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Archive for December, 2019

2019 Recap

December 31st, 2019 at 03:54 pm

Here is the recap for 2019:

The first six months of 2019 were devoted to beefing up our emergency fund, prepaying monthly mortgage obligations and furnishing our FL house. All in anticipation of my decision to finally resign from a $80K teaching position. With my resignation, came a much better state of mind for me. Losing the income was quite the adjustment at first. In September, I ended up taking a part-time teacher's aide position. I loved this job very much. As expected, my salary is 1/4 of what I was making but the income helped us cover some last minute expenses.

Financially speaking, I'd say it has been a good year. Our emergency fund is now over six figures; we have no other debt other than the mortgages. The rental property income generated allows these homes to pay themselves and our FL home. My husband's retirement pension is meager, but will provide health insurance for the both of us. This year will conclude with a very minor foot procedure for me. I could've waited for 2020 to do this but our current health insurance has better coverage than our future health insurance.

In 2020, my husband will apply to get 75% of his social security benefits and depending on how things panned out, I will seek part-time employment as a substitute teacher (if we decide to continue winter birding). Our goals for 2020 is to continue adding to our savings even if it's small amounts. I also want to continue fully funding my Roth IRA; $7K from this year on.

Going on

December 30th, 2019 at 05:53 pm

We are off to Florida in less than two weeks as my husband is a retired man as of today. I'm a little nervous because we are traveling with our dog. I hope he does well with traveling. Hubby and I are spending time getting rid of things that have not been used in years and our basement looks a lot better now. I've not shop for groceries in a while (just a perishables). I want to unplug our chest freezer before we leave. We are basically eating from the freezers and pantry.

DS#2 will be taking over the bills/property taxes on our NJ house. The mortgage is paid until July. At that time, we will reevaluate our living arrangements and a possible sale of the house to our DS#2 may take place. We will move into a small cottage in one of our rental property if that's what we decide.

I got a three-wheel bike for Christmas; it was shipped to Florida so I am hoping to get as much exercise as possible. I also intend to use the small gym in our community center.

This is it for now. I hope you all have a wonderful, healthy, happy New Year.

Christmas/Goals for 2020

December 25th, 2019 at 10:14 pm

If you celebrate Christmas, Merry Christmas to you. Happy Holidays for all others. In just another hour, we will be hosting a get together with family and friends. We had our Christmas breakfast with our sons and DS#1's girlfriend (I think soon to be fiance). Very simple: biscuit casserole, bacon and orange juice. The casserole contained eggs, cheese and sausage. We exchanged gifts, laughed and get together preparations began.

We definitely cash flowed Christmas, about $500 and I'm happy about that. I also saved $60 by downloading a coupon for the first visit at a new vet. We have to have certain things in place in order for our dog to travel in cabin with us next month. In all, we only had to pay $38 for the distemper vaccine. I took him to get his rabies shot at a free clinic sponsored by our county. We calculated over $100 in savings on all of that.

I only have two financial goals for 2020. I want to fully fund my Roth IRA and keep ourselves from withdrawing any money from our saving just because we've been careless and spend more than we earn.

How was your holidays? Any financial goals in mind for 2020?

Getting there

December 18th, 2019 at 12:58 pm

As of Friday, I'll finally be under the $2K mark to fully fund my 2019 Roth IRA. I have four months left to contribute $1,870.00, which means I'll have to contribute $467.50 from January-April. I am now on a mission to make this happen. If for some reason, I cannot cash flow contributions, any remaining balance will have to come out of savings.

Payday/new adventure

December 14th, 2019 at 03:18 am

Pay day today. Both my husband and I will get paid again on the 20th.

Most of the money went to pay a large credit card bill. Our new washer, Christmas and other things were charged to this card. I did transferred $300 to savings and made a $270 contribution to my Roth IRA.

Our emergency fund has reached the amount we feel comfortable with. From this point forward anything we add to it is a bonus in my eyes.

My job ends mid January. I resigned as we are leaving next month to warmer pastures for the winter. Hubby is retiring in just a couple of weeks. Our sons are doing great; good jobs, happy and healthy. We did all we could to ensure a good start for them in life. Now, it is time for us.