All Entries

Obviously we have all been watching the news about trump wanting to take green land and what may happen if he tries, I mean the implications of going against another NATO country is insane. many are saying that others will call in the US debt which will bankrupt the country...I don't know a lot about it but it seems to be all over the internet. I am just curious how you all feel about that? I know many of you have saved for your lifetime and some have just started saving for retirement...
[ Read More ]

Here it is, January, the first month of the year is already half over. Did you make any resolutions? I did not because in the past I have not kept up with them. I do have a few goals, but I don't think they are resolutions.
One of the goals is to try and cut grocery costs and use as much as we have. As I've aged, I don't eat quite as much as I used to. Which I guess is good. So, there is less waste. I try to cook once and we eat twice. And sometimes our meals are little creative,...
[ Read More ]

As everyone in the US knows, you are eligible for Medicare at age 65.
The Medicare system is *extremely* confusing, and there is not just one "Part" to Medicare--there are actually four parts, A, B, C, and D, and you end up having three of the four, eventually.  Either A, B, and C (Medicare Advantage), or A, B, and D (traditional Medicare). Traditional Medicare covers only 80% of expenses, so it is highly suggested that if you go the traditional Medicare route, you also...
[ Read More ]

This is just a journal entry about how I get things for so little cost in my life.  It's not about buying at yard sales / craigslist / etc... but instead in actual stores.  And its not about finding sales, using phone apps, or coupons either.  Sorry that this is long, and probably boring to most, but I thought it might be an ok post for some.     And with that....
===============================================================
When I was a young...
[ Read More ]

I started blogging 2014 but was on SA since 2006, so this my 20 year anniversary.  WOAH.  When I started I was newly married, student loans a boat load, i think we had over $100k, and no kids.  I'm said to myself when we have kids we're going to pay for 4 years of university at a public school in state.  Things change and it depends on the kid now.  So parents don't beat yourself up.  I am the the classic example of parent with curveballs!  In...
[ Read More ]

This year will also be the first year I embark on my journey towards eventually converting all my traditional IRA money into my Roth IRA.
My plan is to convert $10k chunks every year, and when I file my taxes this year, I basically pay $1k in taxes, right?  I am no longer working, and paid no taxes on last year's tax return.
Likewise, the process seems very easy.  I made the money transfer on my phone app while lying in bed.  In fact, the whole thing seems TOO...
[ Read More ]

I did a 2026 tax projection and so was able to finalize my net pay and 2026 goals.
My entire raise will go to taxes and healthcare.  😒 I had wanted to eke out some extra money from bigger raise, to cover expected tax increases in near future.  I couldn't cover any of that, so I made a note in my budget spreadsheet.  I need to come up with an extra $400/month (taxes) at some point in the near future.  The obvious solution is to just move it over from the...
[ Read More ]

The year has ended. Well, technically it ended 10 days ago.  Health insurance ended up being 22% of annual expenditures for 2025, medical expenses were 14%, and taxes (property and IRS) another 14%. Altogether this was 50% of annual expenditures. It's a little disheartening. 
Our health insurance premiums increased by $286.76 per month for the two of us for 2026. Lots of Ideas and Rob have suggested that I check in with an insurance broker, so that's on my list. Late...
[ Read More ]

MM(22) Nov 2025 'Gifted College Fund': $9,115 (+$5K ROTH)
MM(22) Dec 2025 'Gifted College Fund': $7,900 (+$5K ROTH)
Rent is paid through 1/31.
Nothing much to report.  Will pay MM's final tuition payment in February.
& I have some extra cash set aside to cover MM's last month or so of rent in college town.  Didn't have much of a plan before, but I officially told MM(22) not to worry about it.   I just did some rough math and it's still crazy how...
[ Read More ]

O.M.G.
Disaster company sale did not go through last Friday.  😭  I just couldn't even with that.
Of course the final chapter of disaster company was a total disaster.
The buyers planned to pay cash.  But they don't understand how money works?  I was fed juicy tidbits from multiple people along the way.  The whole thing is just bonkers.
I was still optimistic we could make this work.  I think in most cases this would be a major red flag or just...
[ Read More ]

I'm very excited about this.  I had heard rumors a few months ago about a gym being constructed on the fifth (top) floor of the building where I work, but I had heard it in the context of another firm's paying for their employees to have access.
Then this week, we received notice that the gym is open to anyone who works in the building, in exchange, for now, for a $100 access payment.  They note that they may apply monthly charges eventually, but for now, it's a one-time...
[ Read More ]

If you want to know how my week went, you just need to know I live in south Minneapolis. I was actually being an observer when I got an alert on my phone that another observer had been shot about 10 minutes drive from where I was parked keeping an eye on a suspicious vehicle idling. I rushed to that scene probably minutes after Renee Good was taken away. Ever since then everything has ramped up. Schools were closed the rest of the week after Border Patrol invaded a high school...
[ Read More ]

I have not written a blog post in nearly two years.  We have been so busy and once I quit my job, I wasn't on a computer very much any more so blogging was the first thing to go... but I have missed it and I have missed reading other people's blogs and stories so I'm back.
I didn't work for the first year and 3 months that we lived in TN and just started working this past September, but in a very different field than teaching. I started doing payroll for my brother's company....
[ Read More ]

I don’t really know how to start this, so I’m just going to write.
It’s January, it’s cold in Alaska, and today I finally admitted to myself that I can’t keep doing this anymore. I’ve carried my financial mess quietly for years, not because I’m embarrassed, but because talking about money feels like handing someone my diary. It’s personal. It’s vulnerable. It says more about me than I sometimes want to admit.
But I’m...
[ Read More ]

As a part of my 2026 goal of rebalancing my portfolio to something more sane, I just sold my Merck (MRK) stock today.  My gains here are more than six figures so I am clearly not complaining.
However, and this subject came up as I was on my Jollibee road trip with this buddy of mine, where I said if I am being completely honest, I don't know which Dumb and Dumber character I was channeling when I bought MRK, because I clearly had no idea what I was recklessly buying into....
[ Read More ]

So in my posts I've definitely talked about flipping a switch or turning the page this year financially.  What that meant is I stopped worrying about the future and our savings and our finances.  I don't mean I am spending wildly but I just stopped tracking our spending and I stopped worrying about the savings rate.  I knew mentally in 2021 that we had sort of hit coast fire where we could just not save and be fine.  But mentally flipping that switch is really...
[ Read More ]

I've been tracking heating oil prices for a while now and I think I made the right decision buying on Dec. 22 at $2.85 a gallon. After that, prices rose to a high of $3.12 a gallon on Jan. 2, but have since been dropping with the warm weather we're enjoying this week.  Today's price is $3.01.
I used to call around to different suppliers, but have found a site that lists daily prices of many different heating oil suppliers, so it's much easier to use that site, and they consistently...
[ Read More ]

Yay, with aggressive extra payments, the balance on my car loan is now down to about $6,000. I see the light at the end of the tunnel and plan to have it all paid off this year. I financed about $20K exactly one year ago.  
Yay, FedEx finally picked up my recalled EcoFlow for a software update.
Yay, did some pruning today with the winter thaw, cutting down a Japanese maple and some big branches of a large viburnum, but only half done with the Japanese maple; need to...
[ Read More ]

Ok, this isn't exactly financial.  Just warning you upfront, so you can skip it if you want.
For anyone else still reading, remember I blogged earlier about how I had buddies that wanted to take road trips, but none of that ever really panned out?  Yeah, real life happens, and I get that they're busy, so it's not like I am holding them to the fire over this or anything.
Well much to the surprise of even yours truly, one of them actually happened yesterday! This buddy...
[ Read More ]

For 13 years, I’ve been paying on my student loans—13 long years.
What started as a $33,000–$35,000 loan turned into nearly $90,000, because my income couldn’t keep up with the payment plan.
Some people will say, “Don’t take on debt.” I hear that. But here’s my story.
At the time, I was making $36,000 a year. I was debt-free. Then I lost my job. I went back to school because employers wanted higher education. Since I wasn’t...
[ Read More ]