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So I get home and now my refrigerator is out. I went to two used appliance stores with no luck. Now I'm looking into purchasing a brand new one and they're not going to be available for some time. This is so frustrating. Thankfully I have a small one in my home office. 
 
Yesterday, it cost me $60 to replace my driver-side seatbelt latch. It was acting up before I left and I was planning on ordering upon my return but I thought I had sometime. Anyway, it gave out, and...
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I decided to pay three months of mortgage, HOA, and COBRA. After my conversation with the TPA yesterday, he informed me that it appears as though my contract will be ending. I was really hoping to have paid off my third student loan by June but looks like this won't be happening. 
 
I'm so bumbed by this. I really wanted this loan gone by June. I feel I worked so hard to have come to halt. I know should be thankful for what I have paid off so far, and I am but I am...
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Honestly, I thought it was going to hurt writing such a large check.  Nearly $6000 is a lot of money.  But I felt really okay with it.  Having my son's teeth fixed will be worth it. He had his appointment today where they did x-rays, took photos, and did some kind of scan of his teeth with a tool.  On June 20th he will get his full set of Invisaligns.  I didn't know he would get all of them at once, but he will.  You move onto the next set every ten...
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I’m so thankful for the opportunity to have had traveled abroad, though the trip was not what I expected, to say I've been to Greece is a plus.  
After traveling for 23-hours, I can say I finally made it home. After a review of things, I found that I am at fault, rather than relying on others to plan the trip, I should have been more involved in the planning,  asked a ton of questions, and shared my expectations. 
 
What I learned was that...
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We have almost got the third 22 feet long by 3 feet wide by 2 feet high raised bed completed.  We worked on it last night and then this morning in the rain.  It was supposed to be nasty all day, but of course the sun came out a 1/2 an hour ago.  We got the steer manure in and then used up the rest of the garden soil mix from GroSource.  Unfortunately the are not open on Sundays so we will have to wait until tomorrow to pick up another pickup truck load.
DH...
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I went to the grocery store yesterday for a few things. My favorite International Delight coffee creamer was on a great sale, so I stocked up. I bought 2 of the large, half gallon size on sale for $4.99 each. The regular price is $6.49. The expiration date isn’t until October so they will keep.
  


The price of eggs went up again. An 18 count of large size, store brand eggs is now priced at $4.45. The price just 2 weeks ago was $4.29.  I continue to...
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The gas that I didn't get a receipt for was $44. Gosh. I remember being shocked when I paid more than $20 in one fillup.
Since then I have eaten out twice, both times associated with baseball games.  So far eating out totals $21.
I ordered a jar of my night cream from Amazon, which will arrive today.  It was $30.  I figure I use two jars a year.
I just put a load of laundry in - $2.
Variables so far this month -- 42%.
Tomorrow I'm getting my fuel injector cleaned,...
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Last night there was a story that claimed it was "Extreme Couponing." That of course piqued my interest. I remember watching those shows, jealous as can be, because in our area we could never get all those things for next to nothing.
Let's just say the story wasn't really extreme couponing. It was on NBC if you want to search for it. It showed a lady who is using digital coupons from CVS to buy things and getting it for less, but not like the old days where people would get tons...
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I took the first week of May off of work to recover from tax season.  Even though I no longer actually do tax preparation, as the CPA in our office, I do get extra work both at the end of the year and at the beginning of the year until tax day.
Because my kitty is 17 years old with medical conditions, I don't want to leave her if I don't have to (I will have to leave her for 2 days in June--just one overnight--for a required work trip), so I don't even think about going anywheres...
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Received $25 bank interest for the month of April.
 
Snowflakes to Investments:
--Redeemed $33 credit card rewards (cash back) from our grocery card 
--Redeemed $96 cash back on Citi card
--Redeemed $3 on dining out/gas card
 
Other Snowflakes to Investments:
+ $10 Savings from Target Red Card (grocery purchases)
 
TOTAL: $142 Snowflakes to Investments
 
401k Contributions/Match:
+$890
 
Snowball to Savings:
+$1,300 MH Income
 
Savings...
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 I honestly cannot wait to go home. Today we fly out at midnight, then there is a eight-hour delay, smh. I had no idea this guy booked a return flight with an eight hour delay. I was reading one hour, but clearly I was wrong. He is so cheap, this  is not being frugal. In my opinion cheap is when one is a penny wise and a pound foolish. 
 
 
Yesterday  we went to a shopping area and was to meet up in a hour. Well, guess what they were almost one...
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We took advantage of some reduced price movie tickets last night to see "The Duke." I know I'm a supergeek, but I thought it was charming with Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren set in 1960s England.  I'm so delighted to see a movie for adults without a Marvel superhero in them. 
It's going to be a weekend full of grading for me.  Hope you all have a good one!
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So for the first time in a very long time I did some portfolio re-balancing. I've been using my contributions to slowly change my target allocations the past few years, but that is a slow process with the size of my portfolio versus the amount I'm contributing. With the market down I decided to make some changes. Long story short I went from 71% domestic allocation in my mutual funds to 78%, and from 29% to 22% international allocation in my mutual funds. This will still keep me...
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The Husband’s payday is today, and he had a couple of unexpected hours of overtime on his check! I also received a paycheck from my childcare work at my church to the tune of $50.
In our original budget, we were only able to send $140 of this paycheck towards our credit card debt, but with the overtime we were able to send $400 plus my little paycheck of $50, for a total of $450 towards our debt!
I know it is not much, but every little bit helps! And if we were able to...
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Long post alert! 
Whew, I’m still on vacation and I’m so looking forward to going home. 
 
This trip started out very rocky, but is ending pretty good. One thing I’ve learned is to be mindful of who you travel with. 
 
First, I’d asked the group for our itinerary, multiple times. The people I am traveling with are international travelers so I trusted their judgment. Long story short, I didn’t receive the itinerary until...
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I filled up the tank last night, but I was distracted and didn't get the receipt. I have no idea how much it cost. I checked on my Discover card this morning, but they are just showing the $1 pending, which is typical when I fill up at Sam's Club.
I stopped at Walgreens on the way home and bought prebiotics/probiotics for $21, using a $5 credit. I DID get that receipt!
Variables are at 19%, not counting the mystery gas.
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Payday today..we use it just for groceries and gas, we have done a small online order for a few things we needed, we still have $120 left from our last pay for gas but will leave it there and just add to it...sure we will need it eventually. will take the rest out in cash to use over the next 2 weeks...also put $405 into savings.
Also cancelled our netflix as we don't watch it and will use stan instead (we can't get free to air channels in this house) which saves us $8 per month
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Does anyone know who I should contact about not receiving any mail fro the irs in the last 5 plus months, I can't find anywhere online that I can call to find out if it has been sent or to where it should have been here by now...we live in aust not the US..thanks
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Our debt is ENOURMOUS! We currently have the highest credit card debt we have EVER had! I’m too insecure to share the amount right now, but I am working up the courage to do so. Having said that, we think we will be able to send between $1100 - $1500 per month towards our credit card. (Varying amounts depending on what other expenses we have each month).
Our billing cycle runs “funny”. We are thinking about asking them to change our closing date and billing...
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Hello my SA Friends:
Yeah, it's been a couple of months.  I spent a wonderful 10 days in London and Scotland visiting DD.
She's home now finishing up her last final of her sophomore year and working part-time.  She has an internship this summer and is plotting another trip.  She clearly has my wanderlust.
Unfortunately I returned from Scotland and immediately got COVID, but both DH and I recovered pretty well.
And now I have nine days to decide whether to take...
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