All Entries

Last time I checked in (April), I was eyeing the possibility that we were only a couple years away from Coast FIRE. We had about $26K we'd taken out from HELOC and a zero-interest card for the kitchen reno, but I felt confident about paying it off.
Fast forward to early June. We expected we'd owe some taxes on the sale of the UK flat, but we'd already paid about $5K to the UK for capital gains, so we didn't think it'd be much in the US once they factored that in. We were wrong....
[ Read More ]

I traveled to TX a couple weeks ago to see my mom, and get a bunch of errands taken care of for her. I flew out on Friday, then on Saturday my brother and I spent the day together, partly at the local mall. Sunday we picked mom up and did a trip down memory lane ... By Monday night I was feeling very off. By Tuesday morning I was utterly miserable - but bro had to do meetings in the morning, so it was up to me to take mom to appointments.
Let's just say, I found out very fast...
[ Read More ]

Debts
Mortgage −$116,793.30 (-$238.74)Land Loan -$11,590.87(-$187.98)
Savings
Roth IRAs +$21,965 (-$189)401K +$42,353 (+$268)Emergency Fund +$8,524 (+$926)Maternity Fund +$1,070 (-$500)Animal Fund +$1,672 (+$2)Car Fund +$20 (-$0)HSA +$2,053 (-$163)
Overall: +$770.72
Got the bonus which we used to replenish the emergency fund and save more for our upcoming vacation. Raise negotiations are currently on hold due to a different plant strike. The good news is that they will...
[ Read More ]

My printer ran low on toner, so I bought a new cartridge from Amazon for $22. It looks intimidating. I haven't tried to install it yet. Till  now, I've been using the sample toner that came with the printer when I bought it at least a year ago. That sample served me well.
I bought an ice cream cone at McDonalds yesterday -- an impulse purchase, and I enjoyed every lick. I am still holding firm on grocery shopping, but this came out of Eating Out/Takeout, which I hadn't tapped...
[ Read More ]

My birthday was this past week.  As a single person, my birthday and Thanksgiving are the two ostensibly celebratory days of the year that I usually dread most--the days where you "expect" to be with others who care about you (but if you are single, you might not be).  But this year was actually a relatively good birthday.
When I opened the door that morning, my mail from the previous day was in the mailbox and included a watercolor painting of my cat Buffy done by a...
[ Read More ]

It's back to the grind tomorrow. I took off all a last week and enjoyed spending time with my family. My sister stayed the night with me Thursday, then flew back home Friday morning. We enjoyed low-key family time, talking, having lunch, watching movies. It was so relaxing. 
I had a terrifying experience on the spillway Monday night coming home. There was a tanker trucker that came up behind me, no headlights, with hazard lights flashing. I didn't know why his hazard lights...
[ Read More ]

On an evening news program, there was a report about grocery prices and inflation. The reporter claimed that the department of agriculture claimed that grocery prices are coming down and that the cost of eggs has dropped 60%. Also mentioned was chicken wings had dropped down to prices of over a year and a half ago. Yes, you read that correctly, that's what they reported. I was aghast. That was broadcast Tuesday night and I planned on grocery shopping the next day.
The week before...
[ Read More ]

2022 TALLY:
$15 AmEx Reward (for charing insurance)
$30 Citi Reward (for charging hotel) **pending**
------------
$45 TOTAL *ONE-TIME REWARDS*
**In addition, various monthly rewards that I will tally at 12/31
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I just redeemed the insurance reward and just signed up for the hotel reward, which will apply to college move-in.  The $30 reward just happens to be for spending the amount we booked the hotel for.  
I...
[ Read More ]

We just came home from the butcher and got everything squared away in the freezer and I've now done the math, so I can give you the breakdown on what we got and what we paid for our organic, pasture-raised meat.  Keep in mind this is not going to be the cheapest stuff you can get from the store, if you even still can.  These animals are not feed lot raised or even raised in a nice barn, but confined to a pen.
They are out there in the sunshine, with little shelters if...
[ Read More ]

MH finally got out of COVID jail.  He had been feeling completely fine for about a week but got his first negative on Wednesday.   Phew!  
The rest of us are fine.   I might have some time now to do anything else but cooking/dishes/domestics/kid stuff.  I have time for work again. Though MH was kind and ran to the grocery store the second his mom told him she tested positive.  We still have food for days.  I ran to the store over...
[ Read More ]

Our hog half is finally ready to be picked up, so DH and I will be going down on Saturday to pick it up.  DH was invited to go salmon fishing on Saturday, but he had to decline.  It's a little bit of a bummer, but the only other option was to take time off from work to go and he is too slammed to do that.
I am thinking about making it a date for DH and myself and going to Outback for a meal.  I miss Kookaburra wings so I would eat that, the veggies it comes with,...
[ Read More ]

Lord, I pray that I'm eligible for the student loan forgiveness. 
Biden made the announcement and I have no clue if I'm a part of the eligibility group. 
Fingers crossed s 
[ Read More ]

My current smart phone service with Verizon was recently increased from $59.89 a month to $67.79 per month. The reason for the increase was stated as “increased administration cost”, so I wasn’t really getting anything more. My monthly plan with Verizon included unlimited talk, text and I believe 5 GB of data. I was happy with them; the service was always very reliable. When I called them to discuss any other options to lower my bill, they basically said there...
[ Read More ]

I went to the gym yesterday, and afterwards walked over to Sam's Club. I didn't find what I was looking for -- folate supplements -- but I bought a twin-pack of body wash for $11. Then I drove to Walgreens and bought the folate -- a BOGO offer -- for $9. Variables are now at 63%.
I continue to avoid the grocery store. Yesterday I made stuffed peppers, and today I made vegetable rice soup. I am drinking my coffee black. I'm out of fresh fruit, but I do have prunes. I'm out of sweets,...
[ Read More ]

Cant believe we have a week till spring so over these cold dreary days..everything is starting to flower and bloom, we are startingour seedlings...have tried a new pot thing this year to start them from seeds s hopefully it works if not we will buy from the store and get it started...my daughter puts her seeds from her bell peppers in a plastic ziploc bag with water and paper towel so they will grow...we have the first lot done and they are in a pot growing...there were a lot and...
[ Read More ]

Friday's paycheck was the first one with the new raise on it and the net pay is now $3584.10, give or take a couple dollars here or there.  That was always the case with his old rate.  So that is a difference of $567.73 per paycheck or $1135.46 in a 4 week pay cycle.  And that comes to $14,760.98 a year in net pay.  That's a lot to work with.
So I am debating what to do.  I have some things I have to take care of, like $1000 of work on the van, which I...
[ Read More ]

I'm 2 years away from being able to phase retirement. Things have gotten bad at work and there will be layoffs by November 1, I will know if I'm impacted. I have no control over if this will happen or not. I believe if it does happen, it won't be the worst thing. I know that there are other folks who are really impacted. It helps that while I enjoy my job, it's not my identity. I have also been through a layoff and came out better than I expected. This could be true here too if...
[ Read More ]

It's been a foodie sort of week.
The tomatoes are still coming, but not as many. I did have enough to make and can some pints of spaghetti sauce and make some tomato juice. I had some leftover chicken and made broth and canned it. I had some green beans from the CSA box so I canned those as well. Only realized a pint and a half pint, but this winter, they will enjoyed. I picked some lavender and made lavender jelly and then I got brave. I've commented that Pinterest can be my...
[ Read More ]

My day trip to see my BFF was great, but would you believe, I had another memory snafu! Last time I realized I didn't have one of my wallets (but found it at home later). This time, as I was getting ready to drive home, I realized I didn't have my phone. In a panic, I went back to the last place we'd been, and was SO lucky to find it sitting there on the bench untouched.  I'm starting to worry about myself!
Since this was a late celebration of my birthday, BFF paid for my...
[ Read More ]

Older post that I didn't get around to posting before the whole COVID thing...
Ended up with GREAT NEWS a couple of weeks ago.
Thursday night there was a message on our answering machine re: early morning Ortho appointment for DL the next day.  Wanted a parent to come to discuss "Phase 2," yadda yadda yadda.  He has more my mouth and issues which was way too many years of braces, every contraption ever invented for ortho, plus jaw surgery.  & my jaw is probably...
[ Read More ]