All Entries

The hub is heading back to Alaska to work!  And the job has really good health insurance!  Check and check!  Now I can fully retire with peace of mind.  I am a happy camper. 
The girls started back to in-person school today.  The first time in a few years for them, so I am remaining cautiously optimistic things will go well.  We opted to keep them in a very small charter school (under 200 kids), rather than trying one of the larger, closer high...
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It was pay week this week and I am happy to say that our budget is looking good and our accounts are looking fuller...still waiting for our bond to be refunded which will be in next week or so they said then all the moving money side is dealt with, paid our daughter back yesterday, have some savings, finally back on track.
Our grocery budget might be a bit over this month since we need to replenish our food stores..we had nothing in fridge/freezer etc...but hopefully next week...
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I have had my first AZ jab and 2nd one on June 29.
Everyone here over 50 is getting AZ covid 19 jab. If you don't want that one you will get another one at the end year after all the 18 - 49 have got theirs, I think that what will happen.
I have been in hospital for TIA  (mini stroke) for a week at end of March, we were in lockdown then for few days.  One of hospital near here had Covid19 in its ward twice.  The hospital that I was at was a private one and no covid19...
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I live for these monthly recaps lol. 
April spending was a bit lower than the last 2 months, and a few hundred higher than my lowest month so far this year (January coming in at ~$715).  I have a feeling the slightly higher spend from the last 2 months is an accurate reflection....but isn't that why we track it?  To get an accurate picture of what is being spent/what happens??
Category: April Spend/YTD Spend - commentary
Alcohol: $0/$30.32 - this refers to alcohol...
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I have 3 appts this week..2 specialists and then my regular doctor...although I'm pretty sure we will be getting our flu shots this week at the docs...if they have come in!
I have to get my eyes checked by a specialist today and then see my neuro-physio...it's a new one again so will see how I feel about seeing them..it's my 3rd one at this clinic, they keep changing...so will be an expensive week have some money saved for medical but the eye specialist wasn't put into that tally...
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I am anxiously awaiting the results of my COVID test.  I suppose I should have opted for the test with a quicker result, since the wait is driving me crazy.  I keep imagining that I have symptoms, but I think I am just psyching myself out.  I so badly want a negative result so I can freely travel to Oregon later in the week.  Meanwhile, I have been advised to quarantine until the results are in, and that's annoying, too.
I paid my license plate fee yesterday. ...
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Goal Achieved:  $500,000 Retirement
I feel ridiculously "retirement poor".  Because we spend so little and need so little to retire comfortably.  
Because of this, I just felt so "meh" about fomulating the next retirement goal.  I started this post earlier but then walked away to give it some thought.  I decided I've had these feelings before.  We saved 75% of our income to get into a home (San Francisco) when just starting out.  After...
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Have started back on our budget for may...feels good to be kind of back on track, I know we might spend a little more on groceries this month than normal as we have had to replenish everything in our fridge/freezer etc...but going to try to stick to our $1000 month amount the best we can. 
Bill wise it can be a little hard as we haven't had bills in for thing like internet etc so will put what we normally pay into my POM acct until we do...I am hoping to save between $2-3000pm...
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I get a message about an "invalid page URL" when I log in, so I had been thinking for the past 3 or so months that I wasn't able to post--but then I discovered that, even if I get that message, if I just go to the blog page, I am indeed logged in.  So this is just a quick catchup for March and April of 2021.
-Work has been busy, as it always is this time of year.  Busy is good, but I am looking forward to things slowing down a bit over the summer.
-I am now deep into...
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My dad & I are on our way to my aunt's 70th birthday party today. Feeling a little sleepy after another late lab night, but I'm sure I'll wake up once I get to see family & friends that I haven't seen in over a year.
April was a good month financially. I worked a lot, but I saved a lot as well. $2,250 to my TSP, $4,500 to my savings, and $500 to my Roth IRA. What a difference a year makes! Last year at this time I was still paying off a car & TSP loan and was only...
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Income Total: $1700


     * $1500 Recurring monthly retirement account distribution  


     * $200 Swagbucks and My Points earnings (cash out to PayPal) 


      


Total Spending: $1576.18


Total Savings: $123.82 (difference between monthly income and monthly spending)  Fixed Expenses: Verizon bundle (internet,...
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April has been a good month financially. It's been brisk for business and I am very much on target for what I want to make this year. There were a bunch of largish purchases and expenses that left my savings account mostly depleted. Some were expected (mortgage refinance initiating fee, ductless heat pump installation, vehicle rental for my trip next month, an airplane ticket for later this year to go see my sister, tax prep, and taxes) and some were unexpected (new phone, car...
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Vacation was nice, but back to reality.
$309.15 Tithe
_400.00 Grocery Envelope
_300.00 Medical Fund
__75.00 Household Envelope
_100.00 Gas Money
_100.00 Adults' Blow Money
_130.00 DS's Allowance
__40.00 DD's Allowance
_401.00 Clothing for DD and DS
_400.00 Lawnmower/Yard Fund
_100.00 Car Maintenance Fund
_506.32 Emergency Fund
-599.87 Citi
-------------------
3061.34 Total Money Out
The EF deposit puts us at only needing $6,241.21 to hit our goal of 6 month's...
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I was finally able to make a substantial deposit into the Emergency Fund this week.  This is a 3 paycheck month so I had some extra money that wasn't allocated for anything else.  This tips our net worth over the $100K mark to $100,182.21, so a big milestone goal met there.
$15,374.23 Beginning Balance
+__,506.32 Amount Added
----------------
$15,880.55 New Balance
I also had a lot left in the grocery envelope when I re-funded it today, so I transferred that into...
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This is the last day of April, but I won't do any spending today, so I totalled up my spending for the month:
Housing: $795
Car Repair/Maintenance: $250
Vet/Pet Supplies: $212
Utilities: $186
Home Repair/Maintenance: $142
Groceries: $129
Furnishings/Equipment/Decor: $88
Medical/Health: $73
Phone: $52
Eating Out/Takeout: $48
Fees/Services: $40
Gas: $23
Gifts/Charity: $20
Entertainment: $16
Laundry: $16
Personal: $6
Household Supplies: $3
Vacation/Travel: $1
Grand...
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Today was payday for both The Husband and myself. I felt very flush for all of 30 minutes until I paid all of our bills and parcelled all the money out to where it needed to go!
I have talked about the way we budget in a previous post. With this payday, we put money into several different envelopes: gas, food, car repair, pet, and Christmas.  We also had to pay a car registration this month. We were "behind" on giving to our church. (This is our choice on how much we want...
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So I've been fretting about refinancing our mortgage.  It's a very good deal.  To save $700/month for the first 84 months is a good deal but it's beacuse it's less principal and less interest.  The cap is 7% over the lifetime of the loan.  But I am moving from a fixed rate 2.875% to a 2% ARM.  So the question is what do I do?  Being analytical my DH said to break down all parts of the refinance. 
First let's start with over the 84 months we will...
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During these strange times of covid, I felt compelled to check on an ex that I cut off communication with after the end of our relationship. I wondered about how they were considering their poor health, their aged parents who I also known and cared about. They owed me money and claimed they would pay me back. I explained that good faith would be regular payments even if it was as small $5 a month but nothing ever came. The last payments I received were in 2015. Life hasn't been...
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I think I needed a "creative" outlet to capture my thoughts and plans on our journey to early retirement.  The current plan is to retire in early 2023.  The ER timing is dependent on a couple of decisions -
first - do I need to still be employed to collect my incentive comp for 2022 when it's paid in April 2023?
second - will my employer recognize my eligibility under the rule of 55 (I'll be 54 on the planned date, but it'll be the year in which I turn 55)?
We have...
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We spent a lot this month so far on everything.  I also did a rough breakdown of our 2021 taxes and we appear to be getting a too large refund of $10,158.  This is because DH is paying double SS and it will come back to us when we file.  I guess that takes care of me saving for Roth IRA next year. I don't know whether to count it as this year or next year savings.  Suggestions?
Groceries $533.20Eating out $206.34Alcohol $103.09Dog $137.70 (will pay $250 at...
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