All Entries

MH is planning to go to the Arizona film festival again.  I was able to pay for the flight and the hotel with credit card rewards.  I was extra pleased because Capital One gave me an extra $250 travel credit re: booking through their travel site.  I've already looked up hotels at least 4 times already.  They never have the hotel or the room type that we want.  I guess the 5th time is the charm.  It's nice I was able to actually use that credit.
I...
[ Read More ]

Crazy crazy week.  But thankfully, it was all good crazy.  I will break this out into three posts.
DL(20) was able to meet with an advisor in the college education deparment.  Because of his work experience, he will be able to do a 1-year track for his teaching credential.  The credential program is treated the same as Undergrad, with minimal fees added.  DL will have to pass two tests and add a few classes to his degree.  He might choose to take...
[ Read More ]

Making slow progress on assembling things I have purchased, a chore I HATE doing. I've assembled everything from a full size outdoor composter to a desk and other stuff, but I've also returned something once (a simple bench!) that just wouldn't assemble.
Lawn mower
The Greenworks lawnmower arrived yesterday and I was relieved there was not much to do beyond charging up the battery and inserting the battery. I like to mulch my grass and leave in place, so I didn't even need to...
[ Read More ]

I'm beyond pleased that I am able to see the blogs and actually blog again! Thanks admin!
John Denver in his song, "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" starts out with "life on the farm is kind of laid back..." Well, I'm not exactly sure how accurate that is, unless he means it is less stress than corporate life. I know there is a never ending cycle of things to do, but I am not complaining.
Last week I did a bunch of work in the gardens. The Rosemary I planted just didn't do very well...
[ Read More ]

I can finally access blogs and write entries, hooray! There was about a week when I couldn't, so I couldn't make my usual monthly net worth post.
It was pretty good news for August: about a $25K bump in net worth, mostly due to retirement fund values increasing. We're comfortably at CoastFIRE with a $140K surplus. I tried the calculator with different ages than my 65 goal, and it says I could theoretically retire at 62 and still be at CoastFIRE status. To retire at 61 (10 years...
[ Read More ]

The big change this week: the countertop was installed! The space seems bigger to me with the countertop in, which doesn’t make sense. I think it’s because the room feels so open.
The countertop company spent a couple of hours here for the installation. They had equipment to get the heavy thing(s) off the truck and into the kitchen, then they placed it, and then there was a smelly process to joining the two countertop slabs. The cut line is visible only if you look...
[ Read More ]

I asked the man who has been mowing my lawn for the past 5 years or so if he could please not leave divots on the lawn, and also that I've noticed my lawn size has shrunk over the years becus he skirts the edges, allowing weeds to fill in. I figured he would just raise the blade. Instead, he suggested I find someone else to do it because, he said, my ground is uneven, and as for the shrinking lawn, he said I needed to have it mowed every week instead of every other week.
I was...
[ Read More ]

MM(22) July 2025 'College Rent Fund': $2,400
MM(22) August 2025 'College Rent Fund': $112  $0
Rent is paid through September 30th.
I reimbursed MM(22) for 6 months of utilities, so this account is pretty much exhausted.  I think I will call it.  There is still technically $15,112 in this account, earmarked for DL(20).  Er, was earmarking $15,000 in my mind.  But I have been giving interest on the entire combined account to MM(22).  Because...
[ Read More ]

I first bought my printer in 2007(!), and up until now, it still printed.
Technically, there is nothing wrong with it.  At first, I thought it was a driver issue, so I went online to download it, but the company says it's been discontinued, and driver support is no longer offered.
I also thought maybe it was a hardware issue.  I opened it up, and all the ink lights are red.  However, I still have ink.
Much to my dismay, I am faced with the possibility of having...
[ Read More ]

An assortment of tasks was completed this week.
++ The flooring transitions were installed between the kitchen ceramic tile and the dining room, foyer, and basement openings.
++ The laundry closet door – a pocket door – was installed.
++ The cabinet toe-kicks (lower trim) were finished.
++ Beadboard was installed on the two walls in the laundry room. I wish I’d had this when the boys were young – it’s so much easier to keep clean than sheetrock.
++...
[ Read More ]

I don’t know WTF it always takes Nelnet days to post my student loan payment.
Meanwhile my loan is accumulating at a higher dollar amount each damn day it is delayed. 
This is ridiculous, they can calculate the daily interest with no issues but cannot process a payment without delays? I made my payment on Tuesday, it is now Thursday and nothing. My loan accumulates about $4 a day based on the balance. Though it's a few cents, I still want my payment posted when I pay it. 
[ Read More ]

Okay so everything thinks social health is great in australia and in some aspects it is. Especially when private health is so expensive, so if you go into the ER it wont cost you a penny you walk in, you walk out and you are done nothing to pay. However if you need non emergent surgery it can take forever. So my daughter needs reproductive surgery (a few things need to be done), she is on the waiting list since july...I had a gut feeling and got her to call and ask how much it...
[ Read More ]

This was the week of the floors. All the tiling was done for both the kitchen and laundry room. The tiling continued from the family room that was done last year so now the flooring is the same throughout the three rooms.
When making decisions on tiling, there is more to consider than just the color & pattern of the tile itself. Fortunately, I already made these decisions a year ago so I didn’t need to add them to the list for this remodel.
There’s the size of...
[ Read More ]

I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but when I took $10k out of my savings to pay off my credit cards I changed my monthly contributions to replenish my savings. I was contributing $100 a month to my savings and $500 a month to my brokerage account. I reversed the contributions to build my savings back up. So now I'm contributing $500 to my savings and just $100 to my brokerage account. I am still maxing out my TSP & IRA so I am still investing a significant account monthly even...
[ Read More ]

TSP $1,451,175
IRA $424,517
Brokerage $12,455
Investments Sub-total $1,888,147
Savings $2,043
Home Equity $141,000
August 2025 Net Worth $2,031,190
July 2025 Net Worth $1,975,090
Monthly Gain/Loss $56,100
 
[ Read More ]

This week I reviewed Kiva loans from Philippines and Kenya, about half and half, and one from Uganda. As is typical of all Kiva loans, about 90% of the borrowers were women. All of the Philippine borrowers were people who fished for a living and wanted money for a boat engine. All of the Kenyan borrowers were farmers wanting about $175 for fertilizer and good quality seeds.
The average annual income in Philippines is about $4,000 and in Kenya, it’s closer to $7,000, so...
[ Read More ]

I thought I'd check in.
 
We've been living with our new kitchen for about a month now. Still loving it. There are definitely some little things here and there that aren't perfect or that we might have done differently in retrospect but nothing major. The biggest thing is that because we redesigned the room, the workflow isn't quite as smooth as before. Previously, the cooktop was on an "L" near the sink and the fridge was just to the left of that. Now, the cooktop is on...
[ Read More ]

We our postal service is stopping all packages to the US and peurto rico until further notice.
It is because of the tarrifs that come into affect friday so it is starting today. It is sad because we have always a great free trade agreement with the US until Trump came in and decided to put tariffs on everyone. I think we are also being punished  because we support Ukraine and Palestine....I am hoping they can come to some agreement before to many businesses in both countries...
[ Read More ]

This was an earlier post I did estimating DL's college costs:
DL's expected net college costs:
$32,000 Tuition/fees
-10,000  tax credits
-16,000  CA middle class grants
---------
$6,000 Net cost
Probably minus some increased middle class grants in the future, which could easily net out this cost to $0.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DL's actual net college costs (Years 1-3):
$24,686 Tuition/Fees
+  1,100 Parking...
[ Read More ]

This week I reviewed Kiva loans from Phillippines and Kenya, many for people wanted about $175 for a sanitary toilet. Many of the borrower photos show the borrower standing in a thatched hut or sometimes an outhouse built of cinder blocks. It will have the toilet itself but there is no plumbing. I have often wondered how they make do and I guess they must dig a pit in the ground under the toilet (?) and use a bucket of water to wash it all down. In any event, it's a good example...
[ Read More ]