Well I made it to March 1st.  How it happened I have no idea. Turns out I had a lot more food than I planned. In fact I am so inspired that we are going to continue eating out of the freezer before I go on a really big shopping trip.  I do need to shop a little bit for fruits and veggies and milk,  but I am going to stretch this out so I am forced to eat what's in my freezer.  Here's what happened.
2/18 - leftovers dumplings
2/19 - bolognese/puttanesa 
2/20...
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I really do not have much to say.   This will be my one and only entry this monthl  Will have to try for 3 next month if I want to average 2 a month.
My debts are going down slowly.  Net Worth going up slowly. 
Just plugging along.  I have been going into the office most days.   I work better in my office than I do at home. I will work from home if the weather is questionable.
 
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It rained over night and we needed it. Our lake is low so this precipitation is a good thing and I'm a happy person it isn't snow or ice. We had warmer temps this past week -- in the 50s -- so I think people are getting spring fever.
We had to have the plumber out and am awaiting that bill, but we have the money to pay. Other than that, just keeping up with the day to day expenses. My credit card bill was lower this past month and I think part of it is because we haven't spent...
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It looks like we all have the same idea of posting our monthly reviews on the last day of February.
February was a spendy month. I paid $875 for the painting (expensive I know, but few painters are willing to deal with wallpaper & he ended up having to deal with two layers of wallpaper). It took him 3 days of prep before he could paint. I also purchase a few home items: rugs, trash cans, to improve the look & function of my home. I have a list of future home improvements...
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So this has been an interesting short month ...
Some of the highlights:
1. Mom fell in her bathroom, broke something in her hip and took 7 hours to crawl from tub to where her phone was to call 911. She is currently in rehab - has stated that she is ready to be rid of the house, and possibly go into an Independant Living situation. My brother and I are working on timing of us going down there to help move this along.
2. I got two doses of the CV vaccine while working several...
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I won't be spending anything today, so I did my February recap:
Housing: $795
Car Repair/Maintenance: $792
Taxes: $510
Vacation/Travel: $210
Utilities: $154
Groceries: $146
Gifts/Charity: $132
Medical/Health: $84
Phone: $52
Vet/Pet Supplies: $45
Entertainment: $36
Eating Out/Takeout: $17
Gas: $16
Laundry: $14
Home Repair/Maintenance: $13
Household Supplies: $7
Grand Total: $3023
Variables: 97%
 
Items of note: 
The high cost of car repair involved...
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Income Total: $1675.00


     * $1500 Recurring monthly retirement account distribution  


     * $175 Swagbucks and My Points earnings (cash out to PayPal)


      


Total Spending: $1471.83


Total Savings: $203.17 (difference between monthly income and monthly spending)  Fixed Expenses: Verizon bundle (internet, cable,...
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My car repair cost $445.  That was after a $30 coupon.  They replaced two tie rods and did a wheel alignment.  I am hoping this will be it for a while.
It's promising to be in the fifties this weekend, and I'm delighted.  It will be a no-spend weekend for me, as I come to the end of the month with variables at 97%.  I plan to get out and walk, maybe even take a walk along the lake, which has been too treacherous lately.
Meals will be easy this weekend. ...
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There has not been much going on here these days.  We haven't spent any money and we haven't gone anywhere other than to appointments.  I am keeping my mind busy, though.  I decided to learn Italian.  I have been at it for five days and am thoroughly enjoying myself.  I have absolutely no problem with getting the accent right according to Duolingo.
I had learned French in high school and Spanish in college, but I never really enjoyed them.  I always...
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What seemed like it was going to be a relatively quiet week on the financial front ended up turning out to be pretty busy.
Between my bank account bonus and federal refund, I got some "snowflakes" earlier than expected.  That combined with payday meant a good deal of progress on debt and savings goals.  I'm looking forward to my monthly summary on Monday. 
Over the weekend, I will likely have to take a little bit of money out of savings for some auto maintenance....I...
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I feel like we have a lot of stuff.  We don't have a huge house so it seems like we have more stuff than we really need because of it.  I have friends who say "oh they don't have much stuff." But when I point out that having a 4000-5000 sq ft house you probably have more stuff than our 2000 sq foot house it's hard to argue.  Mostly I argue this point with my mom, who has aforementioned 4000 sq ft house and 600 sq ft condo.So there they are with two homes packed literally...
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Look at what I can do this morning, after MONTHS of not being able to:

I don't know if it is because someone finally addressed whatever was wrong or if something reset itself or what,  but I am so delighted!  Who-hoo!
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GIFTS:
------
$50 Barnes & Noble (we always gift these to FIL)
 
MOVIES:
--------
$100 Regal
 
RESTAURANTS:
------------
$50 Cracker Barrel
$50 Olive Garden
$25 Chili's
$ 25 x 2 Jamba Juice (Birthday Gift)
 
RETAIL:
---------
$ 100 x 3 Target (Emailed/paper gift cards)
$ 75 Kohls ($50 + $25)
 
Note: Edited over time to remove used gift cards. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I guess I have...
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We have finally been able to talk to the IRS, they still haven't logged in that they have last years taxes let alone this year..although I sent registered mail and they had to sign for it which they did end of jan but neither are logged in as being received yet...my question is if they didn't get last years as covid hit around the same time how do we know if they have it or someone else has it and stolen our identity? I wouldn't know where to look over there for that info...I'm...
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The painting is done! I had him come back today & do some touch-ups.  I was a little embarrassed to ask, but when you pay for professional painting you want it to look professional. I was satisfied with the touch-ups.
So that's two projects in two months. Kitchen cabinets in January, the bathroom painting in February. I think next month I'll focus on getting the awning installed. Clearly, I'm not going to be ready to put my home on the market as soon as I thought, but...
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During the cold spell, everything was good at home but the cabin had some issues. We went there last weekend after not being there since some time in December I think. We had water for a bit but then it stopped. The next day we went to the gas station and picked up some jugs of water so we could flush the toilet. Plumber came out on Sunday and determined that the pipe for the well was frozen outside from the house to the well pump. This was the first time this happened and because...
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I don't think I mentioned a few days ago that I got my tax refund.  It is $909.  It will pay for my plane ticket, my car repair, and some left over!
I got the news last night that GS1 has been selected for the baseball travel team this summer.  Last summer, at the end of the season, he was talking about not playing baseball anymore, so this was especially sweet news.  I guess he just needed a break, and to know that he could walk away from it if he chose to. ...
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I got my federal tax refund this week. Still waiting on state. I got over $6k this year. So I took tithes out, put $3,000 into our vacation fund, and put the rest back for medical expenses. Unfortunately I am on a new medication that is about $300 a month and not covered by insurance. So that will be a drain on our medical fund which I did not count on. 
I also received another unexpected medical bill from our NICU stay in January 2020. Sigh. It was supposedly taken care...
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My federal refund hit my account this morning, a full week earlier than expected.  I immediately began distributing it as planned - a small amount to pay my mom back for some money I owed her (outside of the Big Mom Loan lol), a big chunk into savings, paying one credit card off in full, paying about 40% of another....I'm left with about 6% of the refund lol.  That money was originally going to be allocated towards a haircut and pedicure.  I ultimately decided to...
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My baby is going away to college.  😭
Yeah, that was always the plan.  But this year is the *worst* to apply for college.  The colleges that MM has applied to have all had record numbers of applications this year (I read one college had 30% more applications than last year).  Also, they are holding spots for 'pandemic gap year'.
We were 99.99% sure he should be able to get into our alma mater.  It's an under-rated college that is impossible to beat...
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