Post Your Wins

[AJ444]

With my bonus last week we reached 1 million in net worth, 500k of which is at Vanguard qualifying for Voyager Select. Still a long way to go on the journey but solidly on track to hit our number for early retirement. Investing early and often in low cost index funds has really worked for us.

[Outdoorsygal]

Save $576 per yr. for 1 -2 yrs.

By increasing 401k contributions to allow my husband to qualify for Medi-Cal (California's Medicaid)
It also automatically comes with Denti-Cal in Calif.
So he'll be dropped from my work dental plan.
We cannot afford to add him to a medical plan thru my work so he'll be covered for now on.

Frees up about $48 a mo. so I'll increase 401k contributions a little then


.

[rennigade]

Picked up 3 hair clippers for free from craigslist. 2 wahls and 1 andis. The andis one (silver and black one) costs $40 new. The blue and white wahl costs $20...and the white wahl ones which were new/sealed costs $35. I took the other two apart and cleaned them out...they look new and work like new.

[Jluke]

Bonus of $8500 (net) and a 401k match as well on the bonus (0.75 of 6%)

[disneysteve]

We had our taxes done last Friday. As I explained elsewhere, we are using a new accountant this year. In reviewing our 2015 return, he questioned something that we got dinged for last year regarding our 529 plan and a penalty we had to pay due to me screwing something up with a withdrawal.

Anyway, he felt that he could successfully refute that, so he is filing an amended 2015 return which should get us about $1,000 back after his fee. I'm really glad he took that on, though I'm a little disappointed that my previous accountant didn't. At the time, I definitely asked if there wasn't anything we could do to explain what happened to the IRS and show that it was all done with proper intent and was purely a timing issue (I paid a bill on January 4, 2016 that for tax purposes needed to be paid by December 31, 2015).

[QuarterMillionMan]

Picked up 3 hair clippers for free from craigslist. 2 wahls and 1 andis. The andis one (silver and black one) costs $40 new. The blue and white wahl costs $20...and the white wahl ones which were new/sealed costs $35. I took the other two apart and cleaned them out...they look new and work like new.

That blue & white Wahl is the best clipper for the money IMHO. The motor is strong and cuts through my hair like butter. I had a Conair that would pull my hair and the motor would stall when I tried to cut too much hair at once.

[cypher1]

That blue & white Wahl is the best clipper for the money IMHO. The motor is strong and cuts through my hair like butter. I had a Conair that would pull my hair and the motor would stall when I tried to cut too much hair at once.

Agreed on both. I've been using that same blue/white Wahl model for at least 6+ years. And I trim my hair every 7-10 days. I haven't paid for a hair cut in almost 16 years.

[rennigade]

My office got rid of a few laser printers. I brought one of them home to keep/use. It only prints black but does duplex which is nice. Current toner has 9,000 pages left...and I have a new toner in box thats good for 20,000 pages. My guess is the printer will fail before I get to use all the toner. Not so much of a big deal anymore but its nice to be able to network a printer and not be connected to the actual printer...not to mention I can map all our laptops to it with ease.

[disneysteve]

I went online to order a new pair of running shoes last week. I was expecting them to be $120. They were actually marked down to $90 because a newer model has come out, so I was happy to save $30. I paid with a discounted gift card from giftcardgranny.com that I got for 17% off making my final cost $74.70. I thought that was a win.

Then today, I go on to check the order tracking to see when they would arrive and it shows the price as $80. Apparently the price dropped another $10 since I ordered. I contacted customer service and they will be refunding me that $10 making my final cost only $64.70 for what I was expecting would be $99.60 when I started.

[annibe11e]

I've got a lot of great things going on and I need to share!!

First of all, my new depression meds seem to be working well. This affects many things including money, so I thought it appropriate to share.

Thanks in part to this, I feel motivated to quit smoking. I have a quit buddy and we set the date for April 1st. Savings $120/mo. I've been supplementing my spending allowance with earnings from Mechanical Turk to cover my cigarette costs, so now that money will open up for better uses.

My husband got a great job at a state uni!! It's the highest pay he's ever gotten, they are willing to work around his schedule which is dictated by our special needs child, and we are getting great insurance!! Oh, and the best part? He likes it.

I got a second job that I'm very excited about! I work days at a telecommunications company. A couple days a week, a cleaning crew comes in. Last night I got to chatting with the owner of the cleaning company. Her crew here is moving on and I asked to take over the account. I'll be working 4 hours, 3 days a week and all I have to do is change clothes and start cleaning in the same building I work in during the day. I cleaned an office building for a year and loved it. I'm so excited to be doing it again. For some reason I find janitorial work very relaxing.

With our tax refund, we topped off our mini emergency fund which had been tapped for a major car repair, and paid off 2 credit cards!

Oh, and we bought an electric griddle from Target using gift cards we'd gotten as wedding gifts last year. We are a family of 6 and this thing has been amazing for us!

[Outdoorsygal]

I've got a lot of great things going on and I need to share!!

First of all, my new depression meds seem to be working well. This affects many things including money, so I thought it appropriate to share.

Thanks in part to this, I feel motivated to quit smoking. I have a quit buddy and we set the date for April 1st. Savings $120/mo. I've been supplementing my spending allowance with earnings from Mechanical Turk to cover my cigarette costs, so now that money will open up for better uses.

My husband got a great job at a state uni!! It's the highest pay he's ever gotten, they are willing to work around his schedule which is dictated by our special needs child, and we are getting great insurance!! Oh, and the best part? He likes it.

I got a second job that I'm very excited about! I work days at a telecommunications company. A couple days a week, a cleaning crew comes in. Last night I got to chatting with the owner of the cleaning company. Her crew here is moving on and I asked to take over the account. I'll be working 4 hours, 3 days a week and all I have to do is change clothes and start cleaning in the same building I work in during the day. I cleaned an office building for a year and loved it. I'm so excited to be doing it again. For some reason I find janitorial work very relaxing.

With our tax refund, we topped off our mini emergency fund which had been tapped for a major car repair, and paid off 2 credit cards!

Oh, and we bought an electric griddle from Target using gift cards we'd gotten as wedding gifts last year. We are a family of 6 and this thing has been amazing for us!

Wow, multiple wins in one post. So glad your husband got a good job he likes, that is so re-assuring.
And your extra job too. Paying off CC's too.
Sounds like your both going to have it pretty good from here on out.
Especially if you keep your health up by not smoking. So happy for you both!!! Good JOB!!

[msomnipotent]

I'm so happy. I nearly fell off of my chair when I checked the balance in our checking account. Our bonus, regular paycheck, payment for a patent, and our tax refund all showed up at the same time. I was expecting to see about $1,000 because the paycheck usually doesn't clear this fast, and we just had our taxes done last week. I thought we would be getting the bonus next pay. So I finally order a 1/4 oz Queen's Beast lion that I have been saving up for. I found a seller on ebay with good feedback and $20 cheaper than the cheapest well-known seller. I called them just to make sure they were an actual business. Plus, I had $60 in my paypal account from Ebates that I forgot about, so I paid even less!

[disneysteve]

For the past couple of years, we've been paying out of pocket for my daughter's therapy that wasn't covered by our insurance. It was originally $145 and later rose to $185. She goes every week pretty much.

We got new insurance 3/1 that covers the therapy but we weren't sure if the copay would be $35 or $50. She went for her first visit today with the new plan. Turns out the copay is $5! So we will be spending $180/week less with the new insurance! I'd call that a win.

[bjl584]

I might have a win in the works right now. I am, at this very moment, doing a live chat with a Comcast Rep trying to get a price break. Stand by

[Thrif-t]

I just got a call from my insurance agent, offering to save me $700/yr if I switch my home, auto and umbrella policy to a new company. Done!

Although my DS17 is taking a drivers training class as I type this so it will just go right back up and then some.

But I'll take the few months savings while I can.