All Entries

We finished building the second 21 foot long raised bed on the weekend and worked on getting it filled up on Monday.  We let it settle and my intention was to plant it on Tuesday, but it was 86 degrees for most of the day.  It finally cooled off enough to be outside around 8:30.  DS and I transplanted the onions out of the totes I was growing them in.  I gave them a deep watering and will water again tonight.  We did get the rest of the blackberries planted,...
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My grandsons gave me a watch years ago -- bought from Target, I think.  It finally gave up the ghost, just won't keep good time anymore.  Around the same time my Fitbit stopped working.  I find I keep looking at my wrists for the time, even though I can glance at the phone.  I like to have the time on my wrist.  So I looked up some possibilities on Amazon, and I found I could get a Casio digital watch free with the Amazon points I have.  So I ordered...
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In my freezer soon.  Today the farmer I am getting my steer from asked if I could get one early, in 2 to 3 weeks as he had a sale fall through for an earlier butcher date.  I said sure and wrote out the check for the $400 deposit and will get it in the mail tomorrow.  We are eating down the chest freezer at a rapid pace and I think we will have plenty of space in that amount of time.  If not, I'll have to can some meat.  I'll be using the plethora of soup...
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It was a spendy month, but most of it in a few categories.
Home Repair/Maintenance: $1000
Housing: $795
Vacation/Travel: $492
Utilities: $151
Fees/Services: $140
Gifts/Charity: $129
Groceries: $74
Phone: $52
Eating Out/Takeout: $48
Medical/Health: $33
Gas: $30
Furnishings/Equipment/Decor: $17
Entertainment: $16
Laundry: $16
Car Repair/Maintenance: $6
Grand Total: $2999
Variables: 103%
Big Ticket: $1233
 
The $1000 spent on home repair is the down payment...
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I know this might seem like a weird question...I am one of those people that use to shop all year for christmas gifts (had a monthly amount to spend for christmas) now the kids are adults I just do it in nov/dec...but one charity we support here is backpacks4 sakids...it's a place that provides backpacks for foster kids so they have their own stuff...they have also expanded into displaced teens that no longer live at home and DV families...so they have all the basics when they...
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I can't believe it is june already...this year is flying by...and it's the first day of winter here...and it's cold...well for us anyways
We are doing good with the budget, all june bills are paid already and I have been real good with not buying any extra...going to work on that this month...menu planning is going well so we have been sticking to the food budget...gas prices have stayed down a bit so have saved some money there...between may/june so far we have saved $3500 in...
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Woof.  This month was spendy.  I loosened my resolve and spent on a bunch of categories that I've been super strict on so far this year.  Ended up putting some money back on a credit card and it's time to rein it in.  I alos need to rein in my diet, I've been on a tear for the past week or so.  I think I needed a break from all of my strict guidelines for everything, what with processing all of the (known and potential) changes at work.  School starts...
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Have any of you read this book by JL Collins? There's not a lot of new revelations & concepts that I haven't read in other books, but I love how he articulates the importance of having money so you aren't beholden to anyone.  He calls it F U money. I like to thing of it as "forget you" money. 
While I love the idea of the security of a pension in retirement, it does not truly keep me at my job. It's definitely a factor, but if I was hating coming into work I would...
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Income Total: $1837.47


     * $1500 Recurring monthly retirement account distribution  


     * $225 Swagbucks and My Points earnings (cash out to PayPal) 
     * $112.47 Cashback Credit Card Rewards


      


Total Spending: $1535.93


Total Savings: $301.54 (difference between monthly income and monthly spending)  Fixed...
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We got last years taxes back...so irs checks in a week...one was unexpected but so glad the taxes are done...I just don't understand why they ask for your bank details and then send you a check in the mail...which we then have to put in the bank and wait 4-6 weeks for it to clear...but so nice to finally start to get finished up and completed...the money is not much but will go into our house deposit account...every bit counts...can't believe that it took so long to process...just...
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Bank accounts: up 22% but balance is still too low.  I've been putting $$ in retirement and paying down debt rather than adding to my bank account balances lately. 
I try to keep a few thousand in cash/CDs in my Roth IRA rather than investing it.  That cash serves as a potential emergency fund since I can pull it tax-free if needed, and if not needed, it adds to the Roth IRA balance.  I'll do this for another year or so while I try to aggressively reduce debt...
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The market is closed Monday so I can make my end of month review for May now. I am at an all time high in my investments. I close the month of May with $1.158 million in investments and a net worth of $1.292 million. I was able to add an additional $2k to savings in addition to my regular $500 monthly contribution. Next month I hope to hit $15k in savings.
I plan to work my additional jobs through June then just work my full-time job. I may pick up another job in the future, but...
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Anyone who lives on a fixed income knows how frustrating it is and can be...I haven't been able to work in 8 years and I hate it...hubby is retired and had a stroke and 17 tias and just finshed cancer treatment a couple months ago and I have spent thousands on specialists which haven't really done much I am getting better but not a lot...we are wanting to buy a home...which is so hard here with all the fees you have to pay up front...and our oldest daughter also has a chronic illness...
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Current student loan balance:
Current balance: $12,867.40
Current interest: $32.77
Total: $12,900.17
 
I am looking seriously at potentially paying this off in the coming month. My usual payment is about $2300 and I already planned to pay another $5,000. Which would bring me down to under 5K. I am tempted to pay this off from savings. The market is really high now anyway to invest and it would be a big psychological milestone to finish paying off this debt!
 
Otherwise...
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I started trying a retirement calculator, realized I needed our current investment numbers which I hadn't run in a few months, and decided to do a full net worth update while I was at it...
Assets:NT's UK pensions:AV: 22,397 pounds ($27,996)SW: 27,225 pounds ($34,031)FL: 6,462 pounds ($8,078)NT's trad. IRA: $110,382NT's Roth IRA: $64,842AS's trad. IRA: $27,759AS's Roth IRA: $93,245AS's SEP IRA: $71,038CJ's 401(k): $224,575CJ's Roth IRA: $70,741NT's flat: $212,500 (200,000...
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Had to change the retirement goal due to a raise I got last month! Old goal was $814,292 by March 2024.New goal: $820,892 by March 2024Current retirement balance: $732,687November 2020 balance: $632,504Progress since last update: $100,183Still needed: $88,205This interim goal is based on getting my and NT's retirement to 4x my current and his last full-time salary (currently $84,150 and $64,118) by the time we turn 50 and AS's retirement values to 3x her highest annual income ($75,940...
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I usually get confused and overwhelmed when I try using retirement calculators. That's why I use the 8x rule of thumb as my goalposts for our retirement. But Firefly's post about Coast FIRE made me curious to try that calculator. (https://walletburst.com/tools/coast-fire-calc/)
I ran the numbers once, and it said at our current pace we'd reach Coast FIRE in 11 years! That would be incredible!
But then I realized what they meant by "net worth" was total invested. My net worth...
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In the midst of everything else going on, my Capital One Credit card was hacked! I got an alert asking if I had tried to make a purchase at LA Police Gear. I responded no & immediately opened my app to review purchases. They had made several purchases at online gun & tactical gear websites. This alarmed me & I contacted Capital One and several of the vendors immediately. 
I'm getting a new card, but this worried me because of the type of purchases. I certainly...
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It being an uncharacteristically chilly and rainy Memorial Day weekend, I decided to tackle the unenviable and rather thankless task of shredding my mother's old tax returns.
I've just taken a break from shreding 1984-1986, which fills up one kitchen trash bag. In those days, they plastered your Social Security Number on every page of every document, and my mother being a meticulous recordkeeper, I have quite a few staples to remove before shredding all these pages.
Friends,...
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Debts
Mortgage −$120,680.38 (-$234.47)
Savings
Roth IRAs +$20,740 (+$385)401K +$41,269 (+$976)Emergency Fund +$8,554 (-$277)Animal Fund +$1,060 (+$0)Truck Fund +$445 (-$750)HSA +$1,925  (+$375)
Overall: +$943.47
 
Had to steal from the car fund and the emergency fund to pay for kitchen remodel overages. I expect to pay ourselves back asap. Vacation is coming up quickly!
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