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It’s September & my favorite season is in sight. 🍁🍂🎃

Ka-ching! That’s the sound of another sale! I sold 4 more tea towels today. I get more excited about selling something that the money I make! I’m going to ship the package on the way to the gym.

Today is the start of the payroll tax deferral. I’m a federal employee & of course, they will opt in to the holiday. I’m going to be really annoyed when I have to pay back these taxes in the new year, but unfortunately...
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Home Repair/Maintenance - $1765
Housing - $774
Utilities - $198
Furnishings/Equipment/Decor - $171
Clothing - $75
Eating Out/Takeout - $66
Vet/Pet Supplies - $55
Phone - $51
Fees/Services - $43
Groceries - $33
Gifts/Charity - $27
Medical/Health - $26
Gas - $22
Laundry - $17
Personal - $13
Entertainment - $9
Car Repair/Maintenance - $5

Grand Total - $3350

Well, it was what it was. Home repair skyrocketed. Eating out was higher than it's been any time since...
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My biggest news is that today we received the refund for the cancelled UK flights to my credit card. We received $3012, which only leaves a balance of $680 owing on that card.

I am ecstatic! I have been worried about how high the cards are and to have this reduced by so much is a big peace of mind. I can now afford to pay this card off in full within two months.

I am also really pleased that our travel provider advised us that it would take 12 weeks to receive the flight...
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I know this has been a really weird year with all the covid stuff going on but I still find this year has been flying by and now its september...it is pay week this week and still deciding what I need to do..will probably help my mom out a bit, my daughter needs help paying for her course and I still need to get money back ito our ice acct...I just have been to busy to work on the budget right now...and now I have to work on my moms budget as well...and now we have to try and...
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It always seems to take forever to get here in the garden season, but finally at the end of August everything explodes into production. I picked more green beans today and it is around the same amount I got last time, so I think I will have another 12 quarts at least. Something has been eating the middle portion of the vines. I am thinking a deer got in, so we are going to have to do some additional deer fencing. Darn dear.

I picked half a 6 quart bowl full of tomatoes and...
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As some are doing, I've been canning things. DH has had a good tomato crop this year. I canned tomatoes, tomato juice, spaghetti sauce, and even made barbecue sauce. I also made tomato strawberry jam. I've frozen cut up bell peppers and canned green beans. Had to buy the green beans. I've made different jams and jellies. I have been drying herbs too.

My next plan of action is to make and can applesauce. I have some canned because we were running low when DH had a tooth issue...
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For the month of August, I spent a total of $176.92 for groceries. My goal for the grocery challenge was to spend $20 less than I did in July. My total for July was $198.21. I came in $21.31 under! The challenge really helped me to focus on what I was buying, stick to my list, and to not make impulse purchases.

I know I will be spending more in September. I want to stock my freezer with some meat, and frozen veggies and fruit. And I need to restock some things in my pantry....
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Since it's the last day of the month, I would ordinarily do a monthly recap, but I might be spending today. I hope that I can get someone to come and look at my dishwasher -- and repair it!

The baseball double-header yesterday was lots of fun. The weather was just perfect. Our team lost both games, but GS1 was in good spirits anyway.

I did end up buying lunch -- $9. Variables are at 64%.

Sitting for so long in one place seemed to be hard on my body. I was very stiff...
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All in all I find going out places often more aggravating then staying home. Then mask fanatics and self appointed experts tend to get on my nerves.
Between the saving on transportation in work from home etc i am way ahead in money savings but what does it matter if there are very few things to do or places that are comfortable to go.



I look around in my area and see MORE people that simply are not wearing masks correctly so if over half (Especially the Men) I saw...
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I started a "Don't be surprised if we buy an EV" post a few days ago but was too slow on the draw.

It is done.

Our last car (dipping our toes in electric and saving a bajillion dollars in fuel) was our toe dip into the electric world. A hybrid of sorts (I still don't know what to call it because it's technically not a hybrid either. It's an electric car with a gas generator, the best of all worlds). This time around we spent a lot less money and it's more of a, "Holy cow...
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Income Total: $1637.00
* $1500 Recurring monthly retirement account distribution
* $100 Swagbucks earnings (cash out to PayPal)
* $25 My Points (cash out to PayPal)
* $7 Amazon gift card (earned through Swagbucks)
* $5 CVS gift card (earned through Fetch)

Total Spending: $1421.23

Total Savings: $215.77 (difference between monthly income and monthly spending)

Fixed Expenses:
Verizon bundle (internet, cable, home phone): $160.25...
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I promised that i would blog at least once a month.

Nothing really new.

Work is stressful I am still able to go into the office where I more productive.

Only making a little over the minimum payments on debt as I am trying conserve cash.

It feels like fall outside today which is pleasant change.

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Yesterday was a no-spend day. I did a lot of reading, tooling around the house, and watched a few things on Netflix.

So far I have spent only $33 on groceries this month. I credit that to having a freezer full of leftovers, plus doing more eating out than I have done in long time. All of the eating out has been drive-through, with the exception of one lunch which I had at an outdoor table. The reasons for eating out -- relentless heat, going to out-of-town baseball games,...
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Mortgage principal pay down is going well. I am claiming (to inspire me)pay off date of July 2023. I belong to a FB group of people working on paying down their mortgage and it is truly inspirational for me.

I canned about 10 jars of diced tomatoes with organic tomatoes I've grown. The harvest is dwindling, but overall I am pretty happy. Nothing better than a homegrown tomatoes.

About those hearing aides...I've know for quite a few years that I have hearing loss. I've resisted...
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I have a 12-year-old Whirlpool refrigerator/freezer, S/S, side by side with ice dispenser.

In the past year or so, it unexpectedly and without warning will suddenly turn cold...too cold...and ruin fresh produce in the bottom two drawers, or anything perishable like that in the lower part of the fridge.

I've had to throw food away as a result. I'm really unsure what to do. I really would like to get a substantially larger refrigerator, both taller and wider, as the one I...
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You may remember a few years back I received a settlement won by the union. Well I got another notice that I would be getting yet another settlement. Talk about an unexpected windfall! It won’t be as much as last time, but I’m certainly not complaining about free money in any amount. It will be make a nice dent in my credit card debt. I’ll definitely have it paid off by the time my 0% interest period ends.

I’m still not getting any hours at my third job, but I am in...
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Two days ago, around 5 pm, I was outside my fenced raised bed veggie garden trying to gain access to my collection of unruly tomato plants.

I heard a strange call...at first, it sounded like a bird, though not like any I had heard before. After a while, the sound seemed closer now, and low to the ground. I thought perhaps it was a fox, though I have had fox here in the past and they have more of a bark.

I stepped away from the very secluded area that is my vegetable garden...
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I've been car shopping and found one today that I will probably buy if all is well when I see it in person.

I decided this time around I was going with either Carmax or Carvana. I wanted to do as much of it as possible online and have a fixed price and not have to deal with a sleazy commission-based salesperson. I'm paying cash so no need to deal with the finance department either. I had saved a search for what I wanted on both sites and have checked back daily for new inventory....
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I spent 4 hours yesterday snapping beans. DS helped me during the last hour. All of that resulted in 12 quarts of green beans, bringing the total I have canned so far to 19 quarts. I need to go out and pick some more today, but likely won't snap and can them until tomorrow. My hands need a break. I need to pick tomatoes today, too, and maybe see about getting some of the herbs in and drying. The carrots might be ready to pull and I need to do a test dig on the potatoes that...
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My house was built in 1915 and has very solid masonry construction.

A half-bath was added on to the back of the house at some point, probably 50 years ago.

A couple of weeks when Tropical Storm Isaias came through, most of my neighbors had water in their basements, but I was lucky; my basement stayed dry.

What I did have was water coming through the door frame in between the main house and the add-on. I put a pail underneath and checked the next day; once the pail went...
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