Category Archives: budgeting

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, home stuff, Walking by

Basically a good week with finances since all of Septembers bills are still out there and this week is just an inbetween week. I have my budget done for September and everything is set up to come out automatically.

I got my LLS reimbursement so I’m keeping the $300 for UHC in the checking account. I’ll submit September’s about mid month. What a relief to have that for now. The grant should cover most of UHC till next July. At least it’s something for now and I greatly appreciate what they do. ( LLS that is).

I checked my Allstate account and nothing is due yet but I’m guessing that first payment will be October. I talked with my son about this because his Subaru is sitting in the back by the barn because it’s not running right. It’s a 2006 and I think he should just get rid of it. He does pay his insurance so it’s not that, it’s just it would be better just to have the 2 vehicles on the insurance. At this point he’s driving the truck which is fine till he figures out what to do.

I ended up going to Trader Joes after picking up the sleep test. I spent $125, but most of that was wine, and then $25 was gift card and about $25 was gift stuff(plus some of the wine) for my son’s partner’s birthday. Other than that no money spent this week.

It’s nice to have these inbetween weeks and not have to think about things related to bills, groceries, etc.

The sleep test was a disaster. The first night I did ok but really only got about 5 hours sleep with it on but the next night was horrible. I couldnt get to sleep for hours and then I was only like dozing off. I woke up like a zombie. I drove to Roseville dropped it and told the receptionist I wasn’t sure it was on the night before. After that I drove home, took an ativan and went to bed and slept for 3 hours.

I did feel a lot better after that. I walked this morning and felt good. I was planning on driving to the pool but then just didn’t feel like driving. So, I plan on dropping off thrift store stuff because it’s piled in the back of the Santa Fe. Other than that just pottering around here and doing some house tidying.

Here’s a picture of where my desk that I work at is with the 3 steps. Remeber this was a porch with concrete steps when we moved in.

Here’s a closer shot of Barclay and his VW bus. Plus that’s Jason our first boy! This poster is supposed to loook like that as it’s some kind of photography thing my son did.

Another shot of the now Heywood office.

Here’s the Star wars shelf for now.

Well, off to get going in my day.

Do you keep a shelf of memorabilia like star wars? The other thing is a Dalek from Dr. Who.

Frugal Friday

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, budgets, California, camping, cancer, decluttering, Walking by

My new budget starts next week. So far, groceries have come in under $400, so I think I’m getting the hang of buying less.

I went to Costco this week and spent $233 on food. Freezer and pantry stuff brought it down to @150. For the pantry, it was granola, which lasts months, butter for the freezer also will last 3 months, pulled pork will be for at least 4 dinners over a few months, tamales, the same as they will be used over the next 3 months, and coffee, which will be about a month. Non-food came in at $70, about for batteries, hair conditioner, TP, and paper plates were on sale, so I picked them up for easy clean-up dinners. All of that will last for months.

For wine, I bought my favorite Juliet Rose and a fancy bottle of Sonoma-Cutrer wine. That was around $40.

Overall, I was pleased. Then I bought 2 pizzas for the tree crew that were here. I’ll show the pictures below.

We just got our Allstate car renewal, and it went up $1000 ( fuck Allstate) because of the claim that the scammer did, saying my car door scratched his. It’s a long story, but suffice to say, my door did not scratch his, but it did touch his passenger door, so Allstate had to favor his claim. It was a scam to begin with because then he got the money, and of course, didn’t go to the body shop. I tried to explain the setup because he was extremely aggressive verbally, and never even got out of his car, but took a picture ( or someone did) of my license plate. My guess is someone else was waiting with him in the parking lot. Oh well, done is done, but that is going to cause me extreme stress trying to pay that. I guess the best I can do is do the payment plan at this point.

On a positive note, the tree crane was here and took the tree. It was quite the job, as you can see. It took all day and then the next to deal with it all.

I’d had other plans to meet a friend for coffee, but that went out the window dealing with this. I hate dealing with this stuff, but I don’t have a choice. The other tree, I guess we’ll just have to wait on because it wasn’t in their system, but I’m going to try and convince them, but that will also take a crane( I think).

It would have been too much to do both anyway. All the wood is gone now, and it looks good. They did a good job.

Today, I’m going to Auburn and will drop off a load at Goodwill. It’s mostly stuff from Rubi that I know I’m not going to use if we get a tent trailer eventually. I still have the bathroom in Rubi to sort out, though.

It’s been a stressful week with my ortho appt, labs, the tree, etc. BTW, the shot hurt like hell, and my knee was really sore from it, but yesterday it started feeling a lot better. So hopefully in the next two weeks I can increase my walking. It takes about 2 weeks for the steroid to take effect.

Also, on a positive note, my labs came back about the same. Kappa went up to 20.5ml/g, so a slight increase from 19.8. Really, in the big picture, that’s not much. My ratio, though, did go up a bit because the lambda went down. If the Kappa goes up, Lambda down, then the ratio goes up.

The heat is back, and 98 * is hot for us. I think today it’s supposed to go to 99*. I’ll have to turn the coolers on by 10. Our PGE bill did go down some, though, so there’s that, I guess.

On a sad note, it’s our 55th anniversary soon. It makes me sad. We did have a wonderful life, even with the ups and downs of it. I’m planning a day trip to Tahoe soon, just not sure when. Burning Man is happening, so the freeway has lots of crazies, which also means the Tahoe area has some overflow. I’m hoping next week sometime.

Simple Sunday

Posted in books, budgeting, budgets, California, camping, cancer, decluttering, Lake tahoe, library, Uncategorized, Walking by

It’s been so hot again. Today is the hottest at 99. The coolers go off and on all day. I always turn them off by 7:30, even if it’s still hot out. We have two more days of heat, and then it drops back into the 80s.

I’ve had fun reading this book,

It’s quite funny, although if you’re offended by the word fuck, then this isn’t for you. It’s quite motivating. I bought it as a Kindle book.

My walk was nice this morning. Only one person was showing up as I was leaving. My legs still don’t seem to be recovering as well as I’d like, and my app for iHealth still shows my walking steadiness as low. I’m guessing my right knee is still causing some lagging in my gait. Of course, that’s just a guess.

I picked up my holds at the library, and one was chair yoga and pilates. So far, I like it and may buy my own copy. I have it for 3 weeks, so I can give it a bit more time to see if it’s worth it.

The week ahead is Dr. appt in Sacramento, and Velcade in Roseville. That pretty much covers the week since Friday, I’ll take my Dex. My daughter starts back at her college job this week, too. We talked about maybe doing a day trip to Tahoe. Just the West Shore, as it is closer to Tahoe City. I’ll have to see how motivated I am to do that.

I still haven’t canceled one of the Tahoe trips in September. I guess I’m procrastinating. I’ll do it soon. We had booked 2 reservations that overlapped, so one will have to go, and even the one that’s left is questionable. I’m still not sure how we could pull it off without Rubi, and that is not an option. I suppose my son’s huge tent is an option, but not really a great one. I’d have to buy an air mattress and some other things, and I’m not sure I want to do that. I guess I’m waiting for some inspiration to show up. Kidding:)

My daughter has finished painting the studio, and it looks really nice. A pale green with a cream trim. We gave away the Ikea cabinet yesterday on Facebook Marketplace. Fortunately, the guy coming was nice and prompt. He had a van, so my daughter and he were able to slide it in. It was a brand-new hybrid Pacifica. Wow, it was quite nice. I checked the price and they run around 55K.

Well, off to do some stuff as I’m not heading out to the gym this morning.

Simple Sunday

Posted in budgeting, California, cancer, Death, decluttering, home stuff, husband, Walking by

The light is shifting in both the morning and evening. The other day was Lammas, so cross-quarter. For some reason, I always feel the shift, even if it’s 90 degrees out. My walk this morning at 6 am was nice, and again, it’s just a tad darker. No one showed up, which was unusual. Generally, there is at least one or two people. So that was nice. I’m still not up to a full mile yet with my knee, but I’m getting there.

Today, I plan to go to the Auburn gym and then drop a load off at Goodwill. It’s a bit of miscellany from around the house. I’ll do another round when I get motivated to go out to the garden shed. Since Barclay died, I haven’t had much motivation with things, but I guess that’s normal.

My son and daughter moved the trailer to a new spot, so the tires aren’t in the same spot. I haven’t been out there yet, but I will go out today. I also need to continue taking things out, like dishes. I won’t get rid of them because our plan is to get the tent trailer, so we’ll need stuff for that. I think the ease of pulling a tent trailer will suit my daughter and me.

We started watching the New Star Trek, with Captain Pike. It’s really quite good and really keeps to the Star Trek theme. It’s on Paramount, if you’re interested. I also watched the PBS production of Patience. It’s really a rerun of the French Astrid, but I enjoyed it. I also finished watching Murder on an Island, which takes place off the coast of Canada near French Quebec.

It’s my son’s birthday this week. 31 yo. Where does the time go?? He was a wonderful child, and he has grown into a wonderful young man. There are 9 years between my daughter and him, and he was a BIG surprise. I remember saying, I’M WHAT??? I was almost 42 when he was born.

Well, what things are you up to these days? I read a few blogs, but not as many as I used to. I do love peeking into other people’s lives. I guess that’s why I was a psychology major in college, and counseling in graduate school, and clinical psychology in a doctoral program, which I didn’t finish. No regrets, it was all a journey.

Frugal Friday

Posted in books, budgeting, budgets, California, home stuff, swimming, Uncategorized by

Overall, except for the coast trip, it was a low-budget week. This week is an in-between; August’s bills are coming out, so it’s just basics.

After the gym, I went to Winco and spent $ 55. I bought wine as well, but that doesn’t go on my grocery bill.

The weather is turning hot again, so no eating on the patio, and dinners have been lighter. I made a brown rice salad with chickpeas, red onion, and cucumbers with some feta. I’ll have that for lunch today as well. I made some tofu in the air fryer, so I can use some of that for dinner tonight.

I’m planning on swimming today, and then I won’t go down to Roseville till next week. I need gas, so I’ll do that at Costco. I’m still waiting for my LLS to get finalized, and then I can submit my insurance premium. I’m very grateful for LLS’s support for patients.

Nothing new with books. I finished Fever Beach by Carl Hiasson. Funny and provocative to say the least. I don’t have any holds, so I need to go to the catalog and place some on hold.

Five on Friday

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, Myeloma, travel, Uncategorized by

We had the most wonderful thunderstorm and rain last night with lightning. We got a lot of rain, and the ground is pretty soaked for now. Yeah, for the rain. Although not so good, it started a lightning fire across the canyon, but I think I saw it was contained.

A low spend week for the most part. My daughter went to Costco after work for a few things, namely dishwasher pods that we needed. Plus water and just a few other things. Food came to @ $47, and then the wine I want to take to the coast was $18. It’s called Sonoma-Cutrer. I haven’t had it before, but it’s supposed to be good.

All the July bills are done, so I have August’s budget almost done. With SS decreasing, I have made a few adjustments. I think mostly it’ll be decreasing food costs and miscellaneous expenses. Most of our bills are fixed, so I can’t do anything there.

Let see, the good news is LLS opened funding for Myeloma, so I hopped on the website and was approved. I just need the doctor to fill out his form. Having that money will be a great help in paying for my insurance.

Other good news is, my kappa light chains stayed about the same, 19.8. So up from 19.6, but that’s really marginal. So good news on that front.

I had fairly good energy this week after the low with Dex. I got the living room ceiling painted. It took 2 days working for about 30 minutes each time. I also went to the paint store and bought another gallon of Simply White. Except for the bathroom, our whole house is painted that color. It makes it easy to do touch-ups and keeps the look clean and minimal.

Well, I’m off to do some tidying and put some stuff away.

Five on Friday/Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, Credit cards, frugalism, husband, knee injury, Multiple myeloma, Myeloma, velcade, Walking by

Frugal-wise, I’m not in the Cotswolds like Mavis over at $100 a month. She probably should change the name of her blog. But she’s got the money, so why not enjoy it? Plus, she loves England.

Here in my neck of the woods, N. Ca, it’s been too hot to do much outside. The temps are much nicer in the coming week, but still some 90’s, and I saw it gets in the low 80’s, so that will be much nicer. I miss sitting outside in the mornings and afternoons.

Money-wise, just paying bills, and I had to pay the overpayment from SS. It’s ok, I’ll deal with it. It’s done, and I’m going forward. I just need to work the budget with the SS I’m getting. I’m still working on my credit card bill because I put the cremation on there. But I should be able to knock it down next month. I hate having a balance. But needs must.

After my Velcade shot, I stopped at Costco to pick up some lox for the bagels I bought at Noah’s. I also picked up some rose wine( my favorite) and a Gloria Ferrier champagne-type brut. I wanted Mumm rose, but they were out.

I gave my daughter $100 in cash to buy the paint for the studio. She’s really done a great job clearing it out and rearranging it to suit her. We might go get that today as long as she drives, since I’m on Dex. I don’t sleep well on Dex nights, and last night was no exception.

I also have a food bank donation to drop off and some more stuff for Goodwill.

I’ve almost finished most of my list of things to do related to B. If something comes up, it’ll be an outlier I don’t know about. I may take care of a few things today or not. It depends on my focusing on which Dex does affect. So we’ll see.

I’m still debating getting the next steroid shot for my knee. Mostly it’s ok. When I try and do a little extra walking or swimming, it acts up, but then I seem to recover the next day. The shot did help quite a bit, so there’s that.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, frugalism by

Since I’m not driving a lot, gas is being saved. I filled up at Costco, which is a real savings. Also, I’m using the Costco Visa card and have earned $32 so far. That includes gas and in-store shopping. That’s a big savings.

The only shop I did to last week was WinCo. I spent $150 on food. Overall, I’m good with that. This next week, I plan to go to Costco as B needs some socks, and I saw that Costco has Sketchers that you just slip on. His balance is very precarious right now, so I want him to wear some on his feet other than Birki’s.

My daughter and had brunch out, and that was $60 plus a tip. We rarely eat out, so for her birthday, it was a treat. This was from a cash envelope.

Today, I plan on getting gas in the VW and stopping at Safeway for one of their cake slices. We didn’t do any birthday cake or pie, so I thought it would be nice to get a piece. Safeway has the best cake slices.

Other than that, not much else. I have my budget for June done, and money is very tight, but I think we’ll be ok. The biggest new expense will be the increase in our UHC insurance, and the grant B has been used up. We’ll just have to adjust as best we can.

Oh, hurray, my Kappa light chains came back good. Not great as in under the high normal, but came in at 20.8, so above high normal, but Dr. L said labs look great, so I will believe him at his word. I’ll see him next week.

Midweek Musings

Posted in Blood test, books, budgeting, California, cancer, library, Uncategorized by

Well, of course, things wouldn’t go as planned. B didn’t get his labs in time for his immuno yesterday, so they are pushed over to today. We should have realized Monday was a holiday and gotten them on Friday. UGH!!!

Then, on top of that, he needs a transfusion of blood and platelets. We’re guessing the cancer is progressing(sigh) and the blood is being diverted. I am having a hard time keeping it together.

After I drop him off, I plan to go down to Maheny to do upper body weights and pick up my holds at the library. Then, I need to go to WinCo and stop and get gas at Costco.

We are headed for some very hot temperatures, like 99 degrees on Friday and Saturday. My daughter has put in 2 A/C’s in the LR and in the entry way. Next will be our bedroom and the sunroom. After the brief heat wave, it’s supposed to drop back down in temperature.

I’m back from Roseville, and it did get long. By the time I was getting gas, I was really tired. I’ve just put groceries away and am going to lie down and rest my back. At least tomorrow is a home day. Next week I plan on going to the pool. I feel I’m ready to do a little like maybe 15 minutes. They do have leg buoys to use that go between your legs so you’re not kicking. I may try and use one of those.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cash envelopes, frugalism by

My June budget starts next week. I have everything in except our AAA membership that isn’t on autopay. I think I’ll do that Monday or Tuesday and put it on autopay for next year. It makes things much easier for me.

Our PGE bill went down to the lowest it will be at $163. That’s with no coolers, no heaters, just the dryer some of the time. We line dry what we can this time of year, but still need to fluff in the dryer. We’re on the balanced payment plan, so we pay the average for the year, which is @ $300 a month. Quite high for such a small house.

Regular groceries came in at under $600, so I’m pleased with that. This time, I went back through receipts and took off long-term pantry items, and it made a difference in how the grocery bill looked. For example, the organic ground beef is almost $20, but that will last over 5 months, as we don’t use that much. Same with toothpaste, which is a 5-pack, so 5 months probably. Anyway, I was pleased.

We did pick up the VW. My daughter put a big chunk on her CC, and I paid $600 cash that I had in my cash envelope, for auto maintenance. After that, I splurged on a Quick Quake car wash for her. She looks very shiny now. It drove well. The owner of the auto place said there was some belt squeaking, but he couldn’t quite figure out where, so he said if it got worse, to bring it back in. I certainly hope it’s not another thing at this point.

After my Velcade shot, I went down to the gym since I was already in Roseville. I had planned to go into WinCo again, since I need Ball jar lids, but decided it could wait. So it ended up as a no-spend day. We ended up with 16 no-spend days. So all in all, I’m pleased.