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2019 TALLY:

$550 Gift Cards (Citi, Moi)
$150 Bank Bonus
$ 70 Amazon Gift card (Amazon Prime, MH)
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$770 TOTAL *ONE-TIME REWARDS*

Other Rewards:
$ 29 Citi Price rewinds (RIP)

Ongoing rewards (through 11/30):

+$320 AmExRewards (6% cash back groceries/streaming services)

+$70 Target rewards (5% discount Target purchases; mostly groceries)

+$144 Visa Rewards (3% cash back fuel/restaurants)

+$804 Citi 2% card (2% back everywhere - health insurance/medical...
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Merry Christmas everyone!

May your day be filled with joy.


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I got $250 from the insurance company yesterday. That is half of my deductible for repairing the new car. Apparently the other driver did admit 50% responsibility.

I am still expecting $500 from the accident in October. I was charged the deductible even though my car was totaled, and the other driver is responsible to pay it. Apparently the other insurance company is fighting it, or lagging on it. No wonder, that accident damaged seven cars and totaled four of them.

And...
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I have been the primary earner in our 20 years of marriage. While he did work, it never really went to into our expenses. It was treated as discretionary income and spent on family outings mostly. We were horrible with money, still are tbh, I just couldn't stay the way things were. I was enabling him to keep us both miserable and he had no intentions of changing.

Typically when a couple divorces, the scene is always the father is paying the mom to stay in the house and keep...
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Hi all

Quick update. I am back and need to get serious here. I have wasted a lot of time on this new house and $$. I have lost track or site of my goal. My goal was to pay off all those homes and then feel free to leave my current job which pays well and CHOOSE to do something else that may or may not pay as much but offered flexibility and much more satisfaction and meaning. I paid off all those homes and then lost site of my goal with this new house. I bought what was going...
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I had a lot of turkey left over from my Christmas party, so I made turkey noodle soup for lunch. It is smelling so good! It is so simple to make. The meat was already cubed. I just added it to chicken broth, put in some fettucine (broken up so it's not so long) and a bunch of seasonings (basil, bay leaf, parsley, and a combo spice from Penzey called Northwoods). The broth is made from a jarred soup base from Sam's. I noticed that my brother, the retired chef, uses it when...
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Before we settle in for a quiet night of Secrets of the Zoo at Christmas (in which, apparently, there are a ton of baby animals - therefore something we all want to see), I thought I'd write just a little bit.

2019 is coming to a close, and I am a little worried about 2020. My work has changed (fewer new projects, more HOA work, therefore less money). I am ready to budget more carefully at work.

This is separate from our home budget, but it's still a budget I have to...
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I haven't written in almost two years, but I have been reading every day! No lie!

I ended up renting the house near the house N & I own together. It was a wonderful transition house. N & I remained on really good terms, helping each other out when we could even though we moved on to different relationships.

Because our town is so small, the dating pool was also small. And the man I ended up dating turned out to be part of the "family." He dated N's kid's mom's best friend...
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I had my first SA blog years ago. When I was experiencing some major changes I decided to start a new blog so that I could focus on moving forward. Now the original blog pops up and I cannot access the new blog. After spending time hunting it down, I decided not to spend any more life energy on that and I started a brand new one. This time I wrote down the username and password correctly!

I am still in the DC area with my 2 kids, one a high school junior and one attending community...
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Thank goodness I did not use the emergency fund, my car broke down today. Cost $779.00. This will clean out my new car/maintenance fund.

Though I have a car fund, for maintenance/new car, I also have an EF. It felt good to have the money to pay cash to get my car fixed, and not touch my EF. I’m not happy about the cost but I’m thankful I’ve been saving.

This just reminded me you have to have a cushion
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First of all, as you probably are aware, I try not to be political in my posts. And although this will sort of start out that way, please understand, I am not trying to be.

I'm tired of some of the folks on my Facebook friends list complaining that those rich people love Donald Trump because their 401Ks are doing well. Then go on to say those rich people don't understand the working people. This week, I had had enough.

This is not a pro Trump or even an against Trump thought....
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I did get my raise (two months ago). I received a 10% raise. I did some financial/tax planning and revised the budget. I've just been muddling through in the meantime, keeping our savings goals as our #1 priority. We've had enough side income to make do. Unfortunately, raise is all going to the budget. I increased grocery budget by about $200/month which is more realistic. +$200/month for significant tax increase next year, due to tax law changes (maybe not by dollars, but...
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I am skipping Christmas this year. After another year from hell, capped off with a few weeks sick in bed. Just can't bring myself to care. We don't do much for Christmas in the first place, but I don't know that I've ever literally done nothing for Christmas before.

Our kids are content and don't want anything, so is not an issue.

MH has been so buried with everything that we didn't even put the tree up. We discussed light decorating at some point, but it hasn't been...
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Everybody wants to make some extra cash online - now that's a fact. Not everybody is able to do so, however. Why is this? Well, probably for a few reasons.

Aside from the obvious reasons, which is a lack of motivation and commitment, the biggest reason is because people don't KNOW how to make money online.

So, with that in mind, I'd like to share with you today some cool ways you can make extra cash from home, all from the comfort of your own computer.

Now, without further...
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Everybody wants to make some extra cash online - now that's a fact. Not everybody is able to do so, however. Why is this? Well, probably for a few reasons.

Aside from the obvious reasons, which is a lack of motivation and commitment, the biggest reason is because people don't KNOW how to make money online.

So, with that in mind, I'd like to share with you today some cool ways you can make extra cash from home, all from the comfort of your own computer.

Now, without further...
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Everybody wants to make some extra cash online - now that's a fact. Not everybody is able to do so, however. Why is this? Well, probably for a few reasons.

Aside from the obvious reasons, which is a lack of motivation and commitment, the biggest reason is because people don't KNOW how to make money online.

So, with that in mind, I'd like to share with you today some cool ways you can make extra cash from home, all from the comfort of your own computer.

Now, without further...
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Everybody wants to make some extra cash online - now that's a fact. Not everybody is able to do so, however. Why is this? Well, probably for a few reasons.

Aside from the obvious reasons, which is a lack of motivation and commitment, the biggest reason is because people don't KNOW how to make money online.

So, with that in mind, I'd like to share with you today some cool ways you can make extra cash from home, all from the comfort of your own computer.

Now, without further...
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CC10 Is getting on my last nerves. I’m trying to figure out how to pay it off by December 31st.
I can take $5,000 out of the EF but I’d still owe $1200 and the EF would drop to $600 🙄🤦🏽‍♀️.

I’d really wanted this card gone by the end of the year and then I got hit with a legal bill due to my brother who thinks my dad was a millionaire.

With the side gig, I could have it paid off in about 5 months, paying about a $1000 a month. Then tackling the student...
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About 5 weeks in to my new job, and I'm still quite happy. I spent a day at old job training my replacement last week. They made a really good choice.

We're not going anywhere for Christmas, per our usual. I purchased and sent mom our Christmas gift already. She sent us a check - which is what I had asked for - money towards my Ireland trip. She specified that some of the money was for DH which I think made him feel good.

I was approved for the BOFA $200 bonus card. I'm also...
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I really wore myself out getting ready for our family Christmas party. And I made way too much food, which I have to deal with now. But overall I think it went very well. I got some lovely gifts, and I think everyone liked my gifts to them, or at least they put on a good act!

Unfortunately, something I ate disagreed with me and I had an awful night of unmentionable distress. I checked with the others, and it was just me, so I'm glad about that. At least I didn't give my...
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