Since I last posted about grandkids, our family has grown quite a bit! I keep thinking we are at capacity and my kids keep surprising me! DD1- has 2 bios, 2 fosters that they in the final stages of adopting, and 1 foster, who is fairly new in the system, but they are willing to adopt should it come to that. DS - 2 bios DD2 - 2 bios, 2 adopted (X and Z!) and 2 fosters. DD3 - 1 step daughter and DD3 also had a baby girl in December!! (remember when I started blogging here, she was ju ...
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I need to start thinking seriously about my spending priorities. There is so much I want and need to do, and not much income to work with. What I really WANT to do right now is send out my table for refinishing. But I have to admit it is not a need, especially since no one is coming for dinner any time soon. Contingent with this would be sending out the dining room rug for cleaning, while the table is out of the condo. Another thing I desperately want to do is go to Oregon and see ...
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I’m so thankful that I’m able to tackle these student loans so aggressively. Today I paid another $300, new balance on student loan 1 is $3680. In about two weeks I should be able to pay another $800 bringing the total below $3,000. It’s only the first of four loans but I feel fired up about it. Since I’m averaging about $1000 a month in payments I’m considering not applying for the income driven repayment (IDR) plan, which will put my regular payments at ...
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Okay, I've had a few days to think about it, and some encouragement from you guys, and if I let these people drive me off my blog, they win. I want to say right out that this was not caused by any regular bloggers or regular comment leavers. Even if I don't agree with the regulars sometimes, I can deal with their comments. This was caused by a few people who are not regular recognized comment leavers who took it upon themselves over the last two years to go through and leave comments on nea ...
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The weather has turned cool. Or, I should say, cooler, because it was pleasantly cool already. I hope it doesn't get TOO cool, because I'm sure the boiler is not turned on yet. I might be sleeping under blankets tonight. So, it's a good day to make chili! I'm going to make a big batch, because I have ingredients to use up. But chili freezes well. My oven cleaned up beautifully yesterday. There was just a small residue I had to wipe off. I've never had a self-cleaning oven before, an ...
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Yikes! Where did the last 6 weeks go? It was all about cleaning up, fixing up, packing up. Since my last SA check in, I merged households with SO and we moved into a new place together...I helped my oldest daughter find a roommate and move into her first place... I updated my condo and found a tenant. So glad to be done with all of that! Now I'm teaching online full time, until the virus situation has been managed and we can return safely. This crisis and the debacle that it has turned into ...
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Friday is payday and I have $250 slated for the student loans 👩🏾‍🎓, I’m so happy about this. I’m just below $4,000 on my first loan. I also started back using cash 💰 . I opted not to, due to the virus, but found myself spending a tad bid more, I’m glad, things are going back to normal, somewhat, and organizations aren’t encouraging credit cards 💳 . I simply, spray the cash with Lysol and wash my hands thoroughly. ...
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This last weekend was the big rummage sale weekend in my home town. It was way tuned down due to COVID, but I still did some shopping with my SIL. I filled in a some gaps for Hope's winter wardrobe and also found a few items to flip which nearly covered all of my purchases! [img]16074[/img] Carters Girls Sparkly Pink Shoes NWT - I paid $5.00 Justice Jean Shorts - I paid .25 Thirty-One Purse - I paid $1.00 Tye Dye Bag - I paid .75 Vigoss Girls Jean Shorts - I paid .25 Wallet - I paid ...
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Over the past few months, I have been trying a new way of budgeting and so far, it seems to be working well for us. I get paid bi-weekly and the hub works 4 weeks on/4 weeks off, so his monthly income varies greatly. Since I know what our monthly expenses/bills are (mortgage, utilities, etc), on the first of the month, I transfer that amount to one checking account. I transfer our family budget (food, entertainment, gas, etc) to a second checking account. Non-monthly expenses such as car i ...
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I will probably do another post, but I don't wanna. Life continues to be absurd. Rather just talk about the car, it's nice to have a distraction. I do think it's worth sharing perception versus reality. I should probably continue to share these things as they happen. The other day I was wondering if car expenses would fall off our "Top 5" annual expenses. I looked back at 2017/2018 as better comparison years because we only had 2 cars and they were both gas cars. Holy Cow... Th ...
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I spent $64 at Aldi yesterday -- more than I was expecting to. I hope, though, that this grocery trip will hold me through the rest of the month. Variables are at 52%. Today is pay day. I paid an extra $300 on my mortgage, something I hope I can do every month now. I am cleaning my oven right now. After living here how many years? I finally noticed that it is a self-cleaning oven. I pressed the button, and we'll see how it does. I don't know what to say except that I always focus on ...
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The GIANT credit card bill to pay for the new AC Unit is here. SAD!! We also had a little trip away with family watching Hopie and spent some money there. Man it is hard to see such a big chunk go! Current Balance $26,270.00 +$25.00 FB Sales +$5.00 Interest + Even Out Amount to Local Savings +$150.00 MO Payday to Our Savings (9/11) +$40.00 Phone Savings -$9200.00 AC Mini Split -$1000.00 Mini Vaca Balance $16,290.00 Local Savings $3845.00 GC Savings $950.00 Capital 360 Savings ...
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I have really been pushing myself to get items posted daily as we are approaching Quarter 4 and I want to get as much inventory moved through as possible. It has been paying off and have tons of items moving out and ready for pickup! [b]Sales for the week were $48.00![/b] Not a huge total as it was a lot of small items, but 27 items moved out of the inventory! [b]Sale #1811 (SF) $10.00[/b] Better Homes and Gardens Velvet Plush Throw (Joint with my FSIL) - We paid $4.28 Sold for $10.00 ...
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I was talking with a neighbor and she told me some interesting items and I guess with that perspective in my mind frame I began to see items i might have missed. My neighbor was is a very spry 80 year old has been bombarded by doctors offices deciding she needs a check up and they will make an appointment for her ... as she is fine she kept telling them if she wants an appointment she will make it NOT them. Many doctors and nurses in this area are being laid off as people still ar ...
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It was pay day today and boy was I really looking forward to this paycheck. Lots of things to pay. $809-credit card #1 $375-credit card #2 $130-electric bill $200-Savings $300-Roth IRA $100-personal spending money $220-Mortgage Principal _____ $2,134.00 TOTAL We decided to recast our mortgage loan. The payment is now $504 instead of $1275. We are going to put the difference towards the principal (hopefully with additional funds) and be done with this loan ASAP. There is a $250 fe ...
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I got a call from my cousin in California yesterday. He is in urban LA, not close to any fires, but feeling the effects of the air quality. It was good to catch up with him -- we have not talked for several years! No money news. I'm heading out to Aldi today to get some essentials. I hope not to spend too much. The towels I ordered arrived yesterday, and they are very nice! One of my more successful online purchases. I think I have finally learned to read all the specs and reviews fi ...
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While we are NOT out of the woods yet with the fires (there is one less than 5 miles from me that is 6 miles long, by 3 miles wide)...most of our towns have now been declared safe!! This is such amazing news. Sadly, because of the fire still burning, our air quality remains hazardous. As an asthmatic, I am staying indoors as much as possible. It seems I have spent 2020 indoors...something I can't wait to eventually remedy!! This morning, we had our first team meeting since the fires des ...
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yes it drives better. Actually I haven't driven but I figure it really does. :) We had $8000 left and 2.49% and I had no idea why we were still paying on it 3 years later. Honestly I was a bit annoyed that we hadn't paid it off and I hadn't paid attention. So I wrote a check and dropped it at the bank. I like not having a car payment and I like owning my cars. We lived from 2003-2010 without a car payment with a 1998 toyota corolla and 2000 ford focus. Had a kid and bought a 2010 Suba ...
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Still robbing Peter to Paul since the purchase of our townhome. We closed on 9/4. Ten days later here is the other spending I've been doing: $981 for removal of wall separating small formal living room with family room of townhome $1,500 installation of carpeting in the family room of home we are selling $2,500 painting of main living areas and kitchen cabinets of townhome $200 deep cleaning for home we are selling With half of the children off at college, our expenses are down signi ...
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Today I won't need to be going anywhere. I'm staying inside and reading and puttering around. I made Martha Stewart's cheesy spaghetti for lunch. Yum! I ran a load of laundry. I'm looking forward to pay day on Wednesday -- not because I need the money, but because I enjoy moving numbers around on my spreadsheets! Speaking of spreadsheets, my net worth has been inching up, despite how bad this year has been. It is now higher than it's been since June 2018, when I bought the Honda Civic ( ...
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