All Entries

Last night I started a ten day process on getting the freezer full of individual frozen dinners for me to have ready to heat and eat like TV dinners, only homemade. I am eating healthier by avoiding takeout now.  I have always read ingredients and have been having some of the cleaner, healthier geared ones, which are still full of sodium, something I have to be careful with.  If I cook it myself, I can avoid putting in a ton of salt and if I make it gluten free, I can...
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begin - beginning checking account balance
pr - my net payroll check
SB - my contribution towards our joint living expenses
cash - cash for the next 2 weeks
sf - automatic transfers to sinking funds scheduled for 6/27/23
Citi MC - this payment includes my Verizon bill, my Netflix bill, my Sirius XM bill, a co-pay for prescription refills at $58.32, a donation of $55.84 (details below), and $12.58 for a fast food lunch out.
CarMax - my car payment.  the new balance...
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Our colonoscopies went fine. My mom's prep was difficult with her limited mobility, but we made it through. The procedure itself was so quick! They really function like a well-oiled machine. In & out!
My mom had no polyps (had polyps at previous colonoscopies) and I had one tiny one which the doctor wasn't entirely sure if it was a polyp. But of course, she took it anyway. A big relief to have both of them done. My mom will need another one in 5 years, while I will get another...
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Well as of the 1st of July our electricity prices are rising 25-40% in our state...so time to look around and see if offering the best deal and see where we go from there...the letter they sent me says that using our averages that we have been we will be spending approx an extra $1000 a year so we need to update our budget...we have already needed to raise our gas and grocery amounts...so time to sit down with the budget and get it sorted to fit the new amounts. 
Still not...
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Received $111 bank interest 
Received $308 I Bond interest 
 
Snowflakes to Investments:
--Redeemed $23 credit card rewards (cash back) from our grocery card 
--Redeemed $150 cash back on Citi card
--Redeemed $12 cash back on dining out/gas card (used for groceries this month)
 
Other Snowflakes to Investments:
+ $11 Savings from Target Red Card (grocery purchases)
 
TOTAL: $196 Snowflakes to Investments
 
401k Contributions/Match:
+$1,012
 
Snowball...
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I was wondering last night if the Finance Buff had released their 2024 predictions on contribution limits for various retirement & tax advantaged plans. It is usually released in June. Sure enough when I looked this morning they had released them last week. Again, these are just projections.
There is a lot to look at, but for me being under 50 with no HSA, I focus on the 401k & IRA contribution limits. The FB projects that both will rise by $500 next year for $23,000 and...
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Our new net worth is $207,517.35.  This is a combination of factors, but since it involves the new ESOP contribution, I can't get specific about numbers.  I am excited that we turned the next big numer on the old odometer, if money were miles, on the trip to becoming a millionaire.  $200K is a big one.
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DH has been working between 80 and 90 hours a week since April 23.  Unless I have to slow him down when he starts getting hollow eyed.  Or when he got sick a couple weeks ago and he took 1 day off.  I won't let him work through the weekends, since the only reason I agreed to this was that he helped me in the garden on the weekends, since he was supposed to take two weeks off of work in May to get the garden going.  Well, the garden still hasn't really gotten...
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The best thing about retirement, IMO,  is that each day is different.
I have no fixed schedule, although I do have a few things I do every week, like working out at the gym (2x a week), walking (nearly every day), seeing my father for lunch and my Kiva volunteer work. But my days are so much more flexible now than they were when I worked full time. I love that!
I think the thing I hated the most when I worked was the rigidness of the 9 to 5 regimen, the idea that you were...
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How many times have you spent good money on some appliance for the home, only to have it crap out in a few weeks' time, or simply not perform as advertised?
Well, that's happened plenty of times to me, but recently I've had some very good experiences with upgrades: one in lawn and garden equipment, and the other in the kitchen.
Years ago I bought a Black & Decker weed trimmer from WalMart. It lasted quite a while, but this year I noticed that it didn't have enough power to...
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I'm not very good at this blogging thing.
 
Life is cruising along okay. Since my last post in February, my wife was in the hospital again in March for a flare up of the infection around her spine. She had surgery to remove the hardware put it last year in case that was the source of lingering infection. She then did 9 weeks of IV antibiotics (as well as having a drain in the abscess for 6 weeks) and is now on daily oral antibiotics for at least a year. She has been seen...
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Since my last entry I bought a birthday present for DIL ($63) and have now spent 80% of my variables budget. That's unusual before payday, but payday is a little late this month, coming on the 21st.
My son continues to make slow progress, but he is getting better. There is no hurry for him to get back to work because -- get this -- they have eliminated his position! It has nothing to do with his illness or with his performance in any way. It's a reorg thing. But the timing is...
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I'm free until mid-august so between music in the park, farmers market and a few low cost travels, I'm just going to enjoy the summer. Winter was tough and now it seems that summer is hot. Staying up late to finish homework has switched my days around but I'm hoping to figure out how to wake up early and enjoy the cooler part of the day. 
I'm waiting on one last class but I expect that the final tally of classes will be 5 As and 1 A- which I actually should have received...
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Today I transferred the following out of sinking funds:
Ins & Reg  $1,086.76  -  6 month insurance premium for 5th wheel and Tucson
R & M  $74.41 - oil change for Tucson
eGadgets  $29.85 - new laptop charger
These charges are all on my Citi MC and the time has come to cough up the money.  When these funds hit checking, I will send them off to Citi.
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I haven't blogged for a bit because I really haven't had much to write about. Life is going along and I'm not complaining, but my days seem full and busy. 
I am continuing to work on ways to decrease the church mortgage. I'm not taking credit for all of this, but we have reduced the mortgage by $50,000 in 6 months. Granted, this isn't sustainable due to some large gifts, but it is pretty amazing and we have knocked off quite a few months since this was applied just to the...
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The long and short of my appointment with the cardiologist is that I am going in to the hospital on July 7nth for an angiogram, which may or may not turn into an angioplasty or if things are very, very bad when he gets in there, open heart surgery.  But he thinks it is a blockage he can clear or just put a stent in. 
He was concerned enough to get me on the schedule as fast as he could, making an opening for me where there wasn't one, though, on his own schedule since...
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June 20th makes two years in my current position. I know I've said it a lot, but this promotion was the best thing for me both professionally & personally. And while I worry a lot with my mother's Parkinson's struggles, I don't have the stress at work that I did which makes it easier to shoulder the personal struggles.
It was definitely a situation where I just kept my head down & did the work and I ended up reaping the benefits. In addition to getting to work in a less...
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Thank you all for your kind words about my son and his health crisis. I am happy to report that he is home and recovering well from his second surgery. It will take him some time to get back to normal, but he is young and strong and he will do it.
I bought a plane ticket to go visit him in mid-July. The ticket was $485. I've also spent $50 on a care package, $26 for gas, $12 for cleaning supplies, $4 for paper plates, $24 for groceries, and $6 for laundry. I have spent 72% of...
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On the health front, I am feeling better and have finally been cleared to drive! I still can't lift anything and have to be careful with a lot of bending but I can at least get out of the house. Freedom! I do still tire easily but my doctor told me that it would just take some time to get my full energy back. 
Back in March, I applied for the Homeowners Property Tax Credit offered through my county. This is an income based program. I was informed that this year I will be...
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So I guess I'm sort of becoming one of those points people.  I had to unfortunately cancel our WDW at the end of august but DH said he still wanted to do something.  Why?  Because he wanted to relax and he had been looking forward to something.  So I had to come up with something that seemed fun but not as strenous.
So interestingly I found a us tickets to singapore. I managed to use miles on Alaska to fly to singpore for me and the two kids at 47.5k miles...
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