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We're looking forward to our move. We discovered that to avoid capital gains tax, we can't sell the house we're currently in until end of April 2020. We're so ready to move. The market is crazy where we want to move towards but we have an idea of what we want. I think 9/2019 we're going to get pre-qualified which won't be a problem. We have no debt and can probably come up with 20% down payment. I'm guessing an ARM should be fine because our plan would be to buy in October or November...
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March 2019
- Electric/gas bill: still super high, but there's a light at the end of the wintery, below-zero tunnel
- Home expenses: way over - my one remaining living room lamp broke. I also bought two new sets of bed sheets.
- Groceries: Better than usual
- Personal expenses: Better than usual
- Clothing: I bought two new swimsuits for my beach trip and replaced all of my bras during an awesome Kohls sale. I was down to just a couple that were still holding up.
- Travel:...
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This is my last day before surgery. I'll get a call sometime today telling me when to go in tomorrow.

I dropped my car off this morning at the body shop, and DIL picked me up and drove me home. There was a Dunkin Donuts across from the shop, so I bought a couple of donuts for the two of us - $3.

I just put in the last load of laundry I will do for a while - $1.50.

I ordered a refill bag of litter pellets - $16.

Variables are now at 63%.

I may go out to dinner tonight...
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Grocery - For the week was $58.35.

Filters - Got new water filters for $42.26 in total.

Movie - we had couple of movie passes for the Gold Class also it came with food voucher. We watched “Us” and end up spending $4.50 for extra drink.

Another relaxing weekend.

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Well what a weekend we had....sat down and got my budget sorted after it just got so far out of whack...felt good about it...then we all came down sick...so hubby had to go to doc to be checked out (he has copd) and he has bronchitis...

Then my hubby goes to the bank to do some banking and the when he is done the car wouldn't start..so had to get a call out (free) but it cost us almost $200 for a new car battery and he picked up on something else that needs doing with the car...
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Q1 wrapup:

Debt down 8.3k since 12/31/18 (the biggest push of the year because of when I get my bonus). I am going to try to manage 1k down in debt per month for the rest of the year. Since I'm now at roughly 83k total, that would bring me to 74k at year end. (By the way, the January numbers that I post in my sidebar are the numbers AFTER getting and applying my annual bonus to the debt. Timing of our bonus payout will change next year to March.)

If you look at my side-bar,...
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Each month, when we get our pension checks, I write a check to one our financial institutions and put money away for different things. One is Christmas Club, another is vacation. And another is just a regular savings account and we use it for home improvement.

Well, that account is going to be going down because as I tease DH, we've watched way too much HGTV this winter!

We ordered a new storm door for our front door. Ours is old, doesn't latch, and we wanted to update the...
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March 2019 was where I set our first retirement goal milestone, since I turned 45 and AS turned 40 this year. (NT turned 46 but I'm weighing his assets by the same measurements as mine, to keep things simpler.)

Goal: $563,540 by March 2019

Final balance: $452,766

Result: Fell short by $110,774. Now, starting January our goal got about $50K more ambitious due to AS's income increasing, so about half of that shortfall was due to that.

This was an incremental goal along...
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Assets:
NT's UK pensions:
AV: 17,967 pounds ($22,459)
SW: 28,134 pounds ($35,168)
FL: 6,462 pounds ($8,078)
NT's 401(k): $72,797
NT's Roth IRA: $33,475
AS's trad. IRA: $19,642
AS's Roth IRA: $53,167
AS's SEP IRA: $31,640
CJ's 401(k): $138,748
CJ's Roth IRA: $37,592
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: $1,092,547

Debts:
US Mortgage $380,958
Loan from friends (duplex) $9,000
UK...
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Yesterday I did a restaurant mystery shop in Chicago. I took a train to the site, which worked out pretty well, except that I headed off in the wrong direction once I got off the train! Re-oriented myself, and all was well.

I also got a haircut ($16, using a $4 coupon).

I didn't get much else done, because I was very tired. Not taking meds is affecting my sleep, and the continual pain is stressful.

Today I'm going to the gym, and then I'm going to get all the laundry...
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I love to crunch my numbers this way and that. Recently I have discovered that if I retire right now, it looks like this:

- withdraw $1,400 per month beginning 4/1/19
- give myself a 2% COLA every Jan 1st
- hold off on SS until FRA (67)
- at age 67, reduce monthly withdrawal by $750 (realistic SS benefits estimate)
- assuming 5% IRR, run out of money at age 96

Even though I cannot live my desired lifestyle on $1,400 per month, it is a very liberating feeling to know I...
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After a VERY busy Thursday/Friday,I set myself a few early spring yard work chores for today and finished one of them: deadheading all my sedum Autumn Joys. May not sound like much but it took 3 trips with the wheelbarrow to dump all the clippings at yard edge down at the far corner of the yard.

Now just relaxing with a cup of green tea and dark chocolate. I hope to make a transition from drinking black tea and sometimes green and white, to green and white entirely, due to...
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My little bit of spending at the grocery store turned into $93. I asked my BFF what I needed to get for her at the grocery store and she texted, "Treats!" I said, okay, what else, she texted, "Chocolate!" I got the message and stocked up on goodies. I also got a bunch of paper plates and bowls. And quite a bit of real food -- apples, carrots, clementines, roast beef, meatballs, and bags of frozen veggies.

Obviously, this is going to be a weird month financially.

I...
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Goals for 2019 are going good so far.

Savings Goals for 2019:
*Pay in cash for vacation to Laughlin - Goal Met
*Pay medical bills as they come and don't take on any new debt for medical - As of now goal met.
*Still have total savings at/above $5000 at the end of the year (Currently at $16,800)

I've also acquired a lot more inventory for my selling which I look at as a type of savings account too. Most items I get I sell within a month or two at most (unless they are...
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Not a very exciting update, with how dates lined up we only had payments on our smallest mortgage and the store loan this time. Next update will be great!

Celebrations for this update:
-$265.48 paid off in the last 2 weeks!!

Student Loan $0
Payback Savings $0
David's Bridal $0
Scheel's Card $0
Total Rewards $0
LOC - US Bank $0
Ring Iddeal $0
Best Buy $0
HELOC $0
Store Loan $3,249.74
Mom Loan #2/#3 $34,921.06
MO Mortgage $80,493.13
My Mortgage $144,450.00
Our...
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MO and I have a lot of medical expenses. I have a nice little system in place to save money on medical bills.

First: I have an HSA so the money we use to pay the medical bills is tax free and comes right out of my paycheck, so we never miss it.

Second: I pay my medical bills right away to avoid any fees, and also my main provider offers a prompt pay discount of 10% on many services if you pay in the first billing period.

Third: I pay the bill with my Discover Card...
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Husband got a couple of good surprises.

His job deposited 2% of his 2018 salary into his 401K as an additional annual contribution. It wasn't a ton since he only worked a few months last year and he was at the lower trainee rate, but it was still about $300 dollars extra. I am wondering (hoping) if this is a yearly thing. That would be sweet.

Also they are supposed to be receiving a bonus for a year of being accident free. Word on the street it is $500, but not 100% on that...
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The claim was approved, and I will be taking the car in for an estimate today. I have to go to a different shop than before because State Farm has its preferred shops. I will probably arrange to have the repairs done while I am in the hospital and laid up. I have things to do this weekend and can't give up the car yet.

Yesterday turned out to be a bit of a spendy day. I had to order new checks - $15. I hardly ever use them any more but I can't be completely out of them....
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I had to spend DH for milk and ice. He spent $7.99. Yes, I know I can make my own ice. I don't. It's one of the luxuries I allow, since I have trouble cracking ice cube trays with my RA.

Speaking of my RA, I started Enbrel last night. It's a pen type injector. I was really nervous, but it was simple. It hurt a little when the needle went in, but far less than a regular shot. The medicine itself did not hurt.

It's not supposed to take effect for a month, but some people...
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Was frustrated this morning ove the budget completely going out of the window and being trashed....now after redoing it I don't feel as bad...still going to be behind where I wanted us to be...but can catch up..so this is what I am hoping
1. the money I took from the car acct (800) should be replaced in april as well as the normal monthly car payment (saving up for a car not actual payment to a company)
2. my ice acct I like to have 2000 so that should be fully funded to that...
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