It’s been a frugal week for the most part. All the birthday gifts, cake, and food were budgeted in my envelopes, so that was good. I did go to Costco for the burgers, rolls, etc but that too I had in my Costco envelope as well.
We are stretched really thin with money this month due to a few extra things. I’ve done really well with my envelope cash system but bigger bills are still catching up with us and we still have a cc balance from two car registrations, and some other bills from June. I hate having to carry a balance so I’m putting anything extra towards that and thus a very stretched thin budget. We’ll get there but not as soon as I’d like.
We had a nice date lunch of pizza(cash from my dining-out envelope) and it’s always nice to get out of one’s box. This month is our 54th wedding anniversary and although we usually don’t do gifts or anything extravagant we will do a lunch out. At this point we’re planning a drive up to Tahoe to see the lake and get coffee at our favorite Tahoe House. With everything still up in the air with B it’s hard to feel very cheerful. He is and always will be the great love of my life.
I didn’t feel great this morning so decided not to go to either the pool or the gym. I’m not sure if it’s stress or just feeling low energy. So I made a loaf of bread and did a few random chores.
B did get an appointment( we just found out) for next Friday for a second biopsy. It’ll be done at UCD hospital again so I can wait in the cafeteria. That will be a Dex day but I can wait and take Dex when I get home so it should be fine. He also sent a very detailed message to the doctor about some of the PET scan results and about the CUP diagnosis( that we are theorizing will be the case.) That’s called cancer undiagnosed primary. We’ll see what her response is.
My daughter and I went to the Pet bookstore yesterday and I hit the jackpot with Craig Johnson books. There were 5 on the shelf. For some reason, even on eBay these go for a minimum of $5 a piece. And most are more. I also picked up 2 more in the Baldacci series I’m reading. It’s the Atlee Pine series. She’s a great character. I also picked up Cooking for Two from the Cooks Test Kitchen. I saw a recipe for manicotti which used lasagna noodles rolled up so I may make that tonight instead of pizza.
The weather is cooling off and that’s a relief but there are lots of fires going on. One over where blogger I read lives. Hope you’re safe Donna and Dale!
Well, that’s it from this blogger. Anyone on a limited budget and how do you plan things, like big expenses. Do you ever carry a CC balance even if you don’t want to because you have to.? I’m hoping by this time next year we will have our envelopes fully funded for the big expenses but it does take time. I’m also concerned about our house insurance going up because of the California Fair Plan. A lot of people have been posting on Next door neighbor about some serious increases.
Tahoe Girl 
I suspect everyone’s home insurance will go up as a result of the fires on the west coast and the hurricanes on the east coast 😦
I read on Next door neighbor someones Ca Fair Plan doubled. Yikes!
I’m having a summer myself. I hate my stove and was saving a very small amount toward replacing it when my 8 year old refrigerator just died. Full of food which I was able to shuttle to neighbors. So I had to buy a brand new refrigerator that was not budgeted. Next my husband was eating a bowl of ice cream and broke a tooth clean in half. We don’t carry a dental supplement so it was $150 for an appt with an xray that showed infection, antibiotics only $12. But the root canal next week needs $2400 in cash and then we will need another $1200 in cash for the cap in two weeks. I have five adult children, 4 significant others and ten grandchildren and I buy them all a pass to a nearby amusement park for Christmas. But the passes are cheapest when they go on sale for the next year – which is this week. I ended up putting about $2200 on a credit card that I don’t think I can pay off now until October. And I HATE having a balance. This is the extent of all my Christmas shopping and normally I have the funds but the double whammy of tooth and fridge was not in my budget. Especially this month. Oh, and all our car registrations were in July. What a summer.
I feel for you. It’s those extra unplanned things that really hit hard. Plus even the bills I plan for we often just don’t have enough reserves. Social Security only goes so far. Hopefully we can both pay our cards off soon:)
Fifty-four years with the love of your life — doesn’t get better than that. Thanks for thinking of us with regard to the fire. Seriously, very thoughtful of you. We’re fine. Not even any air quality issues at this point. It’s a good bit away from us. I am on jury duty in Placerville, so I’m a little nervous going up that way, but I guess they’ll let us out if the fire starts shifting! One would hope, anyway.
yes, it’s been a wonderful life! And I’m grateful for it.
Cash poor; rich in things of real value.
Quite true!