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My stone mason...or rather, 2 very hardworking Latino men....probably undocumented aliens that rumpty dumpety has such a problem with....finished rebuilding my stone stairs today. The stairs are at the top of my driveway and lead to the backyard and back patio. It's beautiful, and I think they did a great job. I had them put in a drain at the top to divert water rushing off my back patio into a brushy area instead of down the stairs. When I pay him the second half tomorrow, he'll...
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This was planned over a year ago, but DH and I took a cruise to some of the countries on the Baltic sea. This was his third cruise and my second. We paid for everything associated with the actual cruise ahead of time so no big surprises. 
I've been to England, but no where else in Europe. DH has never been overseas. It was both exciting and scary for us. We started in Stockholm. We did spend money there going through the ABBA museum and a museum for a Swedish sailing vessel...
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Following is the recipe I mentioned that was originally shared by the blogger Toilet Paper Tracker. This one is a hit with every member of the family.
Asian Meatballs




Courses: Main DishCategories: Stew, TurkeySource: Saving Advice bloggerServing size: 4




Ingredients
1½ lb ground turkey1 cup bread crumbs2 eggs, lightly beaten3 scallions2 tbsp ginger1 tsp onion powder¼ tsp Chinese 5-spice1 tbsp soy sauce1 cup broth, veggie or chicken½...
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Today he did more finishing work on the drywall, joint compound, tape, etc. He patched some damaged studs by the sink and put up the drywall on that section of wall once he did. Then he turned his attention to the floor. Instead of a traditional mud bed under the tile, they now use a product called Ditra which is a plastic rolled out material that is much faster and easier to use. Roll it out, cut it to fit with a utility knife, and then the tile goes onto that (I don't know the...
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This is our third year to be a host site for the local CSA. We’ve been a customer for much longer.
Especially this year, with grocery prices up, I am appreciating the fresh local organic veggies. Since we’re the host, our weekly box is free. This week our haul includes gold potatoes, red chard, mini romaine, spring onions, strawberries, lacinato kale, garlic scapes, and Italian parsley.

I abhor waste so I attempt to get every bit of it into our bodies! Last year...
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Yesterday he put up most of the new drywall except for around the sink and the ceiling section. Today he took care of the ceiling. He had to cut out and replace a water pipe there because it hung lower than the ceiling (there used to be a soffit there which we removed). He did the spackling of the new drywall as well, did the corners, etc.
The dumpster just got picked up a few minutes ago. We were glad to see that go. Now we can use our driveway again.
I changed the HVAC filter...
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I’ve been searching and planning for a few years and this year I committed to a new primary care doctor. My upcoming milestone birthday caused a self-imposed sense of urgency. I want to remain healthy & active as I age and I figure that it’s good to enter each remaining decade with resolution of health concerns that have cropped up in the previous one.
I looked last year into direct primary care but couldn’t find a participating doctor in my area. This year...
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Nothing huge to report today though a lot was done. He finished all of the floor plywood in the bathroom and last section of the kitchen. He put up more insulation on the outer wall. I'm not sure what else got done. Tomorrow he will do the heat guard where the oven is going, start putting up new drywall, and also finish some of the plumbing. I feel like starting to close up the walls is a significant step in the process. The motor of the old bathroom exhaust fan died so he's trying...
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A friend asked recently how I decide about the 3% credit card fee.  Couple of things I'll lay which she never considered.  Starting with the easy 2% back CC.  You have to pay 1% for the privilege of using the card.  Pretty straightforward.  Only consideration is how much?  Let's use the easy number of $10,000.
$10k = $300 = 3% fee
2% Credit Card = $200, so $100 to pay for the privilege.
But that $10k can be left in an online savings account. ...
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Oh happy, joy, joy.
My handyman came over last week to set up the plywood platform he had built for my front-loading washer and dryer. It's very sturdy. His buddy (with a very strong grip/handshake) came over, too, as they had to lift both up onto the platform, which is roughly 15" high. I LOVE the new height. Only problem: the washing machine vibrates QUITE a bit. Having it sit on a concrete floor vs plywood I guess makes the difference? I texted a video to my handyman, and he...
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Today was the last of the demolition. He removed the old floor from the powder room along with the vanity and toilet. He did find a leak around the toilet and some condensation around the air vent so he's got a fan going to dry those out over the weekend and he'll need to repair some of the subfloor on Monday.
 
We bought our floor tile today! That was exciting. We went back to the original place we had shopped, found one we liked, and it turned out they didn't have enough...
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For whatever reason, Saving Advice wouldn't allow me to include this with the last post. Perhaps there's a limit on the number of photos - I don't know.
 
Following are before & after photos of the 2024 kitchen corner #2 project. It was removing a goofy half-wall and replacing it with a full wall to support a new pantry cabinet. Because removing the half-wall left an exposed strip with no flooring, I elected to go ahead and replace the flooring in the family room and...
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The main focus today was on the electrical work. Our contractor and the electrician were here working on that all day. We now have the cutouts and wiring for the new recessed lighting. 2 lights on each side over the counters, 1 in the middle, and one over the sink. That should give us much better coverage than the old single fixture that was in the center of the room (and there was a light over the sink). Before no matter where you were standing the light was always behind you...
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Like DisneySteve and LuckyRobin, I also have an upcoming renovation. It’s our kitchen & laundry areas which are adjacent. We’ve been in this house for over 20 years and I’ve waited so long for this day!
Our current start date for the physical work is June 20th. On that day there will be a dumpster in the driveway and the demolition of the current kitchen will be underway. But I wouldn’t call that our ‘start’ date. I have spent the past several...
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I thought about posting my monthly net worth, but at the end of the day, my needle hasn't moved much this month.  Instead, I'm going to talk about DOGE, so you are warned up-front.  (It may be political, but it's also financial imo, so I'm rolling with it.)
I think part of the problem in life is that, sometimes, people can identify a problem but still not be able to implement an effective solution.  However, when they market and sell on the idea of the problem hard...
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I am going to try to get back into the habit of posting – I have so many money-related things going on. This post is about a frustrating one.
You know how when you send a package via USPS Priority Mail it’s insured for $100 by default? It turns out that that’s not really the case.
My package was lost and USPS’s own tracking records indicated that they delivered it to some other address. When they couldn’t find it, I was instructed to file a claim....
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It has been a ridiculously long haul of saving money, 2 years and 3 months, but we finally saved $23,000 to renovate the bathroom after the black mold and gut to the studs and mold remediation issue, which itself cost a lot of money.  Our quote was less than $18,500 for the whole job, which was a far cry less than the one guy who said $30,000 just for materials and then labor was on top of that.  We had various quotes, but this guy we just trusted.
He works by himself,...
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Wow June already this year has just flown by...a couple of small updates it's payday today so was able to pay another $404 of the CC (we have to pay a fee to put money on the card, one reason we are leaving them), if you allow them to take directly from you account then you don't but I don't give anyone access to our cards so I will pay it until the card is paid off and closed, they started charging $8 month just to have a card...plus we also have to pay the interest on it, which...
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I realized I haven't updated this week. Things are rolling along. We did order the cabinets and appliances. Our guy ran into an issue with the old flooring which took him an extra couple of days to deal with but it's all done and he's actually putting down the fresh plywood as I type this. We will probably order the flooring in the next couple of days. Until he was sure how things would end up, we couldn't commit to porcelain tile vs luxury vinyl but all is good and porcelain tile...
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TSP $1,315,805
IRA $387,414
Brokerage $11,077
Investments Subtotal $1,714,296
Home Equity $140,000
Savings $5,530
May 2025 Net Worth $1,859,826
April 2025 Net Worth $1,761,972
Monthly Loss/Gain $97,854
I am depleting my savings to pay off debt this month. It makes me nervous to see the balance go so low, but debt makes me nervous as well.
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