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I know this is a weird topic to write about on a financial blog, but I have found for myself that I start to spend more when I am not taking care of myself. These are some of the ways I recharge my own battery without spending too much money.
Renewing yourself and self care are super important in this fast-paced crazy world we live in. But when you are on a budget, it can sometimes be difficult to find ways to do so frugally. In a lot of ways, I’m really lucky that I am...
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Although we did do the pantry challenge for the first few days of January, I wasn't posting and then of course, I didn't do it while we were in Seattle, because how can you when you are away from your pantry?  And I didn't do it the last two days as we settled back in.  So I am integrating some leftovers in as well as cooking from the pantry now.  My MIL bought us Sushi last night, so...
Breakfast/Lunch was leftover sushi.  I don't get the raw kind, because...
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It's been a long few days, but my daughter made it through her surgery and hospital stay with flying colors and her recovery is going very well.  Her hormone levels have already stablized and I haven't seen her this emotionally stable since she hit puberty.  She will never have to worry about bleeding out again and she did get to keep her ovaries, but everything else is gone.  Since she can't take replacement hormones due to one of her other medical conditions, this...
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Looks like the site lost my last update post- oh well. I continue the pantry challenge but did get some groceries Friday ahead of winter weather.
 
1 dozen eggs – 5.18
12-pack of microwave popcorn – 4.82
8  packets of ramen noodles – 2.40
1 box chocolate pudding mix  1.57
1 quart of milk – 5.32
2 bags of frozen broccoli cuts at 0.88/each – 1.76
Pack of 5 garlic bulbs – 2.50
Total this trip: 23.55
+ $11 from last trip...
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So we were thinking of jumping to Bali from Singapore but we didn't have much time.  So instead we went to Thailand.  We decided we had done city with Singapore.  We also wanted to waste at most 2 hours on the flight and we didn't want to hit up a city.  So we flew into Krabi.  Most people go to Phuket or Ko Samui or Bangkok or Chang Mai.  We headed to Krabi, but we didn't stay there.  Instead we went further off the beaten path and went to Ao...
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Since someone asked I decided to finish up photos and posting of the trip.  Our last full day in singapore we spent doing a Michelin Hawker Food tour included in our singapore Go City card for $80.  It was delicious and fun and we even got historical facts on the walking part as we ate and walked through a couple of hawker centers.  My favorite part of traveling is walking and hanging out and eating like a local.  When we were in singapore i used grab (like...
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As part of my decluttering / organizing / purging resolution, I'm trying to get away from a mindset of waste.  I'm always quick to throw things out, and I live with my family who never want to part with anything, so it's a fine line.  Yesterday, I came across a large piece of luggage with a broken main zipper.  It's completely unusable, and has been this way for years.  I was all set to toss it, but instead, I emailed Samsonite with a picture of the zipper,...
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Our net worth increased by $90K in 2023.  This works out to $25K retirement contributions & a $65K increase in stocks.  I am depreciating our autos aggressively but that is offset by mortgage paydown.  Home values remain steady.
Re: my sidebar big picture goal, this leaves $30K to come up with in the next 3 years.  
I am looking it up and I have $32,000 of kids' gift money sitting in investments in our name (included in our net worth).  In addition...
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I found this really interesting interactive article in the Washington Post - Are you Rich?    I hope this link worked.  If not, here's the link to copy and paste. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2024/are-you-rich-american-wealth-net-worth/?fbclid=IwAR3HXcCb5xnufXwSrBIi5ZqDoxXlk_0AhaDGLB71xS-gaghokhNXeSi_sz8 
 
My net worth is higher than 86 percent of American households, more than four times that of the typical American household....
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2023 TALLY:
-0-
------------
-$0- TOTAL *ONE-TIME REWARDS*
Ongoing rewards:
+$297 AmExRewards (6% cash back groceries/streaming services)
+$101 Target rewards (5% discount Target purchases; mostly groceries)
+$154 Visa Rewards (3% cash back restaurants/fuel).  Ended up also using for groceries in Q4 (3% cash back)
+$1,261 Citi 2% card (2% back everywhere - health insurance/medical is the *big* expense that we charge, is more than our mortgage payments)
Grand Total...
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Here's a few pictures from MM's rose float.



After making it through work hell month (December) and jetting off for a few days...  My plan is to sleep all day today.  I have like 10 blog posts in my head (re: end of year tallies and so on) but this might be all I eke out.
At least I usually have New Years day to regroup, or a long weekend.  So I am feeling really behind and off kilter. 
Edited to add:  All of MM(20)'s winter break lodging was covered...
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While doing our budget this year I figured we pay over $29,000 a year in rent....that really sucks...but guess we are stuck doing it for now
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I know I’m a little late with my goals, but life has been hectic.
Last year I only had two goals, to decrease debt and increase our savings. We were only successful with one of those. We decreased our debt by almost 50% last year. But our savings decreased as well. On the plus side, however, we didn’t increase our debt and cash flowed nearly $20,000 of expenses in that year.
Our goals are pretty basic. I have the same goals for 2024 that I had last year as well as...
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We are back from our New Year's trip to Pasadena. 
The trip was mixed.  MM(20) was too busy and basically only had five minutes for us.  We had brought him some stuff from home, and so we met him at his hotel, just as he was taking off.  He did invited us to lunch with him and the group of students he was driving back to the college, but some of them had COVID and others were sick with whatever else.  We declined lunch with the sick people.
We didn't...
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Well I have decided to regularly put our debt updates on here to keep my self accountable..so the first 2 bills we are working on is our daughters hecs debt and the CC...obviously we need to pay the CC every month (don't have enough to pay off right now) and my daughters hecs I decided to pay that for her while she saves for her ivf....it's a choice I made so no remaqrks on that please.
hecs debt start $2040.88...owe $1500
CC debt start $5250....owe $4785.11....I did pay $500...
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Debts
Mortgage -$112,930.59 (-$240.85)Land Loan -$8,583.04 (-$195.08)Hospital Bill -$441.41 (-$75)
Savings
Roth IRAs +$29,275 (+$1,540)401K +$59,560 (+$3,554)Emergency Fund +$6,267 (-$515)Animal Fund +$1,035 (+$4)Car Fund +$240 (+$0)HSA +$1,740 (+$107)
Overall: +$5,200.93
Another big market increase month.
I ended up pulling a little money from the EF to cover a few expenses by the end of the year. I'm hoping in 2024 we can increase our savings instead of continuing to pull...
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Happy New Year, SA member! 
I am praying that this is a good year for all of us. I've been in need of a new laptop for a while now – mine is sluggish and lacks the necessary space. Thankfully, my employer offered a chance to win one for $150, and I was fortunate enough to secure it. It's a used, three-year-old model, but our company provides high-quality laptops. Excited to receive it, and the payment will be deducted from my payroll.
Other news, my HOA did not...
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Investments $1,438,561
Savings $31,458
December Total $1,470,019
November Total $1,388,506
Monthly Gain/Loss $81,513
Not included, but worth mentioning. Checking accounts were $19,208 total & car value at lowest estimate is $11k. This puts me at $1.5 million net worth for the first time.
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Christmas is expensive for everyone… so it always is my goal is to give a useful gift that doesn’t cost a lot of money.
This year, I made 5 different soaps for all the women/girls in my life. I made a Lemon-Poppyseed exfoliating soap, a shave soap, Rose soap, Mango-Papaya soap, and a Milk and Honey Soap. I gave 27 gifts of soap, 5 bars each. The total I had to purchase for each gift came out to $10.82 per gift. I have been making soap for a couple years, so I didn’t...
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So 2023 was an excellent year for us financially.  Our retirement accounts are down 3% from peak 1/3/2022.  Mostly I lost a bunch in my Roth IRA but we are nearly at the same amount.  Our retirement accounts went up 31.6%.
Our taxable went up 92.8%.  Our NW went up 49.9%.  We had a good year in the market.  We saved a lot. 
I mentioned in forum spending $15k deciding.  What ended up happening was DH got an unexpected bonus at work on December...
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