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I really do love the holidays! I enjoy getting together with friends and family to celebrate life, and giving thanks, and reflecting on the year gone by and the new one approaching. I especially love hosting Christmas Eve, preparing a wonderful meal, and spending the day/evening with all of my favorite people. 
But what I don't love is the gift buying. I feel like such a grinch just typing that! These days, I just don't need or want any more "stuff". And anything I do need,...
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I was just approved for a new credit card with a big $300 upfront bonus (redeemable for gift cards) after you spend $1,500 in the 1st 3 months. That's a bit of a challenge, but I've done it before. I had to temporarily lift the freeze on my 3 credit bureau accounts before applying. To be sure I can do it, I'll now exclusively use this one card for the next 3 months, or until I reach the target spend.
At the same time, I just activated an offer by another of my existing cards where...
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To my surprise, I got my second installment property tax bill yesterday. Somehow I didn't notice that it didn't come in September, and, in my mind, I was all done with taxes for the year. It made me blue, coming when I am already stressed about Christmas. It is $505. Much less than some people pay, because I have a senior exemption, senior freeze, and homestead exemption. Without those, it would have been $2889!
I believe I can charge it, and that's what I'll do, come the 11th...
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Well I have just updated our 2023 budget...and it is looking pretty good...again I have based it on our lowest income so if anything comes up we should still be able to cover it...obviously we will update and tweak it as the year progresses...
some things I am getting back to is menu planning (been real slack this last month) and cooking more we usually cook 98% of what we eat...but last couple weeks we have been having more take away...which is not like us...but we will be doing...
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I haven't done much because I shop through out the year, but so far I have purchased 2 books for my mom and a FitBit for my day. These expenses are shared expenses as we'll split the costs between me & my sisters, and my mom for the gift for my dad. The books were about $20 each and the FitBit about $160.
My mom had asked for Michelle Obama's latest book, then I also purchased Viola Davis's autobiography as I read so many positive reviews. The FitBit fitness tracker for my...
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I just made another Amazon order for $59. This was for small gifts to even out what I already ordered. Even though I know my family members are unlikely to compare costs, I am pretty vigilant about spending nearly equal amounts on all.
Yesterday I walked to Wild Fork and bought two gift cards for $40 each. These are for my son and ex. My son, I know is a fan. I expect my ex will like Wild Fork even if he hasn't invesigated it.
I still need to buy stocking stuffers for my grandsons....
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My birth mom has been living a nomadic van life for several years now.   She comes to our place for a visit  several times a year, and typically stays for a week or so.  She was here a couple of weeks ago; one evening she and I and SB were in the 5th wheel.  It was about 8:30 pm, so already quite dark.  Suddenly, we heard a bang and then a scraping sound and then a grunty sort of moan.  It sounded like a bear.  SB took a light and went out...
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2022 TALLY (Preliminary):
$200 Capital One (DL credit card - used for auto insurance)
$ 30 Citi Reward (for charging hotel)
$ 15 AmEx Reward (for charging insurance)
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$245 TOTAL *ONE-TIME REWARDS*
Ongoing rewards:
+$296 AmExRewards (6% cash back groceries/streaming services)
+$71 Target rewards (5% discount Target purchases; mostly groceries)
+$128 Visa Rewards (3% cash back restaurants/fuel).  Ended up also using for groceries in Q4 (3% cash back)
+$919...
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I've bought a few little gifts in the past few months, but my real Christmas shopping started yesterday. I ordered gifts from Amazon and spent $330. These were gifts for my local family. I will order the Oregon gifts later, after my Discover card re-ups, but the local family gathering is early, on the 11th.
Three gifts have already arrived! I'll be wrapping them today. I will be buying some smaller gifts for the local family -- the "something to open" gifts -- as I do my normal...
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HOTEL:
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$50 Hotel Coupon
 
MOVIES:
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$50  Regal
$50  Art House Theater
 
RESTAURANTS:
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$50 Seasons 52
$50 Cracker Barrel (small balance left)
$ 25 x 1 Jamba Juice (Gift)
 
RETAIL:
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$50 Amazon (Gift)
$50 Kohls (Gift)
 
REGIFT:
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$25  Starbucks
 
Note: Edited over time to remove used gift cards. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As...
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December is looking expensive and not because of christmas...we have to get our car serviced and also the lining on the rof of our car needs to be replaced as it is starting to droop...I have put away $1000 for service and $400 for the roof....not sure if it will cost more or less will just see have the car booked in for service on 6th but need to book the roof in now and hopefully before christmas.
Christmas shopping is done waiting on 1 gift to come in and then just need to...
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Income Total: $1425.00


     * $1200 Recurring monthly retirement account distribution  


     * $225 Swagbucks and My Points earnings (cash out to PayPal) 


      


Total Spending: $1420.27


Total Savings: $4.73 (difference between monthly income and monthly spending)   Fixed Expenses: Verizon bundle (internet,...
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There are five Thursdays in December. (Yes, I switched back to Thursday, since I didn't shop yesterday.) That means only $20 per trip. I spent $21 today. It was the leanest trip ever, I think. I bought two sweet potatoes, a canister of raisins, a pound of butter, creamer, eggs, yellow mustard, granola, and a package of cookies. I know. I just really miss cookies when there are none.
In ten days I'm going to be hosting a brunch for my family, so I'm going to make two shopping trips...
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Just got a letter in from US social security the other day requesting updated information, this one came from the US which is weird as everything we do we have to go through the phillipines...so we moved 1.8 years ago and have send 3 change of address to social security and loand behold the one we got went to our last address...it was redirected to us thankgod we received it as we have 45 days to respond or no longer get paid....I really wish the irs and social security would have...
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Bah! November! Too much spending, especially for the month before Christmas, with very few dollars actually going toward Christmas gifts.
Housing - $746
Home Repair/Maintenance - $509
Gifts/Charity - $225
Fees/Services - $195
Utilities - $192
Vacation/Travel - $126
Medical/Health - $116
Groceries - $85
Gas - $63
Vet/Pet Supplies - $61
Eating Out/Takeout - $55
Furnishings/Equipment/Decor - $53
Household Supplies - $49
Personal - $46
Phone - $32
Entertainment - $25
Laundry...
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Greetings, all.
I'm feeling very happy that after my Internet bill rose from $39 to $52 due to 2 promotions expiring, the rep on the phone was not only able to lower my bill, but to reduce it further, to just $32 a month, a price that will be good for 1 year. (I know that many of you are going to tell me you pay much more. )
That feels like a minor miracle, given how everything is going up in price these days.
However, I have so many looming big expenses coming up, just at...
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I finished recording and in one case writing out a check (to Mom) for the November 11 budget and then closed out that budget and then I paid all the bills and attributed out the money for the November 25th budget and then closed it out as best as I could without actually being about to go the bank to take my cash draw.  But the important stuff has been done and it won't wreck anything in my finances or my life if the cash does not get taken out any time soon.
After I finished...
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I'd say I was starting to get back on my feet again, but that's not really true.  It's more like I'm able to get back into a chair again.  We all ended up coming down with Covid except Mom and it was worse than 2020.  I had the worst symptoms of everyone, but my nose and my son's nose would not test positive until Thanksgiving, so we were the last ones to get put on the medication.  At least that means DH was semi able to help me, since he was feeling a bit...
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I've got a retraining package. I will be heading back to school again. This will put me in a position to continue working for the same organization. There's support from the folks in the department but goodness, I'm so salty. I've really pulled back and my current supervisors understand. I'm working on emptying my office and etc. It's tough after more than 10 years. Another coworker in my department was offered an early retirement package and they have until the end of the month...
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Debts
Mortgage −$116,073.64 (-$240.46)Land Loan -$11,045.12 (-$180.79)
Savings
Roth IRAs +$21,997 (+$1,324)401K +$43,968 (+$2,950)Emergency Fund +$7,276 (-$817)Maternity Fund +$500 (-500)Animal Fund +$1,682 (+$3)Car Fund +$20 (-$0)HSA +$1,015 (-$473)
Overall: +$2,908.25
It's been a rough month for our household but the best the market has done in a long time! We paid around $1,300 for our new 500' main water line and hydrant.
I purchased nearly all our Christmas presents...
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