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OK, this is definitely the nature edition of my posts here today only remotely related to personal finance.
It's a beautiful weather day here on the East Coast. I did a bit of yard work, but it was more like puttering outdoors. I'm waiting til 4 to go out and continue laying poultry wire on top of my raised beds to deter diggign chipmunks, which constantly tunnel in from the top. I started doing this a few days ago and while I could have used a staple gun to attach the fencing,...
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I'm no chef, but I am still trying to improve my home cooking.  The cost benefits are obvious, and I get to make the food exactly how I want it.
Lately, I've learned something really important about my personal tastes: I like worchesthire sauce!  I can't pronouce the word, and I don't even know if I spelled it correctly here, but it's surprising how much it has grown on me!  So, obviously I like meat, but it often times makes the dish a bit too oily for my taste....
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At our Kroger stores, there is often a shelf of clearance baked goods. Sometimes it's good stuff and sometimes, well, nothing I want. Earlier this week I scored an angel food cake for less then $3. It was really good even if it was a day away from being "best by." I'm not sure I could bake one for $2.80 and tax. I know I've checking the difference clearance areas each time I shop. A couple of weeks ago I picked up a bottle of store brand soy sauce that had a best by of 2027 for...
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Upon retirement, one of the things I've noticed is just how much I used to rely on my job as a crutch to help distract me from a lot of uncomfortable thoughts from entering my mind.  Thoughts like, "Hey, what am I going to do with all my junk that I've accumulated when I die?  Who is going to clear through all this, my kids?  Do they even want it, or better yet, maybe I should start cleaning all this stuff early?" or "Hey, do I still want to move overseas, where...
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So I did a thing. I treated myself to a brand new 2026 Hyundai Tucson to the tune of $41,616.63. It is really pretty and rides like a dream. I was able to get 0.99% financing from Hyundai Motor Financing. The payments are $711.22 for 60 months. I plan to pay $356 every 2 weeks beginning 6/26/26 for as long as I am still working.
At work, the now sole owner has decided to sell half of the company to her son and daughter-in-law. This is still in process and likely will be for months...
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Besides working out in the garden, I've been making stuff with things we have. Last year I went to pull out the ironing board and it was broken. I'm thinking maybe the grandson went to use it and didn't realize it isn't as strong as he is. It couldn't be repaired. Believe me, my hubby is handy and can fix a lot of things, but this one wasn't going to fly. I looked online and found designs that are painted on them. Some even make "people" out of them. I wasn't that crafty, but I...
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I received my WGI, or my raise, as of May 31st. It's a little less than $4k annually, or $144.80 biweekly. Maybe I'll clear $100? I don't have any plans to spend it. I will save as I normally do. If I build up extra money in my checking it will go towards paying down any debt. 
Next month is a 3 paycheck month. My only biweekly bill is my mortgage. Everything else is set up monthly. So that paycheck should go towards building up my checking after the mortgage payment.
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I'm glad to see we've regained full access to the blogs. If you ever experirence a problem, Jon has been pretty responsive to me. It helps to take a screenshot of whatever problem you're experiencing if possible. That being said, I wish the admin here would pay more attention to this site. The reason why it never grows members is because most people trying to post for the first time would have no idea that you have to post TWICE to get something published. So when they initially...
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Hey, the blogs are back!  For days, I could only see the front page, but not read individual entries.  Anyway, now, it seems to be working again, and better than ever before.
I finally recovered from all the aches and soreness of the camping trip.  Prepping for the trip still costed me more than I had anticipated or wanted to pay for such a trip.  Why is it so easy to go over-budget on any excursions?  Haha.
The month of May was just a huge banner month...
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People are posting entries, but only the front-page blurb is readable to anyone but the post-er.  CB in the City noted this as well in her blog, so now I know it's not just my computer or connection.  Please fix, thank you!
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Hi all ....
I can't see anyone's post -- when I click on any title I just get an error page. It looks like maybe I can post myself, so I'll give it a try.
I'm not going to do a full recap, just report on what I've been doing. I took a road trip with a buddy to go visit my sister, who lives in North Carolina. She has recently moved into a senior living facility, and I wanted to see how she was doing. She seems to be doing well socially, if a bit disorganized.
The trip was pretty...
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Hi all. It's Laura again. I know it's been a while since I've been around here and I do apologize. Life has been keeping me busy.
in March. I had the opportunity to go out to California and visit my two nieces. That was amazing. LJ who is going to be three in one month is such a good big sister. The love she has for HR is really incredible. LJ was a little hard to reach at first, but after a few days and a little help from my brother, we figured out how to get her to connect with...
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I was looking over my end of May numbers and see that I've spent a gross/reportable $29,420 year-to-date. So in terms of keeping my traditional IRA distributions and annuity distributions state tax-free, I'm doing fine; you need to be under $75,000 gross for state tax-free retirement income.
My other goal is to keep taxable income under $50,400 so as to stay in the 12% tax bracket. Last year I had the $17,750 standard deduction and another $6,800 from the enhanced senior deduction...
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Okay so I realized looking at my blog I never talked about a trip we did in February.  We did this kayaking camping trip in La Paz Mexico.  It was actually great and better than I expected. I decided if we were going to do this I had to do it asap before getting any older.  Yeah I found it hard to sleep on the sand still.  I'm not a huge camping fan, more ambivalent.  But as I get older it is harder to camp but also just do more active trips.  So...
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I finished working full time a few weeks ago and now am on summer break. Last week we took an Alaskan cruise and the above picture is from Glacier Bay National park. This fall I go back to work but only part time. My spouse has filed for their small pension and SS. It should total about $2k. While we were gone for a week, we earned $40k through our investments - it's so strange that despite what I believe is a horrible presidential performance, our economy seems to be continuing...
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TSP $1,757,529
IRA $514,274
Brokerage $15,643
Sub-total Investments $2,287,446
Savings $6,647
Home Equity $150,000
May 2026 Net Worth $2,444,093
April 2026 Net Worth $2,329,348
Monthly Gain/Loss $114,745
May was a great month!
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I was looking up something in my blog and came across this post from 2016.  It was in regards to MH refusing to toss any of his professional clothing from the early aughts (that he was obviously never going to wear again).
A snippet from that post:

I doubt the kids will have any use for ties, but I suppose maybe they could divide the ties between the three of them.  Just so that they have a tie in a pinch.
Anyway, I totally forgot that was where we landed. ...
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Such a mixed bag this month--our retirement accounts went up, but so did our total debt. We just keep getting hit with unplanned expenses this year--about $2500 in electrical and other repairs on our rental property, a replacement phone for one of our kids, a new (used) bike for him as he's outgrown his current one...had to lean on the HELOC some more.
Being self-employed adds to the challenge, so I also needed to draw from the LOC just to cover routine bills. But we should have...
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Out of all the ideas that some of my buddies throw my way, few ever reach the stage where we actually end up going through with it.  However, this one apparently did.  As the title states, a buddy of mine wanted to go camping and stargazing.  I think he might have done it once or twice, but this is definitely a first time for me.
The basic plan was go camping for a couple of days out at the Sky Meadows State Park in Virginia.  As advertised on the brochure,...
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OK, here's a fun tool: it uses the art of abstract painter Mark Rothko to portray the weather in your location.  https://rothko.joonas.wtf/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20260529%20Friday%20newsletter&utm_source=e007cd04ee&utm_source=Weekly+News+from+Yale+Climate+Connections&utm_campaign=4ff107d8f4-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2026_05_28_06_34&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e007cd04ee-66937b445c-515623167
Unique, huh?
Mark Rotkho was a Latvian-born American abstract...
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