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.

Some of you probably gasped when I mentioned that I took a $60K pay cut recently. This move was years in the making. My husband and I worked hard to get rid of any consumer debt, except for the mortgage. We also establish a two-year emergency fund. In addition, we generate $1,500.00 in rental income. We are now living on $53K gross income (not including the rental income or the occasional overtime pay for my husband). We try to keep our bills low, we eat most of our meals at home and have no consumer debt whatsoever. The rental income is used to pay for a vacation home we bought several years ago. We have no intentions for now to get rid of this property.

As a result, my stress levels are much more manageable and my sleeping patterns have normalized. This is worth every penny I lost in income.