I've been doing the Drop It challenge for a bit over a week now. So far, so good. I've actually been eating a salad everyday for lunch! (Unheard of! Esp with grape tomatoes ...)
I haven't found it too difficult yet. And it appears to be working - have lost about two lbs. 5lbs to go to get back to my Jan 1 weight. Sigh.
Today was day 5 of my Stepbet. I just need one more active day for this week.
I have decided to do barre videos at home instead of messing with going to a class. At least for now.
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AMEX sent me an upgrade offer to the card that pays 6% back on groceries. Annual fee waived the first year and $150 bonus when you spend $3k in the first 3 months.
Sweet. My property taxes will take care of $1400 of it, then there's a chewy.com (cat food) offer spend $75 get $25 back, plus use it for groceries ... no problem.
I'll just have to set a reminder to downgrade in eleven months.
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I opened two more accounts.
One with the MoneyBank - make 3 $200+ ACH deposits and get a $100 bonus.
The second with another Christian based credit union (which does include Catholics unlike the other one) for a 12 month 4% CD for $4000.
I haven't closed Northpointe yet because I'm waiting for my dd to get switched.
I was talking to DH about it and he of course was like, "Why don't you give me the money - I'll make a lot more than 4 %." Oh yeah ... like the 2.6% you barely eked out after 6 weeks (stock he bought and sold) Rolling my eyes.
So back when we figured out how to squeeze $1k/month for our ROTH's from our budget. one of the things we did was to say that we were not going to budget any spending money. Spending money would come from non-main job hours/activities. (Swagbucks, etc for me)
After a few months I saw that DH wasn't getting any spending money and was worried that he'd get frustrated and want to stop the ROTH funding. So ... I said -why don't you keep anything you make over $120 on Friday and Saturdays? (cash) He'd been fairly consistently bringing $10 - 20 over that on those nights.
Then ... he had nights where he was bringing in $50 - 80 above that! There were also a few Fridays where he came in significantly under $120. Or weeknights where he was bringing in less than usual.
It was making our budget very squeaky.
I kept waiting for him to say something like - I shouldn't be taking all of this extra on weeks my other nights are low. Let me even it out.
Didn't happen.
So at our last budget meeting I brought it up. He wasn't too happy, but wasn't surprised either. Mostly he was annoyed because I was tinkering with our budget plan again. (Which I think is funny because there's been at least two times where the major changes came as a result of something he wanted ...)
So we agreed to a base amount he would contribute to the family budget. Over that, he gets to keep it. This will help keep the budget more even.
But ... the other night he tells me that he's now more motivated to work harder at work because he knows it means more money for him. I asked him why didn't it motivate you to contribute to the family budget? He said ... The family budget has plenty of money. This is MY money.
Anyone see something off here? Or is it just me?
I really wish I'd never brought the idea up in the first place.
*Note - I'm not posting this to be negative towards DH. I honestly just am wondering if my thoughts on this are off base or not. Maybe it's a case of where we both are still struggling with the his/hers/ours thing. We both were so old getting married .. both pretty set in our $ ways ...
Still Chugging Along
March 10th, 2018 at 03:33 am
March 10th, 2018 at 03:53 am 1520654037
March 10th, 2018 at 11:00 am 1520679604
And as far as hubby, I agree with Carol seems like you're just ironing out some little bumps
March 10th, 2018 at 12:49 pm 1520686161
I can see how he's annoyed to tweak the budget, but that is going to happen...hopefully he'll get used to that. What is he using his extra money for?
March 10th, 2018 at 02:57 pm 1520693824
They’ve always come around when we’ve discussed it, but it will recur occasionally, because financial security isn’t something they think about and work toward every day. It’ll never be as top of mind for them.
March 10th, 2018 at 03:17 pm 1520695053
You are probably right. Although, I'm sure MY way of doing things is the BEST way ... (just kidding)
Amber,
It's America's Christian Credit Union.
CCF,
Yep, I would definitely say that my financial planning is better than what he was doing for himself. He's pretty much like your DH it sounds like - as long as I don't suggest any changes, he doesn't really care too much.
He's using the extra money to buy stocks, buy fish/coral tank paraphernalia, fast food, clothes, other hobby related stuff (esp stuff that he says he can buy low and sell high ... someday in the nebulous future) etc.
I spend my spending money on ... tithe/offering/giving (gofundme, etc), clothing, junkfood (when eating it), electronic gadgets, and the cruise coming up. Different priorities.
Ceejay,
Yes, I think that is kind of how he feels too. I have the whole family budget to spend and "play" with - even though it's all spending which benefits us both - with maybe two exceptions - 1. groceries - most of the grocery money is my food because he tends to east at work or fast food ... 2. gas - most of the gas money is his - he fills up every few days, I fill up maybe 2x a month. So in reality it evens out.
I definitely have finances /financial health on my mind much more than he does. Even his stock playing is more towards the goal of being able to get his bigger ticket toys - like a boat, etc.
March 10th, 2018 at 06:24 pm 1520706289
In either case, he doesn't seem like he's going to step up to the plate and put a ton more effort into your shared household anytime soon. He doesn't sound bad, just not very practical or motivated. So getting him fully on board might be a lost cause. Sounds like you're doing the right thing giving him little pressure valve releases of money, and try not to take it too hard when he says stuff like he did about the family budget.
March 10th, 2018 at 06:50 pm 1520707855
He deals in old electronics - stuff from the 70's/80's. The main thing with them sitting in the basement (or garage) is mice getting into them, cats messing with them, and humidity/temp changes. Otherwise time won't really devalue them.
I think you're right. It's hard to not take it personally when I see all the things / places in the family budget that could use more funding. And he just sees the overall number and thinks we have way more than enough. Different viewpoints.
March 11th, 2018 at 02:23 am 1520734994
March 11th, 2018 at 03:44 am 1520739872
March 11th, 2018 at 12:41 pm 1520772114