I plan to save an additional $2,020 for the year. I've decided to simply automate this, and add it to the Big Goal total. Prior to making this decision I had already increased our automated savings of $175 each pay period to $200. This works out to an additional $50 per month saved. In order to make the $2,020 increase for the year, I will change the automatic savings amount to $260. This increases each savings deposit by $85, compared to last year. $85 x 24 pay periods is $2,040, which me ...
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It snowed last night, so this morning I had to clean off the car to go to the gym. It's still snowing lightly, very prettily. It was not too bad -- I count it as extra exercise. Even though I am doing well on keeping low on my variables, I have to cut off spending entirely now because my bills next month are so big. I have to pay my property tax, and a credit card bill that includes my semi-annual car insurance. In fact, I had to adjust my car payment down to $200 from $300 so I wouldn't ...
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My 2020 goal #2 is to adopt a permanent health-enhancing habit each month. I’ve decided that my new health habit for January will be to fast one day each month. This is an uncomfortable change for me but I’m convinced that it’ll be an improvement. For January, I am going to have the 31st be the fast day. Then if I can make it 2 days, I’ll knock out February’s day too. I’ve read that 3 days is optimal, but I just don’t know that I can do it. N ...
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Well, my Amazon order came today. Yes, I have been buying a lot of stuff recently, but it has all been planned and budgeted for. I got some new cooking and baking things, which was 2 skillets, a sauté pan, both of which are for induction cook tops but lined with ceramic for easy non-stick cooking (that copper stuff doesn't last), a pastry brush, 2 whisks, two dough scrapers (the pack of two was cheaper than buying one one), a set of 7 stainless steel measuring cups and 7 stainless steel me ...
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So we are looking at our US taxes that we need to do every year which can be a hassle...for 2.4 years I have been trying to get my itin number uppdated...finally we think we have sent them what they have asked for again..so hopefully gets processed need it for me to be on the taxes. We don't pay state taxes obviously but we do federal taxes (hubby ex military) but with the changes they have made with SS from what we have read they count the entire amount now which means we will end up owing $30 ...
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One of our toilets was taking forever to fill. It wasn't running. It wasn't leaking. It just was filling really slowly. My wife finally asked if I could fix it so a couple of weeks ago, I stopped at Home Depot and picked up a new fill valve assembly and installed it. Everything seemed fine. It was working properly and filling in a normal amount of time. Then 2 days ago DW texts me at work and says the toilet is running and she opened the back and the water level was rising over the top of the ...
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Today is the last day to file a claim as part of the class action against Equifax for the data breach. "In September of 2017, Equifax announced it experienced a data breach, which impacted the personal information of approximately 147 million people. A federal court is considering a proposed class action settlement submitted on July 22, 2019, that, if approved by the Court, would resolve lawsuits brought by consumers after the data breach. Equifax denies any wrongdoing, and no judgment or f ...
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Do you ever sit and figure out how much your meal cost you? I don't do it by person since it is just the two of us, but I often estimate how much we spent on what we consumed as we sit down to eat. Last night, for example, was fairly reasonable. It was the leftover pork loin roast, leftover green beans, and I had two sweet potatoes I baked, and then cottage cheese, sliced cherry tomatoes, and fruit salad. I always try to divide stuff by the meals, not taking the whole initial cost of the pork ...
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I made the final payment on my big student loan today. $16000 finally gone. Considering I've had 0 family support for school and actually started in a really big hole since I was also supporting my family, it feels like a weight lifted. Forecasting with the extra money in my own bank account, I should be able to pay off the smallest of the remaining 6 loans by June. Then, there's a handful of $2k loans, so throwing everything at the highest interest rate one would leave about $180 by Dec, so I'm ...
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I received dividend 1099s yesterday so was able to complete our taxes. I just am waiting for tax software updates now. (I probably won't finalize until I take my tax update class, probably in another week. Make sure I am not missing anything). Now I am focusing on the kids. DL(14) didn't have any stock sales last year so I should just be able to report his interest/dividends on my tax return. The taxes on that should be $0. I tried to pull their 12/31 statements to confirm YTD inter ...
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I like to open up the calendar and see a blank day. Freedom! I love it. Yesterday I went to the senior center and put $65 onto my transportation account. I can use this debit card for things like Uber -- also, buses and trains, etc., but I will use it for Uber, since my senior benefit card covers local buses and trains. There was already $10 on the card -- not sure why -- maybe it was a benefit for opening the account? Anyway, with my $65 addition, the value is now $140. Now I just have ...
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The refinance is finally moving forward. We had to pull a new credit report since it had been so long, and with all of the overspending (including the new car), I was a bit worried. I was pleasantly surprised to find out scores were both well in to the 700s. Doesn't seem like a big deal, but when you've consistently been low to mid-600s for a decade, it feels like nice progress. We did the appraisal yesterday, so just need to finish getting in all of the paperwork, and will hopefully be good. ...
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[img]15909[/img] We just received our gas bill and it’s $208.53 this month. Ouch!! I see from the usage chart that it’s about the same as last year so I really shouldn’t have been surprised. What’s more scary is looking at February and March – if this year is like last year, we’ll have another sharp increase next month. In addition to the central air, we have a gas fireplace, which I love. It heats up the family room and makes it cozy and inviting. ...
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https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-01-21/ralphs-privacy-disclosure ...
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Our gas heater for hot water went out yesterday...our landlord said they would call someone and try to get it fixed...not happy...something is always wrong with this house..they jetset around the world but won't maintain this house...was going to stay here a couple years till we had enough deposit for a house...$30,000 is such a lot to save when you also pay a high rent...but we will get there...but may not stay here longer than august (lease renewal) depends what is around and what is happening ...
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There hasn’t been much going on so I haven’t blogged for while…. but I did decide to bump up my retirement date to May 1st! I had initially targeted June 1st, but since I meet all the eligibility requirements toward the end of April I just didn’t want to stay any longer the absolutely necessary. The burn out is real! I have had some discussions with a few friends across the college in different departments than mine and I am excited about some potential part time oppor ...
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It recently occurred to me that there might be something wrong with our electric meter. The utility bill shows how much our electricity and gas usage is compared to the same month a year ago. The gas usage is sometimes higher, sometimes lower, but I've realized the electricity usage is always higher, sometimes 10 or 12% but sometimes 50 or 60% higher. This was actually happening last year but I attributed it to DD being back living at home and not away at college. There's no way we can be usi ...
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I have not been good at focusing on much of anything lately, including getting a blog post together. So this is all just random. I paid our youngest daughter's tuition and housing bill. I had saved $500 a month for the last five months to pay the tuition out of pocket. I used her ESA to pay $5700 to pay for room and board. No loans for her yet! Our oldest daughter's tuition and housing bill is at about $9,294. She is only taking six credits to finish up this May with her two degrees. I hav ...
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For every business owner in need of a small business loan, there are more options available than ever before. Actually, sometimes it becomes hard for small business owners to choose the best source of funding from an array of financing options. Among many sources of financing, here is a comparison between the two most reliable and efficient alternative financing sources: OnDeck and Kabbage. In this article, we’ll explain which option to choose among them and how they differ in terms of bu ...
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I made two ebay purchases today totaling $102.43. Quite a bit is shipping, but with ceramic and glass that's a given. They have to wrap it thickly and individually. I have a discontinued dinnerware pattern that I have been slowly adding to as I find semi-reasonable prices. They are never going to be completely reasonable since you can't get it anywhere but the used market, but these ones were much better prices than I've been seeing. I have been watching for about two to three years. So ...
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