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Received $75 bank interest for the month of July.

Snowflakes to Mortgage:
--Redeemed $47 credit card rewards (cash back) from our gas/grocery card.
--Redeemed $66 cash back on Citi card.
--Redeemed $15 cash back on dining/gas card.

Other snowflakes to Mortgage:
$ 3 Savings from Target Red Card (grocery purchases)
$39 rounded up mortgage payment

TOTAL: $170 snowflakes to mortgage

401k Contributions/Match:
+$600

Snowball to Savings:
-0- {No side income this...
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Received $60 bank interest for the month of May.

Snowflakes to Investments:
--Redeemed $36 credit card rewards (cash back) from our gas/grocery card.
--Redeemed $88 cash back on Citi card.
--Redeemed $10 cash back on dining/gas card.

Other snowflakes to investments:
$ 10 Savings from Target Red Card (grocery purchases)

TOTAL: $144 snowflakes to investments

401k Contributions/Match:
+$700

Snowball to Savings:
+$1,000 MH Paychecks
+$3,200 April/May self-employment...
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Received $72 bank interest for the month of April.

Snowflakes to Investments:
--Redeemed $42 credit card rewards (cash back) from our gas/grocery card.
--Redeemed $33 cash back on Citi card.
--Redeemed $12 cash back on dining/gas card.

Other snowflakes to investments:
$ 12 Savings from Target Red Card (grocery purchases)
$ 1 Rounded Up

TOTAL: $100 snowflakes to investments

401k Contributions/Match:
+$700

Snowball to Savings:
+$ 800 MH Paychecks
+$2,000 March...
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Where we have been at with the college thing is that my oldest son has all the tech genes that completely skipped us. So, not only is he interested in the shortest and most practical route from Point A to Point B (typical engineer), but he also lives exactly where he needs to be to go to college. Not exactly where we live, but it's all pretty much in our backyard.

So while I am open to just about anything (within reason), MM(16) has a gazillion A+ colleges to choose from that...
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I mentioned in my last post that we got MM(16) a credit card for the convenience factor.

I was just so behind and so much I wanted to touch on, but I did want to elaborate on this today, now that I think about it a little more.

Firstly, I didn't particularly have a discussion with MM about this. The discussions have already been had, long ago. I remember my kids being genuinely horrified, when they were 8 or 10, when they learned how most people use their credit cards. I...
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So much going on, will try to pop out a few posts today.

MM(16) got his driver's license. Phew!

So. Much. Time. This frees up for us adults.

MM(16) is as charmed as always. The in-laws came up a week before his birthday, to celebrate DL's birthday. We took two cars out to eat and I said, "MM, why don't you drive?" His car was already in the street, so was just the easiest. We had a lovely dinner, but when we came out, the coolant had emptied out into the parking lot. UGH!...
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I really don't stock up on things when I shop. Occasionally, if I see a really good deal, I will pick up extras. I guess I just like to know that I am only spending what I need, and not any more, and not any less.

This time of year I often stock up on personal care items and household goods to cut down on the need to keep up on having these things on hand during the busyness of the holidays.

I already bought the Halloween candy that we will hand out when Target had a 40%...
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It's ten a.m. and I'm just settling down with my coffee. Last night, when I pulled up in front of my building, I noticed that my front bumper was hanging on one side! I couldn't believe it. That is the third fender bender within a year. It must have happened when I parked in front of the Y to pick up my grandson.

I worried about it all night, and went out first thing in the morning to get it repaired. I went first to the last place that did repair work on my car. They...
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This afternoon I received an email with my scheduled interview time. Monday at 1:15 p.m.!!!!

I really hadn't been expecting it to happen so quickly, but I am glad it is kind of ... pull the bandaid off ... hurts less?

Hopefully they'll move just as quickly with making their decision??

If I get it, in less than a month I could possibly have a completely new job! And be working on finding a replacement for me. (Too bad the woman doing light duty wouldn't want to do it,...
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Can you all comment on this entry so that we can get it up high into the most talked about entries category so that more people will see it and be able to know what is going on?

I did ask on the forums if we were going to get the last chunk of our blog archives back and the answer is no. SA got hacked and the data was deleted. Here is what James had to say:

What happened was we got hacked - someone broke in to the server and deleted the data. The only viable backup we had was from April, so...I'm really, really sorry about this, I think that work is probably gone.

My tech guy will be undergoing some retraining as a result of this debacle. Apologies again. I know your work is valuable and your time is important.

So...
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All our mortgage payments hit:

US: $756 to principal
UK1: $182
UK2: $39
UK3: $40

In total, $1,017 was paid toward principal.

Updated debt balances:
US Mortgage $375,712
Loan from friends (duplex) $9,000
UK Mortgage 1 $29,603
UK Mortgage 2 $6,240
UK Mortgage 3 $6,571
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TOTAL DEBT $427,126
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I don't know ... it looks like the gap between April 12 and now might be permanent. I blog mostly for myself -- to have a diary -- but just in case anyone cares I'll do a wrap-up of what happened between then and now.

In April I was recovering from hip replacement surgery. It has gone mostly well. I still struggle with pain, mostly after I've been sitting or lying down for a while. I finished my physical therapy and moved to a new routine at Planet Fitness, after a brief...
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As many of you saw before we lost several months of the blogs (I hope that info returns), I found out I have ovarian cancer. I had a follow up appointment yesterday. It is stage 4, which initially devastated me. However, the doctor said because I had accumulated fluid around my lungs that had cancer cells, that put it above the midline. This automatically stages it at a four. The fluid was drained in the hospital. She said otherwise, based on what she saw, she would have staged...
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It is a shame we lost so much both on the blogs and the forums there were many conversations that were really interesting to read.
I know things online sometimes have issues but it would be nice for an official what happened post.

I have been using my down time at my job to try to rework my focus in my budget. they have come up with a few things to do but not enough to be full time.

I have two routes #1 is to pay off extra on my mortgage which as i see it is a guaranteed...
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I have been blogging here since January, 2005. There have been a few times the blogs were down, but thankfully so far, they have always come back!

This latest round though has made me want to do two things: 1. figure out a way to store all my posts somewhere else as a double safe-guard; and 2. Create a backup place for us to gather in case something more permanent ever happens. (*Please note, this isn't anything against James, the current site owner. I just feel it would be...
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Well, mostly fantastic. The place was beautiful and the evenings were so quiet and peaceful and restful. Unfortunately there was no sleeping in as the neighbors started mowing their lawn at 9:15. Who mows their lawn at 9:15 on a Wednesday morning? Then the other neighbors started doing construction with a bulldozer around noon, but that ended at 5:30. We left the cottage to pick up dinner at 4:00 though so we missed at least an hour of it.

We spent a couple hours on...
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We are finally getting some warmer weather, I love warm weather...love summer and being spring here everything is blooming..love it!

Its payday this week have revised our budget to get our 2 remaining debts paid off and work on getting our ice account back up...so will update after we pay everything later this week.

Still moving stuff from storage, should be done this week hopefully then we can save the $160 a month and put that where it is needed.

Being up in the hills...
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September updates

The following categories decreased:
* Cable by 28%
* Dining out $71%
* Groceries 54%
* Household 94%
* Personal care 82%

Net worth didn’t decrease by much, still negative, but at least there was a reduction.

Overall on my committed expenses (e.g loan, mortgage) I came in under budgeted by $1,103.74 or 14%.

Odd report shows only $50 added to retirement, I need to double check this.
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Goal: $776,700 by March 2024

Current retirement balance: $496,098

Still needed: $280,602

Progress since last update: ???

The new goal is based on getting my and NT's retirement to 4x our salaries (currently $75,120 and $62,100) by the time we turn 50 and AS's retirement values to 3x her annual income ($75,940 in 2018) by the time she turns 45.
$75,120 x 4 = $300,480
$62,100 x 4 = $248,400
$75,940 x 3 = $227,820

It will shift anytime our salary/annual income changes.

There...
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Assets:
NT's UK pensions:
AV: 22,397 pounds ($27,996)
SW: 28,134 pounds ($35,168)
FL: 6,462 pounds ($8,078)
NT's 401(k): $80,969
NT's Roth IRA: $38,300
AS's trad. IRA: $20,410
AS's Roth IRA: $58,738
AS's SEP IRA: $33,731
AS cash: $2,259
CJ's 401(k): $147,876
CJ's Roth IRA: $42,573
NT's flat: $212,500 (200,000 pounds value x1.25 -15%)
CJ/NT/AS house: $427,281 ($454,554 value -6%)
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TOTAL ASSETS: $1,135,879

Debts:
US Mortgage $376,468
Loan from friends (duplex)...
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