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At the beginning of March I decided I was going to try and get out of escrowing our property taxes and home insurance.  The bank (JPMC) approved.  When we got our mortgage in 2017 we were required to escrow in order to get a better rate.  We currently have a 30 year fixed (26 years in) for 2.875% on a jumbo mortgage.  I logged into chase today and see that we are getting a disburment for $6488!  That money is going to my property taxes and my home insurance...
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Yesterday was the 14th day after my second vaccination, so it was my hug day!  I went over to my son's house and hugged them all, very energetically!  It felt so good.  Afterwards, they took off for their spring break in Florida.  They cleaned out their fridge while I was there and sent me home with two bags of food.  So far I've eaten a chicken-veggie-brown rice casserole, a big salad, and a stir fry courtesy of their gift.  I have added to the freezer:...
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As hoped, we received a stimulus payment based on our 2019 AGI since we haven’t filed our 2020 taxes yet. The $2100 is a pleasant surprise and will be used to pay for our annual CSA membership and the travel costs of returning home next month.

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3/19 - Stop & Shop
4.49 - milk
4.89 - string cheese
5.99 - 2 lb of strawberries
3.00 plus tax - 2 king size Reese's (oy.  It was my birthday!!!!!)
Total - 20.63
3/19 - GNC
A friend posted about some flavors of ready to drink protein shake that I wanted to try out.  Since I was literally going to be walking past a GNC, I ducked in to see if they had them available as singles.  I include this in the grocery category, since it's a meal replacement for me.
3.19...
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$13,325.73 Beginning Balance
+__,_37.49 Allstate Safe Driver's Refund
+__,___.51 Lousianna Pacific Stock Divident Payment
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$13,363.73 New Balance
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My mom gave me an expected gift of $3,500! She said that she didn't want me to feel left out because I didn't my qualify for a 3rd stimulus. She is going to give me another $1,500 at a later time. It was such a sweet & unexpected gift. I truly am blessed. I have no plans for the money at this time.
I have all my expenses & income for the month & I only ended up in the red by about $141 not including the gift. Again, I wrote checks for my federal & state taxes totaling...
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So we have been told that even though we live overseas we should have been getting the stimulus payments, we have a Us bank account but even though we put the info on our tax returns they always seem to send it via mail...now we have been waiting for last years and this years taxes to be done and neither has been done yet...we have to send via mail as we can't do it online (its US rules), so if we are eligible will they back pay them? We never expected them and probably won't get...
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So I guess tracking my spendy ways on groceries has made me more frugal overall.  My costco rebates last year are as follows $347 for 2% executive membership, $293.77 for my costco CC rebate (citi), DH's $93.76 for his costco CC rebate.  $734.53 for all our spending last year mostly at costco on groceries but also some gas $844.68 for me and $633.51 for DH for gas all year.  Yeah it's hard to justify buying an e car when we spend very little on gas = $1467.19 all...
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My husband, son, and I spent a few hours working in the garden before the son went down.  My son was weeding the strip beside the house where we will be planting the blackberry bushes.  He got a 4 x 2 foot area and a 4 x 3 foot area weeded.  These are the nasty weeds that are really hard to get out because they have runners.
My husband got the garden bed empty that was so heavily invested with morning glory.  The root structure in there was unbelievable. ...
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In the first time in forever I have a large deposit to make to the EF.  This is a portion of the stimulus we recieved.
$11,325.73 Beginning Balance
+_2,000.00 Amount Added
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$13,325.73 New Balance
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It's my pay day, and I got the stimulus payment today.  So it's like a double pay day.  I paid my bills and I ran a few errands -- grocery shopping at Aldi ($31), and pet supplies at PetSmart ($14) and the vet ($14).  Variables are at 62%, with two more weeks to go.
I sent an email to the guy I was in touch with last year about refinishing my table.  He hasn't responded yet.  If I don't hear by tomorrow, I will call.  I started with email because...
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I almost mailed my payment this week, think I'll hold onto it for a little while longer! New deadline is May 15th.
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I received my stimulus today and used it to finish saving for my medical out of pocket max for the year. What a relief to have it already saved for! No more medical debt. I am still fighting out of network charges from last year but I am hopeful for a resolution soon. Which means we have nearly completed all our goals for the year except for regrading the yard. We are waiting on the weather to cooperate, but the money is saved.
We went ahead and added another saving/project...
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Hi all!
 
its been a while, hope all is well. I have a question regarding the stimulus check.  I help support my mom, so I file her on my taxes as a dependent. She gets social security benefits, retired, Will she get a stimulus check? 
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Happy (early) St. Patrick's Day & may the luck of the Irish be with you! I've been reminescing on my trip to Dublin a little over 4 years ago. It was a great, but too short trip. I would like to go back & see the Irish countryside.
My goal was to have one thing done to my home each month & I've done nothing this month. I will reach out to some awning companies to get quotes. An awning is something that I've needed for 15 years now! I think it will cost less than my...
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Yesterday was my house call from UnitedHealthcare.  Ironically, it was a snowy day.  That's ironic because I cancelled twice previously due to bad weather.  I guess bad weather just couldn't be avoided.  It didn't affect me, but I hated to be forcing the nurse-practitioner out in such weather.  She didn't seem to mind, though she was glad I was her last patient.
All the tests were good, and I was declared healthy, though it was hinted that I should lose...
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3/15 - Stop & Shop
As noted yesterday, I went to the grocery store later in the day to get some things I needed for this week's dinners and green smoothies.  
4.29 - bread (had a coupon for $1 off, this bread is pricey but I really like it and I don't go through it that quickly so I am ok with the cost.  The loaf lasts me around 2 months.)
2.99 - 18 eggs (this will also probably last me 2 months)
3.89 x 3 - frozen dinners (I like to keep these in the freezer...
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The retirement plans seem to have recovered from the chaos that was last week.  The new balance is $48,301.95, a rise of $1,228.61 since March 3rd.  $770 of that was contributions, so $458.61 was pure interest.  I really don't like the volatility since January, but what are you going to do?  We invest for the long-term.  I have the choice of looking at the roller coaster or ignoring it and I'd rather look.  I am looking forward to it hitting $50K,...
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So, as I alluded to in a post several weeks ago, I did in fact receive a great deal of art I'd donated 4 years ago to a local non-profit. As mentioned,  I had mixed feelings about receiving it all: I was glad to get some of it which I regretted gifting a little too generously, but also felt a bit burdened by what to do with all this art, knowing I don't have the space for it.

I reached out to a specific department at Univerity of Connecticut to see if they'd have an interest...
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Last Friday I received my first Moderna vaccine dose. Other then a sore arm I had no side effects at all. My second dose is scheduled for early April. The college I worked at is a vaccine site so it was very convenient, and the process was very smooth. There was no line, and I was in and out pretty quickly. Most of the time spent was the 15 minute observation time. I'm glad to have round one completed!
I finally got a haircut on Saturday. It was my first cut since July and I really...
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