Category Archives: Credit cards

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, Credit cards, frugalism by

We didn’t spend too much this week.

I got gas at Costco and think it’s the cheapest I’ve seen in a long time. I think it was $3.83.

I stopped at Paris bakery because I had a cake slice offered at $3.00. Usually, their cake slices are $6.95, so a good deal. I also bought an iced americano.

We took some money out of our very limited savings and paid some of the CC bill. I hope I can wipe it out next month. I felt it was important to do.

B went to the store once for some wine and milk and a few other odds and ends. I didn’t go to Costco this week so I’ll probably go next week. Next week I have 2 appointments, the dentist and my doctor. I’ll try and swim one day next week but that’s probably all I’ll get to.

We might order a pizza for tonight since I don’t feel like cooking.

I did order a new Speedo suit because after my swim last time, I looked at my suit and it was somewhat embarrassing. I could see thru some areas so I figured I better get a new one. It was on sale though so that’s good.

Overall, a fairly frugal week although since we don’t have much money it’s more like business as usual:)

Frugal Friday

Posted in books, bread, budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, cash envelopes, Credit cards, frugalism, husband, reading by

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.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, Credit cards, meal planning, swimming by

I have the budget set for December and it all looks good. I do need to order propane next week so that will be an added expense. Plus we will have property taxes to pay.

We had to buy a battery for the VW as it the cold mornings were taking a toll and the battery was 3 years old. So that too was an unexpected cost. I used cash from my home EF for that.

I have one more cc payment for Barclays crown and then that will be done. Crowns are so expensive( it was $1800) and we do not have any dental insurance. We were paying for California Delta Dental but then almost all the dentists here have stopped taking it including ours, so everything is OOP.

We’re set with food for at least a few weeks except for salad stuff and some fruit. I’ll probably stop at Winco for that when I swim next. I plan on using lots of the freezer/pantry meals to use things up.

Today is still a home / dex day so I plan on doing some tidying and putting away fall stuff and maybe get out a Christmas box or two. It seems like the dex is hitting me harder on the day after ( like last night) and my face is pretty red still. But it is what it is so onward I go.

Thanksgiving was lovely and the Diestal turkey breast was perfect. I’d highly recommend ordering from Diestal to get it. It was shipped with ice packets and was still frozen when I got it. They do a very good product and it’s not factory farmed.

Well, off to start my day.

Happy 4th of July!

Posted in budgets, cooking, Credit cards, Flylady, pets, pets,cats,dogs,, Uncategorized, Walking by

There are some great articles over at the Washington Post about 4th of July and it’s meaning to Black Americans. Quite fascinating. Plus the whole connection of slavery tied to our independence day. Definitely worth reading. There’s also a couple of good articles on Republican assholes trying to block any Critical theory information being taught in schools. Suppressing knowledge ,it seems, is what Republicans do best. At least most of the Confederate statues have been removed from public lands. Having such constant reminders of slavery and oppression must have been so hard for so long for Black Americans.

anyway,I have the digital subscription and it’s totally worth the price, if you want the news that is informative and FACT based.

We did a nice walk this morning although there were a few clouds so it seemed quite muggy. Generally, our humidity is quite low so the heat isn’t quite as oppressive. Tomorrow is Monday, so it’s a no walk day but being a holiday, we may walk anyway.

This week is the Flylady kitchen zone. I’ll start on that later after breakfast. We’re getting so many eggs from the girls, I can’t give the eggs away quick enough. So this morning I scrambled a dozen but since there’s another 2 dozen in the fridge. It’s still overwhelming. Still, there’s nothing like your own fresh eggs.

I need to do July’s budget. Our water bill came in thru the roof. But hopefully next month will decrease a little. Then I had an unexpected dental copay that I thought I’d paid for. It’s these things that throw my budget. Plus, I had an unauthorized purchase on my Visa so I had to cancel that and I have 2 bills I know of on that card so now I have to call and put them on a different card till I get the replacement which they said would be 10 days or so. What a pain.

No appts this week which is so great!! Last week I had my eye doctor appt and that went well. No change with the macular pucker.

I’ve sold a few more Waldorf toys to the lady who bought the others on Ebay. She has young children and I’m glad they are going to where they will be loved. I also gave my son a whole box of Waldorf toys to give his boss who has a young child. I didn’t want to deal with listing any of those. So more stuff gone that was just in boxes. i don’t have tons of clutter anymore but there seems to always be misc stuff that needs to be dealt with like the Waldorf toys. I am keeping most of the little wood animals as I think they are cute and I do put them out. Right now I have out the 2 bunnies, the frog prince and another frog. Why frogs?? Because right now they are croaking ALL night long in our pond. It’s frog mating time and boy, can they be noisy.

It’s too hot to BBQ so I ‘m not sure what we’ll do for 4th of July celebration. Maybe a big salad.

I leave you with the kitties…

Guster ( Gus) on the left, next is Smudgerton, Bean, and cherry blossom also known as Hissy Princess.

Mamakat is still totally neurotic about yowling at the kitties. I’m ready to give her to the ASPCA.( almost).

Five on Friday

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, Credit cards, decluttering, Lake tahoe, Myeloma, plants, Uncategorized by

Let’s see, my labs came in but I had to call the nurse to get the results. My doctor is on call for other doctors this week so he is slammed. My CBC is all the same and normal, Kappa light chains went up to 15.0, Lambda was the same at 11.1, the ratio went up just slightly to 1.30 ( from 1.27).  So not bad but I’d rather the ratio be a little lower. But still all in the normal range.  June marks 2 years of being off all chemo.  What a lovely time it has been and I am grateful every day.

We zipped down to Costco at 9am to get a few things. Mostly coffee. Last week I had to go buy a pound at Starbucks and that was a rude awakening. So off we went. We filled up the Santa Fe, and then got thru Costco fairly quickly. I didn’t need a whole lot so it went quick. We also paid our membership which was due June 1st.

Tonight is a pizza night and I gave my son cash to get a Round Table. I had a coupon for a speciality pizza for $19.99 and we love their gourmet veggie. So a good deal.

We were going to go to the nursery and get some pots for me to re-pot some of my house plant friends but it’s raining so we nixed that. I guess we saved money by not going but I’ll still need to get some at Home Depot in the next week or so.

Yesterday I went out to the barn and declutter more magazines, some kitchen things I had put in a box for my son when he was going to live at SFSU( which he didn’t do), and other misc. It’s the start of a small thrift store run.

I worked on the budget and June looks okay. Still working on finishing the CC that we put Z’s tuition on. I’m okay with that. I’d like to target end of July to have it done.

I think that’s all I can think of.

We did feel bad for all the campers heading up to Tahoe for Memorial day weekend. It was pouring down rain and I’m sure it’s worse up there.

 

 

 

Budgeting and the new week

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, Credit cards, Uncategorized by

Well, really, a new budget is needed since the old one is completely blown. Today, I’m going to write up new numbers and see how they stack up. June should be a better month for a number of reasons. 1. B will get a bonus and that will get us back on track. 2. We’re not going to give my son any school money, as he’s done for this semester. Also, he’s going back to his old job, so this will definitely help. 3. At least one of our bills has been reduced by $125. so that’s helpful. 4. We are going with a HARP refi and that will reduce our payment. This hasn’t happened yet but I hope by July 1.

We are still working on paying off the Federal taxes  that we put on the cc but it still will be a few months. The only extra this month is our AAA membership. So, we should be able to snowball money in the CC. We’ll see. It seems it’s always something.

Today I go get my blood tests.  I should know by Thursday what my numbers are. So I’m going in to do that , then pick up a few groceries(cat food)….. Plus I might drop off the Goodwill stuff, just to get it out of the car.

Dinner tonight is pasta with sauce and salad. I’m making a bolognese sauce in the crockpot.

This week I’m in the bedroom zone. I’ll probably tackle the closet as that seems to be my nemesis.

 

 

The haves and the have nots!

Posted in budgeting, budgets, Credit cards, frugalism by

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/05/my-secret-shame/476415/

This is an article on the sad state of financial affairs of many people. The author is quite honest in his evaluation of his own current financial affairs and how he got there. He has a loan modification and is paying off credit cards.

Honestly, I totally agree with him. I wish we had been more financially smart. We never made any smart decisions financially till really about the time I was diagnosed with cancer. But even in those first difficult years with treatment and A Stem Cell Transplant, we made plenty of mistakes. The biggest was refinancing when the market was at its height. We were foolish to believe the loan officer that this was a good deal to maximize money in equity. What a mistake. When the market crashed and we’ve been under water in this house, we are now on the other side that the market is coming back up. WE too had a loan modification and it saved us. This actually is just ending and then the interest rate is going up.

I think when I started to embrace being minimalist, budgeting, not spending money for things clicked for me. We’ve mad a lot of progress and are quite frugal in all expenditures. Yet, there are still expenditures that are outpacing income. We’re helping our son with money at junior college. We pay for his car insurance and food. It is not giving us much to put away but we want to help him right now. Smart move? I don’t know but we are making the decision to the best of our ability now. We also put our Federal taxes on a credit card and we’re having to pay that down.

All in all, everyone, I’m sure does what they can but sometimes keeping up with expenses versus money coming in is a struggle.

I also think that people who have received inheritances or who are wealthy, or have no mortgages , or maybe they’ve just done everything right and made enough money in their careers and have money to put toward savings etc,. Some of these people just don’t get it. Yes, we have family members who really don’t get it and of course live their happy go lucky lives with inheritances they received.

Yes, you can be frugal, budget, sing till your blue in the face, but sometimes there just isn’t enough money and how many of us are one pay check away from disaster. I’ve learned a lot in these last 5 years about being frugal and stockpiling pantry items, having a small emergency fund but there’s still a long way to go.

I don’t think it’s for us to judge others, though, maybe just some compassion and understanding.

Simple Sunday , and I’m glad it’s over!

Posted in bread, budgets, Credit cards by

Well, the trees are packed away. I streamlined our ornaments into 3 bins. This meant giving up the hall mark boxes I kept the ornaments in. But they take up so much space. I kept a few and the rest are history.
Everything looks more fresh now and simple. Less eye clutter.
Today, we’re going to do a book drop of discarded library books, thrift store stuff, and I need to go to staples for some calendar stuff for my leather binder.

I’m making 2 loaves of the Tartine bread, and dinner is planned.
Oh, our washer is acting up ( not starting) so we ordered an inexpensive on sale one from Home Depot. Our water dryer are may tags and were quite expensive when new. But now they’re 12 years old and lots of parts are wearing out. My husband has fixed the dryer 3 times and the washer once maybe twice . So we’re biting the bullet and buying at least the washer. It’s not electronic like the matag, just knobs, but heck it’ll work at least. No delivery charge, and it was on sale I think with 30% off. So I’m okay with it.
Someone was blogging about not using any cash and doing all credit cards during the month and then laying it off. I’m not sure if this would work for us. I might check about a card with better rewards than we have. It has some but not a lot. Does anyone do this regularly. My concern is going over budget and not keeping track well enough.

JKWP day is 577, we will pass 580 this week.

A couple of goals for 2015, pay extra on the car payments at least 3x, one extra mortgage payment, and try and save.