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I was glad to see my paycheck in my account this morning.  I am supposed to be paid on the 15th and last day of every month, it comes early if that date falls on a holiday or a weekend.  So I suspected it would be today rather than tomorrow, as my company is closed worldwide tomorrow.  
I currently have my paycheck going into two separate checking accounts.  One is my main account that I use for the majority of my bills/spending, etc, the other is what...
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I can't complain this has been a fabulous year. 
Here's a quick recap but ill be spending the weekend reviewing and finalizing things 

Quit my toxic job
Paid off a student loan
Paid down my second student loan 
Met my goal of one extra mortgage payment 
Met my savings goals 
Turned my side hustle into a nice little job 
Improved my blood pressure, no longer on meds 
Main bills paid through February 
Mood improved drastically 
Closed...
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Well it is the end of the year we have no more pay checks but I don't keep track like most everyone and have no exact amounts for each catergories. We now have to pay the CC off again and then we will put it away....we just had so many medical things the end of the year that it just broke it...no matter what how much we put away it seems to never be enough. 
I have done next years budget but we know things will change a bit so it will just means our savings will be down a...
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Total expenses for the year were $45,092. That's up a bit from last year's $41,000.
Top 10 Ranked Expenses:
1. Property taxes $6,792, about the same as last year.
2. Out of pocket medical: $6,253, which represented a huge increase from last year due to my menscus tear knee surgery and subsequent physical therapy.
3. Tree work: $6,223. I had one huge silver maple cabled and another huge white pine taken down, both for safety purposes.
4. Food: $4,363. This is notable as it...
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This morning I bought breakfast at Burger King - $4 - and then filled up the tank for $26.  Yesterday I bought aquarium supplies for $11 and a prescription for $8.  Variables are at 86%.
In a couple of hours I'll be driving my son to the airport -- not normally a big deal, but it is snowing like crazy.  First snow of the season. 
My son's cat is here, hiding under the bed.  I saw her once, when she sneaked into the bathroom.  I wonder when I will...
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We've been snowed in since early Christmas morning, but today they finally plowed our road, so I will be able to get out tomorrow to take DS to the doctor and go to the store.  I need to buy some stuff for the pantry challenge, mostly fresh produce, but milk, yogurt and sweet potatoes, carrots, turnips, parsnips, cabbage, apples, and oranges, which will all last a month.  I will have to buy some dairy and fresh greens during the challenge, but I hope to keep it to that.
I...
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I haven't crunched the numbers in detail but big picture, here's how our spending stacked up for the past 3 years.
2019: $81,200
2020: $70,600
2021: $88,400
There was also a large one-time expense in 2021 not included there. We paid the lawyer handling my late cousin's estate $14,500. Technically that was paid from the estate (even though I was the sole beneficiary of the estate so ultimately it was my money either way) but I certainly don't need to count that when doing future...
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My company often gives us a bonus if we meet our revenue goal for the year.  They announced at the monthly company meeting earlier this month that we had met it, so I am very optimistic that we will be getting a bonus. 
This used to occur at year-end, but a couple of years ago, they changed it to giving it out at the end of February so that the books could be formally closed for the year before they figured the percent that they would use (the bonus is typically some...
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I hope you all have had a great Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
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 Today is Christmas and I find it hard to believe it is almost over. All the excitement and planning and now it is almost over. It kind of makes me melancholy.
DH and I went overboard on Christmas presents this year. Everything is paid for, so no outstanding debt there. We open a Christmas Club each year and I put money in when we get out pension checks. But, it was nice not to scrimp. We plan to spend money on some remodeling and hopefully if Covid ever settles down, some...
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2021 TALLY (Preliminary):
$800 Cash (Chase Sapphire Quadruple Dip, MH) 
$30 Venmo ($10 x 3 Sign Up Bonuses)
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$830 TOTAL *ONE-TIME REWARDS*
Ongoing rewards:
+$313 AmExRewards (6% cash back groceries/streaming services)
+$80 Target rewards (5% discount Target purchases; mostly groceries)
+$76 Visa Rewards (3% cash back restaurants/fuel).  Ended up also using for groceries in Q4 (3% cash back)
+$875 Citi 2% card (2% back everywhere - health insurance/medical...
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Winter is mousetrap time, and yesterday I noticed one of 2 traps I have in the basement is entirely gone. I know a mouse was caught in it, but it's nowhere to be found. I can clearly here when the traps go off, usually early evening, after the darkness and cold have set in. Very wierd. Same thing happened this morning with the other trap, although in that case, I found the trap...empty. They are getting very good at escaping.
Remember in my last post my belief that you can get...
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HOTEL:
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$50 Hotel Coupon
 
MOVIES:
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$100 Regal
$ 50 Regal
$ 10 Regal (concessions)
$50   Art House Theater
 
RESTAURANTS:
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$50 Cracker Barrel (small balance left)
$50 Olive Garden
$25 Chili's
$5   Jamba Juice (Gift)
$ 25 x 2 Jamba Juice (Gifts)
 
RETAIL:
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$100 x 2 Target (Emailed/paper gift cards)
$25  Kohls Gift Card (DL Christmas Gift)
 
REGIFT:
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$25  Starbucks
 
Note:...
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MH & I have been talking about doing some kind of weekly date night.  Eating out more sounds nice in theory, but am resistant because about 99% of our "diet" is just never eating out.  & my employer is feeding us once every week, which is already a lot (as to calories).  When you are used to eating all of your meals at home, that once per week is very noticeable. Anyway, I don't want to see movies every week, and neither of us wants to eat out every single...
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I know Dave says X; however, I can't follow his plan completely, for me it is about staying motivated. 
 
Yesterday I dropped $750 extra on my student loan. I surpassed my monthly goal of $500 for December.  I paid a total of $1250 for the month and next week I'm planning on another $250. 
 
One goal I had for 2021 was to pay an extra mortgage payment towards my principal. I honestly didn't think I'd meet this goal but after looking at my budget...
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I plan to do one big shop before January with the last of December's grocery envelope money.  I'll probably go on the 30th.  I'm figuring out my produce so we can make it through the month without going to the grocery store for more than milk.
I can buy lettuce for the first two weeks.  The vacuum sealed bags from Costco will last two weeks sealed, so we can eat one the first week and one the second week.  We can get celery and bok choy for stir-fries for the...
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$19,212.52 Starting Balance
+__,_98.00 Amount Added
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$19,310.52 New Balance
Retirement finally cracked $70K and now sits at $70,358.13, a rise of $745.72, which is just a little more than today's contribution.  We are up to an 11.2% rate of return for the year.  It had dipped down to 9%.  It's not like last year's, which if I remember right was 14%, but anything over 10% I consider good.  The company has not contributed the part of the Christmas...
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Notice that I did not call it a resolution. I don't like that word, as that makes it sound like a law, but I am not something to be governed, so I am calling it a plan.  My plan is simple
1) Pay down cc #1 to $00.00 by 03/31/2022.
2) Continue to take out cash on payday for my everyday purchases. Ongoing.3) Continue to eat super healthy through gardening and buying from local farmers. I am stepping up my gardening game to include sweet potatoes and cucumbers.  Also,...
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I'm thankful that the student loan forbearance on interest has continued. My goal is to have my third loan paid off by February. 
 
I know some people are against this but it's been a big help. I've gone from about 80k in student loan debt to about $45k in just over a year. No way would I had been able to do so if these were incurring interest. I'm sure I’d pays them off eventually but not at this speed. 
 
Paid an extra $750 on this loan 
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Last night my son called me to let me know that he had just tested positive for COVID.  He is fully vaccinated and boosted, but he still got it.  He is not worried about getting sick -- his symptoms are mild -- but since he was planning on traveling with his family to Florida tomorrow, that obviously put a wrecking ball in his plans.  Well, it turned out that no one else in his immediate family -- nor me -- tested positive (I took care of testing this morning.) ...
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