The end of the third quarter and start of the 4th brings a heck of a lot of stress in my work line. But it also brings my work anniversary, which often times means a raise! Oh, the anniversary itself is a great event. I can't believe it's already been 5 years since I started working! So much has happened since...
But I digress. Raise! Woo hoo! It's no big amount, which is better than the 0% expected. It's been a very tough and financially draining year this year for the company, so we sort of know bonuses are out of the picture this December, and were suspecting raises were also going to be stopped. But I'll just be glad they weren't.
My raise equates to $35 per paycheck. As I said, it's a small amount. Small enough I probably wont notice in months to come. I could just pretend the $35 doesn't even exist by automatically sending it off to a separate account where it will silently grow. If it all works as expected, it'd be $910/year. Most likely not, as I will use it to grow a slush fund/Murphy fund, but I think automatically sending it off will accomplish two things for me...
First, I really, really want to try my hand at automatic movement of money. My goal being to have all of my bills be paid automatically someday (haha--yeah right). Second, I think it'd be the easiest way to build up some savings without grueling over the amounts.
Of course, my other alternatives would be to send it to my IRA which has gotten the cold shoulder from me since about April. Decisions, decisions...
We didn't get raises this year, but with some stuff being in limbo for so long, I didn't expect one. We did get bonuses. I put those in my "able to sleep at night account" - and I was glad I did! An emergency vet bill for Thing 2 ate up about 25% of that bonus, but I was so glad I had the money set aside.
ReplyDeleteEffective October 1st, our entire company is getting a 3% raise. This equates to about $56 more dollars each month for me. Of course this raise will affect taxes and pension % deductions so it isn't going to be $56 exactly.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how I will filter in this money into my budget as yet but I am most sure most if not all will end up being saved.
That's quite nice that they do a company-wide raise! Yeah. I'm still playing with the options. But in the mean time, and hoping I forget about it, I've set the automated savings.
DeleteI can relate to wanting to do all the bills electronically. Trust me, but sometime it does not always work out.
ReplyDeleteYeah. And that scares me...
DeleteWell, you can send it to me if you wish! I'll keep it VERY safe for you, always out of reach! HAHAHAHAHA
ReplyDeleteBut barring that miracle, I vote for the IRA. EVERY little bit counts there, and if you contribute now, even $35 every two weeks, you might find yourself in a position to retire earlier than you might have planned. $35 biweekly there will mean a lot more than an extra dinner at Outback or two movies with popcorn, or whatever.
Peace <3
Jay
BTW, I've only gotten a raise once in the past 5 years. So count yourself LUCKY!!!
DeleteJay
Ouch! You sound like my part time job. In 10 years I'll be there in October, I've only gotten 3-4 raises. I can't even remember anymore!
DeleteWhen Hubby gets a raise we just put it right into automatic savings at work. It has been hard sometimes but we will have a nice little pile when he retire!
ReplyDelete