All Entries

Our new net worth is $207,517.35.  This is a combination of factors, but since it involves the new ESOP contribution, I can't get specific about numbers.  I am excited that we turned the next big numer on the old odometer, if money were miles, on the trip to becoming a millionaire.  $200K is a big one.
[ Read More ]

DH has been working between 80 and 90 hours a week since April 23.  Unless I have to slow him down when he starts getting hollow eyed.  Or when he got sick a couple weeks ago and he took 1 day off.  I won't let him work through the weekends, since the only reason I agreed to this was that he helped me in the garden on the weekends, since he was supposed to take two weeks off of work in May to get the garden going.  Well, the garden still hasn't really gotten...
[ Read More ]

The best thing about retirement, IMO,  is that each day is different.
I have no fixed schedule, although I do have a few things I do every week, like working out at the gym (2x a week), walking (nearly every day), seeing my father for lunch and my Kiva volunteer work. But my days are so much more flexible now than they were when I worked full time. I love that!
I think the thing I hated the most when I worked was the rigidness of the 9 to 5 regimen, the idea that you were...
[ Read More ]

How many times have you spent good money on some appliance for the home, only to have it crap out in a few weeks' time, or simply not perform as advertised?
Well, that's happened plenty of times to me, but recently I've had some very good experiences with upgrades: one in lawn and garden equipment, and the other in the kitchen.
Years ago I bought a Black & Decker weed trimmer from WalMart. It lasted quite a while, but this year I noticed that it didn't have enough power to...
[ Read More ]

I'm not very good at this blogging thing.
 
Life is cruising along okay. Since my last post in February, my wife was in the hospital again in March for a flare up of the infection around her spine. She had surgery to remove the hardware put it last year in case that was the source of lingering infection. She then did 9 weeks of IV antibiotics (as well as having a drain in the abscess for 6 weeks) and is now on daily oral antibiotics for at least a year. She has been seen...
[ Read More ]

Since my last entry I bought a birthday present for DIL ($63) and have now spent 80% of my variables budget. That's unusual before payday, but payday is a little late this month, coming on the 21st.
My son continues to make slow progress, but he is getting better. There is no hurry for him to get back to work because -- get this -- they have eliminated his position! It has nothing to do with his illness or with his performance in any way. It's a reorg thing. But the timing is...
[ Read More ]

I'm free until mid-august so between music in the park, farmers market and a few low cost travels, I'm just going to enjoy the summer. Winter was tough and now it seems that summer is hot. Staying up late to finish homework has switched my days around but I'm hoping to figure out how to wake up early and enjoy the cooler part of the day. 
I'm waiting on one last class but I expect that the final tally of classes will be 5 As and 1 A- which I actually should have received...
[ Read More ]

Today I transferred the following out of sinking funds:
Ins & Reg  $1,086.76  -  6 month insurance premium for 5th wheel and Tucson
R & M  $74.41 - oil change for Tucson
eGadgets  $29.85 - new laptop charger
These charges are all on my Citi MC and the time has come to cough up the money.  When these funds hit checking, I will send them off to Citi.
[ Read More ]

I haven't blogged for a bit because I really haven't had much to write about. Life is going along and I'm not complaining, but my days seem full and busy. 
I am continuing to work on ways to decrease the church mortgage. I'm not taking credit for all of this, but we have reduced the mortgage by $50,000 in 6 months. Granted, this isn't sustainable due to some large gifts, but it is pretty amazing and we have knocked off quite a few months since this was applied just to the...
[ Read More ]

The long and short of my appointment with the cardiologist is that I am going in to the hospital on July 7nth for an angiogram, which may or may not turn into an angioplasty or if things are very, very bad when he gets in there, open heart surgery.  But he thinks it is a blockage he can clear or just put a stent in. 
He was concerned enough to get me on the schedule as fast as he could, making an opening for me where there wasn't one, though, on his own schedule since...
[ Read More ]

June 20th makes two years in my current position. I know I've said it a lot, but this promotion was the best thing for me both professionally & personally. And while I worry a lot with my mother's Parkinson's struggles, I don't have the stress at work that I did which makes it easier to shoulder the personal struggles.
It was definitely a situation where I just kept my head down & did the work and I ended up reaping the benefits. In addition to getting to work in a less...
[ Read More ]

Thank you all for your kind words about my son and his health crisis. I am happy to report that he is home and recovering well from his second surgery. It will take him some time to get back to normal, but he is young and strong and he will do it.
I bought a plane ticket to go visit him in mid-July. The ticket was $485. I've also spent $50 on a care package, $26 for gas, $12 for cleaning supplies, $4 for paper plates, $24 for groceries, and $6 for laundry. I have spent 72% of...
[ Read More ]

On the health front, I am feeling better and have finally been cleared to drive! I still can't lift anything and have to be careful with a lot of bending but I can at least get out of the house. Freedom! I do still tire easily but my doctor told me that it would just take some time to get my full energy back. 
Back in March, I applied for the Homeowners Property Tax Credit offered through my county. This is an income based program. I was informed that this year I will be...
[ Read More ]

So I guess I'm sort of becoming one of those points people.  I had to unfortunately cancel our WDW at the end of august but DH said he still wanted to do something.  Why?  Because he wanted to relax and he had been looking forward to something.  So I had to come up with something that seemed fun but not as strenous.
So interestingly I found a us tickets to singapore. I managed to use miles on Alaska to fly to singpore for me and the two kids at 47.5k miles...
[ Read More ]

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...
[ Read More ]

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...
[ Read More ]

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...
[ Read More ]

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...
[ Read More ]

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 –...
[ Read More ]

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. ...
[ Read More ]