GratefulSaver's Personal Finance Blog

Well, we all got Covid in July. We are all vaccinated and one booster. For me the fatigue and nasal congestion was the worst and it took me exactly 10 days to test negative. Covid is not fun even on its milder side.

On a financial update, it looks like it will end with a little over $200 surplus. We met our savings goals and I was put $100 ($5K to go to fully fund) towards my Roth IRA. Summer are very lean for us because I do not work during the summer months. 

We have made the decision to start paying off our investment property starting August. The goal is to have it paid off in seven years at which time I can also start taking my state pension. Paying it off is an investment on our future income.  We have a healthy emergency fund. 

I am pretty anxious to have a clean slate come April. March has been a dozzie partly because of unexpected events. My son had surgery earlier this month and he's convalecing at our home which means a higher food bill, electrictiy, water, etc. I would not have it any other way and we are happy we can help in his recovery. I am also traveling to see my mom and I'll be away solo for two weeks. On the bright side, I've been able to earn money since leaving my full-time job. All of the money I earn is used to cover future vacations, my retirement account, gifts, fun events, etc. My mental health is in a good place right now as I no longer have the stressors of a very demanding job. 

February Budget:

Husband's income/investment property surplus

$2968.00 (income)

$2200.00 (expenditures)

$768.00 (savings)

Extra income (me): $1,100.00 

Roth IRA contribution (me): $700.00 (2021)

March will not look as pretty.

Since my last update early December, we've been able to continue tracking our expenditures and fortunately for us, we've had a surplus every month since October despite our shoestring income (high cost of living state). I've made some extra income this month $1,125 as a substitute teacher. My goal was $700. I think I can still make a little bit of more income this week and then we are going away for a few weeks. We were able to cash flow that trip in its entirety. I also managed to contribute $600 to my Roth IRA. The goal is to get as close as I can to the $7k mark and write a check (if necessary) to fully fund 2021.

Prior to leaving my job, I decided to give our new budget a trial run. That was for October and November. So far, we've been able to follow the budget and we even had a bit of a surplus in certain areas. It takes decipline to keep track, but as the CFO in our household, I am determined to make this work. I managed to make some money right after my last day of work. We are also cash flowing a winter vacation and accomodations are already paid and car rental is covered as well. I have $300 cash for spending money; the goal is between $500-800. We plan to cook most of our meals in the condo we rented. This vacation is basically to get away from the cold for a few weeks. I will also be traveling for my Mom's 80th birthday at the end of March. I want to make as much money as I can between now and then.   I made another contribution to my Roth IRA ($250).

The new budget trial run in October was successful and my employment will end in a couple of weeks. I've already lined up work as a substitute teacher at $125 a day. Any money I am able to make will go to saving, traveling, fun things and my retirement. Fortunately, my husband carries health insurance for the both of us through his state pension and we just paid off our house this past summer. I am grateful and relieved that I am able to leave a very stressful job.

Our new budget is $2,300.00 (including $800 in property taxes every month). We do not have any debt other than utilities and insurance policies.

I'm thinking of getting the Pfizer Booster Shot as I'm a teacher exposed to hundreds of kids every day. Has anyone opted to get a booster? I made the appointment, but I am tempted to cancel.

Although, our income will not be reduced until mid November, we will be living on my husband's retirement income alone starting October 1st. It will give me (I'm the CFO in our household) an opportunity to twick or make changes to our budget. As it stands, we'll have a surplus of $750 in our budget. If it proves to be correct, I will put half of it in our savings and the other half to make contributions to my Roth IRA. Any money I can make will be going to fun things like traveling, retirment and a helping others. 

Significant loss of income is expected by mid November in our home. I am grateful that we have no mortgage, no small children to support and no consumer debt  The loss of income is voluntary. This was a second try at a profession that I feel may have reached the end of the road. We will be living on my husband's income which derives from a dimunitive state pension, early social security benefits and $500 surplus on a rental property. Our health insurance is covered by the state pension and it costs less than $50 a month. Any money I can make will go to fund my retirement through a Roth IRA. In all, I feel very grateful to have play the cards right and stay out of debt. We also have a healthy emergency fund. 

Since my last post a couple of months ago, all our financial efforts (now that the house is paid for) are going towards amping my retirement funds and beefing up our savings. My husband is already retired and a decade older than me. I neglected to fully fund my Roth IRA but I am not, if I can help it, allow that to happen from this day forward.  

Our bare bones budget is $1950.00 ($800 of it is monthly property taxes) since we do not have any consumer debt and children in the home to support. Our boys have been self sufficient young adults and for that I am really proud. I am also increasing contributions to my 403B. As of now, when I retire I can claim a $2,400.00 state pension at the age of 60. 

 We paid off our house! It is a huge milestone and it reduces our expenses by nearly $1,300.00 every month. Our bare bones budget is $1,400.00 a month.

Note: A great portion of this mortgage pay off came from our savings. In essence, it took us about 4-5 years to be mortgage free.

Hi All-

It's been a little over a month since the last update. Since then, I've gone back to work physically. I am thankful to have been fully vaccinated at least a month prior to returning to work. We are currently operating with less than half of the student body as many parents opted to keep their kids remote learning for the rest of the school year.

My brother has also recuperated from COVID and has returned to work. As for our mortgage payoff goal, I'm super excited to tell you that at the end of the month, we will be under $30K if everything goes according to plan. Hoping and praying to be in the mid $10K by June 30th. The goal is to get to the lowest possible in case I do not get a work contract for the next school year. This way it will be so much easier to pay off even with me just having a part-time job. We are also in the process of selling one of our investment properties now that the real estate market is so hot in our state. 

I was sadden to hear about Ima Saver. I remember her from my years blogging under another name. I lost over 10 years of entries when this site crashed and was never able to retrieve any of it. There was another blogger (a writer) who was battling kidney cancer and I often wonder about her. I pray that she's is well. 

Well, that's it for now. Be safe and well.

It's been a little while since the last update. Things continue to move along with some hicups here and there. COVID hit our family late December to early January with my youngest son testing positive. Fortunately, there were mild symptoms in comparison to the others. He has recuperated and I'm grateful. One of my siblings has it now and experiencing much more difficult symptoms . I received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine and second dose is coming up. Hubby is getting the first dose tomorrow.

On the financial front, we are still pretty intense on paying our mortgage off and have made great strides. We are under $50K now and determined to be completely out of debt by December 31st, 2021.  I am also preparing for a return to work physically. I've been working remotely since September of 2020. I am super nervous, but hopeful that many parents decide to keep their children home for the remainder of the school year. It will be a hybrid school day with two cohorts and one day completely remote for deep cleaning. 

I hope all of you are doing well and safe.

Hi All-

It's been a little over a month since my last update. We are on track to meeting our Mortgage Pay-off goal for the remainder of 2020. If everything goes according to our plan, we might be able to surpass our of goal $75K principal balance. This might be a bit overzealous, but I am hoping for a paid for house by this time next year. 

Christmas Day will be super low key this year for reasons beyond our control. We will have our morning Christmas Breakfast, gift exchange and Christmas dinner. Just the four of us + my oldest significant other. 

On another financial news, we are selling one of our rental properties to our youngest son. He is young, has a great job and the desire to invest in his future. He paid off another rental property in less than two years and is now netting $1,400.00 a month after paying property taxes and Homeowners insurance. My oldest is quite different; he has no interest in being a landlord and is perfectly okay with renting. I don't see anything wrong with that either. 

Work is okay and I'm doing the best I can during these strange times in our educational system. I am a little behind with my Roth IRA distributions but fortunately I have until April 15th to fully fund it. 

Well, this is all I have for you. I want to wish you all Happy Holidays and a Prosperous, Healty and Happy New Year.

I can't believe it's November already! We've had lovely weather lately in my neck of the woods and I am savoring every bit of it. Thanksgiving and Christmas will be very low key as we are staying home. COVID's second wave is here and I will be teaching remotely at least until mid January (I suspect longer). I'm grateful for that, but I realize that it is not an ideal situation for students and teachers.

Our Mortgage Payoff challenge is going great and I am confident that we can make it to  $75K by December 31st. I will have to update my sidebar to reflect our current balance. I've also continued to fund my Roth IRA and I'm determined to fully fund by April. 

I started blogging here twelve years ago. I lost all of my entries a while back when the site had technical problems; I was never able to recover any it. Anyway, here I am. Life has taken many turns in those twelve years. We put our two sons through school with no debt, invested in rental property, I left my well-paying job, found a part-time job that I loved making a fraction of what I was making, hubby retired and we tried snowbirding in Florida, but it did not work out, COVID hit and changed our lives (for some more than others and the battle continues), went back to teaching and I'm debating whether to return next year and as of this weekend, we will be empty nesters. Our last bird is spreading his wings.

It's been quite the ride, but I feel like I'm in a good place in my life. Frugality and gratitude has been the force behind all of our success. I regret nothing. I've win some and lost some.  I am certain that we will continue to navigate calm and choppy waters for the rest of our lives.

We've made tons of progress paying extra on our mortgage principal. Hopefully, we can continue to do this, if not, I'm not sweating it. At 51 years old, I've placed a high value on a stress free life. I don't need fancy anything; I'm content. I feel blessed beyond measure and for that I am so very thankful. 

Hope you are all well!

Hopefully this site is working now. I hate to complain, but I lost entire blog (years worth of entries) a while back and was never able to get it back. Then, I get flagged as a spammer and I was unable to write entries a little while ago. Somehow I managed to get it resolved.