All Entries

Received $98 bank interest 
Received $208 I Bond interest 
 
Snowflakes to Investments:
--Redeemed $40 credit card rewards (cash back) from our grocery card 
--Redeemed $128 cash back on Citi card
--Redeemed $10 cash back on dining out/gas card 
 
Other Snowflakes to Investments:
+ $8 Savings from Target Red Card (grocery purchases)
 
TOTAL: $186 Snowflakes to Investments
 
401k Contributions/Match:
+$1,035
 
Snowball...
[ Read More ]

I did try to post on Halloween.  But every time I did, my computer kept rebooting.  The internet was being obnoxious.  Even though I saved the copy in my drafts folder, I couldn't find it.  And while I had it in Word, I hadn't saved it yet, so lost it one of the reboots.  Obnoxious.
What it boils down to is when we knew a hard frost was coming, we went out and picked the last of the produce that we could and brought it into the house.  I processed...
[ Read More ]

Well, as I said before, November is going to be challenging. I have already spent 29% of my variables. That included a $30 medical copay, $20 in groceries, $10 for hair conditioner, $38 for deoderant (6-pack from Amazon), and $24 for a haircut. It also includes my medical premium and my streaming expenses, which are actually fixed, but it's just easier this way. Medical and entertainment categories include a lot of true variables and I'd rather not split the categories. Too much...
[ Read More ]

So November is going to be a very heavy spend month as we have so many things to pay...but I have managed to pay all the bills for the month except the dreaded CC I am hoping to pay between $1000-2000 this month (all going well), we have a tyre that we will get fixed monday and then I will put some on the CC on monday and then we have 2 more pays this month so will hopefully reach our goal and hopefully will be aid off or almost paid off by end of year...
[ Read More ]

It's been a positive week on the financial front. I treated myself to a rare indulgence today, enjoying a delicious pizza for $6.15.
Additionally, I successfully made my last mortgage payment for this year, which is the December payment, providing some peace of mind until January rolls around.
A recent visit to the dentist resulted in a credit applied to my account, which was a pleasant surprise.
In a gesture of goodwill, I found a lost wallet, managed to locate its owner, and...
[ Read More ]

A couple months ago I decided to try to keep track of my frugal wins. I don’t consider myself particularly frugal so sometimes it’s hard for me to come up with any ideas. In this edition I have included some frugal wins and some extra money-making opportunities we’ve had.
I challenged myself to have 10 no-spend days in October. I wanted it to be a day where we didn’t buy anything, didn’t pay any bills, didn’t buy gas, nothing. And we were successful…...
[ Read More ]

test 2
[ Read More ]

October was not a good month financially, but I had a lot of fun. I vacationed in Napa Valley & Lake Tahoe. I got back to dancing again with salsa & bachata lessons. I walked regularly. I lost weight. I looked at future homes. I still worry & pray about my mom, but I had more to sustain & relax me.
Investments $1,240,842
Cash Savings $30,218
Total $1,271,060
Monthly Gain/Loss -$35,869
My net worth dipped below $1.3 million, but I'm not worried.  I don't...
[ Read More ]

Well, I am moving forward with the purchase of this latest home.  The inspection report did turn up some things, but that is to be expected.  The list was not overly long and there are only two items which need to be addressed immediately.  Most of the items which need repair I was already aware of, as they are obvious.  (Some damage to the siding next to the patio, some trim around a window, etc.)  And the house could certainly use some cosmetic improvements. ...
[ Read More ]

The tadpole rescue continues.
Several dozen appeared in my father's rain barrel earlier in the summer. I have sunk a bucket in there to capture a few at a time....the tricky little things dive to the bottom when they see the shadow looming....and carry them 200 feet to a small brook that feeds into a pond on my sister's property. They don't seem to have increased in size at all, and I feel we are running out of time as they have nothing to eat in the rain barrel and we've had...
[ Read More ]

Housing
769


Utilities
206


Car
188


Clothing
119


Furn/Equip/Décor
95


Gifts/Charity
67


Vacation/Travel
47


Medical/Health
45


Phone
38


Entertainment
37


Groceries
33


Eating Out/Takeout
28


Gas
25


Personal
20


Vet/Pet Supplies
16


Laundry
14


Fares/Parking
2


 
 


Grand Total
1749



It wasn't a big-spending month, though it felt like it at times. The last...
[ Read More ]

I'm thrilled to announce that I've successfully made a $1,000 payment towards my student loan, bringing my new balance to $30,709.63, with just $5.78 in interest. I am so thankful 
Looking ahead to November, my goal is to reduce the balance to under $30,000. To achieve this, I'm planning to make a payment of $709, in addition to the expected interest of about $174. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping to meet this target.
[ Read More ]

All our retirement accounts went down again, but due to a silly error last month, the pain is a little less on our balance sheet. Seems like last month I typed in one of NT's retirement account balances incorrectly--in fact $10K less than the actual balance. So last month it appeared we lost $25K in net worth but actually "only" lost $15K. This month we lost $15K but because I corrected that error from last month, it looks like we only lost $5K. The net result is, we've lost $55K...
[ Read More ]

Debts
Mortgage -$113,411.71 (-$239.70)Land Loan -$8,969.19 (-$193.70)Hospital Bill -$591.41 (-$75)
Savings
Roth IRAs +$25,287 (-$1,114)401K +$50,619 (-$1,884)Emergency Fund +$7,111 (+$235)Animal Fund +$778 (+$3)Car Fund +$220 (+$200)HSA +$739 (+$51)
Overall: -$2,000.60
Market is down a lot. 
Car battery quit working and had to buy a new one, plus a rock hit my windshield and it will likely have to be replaced (happened on the same day), also need new tires sooner rather...
[ Read More ]

Sinking funds is definitely how we are getting ourselves out of debt. We put a good chunk of money into our sinking funds every month. On average, we allocate about $2300 per month into our sinking funds. Our categories are: household, car repair, kids, beauty, school, clothing, health, home repair and furniture, appliances, car insurance, new car, and Christmas.
To look at some of these funds, it’s easy to say if we didn’t have them we could get out of debt sooner,...
[ Read More ]

Between yesterday and today I was able to make $500 in student loan payments. I've met my goal of $1000 toward this debt for the month. For November I have to cut my monthly goal payment to $500. Which means I'd only pay about $300 on the principal. $200 would go to interest. I'm turning 50 next year and am planning a birthday dinner with friends and I want to pay cash for it. 
[ Read More ]

I presumed that we'd hit our 6% grocery reward cap about now.  Usually we switch to another credit card the last quarter of the year.  But apparently our grocery spending is down.  That is probably because MM(20) was gone most of the summer and DL(18) was paid for room/board at his summer job.
I am just wrapping up the month and noticed that we got a full 6% last weekend, on grocery run.   Doing the math, and it looks like we can probably squeeze out one...
[ Read More ]

I can't help but think student loan providers are acting like loan sharks. This daily compounding nonsense is beyond infuriating!
I set out to knock off $1,000 from this loan in October, and I achieved that milestone today with my $200 payment. When it eventually updates, my new balance, excluding the absurd estimated interest of $17, will stand at approximately $30,988.00. It's taken me a whopping 10 years of relentless payments, even during COVID, to finally dip below my original...
[ Read More ]

Not much going on.  Still payig down debt and contributing to retirement. 
[ Read More ]

We are trying to stay on top of our finances, part of that includes planning for our unusual spending each month.
Honestly, there isn’t a lot going on in November. We have our son’s 20th birthday, The Charles Dickens Christmas Faire, and Christmas to plan and pay for.
For our son’s birthday, he always chooses meals made at home over going out to dinner. We will have very minimal ingredients to buy because we almost always have all the ingredients on hand for...
[ Read More ]