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This isn't the first time I've dropped it, but it's the first time it did any damage. This time it fell on concrete and the screen shattered. I wasn't able to unlock it; basically nothing on the screen was accessible.
I bought it at BestBuy, and I have a service plan with them, so I high-tailed it over there. They are going to replace my phone for $49, but the new phone is on order and will be mailed to me, and I am currently using a temporary phone, which I purchased and will...
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I have wanted to go back to what the "old timers" use to do like grow my own vegies, I can't sew but my hubby and daughter do that, but I always had an excuse, we are renting so we are limited to what we can do etc....and yes housing is so damn expensive here and with the upfront fees it is just hard....so I have done a few things...I said "screw it" it "now or never", so I have been growing things from the seeds we have left over rom our vegies that we have bought so we have bell...
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So on Sunday I did send my husband in to take advantage of the last day of that meat sale and we got both the tri tip and the chuck shoulder roll.  For an 18 pound tri tip and a 25 pound chuck shoulder roll, both black angus, we spent $194.98.  The amounts are rounded, but it is very close.  I haven't cut up the chuck shoulder roll yet as its use or freeze by date is further out, but my son and I spent tonight (Thursday, it'll be Friday by the time this posts) cutting...
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TSP $1,232,064
IRA $363,335
Brokerage $9,492
Savings $10,270
Home Equity $140,000
March 2025 Net Worth $1,755,161
February 2025 Net Worth $1,835,751
Monthly Loss/Gain -$80,590
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23 days and we will see what party will be running our country....hopefully not Dutton because he likes Trump and wants to do some stuff like him...we dont need that here...it is a little weird though because last election there were posters left on poles etc so they were banned from putting them up this time so we hardly see them unless in a private yard..so they really have to rely on themselves and going out to see people...the good thing is many do it only when elections are...
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So far, I've participated in 2 rallies and 3 protests. The rallies were different in that they were indoors and featured a series of very inspirational speakers making testimonials. One of my favorites was from a local church pastor. I would love to see more faith leaders speak out on what's going on.
At the last demonstration on Saturday, we got about 500 people to turn out in my little town of just 28,000, so that felt pretty good. And of course, there were much larger protests...
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Not panicking.  A can feel the fear in a lot of clients.  Telling them not to panic.  I'm not sure if they are going to listen. I am now 45 years old and for the first time I feel the fear.  I suspect it's age.  It's the fact I worry how long this recession/depression will be.  Yes we have lots of time, but time seems shorter since we want to retire in 10 years.  20 15 20 years ago in 2006/2007 I kept on plowing money into the market.  We...
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It seems like it's just doom and gloom as far as the markets. Here it is Monday, things were up and down, and when I checked my retirement accounts, I lost yet another $10,000. I know we all say to stay in it in the long run, but I'm not a youngster starting out. I've been fortunate that I haven't had to use any of this money so far. But it isn't like I'm going to make it up very quickly. I tend to worry about stuff and now I'm feeling stressed. I'm sure I'm not alone. I think...
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Been having a rough couple weeks.
A storm ripped part of our roof shingles off while I was out of town. Once we got a contractor up there they said we have a ton of hail damage and the entire roof needs replaced. Half of it was put on in 2012 and other half was put on in 2017. So this was not an expense I was expecting. I had to make an insurance claim but it sounds like my area went to ACV storm coverage last year even though I have "replacement" insurance. So I'm guessing the...
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Well if things are scary now hold on. I think a recession is coming.  I hate the fact so many people didn't vote.  I think we are getting what we deserved because more people voted for the guy making the decisions.  I did not.  But i'm holding on for the ride.  But what really pisses me off more is that so many people (they say 90 million americans) didn't vote. It's frustrating.  Why isn't voting on a weekend?  Or over a weekend? But more...
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I took a look at the accounts and it seems I've lost more than the equivalent of what my first house cost just in two days. It's crazy but I know that I'm in better shape than most folks so I'll just hope that things will get better eventually. I just hope it doesn't get so bad that I don't feel comfortable going to part time this summer. 
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This morning I made a plan to keep my ADHD brain organized for the rest of the week.  I probably should have gone through next week, too, but I will leave that for Sunday evening, because then the stress of the weekend will be over.  Yes, I stress more on weekends than I do on weekdays, because my weekends are unstructured compared to my weekdays.
So as for my meal plan, I did make one.  I also made a plan for what else we are doing.  But meal plan first to...
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Please don't forget days like earlier today.  Please.  Don't let anyone sugar coat this, or blame it on their (Democratic) opposition, or drink the GOP apologist Koolaid that this is somehow "normal".  It's not.
The Dow hasn't fallen like this since the Covid lockdown only a few years ago, and that was a global pandemic that shuttered the entire country and its businesses.
And you know what's really sad about this whole thing?  If Trump had literally not picked...
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Seriously, what is going on in this country? I just checked my investment portfolio, and I'm down quite a bit. As someone who is new to investing, I cannot afford to lose any money.
Prices for goods are much higher than they were a few months ago, rights are being taken away, and people seem to be okay with this.
I can only imagine what my property taxes will look like. In just two months, this man has racked up 26 million dollars in security fees for his golf visits.
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I have noticed in the past month that my refrigerator, the freezer part specifically, kept building up hard ice. Not the frosty kind, but hard ice. And sometimes water pooled in the fridge. It looked like it had to be draining tube problem, according to Google, but there was no way I could fix it myself. So I called an appliance repairman, and to my shock, it was $340 to make the repair! This was not what I needed.
But, good news, I did pass my road test and I'm driving again!...
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I told myself I would be posting more frequently in April than I did in March and here it is already April 3rd and I have done nothing, so I decided that I should get back into more of my old habits.  I did my payday report last week and now I need to get back into my tracking my groceries.  This will be from a store trip on April 1st.  I bought mostly organic produce, but my goodness it was not that much higher than conventional.  We're talking .25 to .50 difference...
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So I don't normally go shopping it is to much noise, to many lights etc...way to much stimulation...but the last couple day we have gone over there to buy a few things and one of our store has these racks and they are selling clothes for $1 and $2, we have bought a bunch of things for her future kids as a pack of 3 jumpsuits for $1 (so 33c each), you couldnt do any better we have also been buying extra for the foster kids charity that we support as $1 each you can't go wrong when...
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Yesterday was a day I could head to a Kroger store in a nearby larger town. Since we live 40 minutes away, I try to bunch my errands so I don't make a lot of unnecessary trips and with gas prices on the rise, I especially don't want to spend more on gas and wear and tear on my car.
I had a list created. Most, not all, of my items were either on sale or I had digital coupons. I was fortunate that I found a couple of things that I wanted on clearance so I saved even more. Even so,...
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Not a joke but i'm sure many people have lost a good chunk of their portfolios. I have sat tight and refused to panic or sell and so i'm just watching things drop.  I'm actually about to transfer a good chunk to my solo 401k in April and max it out for 2025.  $23,500.  I'm not sure what the best thing to do it. Being a business owner and DH in a start up we probably have more cash on hand than most people.  I do sometimes think perhaps it's not efficient. ...
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We lost about $24K of retirement savings, or about 2.5% of the total value of those funds. Offset by a small contribution to NT's 401k and our regular mortgage payments, our net worth decreased by $22K.
I turned 51 this month, so our CoastFIRE number increased $35K. We are still at CoastFIRE with a $22,500 surplus of where we need to be at. A far cry from the $86K surplus I had in January, but what can you do? It's all worth it to have hundreds of thousands of government employees...
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