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In the world of personal finance, making decisions about where to allocate your money can be a bit of a puzzle. One might argue that I should have applied this extra cash towards my student loans, but there's something about paying extra on my mortgage that I just can't resist. I've been doing it consistently for over a year now, and today was no exception.
 
Earlier today, I made an additional payment of $60.35 towards the principal of my mortgage. It might seem...
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When I posted my credit card balance a few people in the comments gave some really good ideas and tips for us to help us get out of debt faster. One of them was to open new credit cards with 0% interest offers and do balance transfers. And yes, while to do that the math makes sense, the reality is I don’t trust myself not to fall back into bad habits.
We are working hard to get out of debt right now and I think we are making decent progress and making better and wiser financial...
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Checked my student loan balance and today it’s $31,381.61, of that interest is $23.61, on average the daily interest is about $5.90 a day. By Friday next week, the interest accumulated would be about $76.70, smh. I’m thankful that I can make payments, about $600 a month, but I tell you this sucks. Goal is to have this loan paid off by the end of next year. 
 
Changing gears, this was supposed to be a no spend month and it’s costing me. 
 
A...
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I made it to Fred Meyer and they ended up having some sales that were not on their advertising so I got more than I had planned on.  I also took advantage of being there to get some other things that came out of the household and the clothing envelopes.  But this is for groceries and I spent $92.48 on that.  This is what I got:
1 Mega Boxes Cheerios
1 quart of McClures Garlic Dill Pickles
4 quarts of low sodium Miracle Whip
1 Simply Orange orange juice
1 Naked...
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I don’t know where I got mixed up but my software didn’t match the balances of my account and what appeared online. In many cases I had less. It all started when my account was hacked and I had to create a new account using my software and I wasn’t balancing but checking my accounts online. Either way I’m back on track. 
 
I also started declutterring all the paper I have accumulated over the last couple of years. I’ve scanned and shredded...
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The busy week of medical appointment ridiculousnous is almost over.  One more appointment in 2 hours and then nothing more until the 11th.  At least nothing more for me.  DH can toddle himself off to his physical alone.
So I just took an inventory of what is left in my refrigerator and it is looking pretty good on not having too much food waste.  We had no leftovers to toss out since last payday.  It wasn't perfect.  I did have to throw out some old...
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Investments $1,277,331
Cash Savings $29,599
Total $1,306,930
Monthly Loss/Gain -$55,424
Quarterly Loss/Gain -$33,096
July was such a promising month, but it's been downhill since then. At least the interest rates on savings is paying a little more. I may lock in some more money in CDs before interest rates start dropping.
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My student loan payment of $109.75 hit today so my new balance is $31,369.81. I’m hoping to get the balance below $31k by the end of the month. 
 
I also read that the Biden-Harris administration just approved another round of student loan forgiveness.  It includes forgiveness for 51,000 borrowers enrolled in income-driven repayment plans; I am enrolled in this program,  fingers crossed that I get the forgiveness, if not I’m still...
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Today marked a day of a lesson learned on finances,  I had to call the plumber to fix my garbage disposal, which resulted in a $40 bill for simply pressing the reset button. It turns out, my initial suspicion might have been right, but with an electrical issue and a disposal problem, I felt it was best to call for help. I am still counting today as a no spend day  Lesson learned!
Shifting gears, I managed to squeeze in a workout session, successfully checked off all...
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I reviewed our 9/30 Vanguard statements. Year to date our Vanguard accounts generated a combined $44,318.96 in investment income (interest, dividends, capital gains). Our Ally account paid another $1,488.71 for a total of $45,807.67.About 70% of our total portfolio is with Vanguard. I haven't looked at the other 30%, and a lot of that is taxable mutual funds that will pay out most of their income in December.
That means we're on track for our portfolio to generate $75-80,000...
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Since No Spend September is over I want to give myself another challenge. I want to have 10 no spend days in the month of October. I mean real no spend days: no bills, no gas, no grocery shopping, nothing.
This is more than doable, but it will definitely take some planning. I’m going to print out a blank calendar for October and then put my bill due dates on it. Then I will try to make needed purchases on those days, much like the idea of combining trips when you are trying...
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Day 2 and I didn't spend a thing, I'm so happy. I was really tempted to buy a few items but remembered that I had committed to not spending on things I didn't need. I went to Aldi to get grapes, their grapes are always seeet and a lot less. Any way I  was heading to Walmart to pick up a few other grocery items when I decided to purchase the bacon from Aldi. It was $3 less than what I would have paid at Walmart and $4 less than Publix. I hope it's good. 
Headed to...
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I must say, I am enjoying the heck out of my new Halloween themed blog design and avatar.  I know we can't do a ton of customizing, but I felt like getting into the holiday spirit a little bit this year.  Not enough to decorate the house or anything, never a good idea when you won't be there for trick or treaters, but enough to do this.
Anyway, today I had my wellness visit so that is now out of the way.  I have to go get my blood work done tomorrow along with the...
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Love the beginning of the month we manage to pay all our bills and then don't have to worry about them...except our rent but we just put it into an account it it gets taken straight out, so don't have to worry about it...have managed to put $1000 into our ice acct and $500 into savings (yes I am doing them both at the same time) and although I haven't made payments to the CC yet this month, we still have 2 paydays so I am hoping to put between $1000-$1500 on it this month...fingers...
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Exciting news! My student loan payment has finally posted, and guess what? My new balance is a thrilling $31,441! 🎉 
 
Since my payment on 9/29, the interest accrued is  $17.75, which means my loan is now accumulating under $6 a day in interest. 💰 
 
There's more good news! I received an unexpected check for $200. I immediately put $100 towards my student loan, $25 into my emergency fund, treated myself to $20, and the rest went towards paying...
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Our grocery budget during No-Spend September was brutal! We did our last shopping trip on Saturday 9/30. Technically I could have played the game and not gone grocery shopping until Sunday, but either way, the money was going to be spent. We were at about $420 and spend another $198, so actually over our normal budget of $600. We spent (roughly) $618 on groceries for the month.
We got 6 gallons of milk, Greek yogurt, raspberry, oranges, apples, asparagus, artichokes, 4 loaves...
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I'm back from a wonderful weekend away about 4 hours north of New Orleans in a beautiful little town called Natchitoches. It's actually the oldest settlement in Louisiana and where they filmed the movie Steel Magnolias. They have a nice downtown on Front Street which runs along the Cane River. I had an event to attend & they also have the car festival this weekend. I saw some really beautiful old cars.
Next week I'll be in Napa Valely, then Lake Tahoe. I'm looking forward...
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October 1st is here, and I'm absolutely pumped to kickstart this month! Today marks day one of my financial reboot, and guess what? I didn't spend a single cent, not even on that tempting bacon!
 
As I dive into crunching the numbers, I can see that some spending categories were over the top, while others fell short. It's crystal clear—I need to step up my game.
 
One thing that's been bothering me is the delay in my student loan payment posting. It's infuriating...
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I haven't done this in forever either.  I won't update my medical fund, because right now it is fluid as we are using it to purchase things for our current medical expenses, but I will be opening up a non-fluid sub-savings account Medical Fund #2 to start saving for next year's deductible when I make my deposit in October for medical.  So here is the list of the amounts of money currently in each fund or envelope.
I keep it in an envelope in the safe until it hits $1000...
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I haven't done this in a long time, and I'm picking a paycheck from a three paycheck month that is missing all the regular deductions except taxes and retirement and one with a lot of overtime on it, giving us a little over $2K above a normal paycheck, but we purchased a lot of items this month on the Citi card that were much needed and DH had to get round trip plane tickets to Salt Lake City.
Those will get refunded eventually and to pay for his hotel in advance.  His company...
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