All Entries

Of course, it always happens at the worst possible time: a Friday night going into a long holiday weekend. My heating oil tank is leaking and needs to be replaced.
Maybe 2 days ago I noticed a funny chemical smell when I opened the garage door. Couldn't say exactly what it was. I thought maybe it was an herbicide that spilled? Nope. Only later did it occur to me it could be the rusty heating oil tank situated at the back of my garage (which I had WANTED to replace like 10 years...
[ Read More ]

This was an ugly month. My income was down due to earning next to nothing from Swagbucks and My Points. I just didn't have the energy earlier in the month. Since I am feeling better I'll be focusing back on this again for July. I decreased my monthly withdrawl from my retirement account to $1000 a month (down from $1200). I need to stretch this account out for as long as possible. I will be using my tax refund money to make up any difference every month between my income and expenses....
[ Read More ]

Exactly mid-year is always a time of big expenses for me.
- Homeowners insurance- Car insurance- Half of my annual property taxesAnd I filled up the oil tank for the coming winter season a bit earlier than usual since I read that Saudi Arabia is cutting production effective July 1. I didn't want to wait and see if prices spiked. As it is, they are lower than this time last year by a significant margin.
Even though I got 3 paychecks this month instead of the usual 2, I only managed...
[ Read More ]

It's the last day of June, and no spending today -- so time for my recap!
Housing - $769
Vacation/Travel - $456 (airline ticket)
Fees/Services - $212 (BestBuy service plan)
Utilities - $197
Gifts/Charity - $195 (two birthdays and care package)
Eating Out/Takeout - $49
Groceries - $47 (skipped two weeks, one because I was babysitting, one because smoke kept me housebound)
Household Supplies - $41
Phone - $38
Entertainment - $31
Gas - $26
Medical/Health - $26
Laundry...
[ Read More ]

Debts
Mortgage −$114,374.21 (-$244.52)Land Loan -$9,772.45 (-$151.32)Hospital Bill - $891.41 (-$75)
Savings
Roth IRAs +$27,034 (+$915)401K +$52237 (+$2,025)Emergency Fund +$6,991 (+$27)Animal Fund +$1,364 (+$154)Car Fund +$20 (-$0)HSA +$99 (-$2)
Overall: +$3,569.84
Our overall went up a lot which is quite surprising to me since I feel flat broke.
We went on a two week vacation and went $500 over our budget, which honestly isn't too bad because we had some unexpected...
[ Read More ]

Lots going on in the ceejay household! As reported last month, I was laid off from my longtime job and my last day was June 2. I was the last person in my household with a full-time job; AS left hers about 10 months ago and NT was laid off during lockdown.
AS has been doing freelance work and talking to someone about a possible job opportunity; that will start in September as a 3-month contract, and if it works out it could become a full-time gig. NT has a half-time job and manages...
[ Read More ]

My last day!
 
It’s also payday and I see two deposits in my account. The first one is a regular paycheck. I suspect that the second is a payment for my remaining vacation time.
 
I should hear from HR later today on the paperwork for my severance pay. I know that I won’t receive it for at least a week after I sign the paperwork. I think it’s related to a state law that allows backing out of a contract within a week of executing it.

[ Read More ]

Well on the 1st our electricity and gas prices increase...some are going up heaps but ours is only going up 19%...which is around $1000 extra year (give or take how much we use in summer etc) so will have to budget for that...everything has been going up.
Went to see my ent specialist yesterday..took 3 months and I have some sort of ear issue that keeps my ears damp (on the inside) and it creates a rash almost like excema  that makes my ears crazy itchy...so have  cream...
[ Read More ]

I calculated my expenditures while babysitting wrong. For some reason I saw $17 on the Subway receipt instead of $7. I didn't realize it until DIL reimbursed me correctly. So, anyway, I have wiped out those expenditures from my spreadsheet and my variables are now 88%.
I was planning on grocery shopping yesterday, but the air quality was too unhealthy to go out. Then I was planning on today, but there hasn't been much change. Now I'm so close to the end of the month, I may just...
[ Read More ]

Two more working days! And I'm an hour into one of them.
 
I’ve installed (with help from DS5) my retirement gift from the company – a Sonos home speaker system. As a manager, I knew that the company provided funds for the manager of the retiring colleague to purchase a gift and I knew the budget for mine. I’ve purchased the gifts for four retirees myself when I was the manager. I usually asked the retiring colleague for their preferences. I guess that...
[ Read More ]

I have been thinking the last few weeks that I haven't seen any turkeys lately.  I presume that everything is thrown off by the weird weather.  Last year there were three teenager turkeys hanging out during hot summer months.  But it hasn't been hot yet, and maybe they are waiting for things to warm up.  Then this week, there was a baby hanging out by my window at work.  I don't know if it's good or bad.  I've not seen the babies this close before. ...
[ Read More ]

The number of working days left – three!
 
I’ve sent my ‘so long’ e-mail to colleagues that I’ve worked closely with over the years and I’m glad I did that. I’ve received many well wishes and compliments. The company’s gotten large, so often in the past I’d find out someone was gone after reaching out to them for information.
 
I’ve completed the COBRA paperwork. The company will pay for the first three months...
[ Read More ]

I'm not sure if I have mentioned this before but I have a good bit of extended family in this area.  One of my mother's sisters and her husband raised their family in the next little town over.  They had 4 daughters, 3 of whom have spent their lives and raised their families here.  Unfortunately, there is a great deal of substance abuse in the lives of many of these relatives.  I am fond of them and friendly with them, but I am not close with them and do not...
[ Read More ]

I just got home from spending a long weekend "babysitting" my teenage grandsons, while my son and his wife traveled out west. Everything went well, but I got pretty tired. I'm getting too old for this! I spent quite a bit, some of which may be reimbursed, but I'm not going to stress about it. I spent $64 on eating out & takeout and $13 on groceries. Well, I guess that wasn't so much after all.
I did not meet BFF for lunch as I had planned. Her car wouldn't start, so the meetup...
[ Read More ]

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...
[ Read More ]

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...
[ Read More ]

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...
[ Read More ]

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...
[ Read More ]

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...
[ Read More ]

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...
[ Read More ]