Firefly's Personal Finance Blog

I worked today, but as soon I got off work I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things. Then I went home & latest EBay sale ready to ship. While I was at the post office I got a notification that I sold another tea towel. So I turned around & went home to get the other tea towel ready to ship. Both are at the post office even though there was a notice that the post office will be closed tomorrow due to the weather. I still wanted them marked as shipped, even though the packages probably won’t be going anywhere tomorrow. I’m excited that my EBay sales have picked up & I hope this continues. The money isn’t much, but it’s better to have the money than the excess material things.

We have 2 storms brewing & both look to be headed for the Gulf Coast, unfortunately. I think I am pretty well stocked up for supplies. I have plenty of non-perishable food in my home thanks to my eating plan.

I sold another tea towel on EBay. So exciting! I’ll have to get it in the mail today, before the storms delay the mail even further.

I took a Lyra class taught by my friend yesterday. It was fun. I usually find strength training a chore so it’s nice to find something that is fun.

The TSP website is down for 2 whole days for maintenance. That’s a long time for a website to be down. I know that stocks are up & my Vanguard account is up, as well. I’ll wait until Monday to do a net worth update.

My employee is going out on maternity leave next week. We’re having a low-key, socially distanced baby shower for her. This is her second baby so I don’t think she’ll be too disappointed with not having a huge celebration. I got her my usual shower gift which is lot of bath supplies. Johnson & Johnson has a new newborn line so I got her that as well as the bedtime & soothing products.

I stopped in a few stores because I’m still on the hunt for bedding. I still didn’t find anything, but I remain surprised by how early the shops are closing & the low inventory/turnover of inventory I see. One store even had the lights half off, I guess to save money. And the clothing stores seem to still have a lot of summer clothing in stock, with little clothing for colder temperatures. September is less than 2 weeks away. I guess we’re all being more frugal now, but it’s honestly a little unsettling to see the mall so empty when it was once bustling. And yet my investments continue to climb. Honestly, I just keep expecting the bottom to fall out, but I’m just curious to see if I can hit double commas before that happens.

Net Worth: $971,396

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 got paid yesterday for my third job. I only worked 4.37 hours due to the kit shortages. I paid 75% of my pay in taxes because I have it set up to take an additional $100 out each paycheck. So I netted approximately one hour’s pay. Oh well. Even though I’ve only worked there 3 months I’ve already made over $10,000 for the year.

TSP says my personal investment performance for the last 12 months is only 6.26% but it sure seems like a lot more with the recent gains.

Net Worth: $969,408

So after having my tea towels listed for quite some time I had a big sale of 6 tea towels at a very good offer. The tea towels are fall themed with rich, vibrant maple leaves. 🍁

I think the seller will be pleased with her purchase. I was a little sad to let them go, but I already had one for myself, gifted my older sister one a couple of years ago, and kept the remaining tea towel as a housewarming gift for when my younger sister purchases her home. 🏡

Net Worth: $969,143

Well, I just got hit by a scam company. They called promising me a 50% discount on my DirectTV bill through a promotion with EBay. You may have heard about this scam where they ask you to pay for several months of your new promotional rate with an EBay gift card. I was looking it up on the internet as he was talking & found it was a scam. I reported the scam & the associated phone numbers to AT&T. They said that they were getting numerous calls for this scam. Be aware that AT&T will never ever ask for a gift card for payment & please let your vulnerable loved ones know about this scam.

Net Worth: $968,965

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

I can't believe it's back to school time again! Even though kids got out early this year, it seems like it was only yesterday. My friends have been posting their kids’ first day pictures on Facebook. I pray that everyone from the children to the school administrators stay safe & healthy this year.

Last week I spent a good bit of time reviewing my budget journal. I also bought new binders to replace my financial statements binder that is falling apart. I will have separate binders for my TSP, SS, Vanguard, etc. I suppose I could pull some things & file them away, but I like having all statements at hand for my open accounts. I usually only file away accounts that have been closed.

My credit cards are now down to $10k from a high of $22k. When they are paid off I know that I will need to dedicate some money to taking care of things around my home. Until then, every dollar goes to debt paydown.

I did a little too much shopping last month so I ended up returning several items. Other items were household items that I know I'll use, especially the cleaning supplies. I also bought a bunch of those $2 masks from Target, because if we're going to be wearing these masks for the foreseeable future it makes sense to have more than a few. Plus I like coordinating with my outfits/scrubs.

I continue to work the 3 jobs & I'm glad that I didn't give any up since the work hasn't been consistent for the third job, even though it pays more. I'm back on the schedule at the hospital for August. Though I was supposed to be off all of July, I still got called in twice for coverage. I wasn't complaining. It gave me some hours when I wasn't getting much elsewhere.

I'm still trying out new lean & green recipes every week. I invested in a Dash mini waffle maker & a Dash mini griddle. They were on sale for $12 at Belk & I got an additional 10% off for picking up my order. The first time I attempted to pick up my order I didn't realize that the stores were closing so early & I just missed the closing time.

I'm now down 15.5 pounds in 5 weeks. I hope to be close to goal by Christmas. I originally set a goal of losing 40 pounds, but I'm starting to believe I can get back down to where I got to when I did Weight Watchers. Not by Christmas necessarily, but sometime in spring. I also have my 25th high school reunion in the spring so that's a great motivator.

Net Worth $955,181

Time flies when you’re having fun. July was a good month for me. Although I didn’t get as many hours as I did in June, I still consistently paid down debt. I’ll be getting more hours this month. I also did a bit too much spending on July so I’m taking/sending some things back.

My debt continues to go down & my investments continue to grow. Next year when all my debts are paid off & I get another raise maybe I can start looking at doing stock trades. I have a couple of friends as well as my mom that seem to really enjoy it. I won’t start with much at first.

I got my hair done for the first time since everything got shut down. It was $90 including tip. She had to trim a good bit. I’ll have to be more consistent about going now. Hopefully we don’t get shut down all over again.

A couple of things that I won’t be sending back is my new Dash minis: griddle & waffle maker. I got such a great deal at Belk’s thanks to a tip. $12 on sale and another 10% off with pick-up. I already made roasted garlic mashed potato waffles & they were so good.🥔🧄🧇

My friend invited me to an online Croatian cooking class at the end of the month. The theme is Jewish foods & I think it will be fun. I can’t eat the food on my current plan, but I can bring it to my parents. I will have a little to taste test if I decide to participate.

I was just thinking that I have a net worth category that I never update. Mint tracks this for me so it’s pretty easy to keep an eye on. Today my net worth is $930,056.

I tried another new lean & green recipe: Cheesy Chicken Zucchini casserole. I made a few little adjustments, like using more chicken & zucchini, adding ricotta because I only had 6 oz Greek yogurt instead of 8 oz. I salted the zucchini as the recipe instructions indicated, but it still made a good bit of water. The taste was still good, but I’ll have to work on getting out more liquid the next time I make this recipe. That’s the only problem with cooking zucchini, all the water it makes as it cooks.

I’ve taken off a few days again. Had a few appointments, did some cooking & laundry, worked out.

NSV: co-worker notes that I didn’t seem to be having the quarantine weight that everyone else seems to have gained, then asked me if I’ve been hitting the gym. I told him that I just went back this week & have only been walking (not running yet), but I’ve been watching my diet.

Tonight I made a new lean & green recipe: Salmon Florentine. It was delicious & even looked like a chef made it. Picture perfect! It made 4 servings so enough leftovers for the next 3 days & I still have half of the salmon filet in my freezer. This recipe is definitely a keeper.

I put myself back on next month’s schedule at my second job. I was supposed to take July off, but I got called in twice. I’m not getting as many hours at the third job since they’re having problems getting reagent, I’m glad that I just took a break & didn’t quit my second job. I want to keep making headway on getting my debt down & increasing my credit score.

From a high of $22k in credit card debt earlier this year I’m now down to...[drumroll]...$12k! And I now have a $5k buffer in my checking account that I haven’t had in years, plus I have $2300 in savings that I haven’t had in years. All of this has happened in less than 6 months, y’all! 🤯

Amazing how quickly you can see changes when you buckle down & make the changes. Also, I would never wish the devastation of this pandemic on anyone, but it honestly had a role in changing my behavior & contributing to my success. With nowhere to go, canceled trips, and all the available hours to work it made a big difference. Also, the $5k gift from my mom that she will match at the end of the year. I’m so blessed!

And my investments are up to $840k this morning. Who knows how long they will stay there, but they’re chugging right along for now.

And in other good news, my latest credit score updates was 836. If I pay off all my debt maybe I’ll see a perfect score of 850?

I made my own taco seasoning for the first time & I’m not sure why I never thought to do it before now. Thank you, Pinterest. Last night I had taco salad minus chips for my lean & green. I made enough for the week. I bought the fat free ranch for dressing, but then remembered that usually reduced fat products are better than fat free as they replace the fat with sugars. I’ll do better next time. 🥗🌮

I’ve been doing some cooking since I’ve started working with a health coach. The goal of my meals are to keep them lean & green. I’ve made sheet pan chicken fajitas, garlic burgers with lemon butter zucchini noodles, shrimp with mashed and riced cauliflower, and roasted broccoli. I keep finding shrimp on sale which is good because I love it & you can eat a lot of it for your lean protein. I’ve bought so many variations of mashed & riced cauliflower. The two that I have tried so far are the Green Giants cheddar & bacon mashed cauli and the white cheddar riced cauli by Alexia. Both were good, but especially the mashed cauli.🧀🥓 Not sure what’s next on the menu, but I am looking forward to trying something else new!

After 4 months of wrangling with the travel insurance company they are cutting me a check for my canceled flights to Montreal. 🇨🇦 I only got a credit for the Switzerland trip, but I can use the money for any destination. 🇨🇭 I have no plans to travel anytime soon. Probably not until next year at the earliest.

I am staying busy with work. Making plans to have some work done on my patio and trying to decide on a new comforter. The latest one that I tried to purchase they canceled the order. I never knew deciding on a comforter could be such a task! 🛏

I started my health program on June 29th & lost 9 lbs my first week. Monday is my second weigh in.

I am steadily paying down debt & have paid off $9k since this pandemic began. I am on track to have it paid all off before my 0% interest rate expires in April 2021. My TSP loan was paid off in May. My car will be paid off at the end of the year. My investments are almost back to February’s highs. All in all, financial things are on the upswing for now.

I received 2 of my paychecks this Friday. I will receive the third on Monday. My credit card debit is down to $15k with yesterday’s payment. Monday I will send $500 to my Roth IRA. I have set up recurring transfers again on the 15th of every month.

I am contemplating taking a break from my second job in July. The third job is keeping me plenty busy with 20-25 hours weekly. Having a break on the weekends would be nice.

With the lack of gym time I’m looking to make some changes to my diet. I’m speaking to a friend today that has lost a lot of weight through dietary changes. And with my weekends free maybe I can get back to taking my evening walks on weekends at least.

From a high of over $22k my credit card debt is down to $16k. With my next payment I will have paid off one of my two cards. Then I will tackle my card with the largely 0% interest from a balance transfer. I can’t recall exactly when the 0% interest rate expires. Sometime next year. I may not do anything but work right now between my 3 jobs, but I will be debt free in 2021!

It’s payday Friday & I received 2 of my paychecks. Hopefully they’ll have my third check for me at my new job this evening. I thought it would be direct deposited, but maybe it will take another cycle before that starts.

This payday I wrote checks for my state & federal taxes, as well as a donation to my high school alma mater. They took out my full loan amount for my TSP, so they will need to refund me the overpayment as my loan will be paid off. My increased TSP contribution didn’t go through this pay period so I expect it to go through next pay period.

My first week at the new job was a little rough. We got slammed with Covid-19 samples due to a cluster, but this week has been much better. I’m getting into my groove with it. My introvert nature doesn’t mind working alone in the lab, either.

Hope you have a relaxing weekend!

Hope this Memorial Day finds you & yours well. I spent most of today & yesterday napping. My first week working 3 jobs was more tiring than I realized apparently.

This week I will pay off my TSP loan. One loan down, one to go. I expect to have my car loan paid off by the end of the year. My credit cards should be at least half paid off by the end of the year as well.

I am now watching the first of the three night series on Ulysses S. Grant on the History channel. I really want to visit Gettysburg one day. Maybe next spring or summer.

I received the job offer last Friday & filled out the HR paperwork that night. Today, less than a week later, I was handed my sign-on bonus. The manager told me it was probably just the paperwork with my info but no check since I had missed the pay period cut-off, but when I got in my car I opened the envelope & there was a check. So surprised & pleasantly so. I am banking the money until I complete the one year period.

I had decreased my TSP contribution to just enough to get the full match while paying down credit card debt, but with the new job, the sign-on bonus, the stimulus payment, canceled vacations, & the gift from my parents I decided to increase it to meet my limit again this year. I may have to adjust it again closer to the end of the year to make sure I max it out.

I also will have finished paying back my TSP loan at the end of the month. I sent an extra $500 payment last week. That will give me another $250 per paycheck.

We ordered a Mother’s Day dinner from a classmate’s restaurant. We had smoked filet tenderloin, Parmesan whipped potatoes, stewed okra & tomatoes, smothered green beans, Sensation salad, garlic dinner rolls, bread pudding, & white wine. It was absolutely delicious! Since I just tested negative for COVID-19 & am asymptomatic I decided to break bread with my parents for the first time in 2 months. I really enjoyed spending the day with them. Hope your Mother’s Day was special as well.

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 was offered the job! I’m not used to everything moving so quickly. It took me 6 months to get on at the federal government & I’ll be starting this job only a week after applying. I’m not sure if they checked references & I can’t recall if I put any down. There’s a sign-on bonus that I’m not touching until I complete my first year. It’s a big commitment going from PRN to part-time, but as I told them I wouldn’t have applied if I didn’t think myself capable. I’m nothing if not reliable. I can’t see myself keeping my PRN job, but I’m committed through May. We’lll see how this month goes with all 3 jobs!

I saw a posting for a part-time position at a private laboratory with great pay so I applied. I chatted with one of the administrators & she called back to ask me to be tested for COVID-19 before they brought me in for an interview. So I went by today & got my NP swab. Dear God, that was the worst feeling! At first it was just very uncomfortable, then I was uncontrollably coughing & dry heaving, with tears running down my face. I can see why people refuse to be re-tested. I get my results in the morning before my interview. If I’m positive, I’m definitely one of the asymptomatic carriers.

I couldn’t resist the *N Sync title, sorry! It would have been more appropriate if I posted it yesterday, but better late than never!

My mom called today & asked me if I wanted my $10k for my wedding. Now there’s no fiancé in sight, not even a boyfriend, but when my older sister got married 14 years ago she promised me & my younger sister the same amount my parents spent on my sister’s wedding. Younger sister has said she doesn’t even want to get married, but it’s for us to use as we’d like - though my mom wants me to use it to pay down my credit card debt. She’s giving me $5k now & another $5k in the new year. I’m very grateful & maybe if I spend it all on my credit card debt as I plan to, then my boyfriend/fiancé will appear. Like Murphy’s Law, right? 😄

My stimulus was deposited in my checking account today. I spent $239 on my Roomba (ordered from Kohl’s Monday & received on Tuesday!). I also sent $1k to my TSP loan. I’m so close to paying it off. Then I can pay off my car. She’ll be all mine free & clear! Then I can throw everything towards my credit cards. I can see why people like Dave Ramsey’s debt snowball. Those $0 balances are so motivating!

I’m still working, 6 days a week in fact. I know I could work 7 days a week if I wanted to, but I’m just not physically/mentally able.

I’m eating at home a lot more. I am also getting a lot of sun & exercise with our daily walks. They are not leisurely walks. We cover 4 miles in an hour. Today we tried, but ended up turning around before getting caught in a downpour just before we made it to our cars. My friend joked that it was my initiation.

Our shelter in place order was extended until May 15th & I wouldn’t be surprised if it keeps getting extended as people aren’t taking proper precautions.

I think my stimulus payment might hit my bank account this Friday. I did my part to stimulate the economy by buying a Roomba that was on sale.