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Through Facebook I helped my daughter sell her graphing calculator to another student via his mother. She was asking on a parent's page, so I offered my daughter's up for $40. She jumped at the chance! I have the money in my PayPal account and the calculator has been delivered to the student.

When I confirmed the payment I noticed I had a payment from Ebates for $7.63. Nice surprise!

I have a few items on eBay for sale, one has a bid and will sell for several dollars.

The...
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Just posting to let everyone know that I am still around. If you can believe it is possible, things have actually gotten harder for me. I'm not in a place mentally or emotionally to map it all out right now. But I am still around and still checking out the blogs. Hope to be back soon.
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August is the first full month that we have the surplus income I've posted about before. I thought it would be a little higher but based on my last paycheck and an updated YTD spending review, it looks like we're running a $3,000 surplus. So I'm sticking with my plan to send $1,000 to savings, $1,000 to the mortgage, and $1,000 to a taxable-but-earmarked-for-retirement investment account. I've already done the first two this month and just need to do the retirement piece.

We'll...
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This is the first time I've gotten this far since the blogs went down. Hope it will work, I've missed the blogs!

Mine still looks a little wonky, though, but I can live with that.

I'm still hanging in there, waiting for pay day. Tomorrow. Will probably have to spend today -- I'm taking the boys to see "Christopher Robin" and will probably have to get gas. At present my variables are at 75%. Even with some spending, I should come in below.

How's eveyone else doing?
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This is my first post. Hope you like it!
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I have already started to work on my 2019 budget with estimates of an increase in my retirement plans as well as an increase in pay. My pay should go up in January even if an annual raise isn't approved, because I am due for an increase due to my pay schedule. Retirement plans may increase $1k in contribution limits, but my pay should increase at least another $2k, hopefully $3k if an across the board increase is approved.
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I have read predictions that both the 401k and IRA limits will increase by $500 next year. It will be nice to be able to save an extra $1k next year. I will make the adjusts accordingly in December, when the changes are signed into law.
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Over the past couple of weeks I have met many goals on the path to debt repayment. My mortgage is now under $65k and I have 50% equity in my home. My auto loan is now under $10k so I now owe 4 figures rather than 5 figures. My TSP loan is now under $13k. In July I paid off my federal taxes owed. I'm most relieved to have paid off the federal taxes owed. Hopefully, the adjustments that I have made to my exemptions were sufficient for this year.
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I took a new job at the end of the school year, knowing that I was going to take a pay cut. It cuts my daily commute from 2 hours to 1/2 hour, saving me tons in gas, tolls, and oil changes for my 200k+mile car. My share of the health/dental insurance is a fraction of what it was at my former job, so I figured I would come out about even anyway.

When I got my contract, they had me at the Master's level instead of the CAS/Doctorate level. I asked about it, and they said since...
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So I've got four days till pay day. I want to spend as little as possible during that time.

I'm planning to make roll-ups of crescent rolls and taco meat and cheese today. I still have plenty of frozen chicken, a can of tuna, and the makings for sausage biscuits. I also hope to have the time to make bread today.

I made granola yesterday.

I'm going to go back to the gym after a too-long break. Traveling, getting sick, and grandma duty has taken its toll on my regular...
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I still have several cans of beans and 2 packets of pasta. Looks like beans and pasta every day this week. Not complaining as I like it and I have different sorts of beans and veggies.
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Just got an e-mail from my adjunct job, and they've canceled the class that begins on 27 August. It's way underenrolled. Bleah. It will be fine, but we could use that paycheck this fall.

I need to think about some strategies to get through DH's unemployment more comfortably. He does have an interview next week, so fingers crossed for that.
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It was really nice not to have to plan a grocery trip for today. I wasn't sure I was going to like only shopping once every two weeks, but I definitely think I am. I did glance at the ads this week just in case there was something good, but it was all processed foods or real foods that were pretending they were on sale, but really weren't. You know, the buy one get one free where the one you buy has been jacked up to cover the cost of the "free" one sort of thing.

We still...
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Celebrations for this update:
-$871.91 paid off in the last 2 weeks!!
-My Mortgage went under the next $1000 mark!
-Total Debt went under the next $1000 mark for the 5th update in a row!! (I think that is a record for me!)

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 $5,136.60
Mom Loan #2 $12,731.76
MO Mortgage $82,420.71
My Mortgage $146,950.00
Our...
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I just got back from Indiana. The funeral was lovely, and it was very nice to get to know BFF's family better.

There was a dinner in the church after the funeral, so my only spending was $9 for meals on the road. I did not have to fill the tank again. (Though I will soon.)

I have the weekend to rest before I start taking care of the boys again next week. School starts the following Monday.

Variables are at 73%. I hope the next few days are low-spend. I should get...
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Wow, it's been forever since I posted. Lots of doings in the past few years, way too many to go into in one entry.

In that time, I've.....moved, changed jobs (with a pay bump), since gotten a raise at that job, traded in my car, and the big one.....as of this morning, paid off all but $700 of my credit card debt!!!

I'll update the sidebar shortly, as goals are obviously different as is financial picture. But this was step 1 in the current plan.....Operation Buy an Apartment...
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My grandma's habit when she had her faculties was to go to the bank at the beginning of the month. She would pay her bills, put a little in savings and pull out cash for her groceries and spending. She was responsible when it came to her finances.

I wanted to use the money I was paid for her care wisely. She worked hard to earn this money. I wanted to know she would be proud of me. I accomplished the following from April through now.

-Cash flowed car repairs/maintenance

-Cash...
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I reduced my yarn stash by 400 grams today. Someone had given me some laceweight but when I tried to wind it into balls it was all deteriorated. It must have been sitting in someone's basement for years. So I threw it out. I hate wasting yarn but some things are not salvageable.

I went to see the Australian documentary The Song Keepers. I left my money at home so no popcorn, but it didn't seem appropriate while the choir was singing ancient hymns.

When I got home ds...
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Yesterday a car blew a tire and careened across like 5 lanes of freeway, right in front of me. By some miracle no cars were hit and they managed to keep control and steer the car to the shoulder. This is like the third time I've seen a car do this during this year. I remember like -0- times ever before that.

This year is going to be the death of me!

Heart Attack #2 was when MM(15) Was at gymnastics and MH called me sounding panicked and asking about the emergency room....
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I figured it out earlier this week and it has been 8 years since we have taken a vacation. The last few years would have been impossible with debt and the farm animals, but now all we have are the rabbits, so the possibility exists that DH and I could sneak away for a few days at some point while DS takes care of the rabbits. I just want to go check into some air-conditioned hotel with an indoor swimming pool and get out of the heat and the horrific air quality from all the fires.

But...
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