Starfishy's Money Blog

Happy New Year and new decade fellow SA bloggers!

As usual, I wish I could blog regularly, but I just can't pull it off. I do however read the blogs almost daily and really enjoy keeping up with everyone's triumphs and trials and cheer you on from afar. I also learn a lot from the various posts.

Last night the sum total of my retirement accounts (work plan and my own Roth and Traditional IRAs which are all housed under at one company) reached the big milestone. It was a little surreal to see the amount in its full glory. It's been so close for the past week or two, but didn't actually cross the line until last evening. I thought I would celebrate now because it will very likely dip up and down and not consistently stay above the line for quite awhile. I'm enjoying this bull market while it's here, knowing full well that a bear is lurking in the shadows ready to emerge from hibernation at any moment.

I haven't thought much about 2020 goals - mostly just trying to make it through each day after a 2019 filled with lots of unexpected changes. Honestly, I've never had much success with setting and reaching goals, my mind just doesn't work that way. I'd be retired by now if it did!

Just noticed that my sidebar is woefully out o' date - I turned 55 in 2019.

I hope 2020 brings my fellow SAers whatever it is that you want and need most.

(originally posted July 19, 2019)

I tend to avoid spending, even when it’s absolutely necessary. My car is making a subtle noise and I have been procrastinating taking it in for service. I don’t want to know what the noise is or how much it’s going to cost to repair. The main problem solving skill that I learned as a child from my mom and grandmother was “ignore it and hopefully it will go away or solve itself.” Guess what – that doesn’t work. 55 years later and my default is still to ignore problems and hope they go away. My house is falling apart due to this logic.

The car problem is amplified in my mind because I am starting to think about replacing my current vehicle which is a silver 2010 Subaru Impreza Outback Sport hatchback named Sally. She has almost 90K miles.

I’ve owned four cars in my lifetime. The first was a beige Chevy Chevette with orange and brown stripes (ah, the 70s) which was a hand-me-down from my older brother. I’d still be driving that car if my dad hadn’t stepped in and bought me a new red Honda Civic Hatchback (Lucy) in my mid-20s after he heard I was planning on driving the Chevette from the East Coast to Colorado. I had Lucy for 10 years and probably drove her for about 180K miles since I took several cross country drives.

My next car was a black VW Golf named Pablo. My dad provided the car loan and I was paying him back monthly. Then my dad died less than a year later and I was so distraught that I think my mom ended up eventually forgiving the loan if I remember correctly. I had Pablo for 10 years before trading him in for my current car.

Now I’m almost at 10 years with Sally and thinking about what’s next. That’s why the current problems (the new noise and the fact that I should replace the timing belt soon, which will be $650+) are amplified. I don’t want to put money into a car that I might not have much longer. But, I need to drive it until I do have a new car, which could be quite a while, so I can’t really avoid the repairs. But I want to!

Ok, I called a car place and made an appointment for Thursday. Another resistance point has been wanting to try a different shop than my usual one (outside of the tech school that I’ve been using, see below, but it’s closed for the summer) because I think they are pretty expensive. I need to have the car fixed because I’m taking a six-hour drive this weekend to visit my mom and younger brother. I wonder what the problem will be and how much it will cost to repair?

I wrote this entry a few days ago (I have so many unposted entries that I’ve written over the years…). I dropped the car off this morning, explained the noise and also asked them to check the brakes, which have been a little off since I unexpectedly left the car sitting in my driveway for month during the rainy spring. Just got an update call with what needs to be done:

Noise is left front wheel bearing $275
Front brakes $250
Rear brakes $300
Inspection due date is in August, so they could do it today $60
License plate bulb blown out (needed for inspection) $10
Estimate - $900

Normally, I would have put off the inspection until September and probably the rear brakes, but decided to just have them do it all today and get it done. It’s important to have the car as safe as possible for my big drive this weekend and now I don’t have to think about and take the time to schedule a second appointment.

I’m kicking myself because I had my snow tires taken off a few months ago at a local tech school and asked them to check the brakes. I was told that the front brakes were a bit rusty from sitting and that I could either replace the pads and rotors or wait and see if driving the car would wear off the rust. I was taking a big trip and didn’t think I had time to go back and have the work done before leaving. And, I didn’t want to acknowledge that the work needed to be done and that I’d have to spend money, so I waited. The front brakes would have only cost $160 if I had done it at the tech school, which is now closed for the summer.

It’s almost like a strange Russian roulette game that I play in my head – thinking I’ll be fine, that I can get away with not fixing or buying something, but then I have a nagging in the back of my head as I test fate, in this case, driving six hours both ways on the questionable brakes (I did that in May/June). Or driving around with the noise for the past month, knowing that something was wrong, but waiting.

Oh, and I have the money. It’s not a matter of going into debt if I get my car fixed. Although, if I was to address all of the problems in my house, I would need to spend a lot of money and wipe out a good chunk of my savings. So, I just avoid them all.

Now it’s Friday morning, and I picked up the car last evening. The grand total was $928 and the car is ready for my big drive. I do feel a sense of relief that it’s all finished – that gift to myself should be worth the pain of spending. I want to concentrate on that aspect more…I need to put necessary spending in the mental category of self-love/self-care.

Argh – didn’t realize until I started to drive away from the repair shop that I should have had them change the oil, too!!

Comments
Lucky Robin Says:
July 20th, 2019 at 12:09 am
90K isn't that much for car mileage these days. It still has a lot of life in it if maintained properly. Do you really need a new car or do you just want one? I guess it doesn't matter too much if you can afford one, but you can probably take that one to 150K to 200K miles.

Amber Says:
July 21st, 2019 at 10:31 am
My Camry 🚗 has 250k miles and she runs great. I love that car.
I’m glad you got repairs done, breaks are a serious matter

rob62521 Says:
July 21st, 2019 at 01:28 pm
I think although the $900 price tag was probably a shock at first, deferred maintenance adds up. Plus there is the safety issue not only for you, but for the other drivers around you. Glad you got your brakes taken care of.

We look at our house as an investment. We aren't planning on making a big profit, but we try to keep things updated and fixed not only because it makes our lives easier, but if something should happen and we would need to put the house on the market, say one or both of us couldn't live here, we figure keeping things fixed and somewhat updated will help in the long run. I keep a notebook on what we have replaced and when we replaced it so we know how old things are like the roof, drive way, water heater, etc.

I just called my flex spending provider and was told that the 2018 claims I submitted on Tuesday that totaled $1300 were all approved and will be paid out tomorrow via check. Yahoo! That’s a relief to have that finished before the March 31 deadline. I have $1200 available for 2019 and have already have EOBs that I can use for reimbursement of $1100 of that money, so I need to make a note to do that soon rather than wait until next year at this time. That will be a first for me!

I will review my taxes this weekend and make sure they are finished with the possible exception of the IRA contribution decision.

Last night I booked a flight to Florida to visit my mom in mid-April to celebrate her 85th birthday. Wow. I will be down there for 12 days! The only drawback is leaving my cat alone for that long. She gets sooo sad. I will hire my usual pet sitter to visit and take care of her every day, but she hates being alone for that long. And, I miss her when I’m away! I hope she will be ok. I wish I could take her with me to Florida – she would love my mom’s place, especially her screened in porch. When I drive to visit my mom in her summer location, I take the cat, but flying is a different story. I think the travel would be too stressful for her, she’s easily frightened.

Time for lunch!

BTW - if you happen to read this Dido, I did see your recent comment and will at some point post a job update. Thanks for asking!

I have been really busy the last few weeks and I feel exhausted. Most of the busyness has been work-related, but I have also managed to squeeze in some fun along the way.

On Friday, March 15, I attended the concert of a favorite traditional band with a few friends ($44 for 2nd row seat). Joyful music was just what I needed to start that weekend. Then this past Saturday I went cross-country skiing after a big Friday night snowstorm (have a season’s pass). The conditions were fabulous! I wanted to go again on Sunday, but decided to stay home to relax and get some things done around the house. On Saturday evening, I took myself to a nearby tiny venue for some Bach music played by two women on piano and cello ($15).

Tonight I’m meeting with a few members of my knitting group. For the potluck dinner, I’ll make a salad from veggies I already have in my fridge and I will take a scarf project that I’ve been knitting for about two years now. We’ve been getting together for probably over 15 years and it turns out that I don’t enjoy knitting! We always have delicious food, though, and great conversations. Of the five women who are available this evening, four of us are beginning ukulele players and the other is wonderful singer/musician, so I suggested that we all bring are ukes and do a little jam session!

I worked at home on my sun-filled porch yesterday. I’m still busy, but it's a quiet week overall at work because my boss is on “vacation.” I’ve worked with her for 20 years and last summer she took her first legit vacation where she actually did not check in via email at all for about four days. It was heavenly! This week she is staycationing and has only sent a few emails so far.

I finally just submitted my 2018 medical flex-spending claims. The deadline is March 31, so I hope that they all get approved without a problem and that I receive the entire $1300 available for 2018. It’s not “free” money – I elected that amount and a little was withdrawn from my paycheck each pay period.

I recently hit my 2019 out-of-pocket maximum, so I should probably submit claims for the $1200 I elected for this year while the process is still fresh in my mind. I’ll have to go through my 2019 EOBs, which will total $1100, and then remember that I have an additional $100 kicking around if any other expenses appear throughout the year. I always wait until the very last minute just before the final deadline to deal with these medical reimbursements, so it would be very unusual to get the money an entire year in advance.

I also need to finish my taxes. I entered all of the information about two weeks ago and just need to review and decide whether or not I’m going to contribute up to $6500 to my traditional and/or Roth IRAs. I go through this song and dance Every. Single. Year. Do I or don’t I contribute? Traditional IRA and get a refund or Roth IRA for future tax-free withdrawal? I put the max amount into my work retirement plan plus my company contributes an additional 15% of my salary amount. My IRAs are not well invested – I should really look into that this year.

My lunch break is over – back to work!

Edit: Adding this because I just realized that today is only Tuesday, not Wednesday - yahoo! I'm so relieved - more time for some work projects with upcoming deadlines and one extra day for making sure the med reimbursements get processed! I thought this week seemed to be flying by...

Long time no blog!

I do still enjoy reading and being inspired by other SA blogs, though. Thanks to those of you who are consistent.

This is a reminder to myself that I need to:

1) Do my taxes. Usually very easy except for the decision to contribute to an IRA.

2) Submit forms for medical reimbursements for my 2018 flex spending account. I think I have $1300 available! Oh good, writing this has just spurred me on to find some old emails and figure out how to log into my account, so that's one step done. I do have $1300 in my account for 2018 and the deadline for submission is March 31. $500 will roll over, but I don't want to lose the $800 since it's taken from my pay. I collected invoices for a recent dental crown and prescription sunglasses that I bought just before the new year (on December 31, I believe!). Now I have to figure out what else I can submit. We used to be able to use EOB forms from my insurance company, but now I think I need to use receipts/invoices.

Just noticed my blog "author" info and wish I was still only 51!

My town's property taxes are due once a year on October 1. Each year since buying my house in 2004, I have received property tax assistance from my state. At first, I would receive a check for the state's contribution in mid-July and then I would pay my full tax bill by October 1. Finally, the state wised up and started sending the assistance checks directly to town treasurers. I imagine a portion of taxpayers would get their check, spend it immediately on other things and then end up delinquent with their property taxes.

So, now I get a letter in July which outlines my total property taxes, how much the state will kick in, and how much I will ultimately owe out of pocket in early October. This year, my letter contained no state amount. I was shocked – had I suddenly reached a salary limit? I checked the state's website and learned that a large portion of the property tax assistance forms had not been processed in time this year. So, I assumed that I was part of that group and I waited, but then I decided to check into it just to be sure. I called my town's treasurer and the state tax department and found out that my electronic filing wasn't correct and that my property tax assistance form was never received! Apparently, I wasn't the only one dealing with this scenario. There seems to have been a slight glitch in turbot@x and some of the forms did not get filled out and filed correctly. Since it has worked fine for the past 14 years, I didn't notice that there was a problem this year.

Phew, I am so glad that I decided to be proactive. I was able to fill out and submit the missing form through the state's website. I will be charged a $15 late filing fee, which I don't like, but I guess I can live with! I may have to pay my full property tax bill up front and get reimbursed from my town if they receive my assistance payment after October 1. The tax payments are paid to the towns once a month.

For 2017, my total property tax bill was $3895.70 and my state assistance was $2008, so I owed $1887 out of pocket. This year my bill is $3765.23 and I do not want to miss out on almost $2000! I'm going to call the tax office in a week or so and see where things stand with my form. I want to make sure that the information was submitted correctly and that I will be receiving the assistance. Can't leave anything to chance!

Gorgeous day – the humidity of the past week has finally lifted and it is sunny, warm and breezy.

I feel like I'm slogging through my days – I don't like uncertainty or change!

I just took a little vacation to the Finger Lakes to visit P, an old friend from college. P lives in CA and stays with her parents at their lake house for a portion of the summer. It's a beautiful spot! I drove there Thursday and returned on Monday afternoon. It was a very low key visit. P had a large brain tumor removed three years ago and is still learning to deal with the physical changes that the operation created. She had a stroke that affected her right side, so she can’t write very well and her speech will always be halted as she searches for words (aphasia). Unfortunately, she is not facing her challenges head on and making the best of the situation. Instead, she has kind of given up and lives a pretty limited life, in my opinion. No judgement – it's her choice, but it's kind of sad to see. I can understand, though, since I deal with depression and live a fairly limited life, too!

Anyway, while there I took a few good walks to get some exercise, spent almost no money, went for a boat ride with P and her dad and was able to jump off and swim in the middle of the lake, hung out with P, caught up and laughed about old college memories, and just generally enjoyed the peaceful lake scenery. It was a nice trip and I really liked being away from the stress of my current job situation.

Oh, I also have recently taken up bird watching as something interesting and fun to focus on – keeps my brain and eyes active! I've been paying closer attention to bird songs and calls when I walk and I saw lots of beautiful birds while in the Finger Lakes region. P's parents have a few bird feeders and it was fun to research and start identifying the various birds I saw. I've always enjoyed observing birds, but now I want to know a little more about them and at least be able to identify more than just blue jays, robins, crows, seagulls and cardinals! Right now I am using old binoculars that I got free at some point and bird books that I borrowed from the library, so it's a cheap hobby so far.

I used 3/4 of a tank of gas for the drive there and then again on the drive back. I also bought some junk food on the ride out of sheer boredom and seemly unmanageable cravings! I took food with me for most of my own meals, P's mom made dinner twice, and P treated me to a very casual dinner and ice cream one evening. I tried to pay, but she wouldn't accept my offer.

I just found a few receipts in my purse. Some recent spending from mid-July and later:
$103.08 – groceries (including assorted junk food items) bought since July 18
$6.38 – paper towels
$31.00 – six-month post office box renewal
$5.00 – garbage disposal for four weeks

Trip costs
$23.81 – gas fill up before trip
$36.20 – gas fill up for drive home
$13.80 – roundtrip tolls
$18.45 – road junk food (fast food milkshakes and fries, soft serve ice cream close to home) ugh

$92.96 – total - not bad for a four-night lake vacation! Would have been less than $75 if I could have resisted the siren song of junk food on the road. Next time I need to just buy some “healthy” snacks for a drive. I had packed a salad for lunch, but apparently that wasn’t going to cut it!

$36.00 – oops, forgot about my cat sitter cost – 3 days x $12, so the trip cost $128.96 total

I am settling back in at home and work. I spent last evening at a local friend's lake house (I'm lucky that I know a lot of people who have waterside vacation homes) with a group of friends. For our potluck I chopped some local veggies from my fridge and served them with hummus and red grapes that I also had on hand. I was very happy not to spend money on that food. I also made my lunches for yesterday and today with food in my fridge. I will do the same for Thursday and Friday.

I'm feeling very anxious and am having trouble focusing at work, but I should get back to it now that my lunch break is over. Baby steps!

I just celebrated 20 years at the company where I work, which I know is a very unusual milestone these days. And, now my company is going through a downsizing initiative because of financial difficulties and so I may not make it to 21 years.

The final outcome of the process will not be clear until later this year. Ugh. I am 53 now and I was planning on staying at my current employer until at least 57 or 58 and then retiring early with a plan of what to do next. I'm not sure that I could actually stop working at that age, but I was considering part-time or seasonal work as one potential scenario.

My place of employment is very hard to leave - I have incredibly good benefits (although these will start to be reduced for those who remain), it's a beautiful place to work where interesting things are always happening, and I'm in a rural area without many other suitable employment opportunities. So, if I lose my job, I may very well have to move. This would involve selling my house. Double ugh.

At the moment I'm feeling anxious and scared, which is understandable. I'm also thinking about ways to help myself through this time period. My first instinct is to retreat and hide in my comfort zone (addictions!) of internet and food and I have been doing some of that. Actually, I've been doing that for a quite a long time, way before this turn of events appeared on the horizon, so I need to address that anyway.

Another view is that this may be the shake up that I need to move myself in a different direction. Life is short and I'm honestly kind of frozen in place and a bit bored. I've let myself get way too comfortable and I'm stagnating on many fronts. I'm resisting change and that's not usually healthy or productive!

At this point, I have no idea what the outcome will be. Strangely enough, I will be somewhat involved in the process which will determine what positions are cut and it's a little hard to stay focused and motivated in general. I'm calling it "Project Digging Your Own Grave" in my own mind.

I've had some good cries and I'm trying to keep my mind and heart open to possible new avenues to explore and adventures to experience. I'm terrified of trying to find new employment at 54 - it’s a whole new world out there and I’m not sure how I will fit in. I have been coasting in my job for years - woops - keep growing your skill sets, kids – learn from your elders!

My first concern is determining my current financial state. I'm terrible at regularly managing my money, so I don't quite know what I have. Thankfully I have been able to put the max in my retirement account for quite a few years and I do have savings. My main fear is that if I do get laid off, I will lose the financial footing that I've worked so hard to build. I'm single, so I don’t have anyone to rely on to cover bills or health insurance for a bit. Plus, I'm tired and I deal with depression. I'm ready for a break. I'm not sure how I'm going to get the energy together to motivate for all of these possible changes.

I also want to focus on managing my anxiety, getting back on track with healthy eating and exercising so that I have as much energy and clarity as possible and reminding myself to take everything one day at a time. Life is short, it's summer, I'm alive and healthy, and things really could be a lot worse. I don't want to dismiss my own reality and my feelings about it, but I also want to keep it all in perspective and encourage myself to keep moving forward.

As for today, I unfortunately didn't get it together to bring a lunch, so I spent $8 on an unhealthy meal. On the plus side, a colleague gave me a dozen local free-range eggs that he can't use and I happen to be out of eggs right now! I'm also eating a lot of mini candy bars that I got from the same guy - not good, but at least they were free.

I recently ordered a digital bathroom scale from M@cy's (on sale for $39.74 down from $96 and free shipping) so that I can keep better track of my weight. I hope I like it! The old-fashioned scale that I currently have is not very consistent and I can't see the numbers! The new one should arrive within a week.

Score, I just got 24 sw@gbucks for a search. All of my troubles are over!

I am generally not a big fan of weddings, but the one I attended on Sunday was a lot of fun! Gorgeous place (upscale inn), really good food and libations, and lots of love and warmth and laughter. My friend is 65 and this was her second marriage, but first real wedding, so she went all out. Oh my goodness, I’m so curious how much it all cost. I think her new husband paid for it, since he’s a bit younger and is still working. Apparently, he really wanted to host a wedding so that friends and family could gather and celebrate. His first wife died after being ill for many years and he is very happy and grateful to have met another woman with whom to share his life.

The food was delicious! My friend and I split our entrees – tenderloin and potato gnocchi with wild mushrooms. Yum. The beef was amazingly tender. The wedding cake and desserts were also tasty, so I broke my no sugar streak and completely indulged. It was worth it! After dinner, there was a lot of dancing to a DJ and I love to dance! I ended up losing track of time and suddenly it was after midnight and the party had cleared out. My drive home involves a desolate mountain pass, so the groom insisted that I stay over. It turned out that I slept on a foldout couch in his brother and sister-in-law’s room. Talk about awkward moments – sleeping with strangers! They were so friendly and very accommodating – “we love slumber parties!” Needless to say, I didn’t sleep well and needed to leave by 8a in order to make a massage appointment that I had scheduled for 10a. I had already arranged to take Monday off from work since I figured I would be tired after the wedding. I drank more than I usually do, so I had a bit of a hangover all day, even though I stopped drinking early and switched to water so that I could drive home (which didn’t happen!).

Yesterday after my massage, I couldn’t resist buying a bag of potato chips and a pint of ice cream ($7.49) for lunch – hangover food. I then had dinner out with my friend D, but I wasn’t very hungry so spent $13.99 on an appetizer (including tax and tip). I ate only half of it, so will have the rest this evening. D is going to live overseas for a year and last night was the only time that worked for us to get together before she leaves. I usually don’t like to eat out, but it was the easiest scenario. In hindsight, I should have ordered a full entrée and saved most of it for dinner tonight! It wouldn’t have cost much more than the appetizer. Oh well. I will be eating my own food for the rest of the week. I’m also starting “no sugar” again today. So far, so good although I am starting to feel my usual afternoon cravings, so I must resist temptation.

Back to work today. The weather has been cloudy and rainy for a long time – I hope it dries out soon! I dropped my car off this morning for a yearly state inspection and a $60K mileage maintenance. I’m bracing myself for unexpected repairs, so mentally preparing for a bill up to $2K. Hopefully it will be less than that, but I want to be prepared. Ultimately, I will be glad to have the car be up-to-date and safe for now. I have a physical therapy appointment at 4 for an issue I’m having with my arm and then I’ll go home for the night. I hope to muster up energy to do some cleaning because my house is a disaster.

I wrote this entry on saturday and then never got around to posting it, so doing it now even though it's kind of dated.

My spending yesterday (Friday):

23.00 – groceries – raisins, flax seeds, rolled oats, grapes, 3 carrots, 1 cucumber, 1 banana, small daikon radish, 1 beet, head of local romaine lettuce and local spinach

5.34 – toilet paper

17.95 – gas – 8.348 gallons @ 2.15 (cash price) at a locally-owned station. Full price was 2.25/gal, so I saved .83. I passed a gas station later with a price of 2.37/gal!

10 – friend’s pre-wedding ceremony contribution

Last evening, 24 women gathered to celebrate our friend, who will get married on Sunday, with a nature-based spiritual ceremony followed by a potluck. It was hosted at one woman’s lake house, which is was gorgeous setting. Sadly, it was too cold and wet to convene outside. We were asked to bring flowers, so I cut some very fragrant late-blooming lilacs from my yard and a large rhubarb flower, which was beautiful and received many compliments as a unique choice! All of the flowers were combined and spread on the floor for the ceremony. The bride-to-be (who is 65!) loved the event. She has cultivated deep friendships with many interesting, intelligent, conscious women, which was reflected in everyone’s words.

As planned, I bought organic green and red grapes to contribute to the potluck. My post-work errands took longer than expected, so I was running late for the ceremony – scurrying around my yard cutting flowers, getting dressed and finding rain gear in case we gathered outside. In my haste, I left the grapes at home! Now I have a LOT of grapes. The potluck food was amazing – a spread of healthy, delicious choices which I thoroughly enjoyed. I skipped dessert and am now on Day 13 of no sugar. The wedding is tomorrow (Sunday) and if the cake/dessert looks really good, I will indulge and then go back to no sugar on Monday. If it’s something that I don’t like, then I will skip it and maintain my sugar free streak.

For the wedding, I’m wearing a dress and shoes that I already own. I’m so glad that the dress fits because I haven’t had any time to go shopping. Tomorrow afternoon’s forecast is chilly and damp, so my long dress will work well. If it was going to be hot, I’d probably have to make another choice. I still need to get a gift, which may be swing dance lessons for the couple or some type of gift certificate. I’m planning to spend $100. I really wish they had a registry, which would make gift choosing easier. They are older, but didn’t specifically say “no gifts”. I’m glad to get them something, I just hate guessing and wasting money. I talked to my bridal friend to get some ideas, but still haven’t chosen the final gift. I found out that they need a new kitchen table and they could have put out the idea for people to make contributions toward a beautiful, locally-crafted table. That would have been a great idea, but it’s too late!

Today is a low-key, no spend day. I got some free old tarps from a friend that I will use to smother grass in front of my house to create a garden bed. I’m eating leftover chili and salad that I prepared earlier this week. I’m trying to get some things done around the house, but my motivation is quite low. There’s an event (free) that I’d love to attend tonight, but it’s not until 8p and it’s at least 45 minutes away. I will most likely stay home and relax. This next week is going to be fairly busy.

Snowflakes – found .16 on the grocery store floor; found .11 about a week ago while taking a walk (very odd – there were a bunch of pennies scattered all over a dirt road). Received $9.10 of free red organic grapes yesterday when I mentioned to the produce clerk that the grapes I had bought last week were not very good. I shop at a small, independent health food store that has excellent customer service!

Here's a photo of Friday evening's beautiful sunset at the lake house:

I am so glad it is Friday even though I only had a three-day work week.

Last night's swing dance class was fun. I couldn't walk during the day as planned, but after class I pushed myself to walk for 30 minutes. The class is in a town that I rarely visit, so I enjoyed the new scenery – lots of interesting old buildings, houses and shops.

I brought my breakfast and lunch to work today. I will be leaving shortly and stopping for groceries for the week on the way home. My list is small and I hope that I can stick to it!

A friend is getting married on Sunday and a friend of hers is hosting a women's ceremony this evening to celebrate the bride (who is 65!). I need to bring some flowers (going to pick some late blooming lilacs from my yard – free!), $10 for the woman who created the ceremony, and a dessert. I'm planning on buying organic red and green grapes, so estimating about $10. I considered making a crisp with rhubarb from my yard, but I don't have time. I also called a local bakery to inquire about fruit or other tarts/pie and discovered that they cost $28! So, I'm going with healthy grapes, which will work for me because I am on Day 12 of no sugar.

I need to stop for gas on my way out of town. The ceremony is 45 minutes away and the wedding on Sunday is about an hour away.

Happy weekend!

Today should be a no-spend day.

I brought my breakfast, lunch and snacks to work. I have a massage at 3:30p which will be covered by insurance. Actually, my company switched insurance providers for cost reasons this year and there has been a problem for massage therapists getting paid for their appointments (both of my therapists bill directly). My company is using one of the largest, most established insurance companies around, so it's hard to believe that this problem has not been solved over the course of five months. Apparently, we are just about the only company that covers massage therapy and for some reason all of the claims keep getting denied. And, then more paperwork is requested. And, then the claims are denied again. It has been so frustrating, especially since the therapists are basically working for free because a lot of their clients are from my company. Argh.

After my massage, I will go home and eat some pre-prepared chili and brown rice and then head to a swing dance lesson. This will be my fourth of out of five lessons. The lessons are $10 each or $40 if you paid all at once at the first lesson, which I did. I liked saving $10, of course, but prepaying has also helped me to actually go to the lesson when otherwise I might bail after a long day. It's been fun! Thankfully, you don’t need to bring a partner and, during the lesson, we switch partners constantly while learning the steps. It's very inclusive and user friendly. After the hour lesson, the instructor puts on music and holds a practice session and people dance with each other. It's been a great way to get me out of the house! I love to dance, so I hope to continue with lessons and eventually attend some local dances. A friend was supposed to join me, but somehow she has had a conflict on each Thursday night, including tonight.

I walked yesterday after work for 1 hour and 15 minutes and then did 20 minutes of yoga stretching. I hope to walk for 30 minutes at some point before my 3:30p massage. I wore my walking clothes to work so that I could go at any time. My workplace is very casual during the summer months.

Just decided to check my retirement accounts and I have hit the $700K mark! $700,380.76 is the total for my work 403B account, a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA. It's always exciting to hit a new benchmark. At the same time, the number is so ethereal due to inevitable market ups and downs. Who knows how much money will actually be available when I retire? It will all depend on the state of the market at that time.

Snowflake: I currently have $87 of sw@gbucks accumulated.

I want to start posting to my blog again, but I’m not doing it, so I’m starting with some tiny entries.

Today will be a low-spend day. $2.50 for eggs that I buy from a co-worker.

Meals:
Breakfast – hummus and raw carrot, cauliflower and cukes
Lunch – salad with chunk of sweet potato, 1/2 hardboiled egg and olives; a few tortilla chips
Dinner – homemade ground beef chili over brown rice w/chopped scallion and parsley
Snacks – grapes and almonds

I’m on day 10 of no sugar. I prepped food for the week and I'm pretty much going to eat the same menu for the next three days.

Going directly home after work, so no spending temptation. Would love to do a little yard work this evening, but not highly motivated.

As usual, I have procrastinated on my taxes until the last minute.

My taxes are actually pretty straightforward and I entered all of the info into turbot@x late Sunday night. At the moment my federal return is $107 and state return is $16. It’s pretty much a wash since the cost of filing is about $90!

The reason I always wait so long to actually file is because I can never decide if I should contribute to an IRA. And, if I do, which one should I choose – traditional or Roth? I already contribute a lot of money through my work retirement plan. I just did some research and discovered that between my paycheck deductions and my employer contributions, a total of $38,479.08 went into my retirement account during 2016. I think my salary is just shy of $70K. Seems like a substantial amount!

But, then I wrestle with the IRA contribution. I have a very small ($15,726) Roth account because I usually contributed to a Traditional IRA in order to get the tax break. That account is fairly small, too ($70,188), considering the number of years that I’ve had it, because I never took the time to properly invest the money. I’d probably be able to retire at this point, if I had done so!

So, the question is, do I put money into my Roth IRA (up to $6500 since I’m over 50) so that I have a bit more non-taxable income to draw on when I’m older? Or should I use the money for house projects and other current needs/wants rather than putting so much towards retirement? I could also contribute to the Roth and decrease my 2017 retirement contributions through work if I decide that I need more cash flow this year.

Definitely not a problem to complain about, I just feel confused each year by the decision and it weighs on me until I finally make a choice at the last minute. In the end, it really doesn’t matter what I choose to do…life will go on either way.

I just called the firm that manages my retirement accounts and found out that I have until 10p tonight to make a contribution. Now I can procrastinate all day! I also found out that I contributed $1700 to my Roth and $300 to the traditional for 2015 (on April 15th, of course!). Seems kind of random!

Each year, I think about setting up a monthly auto deduction in order to avoid this situation, but then I forget to do it.

Hope everyone else is long done with their taxes and can enjoy the day!

I decided to figure out my net worth while the market is high and before an inevitable correction occurs.

I think I got everything in the tally below.

403B 577,952.48
Trad IRA 69,645.96
Roth IRA 15, 617.66
brokerage 60,840.73
cash 80,002.50
house 200,000.00
total 988,441.67

Wow! I wasn’t expecting that figure. I haven’t calculated my net worth in a long time.

I don’t have any debt, but I am going to need to sink some money into my house at some point – at least 35 - 40K for a new septic system and other necessary repairs.

But, I’ll enjoy the current balance while it exists.

Don’t take my stuff away from me, don’t you leave my heart in misery.

During my holiday break, I’m attempting to tackle some mounds of clutter that have accumulated in my house over the past 12 years. It is so hard for me to get rid of stuff!

In a recent post, I shared photos of boxes in one of my closets and commenters wanted to know what was in them. Well, those boxes mostly contain piles of unmade decisions.

Of course, I’m breaking all of the cardinal rules of decluttering. My house is a disaster as I move from one area to another pulling stuff out and sorting. I just can’t focus on one thing at a time although I know I should. Oh well – it is what it is, as they say.

Something I struggle with is the fact that I want to donate and toss everything, not try to sell any of it. I feel guilty that I’m not trying to make some money and that I’m taking the easy way out or something. But, I know that I won’t ever get around to selling and, honestly, nothing is worth much. I’m trying to focus on the time and space that I will gain and feelings of freedom and relief. I’m also trying to let myself feel sad and disappointed about the money that I may be missing out on. There are pros and cons to each way of decluttering. Getting stuff out of the house is my main goal. I admire my fellow bloggers who sell items on eB@y and FB and at yard sales. At this point, I just can’t wrap my head around organizing any of that.

I also worry that once I clear out the junk, I will have the head space to deal with selling and then I’ll be disappointed that I don’t have anything to sell! It’s a vicious cycle that spins in my head.

So, I’ve made the decision to donate usable items. There is a consignment shop in a nearby town where I thought about taking some decent clothes, but it turns out that they only give store credit, not cash, for sold items. There are consignment shops in the closest city to me, but it’s almost an hour away and I don’t get there much these days. So, I’m going to split my stuff between three thrift shops in the town where I work. One supports the local hospital, one gives grants to local non-profits and one helps families in need. So, I will at least be giving back to my local community with the donations. Oh, and I have a few items to donate to the local animal shelter, too.

If I can acknowledge and then tolerate my uncomfortable feelings about “giving it all away” and do it anyway, then I will be free! I have to get things moving along – I’m stuck in so many ways and time is flying by. Life is short.

If anyone reading this has decluttered by donating and tossing rather than selling, please share your experience in the comments. I don’t know why I’m struggling with this scenario, but I am and I’d love to hear others’ stories.

Part of the problem is I imagine that if I lose my job, then I will regret not having the discarded items to wear, use or sell. I seem to be missing the belief that I can persevere and take care of myself no matter what happens in my life.

A few years ago, I got rid of a bunch of stuff by using a personal organizer whom I paid to help me sort and discard, and I seemed to have lived through that experience. Now that I think about it, once the items are gone, I probably won’t remember any of them since my post-50 memory is not as sharp as it used to be.

OMG, my mind is still arguing with me about the consignment clothes…keep them and take them up to the town that has consignment stores. I also started to look on line for places to sell books and CDs. Most of my book titles aren’t sellable and the CDs would net about .40 each. I don’t have that many, so I don’t think it is worth my time to punch in the IBN or barcode for each item.

I’ve been going through clothes and toiletry articles and some boxes with papers and other various junk.
So far, I have gathered:

One bag of garbage and a small box of recycling that I will dispose of on Saturday

One bag of clothes and shoes to donate to local thrift shops

One bag of worn out clothes for textile recycling

I have to go to town for an appointment on Thursday and will drop those two bags off during that trip.

I also have a big box of clothes that I would have tried to consign and am now deciding what to do with.

I feel kind of embarrassed to share all of this drama and craziness, but this really is a very difficult challenge for me. I’m hoping that I’ll read this post next December and realize that not only did I accomplish my goal of doing some decluttering and my house is easier to live in, but that I survived giving the stuff away (and without the potential extra money) and that I’m ok. And, that if any feelings of loss, sadness, regret and anger about it surfaced over the year, that I felt and accepted them with compassion and kept moving forward as much as possible.

Back to sorting!

I hope everyone is having an enjoyable holiday season in whatever way you celebrate.

I spent most of the weekend relaxing by the tree with my cat.

It is very late here and time for bed. To all a good night!


my christmas tree 2016


my sweet pea loves the tree!


christmas joy, 1965 style

Weekends go by way, way, way too fast. The last two days were fairly productive and relaxing. I was mostly home, puttering around while listening to Christmas music and playing some on the piano. I love Christmas music!

As planned, today I prepared food for the week. For lunches, I made four salads (Thursday is a holiday lunch out at work) – lettuce, spinach, red cabbage, carrot, celery, baby bok choy, and shredded beet.



I will add a piece of roasted sweet potato and some chunks of feta cheese (had both on hand) to each salad and dress with a basic Italian that I bought Friday on sale.

For breakfasts, which I don’t always eat, I’ll chop up hard boiled egg and serve with steamed broccoli and carrots over cooked oats with olive oil, salt and pepper. I cooked the eggs and washed and chopped the veggies, so they are all ready to go. I also washed off grapes to use for snacks.

For dinners, I created some vegetarian pea soup. I cooked the split peas in water, but then dozed off and they scorched! Thankfully, I caught it in time and was able save most of the peas. I added more water to create a broth. I tried something different by roasting in the oven chopped onion, carrot and celery drizzled with olive oil and adding the mixture to the pea soup. It tastes great! I’ll eat this over sorghum that I also cooked today. I might sprinkle on some paprika for a smoky flavor. I was happy to use up celery and an onion that were almost past their prime. I also roasted some old Brussel sprouts and squash seeds that I’ll use for snacks.

After making the pea soup, I realized that I had some black beans in my fridge that needed to be used up soon. So, I sautéed chopped carrots and celery in coconut oil, added the black beans and their liquid and lots of cumin, thyme, salt and pepper. After heating, I spooned it over some of the sorghum and stirred in fresh spinach, chopped scallions and feta cheese. It was pretty good – I love cumin. I’ll eat the rest of that concoction tomorrow night and then the pea soup starting on Tuesday evening.

Since I brought home some free desserts from a holiday party last night, I decided to forgo making an apple crisp as originally planned. I don’t need more dessert options than I already have. I thought about making applesauce, but just didn’t want to spend the time.

So, I’m excited to have healthy food prepared which will save time and money this week and should last into the weekend. I need to work on shortening prep time, though. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen today – prepping, cooking, and cleaning up. Ugh. I can see why people spend money to eat out. It’s so much easier! I recently bought an instantpot, but haven’t had the energy to break it out of the box and learn how to use it. That might help.

I imagine part of the problem is that my kitchen is very inefficient and so am I. I need to bite the bullet and start the process of renovation. I’m considering taking out a line of credit (not sure if that’s the correct term). I have money in savings that I could use, but I don’t want to lessen my liquidity. When I read other blogs, it seems like people with loans are super motivated to put all available money towards paying them off, which might be a better option for me than saving the full amount needed in advance. I’d probably end up using some savings to pay off the loan, but only if I felt ok about it. Having the goal of paying off a loan might help me to focus on my money management. I’ll have to ponder this.

While I’m thinking about healthy food prep, I’m making a note to myself here that I haven’t been sick yet this fall/early winter. I’ve seen a lot of colds and other illnesses going around, but so far I’ve been very lucky and haven’t caught anything.

I finally tackled Christmas tree decorating this weekend. I put up the tree right after Thanksgiving and did the lights, but have not had the motivation to hang the ornaments.



Oh my, I didn’t realize that this photo was so blurry!

I was hoping to do some decluttering this weekend, but I didn’t. I got rid of garbage and recycling from some sorting I did in the past few weeks, so that’s something! I also straightened up my office, which was a complete disaster (embarrassing photos below!). It’s much more functional now, but it’s kind of a false scenario. I have done this many times – organized my office, but without getting rid of anything. I shove items into boxes with the intention of sorting later, but never get around to it. I eventually revert back to messiness and the cycle starts again. Having the office tidy feels good and gives me a clear space to start sorting, but now I need to commit to starting the process – a little at a time. I struggle with letting go of stuff – I can always come up with a good reason to keep something.


office before

office before

office before

before

before

office after

office after

office after

reality - so many boxes of junk to be sorted!

It’s supposed to snow up to six inches tonight and tomorrow morning, which reminds me that I haven’t put my snow tires on yet. Darn. I was going to venture out into the shed this weekend to find them. I’ll have to remember to do that this week and to make an appointment. If the roads are dicey, I’ll work at home in the morning, which is fine with me.

Yikes, it is really late and I should go to sleep!

The past few weeks have been very busy and stressful at work, so I am glad it’s the weekend. My company’s holiday party was this evening. I met up with two friends and their husbands. We had a nice time and the buffet dinner and beer/wine bar were delicious (and free!). I came home with some yummy desserts to enjoy later.

Like CCF, I’ve been avoiding stores recently! In my case, food stores are my downfall. I find it very easy to buy food – it’s comforting, familiar and fun for me. But I end up wasting a lot of food and money. So, I’ve been staying out of my favorite food stores and eating what I have on hand. But, I was running out of fresh veggies, so I went shopping last night after work at the local health food store.

I bought salad ingredients for this week’s lunches. My small department will go out for a holiday lunch on Thursday, so I will only need four salads total. I was out of dressing and my favorite was on sale, so I got a bottle. I will probably buy a few more before the sale ends. I also bought some cumin, chili powder and thyme in the bulk spice area.

A few weeks ago, I bought some organic red grapes at my local health food store and they were terrible – very strange tasting and bitter. I finally remembered to talk one of the produce people last evening and she suggested that I take two bags for free to make up for the inconvenience. I knew that I couldn’t use that many grapes, so I asked if I could take one bag of grapes and something else. I ended up with four organic red pears and two organic kiwis. That’s a lot of free fruit! Well, a lot of fruit for $4.79 which is what the original grapes cost. I also took two free clementines from a plate of fruit that was left in the lobby area of my office yesterday.

I also finally remembered to return some shampoo and conditioner that I bought on sale a few months ago. I didn’t like them at all! Thankfully, I had the receipt and was credited $10.68 toward my grocery bill. Yay!

I had a rain check from September for organic olive oil for $9.99, so I got two bottles since I’m almost out of olive oil. I checked to make sure there wasn’t a better sale before using it. I learned that the rainchecks for this store never expire. Unfortunately, I recycled a small pile that I found in my office recently because I figured that they were too old to use.

I purchased four cans of food – kidney beans, black beans, chickpeas and corn, all organic, for a food drive at tonight’s party. There were a lot of donations which will help the local food shelf.

There was a local brewer serving samples of his beer, so I tasted four different varieties.

After I finished shopping at the small health food store, I went to the larger grocery store to get local butter, which I thought would be on sale. It wasn’t, so I returned to the first store and bought one stick of organic butter for an apple crisp that I want to make. I found two dollars on the floor in front of the register – yay! Then I found a penny as I was leaving the store. This morning I scrounged up .49 to add to the found $2.01 to pay for my $2.50 trash disposal fee.

Grocery purchases (all produce and olive oil is organic):

2.99 lettuce
2.47 half a head of local red cabbage
0.64 baby bok choy
1.50 local spinach
0.48 one local carrot
2.00 broccoli

free red grapes
free two kiwis
free four red pears

3.75 raisins
0.62 bulk spices

19.98 two bottles olive oil
2.69 salad dressing

6.16 four cans for food drive

2.99 favorite Belgian butter (only available once a year and was told they were sold out last time I was there. Saw one package last evening, so I snagged it – so delicious!)
1.50 stick of butter

(10.68) returns

37.09 TOTAL

After shopping, I went home, heated up some free frozen flatbread-style pizza from a work event last week and steamed the last of my cauliflower and broccoli from the last time I went shopping. I also had some leftover popcorn and a chocolate cookie that I saved from a holiday stroll the night before. The town where I work hosted a holiday evening on Thursday. Stores were open until 8 and many offered special deals and served snacks and drinks. I, of course, wandered around for the snacks and drinks. 

This morning I prepared a crispy fried egg served over oats with steamed broccoli and carrots for brunch, had some popcorn for an afternoon snack and then enjoyed a big dinner at the holiday party.



I’ve been eating homemade applesauce that I got from a friend last week and free cider left over from a recent work event. I think I’ve figured out how to keep cider from fermenting so quickly – keep the lid off in the fridge – seems to have worked this time.

I have been successful at packing lunches for work most of this year! This really helps me to save money and maintain my weight. I hope to continue this trend. It helps if I prep food in advance each week, but that doesn’t always happen.

Tomorrow, I’ll make the salads for work and perhaps a small pot of pea soup with ingredients I already have on hand. I’ll cook a grain (maybe sorghum?) and maybe make an apple crisp with some of local apples that I have in my fridge (free from a few work events and a friend’s tree). I did just have to get rid of about six spoiled apples that I never got around to using. I’ll also hard boil some eggs and wash and chop broccoli and carrots so that they are ready to go when I need them. That should take care of food for the week.

I took a fairly spontaneous trip to New York City this past weekend and did it as frugally as possible! The main reason for my visit was to see an Annie Leibovitz photography exhibit, which I’ve known about for a year as it traveled the world, but it is only in NY from November 18 – December 11. Such bad timing with Thanksgiving and the holiday season in that window! This weekend was the only chance for me to go.

I haven’t been to the city during the holiday season since the 1980s, so I thought it would fun to go for the exhibit and then walk around and enjoy the festive atmosphere. A friend was tentatively going to join me, but she had to cancel, so I decided to go by myself. The best way to get to NY from my area is to drive anywhere from 1 hour to 5 hours and then take a train into the city. For an overnight trip (it’s just a tad too far to make a day trip worthwhile), the best option is to drive for 2.5 hours and then train for about 2.5 hours. But since I made my travel plans so close to the weekend, the best train times were either very expensive or sold out. So, I opted to drive to a commuter town closer to the city and take a train from there. Parking at the station is free on weekends, and the ride costs $8.75 one way and is just under an hour.

I didn’t want to invest a lot in lodging and thought I would have to stay outside of the city. But, after some research, I found a room in a basic little place in Chelsea that had good reviews. One drawback was shared bathrooms, but it was significantly cheaper than the cheapest hotels with private bathrooms. I opted to pay $10 extra for the choice to cancel up until 6:00p the day before in case I changed my mind about taking the trip. The total cost for the room was $168.74 including all taxes. It worked perfectly for my needs, was in a great location and I liked it! Very clean and the staff was friendly. My room was Spartan, but the young owners made the place as hip as possible so there was some creative flair.

I practiced packing light, which is difficult for me! I wanted to walk from Grand Central to my lodging and was able to utilize the backpack that I bought for a walking trip in Portugal that I took in October. This was so much nicer than dragging luggage through the city. The hotel room had a fridge, so I took some food that I already had on hand – two salads, rice and roasted veggies, hardboiled eggs, apples, applesauce, peanut butter, and some walnuts, almonds and raisins.

Leaving my house on Saturday morning at 7:00a, I drove 4.5 hours to the train and was in the city by 12:45p. I love New York! I exited the station and started walking down Park Avenue taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of the city. The first time the Empire State Building comes into view is always exciting. It was a gorgeous brisk sunny day. I strolled around for a bit and stopped to eat one of my salads at a café table on Herald Square across from Macy’s, which was all decked out for Christmas.



I found my hotel, checked in (my room was ready early), dropped off my things and headed back out. I walked along the High Line, then down into the Village. I wasn’t going to eat any meals out, but decided to splurge on a burger and a beer at The Spotted Pig in the West Village. I’d heard that their burgers were really good, but that the place gets crowded. I was able to snag an empty window stool and just made the cutoff before the kitchen closed at 4:30p to prepare for dinner. The burger was delicious and the fries were amazing – super thin shoestring fries with garlic and rosemary. The local beer was good, too. Yum! I filled up fast and took the leftovers to go. Total cost of the meal was almost $42.93. In retrospect, I wish I had skipped this meal or just ordered fries and a beer and put the money towards something else that would have brought me more joy than eating out.


A rare unoccupied section of the High Line





I then walked over near Chelsea Piers to the photo exhibit, which was free. It was mostly digital, which was fairly disappointing, but I enjoyed it. I left when it closed at 7:00p and returned to my room for a quick bathroom break. Then I headed back out and walked up to Times Square to marvel at the over-the-top media, then on to Rockefeller Center to see the tree, enjoy a light show at Saks Fifth Avenue, and walk through Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. So many people! Everywhere I went, the streets were packed, but I noticed that I didn’t see one incident of aggression, arguing, or rudeness. I then headed back to my room. By this time it was about 11:00p. I was exhausted after walking all day. I wonder how many steps would have been recorded if I had a fit bit?


times square


light show at saks


cool dress - saks


the tree


offering candles at saint patrick's cathedral



The next morning I slept in for a bit, then relaxed in my room and ate my other salad and an egg for brunch. I packed up my stuff and checked out around 11:30, leaving my bag with the front desk. I then walked over to the Fifth Avenue and then up to Central Park, about 30 blocks. So many fun window displays! I noticed lots of police as I got closer to the park and realized that I was going to pass Trump Tower. I decided to go in, through all the security of course, and check it out. Yuck.


ny public library lion decked out for the holidays


saint patrick's by day


dolce & gabbana display


i need new sneakers!


central park

I then continued on to the park where I strolled around for a bit before catching the subway back to my hotel. The subway cost $3! I found a dime in the change slot when I got my receipt from the ticket machine, but then I lost a dime in my car yesterday! I felt old as I remembered when the subway used to be a dollar. I grabbed my bag and walked back to Grand Central for the train out of town. Then I had a very long 4.5 hour drive back home. In the dark. Yuck. At one point, I stopped for some fries at McD’s.

I really enjoyed my time in the city, although I miss the grittiness of 80s New York – it’s pretty tame and homogenized now. The consumerism around Christmas was intense!

I broke my 23-day no-sugar streak last week with some really good (free!) cookies left over from a work event. I got a craving for a chocolate caramel candy bar on the walk back to my room on Saturday night, but didn’t pass any drugstores. There was a 7 Eleven on my block, so I spent $2.60 on a small candy bar. The next day I found a 2 for 1 sale on a bigger size of the same candy bar at a drugstore. Well, 2 for 1 if you had the store’s courtesy card, which I didn’t, but the guy at the register gave me the deal anyway. I ate one on my walk to the train and on the train and the other during my long car ride, but the caramel had leaked and the bar stuck to the wrapper so it was hard to fully enjoy. I should have skipped all of the candy bars and ate the apples and nuts that I brought with me! I did start no sugar again this week and am on day 4. My work holiday party is Saturday, so I will break it again if the dessert selection is worth it.

I tallied up my expenses and my weekend cost just under $300 – not bad for 24 hours in NYC!

42.87 gas
17.50 train roundtrip
11.10 highway tolls
3.00 NYC subway

1.00 lit candle in St Patrick’s

168.74 lodging

43.00 Saturday early dinner
5.53 3 caramel candy bars
2.82 McD’s fries on ride home

1.17 Repub Wireless temporary data upgrade (my phone plan costs 11.47/month for cell calls and text, but only wifi for data. I upgraded to a 3G data plan for the two days for only $1.17. Was so convenient to have full data while finding my way around the city).

TOTAL SPENT 296.73

I thoroughly enjoyed my quiet Thanksgiving staycation and I am so sad that the break is already over. I put the lights on my Christmas tree on Saturday night and barely had enough because the tree is larger than I realized. I made do with what I have because I didn’t want to venture out to the store yesterday and I think it looks ok. I thought I'd start trimming the tree last evening, but never did, so I will do that this week when I can find pockets of time.

I dedicated time Saturday and Sunday to decluttering. I want and need to get rid of a lot of junk that has accumulating in my house and is weighing me down. I started to tackle my office, guest bedroom and my clothes closet. Ugh – I always make the same mistake of working on too many areas at once. Now the house is in disarray and I am back at work. I am not sure when I will have the time or energy to focus on this project again. Ideally I will spend a little time each day going forward, but the reality is that I won't do this consistently!

I have a bag of clothes to donate. The trick will be to actually take them out of the house. I started this particular bag a few months ago and it has just been sitting in my bedroom. I think there might be a local organization that recycles textiles, so I have a bag of unusable clothes, too. Uh oh, I did some quick research and it looks like textile recycling is no longer an option in my area. This is a tricky situation for me. I have had a stash of these unusable clothes in my back room for years because I had heard of textile recycling, but wasn't sure where to do it and I couldn’t bring myself to just throw them away. (Update – called a local thrift shop today and they DO still collect for textile recycling! I'm going to take both bags of clothes there this week!)

The reason I have so much junk is that my own mind is a master at talking me into keeping anything that I try to get rid of (might need it someday, could use it for this, etc.) AND I have a serious aversion to throwing things away and adding to a landfill. I also hold onto things with the idea that I'll have a yard sale, but I never do and probably never will. How can I let go of stuff that I could possible sell? But then I don't try to sell it. It's a vicious cycle!! A few years ago I hired a woman to help me get rid of stuff. She was great and very compassionately helped me to sort through a lot of items and took my discards with her to drop off at a donation center. She even agreed to take the boxes and bags to the car herself because I was afraid that I would see something and want it back! I've thought about hiring her again, but I'm going to start out on my own and see how far I can get.

I have some old sheets and towels for the local animal shelter – items that are on their wish list, so I hope they will take them. They were closed today, so I'll call tomorrow to inquire. I also added three rolls of toilet paper and one roll of paper towels from my paper products stash to that box since those items are also on the shelter's wish list.

I found $70 while cleaning out a purse, which was a total surprise because I rarely carry cash so I don't usually find money in pockets or purses. My best guess is that the money is from my birthday in late September. I bought concert tickets for a group of friends and it might be part of the reimbursement that I collected. Cool though!

I also refound a $1500 check from my 2015 flex spending account in a stack of papers in my office. I need to deposit that check and work on the paperwork for my 2016 flex spending which will be another $1500. I will most likely get a specialized mouth guard from my dentist in the next few months which will cost about $2000 and won't be covered by insurance. I plan to use part of the $3000 total flex spending reimbursements towards this expense.

I wish I had kept track of snowflakes and found money for the year. Two recent ones:

$125 cash from sw@gbucks over the past two months
.16 found in parking lots last week

I also found $10 in a washing machine at the laundromat a few months ago! That was exciting!

I’m on Day 23 of no sugar!

Goodness – it's very late on the east coast - time for bed!

My Black Friday was low key. I got my Christmas tree at a local farm - total cost was $44.94 - and it's beautiful! My friend M, her 8-year-old daughter J and I found the perfect one in a field, cut it down and took it to my house to set up. Unfortunately, the basic stand that I have been using for many years would not work with this tree. M has helped me to put up my tree for years and this was the first time we failed! The trunk was too short and the tree too heavy for the old stand.

She had to leave, so I drove to the local hardware store and bought a new-fangled stand for $31.79, took it home and tried to set up the tree myself. It would have worked, except that in order to center the tree in the stand, I needed to be able to lift it straight up once I got it upright in the stand, but it was too heavy. Thankfully my cat sitter happened to be home and she was able to come over and help me finish the job. The stand is so easier to use and much sturdier than the old one.

It is interesting, I will suffer with an inferior product as long as it "works". I have wanted to get a new tree stand for a while, but it was so hard to replace the old one even though I know there are many new designs that are far superior to my old metal one and worth the investment.

The tree and stand didn't even actually cost me anything and it was still hard to pay. My mom likes to give me money for my tree. This year was the first time in a long time that I didn't celebrate Thanksgiving with my mom and my brother and his family in my hometown in southern NJ or that they didn't all come north to my area to celebrate with me. My mom decided to go to Florida early, so I stayed home to enjoy a much needed five-day break. My mom mailed a check for the tree, but also added money for me to go out to dinner for Thanksgiving because she felt bad that I didn't have plans. I then decided to make plans with M and her family and our meal out only cost $5 each. So, the $125 check covered my meal, the tree and the stand with 43.27 left over. Thanks Mom!

Usually I buy local chocolate milk (I like to call it liquid crack) to heat up, local whipped cream and some snacks for our tree day, but I was on day 19 of no sugar (today is 20!) and M didn't have as much time to hang out as she usually does. So, I didn't bother getting anything and thankfully little J was fine eating slices of local Macintosh apple (free from a recent work event I hosted) with freshly ground peanut butter that I had on hand when she got hungry. Whew.

I bought an InstantPot pressure cooker from Am@zon yesterday - on sale for 68.95 from 129.99 with free shipping. I had $60 worth of languishing Am@zon gift cards from sw@gbucks, so my total cost was only 8.95. I hope I like it!

My total Friday spending was $85.68 and it was all money well spent.

Today I only spent $2.50 for garbage drop off. I hadn't disposed of trash and recycling for over a month and I was glad to get rid of the buildup. I ate the last of my Thanksgiving leftovers for lunch and made a box of Annie's mac and cheese from the cupboard with steamed broccoli and cauliflower for dinner. It has been gloomy here all week and I was in the mood for comfort food. I also enjoyed free local apple cider left over from my work event.

Time to put the lights on my tree. I usually invite my friend D over to help, but I'm in the mood to be alone this weekend. My tree is quite tall, so I am hoping that I will be able to do the lights by myself tonight.

I've been listening to Christmas music all day while tackling some decluttering. I really need to get rid of unnecessary stuff!!

Hope everyone is having an enjoyable weekend.

Hope my fellow american bloggers are enjoying a day off and a delicious meal.

I had a record frugal holiday this year...a $5 full Thanksgiving meal (and got some leftovers to take home!) at my work place with some friends followed by free cross-country skiing on early snow at a local place that was closed for the holiday. Super casual and relaxed day.

Now I'm home with my Christmas candles lit in the windows and I'll get my tree tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I feel very lucky to have just spent the last two weeks away - 12 days in Portugal, 2 travel days and 2 days with my mom in NJ. I took a walking tour on the southwestern coast of Portugal - it was amazingly beautiful and challenging. I was with a group of 13 women and we walked over 90 miles in 9 days. We also ate and drank a lot of delicious local food and wine.

I haven't yet figured out the total that I spent on the trip, but it was worth it. On my way home from Portugal, I stopped in NJ to spend two days with my mom. It was fun to rehash the trip with her. Who else would look at my many photos? I returned home on Saturday evening, snuggled with my very lonely cat all day Sunday, and started back at work today.

Now it's time to get back to my routine and to get a grip on my finances. I spent A LOT of time preparing for the trip - walking, buying gear, deciding what to take, packing, and making sure everything at work and home was taken care of before I left. Consequently, I ignored many other parts of my life and now need to refocus.

I think the first item I will tackle will be returning the many hiking shoes and boots, rain gear, backpacks, luggage and other unused miscellaneous items that I bought. I have at least $2000 worth of gear that was charged to credit cards. Some will be returned via mail, some to stores. I can't wait to get rid of it all!

I made it through my first day of work and now it's almost time to go home. Yay. I am very tired. I look forward to catching up on all the blogs. I'm sure that a lot happened while I was gone.

I will post more about the trip, but in the meantime here is one photo of the coast of Portugal.

I only spent $1 over the three-day weekend and that was for trash disposal. And I only drove a mile, to dispose of said trash, during the entire weekend, so I didn't use any gas. A truly frugal weekend!

I did buy a plane ticket to Portugal very, very, very late on Monday night, so I'm going to count that as spending on Tuesday, since technically it was.

Monday - NSD

Tuesday
Plane ticket
Fare: $963.06
Window seat: $64.90 (I can't believe you have to buy seats now! The only free seats left were a few in the center and I need to lean against the wall in order to sleep without hurting my neck with head bobbing, so it's worth the extra money, but still…)
Last leg of the trip: $5.60 plus 7500 frequent flier miles
Total plane ticket cost: $1033.56

Hotel in Portugal purchased online - 1 night - $190.15

Wednesday
Gas - filled tank (5 cent/gal discount for cash) $28.38 (saved .68)
Food at my favorite local market
Peaches $4.13 (1.66 lb @ 2.49/lb - I think I got 5, still so yummy!)
jar of local salsa on sale 3.99 (I hope it's good!)
local uncured hot dogs $4.99 (these are in the freezer for quick future meals)

Thursday - no spend day
Free lunch - work meeting at restaurant (and brought home leftover ½ brisket beef sandwich)
Massage – was supposed to be 90 minutes, but I totally forgot and showed up late, so was probably a little less than an hour (free with insurance)

Friday (today)
Dry goods at grocery store
Paper towels (6 rolls) and can of bathroom cleanser $6.93 total

$1272.13 – total spending for week. If I remove the travel costs, I only had $48.42 in discretionary spending.

I have enough food at home to feed myself for the weekend and probably most of next week, so I am going to avoid going to my favorite food store after work. I plan to spend most of tomorrow driving to the closest shopping area (about 50 minutes away) to purchase items for my trip. I need to look at hiking boots, day packs and luggage, plus some other small items. I believe it will be a fairly spendy day. I will eat a big breakfast before leaving and pack food to take with me so that I don't have to spend time or money on lunch.

I took a 90-minute walk after work on Wednesday and I hope to do walk for at least 60 minutes after work today, if I can drag myself out the door.

Woo hoo – TGIF!!

…I refuse to accept that it’s September!

I am usually am excited about the coming of fall and winter, but as I get older, I find that I do not look forward to the colder weather and all that it entails. Summer is just easier.

It was a good and mostly frugal week overall. I worked all week. On Monday and Wednesday evenings, I walked for an hour with my neighbor and friend A on our road (free). She gave me a tomato, some basil and a pottery platter (useful free stuff). I took a solo 70-minute walk on some quiet trails on Thursday evening right after work.

On Tuesday, I had a late afternoon chiropractor appointment (covered by insurance) and then I met my knitting group at our favorite lakeside state park for swimming and a potluck. There's a $3 entrance fee, but I bought a punch card a few years ago that I haven't finished yet, although I'm now remembering that the collection booth was empty and I had no cash to put in the fee box. Oh well, I was only there for about 2 hours before the park closed.

I prepared a cold green bean salad which was a big hit - lightly steamed green beans with halved cherry tomatoes, chopped red onion, flat-leaf parsley and scallion greens, and chunks of feta cheese. I made a dressing of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, stone ground mustard, salt and pepper. The greens beans and cherry tomatoes were free from a neighbor's garden. I have parsley and scallions growing in containers and I bought a red onion and the feta. I had all of the dressing ingredients on hand. The dish probably cost about $3 total and was enough for a potluck with 7 people and I had leftovers for a few days.

It was a beautiful evening and most of us swam and then we ate and talked until sunset, when they kicked us out of the park. It was a fun, satisfying and frugal evening.

On a side note, the lakes and rivers in my area are very low this summer due to an ongoing drought, but the swimming was still good. I hope to host our end of September gathering, but I haven't claimed it yet. That's my usual month because my birthday is in late September and it's fun to have everyone over around that time.

I had a massage (covered by insurance) after work on Friday. My biggest expenditures were, as usual, food! I have received tons of free produce this summer, but I'm still buying way too much food. I'm so tempted by the bounty at this time of year.

Labor Day weekend was super quiet. I've been on the go all summer and wanted three days at home to relax, organize and clean. Ah, the life of an introvert! I was really hoping it would rain so that staying in wouldn't seem so weird, but, alas, we had three days of glorious weather. Oh, well.

I only spent $1 all weekend when I drove down the street to drop off my trash and recycling on Saturday morning. A small bag of trash usually costs $2.50, but I had a tiny grocery bag that the woman only charged me $1 for.

My neighbor is a car washing fanatic and let me use his shop vac to clean out my very dirty car. I think that early December was probably the last time it was cleaned. What a relief! I also did some exciting sorting and organizing of Tupperware, clothing and my office, which was a disaster.

I just have too much stuff and I can't seem to get rid of any of it! Some sort of mutant depression-era mindset took hold of my brain at some point and has held me hostage ever since. I try to declutter and somehow come up with a reason to keep everything.

I've tried the "what brings you joy" method as CB suggested in a comment, but that doesn't seem to work either because I’m so out of touch with what makes me happy. It's very interesting to observe, but kind of torturous to live.

My main goal for the weekend was to nail down my travel plans and plane ticket for a walking tour I'm taking in Portugal this fall. Oh my, it's now 10:00p on Monday evening and I'm still undecided. Meanwhile the prices keep rising! I have a few different scenarios and I just have to choose one and soon because I'm tired of thinking about it.

After work on Friday I met my friend M in a nearby small town where we walked for almost an hour and then chatted for a bit on a park bench before parting ways. I was on day 12 (I'm now on day 17!) of eating no sugar, so that negated any desire to splurge at one of two local ice cream establishments. It was a free, healthy and satisfying evening activity.

I spent most of Saturday at home cleaning up and relaxing. M's partner and daughter were away for a few days and she loosely suggested doing something. She ended up contacting D & T, old friends of ours who we haven't seen in a very long time, and they were free and invited us over for dinner. We made the hour trek to their neck of the woods and on the way we stopped at a beautiful swimming hole for a dip in the icy river, which felt so good on a hot day!

We continued on to our friends' house and the four of us and their dog went for a long walk on a quiet dirt road. We then hung out on their deck, which affords a gorgeous view, drinking beers and eating chips and tomatillo salsa that M had made with items from her garden and tomatillos from a friend. The salsa was so delicious and I chowed down.

Then we had dinner - grilled sweet corn on the cob, grilled corn tortillas with black beans, rice, cherry tomatoes, cheese, scallions, parsley, salsa, and a big pile of steamed green and yellow string beans. All of the produce except the corn was from T's and M's gardens. We finished the meal with local grapes that I provided and wild blackberries that T had picked in the woods.

It was really fun to see D & T again. Time really flies. They were two of my best friends back in the 90s and early 2000s. But they live an hour away with a mountain in between and, at some point, I just got busy with work and life and depression and didn't have the energy to drive as much as when I was younger. They had a son and our lives went in different directions. But, over the past few years we've managed to connect once in a while, but I haven't hung out at their house in a very long time. Back in the day, I'd go over for dinner on Friday evening and end up staying until Monday morning...I was the guest that wouldn't leave! At the time, I lived in an apartment and it was much more fun to gather at their beautiful house, so I visited them more than they visited me. Anyway, the passage of time and the losses that occur with that reality make me feel sad.

If our Saturday visit hadn't been so spontaneous, I would have shopped and contributed more to the meal, but there are no good food stores on the drive to D & T's place. I brought four beers that I happened to have in my fridge, some local grapes that I bought on Friday, and a can of black beans from my cupboard that didn't get used. I also brought some leftover salsa that I had in the fridge just in case the salsas that M and T made were too spicy. They both love the heat and I'm a wimp! We would have stopped to get the corn, but we weren't going to pass any farm stands, so D picked it up on his way home from an earlier outing.

The food was all so fresh...I love this time of the year and most of my friends are dedicated gardeners and healthy cooks. A different friend D invited me over a few weekends ago for soft tacos made with local beef and some homemade cookies and cream ice cream. Yum!

I spent most of Sunday annoyed at myself for one of my more unsavory financial flaws. I have a tendency to overbuy when I clothes shop because I have a hard time making decisions in the store. I spend a ton of money with the intention of returning some of the items once I get home and try things on. In late July, an old college friend C spontaneously texted and invited me up to his cabin on a river in northern Quebec for a few days. I said yes and then, I'm not sure why, went to TJ M@xx to look at clothes.

I ended up spending about $360 because I was in a rush and couldn't make decisions. I took a few things on my trip and only ended up wearing one item, which I really like. Then the bag sat in my house for 29 days until Sunday, which was the last day to return items for a refund. Ugh. I finally tried things on and decided what to keep. I was annoyed because at 7:00p (I had procrastinated all day) I had to drive to the town where I work on a non-work day to return the unwanted items! I couldn’t wait until Monday and do it while in town for work because I would have missed the 30-day refund period. I returned about $170 worth of clothes. Oh, well, live and don't learn because I'm sure that I will do it again.

While in that section of town, I stopped at a grocery store that I don't frequent because of its inconvenient location and bought cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese for tomato season, and baby wipes. TMI alert, but because of a previous health problem, I need to use "wipes" in the bathroom and the conventional brands irritate my delicate skin . So, I've been using natural brand baby wipes for years and this particular grocery store sells them in bulk. I tear them in half before using to make the quantity stretch.

I spent $16.80 on those three items, making it a low-spend but enjoyable weekend.

I had a dental appointment on Thursday and I feel bad because I was a good 15 minutes late. Woops. It's a long drive and I need to plan to leave earlier next time. It was scheduled as a routine cleaning, but the billing office had checked with my insurance company to see if they would cover full x-rays, which hadn't been done in many years. Wow, that procedure is completely different - the hygienist took digital x-rays as I sat in the dental chair in the room where she did my cleaning. Apparently they will be covered and I really hope that's true! I was informed that I have four cavities, three on the bottom on one side and one on the bottom on the other side. The fourth one is under a crown, which will need to be replaced in order to deal with the cavity. Ugh - that's a lot of novocain, drilling and soreness in my future. The silver lining, of course, is that I have dental insurance, for which I feel very grateful. Their estimate of what I'll owe out of pocket is between $800 - 1000. They are waiting to hear back from my insurance company to see what my actual estimated OOP will be.

Technically, the work could be done in two appointments. The first would involve removing the crown, taking care of all four cavities at the same time and fitting a temporary crown. Then the permanent crown would be installed during the second appointment. I would need to have the temporary crown in place for three weeks. I am taking a 10-day walking trip in Portugal starting in October and I don't want to travel with a temp or new crown. So, I've scheduled an appointment in September to tackle three of the cavities, then I will schedule two appointments for after my trip to take care of the fourth cavity and crown. Blech.

According to my dentist, one of the reasons that I develop cavities quickly is that I grind my teeth at night. I have a mouth guard that he made for me years ago, but he has always wanted me to invest in an alternative mouth guard scenario which runs about $2K and is not covered by insurance. I have resisted for years because I didn't want to pay for it and I wasn't sure if it was legit. I need to do some research, but I'm starting to lean towards going for it and I'm regretting not acting sooner. I mentioned it to the receptionist and she said that some patients can be referred out to another dentist who works with a similar method who can bill medical insurance and have this method at least partially covered. I think that my insurance company paid for my original mouth guard under medical, so I'm going to call and ask if I have options. We'll see if I follow through on this.

I did start looking at hiking boots/shoes after my appointment, but I'll save that scenario for a future post. In response to comments on my previous post, I see that "breaking in" new boots is no longer the correct term. In the past when hiking boots were leather, they needed to be broken in to stretch and soften the leather. Now that most are made of soft materials it's more a period of getting used to them and making sure that they are comfortable, which is what I want to do before my trip. The tour is 10 days of walking/hiking for 10 - 18 miles a day, so supportive and comfy footwear is a must!

I didn't spend any money on Thursday besides purchasing three pairs of boots, at least two of which will be returned, so I'm not sure what that total will be yet. I am happy that I quickly packed a lunch to eat after my dentist appointment and before my boot shopping. I was able to eat healthy food and avoid spending money on lunch in town. That decision is also what made me late, so again, I'll need to plan better next time.

A few groceries were my only purchases on Friday. They were expensive items, though, but worth it. The Pennsylvania peaches that my local natural food store has been carrying are amazing - so delicious and juicy, so I've been splurging on those for a few weeks. And a local vineyard grows a very tasty table grape that is only available for a few weeks and sells out quite quickly. I noticed them when I went in to get more peaches, so I grabbed a bunch of bunches.

Groceries 38.99
2.94 lbs peaches (5) @ 2.49/lb 7.32
2 lb local grapes @ 4.99/lb 9.98
bulk whole wheat organic pasta 2.23
32 oz organic olive oil (on sale) 12.99
small bag bulk nutritional yeast (for popcorn, saw recently that a few other bloggers enjoy it this way, too!) 1.36
I met a friend for an hour walk n' chat in a nearby small town on Friday evening and then came home and relaxed with my cat.

Found a dime last weekend and a quarter this week. I always think of CB when I pick up found money! Oh, a few months ago I found a crumpled $10 bill in a washing machine at a laundromat! That was fun.

I started with the easiest assignment from yesterday's financial consultant meeting. I created my SS account, downloaded my most recent statement and uploaded it to my retirement plan website so that the advisor can review it. I do qualify for SS benefits and Medicare, so that's a plus!

According to the summary, at my current SS earnings rate, if I continue working until...
my full retirement age (67), my payment would be about $1,928 a month OR
age 70, my payment would be about $2,475 a month OR
age 62 (early retirement), my payment would be about $1,248 a month

I do still look at this as a bonus to whatever I save on my own for retirement, because part of my future fantasy is to work part-time as I approach 60, so I don't foresee making my current salary all the way until I'm 67 to 70. In that case, the payment would be much lower - maybe $1000 a month?

Also, this sentence appears on the statement: Your estimated benefits are based on current law. Congress has made changes to the law in the past and can do so at any time. The law governing benefit amounts may change because, by 2034, the payroll taxes collected will be enough to pay only about 79 percent of scheduled benefits.

Yesterday was a low-spend day, only $24.77 to fill my gas tank. I paid cash and saved 5 cents a gallon, which was a bonus because I rarely carry cash! I need to remember to use cash for gas rather than my rewards credit card with 1% cash back. The total cost was $25.34, so I saved 57 cents by paying cash. If I had charged it, I would have earned 25 cents cash back. My impulse is to go for the cash back (free money!), but in this case paying in cash is a better deal. I should probably investigate cards with higher cash back bonuses - do these exist?

I'm working at home this morning and then have an afternoon dentist appointment, which is about an hour away. I started seeing this dentist many years ago because he incorporates holistic elements into his practice. I really like going there, but it's so far! I had my last cleaning scheduled for January, but had to cancel due to busyness. I forgot to reschedule for months and by the time I remembered, they were booked until late August. The visit will cost $25 to cover my dental deductible. I hope he doesn't discover any cavities or other problems, but he probably will. My teeth are very susceptible to cavities.

I live in a very rural area, and the dental office is just outside of the "big city', so I hope I have enough energy to try on some hiking boots while I'm up there. I'm taking a walking tour in Portugal this October and need to buy boots ASAP so that I can break them in before the trip. I also need to purchase my plane ticket.