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January 1st and it was a no spend day for me.

I also marked some things off my list, like weighing in, journaling, walking, drinking more water, reading a little, and dumping four chairs, decluttering.

Because it was a no spend day, I added $1 to my January challenge of no dining out. I also added $1 for this week’s 52 week challenge. All the money saved this month will be added to the snowball.

I had a scratch off and won $2, this will be added for next week’s...
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2020 is here! A new year and a new life for me now that I'm retired. I'm excited but cautious, working out my goals and priorities and also trying to rest and recover still. Managing my money is still a way of life, so I still plan to be diligent -- even more so, now that I have less income and fewer obligations. Plus I have the time to rethink my budget and tracking. Hoping to simplify my system and my spreadsheets.

Last year's balances as of Dec 2018 (to compare to updated...
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Ten years ago on 1/1/10, I was already happily divorced and had been living in the only house I ever bought all by myself for just over 1 year (purchased 11/30/08). My adult nephew was living with me. My son was just 14 and I shared custody of him with my ex-husband; my daughter was 19 and was already married and living in Indiana. I had been dating SB for a few months (we met in September of 2009).

Financially, I had not yet started budgeting. Oh, I kept track of my bills,...
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Hi, everyone. I have a number of current things and things happening in the future that will require money. I don't want to go into credit card debt to pay for it all, so I am doing a UFM, or maybe UF several months. LOL

I am going to limit my purchases for the next few months to essential purchases. Specifically, I am going to cease trips to convenience stores for the time being and make my own tea with my tea bags. I will also use pocket change to help pay for my grocery purchases....
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Ten years ago: I was just starting my first job in the financial industry, doing taxes for H&R Block, after leaving a 20-year career in teaching and four months of unemployment. Both my mother and my basset hound Henry were alive, but each had been diagnosed with the illnesses that would soon kill them. I also had Phoebe and Teddy, the cats. I was about to take my final CPA exam. My Net Worth was positive but lower than it should be for someone nearing age 50.

Ten years...
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Today was good. It was a NSD.

Steak pie from the butchers for dinner. Chocolate gateau for pudding. Lots of gateau leftover. I was going to defrost either pork or turkey for tomorrow but the fridge is full. So we'll have an omelette or something instead.

Lots of snacks leftover from Christmas to use up.

Note: eldest two like German chocolate snacks I bought for Christmas.
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I have been wanting to share this spreadsheet so you can see how I am calculating my "Retire Now" numbers. I would be happy to email this spreadsheet to anyone who would like to modify it for themselves.



So at the very top, I update the current value of my various accounts ear-marked for retirement. The pension value is included because if I were to retire now, I would not be able to receive a monthly pension as I do not have at least 5 service credits. Instead, I would...
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Let's take a look at how I did in December.



This is the money I had available for the month.

Wages - my take home pay was $0.50 more than expected.

Transfers In - higher than expected. This will happen any time there is a sinking fund expense I did not know about at the time I did my monthly budget.

Buffer - starting balance in checking on 12/1/19.

Other - I have a $200 loan out to a friend which I had expected to be paid in full in December. With my approval,...
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Just wanted to wish the best financial blog group ever a very Happy New Year 🍾🥂
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Twice over the last few months I have had a vet bill to pay for Bella. I budget $0 for Bella's expenses. Obviously, she costs more than $0, so this has to change. However, I am loathe to increase my total sinking fund transfer.

Looking over my sinking funds and account balances, I decided to trim bi-weekly transfers as follows:

clothing - from $23.07 to $20.00
eGadgets - from $11.55 to $10.00
gifts/Xmas - from $38.46 to $28.46
hobbies - from $3.85 to $3.00

thereby...
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Investments:

$155,187 2009Q4

$842,089 2019Q4

$686,902 Ten Year Investment Growth

I will update this blog as I find other stats to include.

ETA: 2008 was the first year that I maxed out all of my retirement accounts. I always contributed the max to my IRA & in 2008 I was able to do the same for my employer sponsored plans as well. Prior to 2008 I received no employee match, now I receive a 5% match.
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+$105,000!

Wow, what a year! My money worked harder than I did this year, for sure.

{We've many times had six figure real estate increases in a single year, but have never had these kind of stock market gains}.

It was a good year to have this win. I had taken a pay cut and we had some significant expenses. Which makes it all the more incredible how the year turned out.

I was just excited and wanted to make sure to crunch numbers first thing to see where we landed....
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We are paying ourselves back for money we put down on our daughter's car in May. I am putting all sources of extra funds towards that goal. Here's what I found in December:

US Bank $13.00
Chase Rewards $13.77
Amex Rewards $57.06
Extra travel funds $58.40
USAA Rewards $9.14
USAA Subscriber Disbursement $193.20
Under Christmas Budget $17.75
Pinecone Surveys $6
Swagbucks (Paypal) $25
Ebay Sale $5.34
Discover reward $0.34
FB Sale $25

Total $424.00

Prior Payback...
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While we continue to pay ourselves back for the car down payment we continue to send money to our savings goal.

December Big Goal Additions
Paycheck 12/1 $175.00
Paycheck 12/15 $175.00
Total Interest $185.03
Total $535.03
New YTD Big Goal Total $9,098.48
New Big Goal Total $72,083.93

December's tally brings us 36.04% of goal.

Another $9K added to our goal this year. If we weren't paying ourselves back for the car down payment we would have exceeded $10K. I predict...
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Here's the interest we earned on our cash savings last month:

FNBO $59.60
NFCU $125.40
USAA $0.03
Total $185.03

All interest was saved towards our Big Goal. Progress on that for the year in a separate post.
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Wishing a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2020 to you and yours!
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Ten years ago today –
I reported that I had spent $30,436 in the previous year. So close to what I am spending now! My net worth was $147K. I have gained $56K since then. I reached a high point in 2017, when I had $215K, but since that time I had to buy a car, and I went through my gap year.

I had spent about $5K in moving expenses, after moving from North Carolina to the Chicago area to take up a new job. And I still had some to go. I was expecting to pay it off with...
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Our retirement accounts went up $565.58 since I last checked them which was on payday, I think. Just wanted to know how we closed out the year. After a year and a half of throwing 5% at the 401K to get the free matching we have done pretty well. And we'll be able to bump that to 7% in another 6 months or so, and once there that pretty much leaves us in a great place for taxes, assuming no one plays games with the tax code again or I don't finish my book and sell it this year.

$16,678.57...
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Happy New Year to everyone! It's been ages since I posted. Youngest is now one.

I'm going to attempt Uber Frugal Month Challenge since I didn't do it last year. I need to get back on track. Just waiting on the link to the Facebook group. I'll definitely give it my best shot.
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Happy New Year, Fellow SAers!

Wishing everyone peace and prosperity in 2020!

I'm opting to celebrate in quiet fashion at my brother's and skipped the annual get-together with friends who party hearty. One child is sick and staying home; one child is at party with SO; one child is coming to my brother's; and oldest child is with her boyfriend. I'm feeling the freedom of obligation, and doing what feels right for me at the moment (low-key with my brother's family and parents).

Tomorrow...
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