. I had to opt in to the additional coverage, not opt out, so that does seem a bit weird.
I opted out of the additional plan and contacted the union to cancel membership. They told me they charge on an annual basis so I will still have the fees withdrawn until the anniversary of my hire date (9 more months). I guess that means if something substantial happens in that time frame I'm still covered.
Good morning! I found out the date of the announcement for the winner of my competition is March 8th. Just a little over a month to go! The prize money is going to the cost of drawing up my Will, funding my son's Roth IRA, and (if I win first place) my own Roth IRA. So nothing exciting on the prize money side but I'm really excited to see how I did compared to the other 3 teams!
Good Morning Everyone~
@Katie that is awesome! Good Luck and I hope you come out on top!
I am still waiting on one last tax form to file before I can close out my taxes. The waiting is killing me! But at least I have everything prepped, so I should be able to enter the last form and hit submit.
I still haven't heard about my yearly increase/pay raise is going to look like. I was supposed to find out at the end of Jan, but got pushed out because of everything else going on right now. Now that we're back in the office, I've been told mid February, but again, the waiting is killing me!
Good luck, Katie!!
Way to stay ahead, Sarah.
I spilled coffee all over my desk this morning so I had to put paperwork to the side to clean and dry. I haven't gone through to see which ones are tax related. I'm in no rush to file this year since everything has been pushed back but I do plan to donate some of it and save the rest. I have a donation goal I try to meet and increase each year and I'm already behind since I didn't donate last month. I'll also have to restructure my budget because rent has increased and I don't know if/when I will get a cost of living increase. But, I'm certain things will be okay, I just have to be diligent with the budgeting.
I did the survey but didn't get the points
Stay optimistic, @Sarah! You put in the work to get an increase and the patience to wait for it - you deserve it!
@Candice, I did that last week, too! I was so disappointed at my clumsiness because in my case it was totally avoidable. Got coffee on some tax documents, some medical documents, and a bunch of junk mail, lol. It all turned out okay and I can laugh about it now but it was so frustrating in the moment 
