December 2, 2015
Change from Jan 2015: 18.7% increase
0.23% decrease from last month
ON MONEY
I use Swagbucks. Here’s a handy tutorial if you’d like to join and earn.
Spending
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The huge cash withdrawals are still happening: half of our property tax bill was due, the other half will be due early next year, our mortgage prepayment actually went through (though we had a specific amount we took directly out of savings so that wasn’t a scramble).
The large withdrawals for my retirement savings will drop to a lower monthly amount starting in January thereby improving our cash flow by a couple hundred dollars. That’ll be good. I hate feeling like we have zero cash flow cushion.
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November 2, 2015
Change from Jan 2015: 19% increase
3% decrease from last month
ON MONEY
I use Swagbucks. Here’s a handy tutorial if you’d like to join and earn.
I kicked some financial-planning tuchus this month!
I rearranged our banking to accommodate new regular expenses, got our estate planning lawyer lined up and retainer fee-d, sorted out the paperwork for Phase 2 in LB’s childcare arrangements, had the life insurance nurse visit for the necessary lab work. HUGE.
Expenses
Three huge checks: One for our estate planning, one for LB’s care. I was expecting those, but they still felt like an elbow to the solar plexus. Then a big whack at our mortgage. That was satisfying.
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October 2, 2015
Change from Jan 2015: 15.2% increase
0.5% decrease from last month
ON MONEY
I use Swagbucks. Here’s a handy tutorial if you’d like to join and earn.
Spending
Last we checked, I was dreading phone replacement. Dragged my feet, in fact, even though the phones were being outrageously non functional: turning off randomly, refusing to turn back on, “the camera is not connected” messages. Neither of us wanted phablets, which is where all the newer smartphones today are headed, and we definitely didn’t want the $1000+ bill that comes with two new phones. But it seemed like the best we could do was a certified used phone for about 20% less and any used electronics from an unknown seller always makes me nervous.
During our intense research period, PiC was gifted a new to him used phone, and that was a huge relief. I bought him a new case and charging cords, he did SIM card surgery, and he’s set! I deleted a bunch of apps and data from my phone and that’s helped a little bit so that I don’t have to rush out and replace it with something expensive. We were looking at the Samsung Galaxy 6 but it’s huge and so’s the price tag.
*keeps phone on life support*
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September 2, 2015
Total change from Jan 2015: 15% increase (2% decrease from last month)
On Money
I use Swagbucks to earn money for the household. My referral link if you like!
My brokerage is giving a $100 referral bonus right now, it’s usually $50. Let me know if you’d like a referral!
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As predicted, our summer fun was costly and our credit card bill came home to roost. I’m a little annoyed that we’ll have to pull out of savings but it’s a residual kind of annoyance, the kind that comes with knowing you were going to have to do a distasteful thing, then actually doing it.
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Credit cards: I need about 40k more airline miles and I’ll be able to book domestic flights for the three of us for a nominal fee next spring. I was only going to book two adult tickets and have LB fly as a lap infant but it’s looking a lot like ze won’t be able to sit still for a 5-hour flight.
It’s a balance of taking the time to earn the miles and potentially not booking the ticket in time to get the award seats. Actually, thinking on it, we are both United cardholders so we should be able to book at least Standard awards as long as there are seats on the flights but I want the Super Saver award flights.
We’ve been kicking around several possible destinations for next year, we just have to narrow it down to the most likely.
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August 3, 2015
Change from Jan 2015: 17.2% increase
On Money
I spent (an astounding) $200 on myself this month.
First, I lopped off several inches of hair so I’m set for several months. My attention span for sitting in a chair while my hair’s cut is shorter and shorter.
Then, I had a therapeutic massage (aka The Torturous Ordeal) that brought tears to my eyes but worked out the tension that had built up in my muscles. The smart thing to do would be not to wait 3 months between massages.
And, finally bought fresh razor blades. I don’t know why I hate paying real money for razors, but I do.
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July 1, 2015
Change from Jan 2015: 0.55% decrease
On Money
I’m working away at Swagbucks to earn Amazon money for household, Little Bean, and dog things we need. Feel free to join using my referral link if you like!
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Are you a Comcast customer? Were you hit by the West Coast outage on June 1st/2nd? Comcast is offering a $5 credit. They say you have to call but I’m not able to make phone calls during the day so I asked for help online via chat and that worked. My outage disrupted work for 2 days so I received a $10 credit.
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I won Donna’s Swagbucks giveaway! It was an amazing lift during a very difficult week.
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Dammit auto repairs! My car cost nearly $600 in maintenance. A couple thousand a year in maintenance is still loads better than a car payment. For the record, we bought our cars used, with cash, from private owners. We haven’t had any significant problems with them in the last three and five years (respectively) of owning them.
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June 1, 2015
Change from Jan 2015: 16.8% increase
On Money
I’m working away at Swagbucks to earn Amazon money for household, Little Bean, and dog things we need. Feel free to join using my referral link if you like!
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PiC recently joked he’d settle for a luxury sports car and a very family car. Spending between $90-120K on cars? That’s a riot. So I proposed a swap. If he supports me writing a few bestsellers (ha), we’ll talk cars.
Note: 3 years ago, we paid $20K in cash for 2 used practical family-friendly cars with decent mileage and in great condition. We’ve had to spend on maintenance since, but very little, comparatively speaking.
Of course, his window shopping was stopped sort when I asked which would you want first, fancy car or a house?
Which would you want first? (or at all)
(and then I caught him browsing Trulia. I’d better get cracking and writing!)
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