Post Your Wins

[james.hendrickson]

Who doesn't love a good deal?

I found about nine boxes of instant oatmeal on sale at Kroger. They were marked down to 49 cents each. I totally bought all nine. Because who doesn't want to eat breakfast for a month for $4.41.

[disneysteve]

How about a non-loss? My wife and I went out of town with another couple this weekend. Yesterday, the ladies went shopping and the guys went to the casino. At the first game I played, I walked away down $50.00. At the next game, I walked away up $50.25. So I had a couple of hours of entertainment and left with 25 cents more than I started with. I count that as a win. Free fun.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Not losing is a win to me too. It's better than losing for sure.

[bjl584]

Had a leaking shower drain.
I was able to remove the old drain assembly and replace it with a new one.
$21 for parts and plumber's putty.

Not sure how much I saved in total, but I do know that you probably aren't going to pay less than $100 just for a plumber to show up

[james.hendrickson]

Had a leaking shower drain.
I was able to remove the old drain assembly and replace it with a new one.
$21 for parts and plumber's putty.

Not sure how much I saved in total, but I do know that you probably aren't going to pay less than $100 just for a plumber to show up

An obvious and clear win!

[kork13]

Not a win by my own hand... But Congress finally approved the 2022 NDAA, which makes official the proposed 2.7% military pay raises for next year. I'm also getting a 20% increase in our housing allowance (adjusting somewhat for the 20-50% per year spike in rent/housing costs in our area over the last 2-3 years....I entirely blame the people from CA, OR, WA who have all flocked to Idaho, bringing their sky-high RE valuations with them).

In all, I'm ending up with a roughly 5.4% raise for next year -- good thing too, since inflation is running >6%. DW's pension will presumably get the same 2.7% bump as well.

[scfr]

We're getting several hundred more back from our apartment deposit than I was expecting.

[kork13]

HUGE win, tangentially finance-related. Tonight I just submitted my master's thesis!!! It's been a 3+ yr challenge to work through the 100% online program, with multiple extended pauses in the middle... But as of submission (assuming my thesis paper is accepted & I get a reasonable grade), it's finally FINISHED!!!!

I'm honestly not sure what facet of this I'm happiest about:
(1) The MASSIVE reduction in stress/anxiety. By nature I'm already more high-anxiety than most people... This master's degree program (and especially the massive task of writing my thesis) hanging over my head has certainly not helped that situation. So from a mental health standpoint, getting this done is going to be hugely beneficial to me.

(2) Career progression & security. Getting my professional education done is almost (not completely, but mostly) a pre-requisite for me to earn my next promotion, which I'll be considered for in March. My leadership has been riding me to ensure that I get it done in time to have it reflected in my official records ahead of my upcoming promotion board. On the financial side, getting this promotion will be key to ensuring that I'm able to stay in the military for 20 years to earn the military retirement pension, which plays heavily into our FIRE plans. Plus, once I (hopefully) get the promotion, it would also mean nearly $1k/mo in additional income.

(3) More time for family, fitness, and supporting DW through her DPT doctoral program. During my classes, I've had to spend no less than 3-4 nights a week (plus sometimes taking random days off from work...or entire weeks off while I've been writing my thesis!) to focus on my classwork. My kids are 6, 4, and 9mo. I'll now have more free time to play, read, and generally spend time with them without the nagging worry of my next deadline looming overhead. Likewise, I'm shooting to be able to get back to running more regularly again. And with DW entering the 2nd semester into her accelerated hybrid DPT program, it's plainly evident that she needs more help managing stress, kids, household, etc. during her classes than I've otherwise been able to offer while I was simultaneously in classes myself.

Every way you cut it, I'm thrilled about being DONE.

[srblanco7]

HUGE win, tangentially finance-related. Tonight I just submitted my master's thesis!!! It's been a 3+ yr challenge to work through the 100% online program, with multiple extended pauses in the middle... But as of submission (assuming my thesis paper is accepted & I get a reasonable grade), it's finally FINISHED!!!!

I'm honestly not sure what facet of this I'm happiest about:
(1) The MASSIVE reduction in stress/anxiety. By nature I'm already more high-anxiety than most people... This master's degree program (and especially the massive task of writing my thesis) hanging over my head has certainly not helped that situation. So from a mental health standpoint, getting this done is going to be hugely beneficial to me.

(2) Career progression & security. Getting my professional education done is almost (not completely, but mostly) a pre-requisite for me to earn my next promotion, which I'll be considered for in March. My leadership has been riding me to ensure that I get it done in time to have it reflected in my official records ahead of my upcoming promotion board. On the financial side, getting this promotion will be key to ensuring that I'm able to stay in the military for 20 years to earn the military retirement pension, which plays heavily into our FIRE plans. Plus, once I (hopefully) get the promotion, it would also mean nearly $1k/mo in additional income.

(3) More time for family, fitness, and supporting DW through her DPT doctoral program. During my classes, I've had to spend no less than 3-4 nights a week (plus sometimes taking random days off from work...or entire weeks off while I've been writing my thesis!) to focus on my classwork. My kids are 6, 4, and 9mo. I'll now have more free time to play, read, and generally spend time with them without the nagging worry of my next deadline looming overhead. Likewise, I'm shooting to be able to get back to running more regularly again. And with DW entering the 2nd semester into her accelerated hybrid DPT program, it's plainly evident that she needs more help managing stress, kids, household, etc. during her classes than I've otherwise been able to offer while I was simultaneously in classes myself.

Every way you cut it, I'm thrilled about being DONE.

Congrats Kork. Terrific milestone, if only to be able spend more time with family!!

[james.hendrickson]

HUGE win, tangentially finance-related. Tonight I just submitted my master's thesis!!! It's been a 3+ yr challenge to work through the 100% online program, with multiple extended pauses in the middle... But as of submission (assuming my thesis paper is accepted & I get a reasonable grade), it's finally FINISHED!!!!

I'm honestly not sure what facet of this I'm happiest about:
(1) The MASSIVE reduction in stress/anxiety. By nature I'm already more high-anxiety than most people... This master's degree program (and especially the massive task of writing my thesis) hanging over my head has certainly not helped that situation. So from a mental health standpoint, getting this done is going to be hugely beneficial to me.

(2) Career progression & security. Getting my professional education done is almost (not completely, but mostly) a pre-requisite for me to earn my next promotion, which I'll be considered for in March. My leadership has been riding me to ensure that I get it done in time to have it reflected in my official records ahead of my upcoming promotion board. On the financial side, getting this promotion will be key to ensuring that I'm able to stay in the military for 20 years to earn the military retirement pension, which plays heavily into our FIRE plans. Plus, once I (hopefully) get the promotion, it would also mean nearly $1k/mo in additional income.

(3) More time for family, fitness, and supporting DW through her DPT doctoral program. During my classes, I've had to spend no less than 3-4 nights a week (plus sometimes taking random days off from work...or entire weeks off while I've been writing my thesis!) to focus on my classwork. My kids are 6, 4, and 9mo. I'll now have more free time to play, read, and generally spend time with them without the nagging worry of my next deadline looming overhead. Likewise, I'm shooting to be able to get back to running more regularly again. And with DW entering the 2nd semester into her accelerated hybrid DPT program, it's plainly evident that she needs more help managing stress, kids, household, etc. during her classes than I've otherwise been able to offer while I was simultaneously in classes myself.

Every way you cut it, I'm thrilled about being DONE.

Congratulations Kork, well earned!

[kork13]

Not a win by my own hand... But Congress finally approved the 2022 NDAA, which makes official the proposed 2.7% military pay raises for next year. I'm also getting a 20% increase in our housing allowance (adjusting somewhat for the 20-50% per year spike in rent/housing costs in our area over the last 2-3 years....I entirely blame the people from CA, OR, WA who have all flocked to Idaho, bringing their sky-high RE valuations with them).

In all, I'm ending up with a roughly 5.4% raise for next year -- good thing too, since inflation is running >6%. DW's pension will presumably get the same 2.7% bump as well.

Adding to this good news -- I just got my pay stub for this month, and realized that my pay is actually going up another $300 more than I realized. I've got enough time in my aviation field that I've qualified for the highest tier of flight pay. It's an automatic thing based on when I started flying, so I totally forgot that my 12-year mark was coming up -- the pay bump is effective this month. +$300/mo isn't anything cosmic, but I'll take it!

[disneysteve]

+$300/mo isn't anything cosmic, but I'll take it!

$300/mo is a great win! That's enough to pay for a vacation or some other luxury purchase.

[disneysteve]

I just got a win, though I have to work for this one.

I'm off today but just got a text from our lead saying there is a critical shift opening at one of our sites from 1p-5p. They're offering $100/hr bonus on top of the normal per diem rate ($154/hr). I agreed to work the shift, so I'll go in for 4 hours and make $1,016. Tough to say no to that.

[disneysteve]

It snowed last night. Before I had a chance to get myself set to go out and shovel, someone rang the bell and asked if we wanted them to do it. We agreed on $30. That's a win to me. All I'll have to do is clean off the cars as I'd rather not have a stranger do that.

Never mind. He's doing the cars too. An even bigger win.

[jenn_jenn]

Steve, I completely resonate. A neighbor’s kid sent an email to everyone offering to shovel driveways. We took him up on it. For $35, he did our driveway, our truck, and our deck! I was pleasantly surprised when he did the truck. He only charged us $25 but I gave him a little extra since he did such a good job. I don’t shovel. I make my husband do it but it was nice to not even worry about it!