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Last night we had our "Gone with the Wind" dinner. We had planned for it to be earlier, but life gets in the way. We had a delightful time and the food was great. Our final menu was:

fried chicken
mashed potatoes with pan gravy
green beans
fried cabbage
cornbread
blackberry cobbler
sweet potato pie

I looked up some trivia and we had a lot of laughs over some of these isolated facts such as there were 1400 actresses who auditioned for the role of Scarlett O'Hara.

One...
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Trying to use this Sunday at home to get caught up on some things that didn't go as planned over the course of the week. I felt like I was in a weird brain fog since last weekend. I suppose those weeks happen, but I'm also hoping it wont continue through.

Was in Lou Tuesday until yesterday afternoon. Had a lot of time with the kiddos. Still trying to ease into family life. It's been an easier transition than expected, but I'm still learning the rhythm of structured routines...
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My ending EF balance December of 2018 was $8197.69 my goal is to not only get back to this balance but surpass it.

As you all know, I had the emergency legal fee of $5,000. I was so close to hitting the 6 month savings goal and then boom 💥. I am thankful that I had the money to pay 💰 the lawyer.

I checked the EF and my balance is $5,559.87, I’m estimating by the end of December 2019 my ending balance would be about $6900. 🤞🏾

There’s so many things...
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I am trying to see the good in this job regardless of how boring it is.
I was upset about the decrease in savings partly because I thought some of the money was coming from a different source ( a joint account with DH)
I realize that this is not worth getting worked up about in comparison I am but should be MORE grateful that I have great flexibility in re-saving that amount etc.
I just need to refocus and plan for other items.
I am trying to think up Christmas...
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Been awhile since I've posted (March 2019, so this is my longest absence).

Good news is we are very close to getting the house on the market. It isn't that we were unmotivated folks, but life got in the way. Health issue with SO, health issues with SO's parents, traveling in the summer, my return to work, a soccer season, etc.

We are managing financially, though we've no rental property income coming in as we're half moved in over there for when the "FOR SALE" sign goes...
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One of NT's UK pensions sent their annual statement. The new value of his SW pension is 29,047 pounds ($36,309).

Last year's value was 28,134 pounds ($35,168), so a small increase to factor into net worth at the end of the month.
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I only have two days left working at the bus company! It's been a busy time trying to prepare information for my successor. I wouldn't be so concerned about it if it wasn't for the fact that one week after I'm gone, my supervisor is retiring. So the lady who got my supervisor's job knows little about the bus company or about buses in general. The big kahuna has said he might try to arrange with my new supervisor for me to come back for a day to train my replacement once they've...
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Checked my savings tracker and I’m...
* at 67% of my 6 months emergency fund savings goals
* 11% of my home repairs savings goal
* 11% of my new car/car repair savings
* 67% of my Christmas savings goal
* 75% of my professional development

This week I had five no spend days, and I only ate out once. I also had one item to sell on Poshmark, and cashed out $16 of rewards from BoA. I took my car to be repaired, nail in tire and the shop didn’t charge me. Winning...
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For the last 24 hours Norton wouldn't even show me this site existed, then when it showed the website again it blocked it, calling it dangerous. I finally had to go in and turn off the safe search to not have the message come up every time I tried to go to a new page and to post. I tried to go to the forums, but it won't let me post there at all. The new topic button does nothing when I push on it.

Norton is saying the threat from here is phishing and that the owners have...
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My title seems to be missing in action. I am waiting for office hours to begin, but I will have to call Allstate again and see if anyone found it in my car. I now wonder if the employee at the collision center did not put my title in the glove box. If so, it may be floating around their office. This is so frustrating. I cancelled my weekend trip so I can follow up on this.

I'm supposed to get my registration today, but I'll bet the problem with the title will halt that....
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Received my first consulting gig payment today, $800. I’m so excited. My mind is all over the place on what I should do, save, debt, retirement. I realize that I really need to stay focus.

I decided to deposit the funds into my savings account and not touch it. One, my legal situation with my brother hasn’t been finalized as of yet, and the goal was to beef back up the savings to at least 3 months of expenses before I tackled the debt, gazelle intense. So the key is to...
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I've purchased several Christmas gifts this week. I have bought two items each for our daughter's. I also made a photo book for my husband through SnapFish. It is full of pictures of him and our daughter's. I originally planned to do the photo book for Father's Day but I didn't stay motivated and focused. I finally made the effort and got it done. It will be delivered by next Saturday and I paid $27 with shipping.

Our youngest daughter is starting to play Dungeons and Dragons...
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As I mentioned in my now deleted blog entry due to the hacking, the IRS will/has announced higher retirement plan limits in 2020. You will now be able to contribute $19,500 to your 401k and catch-up contributions for those 50 & older has increased to $6,500. No change to the IRA limit.

Multiple articles linked below for your reading pleasure:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/retirement/irs-raises-retirement-account-limits-for-2020/ar-AAJXoWD?ocid=spartandhp

https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/news/2019/nov/irs-inflation-adjustments-2020-retirement-plans-201922407.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleaebeling/2019/11/06/irs-announces-higher-2020-retirement-plan-contribution-limits-for-401ks-and-more/#1f285dc533bb

https://money.usnews.com/money/retirement/iras/articles/ira-contribution-limits

https://401kspecialistmag.com/irs-bumps-2020-401k-contribution-limit-to-19500/

ETA:

Biweekly...
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I called Allstate yesterday and talked with someone who promised that my reimbursement for taxes and fees would come within 48 hours. It's not there yet. I'm expecting $880, or thereabouts.

Today I'm going to the former car dealer to cancel my warranty. I should get a refund from that, not sure how large though. Buying it in the first place was a waste of money, but I was afraid of a car disaster during my gap year. And here it happened just after, and the warranty is...
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I forgot to post my meal plan on Monday. As usual, I am free to switch things around as the whim strikes me, but since we've already had the first 3 meals on this list I may just go in order. Who knows? I think for the rest of this month I am going to be cooking a lot from the pantry and freezers. I am hoping to stick to just buying bread, milk, lettuce, and a few other fresh veggies or fruits. I don't need any regular meat since the freezer is well stocked now.

However,...
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So today I booked girl scout camp for 1 week for DK in August 2020. $25 deposit each but the camp will be $500/each including transportation and 1 overnight. They are going with a couple of friends and their first overnight away from us. So we decided to go for it. If they hate it we won't send them away. Interestingly a lot of kids in our neighborhood went last year to sleep away camp for a week and a bunch are going this year. My DK1 is not willing to try it. I figure by...
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I didn't spend anything yesterday except for $1.50 for laundry.

Today I went to the dealer who sold me my Civic to cancel the warranty I bought at the same time. However, the man I needed does not work on Wednesdays, so I'll have to try again tomorrow. I think I may get some money back from that.

I revisited the letter sent to me from Allstate and I realized that it directed me to an email address different from the one I was using. So I sent the bill of sale info to that...
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Found out unexpectedly last week that I lost a very large client that I have been working with 6+ months. Bummer. I haven't been taking on anything else because it took up so much time. So I literally have no web design to currently work on. I do have a small project starting in December, and possibly another one before then. I have also been trying to get a mid sized job which I was hoping was going to be extra but now it looks like I really need it for next month's debt payments....
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Wow, has it been a while. The last time I posted, I had just split with DXH and was moving into a new apartment in Lou. Life was so different a year and a half ago, it turns out!

So quick update, I suppose.

I did move into a new apartment in Lou. I got my promotion and had a very difficult handful of months at work as I transitioned into that role, while dealing with the divorce. DXH and I finalized all of the paperwork for our divorce in January of this year. It went as...
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have done a bunch of my christmas shopping and stocking for our kids...also the people we are giving money to I have a few of those envelopes done so about two thirds done with christmas...still on budget and want to try and pay off CC by end of year...staying on track so far and feeling happy!! How are you all going with your christmas shopping and preparations??
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