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...
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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...
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In my journey to financial independence, I have followed a bunch of blogs on personal finance, minimalism, and the like, and have read a couple of books from financial experts like Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman, etc. Admittedly, I have struggled with my finances almost all of my adult life, particularly consumer/credit card debt. I shopped for all reasons imaginable – celebration, when I’m happy, to temporarily ease sadness, because it’s 20% off, and a lot more.

As I grew...
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Since I’ve gotten my first paycheck of the year, I’m checking the accuracy of my deductions. The company where I work had an enrollment period for our 2020 benefits during November. As typical, health insurance premiums increased some. Most other benefits remained the same. But there was one odd change – the company’s contribution to our HSA accounts DECREASED by 500 bucks. No explanation. That’s like a small pay cut. I don’t like when negative changes are implemented...
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My FSIL found a lot of good deals with Walmart and Target after Christmas clearance.

Target
Chapstick Holiday Collection 3pk (Bought 15)
Regular Price $2.99
We paid + Tax = $.31
(Marked $3.00 each for rummage sale)

Frozen II Snowflake Hairbow (Bought 1)
Regular Price $8.99
We paid + Tax = $.95
(Marked $4.00 each for rummage sale)
*ETA - Sold for $4.00 on FB on 1/12/20
Profit = $3.05

Hersheys Kisses Flavored Lip Balm 2pks (Bought 5)
Regular Price $4.99
We...
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Added in FB Sales and some interest. Heading to vacation at the end of the week in Laughlin so will be taking out for that, but very happy with where we are at right now!

Current Balance $17,230.00
+$175.00 FB Sales
+$50.00 MO Payday (1/17)
+$11.59 Interest to Local Savings
+$8.41 Even Out Amount
Balance $17,475.00

Local Savings $8550.00
GC Savings $540.00
Capital 360 Savings (US) $2855.00
Capital 360 Savings (Mom Loan Payback Account)$3180.00
Capital 360 Savings...
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Several sales picked up this week and a LOT more waiting to be picked up. I also posted all of my Valentines Day items today and they have been selling great!!

Total sales for the week were $280.00!!


Sale #1613 (PW) $20.00
Sharpie Limited Edition 30ct Set (Joint with my Bro) - We paid $10.70
Sold for $20.00
Profit = $9.30

Sale #1614 (AZ) $83.00
Mainstays Carry All Tote (Joint with my FIL) - We paid $3.22
Sold for $6.00
Profit = $2.78

Bath and Body Foaming...
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I finally pulled the trigger on refinancing my government student loans. My application was approved and the scheduled date for everything to go through is in late January. My current servicer, Great Lakes, takes forever to process payments, so I don’t expect the process to be finished until early Feb. I have one final payment to Great Lakes in process right now for $1,944 (usual monthly amount), then in February I will start paying the new company. This will lower my interest...
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Iggy seems to be feeling pretty good, so the cortisone shot was the right call. Fingers crossed!

Today I was supposed to take GS1 to baseball coaching, but DIL forgot that DS is off work today, so he can do it. That frees me up to get some errands done, provided I can move the car away from the curb. (Mounds of ice to get through!)

I made sugar cookie dough yesterday and I will bake some today and freeze the rest. Otherwise, most of the day was spent reading and watching...
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So far this month I’ve paid off $664 on CC10, things are really moving along in the credit card 💳 front.

I’m also participating in a few saving challenges, word of the month, no dining out and, 52 Week Challenge.

Basically the word of the month, you select a word and the corresponding letter of the word in the alphabet you save. For example your word is save. S is the 19th letter, A is the first, so I’d save $19, and $1.

For each day I do not dine out, I add...
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I got some course prep done Saturday morning, caught up with laundry, and thought about tackling "the drawer of death" as my husband calls it. It's where insurance papers go to die as well as articles I somehow think I need to save and coupons, school announcements, and various horrors.

That's been pushed off for during today's football game. I figure it will be a bad game for us here in Cheeseland so DH and I will work through the drawer to distract us. I'm hoping to get...
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Every so often, I try to find different ways to save money. Not that I'm an expert, but after awhile, so many articles seem to say the same thing over and over. I do many of them. There are a couple I won't. One is we don't plan to give up cable. My husband doesn't drink, smoke, golf, gamble, or do any of these things that cost lots of money. He enjoys television and the shows that are on cable. I figure that is is entertainment and we can afford it. We rarely if ever go to a...
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Knock on wood, but the year is going well so far. More peace and quiet than I remember in *forever*.

I can't tell you what I am doing with this latest reset. Crossing my fingers that the tornado around me loses some steam? I'm trying to be more assertive with work hours? But... this only works when everyone isn't out with some emergency or other.

{I can't imagine what else I could possibly do within my realm of control. Which is why I am just at the point of crossing...
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Not a financial update but it has been raining here all day...might not sound like much but with the fires over here it is really helping out....and hopefully will we wet the ground enough that new fires wont start...
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They finally gave us extra help at work. We now have 2 providers for 4 hours per day on Monday, Friday, and weekends. It definitely helped yesterday as we saw 22 patients from 9-1 which I couldn't possibly have kept up with by myself. Now I just have to hope the volumes support adding a 2nd person on the remaining 3 days of the week since I work Tuesday and Thursday by myself.

We went out to dinner last night to a place we like. The restaurant sent out an email yesterday morning...
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Yesterday Iggy was sick all morning. He had uncontrollable diarrhea and he was vomiting, too. I decided to forgo the memorial service and take him to the vet. The vet checked him out and gave him fluids and a cortisone shot. The latter is risky for his condition, so I am watching him. The bottom line is, it may make him feel better, but it may hasten his kidney failure. It can go either way. I know he is near the end anyway. I just want him to feel better. If he doesn't,...
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Rolled my coins and I had a total of $29 dollars, not bad.

I can never understand why people take their coins to a coin machine to count and pay a fee. It took me just a little time to do so. Even before I was living a frugal life style, I never did this. To each it’s own.

The $29, went towards the remaining credit card debt. 😀

Friday is payday and I’ll be adding an extra $157 dollars to the credit card. I think by doing that, I’d pay an extra $800 this month...
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We haven't spent anything these last five days. When you can't easily get around town you don't tend to go out and purchase things. It's been a nice quiet weekend so far. The snow finally started melting. There are still patches of it, but you can also see patches of the ground and the road.

Of course with such a big snow melt, there is likely flooding in the county. There usually is. Hopefully it isn't too bad. We had about 10 inches in town so they probably had closer...
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Thank you all for the birthday wishes, I greatly appreciate it.

Yesterday was a very low key birthday celebration. I took $50 out of my slush account and bought two pairs of earrings, my last pair broke.

Then the SO insisted on taking me out for breakfast 🥞 so we did that. Next after breakfast I headed over to the used appliance store, in search of a dryer. Well I found one for $180. I was a little nervous but decided to purchase. As I was heading to over to pay, the...
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We got a dump of snow last night, but I hear snowblowers and shovels going even as I speak.

I am supposed to go to a memorial up in one of the northerly suburbs. I don't know how the roads are. I hope I can go because this man was married to a friend, another baseball grandma, who is suffering from Alzheimer's. It's so sad. I don't know what is going to happen to her now; he was taking care of her. He had skin cancer, but it was very unexpected, and it took him fast.

I...
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