It's a little before ten on New Year's Eve. Tyler fell asleep in the recliner during the second half of a bowl game, and I've got the sheet open on the laptop with a bowl of popcorn I am not sharing. The interest posted this afternoon, and the house fund closed the year at $16,600.00. On the dot. I double-checked because I didn't believe it either.
We started 2025 at $4,200, so this year we added $12,400. Here's every deposit, month by month. "Leftover" is whatever was in checking at the end of the month above our cushion. "The 21st" is the automatic transfer that carries every bill we got rid of: my old car payment from April, the phone and lunch savings from June, and the subscription money from September.
| Month | Leftover | The 21st | Side money | Other | Interest | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | $150 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0.18 | $4,350.18 |
| Feb | $150 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0.19 | $4,500.37 |
| Mar | $150 | $0 | $0 | $2,400 | $0.29 | $7,050.66 |
| Apr | $0 | $289 | $0 | $0 | $0.31 | $7,339.97 |
| May | $0 | $289 | $0 | $187.40 | $0.33 | $7,816.70 |
| Jun | $200 | $392 | $520 | $0 | $0.37 | $8,929.07 |
| Jul | $200 | $392 | $760 | $0 | $0.43 | $10,281.50 |
| Aug | $200 | $392 | $420 | $980 | $0.51 | $12,274.01 |
| Sep | $200 | $434 | $440 | $0 | $44.49 | $13,392.50 |
| Oct | $200 | $434 | $150 | $0 | $47.26 | $14,223.76 |
| Nov | $200 | $434 | $300 | $0 | $50.53 | $15,208.29 |
| Dec | $174.23 | $434 | $190 | $538.33 | $55.15 | $16,600.00 |
| Total | $1,824.23 | $3,490 | $2,780 | $4,105.73 | $200.04 | $16,600.00 |
"Other" is the tax refund in March, the first jar count in May, Tyler's overtime in August, and in December the second jar count, $238.33, plus $300 from selling closet clutter.
Where the $12,400 came from
The 21st was the biggest piece at $3,490: $2,601 of old car payments, $406 from cheaper phones, $315 from packed lunches and $168 from canceled subscriptions. Side money came next at $2,780. Then the refund at $2,400, the month-end leftover at $1,824.23, the overtime at $980, the jar at $425.73, the closet at $300 and interest at $200.04. Add those up and you get $12,400.00.
The biggest thing I noticed: the 21st is made entirely of bills we stopped paying. We never held that money in our hands. The money that's easiest to save is money you never get used to spending.
The two months we missed were April and May. Nothing was left in checking at the end of either one, because we were paying off a $2,140 credit card in ten weeks, and every spare dollar went at that card until it hit zero on May 27. If those months had looked like January through March, that's $300 more in the fund. I'd make the same call again, but I still count them as misses. The car money kept moving the whole time, which is why there's no zero in that column after March. December came in a little short, too. Between the ice storm and the $140 of freezer food we threw out, the leftover was $174.23 instead of $200.
What surprised me
The interest. From January through August, the bank in town paid the house fund $2.61. From September 10 through today, the online bank paid $197.43. Four months beat eight months by about 75 times.
The side money. When Tyler bought a used push mower in May, I figured it would cover its own gas. After 25 percent went into the tax bucket and gas and blades came out, $2,780 from his mowing, my first furniture flips and a few odd jobs landed in the house fund, almost all of it on Sunday nights. The $840 tax bucket is sitting in its own account until we file.
And December. An ice storm, nine hours without power and Christmas, and the house fund still got its $434, the closet money and a jar count the Saturday after Christmas.
What we're changing for 2026
Our goal is $25,000 by the end of 2026, so we need $8,400 more. Starting tomorrow, I'm on Tyler's health plan, and the $52 a month that saves joins the 21st, which makes it $486. Twelve of those is $5,832. My raise starts in February, and with it we're planning on $300 left at the end of every month instead of $200. That's $3,600 more. Between the two, we'd pass $25,000 by fall without counting a refund, mowing money or the jar.
Tyler says that means the goal is too small. I told him I'd think on it. He did not enjoy having his own line used against him.
