Last Friday I received my second Moderna vaccine. I had some mild side effects for a couple of days but am feeling mostly back to normal today. I am so thankful to be fully vaccinated. Most of my family and close friends are either fully vaccinated or have their second one scheduled. We are looking forward to some get togethers very soon! My sister and BIL will definately be coming for a visit this summer and I cannot wait. I miss my sister so much. I still have not received my federal tax refu ...
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It's still a coin flip between the two State colleges.  The schools themselves are pretty much the same in most ways (academics and job opportunities).  Both are impossible to beat from a cost/benefit standpoint. The decision at this point is purely how/where MM wants to live.   He told us he would decide this weekend. He did get his last private school rejection on Wednesday.  (They pushed back decisions about 10 days due to huge increase in applications, so is why it ...
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It was 15 years ago that I started this blog.  It took a little over 14 years and 2 months of that time to get out of debt.  I really never thought I'd wake up one day and actually be here.  It was all so overwhelming.  We kept plugging and kept plugging and even took on new debt in there a couple of times, but eventually we stopped that and got where we needed to be.  The freedom from it is like no other.  And I don't think I would have made it without this blog an ...
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After April payments were applied, my student loan balance is down to just under $20,300! (A previous post with exact numbers got eaten by the website and now the lender site is down for maintenence, but close enough!)   I am tempted to throw more money at it to get below the $20K mark, but have a big tax payment coming out of my account April 15, so may just be patient. I am not sure why my employer withholdings are so wrong when I request zero exemptions every year.    I had ...
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It's 10 o'clock in the morning & I'm just waking up. I didn't getting home until after 4 this morning, after getting caught in a horrible storm. So thankful to have made it home okay. I left & it was raining, but not horribly. By the time I got halfway home I had little to no visibility due to driving rain coming in waves, lights were going out as I drove putting everything in complete darkness, & the winds were terrifying: knocking traffic lights askew & debris across the road. ...
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  So...  Yeah.  The last couple of days were a whirlwind.  DL(15) did not at all want to go with us, so we left him alone overnight for the first time.   It is what it is, will have to get comfortable with it.  If MM does choose the farther away school, it might come up more. We got to do our first roadtrip in the electric car!  600 miles roundtrip.  We did not plan well at all and the trip was so rushed we didn't get to take advanatge of more free/ ...
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It is very nice to live life without the mortgage monkey on our backs.  We closed on the house on March 24th and it took a week everything to be moved around.  I repaid the kids and deposited their funds back into their Vanguards.  My parents lent us money to do repairs and cover unexpected expenses, so they are paid back.  I upped the 401K contribution to 11% for SO.  I deposited the rest into the money market and need to meet with a finanical advisor on how to allocate ...
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I sent in my Federal, State and County taxes as well as the estimates for Quarter 1. I also fully funded my SEP-IRA for last year. This has left my bank account almost completely empty. That money was never really mine to use - I just had it saved up and earmarked for these things. But, seeing about $50k disappear from my bank account is quite heartbreaking. This is one of weird psychological things about self-employment. This year, my estimated taxes will be much closer to the correct number, s ...
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Well so for the 4 day weekend we spent $759.03 total.  That includes gas, groceries, and eating out.  The VRBO our share was $710.  That means for four days we spend $1470.  Ouch.  Well that's how the cookie crumbles.  Mostly it was staying with people who spend like there is no tomorrow.  Like I told DH it solidified why I normally don't stay in VRBO with people.  First time and probably last time.  Our sleeping habits has always been the reason and ...
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I got my windshield replaced today.  The plan was for them to come to me, but it rained all day, so the technician and I agreed to meet at the company site.  It was a bit of a drive, but I took the opportunity to stop at Panera and get my free bagel.  I am entitled to a free one every day this month, but since our nearest Panera closed, it's not easy to just pop in.  I'll get a bagel when I am somewhere near a Panera. I also did a load of laundry.   BFF and I made ...
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Popping in to say hello and share a few updates. I received word from my debt consolidation company that they were able to negotiate settlements on two more of my accounts in the past few days.  This takes me down to 3 that are left to be settled, and a total unsettled balance of just over $14k.  Already way past where I thought the year would end up, and it's only April.  I guess later in the year I'm going to have to switch my tracking mechanism to how much is left to pay vs ho ...
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I was just reading this article: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/07/biden-tax-plan-may-spur-boost-in-roth-retirement-accounts.html?fbclid=IwAR3ktxa8YcXrwoDfM9XMdZ-z-bEmV97gHHwJvnFbSoR5dlbUel-ldHLqqZE Some of these changes would negatively affect me. The change in tax deductions  on the retirement accounts as well as the estate tax. I could easily see myself leaving having more than $3.5 million in my estate. Maybe that will just inspire me to spend it down in my old age! Hopefully they will ...
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Feeling much better this morning, I headed out to do some grocery shopping.  But when I got in my car, I saw that the windshield was cracked!  I got out and checked all around the car to see if there was any other damage, and there was not.  I don't know what could have happened!  I called my insurance company and someone will come out tomorrow to replace it, but since I have a deductible I will have to pay $250. I went ahead and drove to Aldi, where I spent $26, PetSmart, w ...
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So we went away this weekend and I haven't quite sorted out everything on that.  However I did manage to compile some.  So here is our spending for the month so far. $252.40 for Groceries$20.50 Eating out $70.92 Alcohol$66.09 Dog$45.57 Gas$427.31 Utilities (water, internet, xm subscription)$14.90 Home Depot$35.27 Haircuts$6.60 Auto (windshield blades)$77.13 Home Goods$75.57 Gifts (Bought some stuff)$9.61 Misc$173.49 Kids ($135 piano lessons)$71.56 Gas for road Trip$494.79 eating out f ...
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Yesterday was a very spendy day for me. A couple of years ago when I renewed my driver's license, it was just the same way as always. A couple of months later, the state decided to institute the "real id" and it was to be done by October 2020 if you wanted to fly and didn't have a passport. Well, Covid struck, DMVs were shuttered, and so we waited for things to open up. Last fall, the DMVs opened up, and DH had to renew his license, and so we got the documents together and he got the real id. I ...
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In 2007 the National Credit Act initiated a program called Debt Review also known as Debt Counselling to help over indebted consumers to rehabilitate them from their old ways of handling credit.Because credit providers are always quick to blacklist, garnish and repossess assets from consumers when they miss payments, the government wanted a program that was going to assist people with paying off their debt, leave them money to live on, and protect them from any legal actions that may be taken ag ...
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Retirement has gone up to $49,614.34 after the contributions hit the account today.  That is a rise of $1582.39 since the last update.  Getting closer and closer to that $50K milestone, just $385.66 to go.  I'm also getting pretty close to the $100K net worth milestone, too.  Just $2882.97 to go to hit that. ...
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I have pre-populated my budget worksheet for the month & I believe that I will be able to send an income surplus of $3,000 to my savings. At this rate I will exceed what I had planned to save in 2021. This has me thinking about what I can do with that money once I fully fund my emergency savings. I will have other expenses: purchasing my next car hopefully later rather than sooner, and other home projects. I am really thinking about paying off my home early. I get so inspired listening to t ...
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Just an update since the market has been hot: Net Worth $1,240,980 Investments $1,115,243 ...
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Out of financial limbo, yes.  But...  Still in major college limbo.   ...
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