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So DH was out at MIL's on Friday helping her with some banking stuff in her city and he spent a bunch of time out there talking to her. I guess he brought up all the stuff we are going to have to do with the truck and MIL offered to pay for it. She said that FIL had been planning to have all that stuff done and just not ever gotten around to it. I guess she felt bad because we inherited a truck that has turned out to have all these issues.

So she says she wants to pay for...
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I've been selling collectibles since 1986 and selling on ebay since 1997, not long after it started. There was even a brief time in 2000 when I sold collectibles full time when I was between jobs. In recent years, I've gone through spurts where I would list things for a few weeks and then get tired of it all and stop.

Lately, I've just felt more and more like it isn't worth my time. I got a new job 2 years ago and I'm making a whole lot more money than I used to. Not only that,...
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Murphy is knocking at my door, I know he’ll be entering soon. The washing machine is on its way out. Thank goodness I started the house fund but I hate to see money spent on a washing machine.

I know of a scratch n dent place my dad use to go to, so Monday I’ll check them out. If it’s more than a $100, I’ll simply buy a new one. I’m annoyed but not upset.
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12/31/18
Assets: 606,524
Debts: (91,282)
Net Worth: 515,242

2/28/19
Assets: 631,367
Debts: (84,400)
Net Worth: 546,967

Change
Assets: 24,843 (4.1% increase)
Debts: (6,882) (7.5% decrease)
Net Worth: 31,725 (6.2% increase)
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My mom was finally released from the short term care facility yesterday! She is so happy to be home in her own bed and not eating hospital food. My brother in law started chemo and thankfully he is tolerating the treatment well so far with minimal side effects. My sister can now relax a little without having to run around all day. I've been staying on track financially, still keeping my monthly spending around $1100 per month give or take. Things at work have been pretty peaceful...
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For the month of February, I tracked my NSDs. Total of 11 which to me is...not good. Sometimes they're just really small purchases, but those add up. At least I've got a baseline number and can track a bit better this month as I have something to compare it to. I'll track again and try to keep to a goal for April.

My Christmas challenge total is now over $100 which is awesome. That will at least cover the calendars I make for the family (I make a calendar every year with...
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In January, I wrote that I would try to update our Big Goal progress each month. I nearly forgot until I went looking for our interest earned in January because I needed it for my previous post. We'll see if I can remember all year long!

$350.00 ($175 from each paycheck, two per month)
_$66.71 American Express CC Rewards
_$48.94 Discover Cash Back
_$51.06 FNBO Interest Earned
$113.87 NFCU Interest Earned
__$0.01 USAA Interest
__$5.00 Class Action Rebate
_$25.00 Swagbucks...
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February was the first full month that our 3.25% CD was in effect. The interest earned is reflected in the total.

FNBO $51.06
NFCU $113.87
Total $164.93

To compare, in January we earned $147.20. Higher interest rates do make a difference!

All interest earned is added to our Big Goal.
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Last night I was unable to update my planner but plan on doing so today. March goal is to get CC9 down to $3,000. I really wanted this sucker payed off by April but with the reduction in taxes (refund) that I didn’t not anticipate nor am I complaining, it pushes the pay off to late May/June. I’m okay with that because, I have pretty much averaged about a grand a month (pay down) on this card 💳 . At the rate I’m going I should have both credit cards 💳 paid off by October,...
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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): $71,789
NT's Roth IRA: $32,737
AS's trad. IRA: $19,485
AS's Roth IRA: $52,785
AS's SEP IRA: $31,416
CJ's 401(k): $136,909
CJ's Roth IRA: $37,325
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: $1,087,932

Debts:
US Mortgage $381,699
Loan from friends (duplex) $9,000
UK Mortgage...
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Celebrations for this update:
-$919.33 paid off in the last 2 weeks!!
-Mom Loan went under the next $1000 mark!!
-Total Debt went under the next $1000 mark for the 8th update in a row!! This is now my longest streak!

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 $3,486.87
Mom Loan #2/#3 $34,921.06
MO Mortgage $81,020.00
My Mortgage $144,540.00
Our Mortgage...
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I didn't know what to expect with our taxes this year. We hardly made anything in 2018, then my husband was working as a contract employee with no taxes taken out. But...as of right now, we owe about $400. We will need to find that somehow. Its not a bill that we can put off. But I am going to check a couple of numbers and see if they are right on the business side.

I don't have any financial updates really. I got our cell phone bill reduced $8.99. And our mortgage...
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Paid my mortgage today, new balance is $114,264.90!

I reviewed my net worth since starting YNAB again 6 months ago. In the last six months my net worth (if I exclude my mortgage and retirement accounts) has increased by 70%!! I've increased savings and decreased debt by over $8,000 in 6 months. Which means we have been saving/paying debt with over 30% of our monthly income.

If I include our mortgage debt and retirement accounts we have increased out net worth by 12%.

We...
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Yesterday I noticed that my Celebrex bottle was getting low. Since I am travelling this weekend, and will be turning my car over to the shop when I get back, I decided I'd better get the prescription refilled immediately. I found a GoodRx coupon for only $17. I only needed 30 days' worth this time, since my surgery is taking place on April 2.

So I went and got it, and while I was waiting for it to be filled, I shopped and picked up $8 worth of groceries and $11 worth of greeting...
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Yesterday my dad’s long time girlfriend passed away. She was such an amazing woman, I always wished he had married her. I’m just glad she’s not suffering, she doesn’t deserve that.

Financial news
I cashed out $5 on Receipt Hog 🐷, and I added to my CC debt, every little bit helps.

Yesterday I went to the dentist for a filling 🦷, $200. I was so ticked off you have no idea. One, because I had to spend $200 and secondly my funds from my HSA through my employer...
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Well we are in the middle of helping my step son move..its not going well we are all down sick and injured (which we all have anyways but this is just making it worse) and its been over 105 each day and will be for next couple of days...so its not helping

we also had to go over and do my moms internet (as she has no idea) so each night we are not getting home till 8-9pm and so we have been having take away...which we don't enjoy we prefer to cook..so it hasnt been settling well

We...
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Wow, that was the fastest we've ever gotten back our tax refund. We sent it in on the 15th at 2 a.m. and it was deposited into our account yesterday, so 12 days. We got back $1349, but as I stated last night, most of that is going to be eaten up with truck repairs. At least $1000 of it. On the bright side, we won't have to shuffle money around from the EF and then reimburse it since it is now sitting in the checking account.

I still feel cruddy today. I really wish this...
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We primarily used our American Express and Discover credit cards in the month of February, and I think January as well. Just today I redeemed the most current rewards earned.

$66.71 American Express
$38.94 Discover
$105.65 Total Cash Back Rewards

The above cash back is being saved towards our Big Goal.

We use our Southwest Airlines Visa card to pay rent and a few other much smaller bills. We are earning a couple thousand points each month now. Specifically for February...
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As a retiree, fortunately I can now express my opinion with little retaliation.

Last Tuesday was a school board meeting for the district from where I retired. The district is at 66% poverty rate with some individual schools having some even higher levels. At this meeting, the issue of reapplying for the grant to give every student free breakfast and free lunch came up. One of the board members said she didn't think they should because it doesn't give the district a positive...
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The end of the road, during one of my workweek lunch break walks.

I did my investment report a day early, and I like what I see....my investments have continued to rebound nicely. In fact, my net worth is the highest it's been since Feb 2018 (which was my all-time high).

The macro look at the month of February shows that year-to-date, I've spent about as much as I've earned. I was ahead last month, but in February I had 2 big expenses that wiped out the January surplus:...
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