All Entries

One of my goals for 2023 was to knock out 1/3 of my student loans. I am way benhind on this goal, I've paid just over $2,000. This really ticks me off. I've had so many expenses come up, I can only think that had I not had these this thing would be gone. 
Nothing like crunching the numbers for a reality check. Starting September I'll throw about $1000 a month to it, that's about $4,000 by the end of year. I'm estimating that it will take me two years to pay this thing off. 
Fingers...
[ Read More ]

I'm not saying I'm perfect, Lord knows when it came to finances I made some mistakes; however I'm taking those mistakes and learning from it. 
I was chatting with my ex, thank God he no longer lives with me, and he was telling me how hard he was hustling to come up with $700 to fix a roof. $700!
 I don't know why but I felt so bad for him. All I can think was that you are 51 years old, in a job that is high risk that can cause you to stop working in a split  second...
[ Read More ]

I was pre-approved for a mortgage loan. I set the purchase rate at $350k - the absolute most I want to spend - with a 20% down payment. The goal is to pay at least $100k down. My mom has offered to give me $100k, but I think it's best that I not take the money. I would rather her keep her money to make life easier for her & my dad.
I'm looking at home purchase about a year from now when my current lease ends, but at least I know what I have qualified for while I'm searching....
[ Read More ]

I can claim an all time investment high this month.
TSP $985,217
IRA $292,627
brokerage $86,464
Investments $1,364,308
Savings $28,372
Total $1,392,680
That is $52,044 in investment gains & $52,655 gains over last month. Maybe August will be the month I see one milllion in my TSP? I'm also not far off from $300k in my IRA. I will hopefully see that sometime next year, if not this year.
In other news, I applied for a pre-approved mortgage loan so my credit score took...
[ Read More ]

I’m still crunching the numbers but I can say dining out was my second largest expense for July, first was home repairs. 
I’ve committed to eating out less this month. With the exception of visiting a friend who was diagnosed with an illness, and a planned vacation the end of the month, I do not plan on eating out. I’ll post the numbers early next week. 
 
I’ve screwed up badly, I have no idea where my mind is. First I write a check for...
[ Read More ]

Hi all. I am back. It has been almost 2 years. I quit work at my high stress job 6/16. I was in severe burnout when I quit. I just took 4 weeks to visit my Ma and national parks.. from Sequoia to Seguaro to Yellowstone/Grand Tetons and all  the ones on the way out and back from Chicago area... also Smokey Mountains. I am getting my national park passport book filled up.  I just got back from my trip last week so settling in and figuring out what I want to do. Health coaching...
[ Read More ]

I’m slowly but surely getting my feet wet with investing. I’ve opened an IRA, not much, however, I contribute monthly so that I have funds to invest with. 
 
I only purchase stocks of those organizations that I’m loyal to, some pay dividends some don’t.  I can honestly say, that they’re (stocks) doing pretty good, even in these times. I am happy because I  feel like I made some good choices. I still have a lot to learn...
[ Read More ]

Student loan payment kicks back up in October. I wish I was in a position to be much more aggressive with paying things off but hey, I got this thing down to just over $32,0000 when I was close to 90k, so I’m happy with that. I’ve been throwing extra when ever I can, sometimes the amount is as little as $8, by doing this for the month of July I paid $584 towards my student loans. 
 
 
My fence is falling apart so I had to get a replacement, HOA requires...
[ Read More ]

So how good of a deal did I get?  Well last week I managed to book me and the two kids round trip tickets to hawaii for $655 total for 3 people.  That works out to $218 per person round trip.
Alaska airlines was having a 2 day sale for BOGO to and from Kona.  So the price of our one way ticket was $103 per person.  That is $309 for all three of us returning from Kona.  Then going the same thing happened except it was $347 for 3 of us or $115 per person. ...
[ Read More ]

I spent just a pinch over my $125 grocery budget. An overall very low spend month.
 
Income Total: $1158.76


      $1000 Recurring monthly retirement account distribution  


      $100 Swagbucks and My Points earnings (cash out to PayPal)
      $58.76 Income tax refund money


       


Total Spending: $1158.76


 Fixed...
[ Read More ]

What a month this was. Not only did I have the vacation in Oregon, but I just got back from a long weekend at my brother's house. I went up to attend a memorial service for my sister's ex-husband. In addition to that, we did some eating out, and of course there was gas to buy. 
And then there was the semi-annual auto insurance payment.
Here is how it all broke down:
Insurance - $1180
Housing - $769
Vacation/Travel - $631
Utilities - $201
Fees/Services - $190 (Traffic...
[ Read More ]

It was a month of gains in the retirement accounts even though we didn't manage to contribute anything to them. Between stock market gains and mortgage paydown our net worth went up over $25K!
In terms of CoastFIRE, it's hard to do a calculation since most of our income is now freelance and I'm not sure when or how much I'll be able to contribute. My freelance business is slowly building at this point so I'm not at a point where I have anything left over after bills, but I hope...
[ Read More ]

I hate winter it has been so cold, wet, windy and dreary almost everyday for 3 months..we occassionally see the sun peek through the clouds...but not often...so everyone has been feeling a bit down that we can't get out more into nature, beach etc....but we have had some unexpected things happen...first 2 things happened to our car that we have never had happen before...the seatbelt latch broke in the car so you couldn't do the seatbelt up...so one was ordered..we got it fixed...it...
[ Read More ]

My refrigerator chose to die on the hottest day of the year.
Actually, it IS repairable, but would cost more than a thousand to repair, so I was advised to go shopping instead.
And I can't really complain--the machine is 29 years old!  (The previous homeowner left me all the manuals for appliances and things she'd purchased that stayed with the house.)
In the meantime, it's actually not 100% dead yet, just dying, and a purchase of two big bags of ice from the convenience...
[ Read More ]

So one thing I have been thinking of A LOT lately is how much I have in available funds.  I currently have 18k in savings and 41.6k available in my Roth.  I anticipate netting 22k or so from selling the truck, which will be a quick sale.  Also I hope at least 20k from selling the 5th wheel, but that may take longer to accomplish. More on that below.  And then of course as soon as I am separated from my employer, I will have access to the 25k in my 457 plan,...
[ Read More ]

Received $120 bank interest 
Received $262 I Bond interest 
 
Snowflakes to Investments:
--Redeemed $34 credit card rewards (cash back) from our grocery card 
--Redeemed $71 cash back on Citi card
--Redeemed $9 cash back on dining out/gas card (used for groceries this month)
 
Other Snowflakes to Investments:
+ $5 Savings from Target Red Card (grocery purchases)
+ $38 investment dividends
 
TOTAL: $157 Snowflakes to Investments
 
401k...
[ Read More ]

My grandmother has been gone almost 40 years. Like most dysfunctional families, my mom and my grandmother were on the outs and I didn't really get to see her very much. I feel like I was robbed of the one lone grandparent who was alive when I was younger.
I'm not really sure how I inherited my grandmother's rolling pin and recipe box, but I did. A few years ago I tried using the rolling pin and found it was larger than I anticipated and found it unweidly. But I put it away because...
[ Read More ]

Just as I type, the strong rain has begun after building for some time. After that passes, we'll have truly "seasonal" weather conditions in the low 80s and low humidity, which I'm really looking forward to. Need to catch up on the yard work and pull as much mile-a-minute vine as I can before it starts to flower, form berries and then multiply some more.
I have not been active with genealogy work for several years now, only because Ancestry subscriptions are not cheap and I feel...
[ Read More ]

July is shaping up to be an expensive month, but I am enjoying myself. I had my trip to NYC earlier this month, I attended an Alicia Keys concert this Sunday, and I just booked a trip for October to Napa Valley & Lake Tahoe yesterday. I'm really looking forward to it. 
Since the laboratory where I PRN at may be bought out by the end of the year, I may not have a second job beyond December. That is fine by me. I will have more time to visit home. I have started to look...
[ Read More ]

The home inspection showed a lot of issues.  I expected that there would be some, so it was not surprising to see the long list.  Some of them were no big deal, but a couple of them were deal-breakers.  For example, there is an old water leak in the bathroom.  Water is going into the subfloor and has been for some time, but no repairs have been made. Water is going into the wall around one of the AC units because there is no barrier, even though there should...
[ Read More ]