Today is a federal holiday so I have the day off. I worked a 12 hour shift at the hospital. When I got home last night my mom called to tell me that my dad had been in bed all day because he couldn’t move his right arm. That caused alarm bells to go off immediately in my head. I then spoke to my dad & he explained that it was bursitis that he’s experienced before. That calmed me down a little. He has an appointment this afternoon with his doctor. He tried to tell me that he could drive himself. Really?! I don’t think so. My mom hasn’t driven in months & she gets nervous easily. So of course I’m driving him to the doctor.

They called about 3 times this morning trying to tell me that didn’t have to take him since it was my day off, but if I did, I didn’t need to stay there & wait for him. Like I could ever consider helping my parents as a burden! I’m so grateful for all that my parents have done for me. I consider it a joy whenever I can make their lives a little easier or less worrisome.

I’m so grateful that I can make a good living here since my sisters live on the east coast. And if they decide to move maybe I will, too. I can be happy anywhere & in any situation because that’s what I choose to be. Having said that, I do believe that some places & situations will bring me more joy than others. I’m working on improving my life everyday: financially, personally, spiritually, and professionally.

I spent some time this weekend & today organizing my jewelry. Coincidentally, as I was doing this my friend offered her rolling jewelry case for free. I already have a nice Pottery Barn jewelry case that I picked up from Tuesday Morning, but I’m excited to see what hers is like. The one from Pottery Barn has a lock that doesn’t work, which is why it was such a steal.

Net Worth $1,009,805

Also, Happy Indigenous People’s Day & Happy Thanksgiving to the Canadians! 🦃🥧🌻🍁🍂🇨🇦

I started this off as a reply to another blog, then realized that I was writing a blog entry! 😹

My weekend was good. I started it off by taking a 4.23 mile walk around the university lakes after work. I know the exact distance because I logged it with my Fitbit Versa. I walked a brisk 4 mph. The weather was beautiful!

Saturday morning I had Lyra class. I stopped by my parents’ afterwards & visited for a while. I brought them muffins & cereal from Sprouts. Then I came home & did a little house organizing. My dad gave me some old shelving that I had bought my last year of college & had been stored in his shed all this time. I put it in my little storage shed. He also gave me a huge shredder which I lugged upstairs to my home office. My little shredder was not cutting it so I’m glad for this one. He bought it at a sale where they get rid of old state government office property. That’s also where he got the filing cabinets he gave me for my office.

I worked a 12 hour shift at the hospital Sunday. Today I took a day off. I’m anxiously awaiting my package from Amazon. I bought my Clever Fox Budget planner & more budgeting stickers for next year. I’ve so enjoyed using the one this year that I had to already purchase next year’s planner! This year my planner was rose gold, I bought a gold one for next year. They have more than 20 colors so I can keep buying a different color every year.

Though I’m disappointed that my loan info no longer updates on Mint (because they migrated mortgage info from the mobile app to a website) the new website has a lot more information. It has neighborhood comps, home value, and most importantly, I now know that I only have 10 years left on my mortgage! I had estimated the payoff date, but it’s nice to have a definite date: December 2020.

We worked half a day today & the clinic will be closer tomorrow due the weather. Hurricane Sally is expected to make landfall near the Louisiana-Mississippi border tomorrow. My default hurricane snacks are usually a bunch of junk food & I instinctively crave junk whenever they start talking about a hurricane. I have been strong & avoided the temptation through Laura & now Sally. I’m doing so well & don’t want to stall my progress.

All is well on the home front. We had some wind & rain our way, but nothing terrible. I made it to work bright & early. Hurricane Laura is the strongest hurricane to make landfall in Louisiana in 164 years! It is a miracle that there isn’t more loss of life than is being reported.

I called my parents today as I do everyday. I asked what they were having for dinner. They said probably cold cuts sandwiches. I decided to surprise them with dinner from La Madeleine’s: chicken La Madeleine, quiche Lorraine, cranberry pecan salad, their freshly baked bread with butter & jam, and an assortment of dessert tarts. 🍗🥔🥦🥧🥗🍞🧈🍮 They were happily surprised & enjoyed everything. I figure making it through the storm unscathed was as good a reason to celebrate as any!

I’ve never been able to post pictures so I make do with emojis. 😁

In financial news, my biweekly mortgage payment posted yesterday & my balance is now under $56k. I bought my condo for $122k with 20% down. I’m always excited to see that balance go down slowly, but surely.

Net Worth $988,470

I purchased a Costco membership through Groupon. The $60 membership includes a $40 gift card & $40 off online. I went to the store to take my picture for my card & ended up deciding to upgrade to the “black card”. I picked up 4 items: orange roughy fish, riced cauliflower, Laughing Cow cheese (really good deal at $4.99 for 4 wheels), and roasted peanuts. I would have bought more frozen veggies, but have no more space in my freezer. We used to eat orange roughy all the time when we lived in the upper Midwest, but here on the Gulf Coast you can pretty much only get catfish, tilapia, or salmon. On the rare occasion you may find trout or mahi mahi. 🐡🐠🐟

I also bought my parents & I thermometers. They had the forehead thermometers for $23. All of these things that were so hard to find or were so expensive are finally becoming reasonable again. 🤒

Home again today & I plan on doing some book keeping, laundry, & house cleaning, as well as hit the gym.

Net Worth: $967,382

I used to get my air ducts & dryer vents cleaned through a Groupon coupon. It’s been several years so when I saw a coupon pop up I grabbed it. And of course, when he gets here I need a much more thorough cleaning due to the black mold found. Anyway, I ended up purchasing a very expensive package that I probably didn’t really need. So that sets me back a little this month on my debt payoff unless I get some unexpected hours.

Net Worth: $959,128

Yesterday was pay day. I got paid from 2 of my jobs. My third job pays semi-monthly so on the 1st & 15th. This month the 1st was a Saturday so I got paid on the 31st, which was a nice surprise.

My car payment is automatically deducted on paydays. I now owe less than $2k on my car. I also schedule credit card payments at least every other week. My credit cards are now down to $10k as I mentioned in my last blog post.

My IRA deduction will go out next Friday. It is scheduled for the 15th of every month, but the 15th falls on a Saturday this month. At one time I was sending the full year’s contribution on January 1st. I hope to get back to that in 2022 when I’m debt free except for my mortgage. My auto & homeowners insurance as well as my utilities are also due on the 15th. My mortgage is paid biweekly the Wednesday after my two paydays.

Net Worth: $959, 901

My meter was changed out last month & I got a crazy bill. I called to ask for a review almost 3 weeks ago &
I’m still waiting. The bill was outrageously high (almost 3 times last month’s bill!). The issue is with what they charged me before the meter was changed & now it’s gone so I can’t check it myself. They charged me for 2449 kWh for 23 days, then 102 kWh for 7 days. The 102 kWh lines up with my usually usage. If they can’t verify what they charged me with my old meter I’m going to ask them to prorate me based on the 7 days use.

I know everyone is tired of hearing about COVID-19, especially us health care professionals, but it affecting all aspects of life. This week my facility had the first positive patient in our state.

I was supposed to leave for Montreal tomorrow, but that trip (and the event I was traveling for) is now canceled. Also looking very iffy at the moment is my trip to Switzerland booked for May. It may be a blessing in disguise that I can stay home & focus on paying off debt rather than traveling.

I’m down nearly $200k in the market. Sure wish I had been sitting on some cash that I could have dumped in the market.

I am home sick, yesterday & today. Doctor says it’s allergies, but I feel whipped. Cough, chilly, achy, low energy. And now a runny nose I guess from the cough medicine breaking up the congestion. He gave me a steroid shot, prescribed cough medicine, and gave me a chest x-ray because I didn’t like the way my breathing sounded. After he examined me he sent me out to the waiting area with a mask. That got me a lot of wary looks. 😷

Does anyone here sell items on Facebook? I have had a real urge to declutter my home. I have given away closets of clothes, but for things that I have not used like candles I’d like to get some of my money back. I have a ton of Yankee & B&BW candles. 🕯

What has your experiences been selling on Marketplace?

I'd really like to get back to building up my savings again. My savings accounts were depleted in an effort to pay down debt, but I'd like to have that assurance of having something set aside again. Also, after more than 12 years of owning my own home it has belatedly dawned on me that I really need to have an account for those unexpected, yet expected, home repairs & maintenance costs.

A few weeks ago I wrote a pretty long blog summing up my past few months & it appears it was never posted. Don't you hate when they happens?

My last entry was in February & since then the following things have happened:

Took a trip to Greece & New York in March. It was a wonderful experience, perfect weather in Greece. I got to experience my first St. Patrick's Dqy parade in New York & take in some great Broadway shows including the preview shows of Mean Girls & My Fair Lady. Also saw, Chicago which never gets old.

I filed my taxes and owed over $4k. Ouch. I'm on a 120 day payment plan & have to pay it off by the end of July. I knew I would owe, but wasn't planning on paying nearly that much.

April was fairly quiet. Last month I had two deaths in the family, one expected as my grandmother was in the final stages of dementia, and the other unexpected as my younger cousin died suddenly. It was a rough couple of weeks there.

I'm hoping that June will be better.I am not planning on taking any trips this summer. I am preparing for my biannual lab inspection & planning some fun in between working my two jobs.

I have a couple of trips planned for the fall, to Seattle & Vancouver, and possibly a winter trip to NYC.

This has been a spendy week between paying off one trip, booking another trip, and having to replace my laptop that died on me. And yes, I could kick myself for not having backed up my computer before it finally died on me. Oh well, I will have to get someone to try & recover those files or call them a loss. Nothing is irreplaceable I don't think. Most of my pictures I upload to my FB account or have in my phone.

I ended up buying the Dell Inspiron 11" 3000. It's a 2-in-1, which I finally figured out is like a laptop & a tablet combined. I don't do much besides browsing the web on my laptop & keeping track of my financial goals in Excel spreadsheets so it's probably more than sufficient for my needs.

I've noted that the big boost that my home value got in the months following the flood has disappeared so I have adjusted for that. I also finally got my insurance claim settled for my plumbing leak damages so we scheduled the repairs for next month. I'll be so happy to not have to look at holes in my ceilings & walls!

I had a wonderful vacation in New York & Virginia earlier this month. We saw several shows. I personally saw Bandstand, Hello Dolly, Sweeney Todd, The Great Comet, and 1984. We also visited the Met & the Cloisters. On Sunday I got to go to Hillsong church which I also did last year. I took the train from Penn Station to Union Station and spent 4 days with my sister's family. I really enjoyed my time with the kids.

I am looking forward to my cruise in October and my trip to England & Scotland after Christmas. In March I have a trip planned to Greece. I can't think about booking anymore trips for a while. I am working more hours at my second job in between my trips. Fun comes at a cost!

I have increased payments for my auto & TSP loans, as well as my mortgage. Those few dollars won't be missed, but over time they will really add up towards paying down my debt sooner. I am now very close to breaking even on my principal vs. interest amounts. Very soon I will be paying more on principal that interest. And I have more than 50% equity in my home. I wish that I had increased payments sooner, but better late than never.

I am going to enjoy this long Memorial Day weekend. Yesterday I got up early to take my car in for service. I purchased the tire care package when I bought my car & I have made good use of it. I think this is the second tire that I have had replaced already. They found a small hole that couldn't be patched.

Then I came home & napped, which I have needed. Last weekend I worked 24 hours while fighting a cold. Then yesterday evening I dropped by my co-workers' son's 16th birthday to give him a card and some cash for his gift. They had a ton of food. I ate some there & they send me home with a plate of shrimp, my favorite.

Today I am just being lazy until it's time for church this evening. I will eventually do some much needed cleaning. The gym is not closed tomorrow for the holiday so I won't get out of my run.

At home I have several ceiling repairs to be done due to roof leaks & a tub leak from my second floor bathroom. The plumbing repairs of nearly $700 I had to pay for, but the damages will be covered by insurance. It's so hard to find contractors at this time.

Oh, updates on my other passion besides personal finance...travel! I am going to New York & DC over 4th of July. Taking a short cruise this autumn, traveling to England & Scotland after Christmas, and Greece in the spring. I'm turning 40 in December & celebrating all year!

I have a lot of home updates, improvements, & repairs coming up. Checking them off one by one. I know it's important to take care of your home to protect your investment, but as I spend time at home, I know that I also want a home that looks good & feels comfortable.

As we head into fall, I was thinking about reaching this year's goals & looking ahead to next year's goals. This year my main goals are retirement & debt repayment, as they are every year. I always meet my retirement goal, as I will this year. In January I funded my Roth IRA with the maximum $5,500. I don't know if I'll be able to do that this January. I may have to fund it throughout the year, since my savings have been somewhat depleted to pay down debt. I will continue to fund my retirement account at work with my maximum contribution. I have not read if they're anticipating another increase in limits next year, though. A $500 increase would only mean an extra $20 biweekly though.

Last year I transferred the majority of my credit card debt to a card with 0% interest for 18 months. I started out paying $200 weekly, but now pay $100 weekly since I have one job. I still plan to have that paid off before the 18 months of no interest.

On a lighter note, I am going to enjoy this 3 day weekend by taking some time to cook, relax, and visit with family & friends.

Just when you think you're finally getting ahead, or even catching up, expenses just seem to keep coming. After getting new tires, I've decided that I've put off repairs around my house for long enough. I'm taking off next week, but I'm not going on vacation. I'll be at home getting things done around the house as well as well as picking up a few extra hours at my other job. That will help with the expenses a little. I need new fans, new light fixtures, check for a leak under my sink, some landscaping. Too many things!

Well, I'm out almost $400 today for a new set of tires. Thank goodness my air conditioning is still holding on. When it rains, it pours.

I'm nervous about what my investments will do when the markets open Monday. This government impasse is making me nervous with every passing hour.

My list of home improvements just keep piling up and I have made no effort to accomplish any of them. I must stop being so lazy! I'm thinking of replacing my sliding doors for French doors. I need two light fixtures replaced, a ceiling fan replaced, and a tree and bush removed from my patio area. I should also get my carpets cleaned and air conditioner serviced. *sigh*