Monday, November 28, 2011

Weekly Spending (11/21-11/27) & big bonus news

It was an expensive week! Here's what we spent. N had his dental surgery on Tuesday, and I had to pick up a few soft foods for him. It was also Black Friday, so I picked up a few things that we needed that were a great price.

  • Monday - No spend day
  • Tuesday
    • Costco - $124.80 on groceries
    • $1.67 on a box of popsicles (recommended by the dentist to help N feel when the numbing agent wore off)
    • $13.92 - Panera for lunch out with N. He was a complete trooper during his surgery, so we went out for a soft lunch (aka macaroni & cheese/yogurt)
    • $16.41 - I bought myself a new sweater at Loft.
    • $22.43 - bribery gift for N for his awesome behavior during the surgery. He didn't even cry!
    • $162.50 - dentist
  • Wednesday:
    • $60 - lunch with M
    • $8 - tip for free car wash/vacuum
    • $100 - we purchased a $100 gift card to one of our favorite restaurants, as they were having a promotion where you received an extra $25. We met for drinks & used some of the $100 on Wednesday, but will keep the rest for another occasion.
  • Thursday:
    • $15 on various snacks for the kids. I packed lunches & snacks, but during various potty stops on the way to Thanksgiving, we bought things. Our Thanksgiving meal is at 2:00, which is a hard time for kids. It's way past lunch, so we had to feed them ahead of time, and the adults don't do dinner - one big meal. I'll have to remember to pack the kids several extra things next time.
  • Friday:
    • $180.71 - clothes for the kids for the vacation house. They now have pajamas, pants, gloves, hats, etc. We should be all set for the next year or so.
    • $25 - gift certificate for Bath & Body Works. (I get gas rebates on gift cards & we need soap & candles for the house).
    • $100 - Christmas gift
    • $5 - Starbucks for breakfast.
    • $61.72 - groceries
    • $39.99 - shearling boots for me (Costco). Not sure if I'm keeping them or not.
    • $192.45 - Costco household items. This includes: Sonicare toothbrushes for me/N, a headset splitter for the car for the kids, trash bags, & light bulbs.
    • $9.99 - Christmas wrapping paper at Costco.
  • Saturday:
    • $34.93 - gas
  • Sunday:
    • $1.15 - protein smoothie at the gym
    • $24 - used the childcare at the gym to get in a workout.
Total spent for the week = $1074.87.

And, in big, huge, amazing news - M just found out that he is receiving a huge bonus this year! Last year, due to a bunch of reorganizations at work, he lost out on his commission for the year, which is typically 65% or so of his salary. While we budget based on our his base salary + mine, he's received his bonus every year he's worked, so it was a very unpleasant surprise. We spend the bonus on extras, fun stuff, house projects, traveling, etc, so we trimmed to a much more basic budget when that happened.

Anyway, M received an $80,000 after tax bonus this week, so to say we're excited would be a colossal understatement. We're not sure where all of it's going, but here's the tentative plan

  • $35,000 - M's 401K loan payoff. Paying this off means our only debt will once again be our mortgages, which will make me very happy.
  • $5,000 - family trip to Hawaii over spring break
  • $5,000 - boys college fund
  • $35,000 - savings for new car. We know we'll be replacing a car soon, as M's is over 10 years old, so we want to be prepared.
How would you spend $80,000? Any input for us?

6 comments:

  1. Wow that's a lot of money I think how you're spending it is good.

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  2. How exciting! If I had received an $80,000 bonus I would have to throw up with excitement first. :)

    I think you did a great job distributing the money. A lot of savings and a little bit of fun.

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  3. That sounds like a good way to divide the bonus! While we were working our way out of consumer debt we would normally divide bonuses/commissions by 3 ways: Debt reduction, Savings, and Fun. Today, if we received an unexpected $80k, we'd probably put 75% to savings (retirement/college) and 25% to home improvements and/or travel. Large bonuses are a great way to end the year -- Congratulations! I'm sure he worked hard for it!

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  4. Thanks guys! It is super exciting, and M worked incredibly hard, so it's nice to see his hard work pay off.

    Now I need to figure out how to find airfare for 4 to Hawaii that won't break the bank. So far, it will eat up the majority of the $5K, so I need to find a deal!

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  5. OMG, an $80,000 bonus?? It takes me 1.75 years to make that as my main income. WOW.

    Way to go for allocating it wisely! If I got an 80K windfall, I'd pay off my car loan (10K), use about 15K for a kitchen/bathroom remodel, 5-10K in the travel fund! and save the rest :-)

    Good luck with booking your plane tickets!

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  6. Wow... That's an amazing "bonus"!! Congrats! I think the way you allocated the money is perfect! :)

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