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After this week, I can start breathing. Last week I finished up a week long class and this week has lots of things happening including big furniture moving which we hired the labor for, we can't be moving all these heavy things up and down stairs. Last week was a week long extensive training with just a few assignments to submit. 
I also stopped in to the campus at another college where I will have one year contract starting in the fall. This does mean that once I've completed...
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Happy belated Mother's Day! I worked yesterday, so this morning I drove to BR & took my parents out for brunch. It was a nice brunch & we had an awesome waiter. I usually pick a 20% tip by default, but he was such a nice young man that I picked the highest percentage that they offered for a tip, 25%. My mom had the Spanish omelet, I had the shrimp omelet, and my dad had the Southern breakfast.
We stopped at Trader Joe's after brunch & picked up a few things. My mom...
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I had a really nice Mother's Day, with a salmon luncheon prepared by the "chefs" at my son's house and a lovely cash gift of $100! I was going to put it in the bank but decided to hang onto it as cash, since I don't know how this debt ceiling thing is going to go. Even a small disruption in Social Security would make life difficult for me. I hope it won't happen, but I probably won't rest easy till it's all over.
Today I got a car wash ($4) and gas ($28) and bought band-aids ($7)....
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Received $124 bank interest
Received $304 I Bond interest
 
Snowflakes to Investments:
--Redeemed $43 credit card rewards (cash back) from our grocery card 
--Redeemed $142 cash back on Citi card
--Redeemed $11 cash back on dining out/gas card 
 
Other Snowflakes to Investments:
+ $8 Savings from Target Red Card (grocery purchases)
 
TOTAL: $204 Snowflakes to Investments
 
401k Contributions/Match:
+$935
 
Snowball to Savings/Investments:
+$1,300...
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Wow, I haven't posted in quite awhile!
Lots of Ideas - I noticed your comment below in Petunia100's last post and I'm wondering if would elaborate?  I'm going to need to get a mortgage at some point in the near future and am curious about the two scenarios you described.  Thanks!
As far as financing, if the bank won’t finance such a small amount, you could reserve the cash, borrow a larger amount, then use the reserve to pay it down. You would earn interest on...
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So as you know, I have decided I want to retire to the place both of my kids are now living.  Exactly when has been up in the air.  Lately, I have been thinking that at 56.25, I am not so very far away from 59.5, that magic age where carefully following 72t rules will no longer be required.   So, why not try to plan my retirement date around that?  Can I make it work?  I have been crunching numbers, and I think that I can.
If I work from now until...
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begin - my beginning checking account balance
pr - my net payroll check
SB - my contribution towards our joint living expenses
cash - cash for gas, personal, and misc
sf - automatic transfers to sinking funds scheduled for 5/16/23
Citi MC - the balance this time included $52.68 for gas, $33.33 for Papa Murphy's, and $27.54 for groceries at Safeway.  We house sat last week, plus Birth Mom was here for a visit.  We spent more than usual for groceries and...
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In today's hyper-connected world, small business owners have access to an overwhelming amount of information about what their competitors are doing. It's easy to get caught up in what others are doing and to try to emulate their successes, but this approach can be detrimental to your own business. The truth is that the best small business practices are the ones that are tailored to your own unique business and customer base.
Instead of obsessing over what others are doing, it's...
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I had a brief vacation at my brother's house in Michigan this past weekend. I hadn't seen him since Thanksgiving, so it was good to do some catching up.
I spent $36 on gas and food. Also, my IPass replenished automatically, and that was $40.
Yesterday I bought a new doorknob set for one of my interior doors. It was $15. I installed it myself; fingers crossed that it will hold!
Today I'm heading out for groceries. It is a $20 week, so I won't be getting much!
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Been a while since I have posted. I have no signifgant debt to speak of really. I am worried about my retirement funds being eaten up by inflation. I hate the taxes as well.
The car is 10 years old but it is a Subaru and seems to be running fine. Thank goodness the mortgage is paid in full. 
I try to keep credit card purchases down to a minimum. Everything gets paid off completely every month. Interest on loans and credit cards are the killers of wealth. 
If i can...
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I enjoy following your budgets so much that I thought I'd give it a go at sharing mine. I know that I put more on credit cards than this budget accounts for, so I really need to get better at actually accounting for my expenses. Now that I write that, I realize that I had nothing in my budget for travel or shopping, which is definitely not correct. In fact I just spend $800 on booking ballet & plane tickets for NYC in July. 🩰 ✈️ 🚖 
rent $1712
utilities $100
auto...
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Since I don't know if I'll be able to recover my lost entries, let's try this for a third time. Third time's the charm, right?
Retirement investments $1,156,452
Brokerage investments $81,542 
Savings $26,551
Total $1,264,545
My brokerage account is set aside for a future home purchase and my cash savings is earmarked for future car purchases. I put $500 into each every month.
I hope to not have to buy another car until 2032, which is when all cars are projected to be...
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I got an email that my new checking account is now paying 5.25% interest which may finally motivate me to start using my debit card. I haven't used a debit card for a very long time. I have to make 15 credit card transactions in order to qualify, which seems like a lot!
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Just testing because I'd hate to type out another lengthy blog only to lose it again.
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I had a pretty severe medical emergency a few weeks ago that required surgery and a hospital stay. I'm finally back home and slowly healing. My sister is here from Texas to help me for a while. My brother, other family and friends have been so amazing through this whole ordeal. I am so thankful for them!
I am also thankful for the excellent health insurance I have. I pay a pretty penny for it every month, but most everything is covered except for some co-pays. Some of the statements...
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I was out for a work conference all all the ladies carried, Gucci, YSL, Fendi or Louis Vuitton handbags. I'll admit I felt ashamed, out of place. I hate feeling like this. 
I said a little prayer and asked God to take the need/want of having what others have away from me. It's hard. 
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I've been feeling pretty productive the last few days.
Today, I had an electrician come by to do 3 small jobs (switch out 2 upstairs hall ceiling light fixtures and fix an exterior light and put on a new fixture for it) and he'll be returning to do 2 more things: install a new digital thermostat for the family room (to replace the old rotary dial thingie) and install a whole house surge protector, which is really not that expensive. He was very affordable, and even informed me...
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I can't believe April is over already! Here is how my spending went:
Housing - $769
Utilities - $220
Fees & Services - $201 (license plates, Sam's Club)
Gifts/Charity - $108 (Easter dinner, postage for donations, Wikipedia)
Household Supplies - $96 (water filters, laundry detergent)
Car - $89 (oil change, two car washes)
Clothing/Accessories - $70 (walking shoes)
Groceries - $45 (this was low because Easter dinner provided many leftovers)
Vacation/Travel - $44 (day...
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Debts
Mortgage −$114,862.67 (-$243.36)Land Loan -$10,111.59 (-$188.36)Hospital Bill - $1,041.41 (-$94.44)
Savings
Roth IRAs +$26,232 (+$577)401K +$49,947 (+$1,533)Emergency Fund +$8,188 (+$1,292)Animal Fund +$1,206 (-$495)Car Fund +$20 (-$0)HSA +$885 (+$143)
Overall: +$3,576.16
The month looks better on paper than it actually was. The market is up, but our general budget money is down. Unfortunately my dog was acting a bit off so I took him to the vet and shockingly...
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Pretty good gain in retirement, about $10K this month. Coast FIRE now showing as 10 years away vs. 11 last month!
It's a very interesting and weird time for us financially. I wish I had time to blog here more frequently about it, but I've got so many things going on that I never get around to it! Let's see if I can sum up...
- Both units of our separate rental property are going vacant May 1. We think we have a renter lined up for June or July for one side; the other side's had...
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