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Archive for May, 2020

Update

May 12th, 2020 at 09:14 pm

Hi All-

I hope you are all well. My husband and I have been at home since March 17 with little physical contact with the outside world. DS#2 who lives with us is still working. Our town's tally of deaths due to COVID is somewhere in the 40 range and closer to 700 in the positive cases. We live in a blue collar immigrant community with many people working in factories and crowded living arrangements. Needless to say, our town has been hit hard. Frown

On a bright note, we've been keeping in touch with friends and family via Zoom and Google Meet. We have laughed a lot and that's comforting. We are almost at week #3 since our last grocery haul, but we will have to shop soon. Home heating oil price per gallon is also down. We filled our tank the other day for less than $400, a first for us. I've also continue funding my Roth IRA and putting some money aside in savings.

I've also accepted a new job for the next school year. I'm going to give it a shot one more time. We are committed to remain consumer debt free despite the significant increase in income. If anything we will use the added income for home improvements and travel. I'm going to have a positive attitude, but I will not stay beyond the contract commitment if I feel that it's not where I want to be. My husband had a difficult time coming to terms with the reduction of income last year when I left my job. We have learned to live on a lot less income and we can do it again if necessary.

Please stay safe and well SA family.

Payday/Reflection

May 1st, 2020 at 08:48 pm

Hi All-

It was payday for both my husband and I. I'm still getting paid and as always I am extremely grateful. My husband receives a small small pension with health benefits for both us. I was able to make a contribution to my Roth IRA ($350), a partial payment to the credit card ($500), electric bill ($52), a charity donation for a local food pantry ($25) and $600 transferred to savings. I left a few hundred in the checking to pay some small miscellaneous bills.

About the rents...tenant #1 (children in the household) said he could give us half of the rent this month because he still had to buy food and pay some utilities. We told him to hold on to the money and we would figure something out once he started working. He mentioned that he will start working next week. We just could not take the rent, not even half, when he has not been working at all. Money isn't everything and he is a good person. Tenant #2 paid via Venmo and we have not heard from the other two. We are prepared to pay the mortgages ourselves for a few months if necessary.

Reflection:
We are more fortunate than most during this pandemic. Nothing has been handed to us, purely hard work and knowing the importance of putting money away for a rainy day. COVID-19 has claimed the lives of people we know or people that my friends and children know. We are definitely not out of the woods by any mean. Husband and I have decided that when this storm passes, we will dedicate a good part of our income doing things that we've sacrifice throughout the years. We plan to travel more, donate more and enjoy life's simple pleasures.

Life is so unpredictable and short. Please be safe and well.