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The phone battery cost more than I expected -- I don't think I was really listening when the price was quoted. Anyway, after the deposit was deducted and tax was added it was $65. When I went to pick it up, I pulled up in front of the shop and reached for my phone to pay for parking -- of course, it was in the shop. Duh. I could have paid the old-fashioned manual way, which I figured would take more time than I would spend in the shop, so I took a chance and skipped it. When I...
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This past weekend I went to play BINGO with my mom and my sister. Truth be told, my sister and I are not on very good terms right now (families are complicated!) and I didn’t really want to go. However, I was invited as a sort of olive branch, so I went. I didn’t know about this at the beginning of the month, so I didn’t budget for it, but I keep a little purse that we throw “extra” money into once in a while so I took $75 out of that to go play BINGO....
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The weekend always seems to slip away so quickly; I blinked, and it was already Sunday night.
This weekend was rather packed. I had to travel an hour away for a funeral on Saturday, so I ended up spending most of my day away from home. 
On Sunday, I enjoyed a  half-day of sleep, I guess I was exhausted from the day before. I dedicated some time to inputting receipts into my financial tracking software, prepared a few meals to last the coming days, and finally got my...
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I have long resisted Costco membership as a single person, but recently decided to give it a try because I big entertaining event and they have some of the best large-group options for bakery items, cakes, vegetable trays, etc. The cost is $60/year up front, so I decided to track my use to see if the savings differences are worth it for a single person. For reference, I will also count any money saved that goes to family members or friends who might come along, because extra money...
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We put an offer on a property, it's about an hour away and not where we expected to think about living but the cost of housing there is so much lower. Like $80k less than something here, after closing and moving expenses maybe we will have somewhere between $40-50 leftover which we can consider for a campervan.  My adult child lives there with their spouse and it is a larger town (we need diversity, culture and etc) so I think we can be happy there. I know there are other...
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I had quite a bit of money left in my grocery envelope and since today is the day I refill it, I took out what was in there and redistributed it amongst all my other envelopes.  These are all for non-essentials or slow-burner essentials.  As in, fishing expenses is not a heavily essential envelope right now, but will be in the spring, since it is something we use to feed the family with.  It doesn't get a line item on the budget, but bits and bobs can go in there...
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I have 18 days left until my next student loan payment. With daily interest at $5.85, that adds up to $105.30 in total interest. To bring my balance below $31k, I'll need to make a payment of at least $300. It's a bit challenging but definitely achievable.
I've already adjusted my budget, so I should be on track. Fingers crossed for a successful outcome!
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Today was payday, and here's how it all unfolded:
I managed to save $1,147.50, which accounts for approximately 41% of my take-home income. It's worth noting that roughly half of this amount is earmarked for future expenses through sinking funds, but I'm still quite content.
Another chunk of $516.13 was allocated towards debt repayment, accounting for about 19% of my take-home pay.
I also set aside $490 for my everyday spending fund, which I manage using cash envelopes. This...
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A couple of updates -- I made a math error and it turns out I have only spent 83% of my variables. That is more comfortable. And it includes a modest grocery bill of $18 that wasn't in there before.
It also includes a $20 deposit to the cell phone repair business. They have ordered a new battery for me, which will be about $75, but the $20 will be deducted from that. I am hopeful it will come in tomorrow, but that would be the earliest possible date. I am a bit worried because...
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Well it was payday today and we paid $1000 off of our CC...so we are 1/5 of paying it off...will hopefully pay another 500-1000 off on the next payday...fingers crossed!!
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It's that time of the week – payday Friday! And guess what? I was so pumped to have the funds I budgeted for this week's student loan payment, that I couldn't resist paying it early. No more agonizing weekend waits for the funds to post! 💰💃
 
Drumroll, please... According to my calculations, my new balance on Friday should stand at $31,148.22 for the principal, $17.70 in interest, totaling a jaw-dropping $31,165.92. 🎉 It's all part of my plan to achieve my...
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I was thinking about all of the advice or topics I've read, or learned on this forum and blogs. These are in no particular order of importance, because different ones will be most, or more important to everyone.
1. Make a budget, and stick to it
2. Live at, or below your means
3. Track your spending, know where every penny goes
4. Distinguish between a want and a need
5. Save, save, save. Establish an emergency fund and don't touch it for anything other then a true emergency.
6....
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I dawdled over my entry too long, and forgot to copy it, so it's lost. So now it's the short version.....
I have spent 90% of my variables, which is basically my spending allowance for the month. It's been a crazy beginning to the month. I won't go into all the details again, but I was involved in helping friends with a death in the family, and a lot of fallout from it. I wasn't home very much and that led to unusual spending patterns.
Things are back to normal again. The good...
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Fingers crossed, but I think I am out of the medical loop.  It's all been 'abundance of caution' that has never turned out to be anything.  But I had my first mammogram (ever) that was all clear the first round.  Phew!   I am shocked.  I was sure I'd have to go back this week.  Because I always do.
It was crazy for a while in 2018-2019 with all the medical appointments.  It has definitely been a step down from that.  But it's nice to...
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Well we only have 78 days till christmas🤫
This year has gone by so fast...I have about 2/3 of my christmas shopping done (just need to wrap it) and today I wil finish up my list of what we need to get or want to get and continue looking at sales to finish it off...as the kids are older they pretty much buy what they want...so they get 1 thing under the tree and money to buy what they want on after christmas sales...this year I found a great money one for them so will be fun...
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We on thursday it is payday...so excited...we don't have any bills to pay as they are all paid so going to beable to put $1000 on the CC...that is what I was hoping to do and that is what I can do...so going to...that will leave us about $200 in our personal account (we have multiple accounts) but this is our everyday account...and if we don't use it by end of month then will transfer it to the CC...so glad to finally be back on track...have a long way to go when it comes to our...
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In the world of personal finance, making decisions about where to allocate your money can be a bit of a puzzle. One might argue that I should have applied this extra cash towards my student loans, but there's something about paying extra on my mortgage that I just can't resist. I've been doing it consistently for over a year now, and today was no exception.
 
Earlier today, I made an additional payment of $60.35 towards the principal of my mortgage. It might seem...
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When I posted my credit card balance a few people in the comments gave some really good ideas and tips for us to help us get out of debt faster. One of them was to open new credit cards with 0% interest offers and do balance transfers. And yes, while to do that the math makes sense, the reality is I don’t trust myself not to fall back into bad habits.
We are working hard to get out of debt right now and I think we are making decent progress and making better and wiser financial...
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Checked my student loan balance and today it’s $31,381.61, of that interest is $23.61, on average the daily interest is about $5.90 a day. By Friday next week, the interest accumulated would be about $76.70, smh. I’m thankful that I can make payments, about $600 a month, but I tell you this sucks. Goal is to have this loan paid off by the end of next year. 
 
Changing gears, this was supposed to be a no spend month and it’s costing me. 
 
A...
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I made it to Fred Meyer and they ended up having some sales that were not on their advertising so I got more than I had planned on.  I also took advantage of being there to get some other things that came out of the household and the clothing envelopes.  But this is for groceries and I spent $92.48 on that.  This is what I got:
1 Mega Boxes Cheerios
1 quart of McClures Garlic Dill Pickles
4 quarts of low sodium Miracle Whip
1 Simply Orange orange juice
1 Naked...
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