All Entries

I bought a Google album yesterday. It was an impulsive buy. I just had an urge to save some favorite pictures that have been living on my phone. I know that people can make these albums themselves, but I am just not adept at that kind of stuff. Anyway, it was $17.

Along with the vacation and Goodwill spending this weekend, my variables have risen to 42%. It's way too early in the month for it to be this high, so I need to cut back to essentials. Now that I'm more than...
[ Read More ]

I don't like being housebound. With DH having to drive the van, I have no way of going and doing anything and it is a little frustrating. I need to get my glasses adjusted because I fell asleep with them on again and rolled over on my face, I need to go cash some checks at the bank, and I need to make some doctor appointments, but I can't do any of that until the truck is fixed. It is going in on Wednesday, but I don't know if it will be a one day repair or take a couple. I...
[ Read More ]

We had a heatwave so we didn’t get to do much on the weekend.

Grocery - $54.91

New Shoes - DH needed new running shoes, so he got one for $80 on sale with the original price of $120.

Toaster Oven – Aldi had them for $35, so we got one.

[ Read More ]

Well, my net worth has gotten very simple. I decided to leave the value of my car off because I'm not going to sell it; and OK, I just didn't want to try squeezing it into the space.



I did a pretty good job estimating my net proceeds from the house sale. I did give away some money but investment performance for the month gave it right back.
[ Read More ]

Almost missed my brothers wedding as I was down with my illness from doing way to much lately...but I made it and it was beautiful and right on the beach the loud music and height (ceremony was outside on balcony) but my bro knew I hadnt been well and had chairs for us...so that made it easier...only cost $100 in a card...and a shirt for my hubby!

have my ice acct back to where it should be so have reached that goal, not sure about what Im going to do to pay it off have a few...
[ Read More ]

I heard back from our accountant today. As expected, the Trump tax changes impacted us but not as badly as I had feared. For the first time in many years, we owe for our Federal return but only $453. Still, in previous years we've always gotten at least a small refund.

The good news is we're getting $2,458 back from the state which offsets that making our net refund just over $2,000.

Our accountant had warned us months ago that the Trump stuff would be bad so I was happy...
[ Read More ]

February 2019:

- Electric/gas bill: super high but it has been a billion below zero degrees here with approximately 800 feet of snow
- Home expenses: not bad, only $20 over budget
- Gasoline: $10 under budget
- Parking: $55 due to a downtown class
- Groceries: Horrific.
- Restaurants: Over budget. I went out with friends twice, which seldom happens.
- Personal expenses: Horrific. I shouldn't need to buy any hair products for several months since they had a 43% off...
[ Read More ]

Another below zero wind chill day here in the midwest. Most of the week is predicted to be pretty darn cold. The warmer days are slated for snow and rain. Ick! Just want to get out and about a bit more.

Today was my first NSD for the month of March. Friday, I put money on my son's lunch account at school. I ordered pizza Saturday as my sister and her family came to visit. Sunday was groceries. It's been over a month and I still have a half a tank of gas left. All good...
[ Read More ]

Every day I struggle to log in. I get errors and it says the site isn't working. Is this normal?
[ Read More ]

I finished our taxes this weekend. The final number is better than I expected. We only owe $145. I am so glad. We do not have to pay our Personal Loan for March. That is $500 that we can use to pay the taxes and put towards a bill or maybe some groceries. As for the loan, he is letting us skip the payment because we are trying to see how the land sale will work. There is no interest on the loan.

The garage sale is scheduled for 03/16. I am still looking for a second...
[ Read More ]

Sales were good this week as far as orders, but not many picked up. The weather has been so cold and awful so I don't blame anyone for not wanting to leave the house. Only $53.00 picked up this week. I have over $200 waiting for pickup, so hopefully the cold will lift soon and orders will get picked up.

Sale #1169 (SS) $3.00
Pioneer Woman Placemats (6)(Joint with my FIL) - We paid .27 each
Sold for $2.00 each
Profit = $10.38

Sale #1170 (KJ) $29.00
Mainstays Teal...
[ Read More ]

I got back from my short trip to Indiana yesterday, heading home a little early because the weather started to look threatening. I drove out of the snow within about a half hour and the weather in my area was clear and beautiful. Today, however, the temperature has fallen below zero, so even though it looks good, it's bad weather!

My vacation cost me $39 for gas and food. BFF and I went to her Goodwill, which was having a half-price sale on everything. I spent $20 on clothing...
[ Read More ]

Total for the month = $1,326.85
February is usually a low spend month for us even without trying.

Grocery = $310.61, we are over and I don’t really know why. I think it’s time to tighten our belts again with our grocery spending.

Entertainment = $125.89, under and I‘ve decided to put $10 into our challenge. Also put another $24 for 8 NSDs in Feb.

Other expenses worth nothing was for my license renewal, dog annual registration, and other personal and medical items.

Financials-

*Put...
[ Read More ]

Just a quick update- sent $800 to the student loan from a payment for some side work. I did a $100 side job as well, but it usually takes at least a couple months for the check to come. Dropped off my taxes and will hopefully hear back soon. I think I overpaid this year, but there were a lot of unusual circumstances, so having a professional look at it.
[ Read More ]

No spend day today, I’m excited and yet anxious. I want to take what I’ve saved in the sinking fund for vacation/fun and throw at my CC.

I’ve been saving to celebrate a small win, it’s been almost two years and I haven’t done anything fun per se. A part of me says CC debt, while another says, hold off until June and do something fun. I really want this debt gone.

Other news, when you’re on a budget you try new things. Today was the first day I made beef 🥩...
[ Read More ]

I didn't fall asleep last night until around 3 a.m. Ugh. But I cleaned the fridge since I was so awake. And I was very pleased that I didn't have to throw anything out. I have been focusing on getting leftovers used up to reduce our food waste and it seems to be paying off. I do have all the leftovers sitting on one shelf, though, so that they are easy to be aware of and don't get shoved to the back of the fridge.

Between this and eating down the freezer, I have been able...
[ Read More ]

Things have been going along pretty well so far this year. It's been a spendy few weeks, with all our birthdays hitting in month (we planned a big blowout for AS's 40th that will run us about $3K; everyone else's parties are more like a few hundred each) and signing the kids up for spring swim, theater and art classes. And a few other things have cropped up here and there. So our shared spending was running a deficit of a few grand (about $5K), but we could easily float it and...
[ Read More ]

I signed up for Imperfect produce a couple of weeks ago and am really happy with the service so far.

This is a "farm direct" produce delivery service, but the jist is that it's a lower cost service for food that otherwise would be tossed (with the goal of reducing food waste). Because the food has minor imperfections and is not super market quality, etc. They advertise "30% below grocery store prices" for these imperfections.

First Impression = Awesome!

I don't know...
[ Read More ]

Received $80 bank interest for the month of
February.

Snowflakes to Investments:
--Redeemed $50 credit card rewards (cash back) from our gas/grocery card.
--Redeemed $89 cash back on Citi card.
--Redeemed $13 cash back on dining/gas card.

Other snowflakes to investments:
--$13 Savings from Target Red Card (grocery purchases) ~ this month included some clothing purchases

TOTAL: $165 snowflakes to investments

401k Contributions/Match:
+$730

Snowball...
[ Read More ]

I have still been working away at using up the food in the inside freezers and planning my meals around that. I still have lots of frozen zucchini that I am working my way through and lots of packages of sausage so I will incorporate that into one meal this week. I do throw a handful of the zucchini into my baked omelet a few times a week for breakfast.

I am working my way through all the ground turkey as well, so there will be a couple of meals using that this week. I actually...
[ Read More ]