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I know it has only been 5 days, but the contributions hit the account today, $660 from us and $110 from work.  The amount the account has gone up by in these 5 days, though, is $1292.69, so $522.69 was just interest.  The new total in the retirement accounts is $44,210.79.  We will likely hit $45K with the next contribution if we make any interest at all in the next two weeks.
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Onion Fritter recipe:
https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/side/vegetable/amish-onion-fritters.html
This was the easiest recipe.  So I figured I would share.
MH is really not into anything greasy or deep fried.  In that vein, I just got a small frying pan and covered the bottom of the pan with oil.  With the small pan, wasn't using tons of oil, and was never going to use as much oil as the recipe called for.   
But...  Because it was a small pan,...
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Since the last time I posted about it, I ended up deciding to increase my withholdings from my twice monthly check.  I had been referring to it as "single zero" and "single one" but it appears that in 2020, the W-4 changed and is now completely different and confusing lol.  After a lot of googling and researching, I was able to figure out how to update my online W-4 in such a way that I would get a very small refund next year, and increase my take home pay every check. ...
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I got my electric bill -- or, that is, it hit my bank -- it's an automatic payment.  It's higher than usual.  I don't know if I've been using more electricity or if new charges have been tacked on.  I guess it's time to be more mindful of what lights are on.
I also paid my assessment fees -- automatically.  They have gone up, too.   Oh well, Social Security payments have also gone up by about $25!
We are expected to get a big snow today.  Tomorrow...
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January 20
NSD
Dinner:  Black Bean Soup
This was an instant pot recipe that MH tried before.  I told him to put it on my list to make this week.  It was so good and so easy to throw together, I told him to just put it in the rotation every grocery run. 
It calls for dry black beans.  Takes about 1 hour to cook (getting to pressure and cooking) and probably about 1/2 hour of slow pressure release.  
The one thing I would do differently is...
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Illinois is one of the states that participates in the MegaMillions Lottery tickets. Sad to say, we didn't win. Of course, we didn't play either. I guess some lucky winner in Michigan will be the next millionaire. DH turned to me last night when they announced where the winning ticket was sold and said he bet that even if we won a jackpot like that, I would still shop at Aldi and clip coupons, and reuse bread bags. You know, he's right! He said being frugal is ingrained me and...
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I spent some time this weekend starting to organize everything for our taxes. I made an appointment to drop things off to our CPA on February 24, so I've got time, but I don't want to wait until the last minute.
We haven't gotten all of the paperwork yet but there was enough I could do with what we already have.
The good news so far is that our taxable capital gains were lower in 2020 by about $3,400 so that will lower our tax bill. Also they are allowing $300 of charitable donations...
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Well we have been looking at huses and haven't got one yet, there are at least 50 plus people at all the opens and not enough housing to go around, many are from aussies who were living abroad and now the pandemic has hit has moved back to australia...so we have 2 weeks to move and nowhere to move to....fingers crossed we find something!
Haven't really been spending much money lately which is good but still haven't saved as much as I would like this month but have been buying...
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I got my COVID vaccine today. I got the Moderna vaccine. I am so relieved. I knew I would be, but I guess I hadn't realized just how much. My sister is getting hers on Wednesday. I had vague plans of visiting her sometime this year, and this makes it much much more doable earlier in the year than I had dared to hope. Her baby is almost two and a half years old, and growing rapidly. I want to see her. And, I want to be hugged and held. No one has touched me in a year, and I feel...
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Yesterday was my dad's birthday. My mom wanted to buy my dad some lottery tickets for his birthday so I went & purchased 10 MegaMillions tickets. Somebody in Michigan won the entire $1 billion jackpot! I didn't even know that the jackpot was so big. I asked the cashier for Powerball tickets & she asked me if I wanted Ppwerball or MegaMillions. The lady behind me told me that the MegaMillions jackpot was much bigger so that's what I bought.
I had to work last night so we...
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I'm a few days late, but on the 19th, it marked 16 years since I posted my first blog on this site.
My life now is certainly different from back then. Different in good ways, and in sad ways.
One recent change is the passing of my Uncle J from Covid. He was 73 - just 3 1/2 years younger than what my dad would have been. I feel for my grandma - having lost two husbands and now two sons.
Uncle J officiated at my wedding (almost 5 years ago!) He tried so hard to bring my dad "with"...
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I did get my Google/AdSense payment this week so I added that into the regular budget.  10% of that went to the tithe and the rest to the Emergency Fund.  I did buy some garden stuff with the Citi card, but the rest of that was monthly charges for Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, Sirius Satellite for the van (that includes the up to date GPS information), and Ting (our cell phone service).
I know I'm not meant to be using that card for anything but the subscriptions, but...
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Well, it is not as much as I wanted it to be since we have to save for taxes, but I still put a nice little chunk of change into the Emergency Fund this payday.  I had .57 leftover in the checking account from last week, so that is added into what came out of the paycheck as well.  I have started running a $0 based budget, so that every single dollar and cent from the paycheck goes to use.  I have enough of a cushion in checking to not be worried about doing that,...
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I just received an email that they are stopping the free car charging program we have been using.
Shouldn't be a surprise, but wasn't particularly on my radar.  Their Plan A was to actually turn it off like the week we bought our electric car.  !!  But with COVID, they extended discount and free rates.  In the end, sounds like they extended for 5 months.
This means that all the chargers on our Tahoe route are no longer free like we have gotten used to. ...
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I have received my pay stub for tomorrow's paycheck. I received both anticipated pay increases in one check: an annual across the board increase of 1% and my scheduled step increase. The combined increases translated to a 3.9% raise. Not anything to go crazy with, but ever penny counts!
Net Worth $1,166,919
 
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I made a run to the vet's office this morning and picked up a bag of saline, needles, and a bag of dry kidney care cat food.  The total was $37.  That pushed variables up to 38% -- still good for this time of the month, especially with my new lower variables bucket.
I have a little 403b fund from the few years I worked at a  local college at the end of my career.  It just surpassed $30K -- a milestone! It was at $10K when I retired (for the second time) in...
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Hi everyone.
Quick question. We all talk about networth on here.. and many of us have a very good networth. Much of my networth is tied up in income producing real estate and comparatively less in cash investments.  I feel 'less secure' with this model and am focusing now on quickly beefing up my investment/savings side. My goal is $750k. but if I set this goal I feel I am stepping back on the treadmill that I want so much to get off of.
Do other people feel the same?
What...
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Every one of our age 65+ CA relatives have received round 1 of COVID vaccine.  Woohoo!
I feel like I have to pinch myself, I must be dreaming.
The exception...  Some allergy (a flu vaccine ingredient) was incorrectly noted in my Dad's file and by the time he got that cleared up, he had to wait two weeks to get his first shot.  I am really upset about that.  He probably has the most health risk of all of them, which is why I am upset.  But I did see yesterday...
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January 18
NSD
Dinner:  pasta with sausage and artichokes
MH put the recipe away and I don't remember the formal name.  Just something he threw together on the stovetop.  
I had figured I would likely work from home on Monday, due to emergency stuff the night before.  In the end, I got home at a reasonable enough time Sunday night.  Working any less in the office just gets too complicated.  So I decided I had enough sleep to be able to go...
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January 17
$12 Fast Food
$0 Fuel 
Dinner:  Chickpea Tikka Masala (Instant Pot)
January 17th = UGH!
It was such a typical 2018/2019/2020 day for me.  What sums up these years is infinite disasters and emergencies, all very up/down, but usually nothing much comes of it.  
I made a comment to MH a few weeks ago, "It's a wonder that our parents can take care of themselves at all, any more."  Which I think sums it up pretty well.
Oh but first I do...
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