March is a month of windfalls for my family. First we get our tax return and then my husband gets a reenlistment bonus payment every year on March 29Th. This year they will add up to $10,860 after taxes (the bonus has $1800 taken out of it!) Here's what we're doing with the money.
1. $10,000 in long term savings
2. $600 in our vacation fund (We're saving $3,000 for a trip to Disney world in October!)
3. $260 in "fun money"
It's not very exciting, I know, but our savings was pretty well drained last year when we bought our house and that extra $10,000 will bring us almost back up to where we were. Also the roof on our house is going to have to be replaced sometime soon , and the water heater is getting pretty old. I have to take my oldest daughter back to the orthodontist this summer as well and I know that's going to cost an arm and a leg!
It can be tough...Always saving, always waiting until it's "safe" to buy everything, but every time I'm tempted to just go ahead and buy that second car, or that swimming pool, or that new furniture, I think about back when my husband and I were first married and broke. We used to pretty much just live paycheck to paycheck and anytime something happened it was a major issue. It took a lot of time and hard work and sacrifice for us to get to the financially stable spot we're in now. That feeling of security, of knowing that the worst thing that could happen really isn't that bad, is way cooler than anything I could buy.
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3 comments:
Security definitely feels better than buying non-essentials.
This is a great post. It is so important for us to talk to each other about what we do with our money! To see that you take a big "windfall" and put 92% of it into savings is huge. You demonstrate how to responsibly handle money, while still having space in your budget for fun.
As a volunteer at Navy Relief, I have to say thank you for sharing this piece of great advice with the blogosphere!
BTW, found you through the frugal engineer.
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