2013: The year in review
January 17, 2014
Yep, I said it. I’m still Happy New Year-ing y’all. It’s been busy!
This is how I know recovery is nearly complete from the Devil Flu + infectious friends:Ā my brain starts insisting on money talk.Ā This is the first chance I’ve had to really look over last year’s money and do a quick review. We combined our finances last year and started to work from a combined budget spending plan. That was rocky, we have totally different perspectives and styles when it comes to money. Still, we had to start somewhere! So we did.
2013 highlights
SPENDING
We went over (between 2-100%) the budgeted amounts in half our specified categories, and under (between 2-50%) in the other half. This was, of course, a disappointment. Overall, we overspent 20% over and above the budget. Most of that, as it shakes out, was the wedding but that was paid for in cash so that’s some solace. I’m NOT thinking about the travel we could have paid for instead. š
I do have to keep reminding myself that we pay about $17,000 annually for my dad’s upkeep and that makes a big dent in the disposable income.
SAVING
We maxed out PiC’s 401(k) contributions which has never been done before. WOOT! We also saved 25% off the top of our paychecks through the whole year. Two thumbs up!
Disappointments: I don’t have a retirement plan through the new company so I intended to set up my own. Researched, yes. Decisioned, no. So that’s a fail.
BEST OF
The renewed relationships that came out of planning the wedding. I mended fences with a few relatives that I haven’t spoken to in years. And even more surprisingly, for whatever reason, MIL suddenly thawed towards me a month before and spoke to me like she hasn’t since before PiC and I started dating. Whatever the reason, however long it lasts, I’m grateful that even if I’m not “part of the family,” we can actually behave like non-antagonistic humans. That’s all I ever wanted.
Also: savings. We actually did a good job of saving cash despite all the spending š
Also: Year of the least number of bad surprises (like the car was towed because they didn’t tell me that they were behind on payments! or like, Mom fell and hurt herself! or, Mom was in the hospital with pneumonia for a few days!)
WORST OF
The pained and strained relationships. It’s like I’m just now living the teenage angst years that I never had with my parents, with my dad. Nothing he said when it came to the wedding planning was ok, it was always inflammatory to my overly-sensitive, culture-betraying mind and we argued A LOT. Unnecessarily, I think but it was hard to rein in those feelings. 2 days before the wedding that I had a long painful talk with him over how his reactions made me acutely aware of how I’d failed the family: how I’d failed to straighten out my brother, how I’d failed to provide for my mother, and how I was now failing to properly represent the family as a “dutiful bride”. In turn, he reminded me that I’d done the best I could and more than was expected, and a big portion of these ‘failures’ were his; that the fact that he couldn’t “give” me a wedding was a huge failure as a parent. That he was making his peace with my decisions and in the end, he only truly cares about whether PiC and I are happy. I really needed to hear that. I just wish it hadn’t taken several months of fighting to get there.
Also: no retirement plan for me. This is the first time since age 21 that I haven’t been investing in retirement. No bueno!
:: What were your bests/worsts?Ā How’d you do with saving/spending?
Your year has been great considering what you had to deal with. I’m really glad your dad came around (and MIL too).
Also.. considering that you are supporting another family (yes one single Dad counts as another family), going over budget may not have made you happy but money isn’t everything.
Here’s to 2014!!!
I focused a lot on the wedding because it consumed our lives for the last quarter, but I managed to forget a few other major things that were pretty great about the year š ‘
And I think the wedding made us go over budget but without it, we were actually not HORRIBLY over so there’s that š
Happy 2014!
We actually saved a bit less than last year despite higher income, but last year was the record saving year. Spent a lot on travelling to Europe/Africa/Asia despite some contribution from employers for this.
I tend to think that if you’re saving less because you’re traveling more, it’s pretty awesome anyway. *bias!*
Okay, okay…now that you’re Officially a matron, the teenaged thing with the dad is gonna become two old folks trying to figure each other out, right? It sounds like the old guy was seeing things sorta differently from the way the young thing saw them. Here’s hoping 2014 brings something a little closer to a meeting of the minds. š
*cackle* Yes, now that I’m a matron. I AM too old to be playing teenage games. And to be fair to me, I was balking because I have a better sense of what’s possible for me and mine given my fibro. He has zero idea of how I have to manage pain and fatigue, hence the headbutting.
well, wedding day is now come and gone. and while it brought with it ups and downs for 2013, I’m sure years down the road you and PiC will remember it forever. congrats once again.
With my memory, I’ll have to look back at pictures to remember everything š But it’s over and whoo! 2014!
I realy love the best of/worst of take on things. Pats on the back, while still holding yourelf accountable and not letting last years goals just poof, go unfinished.
Your ability to use every dollar as much as possible and save so much is a wonderful thing. We will be banking my entire paycheck for the next few years (minus 401k contributions) once I have a job in order to save for a house. And we will be credit card debt free by March if all goes according to plan!
Here is to an amazing financial year, but also one without a wedding to plan and all of that BS that goes with it. <3
It’s a new way to look at the year for me and as it turns out. my memory failed to produce memories from this summer, even! See? This is why I need the blog. To document stuff I manage to forget even though they were great/terrible š
I’m super excited for you to be CC free and to be saving for a house! <3 <3
Happy 2014!
[…] for our 2014 Budget, after last year’s disappointing performance, we have negotiated an amortization scheme. Rather than forcing ourselves to make up the difference […]