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Nothing financial.  Nothing about finances but just write a vent.  Please read with a grain of salt that this is just me complaining. I've lead my DK1 girl scout troop for 4 years now. I have lead it solo for the past 3 years.  Even the 1st year I lead it (2nd grade brownie) I did everything and the co-lead showed up.  Since then we've done a rotation of parents signing up to stay and help but never lead.  Okay I was with the program but it's exhausting....
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We have debt... but we also have goals. One of the hardest things for us to do is to balance those two things.
We have a decent emergency fund saved up. We have enough saved for two months of bare bones expenses. I know that money could be used towards debt, but then where would we be if an emergency hit? We are still living during a pandemic and still unsure of the future, (not that you can ever be sure of the future, but I think you know what I mean).
We actually have more...
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Yesterday was my day out -- gym, vet, drive-through lunch.  I spent $14 at the vet for fluids and needles, and $3 for lunch at Burger King (great coupon).  I had a lot of leftover fries, so this morning I chopped and refried them with peppers, onions and celery, and had it on the side with eggs and stewed apples.  Delicious breakfast!  I also froze half of the chicken nuggets, and I will eat them later on Hawaiian rolls as chicken sliders.  So that $3 went...
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I have no idea why, but I've had Sinatra singing "September Song" in my head for days.  I guess it must be back-to-school time.
We're at Day 2 of masked instruction, and despite my qualms, it's going ok.  Cross your fingers that it continues to go ok.  All of our staff is nervous, students are unsure, but we're there and we're doing it.
In non-university news, our DD is safely ensconced in Scotland.  We had a wonderful trip despite less-than-wonderful flights. ...
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A recent post in an online neighborhood app touched me and as a result we have three more felines. Making a total of five plus a dog. It’s not a frugal move!
 
The woman who needed to rehome them is terminally ill and nearing the end. She doesn’t have a husband, children, or siblings. It’s very sad for her – having to let go of her pets but knowing that it needs to be done. It’s traumatic for the cats too – I’m being very patient...
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I looked at my checking account and realized I had an extra $1,000 I could pay towards my student loans, so I did so. I'm so thankful that the interest is not accumulating, it's given me the opportunity to actually make a difference. Hopefully I'll have my second one paid off by the end of this month. 
My new balance is $4,960, for this one. My new overall balance is $53,576.29, in two years I've paid off about $30k. 
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I mentioned in a previous post that my neighborhood senior center sent members an email notifying us they will be having a monthly food giveaway. The only requirements are that you live in the qualifying neighborhood zip codes and are a senior (age 60 and up).  I organized what I will be donating, keeping, and sharing. Here is what I received: 


 


Donate Items 


1 large (64 oz) bottle of Apple Juice  


2...
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In my last post, I reported that I was going to Walmart to buy a sim card, which would make my phone okay with Straight Talk.  Well, I went to two Walmarts, and both places told me that they could not sell a sim card separately from a plan, which I already had.  At the second Walmart, an employee, after looking at my phone specs, suggested that I switch to AT&T, to a similarly-priced plan.  We went through a long, long call with AT&T, only to learn that they...
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August was a blur.  I got sick with Covid, even being fully vaccinated - slept lots, drank lots of water, lost all taste and smell and lost 15 lbs in two weeks.  Thankfully, I am on the mend, symptoms are very mild at this point and I have now tested negative.  I can honestly say, even fully vaccinated, Covid sucks - but thankfully mine stayed upper respiratory and I didnt have to deal with lower respiratory issues.  The whole family got it at about the same...
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Sadly, I think my canning is over for this year. I think we have enough, but I always like to have extra on hand. DH had a good tomato crop, but he grew more heirlooms and they don't produce as many. But they sure were tasty. 
A few months ago I found this small weaving loom at a thrift store. Someone donated some rug yarn at church and no one wanted to use it -- a couple of skeins are not going to make much of anything plus it is rough stuff to work with. I decided to use...
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Since my last post a couple of months ago, all our financial efforts (now that the house is paid for) are going towards amping my retirement funds and beefing up our savings. My husband is already retired and a decade older than me. I neglected to fully fund my Roth IRA but I am not, if I can help it, allow that to happen from this day forward.  
Our bare bones budget is $1950.00 ($800 of it is monthly property taxes) since we do not have any consumer debt and children...
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I purchased an iPhone SE, 64 GB.  I paid $4.95 for shipping  (rather than the free 2-day option) so hopefully it arrives tomorrow and I can get it activated and play around with it over the long weekend.  I decided to stay with Tracfone for now with the prepaid plan since that gives me flexibility.  I started off with a $25 for 30 day plan, which includes 2GB of data, but I can move to a $15/month ($14.25 with autorefill) plan if i am not using much data.
I...
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As of close of business yesterday, our portfolio now stands at just over $3,200,000.
I thought we might hit that by the end of the year and here we are at that mark almost 4 months before that. The market performance has been wild. I know it can't continue but it's sure a great ride while it lasts.
I've gotten our AA up to 56% stock as it had gotten really low due to the inheritance. My target is 60-65% stock so we're close. I may just leave things be for now as in another month...
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Well, our goal just went way up because of a rise in income! Which means we're way behind, but for a good reason. (I also decided to round off salaries while I was at it so our goal could be a nice round number too!)New goal: $922,000 by March 2024Current retirement balance: $779,114May 2021 balance: $732,687Progress since last update: $46,427Still needed: $142,886This interim goal is based on getting my and NT's retirement to 4x my current and his last full-time salary (approximately...
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Assets:NT's UK pensions:AV1: 22,397 pounds ($27,996)SW: 27,225 pounds ($34,031)AV2: 7,567 pounds ($9,459)NT's trad. rollover IRA: $115,452NT's Roth IRA: $71,485NT's SEP/SIMPLE: $1,291AS's trad. rollover IRA: $29,021AS's Roth IRA: $99,716AS's SEP IRA: $76,485CJ's 401(k): $238,074CJ's Roth IRA: $76,104NT's flat: $212,500 (200,000 pounds value x1.25 -15%)CJ/NT/AS house: $592,200 ($630,000 value -6%)---TOTAL ASSETS: $1,583,814Debt:US Mortgage $365,279 Loan from friends (duplex) $9,000UK...
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I got my first RMD payments today.  I'm glad to finally know what my monthly income will be.  It's a bit higher than I was expecting, even with taxes being withheld.  I redid my variables spreadsheet, and now I can say with certainty that I have spent 12% of my variables budget in these three days of September.
For the last ten years or so I have had Straight Talk as the carrier for cell phone service.  Yesterday I was notified that my phone was not compatible...
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Well I see many doctors for various reasons but today was a an eye opener...I went to see an intergrated doctor (which I have seen before) and my tests results have come back so I have a fatty liver (knew that), my cholestrol is high (7.5), my vitamin went from 39 to 63 but hes trying to get it above 100 so still working on that....and I found ou my cortisol levels are out of control they are 1003 which is way over what they should be (here around 550) so now have to try and fix...
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Fire blew through camp last weekend (our city's family camp, in the Sierras).  The firefighters were camped out there and not a single structure burned.  🤯  It's still touch and go.  But maybe feeling a little more hopeful at this point.
By some miracle, the family cabin still stands.  It's on the west border of the fire, about one mile from the flames.  & I mean, they have that side pretty well under control at this point.  The cabin...
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I've been using a basically "dumb" cell phone on a prepaid plan with Tracfone for over a decade.  In the past few years, I've coupled the dumb-phone with an iPod Touch, which has allowed me to access various apps as long as I am connected to WiFi.
I have been thinking of a while now of upgrading to a "real" cell phone and a monthly service plan, rather than the prepaid phone that I have now.  I got a kick in the pants about doing this today when Tracfone messaged me...
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I began the new month with some moderate spending -- $40 for groceries at Aldi, and $7 for lunch at Burger King.  I have a bunch of coupons for Burger King, but I spoiled the deal by adding cheese and bacon to my burger -- which I did not need, anyway, but sounded so good!  I will try to restrain myself in the future.
While everyone else, it seems, is dealing with terrible weather, here it is cool and beautiful.  There is nothing more relaxing to me than reading...
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