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Oct 2

I was trying to get a picture of the clouds.  But after looking through my photos later, I was somewhat intrigued by this one.  Yes, I captured clouds.  But there's the birds on the light pole, the shadows on the ground, the old truck being towed (I didn't notice in the moment), etc. 
Edited to add:  I somehow got a cursor in the clouds.  I zoomed in; that is an accidental post edit. 
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Oct 1

This is the view from my office.  I probably haven't seen very many clouds for roughly 4 months.  So I was enjoying the show and the contrast of all the different cloud colors. 
PatientSaver mentioned she was considering a 'photo a day' project in 2026.  I decided that sounded fun and would try in October.  The past couple of Octobers I have done daily spending tracking.  I find that diving into the minutiae makes for a lot to talk about...
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I don't know how many years I've been reading the Finance Buff, but every year around this time I start checking for their projections of next year's retirement contribution limits.
In 2026 I expect to be able to contribute:
$24,500 to my TSP
$7,500 to my IRA
$3,400 to my FSA
That is an increase of $1,600. That seems like a lot to my FSA, but I've been using every cent of my FSA with no rollover for a few years now. I don't even expect my income to go up by that much as our...
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TSP $1,499,790
IRA $440,022
Brokerage $12,995
Subtotal of Investments $1,952,807
Savings $2,549
Home Equity $141,000
September 2025 Net Worth $2,096,356
August 2025 Net Worth $2,031,090
Monthly Loss/Gain $65,266
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It's hard to picture compounding as it happens.  It's hard to see it as you save and all your effort seems to get you nowhere.  You seem to tread water forever.  I mentioned the wealth ladder by Nick Magguli before and I said it was the spending muscle.  I mentioned getting lost in rung 4.  All true but something interesting has happend along the way. I've gotten to see a really clear pattern of compounding.
DH started his 401k in 2005.  20 years...
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Now that the 3rd quarter is behind us, I thought it would be a good time to project my total 2025 income and see if I could manage a small Roth conversion while still staying in the 12% bracket, which tops out at $48,475. Cus I'm not sure my income would ever exceed the 22% bracket, which tops out at $103,350 for a single person, so not sure during a Roth conversion now and paying 22% taxes would offer any benefit.
To my surprise, my projected income this year, between annuity...
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This September was a bit challenging. It's one of the months when I have two grandchild birthdays, and I always give $200 to each for their college funds, as well as $50 each for a gift of their choosing. I used to give more, but this is what I can do with the budget I have now. So that was a big hunk off the top. Also, I bought a plane ticket to Oregon (to be used at the end of this month), and I had to pay wheel tax and replenish my tollway pass. Other than that it was a month...
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We're back from Europe! We had a fantastic time in Portugal (new to us) and Spain (2nd time there). I was exhausted from an intense summer of work so I did more relaxing than sightseeing, but I didn't mind--relaxing away from all my stuff and responsibilities was way more impactful than if I'd tried to have a staycation or anything. Anyway, we all loved Portugal and it's definitely at the top of possible places we'd love to have a winter home, if we can figure out how to afford...
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Today is my mom's 75th birthday. I always take the day off from work. First we went to her doctor's appointment, followed by brunch. After those two activities she was tired & ready to go home. Parkinson's really drains her energy; she tires quickly.
Last month I paid off two low balance furniture accounts & it really impacted my credit positively. I owed less than $1,000 on each, but just paying them off has my credit score solidly above 800 again. I have one more furniture...
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So life likes to throw people a few obstacles at times to see how we go in dealing with them. So a few life updates...not really financial but updates anyways.
Oldest was told that her surgery would be delayed for a year because she needed private health insurance (have a 12 month wait on surgery for it) even though we just wanted to pay for it ($7-10k) so we looked around but needed the surgery numbers to make sure it was covered, so we did that...while we were doing that her...
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The view from our hotel room.  We had a clear sky and an amazing view of the stars on our first night.

The beach was filled with clams.  Which was apparenty unusual (per social media chatter) but never saw a definitive answer as to why there were so many clams.  The birds (and some people) were enjoying the clam bounty. 

On Day 3 we went to the Elfin Forest, which we had to ourselves.  Lots of animals and amazing views (the surrounding hills, the...
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I put off writing about this, partly because it's not financial, but mostly because I am trying my best not to think about it.  My mom has been diagnosed with colon cancer.
The craziest thing about that is that she eats the healthiest in our family, and is constantly active.   So she is the one we least expected to come down with something serious first.
Anyway, she finished her first of twelve rounds of chemotherapy, to be administered every other week. ...
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I am now well stocked in my favorite brand diced tomatoes, Muir Glen. They are pretty expensive (over $3 a can) but they go on sale to half-price (!) in the fall, so I took full advantage of that recently and should have enough organic, sodium-free diced tomatoes for the entire winter's worth of soups and stews. I use 2 cans per pot of soup with a whole lot of veggies.

Generally speaking, my diet is as low sugar, low salt and low sat fat as possible, and it's very hard to eat...
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Taking a cruise has always been on my bucket list.  To be clear, I'm not suggesting that I need to take a cruise every year or anything.  Rather, I've never been on one, have no idea what to expect really, but just want to do it at least once in my lifetime before I croak.
However, I also don't want to do it solo.  Yes, I know that is a thing, and yeah, maybe some day, I just might do it as a solo, you know, just to finally check it off me bucket list.  But...
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'Big Splurge' Anniversary trip was a success!
It was fairly low key.  The only spending was fuel, hotel, and food.  100% just nature and the great outdoors, otherwise.  But the hotels were expensive.
This trip really narrowed down my focus.  I had wanted to travel and explore the central coast more.  It's always been my happy place.  So...  We expanded and explored a bit.  & nope.  This is the place.  If we redid the same...
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Wow, the Shark cordless vaccum (the PowerDetect) that I bought 3 months ago (which I love) has jumped in price by $80. I gave it a 5-star review on Amazon.
Violet's owner picked her up 2 days ago. We had a nice chat about the dog and also their travels to Berlin and Prague. I am definitely missing the dog, but I am also enjoying me freedom again. I would not be opposed to dog sitting again should the opportunity arise. 

Didn't do a heck of a lot today. I am STILL sick;...
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Just  a quick hello to check in on how I am doing.  
 
I have not increased my water.  I do a poor job of tracking my water.
I have not really lost any significanct amount of weight.  I have lost a few pounds just not enough.
On track to add over 1200.00 to my savings.
 
I rhink I am a little behind on hittting my roth goal.
 
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It's so weird, I know that I lurked here even before I started my blog (peeking over at the stats - 2015). I recall before CeeJay and her family had children, when they still lived in the small condo and oh my goodness, their oldest is 15!!! I can't believe I've been here this long. 
I had read all about how much you should be investing in retirement but as a single parent, I couldn't even imagine that. Money was too tight back then, in the beginning. I recall a supervisor...
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Laundry before:
 
 
Laundry after:
 
 
   
It's a tough room to photograph because it's so narrow.
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On Monday, my TSP balance passed the $1.5 million mark for the first time. Pretty exciting! It first reached $1 million less than 2 years ago.
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