All Entries

We pay off our credit cards in full every month and never pay interest on a revolving balance. We use them for as many transactions as we can. In fact, we are now able to pay our rent with a credit card, most likely will use our Southwest Airlines credit card to accumulate points for flights.

We redeemed rewards from the following cards this past month.

US Bank $8.31
Chase Freedom $14.70
American Express $50.61
Discover $8.37
Total $81.99

Our credit card rewards are...
[ Read More ]

I like to track the interest we earn on our cash savings. This October our two major accounts earned a total of $109.77. I sure wish it was 10x that amount of passive income, but we will take it and be very grateful. I remember thinking it would never be possible to have even that much interest earned in a month. So again, very grateful for what we have been provided.
[ Read More ]

All our mortgage payments hit on Friday, but I'm just getting around to posting about them:
US: $732 to principal
UK1: $179
UK2: $37
UK3: $40

All in all, $988 of debt paid off.

I got a notice that our escrow shortage is lower now, so our US monthly mortgage payment will also be lower starting next month. Only by about $30, but I'll take it! Our utilities have averaged about $100 per month higher this year than last year, and I don't see that changing until/unless we can...
[ Read More ]

It’s been a while- life is good but busy! I Financially I’ve been chugging along and trying to minimize spending to focus on loan payback.

The website for my private loan doesn’t give you the actual total, just the remaining principle balance. You have to call or write for the actual balance. Regardless, once the principle is gone it will stop generating interest and I’ll probably just let my autopayments finish it off, so I guess it doesn’t matter. My current principle...
[ Read More ]

My back yard

Yesterday was a lovely fall day, in the 50s but bright and sunny. I decided to mow my lawn myself again, mainly to chop up all the leaves. I ran it for as long as the battery lasted, about 35 minutes, so the lawn is by no means finished and we will have rain off and on this week.

I also used both my blowers to clean some leaves off the lawn and driveway, so I felt like I got plenty of fresh air today.


My street

Later in the afternoon I met an old...
[ Read More ]

Yesterday was a stay-at-home day. Therefore, no spending. And I stayed away from Amazon, too.

Today is a gym day, and I also have a mystery shop to do. When I get those two things done, I'll study my election manual.

I had bad dreams last night. The major theme of one of them was having to walk home in the dark through a snowstorm. I must be worried about winter coming! I was glad to wake up and find out I WAS home.

I'll probably have to fill the tank today, but...
[ Read More ]

I bought a new smart phone for nzd99.00. I'm on a prepaid plan.
[ Read More ]

Right now I literally just want to go live somewhere else where there are rainbows and kittens and puppies and unicorns and no one is ever sick or in pain and people are kind to each other. I am just so tired, so overwhelmed, and aching so much. Everything hurts right now.

My c-reactive protein level is 14.3 mg/L. It is supposed to be less than 8. I have never had a flare this painful before. I am ridiculously swollen. What's the worst is it is in my back. It has never...
[ Read More ]

I haven't blogged for awhile because life has been busy.

My doctor's office called and said that my insurance had told them they would no longer pay for a cholesterol medicine I have been on. The medicine is over $300 and they were paying about $100 and I was picking up the rest. So, I spent a lot of time going to pharmacies asking what the cash price. I have found around here trying to call pharmacies is crazy because they put you on hold and then may or may not get back to...
[ Read More ]

The IRS announced new retirement plan limits on November 1st. The 401k limit increases to $19,000 and the IRA limit increases to $6,000. For those under 50, you can contribute $1000 more to your retirement accounts next year. Both plans were projected to increase & it's nice to know that it's official. For those of you that contribute biweekly you'll be contributing $731 per period for your 401k(if you choose even distributions) and $500 a month to your IRA.

Im looking forward...
[ Read More ]

MH went out of town to do some political canvassing, yesterday. He was pleased with his gas mpg:



This is the spreadsheet I have been keeping to track fuel costs. I don't know if this sheet is ideal, but it's one I just found and copied. It worked in a pinch. I can tweak it later.


You can click on it to see the details more clearly.

We drove the car 2,000 miles total. UGH! I don't have a handle on total household driving because I didn't track miles on the other...
[ Read More ]

October 30
$41 Gas for gas car
$5 Lunch
FREE MOVIE
Dinner: Indian Butter Chicken

I have no idea why MH needed gas and how he spent $41 on gas. Didn't use a coupon?? I don't know.

I spent $5 on lunch out.

MH and I had another movie date night, but I wasn't feeling well and cancelled on him. I was relieved to have one less thing on my plate.

My female/TMI health issues started last summer, or long before all this STRESS. But I was being optimistic that things...
[ Read More ]

October 29
$?? Target (Groceries)
$14 Indian Grocer
$10 Gymnastics
Dinner: Spinach Manicotti

I keep getting locked out of Target card (new website?) so I have no idea what MH spent at Target. He picked up some groceries. I will update when I get the info.

MH stopped by the Indian grocery on the way home. I don't know that he picked up anything dinner specific, but DL(13) totally goes crazy for their Indian version of "hot pockets". I overheard MH telling DL that...
[ Read More ]

October 28
$31 Groceries
$16 Haircut
Dinner: Mexican Potato Soup (crockpot)

Not much to report. I wasn't noticing any decrease in our grocery spending, though DL was gone for for 10 days, MM was gone for one weekend, and we've been eating out excessively (for us). BUT, it hit this week. The grocery run this week was an entire $31. We have enough food otherwise, to get through the week.

MH ran some errands and got a haircut. All I did was laundry and work (job #2).

[ Read More ]

October 27
$29 Deli Sandwiches
$124 Professional Classes
Dinner: Out

MH ended up taking MM to his volunteer shift at the animal shelter, because I was working all weekend. He went to the free car charger (which is right by the shelter) and got about 50-cents worth of free electricity. Or enough "fuel" for the drive home.

I don't remember why, but we decided to bring dinner in. I think MH was just feeling that he had not planned better. & when he brought up the idea...
[ Read More ]

I've been noticing it for a while. All the regular bloggers seem to be dropping away. I miss you guys! Where are you? I hope this is a temporary lapse.

Another day, another mystery shop. That was yesterday. Today I get a day off, and then tomorrow one more.

I made another sale on eBay. I accepted an offer that was $15 below my asking price, so I only earned $10 after fees and shipping. But $10 is better than nothing.

I ordered some shampoo on Amazon yesterday....
[ Read More ]

Only 3 more weeks and I will be halfway done with my challenge. I'm taking 3 weeks off in January while I'm in India.

This morning was pouring rain so I took a taxi to meditation nzd11.50. After church we went to the Steep Cafe which is on the world's steepest street. Very touristy and priced accordingly, nzd4.00 for a long black, and it wasn't very good coffee. I had zero money left in my food envelope so took it from my necessities jar, but I'm trying to break the habit...
[ Read More ]

Yesterday was fairly busy. I did a mystery shop, which was out of town. I stopped at the new, improved Aldi on the way home and got $25 worth of groceries. It really is new and improved. Much more open and pleasant. The old one was pretty dark and grungy. Same stock, but arranged in a much better way.

I came home and did some chores, including laundry, and then got down to some serious reading late in the afternoon. I love it when I'm reading a book that takes me to another...
[ Read More ]

World Vegan Day was celebrated in the Octagon today. I spent nzd15.20 on food, which was more than I intended, but it was delicious.
[ Read More ]

On Monday:
- We tried to figure out if we could afford Hamilton tickets. There seems to be two levels of touring companies. One is the original, and we can't afford those tickets, but there are cities closer to us. The other has cheaper tickets, but we'd have to somehow get to Chicago. Have any of you seen it?

On Tuesday:
- I called and got a late charge taken off of a credit card payment. I felt really stupid; I never got the bill but that's no excuse. I guess last...
[ Read More ]