Tag Archives: cash envelopes

Simple Sunday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cash envelopes, Uncategorized, Walking by

Well, as expected, yesterday was a wash. I woke feeling terrible, so I just stayed in bed. I finally got up and started feeling better by the afternoon, and even sat outside a while. This morning I feel fine, so it wasn’t too long. My daughter, though, had a histamine reaction, so she’s had to take it easy all week.

I’m still getting up around 5:30 -5:45am, depending on whether I plan on walking, which I am today. I’m not pushing going out in the dark to walk, as I think that ship has sailed. As much as it was one of my favorite things to see the stars, I think it’s smarter for me to hold off. So that means today I’ll go out and walk around at 6:30. I’m still bringinga flashlight for the first round.

We are in for rain this week, so I need to be sure everything is done. The wood needs to be covered, and the wood stove needs to be ready. Tahoe is already quite chilly, as would be expected. It still would be beautiful, though. I’m still looking at a hotel for one night for my daughter and me to go up in October.

I’ve done October’s budget and made the first payment on Allstate. My son is going to donate his Subaru (which is parked in my yard). When that’s done, I’ll take that off the insurance, and that will help a lot. He’s using the truck and making the payment, so I’m ok with that for now. He still needs to figure out the car he wants.

Anyway, the budget looks ok. Not a lot of wriggle room, but ok. I haven’t done too much with cash envelopes since B died, but I do have some still. Mostly, I want the big annual bills covered, so I’ll keep adding to those. Smaller ones, like Target or household, I’ll just let go or add that to a general spending. I do keep cash for groceries unless it’s Costco because I can use the card and get the rewards back.

Here are my two LVs I use for cash envelopes. I also have a monogram MM that B bought me for my birthday a few years ago.

An open Louis Vuitton agenda in Epi black leather, displaying its interior with rings and card slots.

I have 2 preloved LV agendas in the Epi black. One I got off of the Facebook group, and the other from eBay. One is the PM size and the other is the MM size. Of course, I love LV with classic things. Most of their fancy stuff is way beyond my reality. But I use these daily and enjoy them.

Finally, a week where I think I can get to a regular schedule. I hope.

I need to do some meal planning for the week. I have some more soup in the freezer, so I’ll pull one of them out, and I have some tofu to use. My son is coming over on Tuesday, and I plan on ordering a pizza for us to share. He’s going to do at least one dump run. Hopefully, he can get it done before it starts raining. I also want to close up the trailer and have them put a tarp over the top.

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.

Frugal Friday

Posted in California, cash envelopes, cooking, frugalism by

I’ll save on gas today since I opted not go to the pool. I just woke up grumpy and don’t feel like driving. Next week is busier with a dentist appt and then Velcade on Thursday so I’ll be out quite a few days including a gym or swim day.

I spent $75 at Winco on salad stuff and a few misc like cottage cheese. I wanted some bulk items too.

We went out for a coffee yesterday, so that was $16. B paid for that with his money.

I sorted out my cash envelopes for the month. I added $200 to the firewood envelope because we are going to need to buy a cord. I’ll have to check out from B how much we have left. We would need to have that sorted before a hospital visit.

Other than that, I don’t think I spent anything else. I did order the humidifier, which I like, but it didn’t really have any effect on the sleep apnea. Oh well, I think a humidifier in winter is probably a good thing, and it wasn’t expensive.

Yesterday, I put the Ranco Gordo Ayocote beans in the crock pot. I hadn’t made them before, and they were delicious. They are white beans but bigger than Marcella beans. There’s lots left over too.

Goodbye 2024!!! Hello 2025!!!

Posted in budgeting, California, cancer, cash envelopes, cooking, decluttering, Political things, swimming, Walking by

Well, we made it to the end of the year. After the election, I pretty much haven’t read too much news. Little blips come in now and then but overall, I think my mental health is better for it.

I’m dreading frump taking office. It’s beyond comprehension how he can stand at that podium and take the oath of office after everything he’s done. I’m convinced he’ll go down in history as the worst president EVER. It’s going to be a shit storm for sure. Well, I can only control myself and my little world, so I’ll focus on that.

I was planning on staying home today but I need to return an Amazon purchase. I accidentally clicked on 2 of a calendar and I don’t need two calendars. Since I’ll be in town, I’ll get the veggies for the fondue tonight. if my daughter comes with me, she mentioned needing to go to Target.

The dinner menu was simple for the week :

Pasta bake from the freezer

Costco’s vegetable soup and rolls

fondue (tonight)

nut loaf and potatoes from the freezer

pizza of some sort

something else from the freezer

tofu scramble with leftover veggies

Lots of simple meals this week.

I have a few goals for 2025 but mostly it’s maintaining my swimming, gym workouts, and walking.

I’d like to add finding one new place to camp with full hook-ups and going to the coast, but so much depends on how the surgery goes and recovery. And as of right now, we don’t even know if that’s what will happen. If he gets the green light then we need to plan hotel stays and how that is going to all work out with me staying there. As far as we know B would be in the hospital for probably 2 weeks and then I’m not sure if he needs to stay within 15 minutes of the hospital like he did at UCD. If so we will need something like an extended stay hotel. I guess we’ll know by mid-January as that’s when Dr. Lee is back from vacation.

I could think of lots of other things I’d like to set as goals but I don’t want to commit to anything.

Around the house and yard, we need another carport as the one over the VW broke in the summer. We need to budget for garden stuff.

The VW needs a starter and battery so that needs to be budgeted.

I’d like to start painting some of the rooms, especially the living room.

Anything with remodeling the kitchen is totally on hold as we just don’t have money but we do need a new stove so that will get budgeted. Our stove has knobs on the front and because it’s about 10 years old the knobs will turn on if you lean over the stove and that is way dangerous. We’re all aware of it, so we’re careful but it has happened and then you can smell gas. I think I can find a good stove for around $1000. The one we have is Whirpool and it’s been a great stove except for this knob issue. I’ll check Costco first and then Lowes or Home Depot.

Of course, I’d like to keep minimizing things around the house and making sure we have only the things we need, use, and love. Mostly, that’s just keeping on top of hot spots like the entry way because things do pile up there.

Financially, have most of my cash envelopes fully funded for annual bills. That does take some effort as SS only goes so far. Right now, I have $70 for car maintenance so that needs some money for the VW repair. I’m sure it’s going to be around $1000.

As always, we’ll see what happens.

Wishing you a happy new Year!! “let’s hope it’s a good one without any fear” John Lennon.

Chester helping me at my desk!!

Mid Week

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, cash envelopes, cooking, husband by

It’s been a lot of driving back and forth to infusion and there’s still more this week. Yesterday, I dropped B off at 10 and picked him up at 2:45. Tomorrow he needs to be there at 11am so I plan on staying down there and doing a few things. Depending on the timing, I will hit up the old Costco( as it’s closest) and I think maybe the library. Tomorrow is platelets so they go faster than blood transfusions. This week is all about appts so I’m not even thinking about the gym or the pool. Next week, I can pick up the rhythm again.

This is his last chemo as far as we know and I’m so over it all. Next week he has a video visit with the UCD doctor and that should give us a good idea of the next steps. Cancer has a way of shifting priorities. There’s not much you can do but go with the flow of it.

Today, I have my doctor appt in Sacramento. After that, I need to pick up a prescription and maybe go to the bank. I need the insurance printout but I’ll see how I feel after getting back to town.

last night we had the black bean soup and it came out good. I never follow a recipe with it just black beans in the crockpot and chili powder, cumin, garlic, and paprika. I also made turkey chili and there’s plenty left over to have tonight or freeze. Of course, B doesn’t eat meat so it’ll just be me tonight as our daughter works late at the library.

I’ve been working on organizing my cash envelope binders and have one just for savings challenges. The challenges are fun and usually, I only do ones with $1 or $5 bills. I’m saving up for an LV GM agenda preloved. I think this is what I want to use as my daily book. Once I get it, I can get some inserts and use them to write my lists and plans. Right now I’m using a really nice Leuchtturm 1917 my son gave me for my birthday. The paper quality is really nice. I use a CrossFountain pen and it doesn’t bleed through. The LV GM is the largest agenda and will make it easier to write in. Well, that’s a ways off yet but maybe by February/March.

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.

Friday Things

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, LLS by

Well, it was pretty bad. I didn’t think it would be that bad for Biden but it was awful. Trump was his asshole self and makeup made him seem tan or orange whichever way you look at it. But Biden just didn’t pull it off. So now, who knows which way it’ll all go. If tRump wins we are really doomed to autocracy or worse. He is a vengeful person.

Anyway, over a good week in the books. B went to Costco to pick up a few more things like coffee, Vitawater, regular water, and other basics. I’m trying to plan that we go to the new Costco more frequently and do smaller shops. I still need some brown rice and sugar and some other bulk items.

I tried to change my doctor appt but he had nothing available till August so I guess I’ll drive down. I hope eastbound traffic isn’t too bad since it’s the day before 4th of July. But it is what it is.

I paid the truck’s registration. Boy, that was steep over $400. I wonder why it’s so high? Anyway, I didn’t have the cash in an envelope so next year I’ll have one for the truck. The other cars plus Rubi, I had cash envelopes for. Overall, cash envelopes are still working well for us. I mean we don’t have much money anyway so maybe that’s why. But I am trying to get a head start with the fall annual bills because that’s when our house insurance is due and it’s not cheap. I just hope it doesn’t go up too much.

I’m still checking LLS daily for Myeloma funding but so far nada. It’s just a waiting game because at some point it’ll come up but it might be 2-3 months. So that won’t be frugal when we’re paying my insurance and Medicare. LLS covers both so that’ll be an extra amount till I get covered again.

Today is low-key, I’m finishing the steam mopping and baking a sourdough boule( it’s in the oven as I write at 6:30.) It’s still not too hot so it might be nice to cook something on the grill. Next week looks brutal with the heat. There goes our PGE bill skyrocketing. That’s not going to be frugal for sure.

I might go into town to the bookstore but I’ll see how I feel. I did finish all my books so…?

The 4th of July looks too hot to BBQ so it’ll need to be done either early in the day or figure something else out. I could do some salads and cook some burgers early and then just reheat later. I guess I’ll think about it later. If my son comes up we could get sandwiches from the store.

I should’ve named this post, Unfrugal Friday. Oh well.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in books, budgeting, budgets, cash envelopes, Gratitude, Lake tahoe, library, swimming by

I am very thankful this was a week with NO appts and no Dex. Boy, did that do me in last week. I guess I’ll go back to taking dex after I get home and not in the evening. maybe that’s the difference or the BP spike has been there all along and I just didn’t take my BP and notice. We’ll see.

I’m thankful we had a beautiful day in Tahoe with picture-perfect weather.

I’m thankful that all the month’s bills are accounted for and are in the budget. Slowly, I’m getting more envelopes set up for the annual bills. Even though I didn’t have the full amount, I did have something and that helped. As I think of different line items for our budget I add an envelope. I also bought on Amazon a binder that is for the 100 envelope challenge. Lots of cash envelope budgeters on You Tube have this as a way to do an extra savings. It’s not a quick thing as each envelope is numbered 1-100 and you put that amount in each one. I do like having these little challenges to keep me focused.

I’m thankful I got to swim on Monday but it was one of the few times it wasn’t pleasant. First, the pool was packed which I thought odd but then realized that it was a holiday. Second, I don’t circle swim( when there are more than 2 in a lane), but some woman plopped into the lane I was sharing with 1 person and proceeded to circle swim. I was not a happy swimmer. I go too slow and at some point, she cut in front of me and almost kicked my face. Anyway, at least I got my 30 minutes in.

I finished all the books I got from the library (8 books) so today after the gym I’ll go in and see if I can get a few things off the shelves to take to Capitola. The new Kellerman book ” Ghost Orchid’ is okay. I like his writing and the 2 main characters are well developed. So far all the Craig Johnston Longmire books have been great. Definitely worth reading the series although I haven’t read them in any order.

Simple Sunday

Posted in bread, budgeting, budgets, California, cash envelopes, Pantry, swimming, Walking by

Yesterday was just glorious. Our temperature almost reached 70. It was so nice to sit outside. Alas, we are now headed to some really cold weather. Oh well, soon enough.

I had a great swim on Friday but the pool was packed with the high school team so that wasn’t too great. But I had an end lane so I was fine. It is going to take a while to get back to what I was doing but so far the swimming hasn’t negatively impacted my knee. Next week with Dex/Velcade it will be hard to get a swim in.

After swimming I went over to Winco which is across the street and bought what I needed for the week. Also, we’re planning on Costco because last week I had to go buy coffee at Starbucks. So coffee will be the main reason to get to Costco. I think after that we will go down to the library and pick up my holds and drop off my books. Maybe we’ll go to Paris(Bakery) for a coffee and croissant.

Yesterday, I watered all the house plants and moved a few around. As the sun gets higher it comes in certain windows more and plants need to be moved from direct sun. I also washed a few more windows.

Today after we walk, I will get the sourdough boule in the oven. I made turkey chili yesterday so we’ll have that with some homemade bread and a salad. I have a can of vegetarian chili I can make for B. I want to use up all the stuff that was bought in the pandemic or after. For instance, yesterday I opened a bbq sauce that was best by last year. Normally that wouldn’t bother me, but the seal inside looked suspicious so I tossed it. That’s the kind of thing I want to toss or use.

Overall, I think February’s budget went well. The cash envelope system is working although there are some tweaks I need to make. I didn’t get enough cash for groceries so I used the debit card and need to adjust that amount in the budget. I think it works well if you’re putting accurate amounts in the envelopes. Amazon is tricky because that’s more of a virtual envelope and it goes on a cc. So I might start budgeting $100 a month and then move that to the CC. It’s tweaking these few things that will make it work. Plus, you have to be willing to work with cash and lots of people don’t want to. Also for annual bills, since we’re on a fixed income, there is only so much I can put in the envelopes and probably it won’t add up to the full amount. I’m hoping by fall, I will be able to get some of these fully funded. Another thing people do ( from Youtube) is when they start getting a lot of cash for some of these envelopes, they take the cash to the bank and put it in a high yield account. I think that’s something we need to do by fall as well. I might check with our Credit Union as I think I just saw on their website a high yield savings account. It’s amazing what some people have in cash envelopes but of course, they are usually 2 income people and getting regular paychecks from jobs.

Well, I need to get the bread in the oven before I go to the Auburn gym.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgets, California, cooking, frugalism, minimalism, swimming by

I think we’re on track with no spend/low spend even with groceries. With me not going out 3 days a week, it cuts down on driving/gas and I don’t go to the store.

I know we bought some wine for Christmas but I think that was it. B went into Target to buy 4 different sliced cheeses as we were out and Target’s brand is quite good and the price very good. Plus I needed Weimans stainless steel wipes too. I think that added up to $42. Since those are essentials they don’t count as extra buying.

I added a few more dollars to some cash envelopes, like $20 for car maintenance, $50 for DMV registration, and some other misc. ones. So I’m quite pleased with how it’s going. It may take a while to fully load these as our income is limited so no extra is coming in.

I wrote up as I always do our Minimalist Christmas dinner and gifts. I think I did really well not overdoing anything. Each person got 4-5 gifts and nothing too expensive. B got his garden Berkies and my daughter got a nice organic cotton PJ set from Garnet Hill. I got my son a Burberry scarf from eBay. I was concerned it was a knockoff but it’s pretty nice and doesn’t have any of the telltale signs of a fake. ( I guess the red stripe is blurry on the fakes.)

Today is another home day on Dex for me. I’ve done my morning routine, swish and swipe the bathroom, LR zone with windows washed, everything tidy and I’m making an apple pie filling crumble with oats so S can have it instead ofminimal pastry. The apple pie filling is what I made at the beginning of the month with apples a friend of my son gave us from their trees.

Tomorrow I plan to swim although it will be shortened as I don’t want to be set back again with my leg. I need to get gas at Costco and then stop in TJ’s for gluten-free bread for S. I had bought her the gluten-free madeleines and she said they were very good so I’ll get them again too.

Gus sitting in the cat tower on the winter solstice.