Money Matters: Week 30

[penguin129]

I'm drawing a blank on what to post as a check-in here on a weekly basis. Please share any ideas you have. I added the week number we are in the year to have some separation to them.

How are you doing for the month budget/money wise?

Were there any extra expenses you weren't counting on?

Best purchase?

Worst purchase?

GTKY: Do you use credit cards? If so how do you use them?

[younglove316]

So far not too bad. I went a little over at the grocery store yesterday but I'm going to try and stretch it longer.

My husband got a tattoo. It was planned so we knew it was coming but didn't have an exact cost until it was finished.

I've been doing really well on only buying essentials so I'll say the mum mums. It gives me a few minutes to get something done

I can't really think of a worst

We have them but very rarely use them. If we use a store card we will pay it off that month.

[penguin129]

We are doing ok considering we went on vacation this month. I'm a little over, but we had a bit extra from last month.

H needed his tire repaired and roatated and balanced all tires. Then the paint for our room was bad so H had to buy a new gallon. That's about $70 we weren't planning on spending.

The best things I bought this month were the curatains for our room and the fabric to make bedding for DD2. I should've waited until August though.

Not sure what to put for worst. I think I need to reword that question.

I use credit cards mainly for dental work. I needed a lot done and didn't want to deplete savings. Since moving into the house I have used my Amazon card for things I want to makeover the house. I plan to pay off 2 credit cards in September and will just have the Care Credit for my dental work that owe a balance on.

[Deleted]

How are you doing for the month budget/money wise? Not great thanks to prime day.

Were there any extra expenses you weren't counting on? The transmission in our car is going bad. It could break at any moment, so we're on borrowed time. It'll be more than $4k to fix it, so we're looking at just getting a new car. Definitely wasn't expecting that. Hopefully we can get it to last us a little longer so we have time to save up.

Best purchase? A 5' surge protector to go along the back of our TV stand. It keeps all the cables off the floor so we can finally start to baby proof the nightmare that is our living room.

Worst purchase? H spent $75 on a backpack. It's a nice bag, but it seems like a huge waste of money to me.

GTKY: Do you use credit cards? If so how do you use them? We have one that we use for most mundane things. We pay it off in full every month because the only reason we have it is to increase our credit scores.

[mrsmuq]

How are you doing for the month budget/money wise?

We're a tad over because of an unplanned (budgetary) baptism party for DS2.


Were there any extra expenses you weren't counting on?

Baptism party things.


Best purchase?

Dress for anniversary dinner with DH

Worst purchase?


All of the take-out I ordered the last few weeks. I've gained 5 pounds in 6 weeks. No bueno.

GTKY: Do you use credit cards? If so how do you use them?
We use them for every conceivable purchase, to a) accumulate rewards points, and b) because of identity theft. But we pay them off in full at the end of every month.

[namastebiotches]

Not too good because of my surgery. We really should have planned ahead & gone grocery shopping. Spent a lot of money on outside food/snacks. Oh well.

No, not really I don't think

Probably our new countertops

All the fast food

Nope

[nerdalert]

How are you doing for the month budget/money wise?
Pretty good

Were there any extra expenses you weren't counting on?
Yes... DH had to buy a bunch of crap for work. I'm kind of bitter because I think they should have issued most of it to him, but whatever.

Best purchase?
A little plastic table and chairs set for DD.

Worst purchase?
I can't think of anything.

GTKY: Do you use credit cards? If so how do you use them?
Nope

[Deleted]

We are doing OK this month.  We have to budget for obtaining new health insurance and some major medical expenses.  I am waiting to hear the details on the new insurance and just hope that we have a low deductible, and that they cover what DS needs. 

Best Purchase- none- we are on a mini spending freeze
Worst Purchase- none

We use credit cards for all our expenses and try to pay them off in full each month, which has happened except for part of our roof. 

[cam]

How are you doing for the month budget/money wise?
Good, though it was above average in expenditures.

Were there any extra expenses you weren't counting on?
Vet visit and resulting medications and other related things.

Best purchase?
Definitely the vet and meds and such because it is for my dog's wellbeing and also tires for MH's car because of his safety.

Worst purchase?
N/A

GTKY: Do you use credit cards? If so how do you use them?
Yes. Pay off in full each month. Rewards and safer/security/etc.

[Deleted]

How are you doing for the month budget/money wise?
We're doing ok.

Were there any extra expenses you weren't counting on?
Yes, got the medical bills from DD's trip to the ER.

Best purchase?
A membership to the Children's Museum.

Worst purchase?
I don't think we had any.

GTKY: Do you use credit cards? If so how do you use them?
We do, but mostly for emergencies. Then we try to get them paid off as quickly as we can.

[ashiscute]

Pretty well but eating out a bit more than necessary
Nope!

Best purchase would be stuff for our lake trip this past weekend.

Worst purchase probably the pictures I had the kids do at JCPenney. It was only like $25 but they weren't good.

Yup I have a regular MasterCard for any online purchase so I'm not using my check card. I also have a Home Depot card since they do either 5% off or 6 months same as cash. H has a regular MasterCard as well as an Amazon card. We do not ever carry a balance.

[silv3rlining]

How are you doing for the month budget/money wise? OKish I think. We actually just sat down and put together a monthly budget after years of saying we need to

Were there any extra expenses you weren't counting on? DH needs new tired on his car and motorcycle plus I have over 3K in dental work that needs done

Best purchase?

Worst purchase?

GTKY: Do you use credit cards? If so how do you use them? Just for big expenses we don't have the cash for (vehicle maintenance/travel/dental)

[sanibel21]

How are you doing for the month budget/money wise?
Fine I think. We kinda go about our business and then check the accounts every couple months and adjust as needed.

Were there any extra expenses you weren't counting on?
I've started therapy which is $40 a pop.

Best purchase?
Got a great deal on more summer clothes for DD because she's outgrown a lot. Pieces were 50% off and I had a 30% off coupon. I spent $54 on 4 pairs of shorts, 5 shirts, 2 sets of pjs, and a 4 pack of cute socks. I thought it was pretty good.
Also I bought some new toys for her with a gift card from her bday.
And I bought myself some stuff from VS with a gift card I've had since Christmas.
I kind of save Christmas gift cards and spend them throughout the year when I could use a treat

Worst purchase?
I mean therapy is helpful, but it is just such an expense that I wish we didn't have!
Oh and we had some trees removed. We're using part of our tax refund for that.

GTKY: Do you use credit cards? If so how do you use them?
All we use are credit cards, but we pay them off every single month. We get rewards which is great. I just got a $200 reward gift card to Macy's for clothes for DD and the baby. Or for me when I'm not pregnant anymore. DH just got a $50 Home Depot one for yard stuff.
Sometimes when big stuff comes up, well get a credit card with 0% interest for like 12-15 months so we can pay it down over time. I hate huge drops in our funds at once.

[younglove316]

Speaking of credit cards, I have a few questions. I think I've asked about this in the past but now I'm really buckling down when it comes to finances.

What credit card do you use with rewards and do you love it? Find the rewards to be worth it? I want one with no annual fees or a minimum that you have to spend every year.

We are planning a Disney vacation so my husband wants to get a Disney card but I want to explore our options. My plan is to only use it for what we can pay off each month.

[silv3rlining]

Jul 28, 2016 6:15:48 GMT -5 younglove316 said:

Speaking of credit cards, I have a few questions. I think I've asked about this in the past but now I'm really buckling down when it comes to finances.

What credit card do you use with rewards and do you love it? Find the rewards to be worth it? I want one with no annual fees or a minimum that you have to spend every year.

We are planning a Disney vacation so my husband wants to get a Disney card but I want to explore our options. My plan is to only use it for what we can pay off each month.

We just use our USAA credit cards and it has rewards. We've used the rewards for hotel stays before.

[ashiscute]

Jul 28, 2016 6:15:48 GMT -5 younglove316 said:

Speaking of credit cards, I have a few questions. I think I've asked about this in the past but now I'm really buckling down when it comes to finances.

What credit card do you use with rewards and do you love it? Find the rewards to be worth it? I want one with no annual fees or a minimum that you have to spend every year.

We are planning a Disney vacation so my husband wants to get a Disney card but I want to explore our options. My plan is to only use it for what we can pay off each month.

My H is obsessed with his Fidelity rewards credit card. You get like 2% cash back I think on every purchase with no fee. The cash back is deposited into any fidelity account you have so IRA, 529, a savings or checking account. If you want to set up a savings account for vacations and fun money it's a good way.

We seriously looked into the Disney card as we are doing a big trip in November. The rewards just didn't really seem worth it to me other than the character meet and greets. The rewards are petty lame .

[penguin129]

younglove316 I have a USAA Credit Card and one through Amazon. I have no idea about rewards points though because I don't think I use them enough to collect any.

[sanibel21]

Jul 28, 2016 6:15:48 GMT -5 younglove316 said:

Speaking of credit cards, I have a few questions. I think I've asked about this in the past but now I'm really buckling down when it comes to finances.

What credit card do you use with rewards and do you love it? Find the rewards to be worth it? I want one with no annual fees or a minimum that you have to spend every year.

We are planning a Disney vacation so my husband wants to get a Disney card but I want to explore our options. My plan is to only use it for what we can pay off each month.

I have a capital one venture. I'm not sure what my husband has. I'm not sure if Disney is one if the gift card options for rewards though. You can get cash back but it's at a lesser rate than gift cards. But target is in there if you wanted to use it for clothes or something for the trip. I usually find mine at credit cards. com. Its easy to compare features like fees, rates, rewards, etc.

[mrsmuq]

We have the AMEX Preferred (6% back on groceries and gas), Chase freedom, and Amazon card. We mostly use rewards as cash rewards for Christmas shopping.

[younglove316]

Jul 29, 2016 13:16:44 GMT -5 mrsmuq said:

We have the AMEX Preferred (6% back on groceries and gas), Chase freedom, and Amazon card. We mostly use rewards as cash rewards for Christmas shopping.

I was thinking of using it for groceries and gas so we can pay off each month, I should look into that AMEX one