Sunday, July 8, 2018

Chester Porn

Here's a little video of Chester as I have nothing ready to post today and I am running out to Big Lots soon so no time to write something up.


I was refilling the drink fridge and Chester grabbed the plastic outer wrapper from the case of water and was having a grand old time playing with it.
At one point he got his whole body stuck inside it but I missed that part. lolz



Sluggy
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Saturday, July 7, 2018

Presidential Genealogy Update

Back in April, in This Blog Post, after Barbara Bush died, I figured out that husband George Herbert Walker Bush was my 10th cousin.  This relation is through his paternal grandmother's line, Harriett Eleanor Fay on back to my Stith family line.

But I have now found a closer tie.  We are related through George's mother's side as well back to my Soblet/Sublett family line.

We share 8th Great Grandparents in Abraham Soblet and Susanne Briant.  George's 7th GGrands are Pierre Chastain and Anne Soblet(who is my 8th Great Aunt and the sister of my 7th Great Grandfather).  This makes George and me 9th cousins.

And that makes me double cousins with George and Laura's twins, Barbara Pierce Bush and Jenna Welch Bush Hager, my 8th cousins through their mom Laura Welch Bush.




Sluggy
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Friday, July 6, 2018

Frugal Friday.....July 6th Edition

Let's see what frugal wins we had this week........

*  I had Hubs pick up the Weis Friday Freebies last Friday...........


A free box of Saltines.  Come Winter and we are in the throes of Winter and soup weather, these will come in handy.

*  Hubs and I hit the Bread Ouutlet since we were down to our last half loaf.....

4 loaves of bread, 2 packages of rolls, 1 package of English muffins, 2 boxes of chocolate donuts and for spending over $10, we also got a free box of donuts....woohoo! lolz

*  Lots of stuff for free from Rite-Aid which I posted about already this week....







*  The Weis gas points expired on July 4th so Hubs and Ex-College Boy took both cars up and filled them up on the 3rd.



Only saved .30¢ per gallon but still, $4.82 saved is $4.82 saved. ;-)

*  While on FB Wednesday evening I saw a Q for free Heinz mayo pop up on my feed so I printed 2 of those coupons off.

When at Weis on Thursday I picked up better than free mayo.......

It was on sale for $3.99 this week but the cashier put in the full value of the Q($4.50)so I got paid $1.02 in other groceries to bring these home. ;-)
Then I got another .50¢ in cash rebates on Ibotta for buying these.  Sweet!

While at Weis I also picked up these for the kids at their request...


DD creamers are $2.99 this week at Weis.  I earned $2.25 in cash rebates(.75¢ per bottle)at Ibotta for this purchase so they cost $2.24 each after that.

I also found a pack of thick pork chops with a $3 off sticker plus these are BOGOFree this week so I picked up another similar pork chop pack.  I paid $3.30 for 2.12 lbs. of chops.
Then these value packs of bacon had .50¢ discount stickers on them, making them $2.77 each.  $3 is my buy price currently for bacon so I bought 4 packs.

I also did the Mix and Match buy 6 Items/Get $6 Off.......


2 x 8 pack Gatorade for ex-College Boy on sale=$10.00
2 x Breyer's ice cream on sale=$5.98
1 x Ben and Jerry's slices on sale=$3.99
1 x Hanover frozen veg on sale=$1.99
SubTotal....$21.96

Coupons Used
1 x $1/2 Gatorade 8 packs HangtagQ=$1.00
1 x $2/1 BandJ slices IPQ=$2.00
Coupon Total....$3.00

$21.96-$3-$6 Offer=$12.96 for all 6 items
Not a bad price and then at the register this Catalina printed off......


$1 off my next order for buying 2 Breyer's ice cream.
I have a feeling I'll be going back to Weis this week for more ice cream.  ;-)

Hubs went out to buy a back-up filled propane tank for the grill this week.  I gave him $29 in Home Despot gift cards to use toward that so it only cost us $22.99 OOP.
Good thing he bought one because the current tank ran out of fuel right in the middle of cooking during the 4th..

That's about all I have for this week.
What frugal wins did you have this past week?

As always, heed the words of the "Most Interesting Man in the World"..........




Sluggy
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Thursday, July 5, 2018

To-Do List...........June Update

The To-Do List update for June....let's see how it all shook out!


* Pay bills  DONE  Everything got paid on time, no interest or fees assessed or paid.

*  Read 1, 2 Books  DONE

My Brother's Crown by Mindy Starns Clark and Leslie Gould.
I picked this one up because of the Huguenot emblem on the cover....had no clue if it would be good or not.
It's one of a series of books by these two authors all about women from one fictional family, a Huguenot family from France that immigrated to Colonial America.  It jumped from a story line in present day Virginia to 1600's France and a story line of the present day person's ancestor.  It was well done and flowed well, very readable.
Not too heavy on the history but I still enjoyed it.
If you have Huguenot ancestry you might want to give this a go.

 Then I read.......

 "The Great Influenza" by John M. Barry.  This was a historical account of the Spanish Flu Pandemic that swept the world between 1918 and 1920.
As the generations that actually experienced this world changing pandemic have died off, the horror of this time in our history has faded from our collective memory.  Just to refresh the scope of this disease, the Spanish Flu killed more people in 20 weeks than AIDS has killed in 20 years and killed more people in a year than Bubonic plagues during the Middle Ages killed in a century.
Choked full of detailed medical history, important researchers and leaders in the field of American medicine, as well as timelines, how authorities greatly mishandled the outbreak(from the government to the military to the news media) and the first hand accounts of victims and others from that time.  This book gives one a real sense of just how devastating this influenza outbreak was everywhere in the world and how it's consequences affect our lives today.
The influenza affected the waging of World War I all the way to the terms of surrender and our then current POTUS and his life and term in office.
Any history fans out there need to pick this one up and give it a go!

*  Clean Laundry Room  DONE  Our laundry room was in need of a good cleaning, including the machines.  The pan under the washer was removed and scrubbed down(and then promptly broken but fixable)and the dryer was disconnected and the hose and back of the machine were cleaned out.
The pan being broken happened because Hubs didn't reconnect the water hose tightly enough and a week later we found that the leaking hose started to over run the pan with water which meant moving everything AGAIN to dry it all out and during this transfer period it got cracked on one corner.  Luckily there was no floor(or ceiling on the first floor)damage since we found the problem quickly and some duct tape fixed the pan edge.
After all the extended work we had to do cleaning and moving stuff times 2 I am calling this a....

  *  Do 1 Home Improvement Project  DONE  The floor has never looked so clean in the Laundry Room after two scrubbing downs. lolz  Hubs even removed the louvered vent where the dryer hose attaches and I scrubbed that.  Other than some paint the laundry room is in ship-shape shape now.

 * Organize Garage  FAIL  It's been too hot and Hubs hasn't cooperated  when it wasn't too hot to go through stuff.  I have been picking up in there and moving stuff around a little and tidying a bit but no major clean out yet.  I did get Hubs to dig out the old a/c unit to give to his brother and the nephew as they have no air in their apt. and we had a week long of 90+F heat wave.  It's an even bigger mess at the moment and I am hoping I can get Hubs to help me this weekend(the weather is suppose to be less humid and cooler)to go through and put some of it right.
The garage can only get so clean until next Spring when Daughter moves out and takes all her stuff stored in there(plus the stuff stored IN the house).  I guess I need to be less critical and don't expect too much until that happens. ;-)

* Hold Giveaway  DONE


*  Mail Giveaway  DONE  Mailed and received.

 * Purge Coupon Inserts   DONE

Went through all the inserts, clipped a few Qs that weren't expired yet that I might use before they did and put back about 10 whole inserts on my bookshelf.
It feels so good to purge papers sometimes.  8-)))

*  Plan possible 2018 Travel  DONE...sort of
We've got a possible plan....nothing wild or crazy or long and nothing happening until September.  Still working on some Winter plans too and lots of details need to be fleshed out still.

* Work on 2018 Goals   PASS  some of the big yearly goals have been worked on or finished, some have not.  Here they are.....

   *  Sewing--NOT DONE  Other than hemming and mending I've done nothing yet on this one. I'll try to dig out and decide on which fabrics to use in July for the table runner I want to make.

   *  Dropping some weight--NOT DONE  Well I have lose some weight but it was weight I put back on this Winter.  Winter and being sick for 2 months is not conducive to weight loss I have decided. lolz

   *  Culling more of my toiletries stockpile--SOME DONE  Until this week, I had been scaling back on the freebies from Rite-Aid but having to roll Bonus Cash within 2 months is crappy. 8-P
I did make a Food Bank donation already this year(Was it March? I don't think I wrote about it when I did it.).
I'll be giving the Brother In-Law and Nephew some stuff in July which will jump start the purge again.  And once we go traveling I'll be giving stuff away too so I see more toiletries flowing out of here.

   *  Make a new Password/Log in Book and new Address Book  DONE AND NOT DONE.
  Password Book done.
  Address Book not yet.  I still need to buy an Address Book.

   *  Deal with the house in Louisiana.  DONE!!!
  Goodbye house!

   * Sell more stuff.
   Done and done.

     I should start ramping up some more eBay stuff in the next 2 months since we aren't leaving      town until September.

   * Start putting together a punch list of things to address in the house here in preparation for         putting in on the market--NOT DONE
     We will sit down and put a preliminary list together in July, along       with a timeline and           how to handle paying for it all.

   * Put my genealogy stuff in a software program--NOT DONE Still looking for which software        I want to use.  Will make this a priority to get done by January 2019.

   * Gardening and travel--DONE  Gardening got done in May.  Travel is still up in the air                 though we do have a soft plan now.

 Looking at the Yearly Goals list we still have plenty to finish there along with smaller monthly goals I have planned.

 June was productive overall and we'll head into July with good intentions on getting lots accomplished.

 How was your June in terms of getting to chores and plans?
Any successes or epic fails?

 Sluggy




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Wednesday, July 4, 2018

2018 Income & Spending Report.......June Edition

Now that we are living on an annuity(like a pension) and 401K$ withdrawals(retirement savings), I am still going to keep track of our monthly spending and income, and hopefully we'll still be able to live BELOW our means and I'll have some leftover monies each month to tuck aside.

But this money leftover at the end of each month, at least for now(as we find our new financial "normal")won't be saved toward a yearly Savings Challenge.  This leftover cash will go into a "Slush Fund" for now to be used if we have any emergencies come up during the year.  If we still have Slush Funds at the end of the year we'll decide then what to do with them.

I have set up a page to track the Slush Fund.  Click on the tab marked "Slush Fund 2018" at the top of the blog.

  I am trying to be as transparent as I can with how much is coming in and how much is going out.  8-)


On to the June 2018 report--

I had 2 goals for June......
The 1st is to actually finish the month in the black and not the red.
The 2nd is to try to have a little cash leftover at the end of the previous month to tuck back into a slush fund.  This slush fun may be to apply toward unforeseen bills that are coming due in subsequent months, to spend on "extras/wants" during the year or to just sit there and grow until the end of 2018.

I have to report that we finished up June in the black.
The extra amount we ended the month of June with?.......$3744.42

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in June---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3218.16(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1813.48
* One third of 401K withdrawal balance(after funding Sinking Fund)for June of $1255.65 #
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $339.16
* Quarterly Stock Dividends received for $99.12
* Electric Co. Deposit from LA  $324.25
* LA house insurance refund $175.28(received in May but not deposited until June)

Total "Income" for June......$7225.10

# We made a 2nd quarter 401K withdrawal in April of $6K.  After withholding for taxes due we got $5170.70 net.  $1383.24 of that gets put into the Sinking Fund to cover irregular bills coming due this quarter(long term care insurance due in April, car insurance due in May). $3766.95 is the balance of the 2nd quarter 401K withdrawal.  This got divided by 3 and gives us $1255.65 extra in June to add to the income for the month(April and May also got $1255.65)for general expenses.


Expenses in June---

* Healthcare Premium for June was $1813.48.(paid with RMSA reimbursement)
* Variable Expenses in June came to $1667.20
* Quarterly Long Term Care insurance came to $520.27.(paid for from Sinking Fund)##


## Quarterly Long Term Carre insurance premium expenses are due in June.  The carryover in the Sinking Fund coming into June was $1077.75.  $520.27 in LTC insurance paid leaves us $557.48 in the Sinking Fund going into July.


We went into June with $13,265.78 in the Slush Fund.
Add in June's overage of $3744.42 to the Slush Fund and it stands at $17,010.20 going into July.


Outgo
As for the variable expenses this June, here are the good and the bad side of things....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Phone charges and internet were approximately the same as in May(Within $1 or so).
*  The electric bill was $29.19 lower than last month.
*  The gas card charges were $97.48 lower than in May.
*  The cash WAM withdrawals were the same as last month.
*  The health insurance premium was the same as in May.
*  Medical bills were $87.24 lower than last month.


HERE are the BAD THING

*  The water bill was $24.47 higher than May.
*  The credit card bill was $57.45 higher than last month.
*  Quarterly LTC insurance was due this month. This irregular bill is paid out of the Sinking Fund account.

The Food Budget costs for June are in another post, which is located HERE.  Food costs are covered in the credit card payment(sometimes our WAM cash too).

So we end June in the black with $3744.42 in new general overage to add to the Slush Fund.
The Sinking Fund goes into July standing at $557.48,

FINAL THOUGHTS on June---
I did get some items sold on the local FB group page. go me!lolz
Regular bills were quite low generally.
We received quarterly dividends and two different refunds from the LA house.
The $1255.65 of the 401K withdrawal taken wasn't really needed to pay bills in June.
This all combined to give us quite a good overage for this month.
Hubs and I will be sitting down to discuss financial things again as we have passed the 1 year mark of his retirement now.

THOUGHTS going forward into July 2018----This month there are no irregular bills due and the Sinking Fund will get an infusion of $3290.60 from the 401K raising that Fund to $3848.08 in preparation for two large irregular bills due in August/September(house insurance and taxes)and the much smaller Long Term Care premiums due in Sept.  That leaves $1880.12 of the 401K withdrawal to divvy out into each of the next 3 months, giving each month an additional $626.70 toward other expenses.
The WAM withdrawal will be the same in July, $200.
Eldest son changed his plan and is now coming to visit in July so there will be higher spending on food and drink and outings this coming month.


So how was your June financially?
  
Did you spend less than the income you had in June?
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!

Make this year was the one were you clean up your finances and pay off your debts.
Plan to set something aside if you didn't already or increase what you have banked now for your future self.
Or pay extra on the principle of your mortgage if your house isn't already paid off.

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
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