GratefulSaver's Personal Finance Blog

Do you think that people who are employed have the ability to save money even in smaller amounts no matter how deep in debt they are? I'd like to read your take on this.

Payday update:

----We paid July's mortgage payment today and hope to pay August mortgage payment by mid June.

----Transferred $300 to the savings account

----Contributed $100 to my Roth IRA. I'm hoping to contribute another $200 by mid June. I'm a bit behind because of some financial setbacks due to the pandemic, but I am determined to fully fund for 2020.

I have two more paychecks to go as the school year ends pretty soon. July and August will be tough with just my husband's pension check and whatever income we get from the rental properties. This is the reason we prepaid July and August mortgage payments. On the bright side, there will be no house heating oil bill or car insurance to pay during the summer. Come September, I'll start working again and things will ease up (hopefully).

I hope all of you are safe and well.

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.

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.

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.

I honestly lost count on how many days we've been in quarantine. I think it's been 33 days with many more to go. As you may already know, New Jersey has been hit hard trailing New York. It seems that everyday, there are over 3,000 people testing positive for COVID-19. The last count for our town is 367 positive and 11 deaths. Our county is the ninth in the state with positive COVID. Our governor said that the curve has been flattening, but the amount of stories of people losing their love one is heartbreaking. The paper featured a story of a family who stayed on the phone with their dying father for 36 hours. They just wanted him to know that they were there even if it was not physically. I cried.

Not all is negative, lots of communities have banned together to collect food and money. Today, my BFF dropped off a bag of potatoes and beer for my husband just because I mentioned it in a conversation. On a personal level, I feel that this has brought me closer to my faith. Going forward, I hope not to take things for granted. Financially speaking, the last 30 days have been the lowest in terms of money spent on life. My cc closed yesterday at a little less than $800. It's usually about $1300-$1500. We charge everything and pay the credit card in full at the end of the month.

Please stay safe and well.

It's payday today. As always, grateful that I still get a paycheck even when schools are not in session. COVID19 continues to be devastating in my state and in my town, there are close to 300 people with the virus and 10 deaths have occurred. One, a person that I was acquainted with. We went to the same high school. I confess that I've been an emotional wreck during this pandemic; I've been praying for humanity and those afflicted with the disease. I hope that when it passes, we come out of it better human beings. Both of my sons are still working so I pray for their safety all the time.

Financially, we are in a good place. The stimulus check will be used to pay the mortgage on one of our rental homes. So far, in that specific home, one of the tenants will not be paying his rent. We reassured him that we understand and to concentrate his efforts on having food on the table and utilities paid. He has two small children and their well-being is most important. He mentioned that he has enough food to last him for a while. Last month, I saved the $1,500 that we usually profit from the rental properties to cover part of the mortgages this month if necessary. That money used to go towards the FL house mortgage. The goal is to stay away from the savings account. So far, we've been reimbursed for homeowner's insurance and the escrow reimbursement is on its way (according to Wells Fargo).

That's it for today. Please be safe and stay well.

The USA Naval Ship Hospital has arrived in New York. It is sad to have the need for it and at the same time, it makes me so proud to be so blessed to live in a country like ours.

It is difficult to talk about money when lots of people are struggling to pay their bills. Here it's what's happening financially in our household. As you know, our house in Florida was finally sold a week ago. Aside from the money we expected to receive at closing, we were refunded $400 today for something that was itemized in the seller's disclosure, related to the HOA. I cancelled all utilities and we are expected to receive a small refund on our water bill. We also cancelled HO insurance and the remaining mortgage escrow should be refunded in the next 30 days. All of this money will be going to our savings account.

One of our tenants paid rent already, but not sure how things will be next month (his own words). Another one texted me this morning and asked me if she could pay on Friday. The third said he will pay this week as well, but he is not sure how it will be next month. We are grateful that they are paying and we are prepare to cover the next month ourselves. We asked them if paying the rent was taking away their ability to buy food and they all said, "No". If we get the stimulus check from the feds, we will save it to pay mortgages. I don't count on it until it's in our hands.

I also got paid today (the district is paying all employees). I put $100 in the 2020 Roth IRA, some in savings and paid some bills. We have a hefty credit card bill due on mid April.

I'm also on my third week of no grocery shopping and hope to be able to make it another two weeks. I'd be going for walks around time while practicing social distancing. I will tell you that I am very anxious about COVID-19 especially since I have two sons who are essential personnel; one working at a hospital. We disinfect floors, bathrooms and kitchen on a daily base and staying home.

I sincerely hope and pray that you are all well and safe and those of you with family members experiencing health issues, please know that I think of you often and pray for a safe and speedy recovery.

Well, we closed on our Florida home and although a bit sad, I am relieved and grateful to find a well-qualified, conventional loan buyer. Due to COVID-19 lockdown state order we closed through a conference call Notary service. Different experience but efficient and painless. Our furniture is in storage but we hope to be able to retrieve it during the summer (hoping and praying). My brother has been a huge help with moving things out of the house. As I mentioned before, we lost a considerable amount of money due to realtor fees. Lesson learned.

On another note, 3 out 4 tenants are not working. This will most likely mean that we will have to withdraw from savings to pay these mortgages and we are prepare to do so. We will not pressure our tenants nor stress them out. They are good to us in terms of paying the rent and keeping up with the apartments. Besides, we have a heart. It will be an I owe you.

I'm out of work but still getting paid and I am so very thankful. Many of my family members are not working and struggling. My husband will file for social security benefits in July (75%/age 62). He won't collect until October. We are on our second week of not stepping foot in the supermarket. I hope to stretch thing until the first week of April. TP stash is very low but I found a solution to our problem. It helps that I am the only female in our home. Besides, I have a ton of paper towels and there is nothing water and soap can't clean.

Well, that's it for today. Please be safe and well.

It's official, I'm done funding all $7K on my 2019 Roth IRA. I just set up a $120 contribution (one month ahead of schedule). I won't be able to begin 2020 Roth until next month. We have some unforeseen expenses that we want to cash flow this month.

School is not in session for at least a month here and there is talk that it will be for a much longer time. The governor of New Jersey instituted an 8:00-5:00 curfew today and Teaneck, NJ is completely quarantined. That's not too far from us but in a different county. We have 4 confirmed cases in my county.

We have also spend a bit more on groceries this month but we've not gone crazy buying stuff. We have plenty of food for at least three weeks or so. Nothing is wasted and we will eat normally but smaller portions. Let's hope and pray (if you believe) that this passes soon. Please stay safe and take care of yourself.

Closing on our FL house is supposed to be on the 24th of this month. I was supposed to travel to pack our things but decided against it. My brother will be packing for me and putting everything in storage for at least a month or until he feels okay to travel from NJ to FL. He volunteered to U-haul our stuff for us and then fly back home. He's diabetic and neither one of us feels comfortable with him traveling right now.

We are under contract for about $5K above what we paid for the house, but by the time we pay realtor fees and moving expenses we will lose about $10K or more. Luckily, we will get a good portion of our down payment back, but still a loss. On the bright side, we will be able to free up $1500 a month in mortgage payments. Lesson learned.

The school district I work for will close for nearly a month, which includes a week for spring break and four days of unused winter days. All staff will be paid. It seems like the stomach virus is also in full motion this time of the year. Kids are coming down with it and so did I. I missed two days of work. The stomach ailment subsided quickly but I had a headache all day yesterday and felt very much run down. I am much better now.

Payday today for me. $500 went to savings and $475 to credit card payments. We also had to replace another water heater tank in one of the apartments yesterday, $500. This is the third one we replace among our properties in less than a year. We put it on the credit card due in April.

Well that's it for today. Please be safe and stay healthy.

highs:

So, I kept $50 of the $250 from the unexpected payment I received from a relative. I just set up an electronic contribution for the remaining $200 to my Roth IRA. Another $270 will be transferred on Friday. That leaves me with $120 to pay before April 15 for my 2019 Roth IRA. I can definitely handle that! I can't wait to start 2020. I am proud of myself for making this a priority even when my income is meager compared to prior years. I also discovered that I can continue to make contributions to my 403B since I am working for a board of education part-time. I can't do much. but I am going to commit to at least $100 a month to that.

I have $241 saved from the 52 Weeks Savings challenge. I am trying to reach the $1,378 in six months and repeat the challenge. That will give me a total of $2756 saved by December 31st. This money is going towards fulfilling things on my Bucket List.

We are getting a little over $1200 from income tax returns this year between the Feds and the state. That money has been designated for home improvements.

Lows:
We have to replace the entire front porch decking of our house. It's a lemonade porch so it will definitely not be cheap to fix.

A family member, whom I lent money to a while back, Venmo me $250. Repayment is sporadic, but anything I get back is a plus. I am going to keep $50 of it to spend on a meal out or a treat for me. I am trying to enjoy a little bit of our money lately. My husband’s cousin is terminally ill and his stepchildren are fighting for some antique cars he has. Good grief, the guy is not even dead yet. I told my husband that there has to be a balance in life and he should enjoy some of his money. My husband tends to be very conservative (extreme) with money. I told him that he is leaving it for someone else to enjoy and that you only live once.

It was pay day for both us. Here is the rundown:

Disclaimer: We still had $215 left in our checking prior to payday and that was swept to our savings account.

$700 savings
$270 Roth IRA, $590 left to fund 2019.
$500 to cc and household bills
$100 groceries (allotted, but might go over)


No mortgages to pay until August and November. I mentioned before that prior to quitting my job I payed many months in advance to ease the transition to a significant reduction in income). Hopefully we can resolve some warranty issues with our Florida home so that we can move forward with the sale. If sold, it will free up $1500 from our budget.

Tomorrow, both husband and I will be volunteering our time in a fundraiser to benefit the people affected by the earthquakes in Puerto Rico. All proceeds will be distributed to the people and no government agencies involved.

I really enjoy my job and I'm grateful that I was able to get rehired after my short hiatus in Florida. Well, as of yesterday, there is a sale pending on our Florida house. The prospective buyer had the inspection today. Not sure how that went, but our realtor is very good at keeping us informed. Next up, appraisal. I hope everything continues to go well as I really want to get this monkey off our backs. It's not over,'till is over.

Friday is pay day for both hubby and me. I've already set up a $270 Roth IRA contribution. That leaves me with a $590 shortfall to be paid by April 15th. I'll contribute another $270 mid March, $320 at the end of March. It's much easier to do this now that I'm working.

About West Side Story on Broadway. It is a good modern twist to the classic. The projection screens in the back of the stage are very distracting, however. The cast is incredibly talented but I would've rather seen a revival to the classic. I am also glad that I did not paid the $250-$300 for good tickets. Average seats are just fine. Of all the Broadway shows I've seen, this one was my least favorite. The Lion King and In the Heights are my absolute favorites.

I start my part-time job tomorrow. I am looking forward to earning an income. My earnings are enough to pay utilities, food, insurance and my Roth IRA. We cut the cord with the cable company and my hubby seems to doing okay with just having Netflix. I watch TLC online through the kindness of my sister. I'd be crushed if I could not watch Dr. Pimple Popper (my friends think that I need therapy for wanting to watch that). I also like to watch 90 Day Fiance. What a circus!

Now for the exciting freebie! Guess who's going to see West Side Story on Broadway this coming Sunday? Me!!!! I posted on FB to see if any of my friends wanted to see it in the Spring. A good friend of mine called me to tell me that they have an extra ticket and invited me to go with them. She won't take any money from me but I'll pay the tolls to cross from New Jersey to New York and help with the parking. I am so excited to see it.

I am grateful to be able to get my job back. I was gone for five weeks. I contacted the teacher I helped (as a teacher's aide) to see if he thought admin would take me back. I was fortunate in that one of the aides was resigning and he must of put a good word in for me. I will be back next week.

The house I mentioned before has been on the market for close to two weeks. Lots of showings, but no bites. The square footage is working against us (1500 sq.ft.) It's funny because we actually chose this house because it was smallish in size. I guess potential buyers are at a different cross roads than us. Oh well, I just have to be patient and hope it sells. This emotional purchase may bite me in the arse. Lesson learned; I made my bed and now I have to lie in it.

We might be able to make a little more money on one of the rental homes. My DS#1, who is our tenant, is moving out in the spring. We rent it to him way below rental value. God knows we need to make more of a profit.

On another note, we were able to put $500 in savings this month! Love when we can do that!

I have $100 to spare and it will be going to my Roth IRA contribution. As I mentioned before, if I can swing two $270 payments by April, I'll have a shortfall of $320 for a full contribution (2019). Once done, I'll begin my 2020 contributions. This is my #1 financial priority as I am behind on saving for retirement.

If I can swing two $270 payments by April, I'll have a shortfall of $520 for a full contribution to my Roth IRA (2019). I feel certain that I can contribute $100 from the checking account making it a $420 shortfall. I got this; I'm going to make it happen without withdrawing from the savings account. Once done, I'll battled it with 2020 contributions. It's a must for me to continue fully funding as I am playing catch up.

January ended with $700 added to savings and $540 contributed to my Roth IRA. I still need to contribute $1,060 to the Roth to fully fund 2019 by April. I can do this!!!

February also marks the first month in which we will not have income coming from actual employment. It will be just my husband's pension and income from the rental properties. February will be the real test. We will be coming home next week; we miss our sons and our life in NJ.

The house, an emotional purchase, is on the market. We hope to unloaded before November when we will have to start paying the mortgage again. I (we) prepaid several mortgage payments in advance. We can afford to pay for it but rather sell it and count our losses.

I have an interview lined up to cover a maternity leave in a neighboring school. It's just for a couple of months, but I hope to be able to sub to earn an income. I will proactively look for a permanent job during the spring and summer for the next school year. If you can say a prayer (if you believe) or send positive thoughts, it is greatly appreciated.

I received my last paycheck today and my husband his last overtime check from work. We paid half of the credit card bill, $270 went to my Roth IRA ($1,330.00 remaining to fund 2019), moved $300 to savings and left $200 in the checking account. We should get husband's January and February pension checks on the first of the month. Snow birding is going well but we have spent a significant amount of money on groceries and some other necessities. I do miss my kiddos dearly but not the frigid cold weather.

Goals during these winter months in FL are to stay away from withdrawing money from our savings, pay bills with pension check and finish funding my Roth IRA by April 15th.

Today I decided to participate in the 52 weeks savings challenge. I turned 50 years old in August and I would really like to start fulfilling some things in my bucket list. My goal is to begin working on bucket list wish #1 by the end of 2020. I hope to double the weeks and complete the challenge in 26 weeks and start all over again to double the amount saved.

I also joined the Uber Frugal Month Challenge because Lord knows we will incur some expenses to start our seasonal residence in Florida. I've been doing well with minimal spending so far. I also return to work tomorrow and it will be my last week at my part-time job. I had to take 2 sick days because my surgical foot procedure left me with lots of pain. I am still recuperating but I think I'll make it through the week. Stitches come out on Friday just in time for travel.

I've already located a church closest to our house as well as a Publix, Aldi and Walmart. I downloaded the digital coupons app for Publix and I've clipped some coupons already.

I contributed $270.00 this week to my Roth IRA. This brings the amount I still need to contribute to $1,600.00. I have a couple of months to make a dent, if not it will come out of savings.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.