All Entries

Received $70 bank interest for the month of September.
Received $180 I Bond interest for the month of September.
 
Snowflakes to Investments:
--Redeemed $49 credit card rewards (cash back) from our grocery card 
--Redeemed $84 cash back on Citi card
--Redeemed $12 on dining out/gas card 
 
Other Snowflakes to Investments:
+ $7 Savings from Target Red Card (grocery purchases)
+ $65 Dividends
 
TOTAL: $217 Snowflakes to Investments
 
Snowball...
[ Read More ]

My spending so far this month is at $1252 which is right on track. All of my regular monthly bills have been paid except for one small one, so the only other spending should be on groceries.
My grocery spend so far has been pretty low, at $36.22. I continue to focus on zero food waste, and using up what I have on hand. I did a freezer sweep and found some things I need to use up. I have a four pack of pork chops which I will use to make some BBQ pulled pork in the crock pot. I...
[ Read More ]

Sometimes putting the budget spending up is a proud moment and other times it makes me feel naked and this is the second, but I need to get the accountability back and show just how much we have been spending on the credit card.  I haven't actually made the payment on that yet, because Citi is being wonky.  I can sign in.  I can even make it to the next page, but when I click on make a payment it just turns in to an endless circle.
I waited ten minutes.  I...
[ Read More ]

My car was left at the repair place yesterday as I was not able to drive following my procedure.  So earlier today, SB and I hopped in his car and drove down to Placerville to pick it up.  The shop didn't charge me a cent, even though they had checked it out.  That was a pleasant surprise.  It started right up and I drove home, no problem.  After SB got home,  he said he was going to drive it down to the shop (the big metal shop with tools and equipment...
[ Read More ]

I had yet another medical procedure yesterday; this time it was a D&C.  Without going into too much graphic detail, my menstrual cycle has not been behaving the way you would expect in a 55 year old woman.  My primary doctor said she would be content to take a wait and see approach if not for the fact that the cancer I had earlier this year was hormone receptive, and the drug I am now taking (tamoxifin) has as a side effect increased risk of uterine cancer. ...
[ Read More ]

We've got the potatos all dug up.  We did it over two weekends.  I haven't weighed them yet, but visually it looks like we got more than last year.  We are letting them sit for two weeks for the skins to harden before we start weighing them by variety.  I can tell at a glance that the red La Soda did very well this year, both the seed potatoes that we bought and the ones that we saved our own seed from.  So did the Canela Russets, which are a variety of...
[ Read More ]

I went to Aldi today, expecting to spend $15. I spent $13, because there was nothing else on my list that was $2 or less! Here's what I got: lactose-free milk, dried cranberries, cottage cheese, mozzarella, sour cream, and cream cheese.  I know, lots of dairy! And me, lactose-intolerant! I'm planning on making cannelloni, and I for sure will take my lastase pills when I have a serving.
I had a good day with my son and grandson yesterday which started out with bad luck for...
[ Read More ]

I have a lightweight winter coat (I guess you could call it a fall coat, though I wore it often in winter). I bought it 11 years ago, I think, at Macy's. It has held up well all these years, but now the lining is wearing out, and not all the snaps are working. I intended to replace it last spring, when coats were on clearance, but I waited till too late, when nothing much was available. So I decided I would replace it for sure this fall, before the Christmas shopping season started.
So...
[ Read More ]

I lost $100,824 in my investments, but still maintained 7 figures - just barely. September was my biggest one month drop yet, despite contributing 3 paychecks' worth of retirement investments & beginning contributions to my brokerage. Whew! My past paycheck on the 30th was pretty nice as it contained my new increased salary as well as some retroactive pay.
$1,046,003
[ Read More ]

I am back from an absolutely unforgettable trip! First let me share an article that my friend wrote for our local paper:
https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/entertainment_life/article_3be53d0a-445a-11ed-8197-4bdb49cc5497.html
We all took our own journeys before & after the four nights on the schooner Stephen Taber. I started with 2 nights in Manchester, NH and ended with 2 nights in Portland, ME. I enjoyed both cities but I will say that although Portland is maybe half...
[ Read More ]

I know it is autumn over there but spring here un australia...well it is suppose to be 6 weeks in we are still having so much rain and wet weather..I just wish we had some nicer weather to be outside more...had 2 nice days..today is cloudy and windy the tonight and for next few days back to rain...kind of over it..and if we end up with a hot summer it will make bushfire season so much worse than it could be..as everything is growing so much.
My vegies are starting to grow..can...
[ Read More ]

Disneysteve asked this on the forum boards and I said yes.  But it's a bit of a layered question.  There are a lot of things that have changed.  Covid forced at least us to stay at home and be less busy, which was nice, but also forced us to cook a lot more.  Restaurants weren't open and even if they were, we weren't interested in leaving the house.
Over the past 2.5 years i will admit that we used to eat out, well do mostly takeout, 5-6x/week pre-covid. ...
[ Read More ]

MH took DL(17) to a concert last night. 
MH and I are going back and forth on Napa plans.  Was planning to do a big dinner there.  But when talking about it Friday, MH told me he was making gnocchi for dinner and butternut squash soup for dinner this weekend.  & he already made some salsa.  I told him at some point that nevermind, didn't see the point of eating out.  Next month is going to be crazy expensive (including this month's charges) and...
[ Read More ]

T'was a sad sight this week; we pulled up the garden. I can't truly express how much we gained from our little plot. 
A person I knew one time informed me that those tomatoes I had canned were free -- we got them from our garden. I pointed out that we purchased the tomato plants, bought some top soil to enrich the soil, fertilized them, kept them watered and weeded, and then there was the work of canning them, not to mention the jars, lids, and equipment. Free? I don't think...
[ Read More ]

I went to my grandson's baseball game yesterday, and afterwards went to Panera for lunch.  It was $12 (and delicious!) Panera is quite near Goodwill, so I decided to stop in before I went home. I'm so glad I did! I found a pair of jeans, Dockers, which fit perfectly and seem brand new. I suspect they have never been worn. They were tagged at $6.99, but they were having a half-price sale on pink tickets, so I got them for $3.49! I also bought a few Christmas/birthday gifts....
[ Read More ]

I think I may have received partial student loan forgiveness. I had applied to consolidate the last two loans in hopes that I would receive the full $20k, my consolidation app is still in progress, but when I logged in to make a payment my new balance was $29,999.92; down from $35,500. I'm a little bummed but thankful. I'll take whatever. 
 
I'll follow up on Monday and continue to make payments. It's strange that the balance is low but no information is provided as...
[ Read More ]

I received a packet from my former employer with information on the new health care premium costs starting 1/1/23. My health/prescription/dental and vision plans premium total will be increasing monthly by $86.56. Ouch. The only good news is that the vision plan is a different one that is way better then the old one. I should be able to save quite a bit on my next pair of new glasses. 
My utility costs (gas and electric) has increased from 7.820 cents/kWh to 9.773 cents/kWh...
[ Read More ]

I went to the gym yesterday, which is close to Food4Less. I popped over there to pick up scrub pads (I nearly ruined a pan, get to that later). While I was there I checked out the produce clearance and I picked up six Gala apples and 5 navel oranges. Then I spotted another clearance section of regular items. Usually I don't find much I want in those, but this time I found lasagna noodles, a Cracker Barrel mac & cheese kit, Reese's cereal, a brownie mix, a bag of dry lima beans,...
[ Read More ]

Debts
Mortgage −$116,553.99 (-$239.31)Land Loan -$11,411.57 (-$179.30)
Savings
Roth IRAs +$20,539 (-$1,426)401K +$40,561 (-$2,060)Emergency Fund +$8,125 (-$399)Maternity Fund +$1,500 (+$430)Animal Fund +$1,678 (+$6)Car Fund +$20 (-$0)HSA +$1,130 (-$923)
Overall: -$3,953.39
Ouch! Markets are down, and our savings are down. Even sadder is the fact that we got an extra $600 in back pay this month. We did go on vacation, which was supposed to be to Florida, and then of course...
[ Read More ]

My son checked on the internet provider for me a few days ago and they had a good deal come up if we put it on paperless autopay.  It used to be they wanted it to come directly out of the bank account for that and I didn't want the cable company to have that, because it's like pulling teeth to get utilities and the like out of your bank account once they are in.  But now they will let you do it on a credit card.  They probably have for a while, but it doesn't say...
[ Read More ]