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Ended the month with a bang.
For 31 days I challenge myself not to eat out and did just that. It was tough but I did it. So I transferred $31 from my cash envelopes to a saving challenge envelopes.

My word of the year is Fearless, the challenge was to save the amount corresponding with each letter (number) of the alphabet. For example A is the first letter so $1, F is the 6th so $6. Doing this I saved $61 and to my challenge envelope.

Next I started the 52 week challenge...
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Goal: $784,772 by March 2024

Current retirement balance: $542,038

December 2019 balance: $541,036

Progress since last update: $1,002

Still needed: $242,734

This interim goal is based on getting my and NT's retirement to 4x our salaries (currently $75,120 and $64,118) by the time we turn 50 and AS's retirement values to 3x her annual income ($75,940 in 2018) by the time she turns 45.
$75,120 x 4 = $300,480
$64,118 x 4 = $256,472
$75,940 x 3 = $227,820

It will...
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Assets:
NT's UK pensions:
AV: 22,397 pounds ($27,996)
SW: 29,047 pounds ($36,309)
FL: 6,462 pounds ($8,078)
NT's 401(k): $87,170
NT's Roth IRA: $42,969
AS's trad. IRA: $21,755
AS's Roth IRA: $64,813
AS's SEP IRA: $42,998
CJ's 401(k): $162,413
CJ's Roth IRA: $47,537
NT's flat: $212,500 (200,000 pounds value x1.25 -15%)
CJ/NT/AS house: $427,281 ($454,554 value -6%)
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TOTAL ASSETS: $1,181,819

Debts:
US Mortgage $373,430
Loan from friends (duplex) $9,000
UK Mortgage...
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Well, the lead story for today is that my refund check from the warranty company is already in my hands! The guy at the dealership called me this morning, and I went and picked it up. It is more than I remembered -- $874. This is going to help out a lot. I'll be able to pay all my bills this month without juggling money around.

I went to the doctor this morning. It was no charge, since it was my Medicare Wellness Assessment. Everything is fine, but I have to do some labs....
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For the month of January 2020:

10 gym workouts
2 outdoor runs

12/30/19 weight: 185.7
1/31/20 weight: 181.4

I'm happy with those numbers. Now to keep it up in February and keep that weight number going down.
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No, not on money stuff. I have been trying to be a good citizen and watch all of this impeachment stuff and I did watch all of the opening arguments, but my gosh, I'm only 3 hours into yesterday's livestream of the question asking and it is so mind-numbingly tedious I just don't think I can do it anymore. I feel sorry for those poor senators. They don't get near enough breaks. They must have bladders of steel. I hope none of them have circulation issues because I can just...
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Another in a series of NS days. A few of my students told me today they often spend $7-10 on lunch at school. Frankly, I was a bit amazed and pulled my homemade salad in plastic ware out of my bag. Frugal, delicious, and healthy with last night's leftover green beans, dried cranberries, turkey, cukes, and romaine. More cold walks to the free parking today, but it's probably pretty good exercise.

I cashed $25 out of Swagbucks which went into the Big Goal Fund--bringing it over $6125.
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I'm so mad. My neighbor has brought me three packages that were delivered to her address, not mine, because the labels were screwed up. Why? Because my address has a 1/2 in it. Oh yes. It contains the dreaded slash, an "improper symbol" that a whole lot of address formatting systems will not accept. So people on the mailing end get creative, and my mail goes to Timbuktu.

Three packages is bad enough, but this morning I learned that the $800 check from the warranty company...
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HR hosted a Medicare webinar this week that all colleagues were invited to attend. Though I’m a decade away from Medicare, I’m not knowledgeable about it and it’s an aspect of retirement planning I should consider. So I attended. I was surprised at how few people attended and I think I was the youngest one. The person presenting the information was not from the company but from an organization that offers Medicare consulting services. The positive aspect of that is that she...
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When you are inside a developing hill associated with credit debt, you might use debt consolidation reduction companies or even you might attempt to negotiate financial debt difficulties on your own as well as help to make your personal financial debt decrease strategy. Actually, self-help may be beneficial, because by doing this you are able to conserve extra cash and never have to spend a business for his or her providers.

Produce a Financial debt Decrease Strategy within...
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When you are inside a developing hill associated with credit debt, you might use debt consolidation reduction companies or even you might attempt to negotiate financial debt difficulties on your own as well as help to make your personal financial debt decrease strategy. Actually, self-help may be beneficial, because by doing this you are able to conserve extra cash and never have to spend a business for his or her providers.

Produce a Financial debt Decrease Strategy within...
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I noticed something financially wonderful today – the company’s stock value increased by $2 / share!

This helps me in two ways:
(1) I have company stock within my 401k account so the account's overall value took a jump in the right direction, crossing the next $100k milestone.
(2) I have some company stock options that are now worth more - on paper at least because most of them aren’t yet vested. But it has the potential to be a chunk of change in a few years.

I'm...
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Iggy has an upper respiratory infection, very treatable. He got an antibiotic shot, as well as a B-12 shot, and today he seems much more comfortable. His weight has gone up a little and his vitals are good.

While the vet was looking him over, she saw the tears in my eyes, and she quickly said, "Oh no, today is not the day!"

I am so relieved, and so happy to have more time with this sweet boy.

The vet charged me only for the injection, which was $50.

In the evening,...
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It looks like my adjunct class on Women and Lit will not adequately enroll. But the director of that institution asked if I'd teach Urban Cinema that term. Ugh. I taught it once before, so I have some material ready; however it is not my favorite subject. It's not wonderful pay, but it would help with DD's upcoming college expenses. But it's a lot to balance with my regular teaching and admin at my "real" job. I think I have a few days to decide.

On the job front, I'm...
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Well did the budget over the weekend...and we decided that we would cover the rent and our daughter will pay 1/3 of the gas/water/elec and we pay the rest...but we pay a lot of rent each month so we also did the figures if we moved back to the area we use to live in or at least closer as everyone we use is still in that area. So in july we are thinking of moving back there depending on what is available and if we can find something to suit us...it would save us alone over $5000...
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A few days ago I went to make a cash deposit in person at a PNC branch. The teller behind the counter made the deposit as typical but then began asking me about credit cards. Do I use rewards credit cards for everyday purchases? Was I aware that PNC had a rewards card? Etc. “We want to make sure we’re meeting your needs.” Yeah right.

I don’t know if I’m just a grouch, but I don’t like being treated like a sales prospect while I’m conducting business. Sam’s Club...
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So you are tired of having more bills at the end of the month then money and it just seems like you are in over your head every single month. Having more month then money is leaving you feeling financially frozen but defrosting the bitter coldness of being tight financially takes skill and know how. The skill is very easy to learn and once you know how, you can vow to live with financial maturity. Some find a personal budget to be restrictive but on the flip side it can be a...
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When it comes to money management everyone seems to have an idea of what works best. While all of those ideas are great in theory none of them seem to matter to most people when it’s payday and a really hot pair of shoes are staring at them from a shops window. The three things that have seemed to finally work for me and allowed me to go on lavish trips, shopping sprees and finally move out west was having a savings account not linked to my checking, creating a budget and setting...
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1. Setting your goal

It is important to set a realistic and achievable goal. What do you want to get from your savings? How much can you save? When do you need the money back? You might want to save a set amount by a target date or save up for a specific thing like a special day out or a new car. Your savings goal will help determine which account is best for you. If you have more than one goal you could use different accounts for each one.

2. Comparing savings rate

Banks...
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DH and I decided to take a day off work the week of Valentine's Day. I prepped our taxes on TurboTax, but since he was deployed overseas for a big part of the year and it's our first year with our son, I want to make sure that we did it correctly. We're going to base in the morning to have their tax center check over everything, and then in the afternoon, we're just going to catch up on sleep and our shows. We're both super exhausted, so it'll be a nice break and a chance for us...
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