Post Your Wins

[disneysteve]

I went to 3 estate sales yesterday and spent about $23 total for 16 books. Today, I was getting ready to list a few of them on ebay. As I flipped through one of them to check condition, I found a nice crisp $50 bill. I've heard a lot of people talk about finding money in books but it's the first time it has happened to me. I always check though.

[disneysteve]

I went to 3 estate sales yesterday and spent about $23 total for 16 books. Today, I was getting ready to list a few of them on ebay. As I flipped through one of them to check condition, I found a nice crisp $50 bill. I've heard a lot of people talk about finding money in books but it's the first time it has happened to me. I always check though.

And in a follow up win, I listed the book yesterday and it sold overnight for $30. So $50 bill and $30 sale from a book that cost me about $1.40 on Friday.

[scfr]

I made a big decision today on the "inching towards retirement" track. I have 2 paying jobs. 1 is a steady PT job with decent pro-rated benefits. The other is irregular, contract-based, project work. I got another offer from the irregular job a few days ago & I've been dithering because my heart hasn't been in that work for awhile now, we don't need the money, and the time I spend helping my mom keeps increasing. But the project I was offered sounds interesting, and is only 4 weeks long. So I decided to accept the offer and make it my last one! I told DH my decision and he's 100% supportive. He was actually thinking that I may not accept any more of the offers, but it's important to me to have finality and to go out on a positive note, so here's hoping that the project really will be interesting and I do good work until the end.

[ua_guy]

I quit drinking last year for the health benefits. I had no intention of going completely sober. I figured I'd just stop for a while to let a really stressful time in life run its course where drinking wasn't going to be helpful or productive (is it ever, really?). The experience was so empowering that it stuck. The benefit to health is immeasurable, but between not ordering drinks with meals out and no longer wanting to keep any around the house, I figure I've probably saved at least $800-$1000 over the last 9 months, maybe more? And I have no idea if I'll stick to it forever, but I think I'll follow it while it lasts. Two drinks at a restaurant around here can set you back $20 and a bottle of middle shelf booze with taxes can be $25++, not to mention what wine costs.

[ua_guy]

Another great win, although, a little scary I wasn't aware of this: A while back I worked for a public employer and was part of their multi-faceted retirement plan. I thought I had extracted all of my money and rolled over into my IRA. Well, I had a question come up, so I logged into their website to search for information, and realized there was still a portion of money invested in their funds. Previously, I had believed that was a "pension" which could not be withdrawn and was forefeit when I left the company prior to it vesting. But no, I had misunderstood! When enrolling, I selected the option to self-direct the investments, and the contributions were 100% vested. Shoot, there's an extra $6700 I can roll into my IRA! Woohoo! Needless to say I requested funds ASAP. Feeling a little ashamed, but also ecstatic!

[QuarterMillionMan]

Profitable casino visit last night.
1) 4000 quarters
2) 13270 pennies
3) 1600 dimes

5 nieces & nephews will be surprised by USPS with $100 in each envelope. 7 staff at work will get lunch on Tuesday.

[crazyliblady]

Profitable casino visit last night.
1) 4000 quarters
2) 13270 pennies
3) 1600 dimes

5 nieces & nephews will be surprised by USPS with $100 in each envelope. 7 staff at work will get lunch on Tuesday.

You are an awesome uncle and boss! How old are the kids?

[QuarterMillionMan]

10 yr old boy, 7 yr old girl, 23 yr female, 27 yr old has two kids about 3 yr old and 1 yr old.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Rec'd my new $500 ebike today. Still in a box but it should be 75% assembled and just need to put on the wheels, handle bar, peddles, seat, etc. With my casino win 2 days ago I will consider this ebike as free from that casino win 2 days ago.

[bjl584]

I've been at my new job for about a month now.

A few financial wins as a result:

My commute is less than half as before, so using way less fuel.
My cell phone bill is now paid for.
I have a free corporate Sam's Club membership.
My gym membership is paid for.
I'm earning $20K more base salary than before.

[disneysteve]

For a number of years we have not been eligible to contribute to our Roth IRAs due to our income being too high, which is just fine of course. For 2023 due to me only working per diem, we were under the limit again and could fully fund both of our accounts with $7,500 each.

The win is that all I'm doing to fund the $15,000 is moving 15K of cash from our TAXABLE brokerage account to our TAX FREE Roth accounts. Assuming a 5% return on that money, that means we'll have $750 of income this year that won't be taxed as it would have been otherwise. That will save us a couple hundred in taxes.

[disneysteve]

My wife got a check in the mail today for $243 from one of our local hospitals. Of course it gave no indication what it was for but she was able to log into the patient portal and eventually figure out that it was a refund of the copay we paid when she was admitted in December 2022. Totally unexpected money so that's a win for sure.

[Fishindude77]

Had a couple big trees blow down across farm lanes recently. Went back this morning with the tractor and chainsaw, got it all up near the house in big logs, then sawed it to firewood lengths right in front of the wood shed. Will split it all tomorrow & toss in the shed.
Pretty easy pickings firewood and should be most of what we need next winter.

[james.hendrickson]

Picked up some uber cheap coffee at the discount rack at my local Kroger. I'll drink coffee for two weeks for the price of 1 cup at Starbucks.

[Fishindude77]

Purchased my 2024 fishing license last week and discovered it will be the last one I have to purchase.
Once you hit 64 in this state, can buy a "forever license" for $23.