All Entries

begin - checking account previous ending balance ($1,500) plus interest ($0.38)
pr - net payroll check
SB - my contribution towards joint household expenses
cash - coming in low again, mainly due to gas savings from teleworking
sf - automatic sinking funds deposits
house DP - a tiny house down payment fund contribution
roth - Roth IRA contribution @10% of gross income
Citi MC - the balance on my Citi MC.  This amount includes a pen for Gilligan ($300.25), a collar...
[ Read More ]

Not much going on in my life.  Just plugging along paying down debt little by little.  Saving a few dollars and adding to 401 k and roth Ira.
 
[ Read More ]

Talk me off the cliff. I am getting the new car itch. I just paid over $2k to fix my car, actually close to $3k and I have almost 300k miles on it. She runs good and the mechanic told me it’s a good car. 
 
It sucks because I recently used my CC it redo the kitchen, the under-sink cabinet collapsed and all others were falling off the hinges. If I could have held off I would have, but when the base of the cabinet collapsed I knew it was time. I have the cash but...
[ Read More ]

I'm happy to report that my single-premium immediate annuity is now in place and I've received my first monthly direct deposit into my checking account. They are deducting taxes for me, so my net is a bit lower than $1,000, at $932, but I'll surely appreciate it at tax time.
I am treating this like any other "paycheck," even though I am paying myself! It certainly feels like a paycheck, and I have absolutely no regrets about deciding to go this route.
Hopefully I will live a...
[ Read More ]

So here's a pic of my new car:

Can you see it peaking out from underneath all of that snow?  It won't be going anywhere for awhile.  
We went down to Rancho Cordova and stayed in a hotel for 2 nights, afraid that if we didn't we would get snowed in and stuck for the duration.  We returned home yesterday. Of course, the power is out.  Who knows for how long.  Today is the 4th day.  During the last big storm we had in late December 2021, we...
[ Read More ]

My net worth was down for February, though not as much as expected. My investments were down & cash savings slightly up.
Net Worth: $1,218,479
Change: $-27,325
I don't include cash in checking which is about $15,000 between the two accounts. Nor do I include depreciating assets like my car.
Capital One paid my promo bonus of $100 for opening my savings account, so I took out another $10k to open a second CD while the rate is at 5.00%. I didn't want to pull anymore until...
[ Read More ]

I have put off getting a root canal until I can no longer put it off.  The tooth is infected and the root canal is the only way to get rid of the infection, according to my dentist.  I tried a round of antibiotics but that didn't heal it.  At least I am not in any pain.  I hope to have it done early next week.
I have been trying to eat from what I have at home and have been avoiding the grocery store.  I have a ton of food so it shouldn't be a problem. ...
[ Read More ]

Not a very interesting net worth update... our net worth went up by about $1300, mainly due to debt paydown, which means no Coast FIRE progress. Not much ground gained on paying down our tax bill but other than that things are fairly stable. Hopefully we'll make some progress worth writing about sometime soon!



Assets
 
 
 


NT's UK pensions:
 
 
 


AV1: 22,397 pounds
$27,996
 
 


SW: 30,864 pounds
$38,580
 
 


AV2:...
[ Read More ]

My company pays our year-end bonus for the prior year in the second paycheck of February--if we get a year-end bonus.  Bonuses are company-wide and based on whether the company met its profit-margin goal.  Most years, but not every year, we get a bonus, and the bonus is the same (in terms of % of salary) for everyone.
The 2022 bonus was 15% of 2022 pay.  I'm using the extra to pay down some debt.  I'm still in process of that, since some payments hit my accounts...
[ Read More ]

May I have very few months like this one! My total spending was not only above income, but above several months' income.
Of course, the main reason was buying a new (to me) car. But that wasn't the only thing.....
Here's the recap:
Auto Expenses - $7548 (down payment, repairs)
Housing - $769
Utilities - $234
Medical/Health - $204 (Urgent care, x-ray, MRI, prescription)
Gifts/Charity - $107 (birthday, gift to AHA)
Groceries - $101 (inclues Girl Scout cookies)
Vacation/Travel...
[ Read More ]

Income Total: $1440.00


      $1200 Recurring monthly retirement account distribution  


      $225 Swagbucks and My Points earnings (cash out to PayPal)
      $15 Product Reimbursement Check


       


Total Spending: $1324.62
Total Saving: $115.38


 Fixed Expenses: Verizon bundle (internet, cable): $167.43
Verizon...
[ Read More ]

I had a disconcerting experience with an area small business merchant.
Over the holidays, I was gifted a number of items from a very nice, upscale gift shop (you might call it a boutique) in my area. It's actually not the kind of place I would shop at, as the prices are kind of high and filled with things I wouldn't normally buy myself: pretty scented candles, a curated clothing collection, colorful change purses made in Nepal, handbags, scarves, miniature felted animals and the...
[ Read More ]

Debts
Mortgage −$115,348.80 (-$242.19)Land Loan -$10,490.20 (-$183.04)Hospital Bill - $1,210.85 (+$22.83)
Savings
Roth IRAs +$25,199 (+$2,261)401K +$45,670 (-$1,158)Emergency Fund +$6,633 (+$1,835)Animal Fund +$1,696 (+$5)Car Fund +$20 (-$0)HSA +$449 (-$934)
Overall: +$2,411.40
It's kind of depressing that despite a $9k tax return this is all our net worth went up. A lot of our retirement contributions were offset by market loss. HSA contributions were over shadowed...
[ Read More ]

I don't know if you recall, but about a year ago my medical center signed a 10% retention bonus for my occupation because we kept losing people. We later received a big boost after a salary survey which equates to a little over 16%. We've been able to hire some employees since then so I expect that the retention bonus will lapse this month. This year we also got a 4% annual increase & they are already discussing an 8% increase  for next year. 
The extra money was...
[ Read More ]

I am just so sick of it all.  Everything.  Just every darn thing.  One after another after another.  Murphy can just be drawn and quartered and whipped and boiled and hung from the neck until dead and take his stupid law with him to the grave.  We cannot catch a break.  Every time it looks like we will, like we are getting ahead, like we will have a little extra money to start saving for some big goals and a real family vacation, we get slammed by...
[ Read More ]

First car deal ended up falling through for the in-laws.  Probably for the best.  We hadn't realized that they were still working through 2020 recalls and don't know when they would have got the new battery.  MH and I were feeling a little bad about not doing our homework on that.  We just presumed they were further along.
I really didn't know why they needed MH and was hoping they'd just go pick up a car if we found one.  MH did find a car with only 8,000...
[ Read More ]

Wow. My last post was in November. So much has happened since then, both good and bad.
I mentioned in my last post that my wife was having surgery on December 7. That happened and went relatively smoothly. The surgeon took skin and muscle from her left leg to graft onto her face. The face has been healing up nicely and really didn't give her any trouble at all. The harvest site on the leg, however, was/is much more challenging. That was very painful. It's slowly gotten better...
[ Read More ]

Wow can you believe it they have completed both years of our taxes so they have finally caught up...we got less than we thought but thats okay...we will see what they changed when we get the letters in from them...we did ask that the money be deposited into our US acct but so far nothing has been put in...not sure how long it takes...just hoping they don't send cheques as they don't cash them over here anymore...and I had it written 3 times in bold letters all over our paperwork...so...
[ Read More ]

Yesterday, I went to the state flower and garden show at the convention center with a friend of mine, M. It was nice to wander around there for a few hours on an especially dreary, gray, late winter day. Lots of stuff to see. My friend bought the admission tickets and treated me to lunch at a New York-style deli/restaurant. I have treated him to lunch a few times when going out with my father, so this was nice.


Updates on a few outstanding things going on in my life:
1. I...
[ Read More ]

Yesterday I met BFF in the middle city. We had lunch and took a long walk in the mall. The lunch was $16 and I had enough leftovers for two more meals. I also spent $22 on gas, and I bought earring backs at Claire's for $7. I also bought a cable for charging my phone in the car, but it was the wrong one, so I returned it.
This morning I did my grocery shopping at Mariano's since I needed popcorn. I spent $32, and in addition to the popcorn I bought apples, crackers, 5 cans of...
[ Read More ]