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This morning I had a moment of panic when I saw that I had no internet service. I was planning to pay my property tax today online and it was close to the due date. But I went through the troubleshooting steps to reconnect and it worked. I paid the tax ($572) with no fee, yay! (Those who pay by credit card have to pay a fee.) I was having visions of having to take a check downtown -- it wasn't pretty!

I looks like I may have to transfer $60 from savings to pay this month's...
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I should have posted this the other day, but I have been dragging and the extent of my online activity has been on the level of watching videos of a cat singing the Game of Thrones theme song on youtube or the like. Yeah, that's where my intellectual capacity has been at. So not a lot of brain power going on.

Anyway, the raise for DH is official and all of the paperwork has now been signed. It won't be on the next paycheck, but will be on the last one of March. He's officially...
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I’m in a facebook group that challenges us to save money. This week we were to recreate a restaurant recipe. Tonight I made a sirloin steak 🥩. This was the first time ever, and it turned out great. Though it wasn’t a restaurant recipe I think I pulled it off.

I bought the steak at a discounted rate at Walmart, cost, $4.64. I already had rice, and my local grocery store 🏬 had salad BOGO, so I had a bag from last week.

I basically seasoned the steak with some steak...
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Hi all

I have been away awhile here.

LOTS happened since we last talked.

I went to Israel!! wow.. incredible amazing trip. There is SO MUCH archaeological support for what is in the Bible.

I bought a house in Downtown Naperville. 2300+ square feet.. $433k.. $182/sq foot. Average square foot cost is $240 but going up to $400/sq foot across my side of downtown over the past 2 years.. got a real good deal I think.. my house was the 2nd lowest in 2 years outside of a tear...
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I bought a bunch of Better Homes & Gardens Sheet Sets a few weeks ago at Walmart. They were super good clearance prices, between $4.29 - $7.51 depending on the size. I found out there were rebates in the packs for $6.00 back! I bought 28 sheet sets, and only 9 had rebates, but that's $54.00 back that I wasn't expecting! That will make 9 of the smaller size sheet sets free/money makers! Whoo hoo!
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I got some hats to sell from lids.com and also found some good deals for presents for my brothers too!



NDSU Shamrock Hats (Bought 10)
Regular Price $24.99 each
Clearanced to $10.00 each
Free Shipping
Final Price + Tax = $10.65 each
(Marked $15.00 each for rummage sale)
*ETA - Sold 1 for $15.00 on FB on 3/10/19
*ETA - Sold 1 for $15.00 on FB on 2/23/20
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Getting close to $12K!

Current Balance $11,770.00
+$100.00 FB Sales
+$50.00 MO Payday to Our Savings (3/1)
Balance $11,920.00

Local Savings $3950.00
GC Savings $775.00
Capital 360 Savings (US) $3460.00
Capital 360 Savings (Mom Loan Payback Account)$1385.00
Capital 360 Savings (Rental Deposit Account #1)$850.00
Capital 360 Savings (Rental Deposit Account #2)$1500.00
Total Savings = $11,920.00

52 Week Challenge
2019 Total = $300 (Weeks 1-24 are paid)
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A couple of months ago I took a look at our cable bill, something I had neglected to do for way too long. I noticed we were being billed for 2 convertor boxes at $6.99/mo. each. However, we only have one. I went over to the office and told them and they agreed to take one off the bill.

Fast forward to last week. I was in the basement and came across a convertor box. Sure enough it is the one they insisted we had and have been paying for. I have absolutely no memory of why we...
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Boy, I was really sick yesterday! After saying I thought it was just food sensitivity, I started running a fever and ... well, I won't share the gory details, but it was awful.

And today I'm okay, so it was apparently just a 24-hour bug.

Today is pay day. I've paid the mortgage and scheduled my credit card payments.

Here is how last month shook out:

Housing: 1145
Car Repair/Maintenance: 234
Utilities: 186
Groceries: 145
Phone: 103
Gifts/Charity: 91
Eating...
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Well I went to the DMV with the new originals they said I needed, and now they are saying I need something else!? I started crying in the DMV and left.

Now my relative is driving the 3 hours to me this weekend with all the papers again. I am beyond frustrated. Ugh.

I got half of my payment for a website I am doing and added $500 to the animal fund. The other $400 I left in my checking account to pay for the next couple months of animal expenses. I need to sell a minimum of...
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Finished up my taxes and I’m getting a whopping $750. I’m glad I don’t owe. I thought for sure I would have had to pay, especially since I got the money from my dad’s house.

So many people I know have to pay this year. I’ll be throwing all of it to the snowball.

Other news, I’m excited because my $608 payment hit my CC, total paid this month was just over $1300. I couldn’t help but wonder, what if I was throwing this at my student loans. I’m going to start...
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Today my first (post-house sale) automatic sinking funds transfer happened. I am doing $500 every other Tuesday, broken down as follows:

Car Ins & Reg - $51.92
Car R & M - $38.46
Car Replacement - $54.56
Clothing - $23.07
EGadgets - $13.46
Gifts/Xmas - $38.46
Planners & Goodies - $3.85
Roth - $180.07

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More good news, y'all!

Well, I got good news last Friday: I’m still in the small minority (25 percent) of kidney cancer patients who are “significant responders” to immunotherapy. In August, my tumor was an egg. (For me, egg = death). In November, it was a walnut. Last Friday, it was a grape-almond. As in, smaller than a grape and slightly larger than an almond. So yay. Shrinkage. Another miracle.

To celebrate, I'll leave you with this hilarious segment by comedian...
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I took my car to the body shop yesterday. As it often happens, there was more damage than was apparent to the eye. So I will be going through insurance and will be paying the $500 deductible. Since I am planning to visit BFF this weekend, I won't actually take it in until next Tuesday, which is also better timing for the body shop, which is a very busy place.

After my consultation with them, I went to get my emissions test done because the site was very close by. I passed....
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We didn’t spend or do much on the weekend. I finished that online course that I started last month about 10 days ago. I really enjoyed it, and I decided to do another mini-course on the weekend. So, most of my time was spent doing that, but we did go out to do some grocery shopping and also went for a couple hours walk with our dog.

Grocery = $71.22

Annual Dog Registration Fee = $49.00


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Lots of sales from my HUGE Walmart haul a few weeks ago.
Total sales for the week were $107.50!

Sale #1160 (JB) $16.00
Better Homes and Gardens Twin Sheets (2) - I paid $4.29 each
Sold for $8.00 each
Profit = $7.42

Sale #1161 (N+D) $11.00
Better Homes and Gardens Queen Sheets (2) - I paid $5.36 each
Sold for $5.50 each (Sold to Aunts for cost)
Profit = $.28

Sale #1162 (JB) $28.00
Mainstays Teal Runner (21x60) - I paid $5.33 each
Sold for $12.00
Profit...
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I could have filed much earlier this month, but honestly it was wearing me out each time I attempted it.

Each of the two colleges we are working with fill out their 1098-T forms slightly different. One school includes the books, the other does not. One school includes the required activity fee and the other does not. I was a bit surprised by this, but found a resource that schools should be using as guidance for filling out these forms and used that as my guideline. We also...
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My second day of movie-watching was much cheaper than the first. I stayed home. I watched "Roma" on Netflix for free, and I watched "BlacKkKlansman" on Amazon Prime for $5.99. I didn't have to go out and brave the strong winds that were embattling the whole area.

It is more fun to go out and see movies on the big screen. The viewing experience is much richer, I think. And it gets me out among people. I wouldn't want to stay in all the time. But it worked for me yesterday,...
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This has been a pretty spendy month so far, with variable spending at $778.25. This doesn’t include regular bills, charitable donations, extra debt repayment, or work-related expenses, some of which will eventually be reimbursed, but it does include discretionary budget categories like groceries.

Unusual extra spending: $75 for a nice used desk chair to replace an old one that broke. $30 for a filing cabinet for my home office area. $70 for a nice Valentine’s dinner...
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It has been a busy couple weeks and this next week isn't any different wih us having to help my hubbys son move...still recovering from helping my mom move...but its family...on the good news he has enough money for the move so he won't have to borrow from us..which is great...

have lots of appointments this week that are going to cost...we have my brothers wedding in a week but don't think we need to buy anything for that...except some money in a card..

I just looked at...
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