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Yesterday a nice young man came in response to my Freecycle ad and took the old tank and all the accessories away. It feels so good to have that whole episode done.

No movement forward on the ceiling repair. I put in an online question to the property management company, asking for help in securing a contractor. There has been no response, other than a stock answer that they have received my message. If there is nothing today, I'll proceed on my own. But I would like their...
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I have met my first goal for 2020: Get EF back to 3 months’ basic expenses. It feels nice especially in the current economic environment. For us three months of expenses is $10,500 and the EF bumped to $10,700 with my recent regular monthly contribution. It was close last month but I didn’t feel comfortable taking funds from something else and throwing it in.

I’ll be evaluating my progress on all annual goals at the end of the quarter which is in just a couple of weeks.

I...
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We are officially installing central AC in our house. We have talked about this since we bought the house in 2014. The cost? $10K I'm not sure if this will enhance the resale value of our house and honestly I don't really care. This is our forever home (I hope) and we just want to be comfortable during the summer months. We expect to spend about $20K this summer in home projects but we've saved and will be paying cash for all of it. The last time we did major renovations to our...
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Hi there. An update here.

I have officially finished the house. What a long strange trip it has been. I essentially broke even on the fix up which is a HUGE achievement considering all the issues I encountered. So no net worth change basically since late 2019. I took out $150k from my taxable investments for the downpayment on the house and then some fixup.. I now 'have that money' in the house. It is preferable to have it OUT of the house and in investments but it is what...
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I bought some kabana yesterday...went to cut it up today and it smelt weird so took it back to the store they gave me 2 new free ones and a refund..so that was good. no other expenses at the moment so that is goodgot a haircut later this week and its pay week all bills are paid so it is just grocery/gas money the rest can go into savings I think...and I will donate to my daughters fundraiser...she walked her 5km today (just over 3 miles) it started pouring rain and she got soaked...so...
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My new skillet was delivered today. It's a 12 inch Michaelangelo that works on induction cooktops. It's a really pretty blue granite design. It is non-stick, but not the kind that poisons you. It isn't ceramic, but it is similar to that. It is made in Italy, not China. Most of the induction stuff I have is made in China, but the brand I normally use doesn't have a 12 inch skillet and these days I try to buy elsewhere if I can. The North American continent doesn't seem to...
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June 21st – the longest day (for natural light) of the year. I love the long days and made a point to spend a good part of the day outside. The only bad thing is that the days get shorter from here, already. DS4 started his life-guarding job today. He has rosy cheeks from the sun so he’ll remember to take sunscreen tomorrow. My boys don’t usually burn because their skin has a slight olive tone like mine – even the blond one – but it is the very beginning of the season...
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What a beautiful June it's been. My garden is doing well and the greenery is so gorgeous. I love June.
We had a quiet weekend, and today our DD has gone back to her work as a grocery checker at the small convenience store near us. She hasn't been in since March but it seems they have good safety guidelines in place, so she was eager to go back. Just four hours today.
I bought a few books, but we still have a lot of food, especially with the CSA delivery. Not much else...
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Well we dropped the car off today should get it back wednesday, hubby and my daughter did that as it is around an hour away...in that time I managed to make the dog food, made choc mousse, made scones (I had extra cream so wanted to use it), changed my bedroom light as it went out last nite and kale chips as well as cleaned the house..just have the laundry to finish up...pretty dizzy today so taking it easy for the rest of the day..happy fathers day for all the US dads (not fathers...
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We had a nice day in the park for Father's Day, enjoying perfect weather. Since we have been cleared for gatherings under 10, we sat together at a picnic table -- seven of us -- and then set up chairs in the shade after eating to sit and talk. Lunch was fried chicken and sides from a local restaurant. Once again, several hours went by very quickly.

My ex surprised me by giving me $100. I've mentioned before that after our divorce (which he initiated) our financial situations...
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It's the time of the month where I redeem credit card rewards and add them to our Pot of Possibilities!

I redeemed the following:
US Bank Visa $12.32
American Express $51.39
Chase Freedom $17.87
Total $81.58

Our US Bank Rewards will drop next month by about $8 since I will no longer use for our cell phone bill. We have been able to use a credit card to pay our rent the last three months, as the office staff has waived the associated fees since they are not working on...
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We are officially living on my husband's small pension and rental property income for the summer months. We have been and will be spending some money on home projects; tree removal, porch deck replacement and installing central air. The latter is still pending, but summers are very humid here in NJ and I truly dislike window units. It's been in our bucket list of home projects for a while now and I think we will finally pull the plug on it.

On another note, it looks like I'll...
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Crunched the numbers, and I should be able to add $706 on Friday to my student loans, brining the month to date payment of $1,000. God I pray Congress, approves through the end of the year, zero interest, but if not it, it was good while it lasted. Last week I added an extra $100 to the loans.

I’m hoping to get the closing on the refi by the end of the month, that way I won’t have to make July payment on the mortgage and I can keep those funds in my house mortgage fund,...
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The guys went prawning this weekend and came back with lots of spot prawns for the freezer. These particular prawns sell for $16 per pound. Plus we had some for dinner tonight and what was leftover will be made into ceviché tostadas tomorrow for dinner. They are such good prawns. There is nothing like eating freshly caught seafood. And these prawns are so sweet and good, they don't require seasoning or butter or anything at all. And only two minutes of cooking, so they are...
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Well its been a while, but since I last posted here I have worked from home for over 3 months since the last time I drove in to the office. What a strange time. I filled up the gas tank before I drove home that last day as I had no idea what was to come. Since then I have used just over 1/2 of the tank. And I have a small car and a small tank. There have been stretches where I have not left the house other than to jog at lunch for over two weeks. The last two days I went...
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Well, it's been quite a time with the new aquarium and the old. I transferred the fish yesterday evening. That was not easy! They are very quick and hard to catch! I'm sure it was more traumatic than it had to be because I had to try so many times. But I got it done. Last night they just huddled together in shock, but today they are very frisky.

No sooner did I get them moved, than Iggy jumped on TOP of the new aquarium to check it out! Scared me to death -- it is covered,...
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Things are fairly normal here. MH is done with work, so it's back to our normal summer schedule. I resumed my old work schedule this week. There won't be any changes at my job. We already were set up to work remotely (for flexibility and emergency) but the job is too collaborative and everyone rather be in the office. It's a very small office. I had been working home two days per week for the past three months, which is "doable" but not ideal. MM(16)'s schedule changed last...
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I had some CVS extra bucks that were about to expire, and a bunch of coupons so I went early (the store was empty) and got some great food deals. I usually don’t buy food at CVS, but they were having a great sale on items I use. I got a case of water, 5 boxes of my favorite cereal, and 6 bags of Chex Mix (all on sale). After coupons and extra bucks applied, I paid zero! All free. Then I went to the grocery store and spent $44.01. I used my accumulated grocery store rewards points...
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A few months ago, I made a post asking people how they spend their evenings. And I really didn't just mean evenings but down time in general. More and more often, I was finding myself just sitting on the sofa watching TV or doing nonsense on the computer.

More recently, I've gotten a lot better about keeping a written to-do list. Mine is actually a physical piece of paper (usually the back of some junk mail envelope) that I keep on the kitchen table. Whenever I think of some...
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So we have been wanting to get out and about more especially walking...I love to walk and we support 2 charities here all year this is something we do each year although this years walk is different as we can't gather in big groups right now so people are doing their progress online via app. Hutt st here provides services for the homeless here, they provide meals, storage, clothes, washers/dryers (including mobile ones), showers etc...each year they do a walk a mile and it is in...
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