Layout:
Home > Archive: November, 2019

Archive for November, 2019

Washer/Pay Day$$

November 26th, 2019 at 02:33 am

We've been looking for a used washer, but have not been able to find one. It's either too much money for a used one or too old. We gave up on the idea of a used washer and bought a new one. I am grateful that our son allowed us to use his washer at home; it is definitely not the ideal situation. We ended up paying $757 with tax and a five year warranty. I opted for a front loader because the top loaders are a constant reminder of how short I am. I am super careful and I wipe the inside rubber/detergent reservoir where water tends to accumulate. Delivery is tomorrow.

Pay day is a bit early this week, since we are off on Friday. We will make a partial credit card payment, $270 will go to my Roth IRA ($150 usual deposit and an extra $120 to cover the April 15 shortfall), some will go to savings and we'll pay a few smaller bills. My husband's extra overtime check will go to savings to minimize the blow of having to buy a new appliance, but thank God that we have an emergency fund.

I also three orders for my pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. I will probably net about $55. I also bought four Christmas gifts today ($112). I predict that I'll have to spend an additional $150. I also have to spend a little bit up money to purchase the ingredients for my share of the Thanksgiving feast. Ours is an infusion of typical American Thanksgiving food and our culture's traditional food.

Well, that's it! I hope that you all have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Pay day and big decision

November 16th, 2019 at 04:34 am

Payday today for the both of us.

I contributed $150 to my Roth IRA, $2,900 to fully fund it. I think I might send an additional $100 next week.

Paid two credit card balances.

Saved all of husband's overtime check.

Put cash on three envelopes: $50 for husband's retirement party (to be held in January), $14 for the Thanksgiving Food Drive(charity) and $15 for eat out fund.

I also paid a few small bills: electric bill, phone and cable.

________

On another note, We made a big decision this past weekend to put our vacation home on the market. This past year, we've only used the house for a month or so. We feel that it is a waste of money as we don't plan to use the house as a full time residence. We estimate that between the mortgage and bills, we spend about $17K to keep this home. I have no emotional ties to the house so it was an easy decision.

Insurance Policy

November 13th, 2019 at 02:21 am

I happened to check our car insurance policy to ensure that a car that was totaled was removed from our policy. The policy showed that we still owed over $500. Sure enough, it had not removed. My husband called and we now have a payment of just $149. I think we are going to try to be a one car family now that my husband is retiring in a couple of months. I work in town and if he needs the car, he'll just have to take to work and pick me up.

Escrow

November 6th, 2019 at 01:08 am

I've been sending and extra $25 here and there to the escrow of one of our rental properties. Every year, there seems to be a shortfall due to the property taxes going up. Yesterday, I received a check from the mortgage company for $206 for a surplus on our escrow and our mortgage payment went down $26. I am going to continue paying the same amount and send the extra $26 to minimize any escrow shortage next year.

It pays to ask!

November 1st, 2019 at 12:19 pm

Two weeks ago, I finally bought curtains for our vacation home. Long time in the making, but nice curtains and rods are so darn expensive! Anyway, the total spent at Bed Bath and Beyond came to $767.74 including an item that I needed them to ship directly from the store. I gasped, swallowed hard and whipped out my credit card.

I realized then that BBB sometimes puts out 20% on entire purchase. I looked through my stash of coupons and I have none. It occurred to me to put a "ISO" (in search of) post on Facebook that I was looking for this specific coupon. About an hour later, someone responded and said that she has one and that I can have it. I took it back to the store and without question they credit me $151.36. Do you know that BBB takes expired coupons. Mine was from 2017 and no problem! I felt so victorious when I left the store.