May To-Do List Update

So how did I do with my May To-Do List?

* Pay Bills  PASS This is and everything paid on time even though we were gone about half the month.

* Bike Something  FAIL  The bike got moved(and dismantled)for the impending house re-org so not able to use it in May.  I did however do a lot of swimming on our trip at various hotels.

* Declutter  PASS Piling up more to get rid of this month too.

* 1 Load to Salvation Army  PASS  1 Load gone and another one or two looks to be going in June.

* Read 1 Book PASS  I finished the Immigrant Bride stories book.  A little too heavy on the overt religious aspect(as it was put out by one of those Christian publishing companies)for my taste but most of it was interesting even so.

* Finish Moving toiletries and fabric PASS  All the toiletries and fabrics have been relocated, what wasn't giving away and/or used for another Giveaway(stay tuned for the giveaway to start on Sunday).  I still have waaaay more toiletries than we currently need but with 5 people in the house(2 of which are notorious in these parts for going through product)we will be needing the better part of it.  Even so, I am still on a Rite-Aid moratorium. 8-(

* Go to Dr. Appointments  PASS  All appointments were attended and/or cancelled when I decided against having that HS surgery.

* Visit Friends PASS Not only was I able to fit in ONE visit but I accomplished THREE!  Two were folks I met online(and have visited with in person before)and One was a "in real life" visit with someone who was only known to me through her blog.  And yes, these three visits were the BEST THING about our road trip! 8-)))

* Eat Well while traveling PASS  The only time we ventured into a fast food(Micky D's/BK/Wendy's/etc.)was to get Hubs coffee.  Ok, we did stop in a local donut shop for donuts but we tried to eat better on the road this trip.

Not much of a list last month and not many "hard" tasks.  With being away for almost half of May I didn't see the need to put a ton of items on this list that I wouldn't be able to do since we weren't home. Except for the biking thing(which was physically impossible to accomplish)I got it all done.
Go me.

Now I am off to figure out what to put onto June's To-Do List.  Not sure at this point with so much up in the air how June will go.

How about you?  Did you get everything accomplished in May that you set out to do?
Tell us about your month.

Sluggy 

Lincoln Connection.....What Do Ya Know!

As I was kanoodling around in the Hanks/Lincoln genealogy/family tree I discovered that I too have a very distant via "marriage in our allied families" connection to Mr. Lincoln.

Yeah, everywhere I turn I uncover family connections to just about everyone. lolz

Nancy Hanks Lincoln, the mother of Abraham, had a sister(not sure if they are full siblings though as both their fathers are unknown)named Sarah Hanks.

Sarah Hanks, herself, also had an illegitimate child, a daughter named Margaret Hanks.

This Margaret Hanks, who was a full 1st cousin to Abraham Lincoln, married Andrew LeGrand.

Andrew LeGrand is a descendant of Pierre LeGrand, one of the Huguenot immigrants who arrived in 1700 on the "Peter and Anthony", the second ship of Huguenots to arrive in the Virginia Colony.

*Readers will remember that my direct 8th Great Grandparents, Abraham Soblet and Susanne Briant Soblet, along with their son, my 7th X Grat Grandfather, Pierre Jean Soblet, arrived in Virginia as well in 1700 on the first ship of Huguenots, the "Mary and Ann".  But I digress.....

The LeGRAND line down to Andrew--

Pierre LeGrand
Jean Pierre LeGrand
Abraham LeGrand
William Thomas LeGrand
John Harris LeGrand
Andrew Jackson LeGrand

Abraham LeGrand(Andrew's Great Grandfather)had a brother, Peter LeGrand.

The LeGRAND line that hooks into my family--

Pierre LeGrand
Jean Pierre LeGrand
Peter LeGrand
Nash LeGrand
Rebecca Holmes Nash
Hunter Holmes Marshall m. Sarah Stith

Peter's son, Nash LeGrand married Margaret Holmes and they had a daughter, Rebecca Holmes Nash.

Rebecca married John Marshall and their son was Hunter Holmes Marshall(the original owner of Roxabel Plantation-which my great grandparents bought in the early 1930's).

HH Marshall married Sarah Wilmer Stith, who is my 4th cousin 5 x removed.
Sarah Stith and I share common ancestors in Drury Stith and Susanna Bathurst(Sarah's 3 x GGs, my 8 x GGs).

To put it another way, Abe Lincoln is the 1st cousin of the wife of my 3rd cousin of the husband of my 4th cousin 5 x removed.

Yep, early European immigrants to American shores are just a big ol' fun ball of incestuous relations.

My own Grandma, Sluggy

We Bought A House....Yay?

Part of the reason for our road trip to Louisiana this year was to do a bit of business there.

I won't go into all the reasons for our decision but we ended up purchasing our Daughter's house from her.

The whole situation down there is complicated at best and toxic at worst and most of it is really not my story to share.

I'll just say to my Daughter made some not-so wise choices and didn't keep firm and ridged boundaries when dealing with some folks in her life and let them take wild advantage of her good heart and finances.
But then again, did I mention it's complicated?

Let's just leave it there.
In the end we bought her house and in the short term we will be landlords to some almost-familial tenants until the end of the year.
We aren't totally happy about this but it seemed the best way to help her extricate herself from a situation heading down the tubes and back on track to finishing her degree.

Our cash has taken a hit but hey!, we own another house so another valuable asset in our portfolio, right?  ;-)

When we move the current tenants out we really don't know what we'll do with the property.

I figure there are 3 options at that point........
1. Keep it and continue to rent it out at market rate.
2. Keep it and use it ourselves/retire there.
3. Fix it up and sell it.

But I can't worry about any of that right now.
I have enough stress on me with Daughter moving home and trying to fit everyone into this house again.
Plus my health has decided to go kerflooey suddenly.

So that's what is going on.
Daughter arrives with all her worldly possessions next Thursday.

At least our house isn't that one I looked at around here a couple of years ago......you remember this lovely gem?

What WAS I thinking? lolz

Sluggy

2016 $38K Savings Challenge.....May Update

Every year I keep a close eye on our monthly expenses and our monthly income.

Our income is mainly the salary my Hubs draws from his job.  We have money taken off each paycheck from the top to put into savings, before we even get our hands on it.  This money that's taken goes into various pots....life insurance, health insurance premiums, long term care insurance premiums, investments and retirement savings.  It's automatic so we are never tempted to NOT put it into savings or these other categories.

Once the automatic savings amounts, plus taxes and medical/dental/vision premiums are taken out, it leaves what we get to "live on".  From this amount we budget for bills, both monthly and irregular bills(semi-annual, annual etc.) and our variable bills(like food, eating out, clothing  etc.)  Anything left over once our monthly expenses are paid, I put aside into an interest bearing Savings Challenge account.

For 2016 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.  I am raising the Goal amount to $40,000 this year, $10K more than my goal for last year.

I have reconsidered and changed my Goal from $40K to $38K for 2016.  With some things coming down the pike this year I thought it prudent to back up my Goal a couple of thousand.  8-)

On to the May report.....

I have posted my May End of Month $38K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the Savings Challenge page tab at the top of the blog for the specific numbers HERE.

I have 2 goals each month.....
The 1st is to actually finish each month in the black and not the red.
The 2nd is to hit the targeted savings amount of $3,166.66.

I have to report that we finished up May with a less than stellar amount.
The extra amount we ended the month of May with?.......$1,831.49

Income

We had $1666.14 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.

Other monies received in May totaled $165.35.  This included interest made on non-retirement accounts.

This brought us to our gain of $1831.49
Since we have no debt, this goes into savings.

Outgo

As for the expenses this May, here are the good and the bad side of things....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Phone charges and internet were approximately the same as last month.
*  The May electric bill was actually down $82.67 from April's bill.  Less heat means less electricity used and the a/c isn't being used much yet.
*  Water use was down $21.35 from last month.  Hubs didn't spend time flushing the hot water heater in May so that may account for the decrease in that bill.
* The gas card spending was down $65.78 from April.  More gas charges were charged on the Master Card account instead.
*  The direct medical spending was up $16.17 due to my DME company not sending a monthly bill on time.  I am sure they'll figure this out and send it.  Can I say their billing dept. is a disaster? ;-)

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The cash withdrawals/spending was up $70 from last month.  I don't quite understand that is wasn't HIGHER since we spent $500 of our cash on our road trip.  I figured it would be more?
*  The credit card bill was up $103.09 from last month.  If you figure extra gas spending was put on this c/c rather than the gas card, the spending here is about what it was in April.  All but 1 hotel stretch(which I prepaid on last month's c/c bill)will be coming in June on THAT bill. bleh.
*  Hubs put the humidifier filter purchase on his Discover card so we had charges on that in May.
*  I am paying the Garbage bill quarterly this year so $84 was due this month.
*  $100 school deposit for the 2016-2017 terms for College Boy was due.
*  We had to pay $300 OOP for our HVAC compressor replacement(labor only).  Hoping to get that reimbursed from the manufacturer as they sent us a bad unit and spending to replace it is their fault.
*  Between a year of house insurance and the title transfer for the LA house we are out $1672.27.

The Food Budget costs for May are in another post, which is located HERE.

With 5 month accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2016 is $17,436.84.

Final thoughts on May---

May turned out to be a very expensive month for us.
No irregular bills due this month but over $2K in irregular/unexpected bills happened in May.
I am glad given our expenses this month we were still able to sock away something into savings.

But compared to May 2015 we put $557.29 less into savings this May. 8-(
It could have been worse I suppose.
.
We have $17,436.84 saved so far in 2016, and we have only $20,563.16 left to save over the next 7 months at this point to reach our goal of $38K saved.  That averages out to $2,937.60 a month for the rest of the year.
In 2015 we put $22,572.01 into savings in those 7 months so it's possible.  With our increased costs looming ahead for the rest of the year, it just might happen.
Stay tuned to find out which way it goes!

THOUGHTS going forward into June----
I don't even want to think about how much June is going to cost!  Trip spending on the c/c due in June is over $2,500 alone.  Then my food budget will probably go bust as we add 2 adults to the household.  Add in that electric and water costs will rise as well due to them.
On the good side of things, there are no irregular bills due in June.  August and September however will see large irregular bill amounts due(house and car insurance and property taxes).

Good things September is our other 3rd paycheck month, huh? 8-)

Darn you "life" for making me spend so much money and not save it all! lolz

So how was your May financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in May?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
What did you do with any money leftover at the end of the month?
Did you pay off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle or into savings, in an emergency fund or a retirement account?
Or did you blow it on a want?

If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check out your progress too and celebrate or commiserate with you!

As we go forward into 2016 why not make this new year the one were you clean up your finances and pay off your debts.
Plan to set something aside if you don't already now or increase what you bank now for your future self.
Live below your means and keep some change for a rainy day....because no matter how sunny it is in your life now, dark clouds come along and you'll be glad you have that umbrella to keep you dry.

Sluggy

Lincoln's Maternal Mystery Solved

I mentioned that on our Spring road trip last year we stopped by a museum in Bardstown, Kentucky on our way to Louisiana.

This little museum, being in Kentucky, had lots of Lincoln memorabilia(the wooden door off the cabin in which he was born or lived in, etc.), as well as some genealogical info.....

Once you get beyond Abraham Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks, it's all conjecture and theory as to his maternal grandparents.
There are/were 3 different theories on whom Lincoln's mother's parents were........

1. Abraham and Sarah Hanks of Campbell County VA
2. James Hanks and Lucy Shipley
3. Lucy Hanks and Unknown(born Illegitimate)

That museum in KY went with the James Hanks and Lucy Shipley theory.

I could expound upon each of these theories and bore and mystify you with the tangled genealogies of each but I won't.  It's too early in the morning to make your brains ache. ;-)

I tended to go with theory #3 as it made the most sense, knowing the familial associations of the Hanks family.

It is well known that Lucy Hanks' sister, also named Nancy(like Lucy's daughter), had an illegitimate son, Dennis Friend Hanks.  So there is precedent that the Hanks clan was "comfortable" with out of wedlock births.
Not so the society, as Lucy Hanks was brought up on fornication charges in 1789(5 years after she gave birth to Nancy)in Mercer County, KY.  Having sex outside of marriage at that time was a criminal offense.  This shows a pattern that Lucy Hanks was sexually active outside of marriage.

There is also anecdotal evidence that Lincoln himself thought himself illegitimate and he made veiled comments to his law partner, William Henry Herndon, on this subject.

* Incidentally, I am also related to William Henry Herndon, as he is my 3rd cousin 5 x removed.  William's mother was Rebecca Day Herndon.  Rebecca's parents were Edward Day, Sr. and Ursula Sublett Day.  Ursula Sublett was the sister of my 5 x Great Grandmother, Martha Sublett.  But that's a story for another time.

There is another far flung "theory" that Nancy Hanks was born into the Tanner family and raised by Abraham Enlow of Rutherford, NC.

Seems everybody and their brother over the past 100 years has wanted to be related to Abraham Lincoln.
With the exception of me it seems. ;-)

Anyway, you can throw all these theories out the window now.

A mitochondrial DNA study has been performed in the past year to determine Lincoln's maternal line.

Since Nancy Hanks Lincoln has no living direct descendants(let alone any descendants on her direct maternal line, as that Hanks/Lincoln branch died out when the last living descendant of Nancy Hanks and Thomas Lincoln, their 2 x Great Grandson, Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, died in 1985), matrilineal descendant tests had to be conducted.  This requires testing of other branches of the Hanks family who share the same female line and thus the same mtDNA.

Known and proved descendants of other female relatives descended from the Hanks family were tested, including Lucy Hank's other illegitimate daughter, Sarah Hanks(Nancy's sister)and Lucy's three daughters with Henry Sparrow.  Also tested were the two daughters of Ann Lee Hanks, Nancy Hanks and Mary Hanks.  If Lucy was also a daughter of Ann Lee Hanks, then these two supposed sisters would carry the same haplogroup, and they did.
All the descendants of these women belong to a fairly rare haplogroup called X1c.

These results were compared to matrilineal testing done on the mitochondrial results of the Shipley family(the theory that Nancy Hank's mother was born Lucy Shipley).  This line belongs to the H haplogroup, putting to bed forever the theory that Nancy Hanks was the daughter of James Hanks.
Lucy Hanks was born a Hanks and Nancy was born out of wedlock and her father will never be known.

You can read a synopsis of the Nancy Hanks Lincoln Study HERE.  It also shows a descent chart to help you keep everybody straight as the Hanks family tended to name many of their female children Nancy.
DNA has proved to be a powerful, unequivocal tool in solving, yet unsolvable genetic mysteries.

Sluggy