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What a week!  
Sunday we dropped off DL(17) at his camp job.  It's been 3 nights?  He's hanging in, for now.   
Looking at the rain forecast, I remembered just one more thing about 2013.  That was the year we were entirely rained out at camp!  It didn't stop raining the entire time.  Ugh.  I just looked at the forecast and it's all rainbows and sunshine.  Will see...  It was raining when we dropped DL(17) off and this...
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No idea where to begin...
I don't care much for these "3" years.  2013 was a completely absurd year.  2023 isn't *that* crazy yet.  But it's going to be an expensive year, that is for sure.  
I noticed that MH only drove 500 miles in May.  It was a quiet "not much planned" month, but we were fixing a lot of things on the home front.  I had a very flat tire and DL's car wouldn't start.  (Lucky that we didn't have to call AAA twice last month).  
I...
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Are you a car person? I'm not. Sometimes I'll go to an automakers website & "build a car". I never actually follow through with buying any of those cars. I'm on my third car after 23 years of owning cars. I hope my current car lasts me several more years. If I'm ever tight on money it won't be because I bought more car than I could afford. It will be because I took too many trips!
I have a friend who is really into cars. Even though he's not in the best financial shape he...
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My net worth hit a new milestone (increment of 100k) this week.  What with 2022's down market, it took a couple of years to get there.  In a good market year like 2021, it currently takes just about a year to increase my net worth by 100k.
Debt is currently a bit higher due to Buffy's 3-month battle with cancer.  I reshufffled around some of the debts this weekend and still expect to be able to reach my year-end goal barring (knock on wood) any big surprises.
One...
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I haven’t blogged in months and a couple of big financial things have happened. The exciting one is that I gave notice at work of my retirement, and it’s now 19 days away!
 
The company has a voluntary separation program (VSP) that sends a retiree off with a nice severance. To qualify I had to be 55+ and have the sum of my years of service to the company and my age be at least 72. I also had to provide a minimum of 3 months’ notice, which I did –...
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Just dropped in to see what everyone is doing.
I had a quiet year but a major heart operation three months ago now!  I have been having echo scans,  twice per year for 10 years.  My aorta root was large enough to operate on.  I end up in hospital for 5 weeks over all. most of the time in rehab getting my walking much better than it was.  As I had Private Medical Cover covering medical and hospital I was covered for most of it out pocket about $200. ...
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Appreciating things that are cheap or free in summer lately!
 
Exercise- Hiking, walking, swimming at state parks, gardening, yard work- if it wasn’t just $10/month already at Planet Fitness, I would cancel my gym subscription for the summer and still have tons of free options that are better than being cooped up in a windowless building while it’s nice out.
 
Entertainment- It’s easy to meet friends for a hike or a picnic at the park with their...
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Begin - beginning checking account balance ($0.27 interest paid on 5/31/23)
pr - net payroll check
SB - my contribution towards our joint living expenses
cash - cash for the next 2 weeks
sf - automatic sinking funds transfers scheduled for 6/13/23
Citi MC - the balance this time includes a $250 payment to the endodontist and $52.88 for gas (I had Gilligan with me and wanted to pay at the pump)
CarMax - a payment towards my car loan.  The new balance is $21,434.24.
House...
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I have had a terrible week. My son was sent home from the hospital too early -- sounds to me like the doc was anxious to get started on his vacation -- and he hadn't been properly monitored (IMHO), so a day after he came home he woke up in the night vomiting bile and went back to the hospital in an ambulance. He went back into surgery the same day and part of his colon was removed due to two blockages -- one caused by scar tissue and one section that just wasn't working. He also...
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Thought I'd check in with you on how my new semi-retirement arrangement is working out. As you may remember, I sprung for a single premium immediate annuity  back in March, and I also took Dido's advice to redirect dividends to my checking account instead of reinvesting as I've always done. And then I'm still writing 2 stories a month for the university.
These 3 things produce the following monthly income, net of taxes:
Annuity: $933
Dividends: $708 (from 3 funds)
Job:...
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So you may or may not have noticed that I haven't posted for a month and there is a reason for that.  I've had a series of tests on my lungs by pulmonary, and the breathing test showed that I couldn't blow out as hard the second blow as the first blow and then we waited and the same thing happened.  There were other test with the breathing and they weren't that great, but the damage wasn't really to the lungs, despite the shortness of breath that had been a near constant...
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Just thought I'd give an update on how my other funds are doing, too.  Some of them are funds that are much shorter term, some of them are long term, and some of them are very long term and won't be included like the medical fund or the garden fund, because those are rolling funds, money in and out constantly, at least at this time of year with the garden fund and always with the medical fund.
$2500 Bulk Meat Fund  This is earmarked for our steer which is due to be butchered...
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I updated my sidebar.  There has been some serious progress made in DH's 401K since the last time I upated retirement and of course that has propelled net worth forward a great deal.  DH has been working 80 hour weeks since the last week of April, so that has doubled his contributions and it has doubled the amount that his work has put in as well.  So 3/4 of the rise is due to contributions.
The rate of return for the year isn't great compared to any time in his...
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Well it was a wrong prefix on the phone number changed the 3 to a 2 and it was fine, the woman was so rude and beligerent to me for no reason I guess she doesn't like mondays...but was able to get a 90 day hold while they do the amendment...but pretty much what they are charging us is late fees so not sure how we will get that done...I am still trying to find out what happened to the taxes last year and where they ended up...I was trying to see if they have fallen into the wrong...
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Yesterday the markets went wild on the news of the debt ceiling deal, but too late to improve my May numbers which show a loss from April. Again, this does not including my checking account cash which hovers around $15k or my car value.
Investments $1,230,403
Cash (not including checking) $27,157
Total $1,257,560
Loss $6,985
Additional contributions in April $3,250
Got two notices that my rent will rise by $20 on July due to increases in water collections from two elections....
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Yesterday's spending: $25 for toilet paper at Sam's, and $2 for laundry. Variables are at 11%.
I forgot to report that last month's variables spending was only 54% of the allotted amount. A very good month.
My son in Oregon is in the hospital after an emergency appendectomy. Unfortunately, the appendix burst, so he is in a lot of pain and in danger of infection. I am very stressed about that. I am also stressed because I have several spots that the Urgent Care doctor wants me...
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I finally got a hold of the IRS as we had to do an amendment, we paid what they said we owed (once we figured it out properly) which was lower than what they said (before the amendment was put in), they said they have the amendment but haven't done it yet and that our outstanding balance has been given to collections, but to call them and as them to wait on everything until the amendment has been done...they gave me a number 367 941 1004...I call but it says it is a erong number...I...
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So I haven't posted in two months I realized looking. I also haven't been online much.  April was busy and I ended the month visiting my parents for the first weekend of May.  I got back on the 8th and then everything in the month went off the rails.
My DH got into a scooter accident which they called a motorcycle accident.  I was calling him around 6 pm one night to confirm he was picking up our second child.  Some random person answered (note if you keep...
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Well it's been another eventful month! I got laid off at the beginning of the month from the company where I've worked for 17 years. I guess they're shrinking the marketing arm even more because the profits aren't there.
The good news is I got a decent severance agreement. I got 3 more weeks of work (my last day will be this Friday), 12 weeks' severance pay after that, and health insurance through June. (After that it's COBRA or Obamacare for me, NT and the kids, so I know that...
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Housing - $769
Utilities - $171 (low because gas bill did not hit this month, due to holiday)
Groceries - $100
Fees/Services - $40 (replenishment of tollway pass)
Vacation/Travel - $36 (short trip to brother's house)
Medical/Health - $33 (premium and band aids)
Eating Out/Takeout - $30
Gas - $28
Furnishings/Equipment/Decor - $24 (avocado keeper, mini-cooler)
Entertainment - $23 (streaming)
Laundry - $20
Household Supplies - $16 (dishwasher detergent)
Home Repair/Maintenance...
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