All Entries

I moved my car to one of the city garages this morning, and I will keep it there until my doctor's appointment next Tuesday.  Parking is free until February 3, because of the coming snowstorm.  The more cars that are off the street, the better the city will be able to plow.
DS picked me up at the garage, and we stopped at Walgreens on the way home.  I stocked up on batteries ($10) and also picked up some groceries ($13).  That should be my last bit of spending...
[ Read More ]

Debts
Mortgage -$121,614.90 (-$232.23)
Savings
Roth IRAs +$19,134 (+$501)401K +$35,836 (+$891)Emergency Fund +$8,173 (+$659)Animal Fund +$1,059 (+$850)Truck Fund +$1,205 (-$600)HSA +$853(+$437)
Overall: +$2,970.23
 
Lots of progress this month. I was able to fully replenish my buffer and I sold a few goats to boost my animal fund. I can't stress how amazing it is getting a paycheck and getting to decide where I want to save the money rather than figuring out how I can...
[ Read More ]

It was a nutty month for investments. It's been a roller coaster watching the GME drama, and I've been feeling some major regret about not joining in when I first saw the WSB chatter last December. Changes this month: (1) Funded my HSA for 2021. (2) Started and funded a new brokerage account at M1 Finance(3) Rebalanced savings and moved excess to brokerage(4) Made my very first stock purchase. I usually just buy index funds, and decided to gamble a bit. I know this is more volatile...
[ Read More ]

January 26
$22 Tax Software
$5 College Application Fee of some sort
$0 Target (Groceries)
Dinner:  Tortellini Soup (Instant Pot)
MH asked me if I needed anything from Target.  I thought about it this morning when going through and paying bills.  I checked and he has $80 in the Target cart, but we bought up a bunch of gift cards while on sale in December.  Will be $0 from our budget.
This would have put our grocery/household spending to $740 for the month...
[ Read More ]

January 24
NSD
Dinner:  Chicken  Korma (crockpot)
I think MH found this recipe for the Instant Pot but it utilized the "slow cooker" function.  So...  Why not just put it in the crockpot then?
It was *amazing*.  Only complaint:  Not enough leftovers.
I wasn't feeling great physically on this morning, and then I found out a woman I used to work with had passed away.  She was 86.  I had worked with her until she was probably about 80. ...
[ Read More ]

January 22
NSD
Dinner:  Goulash (Instant Pot)
Dinner did not turn out so well on this day.  If anything, most dinners have been too watery in the Instant Pot.  But this one went the opposite way. 
I have some days to get caught up on...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
January 23
Allowance Spending (Moi): $139
Dinner:  Garlic Chicken Parmesan (Instant Pot)
Tried a new recipe, dinner was okay.
For some time I was exposed...
[ Read More ]

They sent my grandfather to a hospice home rather send him home with a hospice nurse, which is better for all involved. My mom went today to pay for his funeral. It was better to do it now, rather than wait. Even if he makes a complete turnaround, that's one less thing for my mom to have to contend with when he does eventually pass.
I ran my numbers through the H&R Block tax calculator. It says I'll owe $1355. Not bad. I'm glad that I had them withhold an extra $100 per paycheck...
[ Read More ]

I thought I might go out and grocery shop today, since another snowstorm is coming.  Then I rethought it.  My freezer is full of food to use up.  The only thing I was worried about running out of was cat food.  So I ordered some from Amazon.  $21.  I already had two packages of Command hooks in my cart, so I got those, too, for $27.
The city has agreed to open the parking garages free so that the streets can be plowed more efficiently.  I take...
[ Read More ]

Since we don't owe taxes after all, I moved the $300 I had saved towards that into the Emergency Fund.
$11,251.02 Previous Balance
+__,300.00 Amount Added
----------------
$11,551.02 New Balance
$8971.68 to go to hit my goal of $20,522.70, or expenses for six months.
[ Read More ]

With all of DH's messing around trying to figure out our taxes and freaking me out about owing taxes, once he actually got his forms from work with all the real numbers, we don't owe.  I couldn't figure out how we would have based on our withholdings, but at least we have the answer now.  He was just wrong.  Next time I'm just going to wait and not let him jump the gun and get me all worried for nothing.
We will be getting back around $800 and I'd like to ear mark...
[ Read More ]

This is probably going to be a bit of a scattered entry.  Stream of consciousness lol.
2020 Taxes - 2020 W-2s became available from my employer early this week.  I went ahead and entered it, and entered an estimate of my mortgage interest (I have this info already), my share of the building mortgage interest, and my share of the property taxes (these are both estimates based on 2019).  Based on these numbers, it looks like I am still better off by a few thousand...
[ Read More ]

Yesterday I checked to see if my 1099-R was ready, and it was!  So I went ahead and filed.  I'm going to get a tax refund of $909.  Whoopee!
We have been hit with 8 inches of snow, and I have been moving my car around for three days so they can plow.  A lot of others are not doing that, so the plowing has been hit or miss.  But the main roads are clear.  It's the side streets, like mine, that are a mess.  I wish I could plan on some melting,...
[ Read More ]

My wife has been sewing for a number of years and has sold stuff here and there, mostly through friends and some word of mouth. Over the past few months, she's been putting more effort into the business. She started selling bags on consignment at an area yarn shop and has sold quite a few of them. She realizes, though, that she needs to expand her market.
There is a local business that runs an indoor (and in season outdoor) pop up shop every Saturday. For $20/day, you get a 9x9...
[ Read More ]

I have most of my taxes filled out and it looks like we will be getting back around $6.5k!!?? Usually we break even. 
This is a combinaition of a lot less self employment income, having a baby and also the stimulus checks for the baby which we did not get yet. 
If the numbers are correct we will basically be able to fund all our goals for the entire year which is just crazy to me. I'm not sure what we will save for this year. Perhaps retirement, or some other future...
[ Read More ]

The other day our water was turned off while another unit was getting plumbing service.  When it came back on, my toilet was suddenly flushing better, after having been sluggish for some time.  So, even though my toilet is very old, I scrapped the plan to get a new one, and decided to look for a new seat.  The current one is chipped and not attached well anymore.   Well, I learned that my toilet is actually smaller than standard and getting a new seat to...
[ Read More ]

I did decide to take family medical leave from work. On the first day of leave, as though it was planned, Dad was unexpectedly discharged early.
 
It’s time off one area but time on another. I’m looking forward to these months. I hope to focus on three areas: Dad’s return to health (of course!), my twins’ schooling, and my health habits. For Dad there are frequent doses of many drugs to administer, things to check, and appointments to attend. It’s...
[ Read More ]

So there was another low-ball offer on the house, like $55K less than asking price.
We decided what our lowest sell price is ($20K less than current asking price) and did a Take It or Leave It offer with 24 hours to accept.  I'm still recovering from COVID (fatigue is lingering and some days I am more tired than others).  My realtor was surprised that I didn't comment on the kind note that the young couple wrote when they submitted the offer. My honest response was "I...
[ Read More ]

My mom called me at work this morning to tell me that my grandfather wasn't doing well. I left work to take her to the hospital. Though we thought he could have more than one visitor a day since leaving ICU, it's still only one per day. They made an exception today and both my mom & my uncle were able to visit. I still haven't seen him. The would like to arrange a hospice nurse for him. It's so strange because although he is 90, until the last month or so he was so healthy....
[ Read More ]

Just checked mint and I suppose with the market as it's going, it's just growing in leaps and bounds. 20k in a couple of weeks or so.  It's kinda unsettling to me because there *has* to be a crash at some point. This is just not sustainable. 
Sitting at home, spending mostly just for food and other basics. Although last night I decided to buy some really warm slippers, spent $50. They aren't as expensive as the Glerups and it seems my previous favorite sheepskin seem...
[ Read More ]

Over the last month or so I have started to reassess pretty much my whole life in general...don't get me wrong I have a good life but some areas need an overhaul...and most will take awhile to do and the 2 main areas are health and finances. My health we have been working on for a few years and so much hasn't worked but maybe this new doctor will be able to help and I can get healthy enoough to work...even part time...thats my plan for the next couple years.
Financially I want...
[ Read More ]