Wednesday, January 16, 2019

goals don't work

I would like to say I have fully embraced systems thinking with regards to saving money. Primary "goal" is to eliminate credit card debt, secondary "goal" is max out my 401(k) contributions, tertiary "goal" is to maintain a happy household.
I want to be "rich" one day. Not sure how I will get there, but being "rich" is better than being poor.

In September, I was seriously considering canceling our YMCA membership, until I figured it would be better to use it more effectively by enrolling Darcy into swim classes. Darcy was afraid after her first lesson but now is happily going twice a week. Wednesday, She got bumped into the next level. Betsy was re-enrolled in volleyball after taking much of last year off, but it's a no-go given not enough her age enrolled.

We are a 3 cell phone family. I pre-paid for the next few months before the 5% cashback quarter ended on my US Bank card. Now the cashback category is replaced by gym membership. I have no idea if YMCA membership counts. The other 5% category I picked is utilities... our water bill is quarterly, but it's more in that bill for the quarter than all other categories from which we can choose.

My Discover card gets 5% on groceries this quarter. They void 5% at Target and Walmart, while US Bank gives 2% back at Walmart.

Always use my Sam's credit card for gas... it's 5% cashback year round, unlike the random quarter that Chase Freedom currently has. Chase doesn't tell you what's on their yearly quarter schedule like Discover does. They're both meh cards outside their 5% element.

I use my Bank of America card almost exclusively for shopping at Sam's Club for 2% cashback, while the Amex gets used primarily for groceries due to its no strings 3% cashback, whenever a 5% quarterly perk isn't such categories, at least.

The Bank of America card has a changeable 3% bonus that includes online shopping and home improvement, rather than just the default gasoline bonus.

We earned over $1,100 in cashback from credit cards last calendar year. Between Checkout 51 and Ibotta, another $500 cashback.

We maxed out our HSA contributions, and used almost every penny. Seriously, we didn't meet deductibles because Darcy's speech doesn't count towards it after 20 sessions. I took her twice a week for much of the year and spent well over $4,000 of our money. We'll max out again this year. Hopefully we won't spend as much since Darcy is down to weekly sessions, but we still have to see the cardiologist, which we didn't last year.

We saved $1,200 by changing our home and auto insurance companies.

Did I mention our pay raises? We're making roughly $8k more this year, hence we're able to bump up my 401(k) contributions.

Our student loans are on pace to be put to bed in the next year or so, which frees up a good chunk.

Will we ever be "rich?" Being debt-free would be a start...our son will be 17 in 2020, so we'll have to pay federal taxes sooner than later.  We'll have one car paid off 2020, but we'll probably need another... so there's a moot savings.  We'll get to a point that we can pay off more towards the mortgage... but we'll have college age child(ren) sooner than later. I keep getting credit card offers which make urgency in paying off credit cards moot when the 0% interest rate goes 15 months.

Goals don't really work when variables always come up, having a system and continuing with the mindset seems like goal setting but it's a way of life that doesn't stop upon completion.

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