How much money will I have to make before I stop getting excited about free food at work?
Alright, friends, I must confess. This is a trick question.
I don’t think the dollar amount exists.
My money win for the week is actually a look ahead. Teachers are scavengers. Truly. If you think the kids and teens we teach will each anything, come to the teacher’s lounge. I dare you. But next week, I don’t have to be!
To kick off the school year, my bosses are catering a lunch for us. I understand for people in the rest of the working world this is no big deal. But let me tell you that categorically and unequivocally this is a BIG DEAL in education.
We’ve all been tasked to bring something to go with the main dishes, and I was assigned a salad. Here’s the real money win. I am going to make the entire salad with ingredients picked fresh from my garden the night before. I only have to buy one ingredient.
This is huge!
Unless you consider the 40,945,716 hours and all the blood, sweat, and tears that go into gardening.
In that case, I’m in the hole for at least couple thousand.
I’ll move my garden salad and free lunch win to the side to make room for the real winners this week. Grab your party hats and your noisemakers. Leigh, The $76K Project, and Josh all have some real wins here!
Leigh at Leigh’s Financial Journey
What is your money win?
I think my favorite win for this year is realizing how much more we were spending on groceries by going to the fancier grocery store that is closer to us. There are still a few items that we pick up from there because they are incredibly delicious, but anything that isn’t substantially more delicious we now buy from the slightly further away store that is wayyyyy cheaper and gives us gas points. Not only are saving maybe $100/month on groceries, but also should save about $50 for the year on gas, which works out to two tanks and is actually a 15% savings at our tiny gas budget level.
Why are you pumped?
So I am pumped because no matter the size of your income or your budget, the small wins always feel like a piece that you actually have huge control over!
What can others learn from it?
Keeping a price book is a lot of work! Going to the cheaper grocery store isn’t that much out of our way and it feels so great to buy an 8 oz can of tomato sauce for 49 cents. I like to audit our expenses every few months and find small ways that I can reduce something. At best, it’s savings, and at worst, it buys more room for something we care about more!
The $76K Project
What is your money win?
We paid off approximately $25K in high-interest (14-15%) credit card debt in just a little over a year. Our credit card debt is now gone! That’s remarkable for us because we have a hard time sticking to many of our goals (I am a certified quitter of many things). But somehow, it just clicked for us that this debt NEEDED to go, and we did what it took to make that happen as fast as possible. Our strategy employed a combination of budgeting, semi-frugality, and increasing our income.
(Penny’s note: I have to interrupt her to share my signature patent copyright trademark OK-it’s-just-from-GIPHY debt payoff GIF.)
Why are you pumped?
I’m pumped for a couple of reasons. First, it feels AMAZING to achieve such a big goal. Second, this win has given us mega momentum to improve our financial situation even more. We’re determined to crush our $50K in student loan debt in less than three years, increase our emergency savings to at least $10K, and start investing more intensively (we’re currently putting in just enough to get the employee match, but you can bet that as soon as the student loans are gone, we’ll be maxing out our retirement funds every year).
What can others learn from it?
You mean aside from how not to dig oneself a giant hole of debt? Lol. First, I think it’s really important to have one or two clear financial goals that you can reach within the first couple months of the debt repayment process. For us, we were able to pay off a credit card (the one with the smallest balance) and our car loan within the first few months, and that really lit a fire under us to keep going. Once you get a taste of financial wins, you want more. It’s kind of addictive (in a good way).
Second, frugality is fantastic. Budgeting is crucial. But if you want to get out of debt quickly, increasing your salary – either through side hustling or finding a higher-paying job – gives you the most bang for your buck, so to speak. Early on, my salary was really low. We were making it work, but when I was able to find a higher-paying gig, our debt payoff timeline went from 5 years to 3.5 years. I realize it’s not as easy as, “Well, just get a new job,” but if there’s a way to bring in more cash, it makes a big difference.
And lastly, it’s important to just keep putting one foot in front of the other. If you do that, you’ll reach your goal. We definitely encountered some obstacles over the past year – unexpected medical expenses and an impromptu (necessary) move to a more expensive rental – and those challenges changed our plans. That’s going to happen, but if you keep moving forward, however slowly, you’ll eventually reach your goals. Staying the course is probably the most challenging part of the debt repayment journey.
Josh at Josh Overmyer
What is your money win?
I had a 7-day work trip last month, and today I received a paper check for my meal allowance & parking reimbursement. Rather than mobile-depositing that check right away like I always do, I marched that check straight to my credit union and applied the $504.50 sum as an extra principal payment to my mortgage.
Why are you pumped? Rather than allow this *extra* money just get co-mingled with all of my regular money, to be frittered away (not really, but sometimes you just don’t know where it all goes!), I gave this money a mission and it saved me somewhere around $220 over the remaining life of my loan. Also sorta pumped because I didn’t even spend half that amount during the trip, so hooray for being a frugal traveler, too!
What can others learn from it?
Unplanned windfalls happen sometimes in our lives. Whether it be a tax return, birthday money from relatives, travel reimbursement, or anything that reminds you of a “Bank error in your favor” from Monopoly, treat those dollars as sacred and give them a mission. Once they’re spent, they’re gone… So do something good with them!
Final Thoughts on Money Wins
Isn’t it incredible how good it feels to be happy for other people? Each week, these wins remind me that everyone–no matter where they are on their money journeys–does things that are worth celebrating. And studying and emulating.
If you missed any of the past money wins, check them out here:
Volume 1 – Kate, Revanche, Melody
Volume 2 – Jody, Aitza, Little Miss Fire
Volume 4 – Zero, Kat, Mystery Money Man
Volume 5 – Anna, Debra, Claudia
Volume 6 – Kate, Are We Adults Yet, Money Saved is Money Earned
If you’d like to join the money win party, drop me a line at shepicksuppennies (at) gmail (dot) com with your answers to the three questions. Whether you are a blogger or a reader or both, you are welcome to party here!
Thank you so much for creating this series, Penny. It is my new favorite thing about Friday mornings!! I am honored to be included this week! Hooray for every money win ?
I am so glad you shared, Josh. You know throwing money at your mortgage is the way to my heart.
Maybe the real way to my heart is to throw money at MY mortgage. Hmm.
Yay Josh for immediately sending the unexpected money to your mortgage! All bits make a difference.
All of these money wins are great, but I’m particularly impressed by the $76K Project’s credit card payoff! That’s a huge amount of money, and a huge amount of interest saved.
AGREED! That’s why she needed my GIF!
Yes, we teachers get incredibly, repeat, incredibly jazzed by a free lunch!! Also, free stuff for classroom and oh yeah, gift cards, we are crazy happy about gift cards!
Love this series Penny! Josh’s quote “Give this money a mission” is how I operate and has made our daughter’s college education debt free. Every dollar has a purpose, every windfall is like a boost to gaining ground. The secret to a windfall, rare or not, or a increase in income/side gig etc. is to be grateful then put it towards your mission–be it debt paydown, emergency fund, retirement.
Your two-step process is amazing, Karen! I love the idea of being grateful and THEN making your money work for you. Wow, wow, wow. I am on this!
There is book in this, Penny. Something like “The 100 Best Money Saving Ideas to Help You Retire Early” or something like that. Pick the most interesting submissions, package them with commentary based on your experience and the experience of your readers, and get it out there. Either regular publisher, or Amazon self publish. Either way, I think this is something that would interest people.
Love the series. Keep it up.
You flatter me so! I love this idea! It makes me so happy to be able to cheer on other people (and hopefully send a click or two their way!).
Yyaaaaas!! Love all of these wins! I’ve always wanted to start a price book for groceries, but I’m way too lazy. I salute the folks that are able to do that! I’d love to see a post detailing the breakdown of the cost difference when shopping for specific items at certain stores.
I hear you. One time, I actually thought about just recording everything as I walked up and down Aldi (thank goodness there are only four or five aisles). Maybe I should slap a GoPro on HP’s head 😉
It does seem overwhelming to create a price book. I always used to call my nana for things like paper towels and TP. It was amazing to me how she knew the “good sale” prices for each item and brand!
The cheaper grocery store in our area actually has an app! I use it to check prices sometimes or just to figure out what aisle something is on. I’ve figured out, for example, that a half gallon of milk is the same price at both the cheaper and the closer-fancier grocery store, so I don’t feel so bad buying milk from the closer grocery store anymore! I also use instacart to check prices/availability of the other grocery stores. I tried to create an entire price book one time. It was too overwhelming.
Thank you so much Penny for including my story! I love small money wins. No matter how much money or income we have, I will always notice the small wins and budget for the small things. It’s just who I am! The small things really give you a small sense of control over your day to day life when so much of it feels out of control. This series is awesome and thanks for sharing everyone’s stories!
I love reading all these money wins, it not only provides a small celebration for the people involved but also the ones reading them. It can provide a positive affect on them and help create their own money wins.
The 76K project’s story is really impressive! Paid off $25K in a year! Wow, it took me pay that same amount in 4 years for my student loans! Really great story, goes to show that when you have a plan and stick to it you can reach that goal.
Isn’t it just stellar what they’ve done?! 🙂
Best money win for me is getting a dividend payment from our shares and realizing that’s now part of an income we’re not punching the clock for…
That is a huge win! I love that perspective (and that you got that payment!).