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I've been a collectibles dealer since 1986 and an ebay seller since 1997 but was relatively dormant for many years as work and life kept me busy with other things. It's been my plan all along for my retirement "job" to be getting back to my collectibles business. I started selling again toward the end of the summer with a lot of the stuff I got when I cleaned out my cousin's house, and I've moved on to a lot of the stuff we already had that needed to be sold.
My 90-day running...
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Work is very busy right now.  
We are hosting St Patty's day dinner so things are busy at home.  MH handles all things food but I am trying to get the house in order.  I got out of my funk last weekend and got our taxes done and also started on getting the house cleaned up.  Phew!  Will spend this weekend doing the rest of the house prep.  I've probably said before but my "clean when guests come over" cleaning style hasn't worked particularly...
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Oof, I've been out of touch for a while.  Blame the university, personal concerns, general weltschmerz.  But we're ok here.  We recently had to say goodbye to our wonderful almost 16-year-old dog, and are still feeling that pretty badly.
But money things are fine, and I'm contemplating a retirement buyout from the university.  I'm again frustrated with them and will certainly look at their offer.  I need to submit an indication of interest next week. 
Will...
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I'm home from my short trip to Michigan. It was great to visit with my brother and his family, and I also got to see an old friend who is in assisted living now. His health is precarious, which is hard to see, but I hope the visit brightened his day.
I'm not sure how much I spent on gas, because I forgot to grab one of my receipts, and Discover is only showing the pending amount of $1 for the time being.  So I'm guessing it was $42.  I made two gas stops, because I wanted...
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So I have been pairing back what I buy at the grocery store and using supercook.com to use what I have in my pantry.  I have found that I have a pretty well stocked pantry actually.  Using supercook.com, I have been able to keep a running tally or inventory of what is in my house and get hundreds of recipes.  It has meant that I had to try some new dishes.  Some were good and some not my favorite, but it all got eaten.
Another thing is that my chickens are...
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Well we have a 2016 Subaru Legacy and a 2015 Toyota Sienna and they are both great cars in great shape and fairly new.  The legacy has 51k miles and the Sienna has 85k miles.  So they have I think a lot of life in them. If we did the 10 year rule we have another 3 years left on the Sienna and 4 years on the legacy.  I've always thought that we would replace both cars in about 2-3 years and keep the Sienna but replace the legacy with another sedan and then get a SUV...
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I am almost well enough to get my third booster shot now.  Actually I can't tell if I am still sick or if it is just allergies starting, because there has been pollen on my windshield for the past several days.  I still feel really tired, but I'm functional.  I have started taking my more serious antihistimine, though.
The last few days have been beautiful and in the 50's.  There is still a chilly wind, though.  It is nice even if it still isn't outdoors...
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It's been a while since I last posted here.
I have had my 3 shots of Covid 19 vaccines, and so far not got it.  Even we now can not wear a mask now, I still do so as I will end up in hositpal if I do.  As my health is going down hill these days. 
 It's looks like I will not be getting a new bathroom any time soon.  As I was waiting for some new buildings slow down around here but now my city went under again and many houses need more tradies so a long...
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I read another blog that has an idea I love… I would like to start doing it too, but I don’t actually know how to start.
Every time she does a load of laundry, she adds $1.50 into a fund for a new washer/dryer. I’m not sure if she has a separate savings account for it or if she just keeps it on a spreadsheet, but I think it’s something worth considering.
For myself, I feel like I would need a separate account for it because I feel like it would be too...
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Went to get gas today as it was down to $1.74 per litre...but it had gone up to $2.22 per litre (for those in the US thats around $8.20 per gallon) guessing we will be only doing driving that we need to for a bit....wish politicians had to live on what the average person does because they way they do things differently
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After we learned of our CPAs death, we asked around for recommendations for a new one. Thankfully we got the name of someone that multiple folks recommended. The turn around was a little more than a week, I think. And the cost went down by $50! This person is younger and also a lawyer so we feel really good about the possbility of staying with them into retirement. I'm so excited about this possibilty and later after tax season, we might meet up to share a meal. We're going to...
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Well had a lot happening last few weeks, finally got our daughter moved and her keys handed in so hopefully they will have new tenants in there soon. That was a job to get everything moved and the place cleaned...so glad it is done.because I get 
Still working on my stepsons housing tribunal case that I need to do for him, since his stroke his brain doesn't process things properly especially when it comes to contracts etc...so he signed when he shouldn't have thinking it...
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I am rarely looking for advice when I post, so I want to be clear that this time, I am!  Ha.
The bank with whom I had submitted an application for my refinance unfortunately denied me, saying that my credit score doesn't meet portfolio guidelines (mildly annoying since I was open with the team's assistant about where I believed it was when I spoke to her prior to formally submitting - and I was in the right range for 2 of 3). 
However, on the next page of the denial...
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My friend/CPA completed my taxes, and I will be receiving a total refund of $3514 (combined federal and state). I have decided to use some of the money to stock up on some food. I want to stock my freezer with some meat, more frozen veggies, and a few shelf stable items. The rest will go into savings. The price of food is just going to continue to rise, so stocking up now just makes sense to me.
 


The March senior center food distribution was last Friday and...
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I had a really good time yesterday with BFF in our halfway city. We had lunch at a little diner we hadn't tried before. My lunch was $13, including the tip, so it was very reasonable. Then we shopped around the square. She bought some things, I didn't. But when we went to Goodwill, I did buy three small crockpots for $15. I have found they are ideal to use as humidifiers, much easier than a real humidifier, and I can tuck them into small spaces in various rooms. Winter is almost...
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We set DS up with a Traditional IRA today and taught him how to do his taxes.  Of course we have to wait to get paperwork from Vanguard before they actually get submitted, but he dumped $3000 from what he earned last year into it.  So instead of having to pay $300 in taxes, he will now be getting $161 back.
He has been wanting to get this set up for a while and we didn't want to miss it.  I know we still have a month, but I never like to push it.  He would...
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We did something today that we haven't done for 25 years - bought a new bed. DW has been wanting a new mattress for ages but I've put it off because I'm cheap and sleep just fine on the one we have. However since she hurt her back in October, she hasn't been able to sleep in bed. She just can't get comfortable and it doesn't give her enough support. She's been sleeping downstairs on the loveseat propped up with pillows. Not a good long term solution. We were hoping she'd be better...
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Here were my February goals:
1. Pay down debt by 560.00 - hit
2. Check in at least 2 times - missed
3. Average 35 ounces of water/decaffinated tea. Hit
4. Step count of 192,000. Hit
5. Maintain weight.  Missed
 
March goals
1. Pay down debt by 570.00 
2. Check in 2 times
3. Average 40 ounces of water a day
4. Step count of 210,000
5. Maintain weight
Not much going on in my world.  I had my last physical therpy appointment this week.  Arm is...
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Received $25 bank interest for the month of February.
 
Snowflakes to Investments:
--Redeemed $37 credit card rewards (cash back) from our grocery card 
--Redeemed $85 cash back on Citi card
--Redeemed $6 on dining out card
 
Other Snowflakes to Investments:
+ $4 Savings from Target Red Card (grocery purchases)
 
TOTAL: $132 Snowflakes to Investments
 
401k Contributions/Match:
+$800
 
Snowball to Savings:
+$600 MH Income
 
Savings...
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A couple of things to report ...  I bought some Burts Bees toner for $11 yesterday, and also, my subscription to Ancestry.com renewed for $189.  Variables are already 41%.  It's going to be hard to stay under budget this month.
In about a half hour I'm going to meet BFF in our halfway city. I'll get gas there, as it is cheaper than it is in Chicagoland. I'll try to keep my lunch tab as low as possible, and nix the shopping. The real point of this get-together is...
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