All Entries

The big news this month is we heard from our auto insurance providers. Between the basic car coverage we share with our neighbors and the liability/umbrella stuff we have on our own, they are accepting our claim. (As a recap, NT struck a pedestrian and she incurred considerable medical bills and sued us.) It's still in process but it sounds like we don't have to worry about a giant damages bill. (I'm guessing premiums will go up, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it....
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Holiday Party Drama
For the past decade, I've been the primary host of our annual holiday party. While my ex and I have shared hosting duties, I've always borne the brunt of the financial burden. I've covered food, prizes, and other expenses, while he's contributed minimally. 
 
This year, I've finally had enough. I've made it clear that he needs to foot the bill if he wants to continue the tradition. Unsurprisingly, he's remained silent.
 
I’ve shared...
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I was not born in America, but have lived here for nearly all of my life.  I have always figured I would travel back to my native country some day, you know, just to visit my birth place, and see if I should even expat there some day due to the much lower cost of living.Unsurprisingly, between work, marriage, divorce, kids, and the overall cost of traveling internationally, I just never really gotten around to it.However, because I currently can't legally drive, and am between...
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Moving is expensive, so very expensive!
The actual move cost just under $6k, then there's the new furbiture, window treatments, appliances, home supplies, etc. I love my new home & have no regrets, but I am taking a break on my cash savings in order to recoup cash flow.
Also, absolutely do not use 3 Brothers Moving & Storage. They are a moving broker & you will do so much better hiring a local company. They bring in people from out of state which is super expensive....
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Patient Saver and I "met" on this blog back in 2006, the year we both started our blogs.  We connected here due to similar attitudes, similar ages, similar things happening in our work lives (layoffs and transitions).
The first time we met in person was in 2011, when I was driving home from a relative's wedding in Massachusetts.  We met at a highway rest stop, had lunch, and took a walk where she showed me some of her town.
There have been a few visits over the years--I...
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There's a song from "Mame" that talks about opening a new window, opening a new door.
Well, not sure if it was a window or door in my life, but something wonderful has happened. I have married this wonderful man who treats me incredibly well. And our life together has been pretty miraculous. 
Fortunately he and I are on the same page as far as saving money, being frugal, and investing. I now have the opportunity to have the pleasure of loving his children and grandchildren. 
Our...
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So we are busy packing up everything (and yes there is a lot) as we are moving on friday...decided that we would pay movers, they were cheaper than a lot of others so hopefully they will be okay and take care of everything...we are only moving like 25 minutes from where we live now...hubby still isnt sure if he wants them to move his tools or not so we will see how we go (he is fussy about his tools and who touches them) and on saturday my daughter does her first IVf transfer....
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I was just double checking MM's bank account before sending him rent money for October.  There was a random $500 deposit from his college that confused me for a beat, but I eventually realized that it must be a scholarship.  What!?  I figured maybe MM(21) didn't know about it.  But he did know and just never bothered to tell me.   It's a $1,500 scholarship for the year ($500 per quarter).
Talk about a nice surprise!  It's all money in MM(21)'s...
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Just a side note and I haven't ever shared a photo of my family but this time I sort of have too.  My DK1 for her girl scout silver award started a community garden.  On Sunday it was the official grand opening ribbon cutting ceremony.  Anyway I just wanted to share how proud I am of her and amazed by what she accomplished.  
 

The garden is 5 beds and looks amazing.  It's being grown for people to take from the pantry and for monthly community...
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I’ve been debating if I even want to share this.  It’s kind of annoying and kind of embarrassing.  However, with ample spare time right now, I guess it has put me more in the mood to gripe about my life.  It’s also kind of a long story, but I will do my best to try to keep it short.This tragic tale of misadventure started all the way back in early 2020, when I got into a car accident.  At the time, I was working out, taking a quick nap, then...
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I had an IRA bank CD maturing Sept. 12. What a pain in the butt trying to get a distribution. They make it so easy to open one, but gosh, seems like they try to put up as many roadblocks as possible to prevent you from accessing your money.
They wouldn't accept a phone call from me a few days ahead of that as to what I wanted to do with the CD; they said I had to wait til the day of maturity and then i had just 10 days to let them know what I wanted, or it would renew again for...
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Just a note that I hit a financial milestone today that I want to remember, courtesy of the financial markets.  I will probably drop below this number again, but I've found that, once a milestone is attained, it is likely to "stick" after a few months, especially since I am still in savings and paying-down-debt mode.
There are other financial milestones I want to hit before I shift gears and move from accumulation mode to distribution/decumulation mode. 
But for today...
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Something good happened, that I didn't really expect. I was approved for a ride-free transit card. It's good for five years, and it provides free rides on the buses, the elevated train, and the Metra train, which connects the suburbs to the city. This will make so much difference to me. I can pretty much go anywhere in the area, free, as long as I am patient.
Meanwhile, I am still waiting to hear if my driver's license will be reinstated. They have dawdled so long, that it is...
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Stumbled across this tweet.  The scary part is I don't think this is uncommon.  In fact, I think the vast majority of Americans are in the same boat.
When I thought about what her options are, I immediately thought, "She needs to find a rich, gullible man."  which as a guy, I hate having thought that.  Most men don't have that kind of luxury and have to work for our own money.  To be fair, I imagine most women would prefer having their own money as well.
In...
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Based on what I wrote before, the question came up as to why I was planning on waiting for 70 to apply for SSI (Social Security Income). (BTW, I didn't mean for this to be so wordy, but I started typing and well... it got very long.)
Little primer first to make sure we are all on the same page.  SSI is based on the amount of income that was taxed during your working years.  The more you earned and were taxed, the more you get.  And the calculations to determine...
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A quick note that my grandmother passed peacefully sunday September 15th at 6 am. She was 96 years old and I was fortunate to have her in my life for 45 years.  To have so may years with dad and grandmother have been a blessing.  I find myself examining my life a bit more introspectively this year. 
I bought a ticket to hawaii for $296 one way to go on Tuesday Sept 10th at 7 am. I was on the flight at 8 am an hour later. I bought my return saturday 9/14 at 9 pm...
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It's hard to say goodbye after 17 years.
Even if you knew it was coming.
I took him to my old vet, not the new one, because I remembered how good he had been with Waldo at the end, 8 years ago. The staff were caring. Luther did not seem overly frightened from the car ride or the barking dogs as we awaited his sad fate together. There was a small window that looked out on the parking lot, and beyond that, a bit of woods, and together we looked out that window for quite some time,...
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My neighbor with the water leak has not contacted me since that first day, so I assume he is taking care of it on his end.
Yesterday I paid what is known here as the "wheel tax." It is basically proof of residency to enable parking on the street. I was surprised to get the senior discount price - $45. I thought I was not eligible for those programs anymore, but that is what I was charged, and I'm sure they will inform me if they have made a mistake. (Even though I am not driving...
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I track our net worth.  I have since 2005.  I know a couple of points about us prior as well that we bought our condo in 2002 with 10% down on $165k 1 bed condo.  That was a lot then, it was in southern california.  We literally stretched and pulled all our cash of about $20k to buy it.  We sold it for $260k in 2005 so we 10x our down payment and bought another condo.  But in 2005 we really started saving cash in retirement accounts and taxable accounts. ...
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My dad ran into a scam on his computer, where it showed an ad that said his computer has been infected by malware, and to immediately contact Windows tech support to get it removed.  The ad was even blaring a loud alarm audio, and included a phone number to call for said "tech support".
My parents are not exactly computer-savvy, so they immediately called me to come take a look at it, and I told them that it was a scam, and showed them how to restore the computer.
The scary...
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