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Just found out my FICO score went down 10 points because they decided that I don't have enough... what did they call it, Paid Accounts?
Basically, I have no debts of any kind, and currently have only one credit card active.  Why?  Because I'm a lazy simpleton *COUGH* er I mean Thoreauvian who enjoys the peace and tranquility of the simple life.  Uh yes.
In any case, I say this is a good problem to have because I'd rather be this than have massive debts that are...
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I'm throwing everything I can at my student loan. Yesterday I rolled my change (coins), something I do every year  and I had $53, so I threw it all at my student loan. Next week is pay day at my second job. I have decided that after paying my tithes rather than saving half and using the other half to pay down my loan, I'm throwing it all at the student loan. That's about $1000 every pay day, $2k a month. That means in 5 months I'll be done. 
Though my savings isn't...
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Well I can't believe we are almost at the end of 2025...this year has just flown by...so that means working on next years budget, we had a few changes this year so budget took a bit more work. So we became debt free, we still use CC but it is paid off each month. Hubby sold his car and got a scooter, so we have no more car expenses but we will pay half of our daughters since she does our appointments/errands etc more now, but that still cuts it way down. I paid all our bills for...
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Subtitle: You paid how much for this? (Part Deux)
I don't know... am I overly sensitive to this much spending?  Or is it the new normal?  After writing about my cousin I thought that would be the end of crazy expensive decisions I would be passing by.  I mean I am back home, basically only seeing people at the gym, how could that happen again?  But it (sorta) did.
So wassup?  Well this week I visited an old co-worker friend from my newly departed job. ...
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Got together with one of the groups I volunteer with for a Christmas lunch at one of my favorite places in town. All I had was the tomato basil soup with the jumbo garlic bread croutons, and that was plenty filling, so I'm glad I didn't get the salad, too. . And the price was right: $8.95.

I haven't used my weighted belt on the treadmill since Tabs made his suggestions, and I've been able to increase my speed from 3.3/3.4 (with the belt) to 3.6 without it, and a heart rate high...
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That arctic cold front has finally arrived and coming down like a hammer!  The rush hour traffic is made even worse from all the icing on the road, resulting in quite a few car accidents.
Also, the wind chill makes it feel even worse.  Interestingly enough, the wind was strong enough to rip my back door open, setting off my motion sensors, and sending me a stream of false alarms to my phone.  I can't have that.  Luckily, the fix won't be expensive at all, I...
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Dad's still in the hospital. As far as I'm concerned, it's the best place for him right now.
Unfortunately, he tested positive for the flu and he has a UTI. He has such limited exposure to people I'm really surprised, unless he immediately picked it up as soon as he entered the hospital. So many people coming and going to do this or do that, plus he was already moved once from an ER bed to a regular bed in a different "tower," so there was a whole new set of care providers tending...
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Well, I didn't do very well in the photo sharing challenge, but it was fun doing the few posts that I managed! It's been a crazy year; gonna try to remedy that in the new year, but who knows?
I'm very sad to report that one of our two cats, Whiskers (aka Whiskey), passed away last Tuesday. He had cancer that was diagnosed nearly a year before, plus a host of other medical conditions, so we're grateful to have gotten that amount of time with him. He was slowing down and we knew...
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It's been quite a while since I've last written and I apologize, but life has been hectic. A week ago yesterday we had our church bazaar. I was in charge of the vendors and the publicity not to mention baking dozens of cookies. I told my husband when I arrived home last Saturday night that I felt like I had my life back. Our ladies guild realized $2800 after all was said and done, so that's not too bad. The money will be dispersed first to pay for things like funeral dinners and...
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RESTAURANTS:
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$100 Seasons 52
$ 50 Cracker Barrel (small balance left)
$ 20 x 1 Jamba Juice (Just found this one, from 2018!!  Before I was tracking?)
$ 15 x 1 Jamba Juice
$ 10 x 1 Jamba Juice
 
REGIFT:
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$ 25 DoorDash
$ 50 Car Wash 
$100 Trader Joes
 
Note: Edited over time to remove used gift cards. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I think we've got most of the birthday/Christmas haul. 
In...
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Earlier this year I posted about using Attapoll as a way to make extra money on the side when I have downtime.  Now that the year is wrapping up, it's time to take a look back at my earnings:

One thing that really helped me with earnings this year was when Attapoll added games in addition to surveys.  If I got burnt out on taking surveys, or there were none available that worked for me, I could always download a game and get paid by reaching the acheivements. ...
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So this January it will be exactly 1 year since I purchased my SUV.  It feels like it's taking forever to pay the thing off, so much so that I wondered, momentarily, if Toyota Financial had calculated everything correctly. But on the face of it, I think they have.  I financed a little over $20,000 and have been throwing prepayments at it each month, having started out with an extra $200 each month but lately it's been an extra $250.
I guess it's about right since I see...
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I saw a post by Tabs dealing with this subject, and I just needed to do this one...
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A few weeks ago I visited my cousin for the first time in a year.  I try to get up to the place he lives with his mother.  He's a year older than me, and never married, never had kids, I don't think he ever had a girlfriend.  Basically the basement of the place is packed floor to ceiling with brand new toy trains. ...
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My BJs membership was up for renewal in early January; each year they increase the membership fee and it's currently $60, which is a fee I don't like paying since buying for one makes it debatable whether or not paying that fee is worth it. However, my grocery price comparisons tell me that many BJs foods are priced at a level comparable to Aldi's, and certainly cheaper than big supermarkets like Stop & Shop or Big Y.
So I wrote to BJs customer service yesterday and explained...
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It is a done deal.  My house is free and clear. 😀
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Thank you to everyone who has  been on this journey with me, you know how difficult it's been, how long it's been and I'm just so excited to share with you. 
My bonus hit my account today and I paid $2000 (all of it) on my student loans . Once the payment post which will probably be either be Friday or Monday, my new balance will be just over $12,000. I'm hoping that with my first job, my full-time job, that I get a bonus. If I do, I'm throwing it all at the student...
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So our govt gave students 20% off their loans this year and if you paid them off after the 1 june then you got the 20% in cash...I paid mine off in august...was waiting for the 20% but it took to long so just paid it off. So I ended up with around $5400 to add to our savings...so that was nice.
Christmas shopping is done although hubby had his phone stolen yesterday so annoyed as he has only had it 6 weeks so now we have to get another one today so frustrating...hopefully we can...
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I've had my November recap done for a while, but I just keep forgetting to post. 
Here's how it shook out:
My largest expense, as almost always, was housing, but right after that was gifts and charity. I donated to two of my grandchildren's college funds, and my son had a birthday.
Utilities were a little low, since my gas bill did not hit until December 1. Right after that was vacation expense, most of which was attributed to my trip to Oregon, which wrapped around the...
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I have been a little discouraged lately, so I haven't been blogging.  I'm still struggling and making bad choices.  I can see that I really need to get serious but I also need to figure out WHY I am not making this a top priorty.  
 
 
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One of my volunteer groups is planning a little holiday luncheon next week at one of my favorite local eateries. Just 5 of us. 
I've become inspired to try to make some tree ornaments made out of pinecones, cinammon sticks, berries and ribbons. I just need to get the cinammon sticks. I also have some small white birch logs sitting in the driveway since summer and I want to cut a few slices of them up to serve as a small base for a pinecone "tree."
I stopped at Tractor Supply...
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